Ten Years Ago

Seeker was regretting ever being born into this world. He was clutching the side of the building and his head at the same time.

Last night was a bit of a blur but it always was when Valkyr stopped in for a not-so-quiet pint. He had sauntered in as Seeker was closing up, they proceeded to spend until the early hours of the morning pounding pints and shooting the shit.

Seeker still did not know what was causing the haunted look swimming in Valkyr’s eyes but he was not one to pry. Fuck knows he has his own secrets to keep buried. He didn’t want to push away the only person he could call a friend right now.

The sounds of the street surrounded him, he meant to be here much earlier in the day. With the sun just setting behind the houses as if it was ashamed to be seen in this shitty part of the city.

Seeker’s head was still pounding even after the painkillers and all water he had smashed earlier. It made him question; why was he here again?

His shattered brain grudgingly rustled up the answer.

He had heard rumours of another Levi Prime. That the Prime had set up shop around here somewhere.

Sounded like a cult. Worth checking out if there was a copy who had made it as a Prime though.

Even when Seeker was in the depths of his cups the Mission was always there. Scratching away at the back of his mind. He was no Levi. He did what was right, what he should do. That is why he was cursing himself softly out here, trying to not throw up at the mouth of the alleyway across from an unassuming single story stone building.

The flow of humanity was starting to build up along the main road as the sun slunk away. This part of the town was mostly free of the grips of various gangs so people could get soused with only the usual threat of being shanked for looking at someone wrong. You were not going to get pressed into a life of servitude and terror at the hands of the Finchers or the Knocker Men.

Heading here from the Skin Drum had reminded him of why he hated to leave his little pub. On the way he had walked passed no less than four copies of Levi. They all wore different clothing, different stages of unkempt beard but they were still the same. Just like him. It was hard to convince yourself you were actually a person, that you belonged in this world when just walking to the shops meant you saw your own face staring back at you from another mans body.

Seeker had been watching the building for over an hour now and had seen various copies of Levi walking in and out of the front without a care. There was obviously a leader of some sort, maybe an actual Prime living large there, sending out his drones to do his bidding. The thought curdled in the Seekers gut. Maybe that was the hangover. Either way, he had a bellyful of it.

It was difficult to tell if they were the same copies or not as, goddamn it, they all looked the same.

Not sure of the actual plan yet, he loitered in the mouth of the alleyway. The smell of the place was not bad enough that he needed to hustle on or lose his mediocre lunch. He could try and walk in and pretend he was just another Levi? That maybe he wanted to join whatever this cult was peddling? On queue his hacking cough struck him. The months of smashing pints and smoking pack after pack had started to leave a rasp to his voice. Not a sexy come hither one, more an oh-god-not-cancer one.

Maybe trying to walk in the front door and bluff his way through when he couldn’t talk without blowing his cover was not the best plan. His fuzzy brain was trying, really trying but being pickled every night in alcohol was not the way to get the best results.

He could just try and talk to the Prime? Get him on side? As he didn’t know what the Prime’s Mission was Seeker was not willing to risk it. What if his Mission was to find the best way of killing people? Torturing information out of people? It could be anything and from his limited interaction with other Levi’s the Seeker had learnt that they were all arseholes. Throw being a Prime onto that bonfire of an ego and you have the recipe for super arsehole.

Maybe it was not a cult, maybe it was like a self help group for copies that couldn’t take it any more, like a Levi’s Anonymous.

The thought brought a chuckle followed by another bout of hacking coughs.

Seeker watched as three more Levi’s came up the street as the Sun disappeared and the lights reluctantly flickered on as if to avoid doing work. Trying to watch closely he realised that one of the copies was Steve né Levi, one of the Skin Drum regulars. Seeker was not surprised as he was the source of the rumour. The men walked up to the front door and knocked, it was opened by another copy. The roiling in the Seekers stomach could be the hangover or the seeing three copies of the same person that he was trying to not be any more.

They all disappeared into the house, by the Seekers count there must be at least ten Levi’s in there now. Any one of them could be this mystery Prime. He needed to find out what was actually happening. He also knew that he should get back to the Skin Drum and open it for the evening. Surly Curly might drop by unannounced and if she found the place closed she would pitch a fit.

Heading back to the Skin Drum the Seeker found that the cool evening air was soothing the headache, however two streets from the Drum it came roaring back to life. People in this part of town are so busy just trying to live, trying to make something of their life here in Arcadia. It was hard since the city had lost its Super Patron so the gangs had been gaining power. It meant that if you were down, then you were out. The poor gained their own almost Super, becoming invisible to people.

Seeker tried to help where he could as he knew that Levi never did. The man lying there, prostrate on the ground with an empty cap in front of him in the universal sign of begging looked familiar.

It was another copy.

Levi Prime paid a monthly stipend to each of the copies however with so many created so quickly and Levi Prime was not one for much forward planning, plenty of copies seemed to have fallen through the cracks.

Maybe he was wrong about the House of Levi as he had mentally noted it. It very well could be a support group for the copies that couldn’t hack it out here.

Emptying his pockets into the man’s hat Seeker tried to move on before the copy noticed him. The prostrate man looked up and the two men’s eyes met briefly.

“Thank you Brother.” The man on the ground said.

The Seeker had no response. His hatred for this city that allowed this to happen, hatred for Levi Prime for doing this, hatred for himself as he was just another Levi. The headache bored through him and made him feel hollowed out.

“Stay alive. Stick it to that fuck and live.” The Seeker choked out through gritted teeth. He strode off then towards his sanctuary, seething. He would not be just another copy. He would make Levi Prime pay.