Imposter [Part 36]
Mar. 28th, 2021 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonv2Fandom: Noblesse
Summary: Tao chats with Frankenstein.
Notes: Among Us AU! :D
Rating: G
Genre: Sci-fi
Word count: 2,002
Total word count: 33,382
Status: Work in progress
Tao slept well. Somehow. Maybe from the exhaustion and having a full stomach. Except now that he was awake, his brain kept running in circles.
Had that really happened? Had he dreamed it? It had felt real, but there was nothing Tao could point to that could prove it.
Takeo shifted behind him, leaning his head on Tao's. "Awake?" Takeo murmured.
"Oh, did I wake ya?" Had he been mumbling out loud again?
"Could hear your brain churning," Takeo said, wrapping an arm around Tao's waist. "Are you going to talk to Frankenstein?"
Which meant Takeo did know what he was thinking about, and that it had happened.
"Y'know, that sounds like a good idea." He still needed more answers.
* * *
Takeo was still sleepy, and it was a little too early for breakfast, but Tao went to Medbay. Frankenstein seemed the kind to want to start early and cram as in as many hours as he could; there had been a number of times where Frankenstein was still working in the specimen room when Tao went to bed, and that said a lot.
And the lights were on when Tao entered the medbay, like he thought they would be.
Frankenstein was there, absent-mindedly tucking a lock of hair behind his ear as he wrote something in his pad. He tilted his head to look at Tao, and smiled when he saw him. "How are you feeling?"
"I mean, physically I'm all right aside from the itchiness," Tao said with a shrug. His arm was getting there and he sometimes forgot it was in a cast until he jostled it. "Mentally... Really, really confused?" Like, really. "How long have you been thinking about this?" Had he missed it this entire time?
"Hmm." Frankenstein put his stylus away. "Since we heard about your arrival."
Then yeah, they'd been doing this under his nose since he'd gotten here. It wasn't as if he had something to compare to to know if how they were acting and moving around was different than before. Though Kentas had arrived with him, so when had Kentas started working with them?
That wasn't important. There were other things to think about. "What're you gonna do about the trackers?" Frankenstein had to know about them, right? It wasn't exactly public knowledge, but most crewmates knew about them, whispered stories of people who had tried to escape at mealtimes and getting found soon after.
"I was hoping to talk to you about that, actually," Frankenstein said, making Tao perk up.
"Yeah?"
Frankenstein nodded. "I can surgically remove the trackers myself, but I wanted to know if you would be able to interface with them - I fear the Union might have safeguards to alert them if the trackers are inappropriately removed."
Tao mulled it over, rubbing his chin as he thought. That made sense. "I can give it a try." Their trackers were wirelessly connected to the biometrics reader, which left them open to attack. Trying to leave the area with the trackers in place would probably trigger an alarm too, and Frankenstein wouldn't be able to remove all their trackers at once.
"That's your plan?" Tao said. "Take off the trackers and then ride off into space?"
"It's...the bare gist of it, yes. We've maintained most of the dropship now - our biggest concern is where we get fuel."
"And so long as you don't trip any alerts, you can work at it as long as you can."
"Quite."
Could it be that easy? Just grab the dropship and leave? It hadn't been an option on Skeld before, because no dropship had been left. If they'd wanted to escape, they would have needed everyone's co-operation, and that wasn't gonna happen. Not without people dying.
If it failed anyway and the Union came then... Well.
So what?
That was it, wasn't it? If they were caught trying to leave, they were killed or maybe tortured so they learned not to try that again.
Tao had already been through that. Had already been tortured, had already thought he was going to die.
If he stayed here and was taken onto a ship to work, the chances of walking across another organisation's imposter's path was higher, and those ones would have been picked to infiltrate other ships because they did what they were created to do. He wouldn't survive an encounter there.
If he escaped now, he wouldn't have to be always looking over his shoulder. He at least knew the imposters here.
Speaking of which...
"Will Em and Muzaka be okay?"
Frankenstein's eyebrows rose slightly. "Why wouldn't they be?"
