Order of Operations

Gotham City.

Staring directly at the identical copy of me standing in front of me I feel a laugh bubbling up inside of me, one which I had to suppress almost immediately.

"Hello Prime." my 'other self' said with the same odd sense of glee I simultaneously possessed, ignoring the unaturality of having your mind in two places at once and staring and observing every detail of yourself. It was akin to looking in a flesh mirror.

With my calmness in the situation one would be tempted to think that this was a regular occurrence not privy to the fact that less than 2 hours ago I was just a regular schmuck from a different world.

Yes. you heard right this isn't my home reality. Imagine my surprise when I was randomly offered a deal by a being of incomprehensible power that I am almost tempted to call god but seeing as he sent me to this clusterfuck of a world and it had to be dabsmack in the middle of one of the worst cities in the whole damn multiverse, I had urged to call him a sadistic devil instead.

I knew the deal was too good to be true, but being given the chance to go from absolute mediocrity to a being with the chance to strive for godhood was a deal I couldn't pass up on. I really should have known when I was offered Dupli-Kate's power of self replication with a few added benefits.. Whatever that entailed.

Obviously in all my stupidity I accepted without reading the fine print… Anyway it's not like I could do anything about it now all that was left was to make the most of what I had.

First things first dealing with the naked version of me right in front of me it really sucks that I hadn't inherited the ability to clone what I had on me such as clothes or my wallet. But I'm guessing that it wasn't part of Dupli-Kate's original skill set in the first place.

I wondered what the extent of my ability was as I could sense a sort of ethereal link between me and my clone.

[Clone 1 POV]

Being born is such an odd feeling I could feel myself get created albeit I had my own set of memories and in all aspects I was the same as the original. 

Prime.

We had a mutual understanding being the same person and all. No killing each other to be the original, survival first and foremost. 

And right now was a pivotal moment in determining our plan moving forward. I closed my eyes, reaching inward similar to how Prime had done prior to my birth. I sensed a ball of energy, a seemingly glowing ball of energy although it had less of a glow compared to Prime's if mine was to be considered a phone flashlight, his was an industrial grade torch.

Taking a piece of the glowing ball of energy I willed it to exit my body as in less than 2 seconds I was staring at another identical copy of myself. 

"""Interesting""" all three of us say simultaneously.

[Prime Pov]

I stared at the two identical copies of me with a sadistic grin almost planted on my face. My brain was already beginning to whirl with ideas and the potential implications of my new power. 

I was heavily considering making numerous clones and making them make clones and flooding the whole world. 

Quickly purging that idea from my head as it was nothing more than glorified suicide there were more efficent ways to kill myself. Right now the kevlar wearing bat cosplayer could take me down and still make it home in time for dinner. Not to talk of the other overpowered entities within this world.

I really need to find a way to have my clones not be naked upon conception marking that to the mental equivalent of a post it note I began planning my next steps.

Ideally I would want to be situated in a pocket dimension far far away from here and lounging around while my clones do all the work.

Sensing the death glare my two other 'selves' gave me I also shut down that train of thought for now at least. 

We had all come to the mutual agreement throughout telepathic link that my life held a greater weight than theirs seeing as I was Prime and my death could also mean their erasure from the land of the living of course that could also not be true and they could be able to live without me, I doubted that any of them really wanted to take that chance

Ideally I want at least a squad of clones in every major city monitoring events and looking for chances to get stronger but for now I'm content with leaving these two in here and bolting the fuck out of Gotham.

I had no doubt that these two would be able to figure something out seeing as they were me perhaps with a little less care about their lives.

Nodding to the two clones I walked out of the alleyway leaving my duplicates there as I hailed down a taxi and ordered it to take me as far away as possible from gotham before an asteroid or some other nonsensical shenanigans happened to this hell incarnate of a city.

[Clone 1 pov] 

Staring at my alternate self, my mind once again began whirling through the telepathic link with Prime. We can still communicate and there doesn't seem to be a distance limit. As I tap into Prime's point of view I can see that he is still in the taxi.

