[ Among the twenty disciples that Lady Red trained, Jay Pleng and Jay Pleng were outstanding, yet they did not get along until Lady Red was pregnant. The father of the child was never disclosed to anyone else, but Jay Pleng and Jay Pleng knew who the father was, and they vowed to protect the child. ]
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Jay Pleng wasn't ready to live with Jay Pleng.
First of all, she's too quiet.
The barely teenage boy would wake up in the middle of the night to grab some water, and there she was, blue eyes slightly glowing in the dark as she slowly turned her head to stare at him. He swore she's not even moving when she's breathing. Her loose black T-shirt made her look even smaller on the twin sized bed.
It's not the first time it happened either.
Why did he choose to room with her again?
Because of trust issues, of course. Jay Pleng didn't trust any of the Villains on the base to share a room with any of them. Each room had at least two and a maximum of four people. There's a single room with five sisters who refused to leave each other, but that's an exception.
Back to the problem at hand, the boy decided to room with Dr. Jue's daughter because besides Lady Red, the other Jay Pleng is the only person he trusted enough to fall asleep around. The reason behind that is if she really wanted to kill him, she had multiple attempts to do so, but she never did. Maybe it's because they're in the presence of Lady Red.
He took the risk of her killing him in his sleep the first night they room together, and he woke up in one piece. Tonight is night fifteen; he's not tired enough for his brain to shut down, so it bothered him with flashes of nightmares. Also, his throat was a little dry.
"Can't sleep?" Jay Pleng's red eyes met hers as he reached for his bottle of water on the dresser that separated their beds. He could feel a headache slowly but surely pounding in his head. It's one of the side effects of going off the Wonder drug. At least he's not so aggressive...
"Obviously." Her monotonous voice was barely audible.
"Nightmares?" He asked before he lifted the bottle to his lips.
As he was gulping down the very refreshing water, he couldn't help but keep his eyes on her. She once blinked slowly at him, like a cat would. Then, she turned around to look at their little bedroom window.
"Not exactly." She finally answered his question after he finished half of his water.
"Then why?" The boy kept asking as he put his water bottle back on the dresser.
Jay Pleng needed that conversation, he needed an interaction, anything to distract him from what he saw in his dreams and the pounding in his head.
"Must I answer?" Blue eyes moved from the full moon to face him once more.
A sigh left the boy's lips as he laid back down on his pillow. His blanket was tossed away a while back.
"No, you don't gotta answer." Jay Pleng hoped that his voice didn't come off as sarcastic. He gave up on the conversation the moment she asked back, which is another reason why he wasn't ready to live with her.
A small frown formed on his eyebrows when she pulled her blanket off herself. Then, she scooted to the edge of her bed before hopping off. Her bare feet hit the concrete floor, but she didn't even make a sound.
It's amazing how quiet she could be.
Being quiet is certainly useful when you want to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night while you're in a base full of peo—
The girl took slow steps towards him. Her eyes didn't even blink as she made her way to his bed.
Confusion filled his head, but Jay Pleng didn't flinch when she bent down a little so they're face to face. The moonlight did wonders on her porcelain face, making her looking like she just stepped out of a painting.
After a very long moment of her just staring at him, Jay Pleng decided to break the tension.
"What?" He grunted at her.
"You killed your father. And most of your blood relatives." She stated, and her eyes dimmed just a little. "I wish I could do that too."
"You crashed Dr. Jue's plane, so I could say you killed him alright." He didn't know where the conversation was going, so a pit of nervousness formed in his stomach.
"I killed him on accident in the jet, so I crashed it to fake both of our deaths." She mumbled as she backed away from his face. "Sometimes I think about what would happen if I return to my mother. Would she believe me when I say I was kidnapped? She probably wouldn't. Hah, she'll even blame me for what happened. And she would be right because it was my fault."
That's the most Jay Pleng has heard the other Jay Pleng talked since they were taken in by Lady Red. Usually, the girl responded with one word answers, and she never asked questions, only following orders from Lady Red.
"You still have my knife." She continued, and Jay Pleng nodded. That exact knife is under his pillow right now. "If I ask you to kill me right now, would you do it?"
"No." His reply was absolute, and he rolled over so that he won't be facing her anymore. His eyes squeezed shut, hoping that she would leave him alone if she thinks he's sleeping.
His wish clearly didn't come true when blue eyes met him again. She moved to the other side of his bed, and her footsteps didn't even move the dust on the floor.
