trans_9 | Nobody Here But Us Clones [closed]

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Nobody Here But Us Clones [closed]

The sun had set on the illusion of the Kent farm in the Sensoriums. The stars were out in a big, clear Kansas sky. During the night-time, the sky here could be just as beautiful--and expansive--as it was during the day.

Kon was in the barn, leaning against the window-sill, looking out on the night sky. The moon was good practice for his telescopic vision, and it was perfectly rendered here, every basin, ridge and lunar mare.

Mostly, he just didn't want to see anyone right now, after the business with Mei-Xing's clone. He was getting sick of the wait, but terrified of what the decision would be.

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Unfortunately for Kon, someone did want to see him - one of the people he was cloned from, Kal-El. He couldn't help but noticed what Kon had brought up when he stepped in.

Kal moved up beside Kon and let out a small sigh. "It was always nice out here, huh?"

"Nice place to look up at the stars and think about your place in the universe," Kon said.

Something they'd both probably done, at various points.

"Indeed."

A moment of silence.

"Kon, I have to ask something. What happened that day? I want to hear it from you."

"What happened was what we told security. Magic chick was acting suspicious so we followed while we still could. She found her clone, and then caught onto us following. We fought. We took her down and brought her in, so she couldn't do anything to mess with the clone out of spite, and left it up to Security and Medbay."

There was a pause, as Kon kept looking out the window. Eventually, he looked back at his mentor, face twisted up in an expression of disgust.

"Pointy-Ears told us what she was for."

She, not it. The clone was 'she.'

"I see."

Pretty much what he had been told, but he had to make sure. He let out a sigh before he continued. He knew the next thing he said was going to be tough, but he had to say it.

"The council and some of the other department heads are talking about this. I don't know if there's any middle ground to this. Someone's going to get hurt in the end, that's all I know."

"There isn't middle ground to this."

Oh boy, it was very clear he had Opinions here.

"She shouldn't be able to use her clone as an organ sack. Not with what the Medbay can do."

"And at the same time, would letting the clone be hooked up and left as is, constantly feeding it and using up resources be better?" Kal replied.

"I know it's hard, Kon, but, something has to be done."

He went quiet as he tried to think, then came up with an idea. "Let me ask you this: put yourself in my shoes. As it stands, we're in a war. We're dealing with always lowering supplies and more and more crew mates. You've been asked to figure out this problem yourself. Would you be willing to surrender precious resources to save the life of someone who probably won't have a chance to even function properly or would you let it go and let it be used as needed?"

Right now, that was going through Kal's head - do they save the person and eat up resources or do they let it go?

"It's not about the living or dying," Kon insisted. "It's about being used, treated like a resource instead of a person. If it's best for this girl, this clone, to die, so she's not lingering and suffering and living out nothing--well I don't know what Ma and Pa would say about pulling the plug like that, but I understand pulling the plug and letting her rest in peace. When they cloned Guardian against his will? That's what the soldier clones wanted--to die. To have peace."

It wasn't the dying.

"But she never gave consent to use her organs--she was brain-damaged to the point of not being able to. That's her body, not Mei-Xing's, and it's a matter of respect, and personhood, and whether or not the Council has the right to strip someone's personhood away."

He looked over at Kal, a bitter expression on his face.

"If I ever get brain-dead somehow, are you gonna use my organs like I'm not a person anymore, even if I never gave permission?" A shrug. "I mean, who's to say you won't need 'em, right? This is a war."

Kal reached over and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Kon, I'd never do such a thing. You know that. And truth be told, I wouldn't want you to do the same if I was in the same position."

Okay, there was some common ground there!

"I guess it's hard to actually be... well... subjective here. Especially in this situation. In some aspects, it would just be easier to let her keep the clone and let her do what she pleases. At the same time, there might be a chance of saving it."

He went silent a bit.

"Perhaps we should see what other options we have."

Kon sighed.

"I know I just seem angry, and like I'm only seeing it from my point of view, but that's just it--not a one of you on the Council knows what it's like to be a clone. None of you know what that means, how it makes people treat you."

He'd never talked to Kal about this before. Kal'd left all the clone stuff up to him, trusted him with it, and neither of the two were the type to talk about the bad things they saw during all this superhero business, neither was the type to burden someone else.

"Perhaps not, but there are others willing to stand up for you, who are willing to speak, in the Council. Don't count us out just yet." Kal reassured. "Some of us do have that sort of experience. Just have to know where to look."

He gave Kon a small smile. "I guess I have a bit more work to do, then, huh?"

"Well, you're the first one that's actually asked one of our opinions about it, so that already puts you a step above the others," said Kon.

"Can I just--can I explain? How I see it?"

