#polarspaz

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Leon yelped as his feet slid out from under him, talons slipping on the dew-covered grass. Now, normally this wouldn't be unusual - maybe a bit embarrassing but nothing more.

Except he hadn't been on any grass, and even if he had, it was the middle of the day! There shouldn't have been any dew to begin with!

He ended up sliding down a pretty steep hill, crashing into something huge at the bottom. He wheezed as the breath got knocked out of him, claws scraping against the thing for purchase. He stopped shortly after though, because that didn't feel like a rock or a tree, it felt like carapace.

He scrambled off of the thing, nearly tripping over his damn feet. His hand instinctively went to his waist, closing around his gun as he got his bearings.

The thing looked like a giant lump of dark carapace, red leathery skin peaking out between the plates. A long tail that looked like it belonged to a fucking Xenomorph was splayed out behind it, with a wickedly dangerous-looking stinger at the end. Its arms were covered in dark chitin, ending in three long and spindly-looking claws. Not fingers, claws. Its legs were skinny, spikes adorning their backs and ending with two thin claws.

Slowly, Leon crept around the thing, tail arching slightly just in case. He blinked as he spotted clothes (which were absolutely shredded, by the way) on it. Was this… a BOW?

Probably recently mutated, if it's still got clothes on. He noted, trying to keep his steps quiet.

He stopped in his tracks as his gaze landed on the thing's head, brain short-circuiting as he stared at its - his - face.

Unlike the rest of his body, the BOW's face was actually skin-colored. Well… the top half of it was, anyway. The bottom half was completely dedicated to ten - yes, ten - insectoid mouthparts, small black fangs tipping a couple of them.

Talk about a face only a mother could love. He distantly quipped, more focused on one detail in particular.

The BOW had hair, sandy blond and stopping just before the mandibles. That in-of itself was unusual; BOWs didn't normally have hair, or at least the T-Virus ones didn't. But what was really fucking with him was something that was impossible: that was his hair. The exact same shade, a little bit longer, and a little bit messier, but still.

Shit, had someone fucking cloned him? Was that even possible?

"What the fuck-?" He whispered in disbelief, slapping a hand over his mouth when he realized talking might not be a good idea.

Because his luck was absolute shit, the BOW's eyes snapped open (solid blue, no pupils that he could see). They looked around slightly before zeroing in on him, widening before the BOW leapt up.

Both Leon and the unknown bioweapon bolted away from each other, the ex-cop yanking his gun out and training it on the creature.

"Fuck wait wait wait DON'T SHOOT-!" The BOW screeched with his hands raised, insect-like noises spilling forth from his mouthparts (Leon shuddered as he spotted the needle-like teeth in the other's mouth, fuck that looked creepy).

He briefly sent a mental thank you to Foxtrot for translating all of that, his tagalong chittering happily.

"I won't shoot if you don't attack." He replied, watching as the BOW's face twisted in shock, "Who are you, and where am I?"

"What the hell-? How can you-? How are you even-?" The possible-clone chittered and growled, shaking his head before finally replying, "I don't know where we are. As for who I am… you wouldn't believe me."

Leon's eyes narrowed, pupils thinning as he grew irritated, "Try me."

The BOW hesitated for a moment, mandibles twitching and stinger tapping against the ground, before sighing heavily, "Fine. My name's Leon Kennedy."

What?

"Excuse me what?!" He exclaimed, bottom jaw flaring out on reflex. He didn't want to believe the guy but, fuck how else could he explain the similarities?

The other (and way taller holy shit) stared at him openly, which… buddy you sure as hell don't have any room to judge appearances.

Feeling petty (and wanting to confirm the guy was telling the truth), Leon flicked his tongue out, catching the guy's scent, and watching as the guy got more weirded out. Foxtrot's own senses gave him a good idea of what his natural scent was, so all he had to do was compare the two and-

They matched. They fucking matched.

Now, don't get him wrong, it wasn't a direct one-to-one. The stranger smelled… older, and there was this weird scent underneath it that Leon couldn't pin down. It smelled almost like… chemicals?

"What the hell." He sighed after several seconds, holstering his gun as he relaxed, "As if my life can't get more fucking weird!"

The other Leon gave him a sympathetic look (he had no clue how the guy made that work, given how fucked up his face was), before responding bitterly with, "Hey, at least you can talk."

Leon winced at that; yeah he'd be pretty miffed if he couldn't speak either, "Sorry. It's just- fucked up y'know?"

The bug-man waved him off, growing curious as he asked, "How can you understand me anyway?"

"Because of this guy," He tapped his chest with a claw, tail flicking casually, "Foxtrot's translating those noises you're making. 'S really handy with badly mutated victims."

"Foxtrot…?" Leon tilted his head before suddenly blinking, "Hold on, you mean the fucking Plaga?!"

"Yup." He replied casually, popping the "p", "Why?"

"The hell kind of Plaga do you have?!" He asked incredulously, eyebrows raised, "I thought they turned people into fucked-up bugs! And why did you name the damn thing?!"