"Why not, Jay Pleng?" Her head tilted to the side. "Is it because you know I can make the Wonder Liquid for you? Or is it your savior complex—"
"Wait, you can make the Wonder drug?" His red eyes snapped open. The headache didn't ease up when he pushed himself into a sitting position.
If she could make him just a small amount of the drug that kept his family up and running, then his withdrawal would be a lot easier...
"No. We don't have the equipment nor the source." The left side of her lips lifted up just slightly. "You killed the source. Don't change the topic. Why didn't you kill me? Why don't you kill me? I broke you out of the lab, so you owe me one, not counting my favorite knife you stole from me."
His moment of distraction came when slender fingers touched his cheek, and Jay Pleng froze on his bed. Blue eyes were calling out to him like a siren even with her soft monotone and messy appearance.
"Return the favor, please?" The girl whispered. "Just one strike using that knife. Or... How about you give me back the knife and I'll do it myself? That works, too."
Her fingers were warm on his rapidly heating cheeks, and no matter how much he wanted to pull away, Jay Pleng had to mentally and physically stopped himself from leaning in.
In the next second, her hand left his face. "Nevermind. I'll make another knife to kill myself another day."
"Why are you so obsessed with dying?" The boy mumbled as he pushed himself up into a sitting position once more.
Before she could answer him, the familiar sound of their comrades screaming and yelling echoed through the hallway. In that moment, the two kids sprung into action; Jay Pleng grabbing the knife and gun from underneath his pillow while his counterpart put on her shoes.
With his boots on and sleep off his mind, the young Red King slammed his bedroom door open, pointed his gun like he was taught to.
______
Jay Pleng's heart was beating so fast that other people in the room could hear it. She's standing in the middle of Lady Red's room, where the window was broken and the bed had red stains on it.
"They... They took her!" Ayala Lopez, the biker woman, who though the girl was an enemy when they first met, was crawling on the floor. She's the only healer on their little base...
While her dumbass roommate was fighting off the intruders, Jay Pleng checked on the other inhabitants of the once abandoned building.
The five sisters living down the hall from them were missing, and of course, Lady Red is missing too.
"But they didn't kill ya?!?" A man with dirty blond hair yelled at the healer. "You had one job, Lopez!"
"I was outnumbered!" Ayala yelled back at the man as she tried to heal her legs, hissing all the while. Three men rushed into the bedroom to help her, lifting her up from the floor so that her wounds would heal properly.
Behind the blond man stood the male Jay Pleng, who's running his hand through his hair. He managed to trip and gun down a few soldiers, but it didn't help their current situation because the intruders in the hall was a distraction.
Kidnapping Lady Red was the USC's real intention.
While the people around her were at each other's throats, Jay Pleng took a deep breath and focused. A few days ago, she made a necklace for Lady Red. The older woman called her cute and thanked her before putting on the poorly made chain necklace with a tiny crystal charm. The girl initially made it as a gift, but the necklace's real purpose was to help Jay Pleng find her mentor in case she's lost on the base.
Now, the necklace has a entirely different usage. If Lady Red still has the necklace on her, then she could...
Taking another deep breath, her eyes began glowing white, and her mind focused on the energy of the necklace.
"Shorty, what cha doing—" The blond man scoffed at Jay Pleng.
"Shut the fuck up, Tegan! She's working!" The male Jay Pleng's loud voice almost broke her concentration, but she held on tight.
The energy took her further than she was comfortable with, and she frowned as her head tried to wrap around the exact location of her item.
"She's... Airborne." Jay mumbled, her eyes unblinkingly stared at the window. "I think Eagle Eye and his crew took her into a very speedy jet because Eagle Eye himself isn't this fast."
"Stating the obvious as usual, genius." The blond man snorted, and his sentence was followed by grunts of agreement from the other villains.
"They're landing." Jay ignored the whispers of disapproval. "About four hundred twelve thousand three hundred sixty feet northwest of where I am facing."
The small crowd of villains quieted down when they heard her predictions.
"That's... Seventy eight miles away?" The male Jay Pleng added.
Then, Jay collapsed on the floor when she felt her creation being crushed. Her mind was so wrapped up in the necklace that she couldn't hear the voices calling out to her.
Thankfully, her creation wasn't all gone. It's just broken, that's all.
Her hands were shaking as her eyes returned to their normal hue, and the first thing she saw was a pair of red eyes dripping with concern. His hands were gripping on to her shoulders hard enough that it began hurting.
