“Are you my dad?”

“No. You’re a biological clone of mine. We share the same DNA, that’s all.” Seong-Su stared down at the unevenly cut jelly sandwich (Mia did not like peanut butter) he’d just made. Did four-year-olds care about that? Mia seemed like she might.

“What does bilocal mean?” Mia asked, on her tippy toes to see what he was doing. She wobbled slightly and he moved to steady her.

Seong-Su opened his mouth to reply before he thought better of it. Clearly she didn’t understand. “I’m not your dad, but we’re… family.” Yes, that sounded correct. And simple.

“So a dad? Family means a dad.” She frowned right back, eerily similar to him. Every little thing she did unsettled him, like he was looking into a smaller mirror of himself. Her eyes were exact same pale shade of blue as his. “You don’t want to be my dad?”

Seong-Su turned to look helplessly at you. He silently signaled for you to say something, motioning at Mia with his eyes and a tight lip.

Not once in his life had he considered being anything close to fatherly. Seong-Su wasn’t built for that. He didn’t have it in him to take care of another living being, let alone one this tiny. What if she rolled over while sleeping and hit her head? Or if she got lost sneaking out? He was pretty sure she couldn’t read yet.

Had it not been for you, he wouldn’t have Mia sleeping on the pull out couch in his study. You’d heard of Deus Lab spreading to other states like an infection they couldn’t dig out. They were cloning Enhanced, heroes that were retired and active, including you and him. The public didn’t know—at least not officially, Seong-Su had stalked every single conspiracy theory out there—and he wasn’t sure they’d care. The hero industry was too imbedded into their daily lives. He’d retired from being Frostbite years ago, but they still sold merch of him. He was still expected to make appearances like he didn’t know the truth.

New Vision, The Crusaders, Sweet Entertainment, every single big hero agency was corrupt. Whatever they’d started as was no longer true. The fact he’d contributed to that rot kept him up at night.

He was the reason Mia existed, after all. James, six and a hero for Sweet Entertainment. Every other clone they’d made using his DNA. How had he never questioned the tests they ran on him growing up?

The lab the both of you had snuck into was small, hidden in the middle-of-nowhere-Nevada. Seong-Su had only been out of state a handful of times, but never had it been for this. What started as a recon mission ended up in a rescue. The scientists, however many there were, had to be handled. He couldn’t risk being caught, not with you still being a hero.

Mia had been the only clone left alive. The rest had been disposed of before either of you had gotten there.

Once again he’d been too late. Not enough. He needed to do more.

Mia, locked behind metal bars like some sort of prisoner, had been sitting in a frozen corner. Her entire body had turned to ice and it had begun to slowly spread through the cell. The other clone with her had been frozen over. Seong-Su still hadn’t the heart to ask if she’d done it on purpose.

“Why can’t you be my dad?” Mia continued. Seong-Su handed her the slightly squished sandwich. Apparently the uneven slices didn’t matter, because she took a giant bite out of it immediately. “I saw you on the TV. The Doctor told me I was gonna be a hero like you.”

His throat very suddenly felt tight. “You don’t need to be a hero.”

“Enhanced are ‘posed to be,” she said. Jelly was smeared across her round cheek. She was meant to be a hero? Seong-Su knew he was to blame—that Frostbite was guilty of so much. His father had begged him to not join New Vision when they’d offered him a spot. But Seong-Su, twelve and full of himself, had run off to do just that.

“Enhanced aren’t meant to be anything.” He turned away from her, unable to stare at the innocent look on her face.

“So we’re not special?” Her tiny voice trembled.

“No, no. I just… I mean…” Seong-Su, as he always did now, turned to you for help.