I know I should be working on my Descendants stories, but I lost motivation for them. I'm gunna be taking a short break from those. Anyway, I saw I am Frankie and it was the 1st time in a while that I watched a show that didn't ever give me 2nd hand embarrassment (which I tend to get easily) in a long time. So, here's a short little thing.
I am…Exposed
Is it ever a normal day at school with a stolen android? Dr. Sigourney Gaines was nervous for parent-teacher conferences. Sepulvada High had a big celebration, welcoming parents into class during the day to meet teachers in groups and one-on-one. The halls were decorated with cats and streamers and balloons that were the school's colors. Frankie and her best friend Dayton Reyes were on the decorating committee.
"Frankie and Dayton really did a great job." Will Gaines put a hand on his wife's shoulder. He knew how nervous she was, especially with things pertaining to Frankie. The thought of anyone hurting Frankie terrified him just as much as his did for his wife. Especially after the whole Droidsync issue. EGG was still after her and they were getting closer. Dr. Gaines wanted to move again, but for the sake of Jenny and Frankie's social lives he convinced her to stay. He was really hoping that it was the right decision.
"Yeah they did." Dr. Gaines smiled with pride. She was really happy with how far Frankie had come from when she first came online. She was becoming more and more human every day. One day they should really try the Turing Test on her, so see how human she was becoming. "Oh there she is!" Dr. Gaines exclaimed, seeing Frankie walking towards them with her friends Dayton, Cole, and Byron. "Frankie! We're over here!"
Frankie smiled and ran over to her parents. "Mom. Dad." She said excitedly and gave them each a hug.
"Hey Dr. and Mr. Gaines." Cole said shaking both their hands. Mr. Gaines gave him a friendly hit on the shoulder. Dr. Gaines just gave him a suspicious look. She learned to trust Dayton and she already knew Frankie's secret. Byron seemed to be clueless and harmless. Cole on the other hand. He clearly had a huge crush on Frankie, which Frankie reciprocated. If they were to start dating, he would find out. This could put the whole Gaines family in danger.
Frankie's voice interrupter Dr. Gaines's thoughts. "Cole Reyes and Dayton Reyes are your parents coming?"
"Yes."
"Probably not." Cole and Dayton spoke at the same time and then looked at each other.
"He promised he would come." Dayton reminded Cole.
"Yeah. Since when does he keep his promises?" Cole asked before walking away followed by Byron. Frankie felt sad for Cole. She could not imagine Will Gaines or Dr. Gaines acting that way towards her and she wasn't even related by blood to her. She tried going through her files, but couldn't find a good reason for Tom Reyes not to show up. She smiled to herself. This would be a good surprise for Cole.
"I'm sorry about Cole." Dayton told, "He just isn't as optimistic as me."
"It is alright Dayton Reyes." Frankie told her best friend, "My search shows that there's a 99.99% chance your father will show up soon." Dayton smiled.
"Well I think your mother and I will go see if we can talk with some of your teachers." Mr. Gaines told Frankie, "You girls did a lovely job on the decorations. Have some fun."
Tammy, Makayla, and Lucia stood in the janitor's closet not far away. "What are we doing here?" Lucia asked Tammy. Neither she nor Makayla wanted to be in the janitor's closet, not when their parents were out there, probably looking for them.
"We are going to expose Frankie for the robot she is." Tammy said, confidently. The other two rolled their eyes. This again. "Think about it. What parent would want their child going to school with an unpredictable robot? The plan is for Makayla to go up to Frankie, offering her a drink and then 'accidentally' spill it on her. Genius and fool proof."
"Wait." Makayla said, "Why me and why did you put air quotes around 'accidentally'?"
Tammy grinned evilly, "Makayla, you are the clumsiest of the three of us. You'll easily be able to get away with purposely spilling water on Frankie while making it seem like an accident. You're the best for this job." Makayla and Lucia looked at each other and nodded, agreeing to Tammy's plan.
A couple of minutes had passed of Frankie and Dayton chatting. Frankie noticed that her friend kept looking at her phone. Well it was more than usual and it seemed as though she was just checking the time. "Is everything alright Dayton Reyes?" She asked with genuine concern.
"Yeah…yeah." Dayton answered. "It's just…what you said about my dad. Is there any chance you are wrong?"
"My processor is completely up to date Dayton Reyes. I am not programed to make such errors, but things have been changing. I say there is a 1% chance I made a mistake." Frankie answered with pride. Making a mistake unintentionally was a very human thing to do. It didn't seem to cheer up Dayton at all.
Frankie was about to try cheering her up again when there was an uproar by the front door of the school. Ms. Huff could be heard saying, "You cannot just barge into this school like that. I have the children's safety to worry about." Frankie looked at Dayton, who grabbed her hand and pushed their way to the front of the crowd to see what was going on.