"G-give me a map." Her voice shook, but she kept talking, "I know exactly where Lady Red is."
"Didn't know you could do that. What the hell?" The war machine slowly let go of her, and Jay blinked once at him.
There's a lot that she could do that he doesn't need to know. Jay Pleng refused to kill her, so she'll nag him about her existence.
_____
By the time the sun was rising, they were already at their destination and progressing with their plan. Jay Pleng didn't why Ayala thought it was a good idea to give him a bike, but she did, and she was right.
While he was still under his father's rule, Jay Pleng learned how to drive a car and the basics of piloting, but he never learned how to drive a motorcycle. Ayala pointed at one and said it's just like riding a bike but he didn't have to do all the pedaling, and she's right.
He's transporting their most valuable asset right now: the other Jay Pleng. She's determined to find Lady Red, so as soon as they arrived at the abandoned building, they let her loose into the first open window they saw.
The perimeter was guarded by two people in familiar uniform and fighting gear. Jay would recognize that uniform anywhere.
"It's Wonder Soldiers." Tegan grumbled as he parked his motorcycle next to Jay's. "Your folks. Go fuck them up, boy."
"You want me to take them down?" Jay asked back. "Ayala said lay low until Jay Pleng gives us a signal."
The older man scoffed, "It's been ten minutes. She's probably dead."
Jay Pleng pressed his lips into a hard line. Fuck... Tegan might be right...
He immediately pulled out his walkie talkie, hoping that she would respond. "Jay Pleng, copy?"
All he got in response was radio silence. The last time they checked in on her, she was crawling through the vents to avoid detection.
"Told ya so." Tegan began making his way towards the two guards making their rounds. "You kill that one. I'll kill this one."
Before they could even left the trees, both of the guards began shooting at them. Tegan dropped to the ground and rolled behind a tree, and Jay mumbled a cuss to himself as he shielded his face with his forearms. He's wearing arm guards that were made from recycled bullet proof vest laying around on base. It's not the best, but it worked well enough that only a couple of bullets managed to go through the shield and hit his flesh. Besides, the reason why he decided to make arm guards was he was trained to aim for the head, and so did the majority of any armed soldiers.
"Jay Romanov!" One of the guards stopped shooting when they recognized him. "Dude, stop! That's one of us!"
"No, he's not, you idiot! Didn't you remember what the USC say? He's a traitor!" The other Wonder Soldier stopped his shooting just to argue with his partner.
Looking a little closer, Jay Pleng realized that it's the triplets. They're just three years older than him. Wait... Where's the last one? The triplets always come in three.
"What if the USC lied? They did it before! Jay might just be a scapegoat." The younger twin yelled back at his brother. Then, he lowered his gun. "Jay Romanov!"
"Keith! Where's Kaden?" Jay Pleng played along by not pulling out his weapon and asking for the last of the triplets.
"That's our Jay alright." The oldest of the triplets was still pointing his handheld gun at the teenage boy, but he was the one answering the question. "Kaden supposed to meet us here two minutes ago. Idiot's late again. Sucks that you're not one of us anymore, Jay. I gotta put you down."
"He's still one of us!" Keith yelled at his brother again. "Look at him, Klaus! Jay, do you know that the USC gave you a nickname? They called you the Red King, a traitor to the Wonder Soldiers, but you're one of the King's son! Blink twice if you're a scapegoat."
Jay Pleng blinked twice, not because he's a scapegoat, but because he was genuinely confused about the nickname. "Where did they even get Red King from?"
"Eagle Eye called you Lady Red's goon, but the others heard you killed your dad. You killed the King, so you're technically the king now." Klaus let out a taunting laugh as he aimed his gun at Jay's head again. "It's a cool call sign. Sucks you're not one of us anymore, so I gotta kill you on sight. You're just an intruder."
"I didn't even kill my dad!" Jay put up both of his hands in surrender when the lie left his lips. He could activate the kill switch inside of these two right then and there, but he was debating on whether or not he should, especially when he looked at Keith. "I don't wanna get back to the USC either 'cause they framed me! Can you imagine the runt of the litter having Lady Red's powers?"
The brunette and his brothers wasn't there when Jay murdered his entire family... He wondered how many Wonder soldiers were left. With all the bloodshed that happened two weeks ago, the teenage boy would put the number at less than thirty including the one brother he left alive.
"See, he's just a scapegoat!" Keith let out a sigh of relief. "Man, now I'm sad 'cause you missed an opportunity to bang some really pretty Villain chicks just an hour ago. Eagle Eye sure knows how to pick them. So, anyways, you're just living out here on your own now?"