"I mean..." Frankenstein had to know, right? He'd spent all that time together with Muzaka. He must have treated Em at some point too - there had to be something that showed up in their data that came off as different to crewmates. "Because they're imposters." Time to be as clear as possible so there was no chance of misinterpretation. "I dunno what exactly they are, but maybe the Union has a pill only they can give that keeps them alive?" It was one of the many ways the Union kept people under their control.
Frankenstein chuckled softly at that and huh, okay. Not the reaction Tao was expecting. "Oh, I assure you," Frankenstein said, "we aren't reliant on anything the Union feeds us."
...Wait. Tao's eyes widened, Frankenstein's expression still relaxed as he smiled at Tao.
"It would be a rather large tell if our quarters were searched and Union pills were found, wouldn't it?"
"You're-?" Tao spluttered. Really?
"Yes."
Tao leaned back against the wall, clutching his head with a groan. "Could I please have more time to process everything when everything I assume gets flipped upside down?" Sure, he'd come for more clarification, but he didn't think it would be that. Frankenstein and Em? Not Muzaka?
Frankenstein chuckled. "My apologies. But yes, Muzaka is very much completely human, though he does have an exceptionally large heart." He finished with a soft sigh, a smile curling the edges of his mouth. Huh.
Being an imposter would explain why Frankenstein hadn't been worried about being found in the dropship. But then...
"Was it you who killed Yuri?" If it hadn't been Muzaka, then it had to be Frankenstein, didn't it? Em had stayed with them the entire time, but then...that was what Frankenstein said. Still, Em hadn't acted like he was trying to kill them afterwards, so it had matched up.
"Yes."
...Oh. That easy, huh? Just ask a question, and get a straight answer. Well, since Frankenstein seemed to be in a forthcoming mood, he may as well make use of it. (Though really, Frankenstein had always been upfront. Had he just not asked the right questions? Though at what point was he just going to ask Frankenstein if he was an imposter or if he'd killed Yuri. ...Oh! No wonder Frankenstein had said their goal was just to maintain the base. Of course it was, if he was talking to an imposter.)
"Why?" Frankenstein had no reason to kill Yuri - Yuri was doing his job for him. Though Frankenstein had no reason to save Tao and Takeo either.
"You're under my care," Frankenstein said, "and I do what I can to protect those under my care."
Tao stared at him, feeling his brain trying to make sense of everything. If Frankenstein was an imposter, then that meant he wasn't a doctor so he shouldn't have that kind of creed. But then Yuri hadn't been an imposter, and was fine trying to kill him. And Frankenstein had proven he did have the skill and the knowledge to look after everyone.
Okay, okay, back on track. Or try to be. Both Frankenstein and Em had chances to kill him and Takeo when they were at their most vulnerable. Or just to leave them and let them bleed out. They hadn't. That was what was important here.
"Heh, you're way better than the Union scientists," Tao said, relaxing.
"I think that is rather easy, all this considered," Frankenstein said wryly.
Tao snickered. "Yeeeah, that's true." He hummed as he mulled over what they had right now, walking over to hop onto one of the beds. He saw Frankenstein glance at him, but his brain was still spinning. Frankenstein was the doctor, Muzaka was the engineer, Kentas was O2, and M-21 was general maintenance. With him there, he could deal with any tech issues. There was one very important role missing. "You need a pilot."
Frankenstein didn't say anything for a few seconds. "So we do."
Tao raised his eyebrows. "You hadn't considered it?"
Frankenstein shook his head. "Knowing what's needed to help run a ship isn't my speciality." His voice was still wry.
"Fair fair," Tao said, rocking back on forth on the bed, kicking his feet out. "But!" he said, holding up a finger. "I know a good pilot!"
"You do?"
"Yep, Takeo!" Tao nodded. "And he'd totally be on board." Because no way would Takeo want to stay here if there was a potential way to leave. "He's been on weapons here, but that's because there's been nothing to pilot." On the ship, Takeo had been going between Navigation and Weapons and that had worked for them. "I'll go talk to him about it," he said as he hopped off the bed.
Frankenstein nodded. "Thank you very much."
