[center][h2]Crushes, Clones & Crickets[/h2][/center][hr][center][sub]A collab with [@Rawk][/sub][/center][hr]

“Ah!, what the holy fuck is wrong with you, man?” 

Vin recoiled, completely missing Nates initial advance toward his cheek until he felt the slight pinch, staring at both Nate and his clone with a disgusted expression. 

“Don’t [i]ever[/i] touch me again dumbass. You already saw what happened to that other guy back in the alley, yeah?” He took a deep breath, calming his edgy tone. “Look...just don’t is all, okay?”

Truth be told, Vincent didn’t know what to expect from the cursed gift of...whatever the hell it was supposed to be. What he did know, however, was that it was bad news and took the life of at least one person and possibly the lives of the others he’d come into contact with at the Gala two weeks prior. But how would he have known since he ran, never bothering to look back.

Vin's threat did little to discourage Nate. He pulled his hand back but grinned like the entire situation was immensely entertaining. "That's the thing about me, bucko." he told Vin. "There's always more." He ruffled his clones hair as best he could, which was very little with it being cut so short, and sat back.

Despite his hair not actually being messed up, the clone still ran a hand over it as though straightening it and glanced over at Vin, declaring "That's not an invitation to kill me...And don't avoid the subject. Is he right? Do you like the drunk princess?"

Duplinate's smile was not as big as Nate's but it was definitely there. They were like a pair of schoolboys, toying with a friend and trying to embarrass him by talking about a girl he had a crush on. No one ever accused Nate of being mature.

Vincent suddenly felt trapped in a bad episode of [i]Beverly Hills 90210[/i], although he’d never actually admit watching it as a kid in the nineties, the two Nates became like the annoying friends you just couldn’t shake off, until, of course, one of them offs themselves with a bullet to the head…

“Why do you two knuckleheads even give a shit about my feelings for this girl?” 

"I don't really" admitted Nate. "But we've gotta do [i]something[/i] to pass the time."

Vin decided to ignore that and stared out the window, glancing at the passing buildings and side streets as the sun was beginning its descent behind the cityscape. 

“Besides, it’s getting dark soon and this chick is obviously being hunted same as us. Do you really want to leave her on her own?” Vin turned back to the others, staring at them with a disapproving expression. 

“And I thought you assholes were supposed to be protecting her! Why in the hell did you just let her go so easily anyway, knowing she’ll probably be killed out there?...” Vin’s heart was racing, as he allowed the lack of food and sleep to offset his self control. He hadn’t realized until now just how much he wore his feelings for JJ on his sleeve, and yet the only others he could confide in didn’t seem to show much concern or regard for the girl’s life. However, Nate and his bumbling clones were the only ones he knew of at the moment that could help him regardless.

 “So who was the guy she was talking to on the phone earlier? Something about a ‘contract’? Did you work for him?” 

"Worked!" Nate practically yelled, barely leaving time for Vin to even finish his sentence. "He hired us to keep her safe and we did that. Right up until her little phonecall. You saw that."

"She told Harrison to cancel our contract." added Duplinate.

Nate grumbled something under his breath and said "He's so spineless he'd do it too. Contract's over so she's not our concern anymore."

The car suddenly screeched to a halt again and Vin was thankful he had put his seatbelt on. Nate slammed his hands into the headrest of Vin's seat in front of him to stop his face from doing it instead and complained "What the hell, man!?"

"What if she is?" asked the clone, talking over Nate's question as he turned in his seat.

"What if she's what?"

"Our concern." Nate only looked at his clone as though exhausted by the very question. Duplinate continued "She may be a bossy pain in our collective but beautiful asses but..she's one of only two other people with powers that we've met. If we really want to find out what's going on, shouldn't we explore every lead...No matter how bossy and annoying?"

Nate continued to stare at his clone until he finally said "You do realize you're supposed to be me, right? Same thoughts? Same opinions?"

Duplinate mulled that over and finally said "Maybe that's not exactly how it works. Maybe I'm like a more reasonable version of you. Your conscience. The Jiminy Cricket to your Pinocchio." He smiled at Nate, who looked positively disgusted by the whole idea,

"I was always more of an Aladdin fan. You know, steal a bunch of shit and look good doing it?" He reached out then and grabbed the clone by the shoulder. Duplinate seemed to vanish as he quickly merged back into Nate. Nate shivered for a brief moment as the clones memories filled his head. He had been free for quite a while and accumulated quite a a few unique memories of his own. It was always weird when so much new data rushed into his head. When he stopped, he commented quietly "Pinoccio..Pfft."

"Shit!, I'll never get used to that!" Vin exclaimed, as the two Nates essentially merged into one right before his eyes. 

Nate then began clambering over into the driver's seat, using Vin's face for balance, causing an "Ouch! fucknut!" response from his passenger as he went. He dropped down into the front seat and sighed as he planted his hands on the wheel. He was quiet for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, until he said "It [i]was[/i] a good movie though." He was quiet again for a second as he thought about the current situation  His face scrunched up and he whined "God damn it!"

The car was quickly in motion again and the tires screeching as Nate spun it around and began driving back the way they had come.

"Stupid Cricket!"

Vin snorted. "Better 'crickets' than raging migraines the magnitude of a hundred icepicks sticking out of your brain...give or take."