"Excellent," Dr. Bradford said. "Please come with me."
She led Jon toward the door, but just as they were about to exit, a black-suited man stepped in the way and blocked their path. He was relatively young, in his mid-thirties at most, and wore his hair slicked back. A smug smile appeared etched on his face, which bore a day's worth of stubble. Jon had seen him in the cafeteria but hadn't spoken with him before.
"There's been a change of plans," the man said, addressing Dr. Bradford and ignoring Jon. "Mr. Jones wants the girl to have an extra ring of security, so I'll be taking charge of her until further notice."
He handed Dr. Bradford a note, and she started carefully reading it.
Jon bristled at being called a girl and referred to as 'her'.
"I'm not a girl," he complained. Unfortunately, he forgot to use his male voice and the denial sounded super girly.
The man laughed. He winked at the engrossed Dr. Bradford like they shared a joke at Jon' expense, even though she ignored him. "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks."
Jon concentrated on his male voice. "I'm not a lady!"
"Of course, you're not," the man teased. "You just have tits and are wearing a skirt."
Jon clenched his fists and forced his face into a snarl. "You people just made me look like this!"
"Only because you asked for it," the man said. He winked. "Don't worry. I don't judge. You know, you're cute when you're angry."
Unable to come up with a satisfying comeback, Jon crossed his arms and silently fumed. As he relaxed his face, his mouth returned to the default smile they gave him.
Dr. Bradford looked up from the paper. She sighed and grudgingly said, "This is... reasonable."
"Then I'll take her from here." The man winked and crooked a finger at Jon. "Come here, young miss. I'll introduce you to your new family."
Jon looked to Dr. Bradford, who nodded, and he reluctantly made his way over to the man.
When Jon got near, the man reached out and grabbed Jon's hand, squeezing it gently. "Right this way, my dear."
Cheeks heating, Jon allowed the man to lead him out of the room by his hand. Jon knew he looked the part of a friendly girl with a nice, big smile, and that made it worse.
"I'm Mr. Johnson, by the way," the man said. "I wrote all of your programmed dialog. So, if you ever say something you didn't intend to say, you can know that was me who wrote what you said."
Jon's eyes widened. Wait, what? Programmed dialog? Jon could say things that Mr. Johnson wrote? "W-what programmed dialog?"
Mr. Johnson winked at him. "Supergirl! Level one dialog protocol!"
"Yes, sir," Jon said. His mouth moved, and he spoke without giving it the slightest thought. Once he spoke, he realized that he hadn't intended to. He just did. Holy shit. "What just happened?"
"I activated your dialog responses," Mr. Johnson explained. "Level one is very simple stuff. Basic security. If you're out in the world and someone asks you what your name is, you don't want to give a boy's name and betray your identity. So, if I say, 'What is your gender?' "
"Female, sir," Jon said automatically. He realized what he said and clamped his free hand over his mouth. His own body just betrayed him.
Mr. Johnson gave a hearty chuckle. "I don't think we'll hear any more nonsense about you not being a girl, do you?"
"No, sir," Jon said, lowering his hand. He raged at himself for the demure response and tried again. He focused on his masculine voice. "I'm a..." boy "...girl, sir."
It didn't even sound masculine. The ability to switch to the old voice stopped working. Jon's voice was all girl.
"That's what I like to hear, sweetheart." Mr. Johnson grinned like the Cheshire Cat.
"No, sir, I'm a girl." Jon tried hard to get the right gender out. "A girl. I mean, girl. Gurrrelll... G-I-R-L. I'm a girl! I'm female. I'm a woman! A wo-man! W-O-M-A-N! Damn it!"
"I'm so glad to hear how proud you are to be what you are," Mr. Johnson said while Jon fumed behind his smiling facade. "One last thing. What is your name?"
"It's Linda, sir," Jon said. Grimacing, he again tried and failed to assert his male identity. "Linda! I'm Linda! L-I-N-D-A. Lllllliiindaaa..."
"A lovely name, fit for a lovely girl," Mr. Johnson said, his voice dripping with false sweetness. He stopped at a nondescript door set into the corridor. "Ah, here we are. Just go inside and take a seat, Linda. Your new family will be here to meet you soon."
Mr. Johnson finally released Jon's hand. Jon snatched it back and rubbed it on his sweater to wipe off the feel of Mr. Johnson's hand.
"That's not very nice, Linda," Mr. Johnson chided. "A good girl is polite and shows respect to authority. What do you say?"
"Thank you, sir," Jon's mouth said. His blush deepened. He couldn't believe that he was stuck showing deference to this obnoxious man. The first chance Jon got to speak to one of the friendly scientists, he would ask them to turn off the dialog protocol. For now, Jon just wanted to finish his interactions with Mr. Johnson and get far away.
"Much better, Linda," Mr. Johnson said. "Now, you be nice to your new family. If I hear about you mouthing off, I'll activate the next level of protocol. Do you understand me, my sweet pet?"
It took Jon a moment to realize that wasn't a trigger phrase. He was free to answer as he chose. There was really only one thing to say. "Yes... sir."
"Good girl," Mr. Johnson praised, like Jon was a dog. A female dog. A bitch. "Run along, now."
"Thank you, sir," Jon said, his face locked in its inane smile. Turning, he opened the door and went inside, hastily closing it behind him. Whatever was in the room waiting for him, it had to be better than what was out there.
