Answers, whether you like them or not. By Alex Fauth The Club Anipike, Monday night. Not too long after Club Boof. The events of Club Boof had proven interesting for many people. Darrien had got his headband back and at the same time Locke had double-crossed the Neo-Knight Sabres. Nightman and Captain Universe had floored each other producing a no-win tie that suited both avatars. The Elmer Rumble had ended with an upset win by Takei Orochi, one of AAA's least prominent avatars. And Michael Austin had been beaten by a mystery woman who was revealed to be none other than Rebecca Bartley of Elmer Studios fame. Needless to say, this had surprised a few people, mainly the rest of Elmer Studios' fanfic reviewers (Read: riffers). At present, Dan, Tsuneo, Rick R. Mortis, Maya, Celena, Natasha, Janice, Karen and Natasha - all bar one of them were seated around a table, trying to figure out what had happened. There was no sign of Rebecca, which only seemed to be fueling the debates. "OK... let's get this straight" Dan began. "Rebecca's suddenly turned into an Avatar, donned armour and leapt into the ring to belt the living crap out of Michael Austin." "And who can blame her?" Rick added. "But I never knew that she was an Avatar," Elana commented. "She isn't" Tsuneo replied. "For the most part, she loathes them. I really can't see her becoming one." "It's not something you usually get a choice in" Rick replied. "Just ask Sam and Alex." "A question though" Celena butted in. "Has Rebecca ever been to either the Robotech or SDC: Southern Cross universes?" "Good point" Karen replied. "Has she?' "No idea" Rick replied. "She never talks about it to me. You've known her for longer, Dan. She might have told you." "Well she didn't" Dan replied. "She never mentions it. And she tends to get violent when I ask her about it." All of them considered the idea of Rebecca getting violent and all (barring Celena) shuddered at the thought. Celena just sipped her beer. "So she suddenly became an avatar?" Karen added. "Seems that way" Maya replied. "Great. Now she's got plot contrivance powers" Tsuneo moaned. "You must feel grerat about now, Dan." "Don't even think that!" Dan replied, dreading the thought. "It makes sense though" Rick added. "I didn't see her in the audience when we were there." "Yeah... but she was in the audience at Monday Night Biffo, when the MA first appeared" Tsuneo replied. "I remember it well. She hit you a couple of times, Dan." "Yeah yeah..." Dan replied. "So how did she manage to be in two places at once?" "Well, you can't tell who's in that armour," Rick replied. "She could have hired a double to challenge Austin, knowing that the fight wouldn't start there." Janice commented in, having finished off her beer. "She then turns up in the flesh at Club Boof to beat up Austin." "It's what I would have done," Maya replied. "One thing you're all overlooking" Celena butted in. "The Mystery Tourist Lady." "The who?" Natasha asked, having only just tuned back into the world. "The woman who knocked out Husthar" Celena replied. "And you left your wires in again." "Thanks" Natasha moaned. "I have a headache" she added, and fell face-down on the table. "Problem" Rick jutted in. "The MA was clearly Rebecca. So who was the MTL?" "Long black plait, tight black sleeveless catsuit that hugs her form and brings out her prominent attributes - " Dan began but was cut off by an elbow from Tsuneo. "You're drooling again," He commented. "Sorry," Dan replied. "It's just that suit..." "And an artificial arm," Janice added, secretly wishing she had a form that looked great in a tight black sleeveless catsuit. "I noticed it clearly. It looked just like Rebecca's." "Could have been a fake," Celena commented. "Could have been makeup," Rick replied, trying not to think of the implications of 'Celena' and 'fake'. "Could have been someone with the same brands of arm," Janice commented. "So possibly it was an impostor who was trying to be Rebecca just to throw us," Elena deducted. "Did anyone check the chair for fingerprints?" Karen suddenly shouted out. Everyone looked at her. "What?" "A, she was wearing gloves" Maya began. "B, the chair's probably lost in the crowd by now and has been stored for use in the next fight scene." "Well I thought it was a good idea," Karen muttered under her breath." "Here's a thought," Dan interjected. "Could the MTL have been one of us? That way Rebecca would have been able to arrange it well in advance." "Get real," Rick replied. "No-one here is built like Rebecca and has her hair length and colour." "Except Natasha. But she never re-styles hers." "Er Natasha..." Elana added. "You just referred to yourself in the third person again" "Oh... did I?" Natasha replied. "Oh... sorry. I have a headache again." "OK... Natasha aside, there's no way that it could have been any of us in the ring or the Mystery Tourist Lady." Dan summarized. "So we have to assume that she hired someone to play the MTL to throw us off her track." "Maybe she had never planned for her identity to be revealed," Maya commented. "Well, you're all off on the topic of the Mystery Tourist Lady," Rebecca said as she sat down at a free seat, wearing her famous tight sleeveless catsuit, beer in hand. "Hi Rebecca," Rick replied, flatly. "We were just talking about you." "I noticed." "So..." Celena butted in. "Why are we all wrong on the MTL?" "Because she was me," Rebecca replied as she sipped from her beer. "So... then who was it in the ring?" Rick replied, clearly confused. "That's where you've lost me," Rebecca replied. "She called me up and asked me to lurk by the ring and keep an eye on Husthar. "And be very obviously you while not showing your face," Maya added. "Right." "Ah...." Dan pondered. "That means... The Mystery avatar was..." He paused, and turned pale. "Another.... Rebecca...." Rick added. Tsuneo said something under his breath in Japanese. No-one else understood it. "Yeah" Rebecca replied. "I was pretty shocked myself." "Why?" Another female voice butted in. All heads turned to see a rather unexpected sight. A second Rebecca Bartley. This one was wearing a Jade Falcon T-Shirt, jeans and sneakers, She had the same face, the same eyes, same hair, same height and (as Dan noted very clearly) same proportions as the one already at the table. The only difference was the left arm - it was her original, not artificial. She sat down at the table and took Dan's beer. "Hey!" "She's just like you!" Rick excalimed. "Even down to your respect of Dan." "Him?" the second Rebecca commented. "I don't even know him." "Oh!" Dan suddenly perked up. "Well, my name's Dan and I'm a really close friend of hers. In fact, we can be quite intimate at times. So, if you ever need to-" He was cut off by a sudden slap over the back of the head from Rebecca's cybernetic arm. "His name's Dan and he's a total jerk." "I noticed." "So, do you carte to explain why there's two of you?" Tsuneo asked, desperate to avoid the inevitable bloodbath that would occur if Dan opened his mouth again. "Well... " Rebecca two began. "It's a long story. Before he began writing MSTings, our author" - she indicated to herself and Rebecca "- created another Rebecca for a Robotech fanfic. That was me." "So... how did you get into AAA?" Rick inquired, trying to sort it all out. "Well, he abandoned the fic for a while when he got into MSTing. Then, a little while ago, he resurrected the Rebecca in the fanfic - me, that is - and declared me an Avatar" "Why?" Celnena inquired. "So he could get a character into AAA," She finished. "Makes sense," Rick replied. "Distressingly such," Karen added. "As bout as much as anything else in AAA does," Tsuneo finished. "So..." Dan began, having regained his composure "Are you different to her in any ways other than the arm?" he asked the second Rebecca. "Not really..." She replied. "In fact, we're pretty much alike." "Ah" Dan replied, and pitched over backwards.