I wasn't lying when I said I didn't have memories from over a year ago.

But that's not because of amnesia.

Let's go back to the beginning readers.

My beginning.

The first ever time I opened my eyes I was greeted to a warped view of a lab. I was floating inside of a large tube filled with liquid, staring at multiple scientists that looked at me in wonder and shock.

This was the moment I was born.

It was weird. I knew of the world. I knew of things such as trees and grass, what scientists are, and what a lab looks like, for example.

But any personal memories were nonexistent. I was a completely blank slate, and I knew that upon the first time I opened my eyes.

"He's alive!" One of them gasped.

"I did it! I knew it would work!" Cackled one, pressing his face against the glass as he looked at me with an exaggerated grin of glee. He had scruffy brown hair, blue eyes, and a name tag that said "Dr. Vandercourt".

My creator.

"Get him out." Ordered my creator, who I would eventually learn was named Vincent. "Throw him in with the hero. Now that it's worked I need to plan what to experiment next."

He walked off, leaving the other scientists to pull me out of the tank, dry me off, and get me dressed. I let them do everything without resistance, having utterly no clue or idea what was going on.

They dragged me over to a different place in the building, a locked room with no windows, a singular light bulb, and a toilet. It looked like a prison room.

They tossed me in, locking the door behind me. I hit the ground, a light pain stinging my body for the first time. I laid there for a moment, unmoving, before a voice entered my ears.

"Holy shit." The voice gasped.

I turned towards the sound, realizing that in the corner of the room was sitting a blonde man in his early twenties. He looked at me in shock with emerald green eyes.

"You look exactly like me." He stated, looking at me in amazement. "Or, mostly at least."

I simply stared at him, studying his features. Is that how I looked? I had no recollection of what I was even supposed to look like. I gazed at my body, looking at my hands, arms, legs, and feet for the first real time.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" He lightly smiled. "Hey, it's nice to meet you. You can call me Miracle."

He extended a hand out towards me.

I looked towards it, confused. I slowly moved my hand out, allowing him to grasp it and move our hands up and down.

I see. This is a handshake, is it not?

"I assume you're what they used my blood for then." He replied, looking up at the ceiling. "Damn, really shouldn't have gotten caught. I'm a hero, I'm not supposed to be in jail!"

He looked back at me, cracking a grin. "Can you tell me about yourself?"

"My...self?" I spoke for the first time, surprised by the sound of my own voice. It sounded exactly like the man I was talking with.

I patted my body, thinking to myself. But nothing came to mind. I simply looked at him, shaking my head in the motion used to signal a no. I even know that. It was like second nature, even though I had never performed the move before.

It was so strange.

"I kinda figured." Miracle sadly smiled. "No name, I assume?"

I shook my head once more.

"Would you be alright if I named you?" He asked. "I have to warn you though, I'm not good at naming things."

Before I could even realize it I was slowly shaking my head in the other directions, up and down. This was the motion to signal a yes, right?

"Then how about..." He hummed to himself for a good moment, trying to think of a name. He squinted his eyes, staring at the wall before finally sighing. "...Jason?"

I nodded once again.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Jason." Miracle smiled. "Love to give you my real name, but that's kind of a privacy hazard for me! You know, being an epic hero and all."

"Hero..." I lightly muttered.

"I could tell you some stories if you'd like." Miracle grinned.

For hours over the passing days he would tell me stories of himself, other heroes, and his brother whenever one of us wasn't being tested somehow. And it was those stories in that final category that truly made his eyes light up.

I barely understood love, but I could understand that is how he felt about his brother. He didn't refer to him by name often for safety reasons, but the first time he had told me about his brother he had whispered the name into my ear.

Gabriel.

How he loved his brother. After all, the younger boy was all that Miracle had left. Their parents had died a few years ago. Once Miracle was old enough he started to take care of Gabriel on his own, working multiple jobs to keep them afloat.

He told me countless stories. About that time when Gabriel was first learning how to ride a bike when he was six, about that time he got sick and Miracle took care of him all day, about that time they would make sleepover forts and laugh all night.

Inbetween being told stories I had multiple different experiments conducted on me. Blood tests to examine how mine differed to Miracle's, combat tests that showed I had the muscle memory of the hero without any of the memories, and examinations that no matter what I did I continued to not show any powers.