They were met with the sight of Mr. Huff trying to block the way of two large men in suits and black sunglasses. Frankie nudged Dayton and pointed to what they were holding. It looked like a toy gun that Jenny and her friends would play with. A tall man in a suit with glasses and greying hair walked in behind them with a team of scientists.
Frankie felt a strange tightness in her chest cavity when she recognized the man. "Kingston." She said quietly, only meant for Dayton to hear.
Her best friend wasn't listening. She ran up to Kingston and gave the man a big hug. "Dad!" she exclaimed. Frankie was beyond shocked. The man that had been after her for so long was her best friend's father?
"Not now sweetheart. I'm in the middle of something big." Kingston told Dayton as he locked eyes with Frankie. "Frankie come here now." He commanded her.
"Why would I listen to you?" Frankie asked him. Dayton stood there, confused, looking between her father and her best friend.
"I don't know what you men want with Frankie, but she is a student at my school. She is under my protection here." Ms. Huff said, still trying her best to keep the men away from the students.
"Dad?" Cole came back with Byron.
"Not now Cole!" Kingston yelled, obviously frustrated. "Frankie you will come with me. You are EGG property. That means you are my property."
Now Dayton moved away from Kingston and stood by Frankie. "My friend is nobody's property Dad. What's going on with you?" Cole and Byron joined her agreeing with her statement.
"I see." Kingston laughed. "Dr. Gaines has managed to fool you all." He started pacing back and forth. "She is a dangerous android!" He angrily pointed at Frankie. "Dr. Gaines had an obsession with created a computer that could act just like a human could. I told her to stop, but she wouldn't listen, even after Eliza." Kingston stopped pacing, took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge on his nose. "Then when I ordered Frankie to be deactivated, Dr. Gaines stole her from my facilities. She belongs at EGG where I can keep you all safe."
Everyone in the hall was silent. Frankie looked around to see something in everyone's eyes. She searched her files for an answer. Fear. They were all afraid of her. "This is ridiculous." Dayton exclaimed. "We all know that Frankie couldn't hurt a fly." Most of the people began to nod in agreement.
Cole agreed as well, but something else his father said stuck in his mind. "Frankie?" He asked her. "Is what my dad said true?"
"No Cole Reyes. I am not dangerous." Frankie answered hoping to stay away from the android topic.
"I already know that." Cole said. If Frankie had a heart, it would have dropped to her E-stomach. "I mean…are you an android?" Frankie's warning flashed from DO NOT LIE to DO NOT REVEAL ANDROID STAUS. Her system was at a stale mate. She couldn't lie and she couldn't tell the truth. She felt her circuits begin to spark. Dayton didn't seem to know what to do either.
Frankie's warning message changed as she felt liquid running down her side. She had been so distracted by her situation she didn't notice Makayla moving towards her with a glass of water. Sparks and pain came from her wet arm. There was no Andrew LaPierre this time to save her. He was still suspended. She held it close to her body and closed her eyes. "Frankie?" she heard so much fear in Dayton's voice.
"I'm alright Dayton-Dayton Reyes. J-just a bit of w-water." Frankie tried to console her friend.
Dayton was not convinced, "You're not OK Frankie. We need to find your mom, fast." Cole stood there in shock. It was true, Frankie was an android. He couldn't handle everything and ran off.
"No one is going anywhere until we get the android we were promised." One of the men in sunglasses said. "Our boss is already waited long enough. The android is coming with us." He raised his gun and shot it at Frankie, causing her to shut down. Dayton managed to catch her before she fell to the ground.
The two men moved towards Frankie only to be stopped by Dayton covering her with her body. "Stay away from my friend!" Dayton yelled, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I won't let you hurt Frankie."
"I won't let you hurt her either." Byron said. He stepped in front of Frankie and Dayton.
"She is a machine Dayton!" Kingston tried to reason with his daughter. "She is programed to serve others. That android is not really your friend."
"You're wrong Kingston." Dr. Gaines walked down the hall with her husband and Cole by her side, a murderous glint in her eye. "Over our time here, I noticed a change in Frankie. Not only has she developed human feelings, but she also has the desire to become more human."
"That's not possible Dr. Gaines and you know it." Kingston accused her, "You've grown attached to this android, haven't you? Have you learned nothing from Eliza? This is for the best."
"Frankie is not Eliza, Kingston." Dr. Gaines said through clenched teeth. "I told you that I fixed what when wrong in Eliza for Frankie. We will not have the same problem."
"Who is Eliza?" Byron asked, not moving from his post protecting Frankie and Dayton.
Dr. Gaines sighed, "That's not important Byron. It's in the past and it doesn't matter here."
"I think the boy has a right to know. They all have a right to know the danger they could be in because of you Dr. Gaines." Kingston said. "Eliza was a previous model of Frankie. They are exactly the same."
"They are almost exactly the same." Dr. Gaines corrected. "Eliza had a bug in her system that caused unwelcomed outcomes." She looked down at her shoes, remembering her mistake.