As Tao turned to leave, he paused at Frankenstein calling out at him. "Ah, no-one else outside of our group knows what Em and I are, I would like it if that number is kept as low as possible."
"Got it, heh," Tao said, turning around so he was walking backwards as he saluted Frankenstein while he left.
* * *
Tao flopped back into bed, Takeo still dozing there. He smushed his face into Takeo's chest, making an "Aaaaaaah," sound.
"Tao?" Takeo shifted, wrapping an arm around him. "What's wrong?"
"I was wrong about Muzaka," Tao wailed, his voice muffled. He was able to process more on the way back, and apparently that was what his brain was skipping on.
Takeo patted him on the back, hand roaming, like he was looking for something. "Did he try to kill you?"
"What?" Oh. Oh! That did sound like - Tao shook his head. "No, not that. He didn't try ta kill me. Because he's not an imposter." He felt Takeo's breathing freeze for a second.
He shuffled back so they could talk face to face, as nice as it was to talk to Takeo's chest. "Frankenstein's the imposter, not Muzaka!" The hints that had pointed towards Muzaka had also pointed towards Frankenstein: Tao had seen Em hanging out around Frankenstein, but he didn't think anything of it, so sure of his assumption. And maybe Em left Frankenstein alone because of Muzaka's relationship with him. It had made sense at the time. "And Frankenstein hadn't tried to kill me either. We just talked."
"How did you find out?"
"He told me, 'cause I thought Em and Muzaka might need some help." And... Tao exhaled, his thoughts twisting.
Frankenstein was trusting him a lot with this information, huh? He could space Em and Frankenstein right now if he called a meeting. He'd gotten a full confession of who the imposters were.
But.
He didn't want to. He wanted to live. To have a chance to get away from here. "I told Frankenstein you're a good pilot, because they don't have one."
"Ah, all right. Thank you," Takeo said, drawing him close, Tao wrapping his arms around him. "I'll have a look at the cockpit to make sure I'm familiar with the controls."
"Great," Tao said, his eyelids feeling heavy again now that his brain wasn't trying to see everything at all angles. There was still some time for a small nap before breakfast, and he was going to take it.
Summary: Tao chats with Frankenstein.
Notes: Among Us AU! :D
Rating: G
Genre: Sci-fi
Word count: 2,002
Total word count: 33,382
Status: Work in progress
Tao slept well. Somehow. Maybe from the exhaustion and having a full stomach. Except now that he was awake, his brain kept running in circles.
Had that really happened? Had he dreamed it? It had felt real, but there was nothing Tao could point to that could prove it.
Takeo shifted behind him, leaning his head on Tao's. "Awake?" Takeo murmured.
"Oh, did I wake ya?" Had he been mumbling out loud again?
"Could hear your brain churning," Takeo said, wrapping an arm around Tao's waist. "Are you going to talk to Frankenstein?"
Which meant Takeo did know what he was thinking about, and that it had happened.
"Y'know, that sounds like a good idea." He still needed more answers.
Takeo was still sleepy, and it was a little too early for breakfast, but Tao went to Medbay. Frankenstein seemed the kind to want to start early and cram as in as many hours as he could; there had been a number of times where Frankenstein was still working in the specimen room when Tao went to bed, and that said a lot.
And the lights were on when Tao entered the medbay, like he thought they would be.
Frankenstein was there, absent-mindedly tucking a lock of hair behind his ear as he wrote something in his pad. He tilted his head to look at Tao, and smiled when he saw him. "How are you feeling?"
"I mean, physically I'm all right aside from the itchiness," Tao said with a shrug. His arm was getting there and he sometimes forgot it was in a cast until he jostled it. "Mentally... Really, really confused?" Like, really. "How long have you been thinking about this?" Had he missed it this entire time?
"Hmm." Frankenstein put his stylus away. "Since we heard about your arrival."
Then yeah, they'd been doing this under his nose since he'd gotten here. It wasn't as if he had something to compare to to know if how they were acting and moving around was different than before. Though Kentas had arrived with him, so when had Kentas started working with them?