One day, Miracle trusted me enough to tell me his biggest, and saddest, story about Gabriel. That was when I learned about how the two got mugged. Miracle was taking Gabriel back home as he always did, because he was the only one that Gabriel had anymore.

This day was different. They got cornered by a man with a gun, obviously crazy and unhinged. He tried to reason, tried to give the man everything he had, but it still wasn't enough.

The man pulled the trigger. Gabriel should've died. In fact, the only reason he didn't was due to a "stroke of luck".

Miracle didn't realize until he was examined after the incident and they discovered the presence of an S-Genome inside of him. Eventually Miracle would learn that his incredible luck was a byproduct of that under the tutelage of his superhero mentor.

"And that's how I became a hero." Miracle sighed, looking out into the distance. "To make sure that never happens to anyone else. It's been three years since then now."

Miracle looked back at me, lightly punching me on the shoulder. "I'll lighten the mood. Let me tell you about this time I accidentally slipped and kicked the villain right in the face!"

I enjoyed listening to his stories. Through them I learned everything about the man I was made from. From his personality to his likes to his adventures.

He would continue to babble while I would silently listen. And I would enjoy every second of it. In this miserable situation we had found ourselves in, we found a way to get enjoyment out of it.

And then came the day things started to change.

A month after my birth.

I still remember being pulled out of one more experiment. Vincent Vandercourt glared at the screen, furiously typing away as I simply stood there.

"Are you kidding me?!" He screamed. "Why is he not showing anything?! The DNA for the S-Genome is right there, and yet he shows no powers!"

He smashed his hands on the keyboard, before turning towards me. A loud slap echoed through the air as my vision went sideways and I fell to the ground, my cheek stinging.

"Fucking useless." He spat. "Get him back to the cell. We'll eliminate him after we successfully create a new clone. This one is evidently a failure."

I was dragged back to the cell and thrown inside for the millionth time. I slowly sat up as Miracle looked at me, eyes widening.

"What happened?" He questioned, getting close and examining my cheek.

"Slap." I simply stated. Slowly I had started to talk more. "Failure. He's going to make a new clone. Then eliminate me."

"Damn it." Miracle cursed, before talking quietly. "We're going to need to push the schedule ahead then. We need to leave now."

"Why?" I questioned. "You are not fully prepared."

"I'm not letting you die." Miracle replied. "We are breaking out tonight."

Over the month we had slowly been gathering items for escape. With a sleight of hand here and a sleight of hand there whenever we were pulled out of the cell for experiments we gathered small items.

With them, Miracle created two little daggers for self defense. One for each of us. Once night had struck we enacted the plan. It wasn't much, simply breaking out and escaping. But we had been slowly analyzing the layout of the building.

We knew the route out. We could do this.

The next morning one of the scientists came to grab Miracle. No doubt to collect more of his blood to create a new clone. They were too used to us being compliant. We quickly knocked him out and made a ran for it.

Alarms blared through the facility. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and the whole experience is still a little blurry. We ran, bullets flying after us as guards pursued. We dashed all the way to where the entrance should be.

And of course, it was guarded. We lunged for them, narrowly missing being shot. I don't ever doubt it was because of Miracle's special luck that we had managed to make it this far.

I stabbed the makeshift knife into the guys side, throwing him down as he groaned in pain. I went to reach for his gun only for a horrified yell to come from behind me.

"Jason!" Miracle screamed, a gunshot ringing through the air.

I was flung off of my feet, having been pushed to the side by Miracle. Time seemed to slow down as I watched Miracle's fearful face. And with wide eyes I saw as the bullet pierced straight through Miracle's chest. He collapsed to the floor with an agonizing yell, blood leaking from under him.

"Damn it, I hit the wrong one." Vincent cursed, holding a smoking pistol.

Autopilot took over me. I grabbed Miracle and busted out, barely avoiding the next gunshots that followed. I ran like my life depended on it, exiting the building into the back alleyways of a city.

I continued to run and run and run without having any idea where I was going. I simply continued to get as far away as I could while in the back alleys.

And finally, I dropped to my knees, Miracle in my arms. He coughed, blood staining my long dirtied outfit as he laid in my arms.

"Why...?" I questioned. "Why did you...?"

"Jason..." Miracle crookedly grinned. "...you're like a brother to me. Like another younger brother, heh..."

