The group was in the janitor's room....or what was left of the janitor's room as it was a mess. Where was once various cleaning drones and miscellaneous items for the 4th year building, was scattered piles of parts and tools. It seems Bob was using the room to make or modify their arsenals and dragged the two others with him out of respect for Dean.
Though the two in question blurted out their thoughts without thinking.
"So bro-I mean McLovin, is....that your girlfriend? I won't judge bro but is she? Because she's kinda young?"
"Yeah bro also she kinda looks like Kitty Kat"
"These dumb kids..."
"..."
[...]
There was an awkward silence in the room.
Freddie and Mercury had curious puppy-like looks on their manly faces.
Bob facepalmed and looked away pretending to work on his makeshift cryo gun.
Meanwhile, Dean had a confused look while Kat was trying her best to hold in her laugh until...
[Bwahahahahaha]
...her willpower quickly waned as she saw Dean's confused face.
"So is she?"
"Wait she's an AI. Aren't they illegal?"
"Huh a double illegal girlfriend?"
Bob quickly slapped the back of their heads as he nearly forgot Dean wasn't much of a talker.
"Ow"
"Ouch"
"Knock it off you two, and....Dean can we trust her? I won't ask about her origin because it seems we need every help we can get. So?"
Dean's confused face shifted back to his normal expressionless one as Bob took control and asked a genuine question out of concern since the knowledge of paxian working with the government was very limited and selective.
"Yes, you can trust her. In fact I trust her with my life. Right Kat?", Dean looked at Kat who just finished laughing and wiped a tear off one of her big pink eyes.
[Yeah you can trust me, in fact, I work with your government. I even have the credentials to prove it...but you obviously need to keep it a secret hehe.]
"Wow cool."
"So like a secret agent employed by our government but an AI."
Freddie and Mercury were impressed while Bob just lightly shook his head at their nonsense.
"I'll take your word for it. I rather not know another government secret since I'm retired from the marine corps. Oh yeah, you two introduce yourselves, since it seems Dean McLovin doesn't remember your names."
"Frederick Bulsara, but you can call me Freddie."
"Mercury Braveshield, but you can call me Mercury."
Bob shook his head at Mercury, but continued the introduction.
"As for the young lady, just call me Bob like everyone else."
[Thanks, but I already knew that for the past 4 years of hiding in Dean's watch hehe. And I know your history, mister combat engineer."
Dean nodded in return while Kat winked towards Bob, then Bob hesitantly asked something to Dean.
"Umm...can I have a chat with Dean? Just the two of us if you don't mind miss Kat."
[Just Kat and sure since I need to check the building's system anyway and hopefully get enough power to flick the lights on.]
Kat shrunk down and then hopped from Dean's smartwatch to Freddie's smartwatch causing him and Mercury to freak out a little.
"AHHH SHE'S IN ME."
"WHAT THE FUCK SHE CAN DO THAT?"
[Calm down you muscle heads. And take me to the student housing office]
"Umm...yes ma'am."
[sigh...for the last time just call me Kat and I'm only 14. I'm not that old!]
They quickly calmed down and walked away, but Freddie decided to ask something out of curiosity.
"Uhh Kat, you wouldn't happen to be the streamer Kitty Kat by any chance?"
[Why yes it is I, Kitty Kat <3].
Kat then changed her outfit to the onesie with cat ears.
"WHAT? MY FAVORITE STREAMER IS AN AI?"
[Hey what's wrong with that?]
"Well nothing-"
Then their conversation cut off as they were too far to overhear, leaving Dean and Bob alone in the same room.
"So...mister Bob what is it?"
"Boy just call me Bob, and I wanted to ask your side of the story since shit hit the fan."
Dean nodded in return as the two were acquainted enough to go by first names since the two ran into each other occasionally over the years, but they were only acquaintances at best.
"Well..."
Dean then went on recounting everything that happened since he woke up this morning, but excluded Kat's true origin and only mention her as an AI employed to protect him. He recalled how the entire top 10 Espers were missing, but suggested how since Ha-eun was one of 'them' then Mark and his fiancés might be included. Though it was all circumstantial based on his own judgement, so he only regarded it as a working theory. Dean mentioned his encounter with the fiends and husks as he like to call them, but quickly remembered he left Mary in the stairways.
"Umm...Bob I have a survivor with me, but her mental condition is....bad."
Dean hesitantly said as he guided Bob towards the staircases, but once he mentioned her mental condition, Bob had a curious look on his bearded face.
"How bad?"
"It's better if you see it for yourself", Dean then opened the door and walked over to under the staircases where he hid Mary.
The magenta hair unresponsive young woman was still there but this time mumbling incohesive words. Dean was inwardly relieved that she was intact...physically as he wasn't sure if the crawlers would turn her into something worse despite making an educated guess that the crawlers only targeted corpses.
Bob went over and examine her condition while asking with a slightly grave tone, "What happened?"
It was short but concise enough for Dean to understand what Bob meant.
"From the audio files in her smartwatch, it seems she was forced to watch her brother get tortured and...ended up like this."
"Heh, Dean you're a saint for looking after a liability. Most people would just leave her or at best hide her somewhere until the situation calms down", Bob had a dark look as if remembering his time in the UHA marine corps.
"I couldn't risk leaving her alone since those crawlers could turn her. Plus she wasn't heavy so it was easy to carry her downstairs. And I figured a Memoria could fix her condition....temporarily at worst, but truthfully, I needed people to help me stop this mess or...escape from it. Though with Ha-eun possibly still out there...in Pleasantville, I guess blocking her memories will have to wait a little longer."
Dean pushed his glasses up as he finished his explanation and waited for Bob to reply to which he immediately responded.
"sigh....well you're in luck because I happen to have a Memoria in my hidden stock. It's an older model, but it should work on this young miss."