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Echidna Clones

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<infobox> 

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   <default>Echidna Clones</default>
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<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <header>Information</header> <label>Alignment</label> <label>Leader(s)</label> <label>Leader(s)</label> <label>Allies</label> <label>Allies</label> <label>Status</label> <label>Location</label> <label>First Appearance</label> <header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label> </infobox> Echidna Clones are a type of clone created by Echidna. They are created when an organism comes into contact with Echidna.

Biology

Once contact is made, it takes minutes for a corresponding clone to form inside Echidna.<ref>It took a minute and a half for her to form the clones within her.  We closed the distance as her body swelled.  When she’d reached critical mass, each of the three mouths on her lower body opened to heave out a tide of blood and gore, along with eighteen or twenty people.  Half of the people she’d heaved out had clothes.  The other half had mutations.  The mutants were on their feet as soon as they could find traction in the sludge, the innocents seemed as though they could barely move. - Excerpt from Queen 18.7</ref> They start off as pre-prepared nuggets of flesh within Echidna, rapidly developing into a clone of a chosen organism within Echidna's stomach. The appearance of the clone depends on the amount of time they spend within Echidna's body. If spat out too soon, the clone is malformed, missing limbs and features. If spat out too late, the clone is also malformed, but with extra material instead.<ref>Noelle tagged several of the bodies in her internal stomachs, felt flesh constrict tight against them, felt the pre-prepared nuggets of flesh in her gullet forming into close replicas in an instant.  Timing was crucial; if she spat them out too soon, they’d be malformed, missing limbs or features.  Too late, and there was extra material. - Excerpt from Interlude 18</ref> This often means that clones will be mutated, with deformed features and strange, bizarre body-shapes. In many cases, these mutations may also make clones stronger and unusually durable compared to their originals.

When a parahuman is cloned, the clone inherits the original parahuman's shard connection. They can either receive an identical but stronger version of the power, or receive a variation upon the original power.<ref>Some of the time, the powers would be different. Most of the time, going by precedent, they were stronger. Trickster was left to wonder how Perdition’s powers had changed. Duration? Range? The amount of time reversed? - Migration 17.8</ref>

Behavior

Upon being created and expelled from Echidna, clones are immediately alert and aware of their surroundings. If their originals are around, they will begin attacking them. All Echidna clones are violently murderous, seeking to destroy everything their original cared about. Depending on the type, Echidna clones exhibit varying degrees of subservience to Echidna. Some clones are obedient, acting protective and even affectionate toward Echidna. Others act more on their own accord, though still working toward Echidna's overall agenda.

Human clones inherit their originals' memories and general psychology, subverted into a twisted caricature of their original personality.<ref>“She’s Steph. She’s Steph. Of course I care. Fucking bugs!” He lashed out with one arm, as if he could hurt the swarm, drive them away. His arms folded around the clone-Steph.

I pulled the attacking bugs away, leaving only enough to track his movements. I wasn’t sure I wanted to open up a line of dialogue, but my conscience couldn’t afford to let me not. “But… what about the person she was beating up? You don’t care about the real Steph?”

“Ignored me. Looked down on me because I was fat. Fuck her,” he spoke with such force that my bugs could feel the spit flying from his mouth.

She’s still Steph, isn’t she?”

“Bitch. Brushing me off. Made it so we were friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend. Bitch,” he said.

He let the mutant-clone Steph drop limp to the ground, clenched and unclenched a fist. “Fuck her. Fuck you for killing Steph.” - Excerpt from Queen 18.8</ref> They consider themselves 'soldiers,' though not necessarily Echidna's soldiers. They possess an overwhelming desire to first destroy their originals' loved ones, then their close associates, eventually escalating in scope toward the goal of destroying countries and humanity at large.<ref>“Why do this? Why hurt people?”

“I’m a soldier,” he said, his words dull. “It’s what I am.”

I sensed his girth, used my swarm to sense his equally heavy alter-ego. “You… don’t strike me as a soldier.”

“It’s what I am.”

“Is… is he a soldier?” I gestured in the direction of his other self.

“No. Fat fuck could never be a soldier. Kill him. Dig my fingers into that gut and rip and tear until he dies. Strangle him. No willpower, hide from the world behind that disgusting fat. Choke the life out of him. He’s useless anyways. Waste of air, waste of a life.”

Projecting much?

“And when he’s dead? What will you do?”

