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The room was poorly lit, a pale blue dimming the conference table. The blinds were drawn, though it didn’t stop the noise of the harsh rain smacking against the window.
Keigo sat at the far end of the table, five chairs between him and the commission officers. They hadn’t spoken to him yet though he’d been here an hour. He sat head in his hand, foot tapping the floor slowly, listening to them talk to one another.
“No, I think a debut online would be less of a shock to the public,” One muttered, flicking the page of the clipboard she was holding.
“Do we not want a shock?”
“Yes, but we don’t want it to look like a plant.”
Keigo huffed and sat back in his chair, planting his feet to make sure he didn’t fall but sitting so far down he was close to landing on his ass.
“Can I leave soon?”
The officers finally looked up at him. The lady with the clipboard promptly shook her head, “Not yet. We’re waiting for the doctor.”
“What?” Keigo groaned, “I don’t even- what am I doing here? I have dinner plans.”
“Dinner can wait, Hawks.” The male officer said firmly, “We need you to meet your new partner.”
“‘Your new partner’, yeah.” He echoed, “I think this is dumb, by the way. I’ve been putting off dating because you said it would be good for my image.”
“It was good for your image. Now you need something new. Your fans will be thrilled by the news.”
“It’s all synthetic,” He argued, sitting up in his chair again, “They’re gonna know. Who even is she?”
The officers looked between one another for a moment before one coughed, “He.”
Keigo blinked. “He.”
“He. Inclusivity, Hawks. The public will love this. Advocacy and diversity is what is being pushed online. You’ll be an icon.”
Keigo barked a laugh, “I’m an icon already. I’m a pro hero. I have to pretend to be gay now?”
“Bisexual,” The officer shrugged her shoulders, “We need you to be available to both men and women.”
“Are you fucking kidding?”
The heavy door at the back of the room clicked, startling all three of them. Keigo snapped his head around, wings flaring for a second before relaxing again.
A lady stepped in a sterile white lab coat, a big smile on her face. She ignored the officers to look directly at Keigo, a nice change.
“Hello,” She nodded, “Thank you for waiting, we had a minor setback.”
Her eyes snapped further up the room to the officers, her smile hardening slightly, “We’re still fixing up some flaws, and he is not ready for cameras, but he’s stable for the most part.”
The officer waved a hand impatiently, “Fine. Hawks is having second thoughts, can he see him?”
“Second?” Keigo squinted, “I just found out- what is going on? What are you fixing?”
The doctor looked down at Keigo, then up to the officers. She looked rather baffled for a moment, before clicking her pager a few times. “Um… We’re fixing some emotional imprinting that went slightly wrong during the plant, but nothing some tweaks to behavioural patterns cn’t fix.”
“Plant?” Keigo repeated. He stood up suddenly, chair scraping loudly on the marble floor.
The doctor blinked, looking between the three of them, “They didn’t tell you?”
The male officer cleared his throat loudly, shooting the doctor a warning glance, “We were getting to that. Hawks, sit down.”
“I’m not sitting down. What does that mean? I’m blind here, guys.”
The doctor shifted on her feet, putting her hands behind her back, “We’ve eliminated the variable of human error..”
Hawks lifted a hand, waving it to show that it didn't clear anything up.
“We… grew him.”
Keigo stared at her. For a second, he expected someone to laugh. No one laughed. “What? You grew him. You made a person?”
“A synthetic human, technically,” the doctor continued slowly, “He’s genetically tailored to suit you and your fans, appearance wise. And, hopefully, his mannerisms and personality are to your taste, but we can fix anything you ask to be removed or added. He’s able to be in water, heat, cold, um, perform sexual intercourse if you see fit? Anything an actor could do, he can do… better.”
The officers both nodded, “He’s a blank slate, Hawks. He’ll be perfect.”
Keigo didn’t have a chance to think before the door was knocked on. In came another, smiling doctor. He was younger, brighter, and was very obviously excited to the point he was slightly bouncing on his toes.
“Hello. Y/N is ready to be seen. He’s not “powered on”, to speak, but we’ve put all the stems back inside.”
The doctor nodded and looked at Hawks again, “Y/N is the name we chose, but of course, you can change it and we will fix that for you.”
Keigo blinked at her. “No. No, I don’t care about the name.” then he looked over at the officers, “What the fuck?
“Language, Hawks. You’re a role model,” she said, “We understand this is a lot of information to process, but this is the most efficient route. You have a partner who is physically perfect, biologically compatible, and legally non-existent. There's no paperwork or risk.”
Keigo gestured wildly toward the door. “Are you losing your fucking mind?”
“We are securing your future,” the male officer countered, his voice hardening. “And the Commission’s. Now, follow the doctors. Let's get the introduction over with. We have a press release timeline to adhere to.”
Keigo’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached. But he moved.
“This way, Hawks,” the younger doctor chirped, completely oblivious to the thick tension in the room. He gestured for Keigo to follow him out into the hallway.
The hallway was bright. The harsh fluorescent lights buzzed in a frequency that made Keigo’s ears ring. He walked a step behind the two doctors, his eyes fixed on the back of their white coats. He felt sick.
They stopped in front of a heavy, reinforced steel door with a small, reinforced glass window.
“Don't be alarmed by the fluid,” the older female doctor warned, punching a code into the wall scanner. “We had to drain the embryonic chamber to get him presentable for you. He’s still slightly damp, but nothing to worry about.”
The heavy door hissed open and Keigo felt like he might throw up.