Now to resolve the issue with clothes… I pondered as I stared at my second duplicate, I could find a shelter perhaps in a crime ridden city such as Gotham. I doubt that there are any lack of people who get mugged for their clothes.

Now there's option B, Mug someone of their clothes as they say when in Rome do as the Romans do, my only qualm with the idea is Batman. 

But I'm tempted to believe that something as small as this won't fall under his radar, for all the man pretends to be something more; he is still human and with that comes weakness.

Deciding on the plan I make two more clones in case of any mishaps occurring bringing our total now to five. Having two of them hideout using the darkness of the alleyway and having the other wait a bit away in case we truly got our asses handed to us,we waited till we found some suitable prey. And it didn't take all two long for us to find the perfect target typical of gotta fashion there was a mugging going on.

"Hey pretty lady, why do you be a dearie and hand over what's in the bag." Said a gruff voice as a scrawny shaped figure came into view as his body was pressed against a similarly scrawny figure.

'How cliche.' I thought to myself my other clones sharing the same mutual feeling all around 

Looking at the scene occurring in front of me a small chuckle creeps its way onto my face as I am truly sure now that this was Gotham through and through casting away the derailing train of thought. I planned my next course of action as I continued to observe silently for now.

"I don't have anything!" the woman replied oblivious to the multiple people bearing witness to the crime happening right now.

"Do you expect me to believe that!" The man said getting a bit more violent as he put a firm grip on her arm preventing her from escaping. "Do you think I'm new to this, Give me everything in the fucking bag" he said as he used his remaining free hand to reach into his pocket and bringing out what appeared to be a switch knife.

The man holding the knife up to the now intimidated woman said once again "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours."

I looked on waiting for the right time to intervene, originally I was going to step in and prevent that woman from being mugged but the knife changed the game entirely. I am not a knight in shining armour, survival is the goal here. I decided to wait until he had finished the business with the woman.

"Here! T-This is all I have!" The woman said tearfully as she reached in and grabbed what seemed to be a wallet and handed it over to the man.

The man accepting it pried it open, inspecting the contents and nodding to himself with a crooked smile on his face as if he had just done the world a favour. "See that wasn't so hard was it, Now on you go."

I looked on being a bit surprised. I had assumed the man had more unsavoury intention; he had rather just stolen her money and let her go scott free.

I watched on as he counted his gain from his endeavour. Waiting for the most opportune time to strike we watched as his fingers ran through the stack of bills in his hand, sending a telepathic nod to my other clone we struck.

The mugger didn't even have time to register what had happened to him as we lunged, one of us grabbing his arm and the other tackling him to the ground. I kicked the knife out of his hand prompting one of the clones to grab it.

"Wh-What the actual fuck, What the hell are you doing you bastards?!" he yelled, his eyes looking frantically trying to make out exactly who the people who just jumped him were.I didn't let him even formulate a thought as I delivered a blow to his stomach which sent him reeling as he bent over in agony.

I had my clones hold him down as I sent the command to strip him from head to toe. The cold feeling of the floor bit into my feet as I contemplated on whether what I was doing was right or not. Quickly shaking off this thought I looked back at my clones.

Being handed the loot from our endeavour I took inventory as we had gotten a hoodie, a black shirt and some all things considered really nice pants. Although there was a strong stench of alcohol and cigarettes they would have to do for now. Outfitting the clothes and stashing the knife in a pocket as there was also some extra loot this sucker really had $500 in cash on him 

I crouched down tilting my head as I watched him still shuddering in pain. My fingers trailed against his cheek as I grabbed him forcing him to look into my eyes as I whispered into his ear.

 "You're going to lead me to the other scumbags in this city."

His eyes widened as my words sunk in as I could sense the fear radiating from him. I could see the cold sweat forming on his brow. Yet despite that I could feel a slight hint of resistance emanating from his gaze.

'No-Now why the fuck would I do that for some fucks who just jumped me." He yelled in my face as my gaze remained planted on his face. I let out an odd grin as I reached into the back pocket of my pants and pulled out the knife he had previously used to mug the woman.

