Chapter 7: Reality

"As far as I know, this isn't yours, either." The reply was smug, and he was still smiling in Keon's direction, unfazed that he was in the enemy's territory.

"I work here, asshole."

Keon's hands were itching to punch something. His shoulder ached as if remembering their fight. His teeth picked at the loose skin in his mouth and chewed on it to keep it from opening.

"It's already started, you know," said Firo.

Keon ignored him, focusing on other things, like an escape route. There was enough room between them that Keon could run if he had to.

"Cassius is there."

Firo was talking about the board elections. It was the one thing Keon didn't want to think about.

He knew Firo's goal was to piss him off, and it worked. Screw it.

"What's your aim?" Keon spit back. "Leave him out of this."

"Leave him out of this? Are you even listening to yourself?"

"He has nothing to do with this." He didn't want to hear Cassius's name come out of Firo's mouth.

"You're clueless." Firo laughed. It was as if mocking him, although he looked almost as if he pitied him.

"Shut up."

Firo had his hands in his pockets. He didn't look like he was ready to start a fight. Was this the important person Lucky had to meet with? Keon didn't want to question his friend, but an earlier conversation about Lucky telling him to stay away from Firo relayed itself.

"Lucky left the TV on inside," said Firo.

He came toward him and grabbed Keon's shoulder again. The same spot as before.

Keon's teeth clenched. He could hear them grinding together. It took more willpower than he possessed to not start a fight. His body still ached.

"Do you know who Cassius's father was?"

Keon's silence must have been the only answer he needed to continue.

"He was a prominent figure on the board many years ago when all of this 'clone rights' bullshit was still new. His father is the one who fought so hard to keep us enslaved, to keep us from having any rights. Funny, isn't it? It's like Cassius is trying to make up for his father's mistakes."

A hard push sent Keon stumbling back.

"He's going to make a lot of enemies if he fights for clones. Since you're his, you're going to be targeted, too."

Firo had knowledge on the subject, even though he was only a street thug. Who was his master?

"If you stay as you are, nothing is going to change. Whether you like it or not, we're on the same side. I won't try to recruit you anymore, but remember, the offer still stands."

And just like that, he was gone. Instead of getting answers, he only had more questions.

Keon thought about asking Lucky for an explanation of the situation, but he wasn't part of his gang, and it didn't involve him. Not like having the answers would change anything.

He was supposed to stay indifferent. A half-hearted change in either direction wouldn't help anyone. Not him and not Cassius.

People from different gangs came to Lucky for hits and leads all the time, and this was no different. The clones had one purpose in the end, and that was freedom. How they ended up there didn't matter. This election was one step in that direction, for the clones, for the gangs like Lucky's and even Firo's.

The only one who was abnormal was him.

Was it wrong to do nothing?

Keon smoked one last cigarette, mind reeling on that one last fact, on Cassius and his father before he headed back inside. Damn that bastard for telling him things he didn't need to know.

Back inside, the bar was the same as he left it, melancholic and empty, with only a few patrons drinking at the end of the long oak bar table. On the TV, the news was playing as the dim lights shone on the floor below him.

From time to time, Keon glanced at it as he wiped down the counter, glimpsing Cassius on the screen. He was wearing a black suit with a matching tie, his blonde hair tied back. It was a step up from the sweats he always wore around the house. This Cassius and the one he saw were different, barely recognizable. He wondered how he never recognized that passionate, powerful gaze Cassius wore sooner. There was a glimmer in his eyes as he stood there and spoke about what he wanted to do in the future. For humanity, he said, for clones.

Watching him, it was as if he was a different person.

Before the voting started, before his nerves could get the better of him, Keon found the remote and turned the TV off.

Fear gripped him for the first time since being taken under Cassius's ownership. Things were going to change, and he wasn't ready.

In the end, he didn't want to see who got voted on the board.