*** 10. Banana Mystery ***
The Silent Feet punks dropped off their deliveries and were almost out of Shrine of Dick when a boy rushed at them from the gate.
"Yo," he said, out of breath. "Are you for hire?"
"Depends," Tyrant said.
"Please, help me. I can't pay much but I'll give you what I can. You need to prove my innocence."
The boy had a strikingly cute face, with full lips and big eyes. His maroon red mohawk was tousled. He wore only a string thong and a belt over his shoulder.
"I'm Cheater," he continued. "My dad didn't want me on the farm because... well, I got my name for a reason. For a while, I tried living off honest work around town, without ever cheating my way out of it."
"Get to the point, kid."
"You see, I always wanted to join the Banana Bitches. And I finally got the money together to apply just when auditions opened. And then... they kicked me out. Said I stole from them the last time I tried to get in."
"Didya?"
"I was never even in the school before!"
Asscunt chuckled. "So the first time you make an honest try, you get wrongly accused."
"Yeah, it sucks."
Tyrant decided this could be a "mission" done within five minutes.
The school was cooperative but that didn't end up helping.
The punks spoke to the same two boys from last time. With Duke gone, they ran he place for chief Throatthrash.
"Sorry," said the Banana Bitch. "We keep pics of all applicants and he was definitely the one who stole."
"What did he steal?" Bucket asked.
"Five tuition's worth of bottle caps. That's a lot of money. Nothing we can forgive and forget unless he pays it back. Our hope of eventual payment is the only reason we haven't handed him over to the guards."
Meanwhile the other Bitch had dug up the image. It was unmistakably Cheater. That settled the case.
Outside, Asscunt pulled Cheater aside. "This theft is supposed to be one month old. How long was your hair then?"
"What?" Cheater asked. "I buzz it off every first. Why?"
Asscunt grinned. "The boy in the pic had longer hair than you do now. It makes no sense. Unless... I have an idea."
Boys were created from genetic templates. Everybody knew that clone thugs were made using the same template – obviously. What not everybody knew was... Sometimes two regular guys from the same template were alive at the same time, too.
Usually they were created decades apart, so they were vastly different ages.
It had always fascinated Asscunt that he might perhaps find and fuck a man who looked just like him but older. Or that one day, years from now, he might fuck a teen version of himself.
They returned to the stronghold and found a terminal.
"Yo BossMan," Asscunt said. "Could two boys from the same gene template be born at the same time, so they're the same age?"
[In extremely rare cases when a damaged embryo is marked for destruction, the issue fixes itself before the vat is destroyed. While the vat is marked for destruction it is not in the system.]
"So they'd make a new person from that template!"
[If the template is chosen in the random lottery, yes.]
"Guys," Asscunt said with a smile. "I think I just found an unintentional clone."
They roamed the area around Shrine of Dick for a few hours each day. There was no shortage of small jobs to do for them since the chief wanted to city to grow like crazy.
It had to happen eventually.
The Silent Feet approached the boy they had spotted. Cheater's identical brother – with now shorter hair – was patching up the settlement's wall.
"Yo!" shouted Tyrant as they cornered him. "You the kid who stole from the Banana Bitches?"
"Oh shit," said the boy. "They hired you to beat me up? Um... come by later at the depot, I'm usually there when-"
"Wait," Tyrant said. "The depot is where Cheater hangs out. You know he exists?"
The fake-Cheater flinched. "You figured that out? Aight, yeah. I stole from them cause I figured I could pin it on Cheater. I had a few other gigs like that planned, too."
"Well, you're in trouble now," Jinx said. "Let's explain the case to the school and they'll accept Cheater's application."
The fake raised both arms. "Wait! I have a better idea. I join the school under Cheater's name. I'll be an honest and hard-working Banana Bitch. And you... get rid of the real Cheater for me."
Tyrant frowned. "Why would we do that?"
"I still have a lot of the stolen bottle caps left. You can have all of it. How much do you think the real Cheater could pay?"
"What sum are we takin'?"
After explaining the incredible case to the school, "Cheater" was allowed to apply. Now that they had a scanner, his barcode could be tied to his identity, preventing the one believed to be a thief from entering the building under a false name.
Then the Silent Feet went looking for the actual Cheater at the depot.
He was behind the building, napping in the shade.
Tyrant poked him with the tagger before waking him up.
"Cheater! Good news. We can clear your name."
"Wow really?"
"Yeah, but you have to go to the stronghold. If you go now, you'll make it there in the middle of the night. And once you're back tomorrow, you can join the Bitches."
"Wow, thank you!"
"Just ask for commander Blaze and tell him we sent you. Now... Time to pay up."
"Right," Cheater said and pulled out a bag of bottle caps. It was a small sum compared to what the new "Cheater" had given them, but the boy didn't need money where he was going.
"Again," he said. "Thank you so much. You're my heroes."
"If you're so grateful," Tyrant said, "Spread your legs for me before you go. If you moan well I might even put in a good word with the Bitches. You seem talented, after all."
Cheater pulled down his string thong. "Sure. I'll be getting off multiple times a day with cute boys from now on. So I might as well start practicing."
Tyrant grinning madly. "Right. You have a lot coming up."
After sending the cum-dripping Cheater on his way to Fuck You, the gang was called to the chief's house.
While their slave still quietly struggled with the scanner, the four punks sat down with Throatthrash.
"I have a new target for you. He's opposing me and wants his city to be the dominant one. I need to replace him with someone loyal."
"And who are you talking about?"
"D."
"Who's D?"
"The chief of Crimson."
"Holy shit!"
"Do we have a deal?"
The Silent Feet looked at each other. Then they kissed the chief's dick.
Note: Sounds like Throatthrash is moving his plans into the final stage. This can't go well, can it? And isn't there someone we should be seeing again soon?
Chapter 11: Weird Reunion