Kal nodded at Kon. "Sure. Go ahead."

He held a hand to his chest. "I lucked out because of this." The 'S.' "Because of you. Because I needed to be able to at least think a little to be like you, to be what they wanted, so I lucked into a mind of my own when I could've been just as much a blank slate as that girl. Because even the government knew if they tried to tangle with me, they'd be pissing off Superman and everyone wearing the S--and Young Justice, and then later the Titans, and whoever else got brought to the butt-kicking party, which would've been a lot of people."

This was something he had never told Kal before, and it was something he'd never seen the need to tell Kal before. But maybe he needed to hear it.

"But even with all that, safe in your shadow, do you honestly think I've never been called 'genescrape' before? That I've never been told I belonged to someone else? One time I had Amanda Waller in my face threatening to have me stuffed in a warehouse with the rest of the government's damaged 'property' if I showed I was 'defective.' I almost got dissected and it was condoned by the government--I had my dead girlfriend's DNA used to make clones to fight me, and that was okay, too. And what they did--what they freakin' did to Guardian, General Good cloning disposable Guardians to fight wars..."

Just like he'd said, they'd all wanted to die. During a very somber talk he'd had with Guardian after that whole debacle, he'd found that out--he'd wanted to know that he hadn't murdered them all. Sometimes he still worried that Guardian was lying about them dying at peace with the decision, but then he remembered that each of the clones had Guardian's memories, his experiences, and he knew every one of them would've made that choice.

"Clones are disposable people, that's what it comes down to. They're treated like--like things. Like belongings. Property. Mei-Xing keeps saying that's her property."

His eyes flashed angrily.

"And I'm guessing if this is even an issue, some of the Council people are agreeing with her."

Kal listened to what Kon was saying. This was a first for him. He never knew this, never knew just how much Kon was suffering.

Kon was right. Nanoha was right.

This was all it lead up to. He couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Some of them are, yes... and the bad part about all this is that who we are doesn't mean a thing here. And it won't even more if this somehow turns into clones being turned into property."

His mind wandered back to Nanoha. She said her girlfriend, her adopted daughter were clones, too.

He went silent, trying to think of a solution.

It wasn't that bad. At least not for him. Mind control aside. It was just...he'd seen a lot of bad along the way.

"With this whole issue, if it was was a normal person that was brain damaged, it'd be barbaric. If some little girl had been born and kidnapped and aged up so fast her brain couldn't take it, left a blank slate, never able to live out her life, used for organs, we'd be calling it a travesty, and whatever was decided for that little girl, it'd be for that little girl, trying to work out the most humane thing to do for her rather than looking at what could be scavenged from her corpse after pulling the plug. What's the only difference here?"

Kon shook his head, looking lost.

"It's that she's a clone. That makes it instead of deciding to do what's best for her I'll bet people are looking at what can be gotten from her. And that's what's wrong. Brain-damaged or not, cloned or not, we should be making the best choice for her. Either try to help her live, or let her die in peace--but if she does, let it be with dignity, not carving out her insides like a pumpkin, letting her be used like a thing."

There was a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"There's no perfect answer, Kal. Not when you're choosing that someone's better off alive or dead and they're in no condition to speak for themselves. Even I don't know what to argue there. But the least the Council could do is treat her like a brain damaged person when they make the decision. And then decide what rights a brain damaged person has on this ship. Across the board. Either all our organs are forfeit or nobody's are. I could live with you guys' decision if you did it that way. Any other way, and you are saying that her origins make her not a person--and that means it's the same for every clone on the ship."

Then, that was that, wasn't it? Perhaps they were going about this utterly wrong in the first place. "We need to restart somewhere." he said. "Restart the conversation and use that sort of thinking - that we're dealing with a person and not a thing - and go from there."

He stood straight as he did. "I have a lot to learn and not a lot of time to do so... especially with what we're dealing with."

"If you guys want to talk to any of us, I'd be willing to talk to the Council. Fate probably would be too. If you need it. If not... I trust you to try to help 'em make the best decision, Kal."

"If you think it would help sway the argument, then by all means, I'll make the floor open for you and Fate." Kal said. "If we have to, then we'll gather everyone whose in this position and see what they think about it. We were chosen in a democratic manner, so we should at least show that the rest are just as important."

"I'm not even sure there's a direction to sway the argument in, but if it'd help all you guys get some perspective, and see why we were so outraged, I'm all for it."

A pause.

"Thanks for comin' to talk to me."

He held up his fist for a little mentorly fistbump.

"You're welcome, Kon. Even if it just helps a little, it will be all worth it." Kal said.

He held up his own fist and fistbumped Kon's. He was going about this the wrong way and he helped him see that.

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