Drifting Away // Lego City Adventures

Chapter 10: A New Identity

Dirty Duke scoured Duke's apartment, looking for clothes and supplies. He had escaped the hospital only a short time earlier, and someone had ran into him and assumed he'd been sent home and needed a ride back to his apartment. Luckily they knew where he lived because he had no idea. He just played along and hoped he'd be taken where he needed to go.

The person had kept referring to him as Duke Detain, which really confused him at first. Why did everyone keep calling him that? First the hospital report, and now this person. Suddenly, everything made sense. Dirty Duke realized that all this time, he had been sharing his life with Duke Detain. That was who'd been in charge before the accident. He didn't remember anything from that side of him, however. Duke felt like a completely separate person.

Duke's closet held many identical police outfits, and few other clothes. So Duke was an officer. That was the true explanation for why Dirty Duke had been dressed as a cop in his previous memories. Snake had lied to him that he was a cop gone bad.

Dirty Duke wasn't really impressed by the selections, but they were better than a hospital gown. He settled on wearing a black tank top with a blue jacket, black cargo pants and brown boots. The jacket's style wasn't quite his, so he ripped off the sleeves. He didn't care that it was chilly outside. He looked around for other accessories and tightened a brown accessory belt around his waist. Then he tied a black bandanna around his neck, and finally, to top off the look he put on sunglasses and gray fingerless gloves.

As he gathered supplies, he scoped around the room for any clues, any information about his past self. All he had gathered about Duke Detain was that he was an officer, but that was the extent of his knowledge about that. It was so baffling that such a large time gap lay between the present and Dirty Duke's last memory. It felt like just yesterday when he'd tried to steal the Doublecross Ruby with Snake, ultimately betraying him in the process. He had to know what had happened in that time gap, to understand how he'd got here.

He spotted something in an open suitcase that looked promising. He picked it up and realized it was Duke's journal. That was exactly what he needed to fill in the gaps! It was almost as if Duke wanted him to find it.

Dirty Duke knew he shouldn't linger in the apartment. Everyone was surely on the lookout for him, and he didn't want to be found and forced into a life that wasn't his own. The only place he knew where he could hide was Snake's warehouse, although he wasn't looking forward to seeing his old partner again.

When he reached the hideout it was empty. Nothing but a few empty crates prevented the expansive emptiness from dominating the room. It seemed nobody had lived here in a while, which was odd. Dirty Duke was expecting to find Snake here, but this was certainly preferable. He didn't want Snake getting in the way.

Dirty Duke set out the items he'd gathered earlier and sat down near a crate. He saw Snake's stolen motorcycle parked nearby. He would definitely be using that.

Once he was settled in, he opened the journal and started reading. There was a whole lot to get through, but he didn't know what else to do next, and he needed to know what Duke had been up to.

He wanted to start with what had happened right after his Doublecross Ruby heist. What had happened to make him revert back to Duke? He scanned the pages until he found his answer. Rooky used Cubby to "help Duke remember who he was". Dirty Duke frowned. Even though he now knew he was the product of amnesia and Snake's manipulation, he felt his identity was just as valid as Duke's, yet everyone was treating him like a mistake. He continued with the journal and read how mad and upset Duke was that Snake made him hurt his city. Dirty Duke didn't have any of those feelings at all. He didn't regret what he did, and he wasn't mad at Snake, even though Snake had manipulated him. He was more fascinated with Snake's methods than angry.