A ragged cough came from his mouth. "...I told you I wouldn't let you die. I couldn't...let that happen. You mean...too much..."

"No..." For the first time since my creation, tears started to roll down my cheeks. A growing pit was consuming me from the inside, a feeling that I had never felt before.

"Well...I guess I can finally tell you my real...full name." Miracle chuckled. "...it's Jason James."

"You...you gave me your name?" I stared at him, my tears dripping onto his bleeding body.

"I was never good..." He let out another cough. "...at making names. Hah...I think...this is it. Damn..."

"No." I gasped. "No. You have to live. You're a hero. There's still more people to save. What about Gabriel?"

"I care about my...two brother's safety the most. Please..." Miracle cracked a small smile. "...take care of him for me."

"No, no you can't." I cried, my eyes getting blurry. "You can't leave me...you can't die!"

"It'll be okay..." He grinned as the light started to leave his eyes. And his face slowly went slack as he stopped responding.

He passed away in my arms.

I sat there in shock, before letting out a guttural scream. I don't remember how long I was there crying, but I remember it as good as yesterday.

He was an amazing hero, one who had saved so many people, one who fought so hard for his brother.

One who had died because of me.

I stole a shovel and buried him that same day. Even now, no one else knows that the blank gravestone at the grave site is where one of Champion City's favorite heroes was born.

Miracle's death caused me to chain up my recently discovered emotions once again. I found the hospital that Gabriel was situated at, taking over for Miracle's place.

No one had any idea that he had died.

No one knew I took his place.

Every time I would sit next to that bed, I prayed that Gabriel would wake up. But I won't lie, I'm afraid of when he does.

I'm not his brother. I share no memories with him. Everything I know about him was told to me. I'm a fraud impersonating his brother, and I'm sure he'll know when he wakes up.

After all, I may look mostly like him, but I'm nothing compared to Miracle.

Miracle told me to take care of him. So I was going to honor that wish. I was going to do my very best to keep Gabriel alive so one day he could wake up again.

I couldn't try to be Miracle though. I didn't have his powers. I couldn't try to get a normal job either. I had no identification and no education. And especially not when the Administration had the chance of recognizing my face.

So I did what I had to do. I turned to crime. I know that it's not the path he would've wanted me to take, but I had to do it. This way would allow me to get the money required to keep Gabriel alive, and allow me to find Vincent again.

Because when I returned to scout out that building I had escaped from, they had already moved. Vincent Vandercourt, that fucking murderer, vanished.

I was going to keep Gabriel safe. And I was going to avenge the incredible hero that Vincent had murdered.

The one that considered me, a clone of him, his own brother.

My first job didn't pay good enough. My second job was under someone who reminded me too much of Vincent. I choked him to death myself, and even today they don't know it was his own henchman.

That's when I joined the Cromwells. I was desperate. And then I met Alexis. I think that's when the split started to happen.

Because she was first person after Miracle to start making me feel again. And so I started to impersonate Miracle even more than before so that I could be liked in return. After all, Miracle was the most liked person I knew. He was the one I liked the most. I stole his confidence, his lighthearted joking nature, and his charming attitude.

I had already stolen his name. Now I had stolen his personality. That part of me, that fraudulent act, it started to drift away from that emotionless husk of before.

I'm more fake than a cardboard cutout. My whole act is everything I am, because without it I am nothing. I am nothing but a lie. I am a fraudulent personality born from a clone of someone great.

That's right, you stupid voice in my head. The man in the mirror. I know what you are. You're the original me.

And I'm just your facade that you hid behind. I'm the impersonation of the man we admired. Of the man we loved.

And now the facade is slipping.

I glared at Vincent, back to the present as he laughed to himself. He typed something on the computer, before turning back to me with a grin. "I'll look forward to that. Now how about we make those modifications?"

He pulled out a syringe, one filled with some odd mixture. It seemed to change colors every second, slowly morphing from one to the other.

"I think I've found the way to forcibly awaken your dormant S-Genome." He grinned. "So I wonder what happens when this new serum, combined with some Stellar blood obtained by Mark II, does to you?"

I shook in my restraints once more, glaring at Vincent with a burning fury as he walked closer, the grin still on his face.

"This is going to be fun." He chuckled.