The Spider Queen

'Cleo' raised an eyebrow and stared at the young man standing at the end of the corridor with a confused expression on her face.

"I'm sorry but... who are you?" the fake princess asked.

The smile on the young man's face cracked slightly and 'Cleo' saw a flash of anger surge behind his calm exterior.

"I am your older brother..." the young man eventually replied with gritted teeth.

"That doesn't really narrow things down... I mean... I'm pretty sure I have around nine hundred older brothers and that's not even counting the bastards..." 'Cleo' said calmly.

She could tell that her attitude was pissing off the young man, so she continued to act as though it was no big deal to meet one of her siblings.

"I am... Prince Luke..." the young man declared as he resumed smiling but this time the smile on his face was clearly forced.

"Ohh... yeah... I still have no clue who you are," 'Cleo' responded as she stretched out her arms and lazily yawned.

"The crown prince is my brother..." Prince Luke replied as his fingers curled up into a tight fist.

He wanted nothing more than to punch his arrogant sister who seemed determined to piss him off.

"Okay... well I don't really care... just show me where my mother is so I can leave this place," 'Cleo' said with a sneer on her face.

Her attitude was one of arrogance. It was like she did not comprehend the situation that she was currently in.

Prince Luke did not find her attitude suspicious because members of the royal family were quite spoilt, and most did not know about real world hardships.

"Come this way," Prince Luke said politely as he turned around and began to walk towards the deeper part of the corridor.

'Cleo' followed behind him but still maintained a healthy distance just in case something happened.

The walls of the hidden base began to change the deeper they went underground.

The beginning of the passageway was made of stone and dirt but further inside the materials changed to metals and high-tech devices.

Hooded figures stood silently with their backs pressed against the walls. They did not move a single muscle as 'Cleo' and Prince Luke walked past them.

In fact, it was almost as though they had somehow been turned into living statues.

'Cleo' continued to share her senses with Sophie and the pair silently communicated as she travelled through the base.

Sophie: [Do you think that Cleo's mother is really trapped down here?]

The clone: [Not sure... does Cleo know anything about this Prince Luke guy? He acted oddly familiar as if I was expected to know who he was]

Sophie: [No... she has never met him before... but apparently there are rumors that he is nothing but a waste]

The fake princess frowned slightly as she looked at the back of the young man leading her towards an unknown location.

She was stronger than him.

The cultivation level of Prince Luke was clearly somewhere in the qi tide stage which was quite disgraceful considering his age.

And there was a heavy scent of alcohol lingering around his body that made her nose wrinkle up in disgust.

Prince Luke finally arrived at a set of large metalloid doors that were guarded by two hooded figures holding plasma rifles.

He did not have to say a word as the guards stepped to the side and the doors swung open to reveal a large space.

The prince stepped into the room and a moment later 'Cleo' followed behind him while stealing a few glances at the motionless guards.

The doors immediately swung shut as she entered the room. The fake princess had a wary expression on her face as she took in her immediate surroundings.

Dozens if not hundreds of human sized glass containers lined the walls of the room, and each was filled with creatures submerged in a greenish-yellow liquid.

No... wait a moment... were those things humans?

They were humans.

'Cleo's' eyes narrowed as she realised that the organisms inside the containers were humans who had been sliced, dissected, and stitched back together to create monstrous abominations.

Were they alive?

The fake princess walked up to one of the containers and took a closer look.

She could see that the test subject's chest was slowly rising and falling which meant that it was somehow still breathing despite the damage done to its body.

"Where is my mother?" 'Cleo' demanded with rage that could be clearly heard in her voice.

"Patience my dear sister... you see... I have not exactly been honest with you," Prince Luke chuckled as bemusement flashed in his eyes.

He snapped his fingers and two figures walked out from behind the shadows of the glass containers.

The first was a middle-aged woman with hair that was beginning to grey.

She was dressed in a similar outfit to the hooded figures, but she had lowered the hood so that her face could be seen.

She had clearly once been a beauty and even now traces of her youthful charms still remained on her face.

Her facial features were eerily similar to Prince Luke's and they both had the same hooked nose.

The woman next to her was Cleo's mother except her body slightly changed and morphed with every step that she took.

"A Quafes? What the hell is going on?" the fake princess asked with apparent confusion and anger in her voice.

Secretly she felt a bit relieved.

Now that she had confirmed that Cleo's real mother was not here... it meant that she could unleash chaos without worry.

"Forgive my son..." the middle-aged woman spoke in a quiet tone.

"He only wished to set up this meeting so that we could ask for your help. We mean you no harm... in fact we quite admire you..."

"Funny way of showing it... last time I checked you don't ask for help by pretending to kidnap and torture someone's mother," 'Cleo' scoffed clearly not buying her excuse.

The woman shook her head and turned to the Quafes who was currently mimicking Concubine Sisrelis' appearance.

"Change and return to your post," the middle-aged woman calmly spoke.

The Quafes melted away into a golden puddle of biomass liquid and then slid on the floor towards the back of the room.

"I did not want to do things this way but... desperate times do call for desperate measures," the woman said with a heavy tone.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny glass vial that was filled with a greenish liquid that bubbled and hissed.

She flung the vial at 'Cleo' who dodged out of the way with ease. The glass vial crashed to the ground and a long crack appeared on its surface.

A thick green fog erupted from the container which immediately filled the lab room. 'Cleo' began to cough violently as she pretended to be affected by the toxin.

She may look like Cleo, but her internal structures and organs were identical to Sophie's, so toxins had no effect on her.

She crashed to the ground with a heavy thump and closed her eyes as if she had just fallen unconscious.

She could hear shuffling footsteps coming closer and closer and a pair of strong hands grabbed her shoulders in a vice-like grip.

"Bring her to the chamber," a muffed voice said calmly. The voice sounded as though it came from behind a mask.

'Cleo' kept her eyes closed as her body was dragged off to some unknown location.