That wasn't important. There were other things to think about. "What're you gonna do about the trackers?" Frankenstein had to know about them, right? It wasn't exactly public knowledge, but most crewmates knew about them, whispered stories of people who had tried to escape at mealtimes and getting found soon after.
"I was hoping to talk to you about that, actually," Frankenstein said, making Tao perk up.
"Yeah?"
Frankenstein nodded. "I can surgically remove the trackers myself, but I wanted to know if you would be able to interface with them - I fear the Union might have safeguards to alert them if the trackers are inappropriately removed."
Tao mulled it over, rubbing his chin as he thought. That made sense. "I can give it a try." Their trackers were wirelessly connected to the biometrics reader, which left them open to attack. Trying to leave the area with the trackers in place would probably trigger an alarm too, and Frankenstein wouldn't be able to remove all their trackers at once.
"That's your plan?" Tao said. "Take off the trackers and then ride off into space?"
"It's...the bare gist of it, yes. We've maintained most of the dropship now - our biggest concern is where we get fuel."
"And so long as you don't trip any alerts, you can work at it as long as you can."
"Quite."
Could it be that easy? Just grab the dropship and leave? It hadn't been an option on Skeld before, because no dropship had been left. If they'd wanted to escape, they would have needed everyone's co-operation, and that wasn't gonna happen. Not without people dying.
If it failed anyway and the Union came then... Well.
So what?
That was it, wasn't it? If they were caught trying to leave, they were killed or maybe tortured so they learned not to try that again.
Tao had already been through that. Had already been tortured, had already thought he was going to die.
If he stayed here and was taken onto a ship to work, the chances of walking across another organisation's imposter's path was higher, and those ones would have been picked to infiltrate other ships because they did what they were created to do. He wouldn't survive an encounter there.
If he escaped now, he wouldn't have to be always looking over his shoulder. He at least knew the imposters here.
Speaking of which...
"Will Em and Muzaka be okay?"
Frankenstein's eyebrows rose slightly. "Why wouldn't they be?"
"I mean..." Frankenstein had to know, right? He'd spent all that time together with Muzaka. He must have treated Em at some point too - there had to be something that showed up in their data that came off as different to crewmates. "Because they're imposters." Time to be as clear as possible so there was no chance of misinterpretation. "I dunno what exactly they are, but maybe the Union has a pill only they can give that keeps them alive?" It was one of the many ways the Union kept people under their control.
Frankenstein chuckled softly at that and huh, okay. Not the reaction Tao was expecting. "Oh, I assure you," Frankenstein said, "we aren't reliant on anything the Union feeds us."
...Wait. Tao's eyes widened, Frankenstein's expression still relaxed as he smiled at Tao.
"It would be a rather large tell if our quarters were searched and Union pills were found, wouldn't it?"
"You're-?" Tao spluttered. Really?
"Yes."
Tao leaned back against the wall, clutching his head with a groan. "Could I please have more time to process everything when everything I assume gets flipped upside down?" Sure, he'd come for more clarification, but he didn't think it would be that. Frankenstein and Em? Not Muzaka?
Frankenstein chuckled. "My apologies. But yes, Muzaka is very much completely human, though he does have an exceptionally large heart." He finished with a soft sigh, a smile curling the edges of his mouth. Huh.
Being an imposter would explain why Frankenstein hadn't been worried about being found in the dropship. But then...
"Was it you who killed Yuri?" If it hadn't been Muzaka, then it had to be Frankenstein, didn't it? Em had stayed with them the entire time, but then...that was what Frankenstein said. Still, Em hadn't acted like he was trying to kill them afterwards, so it had matched up.
"Yes."
...Oh. That easy, huh? Just ask a question, and get a straight answer. Well, since Frankenstein seemed to be in a forthcoming mood, he may as well make use of it. (Though really, Frankenstein had always been upfront. Had he just not asked the right questions? Though at what point was he just going to ask Frankenstein if he was an imposter or if he'd killed Yuri. ...Oh! No wonder Frankenstein had said their goal was just to maintain the base. Of course it was, if he was talking to an imposter.)