"Eliza stole a bulldozer and tried to kill everyone at EGG." Kingston interjected. "I say that's much more than unwelcomed Dr. Gaines." He took his glasses off again and cleaned them. "That's why we must permanently deactivate Frankie. She's too dangerous."
"No!" Cole roared at his father. "Dayton is right. Frankie could never hurt a fly. We're her friends we know her better than you."
"This is why I programed her to always tell the truth." Dr. Gaines informed them. "That way if she ends up going down the same path as Eliza, she won't be able to hide it for long. I promise you Mr. Kingston, Frankie is perfectly safe. Mr. Kingston, please. Think about if this was PEGSI or one of your children in danger."
Kingston looked down at his shoes. He would do anything to protect Dayton, Cole, and PEGSI. He nervously took off his glasses to clean them again. "Dr. Gaines, as much as I want to believe you and my children, Frankie still must go." Kingston stood his ground. "Dr. Gaines still disobeyed my orders and stole company property. Plus I promised these men a state-of-the-art android. This is no longer in my hands. She is going to WARPA."
"I will not let them weaponize her!" Dr. Gaines was furious. She was not about to let these men take her daughter and turn her into a weapon. A shocked look appeared on the face of every student and teacher in that hallway. These people wanted to make Frankie a weapon?
The men in dark glasses once again moved to grab Frankie. Dayton held onto her friends tighter. Cole joined Byron blocking their path. Dr. Gaines ran over to Dayton so that she could make sure Frankie was still functional, while her husband joined the boys. Robbie and John, who had been not far away stepped in front of Frankie as well. All of them gasped when Tammy, Makayla, and Lucia blocked the path to Frankie as well.
"I may not like Frankie, but these guys can't hurt her. We won't let them." Tammy said in response to the crowd's shock. Dayton, Cole, and Byron smiled, knowing how important it was that Tammy wanted to protect her academic rival. Soon the whole school had formed a protective human barrier around Frankie.
The men were angry. "Disperse now." One of them commanded, "You are interfering with official government business. We will have to arrest you all." This didn't even faze any of them. They stood their ground protecting Frankie. Dr. Gaines felt tears come to her eyes at the sight of so many people protecting Frankie.
"Get out of my school." Ms. Huff said angrily. She opened a nearby door to release half of her cats. They were all hissing at the WARPA men. The men stormed out of the school, realizing that they weren't getting their android today. They would be back at some point, everyone knew that, but for now they had won. Frankie was safe. Everyone who was gathered in the hall began to celebrate.
"Is Frankie going to be OK?" Dayton asked Dr. Gaines in the middle of the excitement.
Dr. Gaines looked over Frankie. "I can get her back online easily, but her arm is badly damaged. I need her online to get a better look at it." She took out her iPad and opened up the app she used to put Frankie in sleep mode.
After pressing a few buttons, Frankie's eyes opened. "Good morning, mom." Then she looked around, "Why am I already at school?"
"You don't remember? EGG came for you at school." Byron told her, "Don't worry we stopped them."
Frankie looked confused, then sad. She looked at Dr. Gaines, "I am sorry. I have failed at keeping my android status secret. Would you like me to do a search for a new place to live?"
"Wait!" Cole said, "You can't move. You're safe now Frankie. My Dad won't be able to get to you anymore. There's no need to hide."
"Mom said that if the school ever found out I was an android we would have to move." Frankie said, sadly.
"Frankie has a point." Dr. Gaines informed her daughter's friends. "WARPA is still out there and they won't stop until they get their hands on Frankie. We really should move somewhere they can't find us."
Kingston stepped in, "If you were to move away, you'd be away from the protection of EGG." He was met with confused faces. "My children clearly care about Frankie and I will admit I haven't been a great father. It's time for that to change. I'm going to go to Cole's tennis matches and help him with schoolwork. I'm going to be there for Dayton to talk to. A part of that will be helping to protect Dayton's best friend and Cole's girlfriend. You all seem to trust her even after learning she is an android. Maybe she isn't a repeat if Eliza." Cole and Dayton hugged their father. The promise of protection from EGG made the Gaines feel better about staying where they were. The celebration continued.
While the parents went back to meeting with teachers, Cole, Byron, Dayton, and Frankie sat on the stairs together. Cole and Byron were asking questions, trying to understand Frankie better now that they knew the truth. Frankie was pleased with how understanding her friends were being. "You know I still like you right?" Cole asked her. "I don't care that you're an android, Frankie. I like you because of who you are not what you are."
Frankie smiled, "I know now Cole Reyes." She pulled Cole into one of her famous too-tight hugs.
"So there was a prototype before you?" Byron interrupted their romantic moment.
"Incorrect." Frankie answered him, "There were five before me. Mom named me Frankie because it starts with the sixth letter of the alphabet, F."
"Do you know what happened to Eliza?" Dayton asked her friend.
"I do not know."