"What do you mean "why did I name it"?! Why wouldn't I? Fox is stuck with me as much as I'm stuck with them! Neither of us exactly chose this y'know!" Leon snapped in reply, the plates on his back raising up a bit in anger.

"It's a parasite," His monstrous double hissed, tail lashing behind him as he balled his fists, "one that turns you into its fucking meat puppet and mutates you."

Foxtrot's righteous indignation nearly bowled him over, his passenger screeching in fury, hive guardian danger danger danger howdareyou?!

He let out a long-suffering sigh, trying to calm the Plaga down. Foxtrot was so angry that he didn't even bother asking what they meant; the last thing he needed was an angry bug who could influence his own emotions.

"Look," He ground out, breath hissing past his teeth, "whatever kind of Plaga you've dealt with, mine isn't that. From what Dr. Serra's notes said, this," He jabbed his chest with his thumb, "isn't a parasite, not anymore. Umbrella fucked with any member of their species they could find; they wanted a weapon, something they could package and sell or use against their enemies. You do not want to know what was in that fucking lab, it made William's mutations look like child's play!"

That seemed to catch his attention, his more bug-like counterpart's eyes widening. Leon was both relieved he understood, and disturbed that William's bad decisions were apparently multiversal.

…Points for consistency at least?

Sherry and Annette would kill me if they heard that. He thought with a shudder.

"…Hang on, you said Dr. Serra? As in Luis Serra?"

Leon snapped out of his thoughts at that question, looking at his counterpart curiously, "Uh… yeah? I think that was his name, why?"

"Probably because he knows me - or well, a version of me, Mini-Sancho."

He nearly leapt out of his scales at the unknown voice, whipping around with a surprised hiss. His eyes landed on a dark-haired man smirking at him, and a blond girl (who looked about Claire's age, if he had to guess) standing next to him was staring at him openly.

"Who're-?"

"Oh for the love of-! Luis, Ashley what did I tell you?!"

"To be fair… they don't look hostile?"

Leon watched in utter shock as more versions of himself walked towards them, brain short-circuiting from the absurdity of the situation.

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Ashley couldn't help giggling as Viper (the Leon with scales) collapsed on the brake room couch, groaning like a man done with everything.

Z (the undead Leon) tilted his head at the technically-younger (even if he looked the same age) man, tapping his shoulder before signing, "You okay?"

Thankfully he knew sign language, replying with a sigh, "Yeah, I'm fine… maybe."

Leon (the amnesiac kidnapped bioweapon; everyone agreed that he got to keep his name ((and oh boy was Ashley fighting the urge to just… keep him here. The poor guy deserved so much better))) chirped curiously, the antennas on his head twitching like a pair of ears.

Viper sputtered, raising up to stare at Leon as Z watched in confusion, "I'm not sick! Fuck I don't think I even can get sick anymore!"

"Um," Scott (the more bug-looking of the younger Leons) spoke up hesitantly as he entered, Ashley wincing as she looked at his ill-fitting clothes, "according to Kennedy, he definitely caught the flu after mutating."

The bug-like cop paused, glancing around awkwardly for somewhere to sit. Ashley took pity on him, scooting over and patting the now-empty space. Scott blinked before smiling at her, sitting down carefully.

From his spot next to the couch (on the floor, which broke her heart a little), Ver let out a chittering laugh (or at least she thought it was a laugh).

"Oh, like you're safe." Viper snipped playfully, tail jabbing in the older man's direction.

Z looked her dead in the eyes before signing, "This is a fucking mess."

Ashley laughed but couldn't disagree, nodding along.

"I don't know what you mean," Luis replied, earning several raised eyebrows, "I think this is amazing."

Oh, of course he'd be enjoying this.

"Luis for god's sake," Kennedy (their Leon, her best friend) huffed, ruffling the Spaniard's hair as he passed, "would it kill you to behave?"

The scientist squawked and batted Kennedy's hand away, earning a few snickers from the others (herself included).

"So this just… happened to everyone? Randomly?" Scott questioned once they'd settled down, tail awkwardly piled near his feet.

Everyone (minus herself, Luis, and Kennedy) nodded, Z furrowing his brows in thought. The gut hadn't taken off the honest-to-god muzzle on his face, the chunk of metal covering his mouth and nose. Ashley felt sick at the thought of someone muzzling him - or any Leon for that matter, the idea made her angry.

Eventually, the literal dead man walking's hands moved, "I was at the lab… Rebecca wanted to take some blood samples. Next thing I knew, I was in a forest."

"In fucking Alaska of all places!" Viper chimed in incredulously, "Seriously, do those assholes want you to freeze to death?!"

He swiftly pointed at Ver, his voice leaving no room for arguing, "When you go back to them - because I know you will - your Luis had better make sure they don't put you close to the cold! If it's even half as bad as what I go through, I'll tear them a new one myself!"

Leon snickered as Ver wilted, earning himself a hiss (which was countered by a screeching howl).

It was so… weird hearing about how different they all were; most of the changes started in Raccoon City, but they varied and deviated so much that it was head spinning.

Viper wasn't a government agent; he helped found an anti-bioterrorism group - their world's BSAA.