Oh. Now he remembered why he decided that his blood relatives didn't deserve to live in the first place. One might say Jay killed all of his cousins that night because he was impulsive, but he reasoned with himself that they didn't deserve living because of the things they grew up doing.
As soon as he was old enough to spar with his cousins, he's heard of stories of them violating their prisoners with glee. Hearing about it while he's on a mission to rescue Lady Red is another thing entirely.
Through gritted teeth, Jay nodded. "Yep. Totally on my own."
His red eyes saw the numbers on their necks, and he blinked. His internal debate was settled when two headless bloodies of the triplets fell to the ground.
"What took ya so long, Jay Pleng?" Tegan's complaints rang out the moment the threats were taken care of.
"Not everyone can explode, Tegan. Some people also take time." Jay mumbled out his flawed logic as he got down to his knees to collect the weapons from the corpses of his cousins. If he's lucky, he might find a pouch of that Wonder liquid—
In that moment, his walkie talkie buzzed to life.
"Jay Pleng, copy." The other Jay Pleng's voice brought a sense of ease to his mind, but the news she's delivering made the situation even more dreadful. "I found Lady Red. S-she's..." Her voice cracked, "Eagle Eye just left her. We need to get her to Ayala. Now."
"Are you still in the vents?" The teenage boy pulled his walkie talkie out of his belt, and he began making his way into the backdoor of the building. "You're still in the vents, right? Give me directions."
Working with the other Jay Pleng wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. Her directions were clear, too clear honestly since she told him everything down to the number of feet away from where he should turn.
How did she know exactly where he is? He assumed it was just her power at work.
"Is that... Is that fucking Jay Romanov?" Another Wonder Soldier was patrolling the hall, and he was smart enough to sound the alarm before his head was no longer part of his body.
Jay was running up stairs when he saw a flash of dark blue rushing towards an open window. The teenage boy aimed his gun at the superhero, but he was attacked from the side by another Wonder Soldier. Tegan too the chance to place something into the Soldier's vest before he pulled him off the teenage boy and pushed him down the flight of stairs.
A grenade explosion was heard when the Wonder Soldier hit the concrete, but Jay couldn't care less when his walkie talkie buzzed again.
"To your left." The other Jay Pleng's voice came through.
Red eyes landed on a steel door left open, leading into a dimly lit room. There's a single chair in the middle of the room, and those red eyes widened when they landed on a woman in the corner of the room.
"Call Ayala!" Jay Pleng ordered before Tegan could even see what's inside the room. "We found Lady Red."
Tegan grumbled in response, but he made his way towards the closest window to direct the healer to their floor.
Meanwhile, the other Jay Pleng finally kicked open the vent on the ceiling, and she jumped down right next to her partner. The teenage boy gave her a glance, then he found the knives and pieces of metal on the walls.
Lady Red was unconscious, her back was bruised and beaten, but the worst part was blood soaked her nightgown from between her legs.
"I tired to save her, I..." The girl's voice was so small as she collected her knives. "I stayed in the vent and tried to throw stuff at Eagle Eye, but he escaped... He... I ran out of energy."
"We'll kill that scum when we see him again." Jay Pleng gritted his teeth when he replied. His eyes twitched as he threw Lady Red's arm over his shoulder to carry her outside.
Ayala arrived not long after, and she was horrified by the sight of her friend. While the healer was working, Jay Pleng was sitting on his motorcycle. Behind him, the other Jay Pleng was quiet.
He almost forgot that she's with him until she asked, "Do you think Eagle Eye left because he knows what he's doing is wrong?"
"We should've destroyed his jet so he couldn't escape." The teenage boy almost growled. "Did you ever find the sisters?"
"Three missing, two dead." Her monotonous voice got even smaller when she continued, "Violated after they were murdered. Their bodies are on the third floor if anyone plans to get them back."
"Why didn't you say it sooner?" Jay Pleng turned around just to meet her porcelain face looking ghastly into the rising sun.
She slowly turned her head towards him, and he could see tears pooling in those large eyes, making him want to cry, too.
"I... I was scared. An-and... I should've gotten to them sooner." Her fingers began fiddling with the edge of her shirt. "Maybe they would still be alive if we got here quicker."
He didn't know what compelled him at that moment, but he leaned in closer just to wrap his arms around her. She flinched for a second, but she eventually accepted his embrace.