His eyes seemed to shake as he realized what I had pulled out, placing the knife up against his neck letting him feel the cold edge of the blade in my hand with my gaze transfixed on him I said once again.

"You're going to tell us where to find your scummy little friends, You've got a lot of them in this city don't you? Scumbags who rob vulnerable women" I said, my tone weirdly calm as if I was asking for the weather as opposed to threatening a man to lead me to other targets to rob. "I don't have a lot of time so you either tell me to lead me to them or you taste the iron in your own blood."

I could feel the nervous twitches of his body beneath me, as I could see him weighing his options and trying to wiggle his way out of this. But I knew exactly what kind of person he was. I had dealt with lots of them in my old world. Bullies. The kind of guys who could be bent to shape with a knife and a few threats. I was hoping it was the same in Gotham.

"I have no idea what the fuk youre talking about dude." he stammered as he tried to fight his way out of my grasp to which I promptly commanded my clones to hold him down as I decided to take a more forceful approach as I inched the blade closer into his neck as it was about to penetrate his skin, he called out.

"Alright…Alright!" He yelled as his body slumped with resignation, his voice cracking as he spoke. "You wanna know where they are? You'll find 'em down by the docks. There's a huge warehouse you can't miss it, they run shit from there. Drugs, weapons, the whole shebang."

A huge grin found its way onto my face as I released my grip on him as I let him drop down onto the concrete. "Good boy. Now lead us there."

I glanced at my clones, a frown quickly appearing on my face. We needed to solve the naked issue quickly. While observing the clones I also took the chance to really take in my features.

Dark hair, good jawline and a lean build–nothing too stunning just good enough to blend into a crowd. Although now that I had clones of myself I had to make some sort of disguise to make sure we aren't recognized too quickly.

But that was a problem for later putting it on the mental equivalent of a to do list. I turned back to Mr Mugger and smiled.

"We got some work to do."

Gotham was about to experience a reckoning.

Chapter 2.

Gotham's nightlife was as one would expect, the streets reeked with filth and desperation, the city seemed to be watching omnisciently as the sounds of distant sirens muffled those of nearby screams.

Pressing the knife lightly against the mugger's back I urged him to move forward with a bit more urgency. There was almost no hesitation in my action as this had reminded me of the first time I had hurt someone, I expected guilt or maybe even regret however I felt nothing but a hollow shell. Perhaps that was a sign, a sign that I was different, maybe if I had gotten help then and there I would have made better choices and I wouldn't have–.

My clones surrounded us, their presence a reminder for him to act in line, their unnaturally identical faces avidly watching him as if waiting for him to step out of line. He too however was glancing at us as if trying to make sense of what he was looking at but the blade directly aligned with his spine didn't really give him much leeway in regards to pondering.

I leaned in as I asked. "Tell me more about this warehouse, how many people are there. What are we walking into exactly?"

The mugger scoffed trying to put on a confident front although I could hear the nervousness in his voice. "You think they'll just let you in? They got guards, the real nasty kinds, heard they came over from china they deal in weapons and other high profile items. Can't give you an exact number but there should be around 10-20 could be less though rumors been spreading that The Bat gonna target there next. I don't know what exactly you was thinking going in with only four guys so unless you're Superman or something they gonna light you and your boys up faster than a whore does her pipe."

I chuckled a bit at the last part, albeit a low one." I think we will be fine. You, however?" I let my words hang in the air for a second.

'He's right though, if what he says is true we are simply walking to a pointless suicide.'

'Agreed we need a more concrete plan of attack.'

'I second that. Also the risk is too big, we cannot afford to let Batman know about us so soon. As of now our greatest strength isn't our powers but that no one has no idea who we are at all. I say we use that to our advantage'

I take in what my clones have to say. I realize there is merit to their word.

'This would be so much easier if we knew which continuity we were in!' I shouted in rage through our link. We 'had' to play it safe while we built ourselves up.