He moved toward me, and I backed away a step, bringing my bugs closer to him. He went still again, glanced around. “Kill others. Kill Dad and Mom and Sammy and the cats. Kill teachers and classmates and burn my house and burn the school. Fuckers. All of them. Looking down on me.”

His words struck a chord, and it was the closest experience I’d ever had to the sort of flashback that happened in the movies. I could remember being in the school bathroom, dripping with juice. Being so frustrated, so angry, so hurt that I just wanted to lash out.

Was that all he had left? Was that all he was?

“And if they all die?”

“Kill others. Burn this fucking disgusting city. Burn this fucking country. Keep burning, keep killing.”

“Do you really think that’ll make anything better?”

“No.”

“Then why? Is there any way I can get you to stop?”

“No. Won’t stop. I’m a soldier.”

“Whose soldier? Hers? Noelle’s? The monster who spat you out?”

“No.” - Excerpt from Queen 18.8</ref> While irrationally murderous, they are capable of showing empathy and grief toward their fellow clones, especially if those clones are of a person their original knew.<ref>“You leave Steph alone!” the fat clone bellowed.

The words caught me off guard as much as the fact that he’d seen the attack. He charged, and I swiftly backed up, bringing my weapons to the ready.

He didn’t come after me. He stopped by ‘Steph’, the one-legged clone with the fatal throat wound.

“You care about her?” I asked.

“She’s Steph,” he said. - Excerpt from Queen 18.8</ref> They have a sense of self-preservation, and become distressed when caught in a hopeless situation.<ref>Still fighting to avoid being brained by Wanton’s telekinetic storm, the tall Vista let out a drawn out half-moan, half-scream, equal parts despair and anger. It didn’t sound exactly normal, but that didn’t surprise me. What made my blood run cold was that she almost sounded like a young girl might. A little too close to reality for comfort. - Excerpt from Queen 18.6</ref>

Animals that were cloned attacked everything in sight with savage fervor. Cloned rats sought out people to bite and claw at. Cloned bugs did the same, but were also uncontrollable by Skitter. Skitter's clone, Chitter, was able to control cloned bugs.<ref>I could track the rats that were crawling out of the vomit.  A dozen of them, and they were homing in on people, savagely biting and clawing into any flesh they found.  I made sure to cluster my bugs in as dense a swarm as I could afford, to keep them contained.  The bugs I didn’t devote to the task worked to disable and distract the more mundane clones.

I might have missed it if I hadn’t had the bugs pressed together to contain the rats.  I had missed it already, countless times.  Wasps, hornets and cockroaches were crawling free of the slurry of flesh that Noelle had vomited into the building’s lobby.  They were attacking my bugs and any people they found. - Excerpt from Queen 18.7</ref>

List of Clones

History

Background

Three clones of Perdition were created after Cody touched Noelle, making them the third, fourth, and fifth clones ever created by Noelle. The clones went on a rampage, attacking and killing civilians in the street, until they were confronted by the Travelers and subsequently put down.<ref>Migration 17.8</ref>

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

After Echidna broke loose following the death of Coil, Echidna managed to capture Vista and create several clones of her. She would go onto go on a hunt for capes, capturing Über, Leet, and Circus.<ref>Queen 18.4</ref> When the Travelers, Undersiders, and Chicago Wards were fighting against Echidna, Trickster turned on the heroes and began actively facilitating the capture of capes by Echidna, allowing more parahuman clones to be created. Numerous more clones of many types were created after the battle against Echidna began in earnest.

The climax of the battle came when Ignis Fatuus and Apocrypha, clones of Eidolon and Alexandria respectively, were created. Ignis Fatuus engaged and killed Myrddin, and then went on to reveal the secret of Cauldron and its association with the Triumvirate and the PRT. This was a devastating blow to morale, but after Skitter revitalized the gathered capes with a display of force, they were able to destroy both Ignis Fatuus and the two Apocryphas.

After Echidna's death, the only source of Echidna clones was destroyed. It can be assumed that the rest of the Echidna clones were killed during or after the battle against Echidna.

Trivia

  • Excluding Witness, all named clones are only named in the tags of the chapters they appear in.
  • Echidna clones are named based on their original's cape names, with their names being intentional inversions and parodies of their originals.
  • Witness was introduced in the Missing Interlude, and was subsequently decanonized by Wildbow. In Ward, a Case 53 with the same name and similar circumstances is mentioned. It is unknown whether this Witness is the same one from the Missing Interlude.

Fanart Gallery

References

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