frankenstein complex ⇢ q.k | ✔

twenty-four

So far, this wasn't as big of a shitstorm as Kun had been expecting, really. The crew who didn't already know were understandably shocked, but ultimately, let the other three finish briefing them with minimal interruptions or questions.

"So Y/N's a..." The Professor trailed off, looking to Liu to fill in.

"Humanoid," the roboticist offered tentatively. "So far the only robotic part we've found is her brain."

"You say that like she has a prosthetic pinky toe," Ten retorted. "It's her brain."

"Ten, come on, dude. It's Y/N," Wong scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"I'm not saying we deactivate her or throw her in a cell or anything. I'm just trying to make sure we all understand the gravity of the situation." The pilot sat forward in his chair. "She's clearly the proof of concept that they were trying to preserve by doing a partial scrub. The question is what use is to she to them like this? No offense to her, Captain, I'm not calling her an idiot, I'm saying they erased her memories and convinced her she was a normal human. Whatever she was doing for them before the partial scrub, she doesn't know how to do it now."

"Maybe she has some component to whatever they were doing there that's vital enough to risk her being discovered," the Professor suggested.

"Right, Liu said they could have backed up her data externally. Maybe they were planning on this being temporary. They knew they were about to be found out for whatever they were doing, and had to get out, but couldn't bring Y/N for whatever reason. So they make an external back-up of all her sensitive data with the intent of putting it back in later and, you know, picking back up where they left off. But they wipe it off her memory banks so if she's found in the meantime, whoever finds her has nothing."

Kun interjected here, "I'm telling you, Y/N didn't—"

"You think they just kept one of the most advanced robots—sorry, humanoid—Liu has ever seen around a top-secret, illegal, unsanctioned lab for conversation?" Ten retorted, then seemed to catch himself, and added as an afterthought, "...Sir."

"Captain, we all like Y/N..." Liu assured him.

"She's one of us, just like ZEN," Xiao jumped in to defend you as well.

"But that doesn't mean we can ignore the fact that she was definitely involved in whatever was going on in that place. Somehow," Ten argued.

"We don't know how. Or if," Kun reiterated forcefully.

The Professor quickly tried to smooth over the rising tensions in the room, "You're right."

"I mean, I just think it's crazy that they took her memories from her—her entire life—and you guys are assuming that there's going to be proof she did all this awful shit in there!" Kun was on his feet now, he couldn't help it. He couldn't stay in his seat another moment, not when a righteous anger was electrifying every inch of his being now.

"And you're assuming that it's going to be the opposite." Ten remained seated, but no less impassioned then before.

"No, I'm saying we don't know! So we can't just treat her like a criminal because we're assuming she's going to be one!"

"Nobody's doing that," Wong tried to placate the captain now. He repeated, "She's one of us, Captain."

"She's not here. We're talking about her without her. That doesn't seem like she's one of us," Xiao stated bitterly.