The Ace (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin)

33

Mr Brown placed his mug on the counter top behind him, strolling towards the kitchen island with furrowed eyebrows.

"Let me get this straight..." He ran a hand through his hair. "Melody died in Season X. Is that why you halted the experiment?"

"Not entirely. There's still the case of Pen 5A96."

"Of course. How could I forget? What exactly happened in that Pen then? Who died and who were responsible for their deaths?"

"Technically speaking, we scientists were the ones who killed those kids."

"Yeah, yeah because of your greed and all but that's not what I want to know, Avery."

"It doesn't matter who lost their life who didn't. Jokers only kill people that pose as a threat to their escape and Aces only kill Jokers. That's just what they do."

"I suppose you mean to say that's what you programmed them to do. Do any of these kids really want to be there? When I transferred here, I was told that all if them had signed contracts as an agreement to participate in this 'experiment'. Did they know how you were going to manipulate them into believing a false reality?" He paused, eyeing her for any hints of worry but her face remained nonchalant. "They have been here since they were kids, huh? Does that mean they never even got the chance to sign the contract themselves?"

Avery realised a long, loud sigh before sipping her tea, "if you need any documentation to prove that what we are doing is legal, I will have one of the members of my team give it to you tomorrow."

"Answer my question. Did they ever consent to this?"

"They wouldn't be in there if they didn't consent to all this. It's not like we kidnapped them fourteen years ago."

"You mean their only formal consent is the one you got their parents to sign fourteen years ago when they were minors? Your only legal documentation is based on the consent of nine-year-olds who didn't even understand what they were getting themselves into?"

"It's not like we can wake them up when they turn eighteen to ask if them to sign a contract. It would mess everything up. The whole experiment would be unsuccessful, a waste of fourteen years."

His jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Are you joking? Listen to yourself! This is entirely illegal and for what? So you can play 'god' with a bunch of helpless teenagers?"

"It's a scientific experiment, George. As long as we are developing at a quicker rate than every other country, the government doesn't care how inhumane the whole project is."

"Brea Sanchez is fourteen years old, Avery. Tell me, how can you sleep at night knowing that as soon as she was born, she was placed into your hands and has never lived life as a normal human being! She has never had any freedom, never got the chance to experience the joy of childhood. And you still think it's perfectly fine to keep her in that world?"

"Brea Sanchez was born to a poverty-stricken, single parent Chilean family. She was the youngest of four children. Her father worked at a construction site but passed on when a crane collapsed on h during work, living her mother -- who at the time was six months pregnant with her -- alone. We took Mrs Sanchez in and housed her and her family in return for the unborn child. The way I see it, we saved her and her family."

Mr Brown narrowed his eyes at her in utter disgust.

"You're a monster! How dare you twist the story to make yourself look like a saviour? Sure, Brea wouldn't have had any education or food but at least she would have had a life of her own! You took that away from her even before she had the chance to experience it."

"I told you I did this all out of greed, didn't I? We stopped Season X as soon as we realised how wrong it was."

"No, you stopped it because for the first time ever you couldn't control them."

"This has nothing to do with control, George!" she raised her voiced, a glint of annoyance in her eyes.

"It has everything to do with control. You literally said it moments ago. You wanted children because it's easy to 'mold' their minds into the characters you want them to have."

"It's a scientific experiment-"

"It's mind control. It's manipulation. It's child emotional abuse. You have made these kids your puppets!"

"We need to understand how different minds work!"

"Didn't you say it took you five years to figure that out? But you didn't end it all after five years, no, you 'wanted more'."

"We wanted more accurate results-"

"No, you wanted more control. There was a fifteen year gap between the time you learnt the limit of human intelligence and the start of the experiment. Fifteen years to confirm the accuracy of your results. You wanted control, Avery. Admit it."

"Don't you dare accuse me of such!"

"That's why you didn't want to resurrect Melody, isn't it? Because you completely lost control of her?"

"Melody became a threat to both herself and the people around her!"

Ignoring her statement, he continued, "and that's the real reason you don't want them to wake up, isn't it. You don't care about the Jokers and Aces, she's the one you fear."

"George-!"

"That's why all the other Aces and Jokers are more advanced than her. Because you have been communicating to them and teaching them. But not her... Makes me wonder what she could have done so wrong to have even the scientists turn their backs on her."

"Shut up!" Avery screamed, throwing her teacup and saucer against the wall, the clay objects shattering and the lukewarm liquid inside the cup spilling across the floor.

Mr Brown raised his eyebrows at this, a bewildered look on his face. Fury was written all over Avery's face as she clutched her fists and glared at him.

"I am a neurologist, Mr George Brown, okay? And I am amazing at my job and will not have some idiotic producer accuse me of foul play. So what if it's unethical, we have learnt more watching and analysing this kids than we ever did with any other season!"

With that, she picked up her handbag and coat and stormed out of his apartment, slamming the door shut. He stared at the door for a few more seconds after her departure before pulling his phone out of his back pocket, a smirk plastered to his face.

He dialled the number at the top of his call log, waiting patiently for his secretary to pick up before uttering, "there's something really important I need you to get for me. You will need a team and a few security guards. I need you to temporarily shut off the whole science department. No one goes in, no one goes out. Search every single section of it and give me every document with any information on Season X, this current season and anything with the names of the kids in both seasons. Especially Melody Singh. Make sure you get every document out there on Melody Singh. She's our top priority right now."