Chapter Text
The mission was standard, as missions tended to be. A simple in and out.
The NXX was divided into two divisions: Recon and Strategy. While all members were suited to be on both parts, it was imperative to keep at least one person permanently on the strategy team should anything happen to them. That honor was bestowed to Marius von Hagen, with both Luke and Artem citing that they can’t have another von Hagen go missing. (It was Artem pushing for it the most. Marius was young, too young to face the fear of death—)
Depending on the type of mission, the second seat of the strategy team was usually on rotation or given to whoever had a better strategy, which was usually Vyn. Nine times out of ten it was Artem and Luke out for the actual reconnaissance, while Vyn and Marius stayed behind with Rosa. Sometimes Luke had to remind himself that this was not the NSB, that he didn’t have to do this alone. But a deeper part of him wanted him to do it alone, there was no need to involve Artem (who had no training in stealth but was surprisingly light on his feet).
It was a standard mission. A freaky lab they had to break into, collect some documents, and get out of there without a scratch. Going in was the easy part. Luke could blend in with the scientists. He could switch from looking intimidating to looking like a very young intern that was happy to be there. That, and he was able to forge a key card to get into the building and managed to steal an actual key card to get around. He had Artem wait for him to unlock a bathroom window so that he could get in (no one would recognize Luke, but everyone would recognize senior attorney Artem Wing) and walk toward the basement of the place. Simple, right?
Luke just didn’t expect to be shot with an experimental ray two seconds before grabbing a very interesting-looking vial.
—
It was like looking at a cell split.
Artem hadn’t heard Luke scream after being hit with the ray. He had seen, rather than heard, something happening to Luke from across the room. A bright flash of light caused him to turn towards his teammate, his body glowing bright orange and separating into four different… four different...
The second the light subsided, Artem got closer.
“Luke? Are you alright?”
Three pairs of coral eyes turned to him while one pair went back straight toward where the beam was shot from. Four Lukes with completely different outfits. Three adults and one child. A child with a little sailor outfit, one in full tactical gear, one with an open blue long sleeve over a t-shirt, and one with the signature puffy green jacket.
They were all Lukes, Artem thought, panic rising in his chest. Getting one person in was already hard, now getting 5 people out?
“My chest hurts, but it’s nothing new.”
Artem turned to the Luke who was talking. The one with the green jacket was pale, sickly almost. The other Luke, the one with the blue shirt, picked him up from the floor. Tactical gear Luke left the group to go towards the machine that had shot them. Tiny Luke seemed to be shaking and holding in his tears.
“Libra.”
Artem’s head shot up at the cold tone Tactical Luke spoke with. Tactical Luke was at the other end of the room, prodding at the machine that had shot the laser.
“I need you to take the kid out of here. Blue Shirt, take Green, he looks like he’s going to collapse on himself. I’m going to pull this off and figure out what happened, but it’ll raise alarms.”
“What about you?” Artem asked, still shaken by the tone of voice Tactical Luke was speaking in.
“I know how to get out myself. I need you to get them out of here. Don’t look back. I’ll figure out what happened and explain once I get out of here. Time is of the essence. The second I tell you to go, you go.”
Artem could only nod as he lifted up Tiny Luke, who instinctively hid his face in his neck.
Tactical Luke cracked his knuckles, “I’ll meet you at Headquarters. On my signal.”
Artem sped walked over towards the emergency exit with Blue Shirt Luke and Green Jacket Luke following.
“In position?”
They all nodded.
“Okay. Go!”
Tactical Luke ripped out the laser gun from its place on the wall. Alarms started to blare and Artem pushed the emergency door open, letting the two Lukes pass by first before he did, leaving Tactical Luke alone in the lab.
—
“This is Raven to Headquarters. We have been compromised and are being forced to retreat. Libra has taken the information along with other civilians who may need first aid, over and out.”
—
The entire car ride was spent in silence, not even Tiny Luke making a noise. Artem wanted to ask what had happened, what had he done or not done for this to happen? If he had been paying attention, or if he were quick enough…
He sighed. There was no need to dwell on it now, especially since he didn't have a full picture. He had people to protect, or rather, three variations of the same person? Artem drove back to the complex that housed the NXX office, already thinking of an explanation he would give to the rest of the team. He didn’t expect to find them at the door to the garage with first aid materials.
Vyn even held a shock blanket.
Artem got out of the car first, making his way over to the back seat and unbuckling Tiny Luke from the seat, picking him up. Blue Luke was shaking Green awake and unbuckling himself. The second Artem turned to them, Tiny Luke wiggled and squirmed in his grip.
“Watson! Watson!”
Rosa’s eyes widened, “...Luke?”
Artem was unable to keep Tiny Luke in his arms and afraid of dropping him, put him down. The little guy rushed to Rosa and latched onto their leg, not letting go.
Blue Luke was guiding Green Luke along, letting Green Luke lean on him for support. Blue Luke smiled at them while Green Luke waved shyly at them.
Rosa, Vyn, and Marius turned to Artem.
