Alien Diplomacy

skirt went flying. She slammed into a supersoldier, which grabbed her and flung her back. Right at me.
    As Leslie slammed into me and as we hit a wall, I noted that my skirt had hooked onto the supersoldier, making it look as if it were waving a fancy silk flag whenever it moved. I had no time to appreciate the humor, though.
    Leslie really didn’t seem any the worse for wear, so I stopped fighting the way I’d been trained to and started to fight like a girl. I clawed at her face and pulled her hair, only I did it with A-C level strength. Sure enough, skin and hair came off. To reveal bone laced with circuitry. “Ick!”
    It didn’t stop her. She grabbed my throat, lifted me off my feet, and started to squeeze. “My father’s a genius, haven’t you heard?”
    Bryce joined us. He looked no worse for wear either. He smiled at me. “Father does excellent work, doesn’t he?”
    “He does,” I managed to choke out. “But why?”
    Marling heard my question. “My children died, just like the reports all say. But I had some of their DNA. I was able to replicate them. Not all the models worked well. But once Gaultier made his advances…”
    “Ewww.” The only reason I didn’t gag was that Leslie seemed to have cut that function off along with most of my air. I gasped as my lungs made it clear they were close to exploding.
    Marling noticed. “Let her breathe.”
    Leslie grimaced, which was freaky looking now that her skin was off, but she loosened her grip on my windpipe considerably. I was still up in the air and it wasn’t comfortable, but air was coming in and going out, and that was good enough for the moment.
    I took a deep breath, then figured it was time to go back to getting the bad guy to monologue for a while. “You mean they’re made from like real people bodies?”
    “In a sense. I grew new children from their cells.”
    “Clones? Or rather, clones put over an android, or vice versa?”
    “For the nonscientifically inclined, yes. As they aged, I made…adjustments. You may have interrupted Gaultier’s plans, but you’ve hardly stopped us.”
    “You know Aliens 4 sucked, right?”
    “Only because the filmmakers insisted on having the plucky humans win. You know it won’t work like that. Even though you’ve gotten lucky in the past.”
    “So, you and Gaultier, best buds for life or bitter rivals?”
    “Oh, we were good friends. I quite enjoyed Ronald Yates, too.”
    “Nice to know you were all members in good standing of the Club of Evil Geniuses.”
    He chuckled. “Well, it’s worth it to share data with some people.”
    “Did Madeline know about your offspring?”
    “Of course. She and Ronald Yates suggested we try replicating them in the first place. And Gaultier knew—he and I shared information rather freely, since we weren’t in competing businesses. No one else alive knows, however. Well, all of you know now, I suppose. But you’ll be dead soon.”
    Marling had the supersoldiers back under control. I could see the Gowers’ shield start to flicker. We were about to run out of time.
    “How can you do something like this?” Amy asked. Good, she was embracing our team’s reliance on keeping the bad guys monologing. Leslie still had me up in the air but, thankfully, still wasn’t squeezing hard. Either she didn’t want to go against her father’s wishes, or she wanted me to see my friends die before she killed me, or both. I bet on both.
    Marling nodded to Amy. “I respected your father. It’s too bad you were always a disappointment to him.”
    “You and my father are both disappointments to humanity. I’m flattered to be someone neither one of you respects. I don’t understand why you made androids of your children, though.”
    “Because I love them,” Marling said simply.
    “Then why didn’t you make an android of your wife?” I asked.
    He turned to me, eyes flashing. “How dare you?”
    “Blah, blah, blah. You didn’t love your kids, not like you loved your wife. If you had, you wouldn’t have made these monstrosities to stand in for them.”
    “We’re perfect,” Leslie said.
    “Well, you were,” Bryce snickered. “Now? I think you need to go in for an upgrade. Make her prettier, would you?” he asked Marling.
    “Bryce really is an amazing creation. No one would believe an android could be such a total tool.”
    My girls all laughed at this. Bryce flushed. Yeah, Marling did really great work. What a waste.
    Leslie’s eyes narrowed, but she