"Why?" Frankenstein had no reason to kill Yuri - Yuri was doing his job for him. Though Frankenstein had no reason to save Tao and Takeo either.
"You're under my care," Frankenstein said, "and I do what I can to protect those under my care."
Tao stared at him, feeling his brain trying to make sense of everything. If Frankenstein was an imposter, then that meant he wasn't a doctor so he shouldn't have that kind of creed. But then Yuri hadn't been an imposter, and was fine trying to kill him. And Frankenstein had proven he did have the skill and the knowledge to look after everyone.
Okay, okay, back on track. Or try to be. Both Frankenstein and Em had chances to kill him and Takeo when they were at their most vulnerable. Or just to leave them and let them bleed out. They hadn't. That was what was important here.
"Heh, you're way better than the Union scientists," Tao said, relaxing.
"I think that is rather easy, all this considered," Frankenstein said wryly.
Tao snickered. "Yeeeah, that's true." He hummed as he mulled over what they had right now, walking over to hop onto one of the beds. He saw Frankenstein glance at him, but his brain was still spinning. Frankenstein was the doctor, Muzaka was the engineer, Kentas was O2, and M-21 was general maintenance. With him there, he could deal with any tech issues. There was one very important role missing. "You need a pilot."
Frankenstein didn't say anything for a few seconds. "So we do."
Tao raised his eyebrows. "You hadn't considered it?"
Frankenstein shook his head. "Knowing what's needed to help run a ship isn't my speciality." His voice was still wry.
"Fair fair," Tao said, rocking back on forth on the bed, kicking his feet out. "But!" he said, holding up a finger. "I know a good pilot!"
"You do?"
"Yep, Takeo!" Tao nodded. "And he'd totally be on board." Because no way would Takeo want to stay here if there was a potential way to leave. "He's been on weapons here, but that's because there's been nothing to pilot." On the ship, Takeo had been going between Navigation and Weapons and that had worked for them. "I'll go talk to him about it," he said as he hopped off the bed.
Frankenstein nodded. "Thank you very much."
As Tao turned to leave, he paused at Frankenstein calling out at him. "Ah, no-one else outside of our group knows what Em and I are, I would like it if that number is kept as low as possible."
"Got it, heh," Tao said, turning around so he was walking backwards as he saluted Frankenstein while he left.
Tao flopped back into bed, Takeo still dozing there. He smushed his face into Takeo's chest, making an "Aaaaaaah," sound.
"Tao?" Takeo shifted, wrapping an arm around him. "What's wrong?"
"I was wrong about Muzaka," Tao wailed, his voice muffled. He was able to process more on the way back, and apparently that was what his brain was skipping on.
Takeo patted him on the back, hand roaming, like he was looking for something. "Did he try to kill you?"
"What?" Oh. Oh! That did sound like - Tao shook his head. "No, not that. He didn't try ta kill me. Because he's not an imposter." He felt Takeo's breathing freeze for a second.
He shuffled back so they could talk face to face, as nice as it was to talk to Takeo's chest. "Frankenstein's the imposter, not Muzaka!" The hints that had pointed towards Muzaka had also pointed towards Frankenstein: Tao had seen Em hanging out around Frankenstein, but he didn't think anything of it, so sure of his assumption. And maybe Em left Frankenstein alone because of Muzaka's relationship with him. It had made sense at the time. "And Frankenstein hadn't tried to kill me either. We just talked."
"How did you find out?"
"He told me, 'cause I thought Em and Muzaka might need some help." And... Tao exhaled, his thoughts twisting.
Frankenstein was trusting him a lot with this information, huh? He could space Em and Frankenstein right now if he called a meeting. He'd gotten a full confession of who the imposters were.
But.
He didn't want to. He wanted to live. To have a chance to get away from here. "I told Frankenstein you're a good pilot, because they don't have one."
"Ah, all right. Thank you," Takeo said, drawing him close, Tao wrapping his arms around him. "I'll have a look at the cockpit to make sure I'm familiar with the controls."
"Great," Tao said, his eyelids feeling heavy again now that his brain wasn't trying to see everything at all angles. There was still some time for a small nap before breakfast, and he was going to take it.