“I… Uh, Haven’t figured out what happened yet. Another Luke stayed behind and activated some alarms to mask our escape.”
“Are any of you hurt?” Vyn asked, eyeing Green Luke.
“We’re good! This one is just tired, ain't that right?” Blue Luke said, playfully (yet carefully) shoving Green Luke.
Marius shrugged, “Let's get you all inside then, don’t want anyone collapsing out of exhaustion.”
“Yes, let's.”
—
“Let me get this straight,” Marius said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Something, a flash of light maybe, hit Luke and split him up into four separate people?”
Artem nodded, “I couldn’t get to him in time. By the time I did all four of them were there.”
“Well, this does pose quite a problem,” Vyn said, looking back at Rosa who was entertaining Tiny Luke. Green Luke was asleep on the couch while Blue Luke was listening in with them.
It took quite a while to convince Tiny Luke (or Lucas, as Rosa started calling him) that he wasn’t going to get in trouble for rushing to Rosa or for being shy when it came to talking to the rest of the team. It took even longer for Rosa to calm down at the sight of a sickly Luke who was insisting that he was fine even if he looked like he was one step from collapsing and had no external injuries. Vyn had whispered in Rosa’s ear to keep calm for Lucas’ sake and that they would talk about it once they figured out what they were going to do.
“Yeah, we can’t just leave them here. That one looks like he has a foot in the grave and we can’t have a little kid here! It isn’t safe and he could touch things he isn’t supposed to.” Marius said, crossing his arms.
Vyn nodded, “We need someone to work on getting them back together too, do not forget about that.”
The door to the office suddenly opened, causing everyone to tense. No one was supposed to know this office, much less be able to get into it! Marius was about to yell at the intruder when Tactical Luke came in, arms holding a crate of files along with what seems to be…. The ray gun from the lab. He also had black and red smudges on his face. Neat.
“Apologies for scaring you. I took as much as I could from the lab pertaining to our situation.” Tactical Luke said, walking over and placing the box on the table. He did one quick sweep of the room, nodding to himself, and walked towards where the group was gathered.
“Right, that makes our job easier. Now, how the hell are we going to put them all together while not leaving them here?” Marius asked, eyeing the newcomer.
“I suggest we each host one of the Luke’s at our home. That way they can have accommodations while we figure out how to get them together again.” Vyn said, looking at the two Lukes in front of them, “Would that be alright?”
“Sure! That’s fine with me!” Blue Luke said, giving them all a small yet eager smile.
Tactical Luke nodded, “It was my fault we’re in this situation in the first place, I will fix it.”
“I think we would all like to know what’s going on better first.” Artem said, motioning towards the rest of the team, “I told them what I knew, though I think you may have more information.”
“I do.” Tactical Luke stood up straighter, “The mechanism used to trigger the laser was linked to a heat sensor as well as different types of biometric readings near the table we were investigating. Because we did not match the biometric measurements, the laser shot at us. According to some of the files, this laser separates people based on their ‘core aspects’. The rest of the files were kept off-site.”
“So this just turned into another recon mission. Yikes.” Marius smirked, “But on the bright side, at least we have someone who’s as uptight as Artem on the team. Look at him! He’s all in military position and everything!”
Tactical Luke was, indeed, in proper military formation. He was standing tall, feet shoulder-width apart with his hands behind his back. His posture was perfect and his face was blank. He didn’t even twitch when Marius bounced over to him and began to poke his cheek.
“Just look at him! All stoic and mean. Come on tough guy, smile. It’s not like it’ll hurt you!” Marius grinned, using his fingers to pull up the corners of Tactical Luke’s mouth. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was— eUGH!”
In a blink of an eye, Tactical Luke had managed to grab Marius’ neck. A beat passed, then another, before he threw Marius on the ground. Marius, finally understanding common sense, scurried away from Tactical Luke and hid behind Vyn.
“Learned your lesson yet, Marius?” Vyn asked, his voice filled with both subtle mirth and worry.
Marius coughed, “Yeah, don’t mess with big scary Raven. Got it. I do not call dibs on the guy.”
“I volunteer myself for the Recon mission, I wasn’t the partner Luke needed and now he’s like this,” Artem said, meeting Raven’s eyes. He only gave a small nod at Artem’s words.
“That solves one major issue, what about the rest?” Vyn asked.
“I call Normal Luke over here,” Marius said, pointing at Blue Luke.
Blue Luke smiled at him, “Sure thing! I’d be more than happy to go with you!”
“I shall take the other Luke and Rosa will take the child,” Vyn said, looking over at Green Luke.
Blue Luke shook his head, “I don’t think that’s the best idea. Rosa is already distressed as it is, I think it’s best if they take him instead. It’ll give them a sense of being able to do something for him.”
Vyn looked at Blue Luke, ready to argue, but then sighed, “I suppose you’re right. I shall take the child, then.”
Marius cleared his throat, “Alright then, we have our assigned Lukes. Time to take care of ‘em.”