#scientific morality

The mutated creature barely had time to roar before Wonder Woman's lasso wrapped around its torso. With a practiced heave, she redirected the beast away from the shattered incubators. "Doris!" Diana called. "Help me contain it!" Giganta hesitated. Only moments ago she would have ordered the creature to attack. Now she stared at it in horror. "It... wasn't supposed to look like that."

Brain-Zarro stepped beside her, watching the malformed being thrash against the glowing coils of the Lasso of Truth. "It is suffering." Giganta swallowed. "I know." "No." His voice remained calm. "You recognize that it is suffering." He looked toward the rows of ruined tanks. "That distinction matters." For several seconds, Giganta said nothing. Then, with a frustrated growl, she strode forward. "Move." Wonder Woman glanced up.

Giganta carefully lifted a collapsed support beam off the creature, allowing Diana enough room to tighten the lasso without crushing it. Together, they subdued it. When the laboratory finally fell quiet, only the crackle of damaged machinery remained. Giganta sat heavily on a chunk of broken concrete, shrinking back toward her normal height. "I spent years convincing myself I was changing the world."

She laughed bitterly. "Turns out I was mostly making monsters." Brain-Zarro folded his arms. "Every scientist fails." She looked up. "The important question is whether failure becomes data..." He gestured toward the wrecked lab. "...or identity."

Giganta gave him an incredulous look. "You always talk like a textbook?" "When circumstances warrant." "They always warrant?" "They frequently warrant." A reluctant chuckle escaped her. Wonder Woman noticed it immediately. Brain-Zarro continued. "Your expertise remains extraordinary." Giganta scoffed. "After this?" "Especially after this." She frowned. "I don't follow." "You understand genetics, growth regulation, and cellular adaptation." He pointed toward the ruined equipment. "You simply allowed your research priorities to become subordinate to someone else's ambitions."

His crimson eyes met hers. "Knowledge itself is morally neutral." "It is the purpose behind it that defines its legacy." Giganta quietly stared at her own hands. "So... what?" "I become a hero?" "I did not say that." "You become useful." Wonder Woman smiled faintly. "Coming from him, I believe that's meant as a compliment." "It is."

Brain-Zarro nodded matter-of-factly. "There exists an organization." Giganta raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" "A team that occasionally operates outside conventional institutions." Wonder Woman crossed her arms. "The Outlaws?" Brain-Zarro inclined his head. "They tend to recruit individuals whose pasts are... complicated." Giganta laughed once. "That's putting it mildly." "They also suffer from a chronic shortage of scientific expertise."

He paused. "I have observed their engineering." Another pause. "It concerns me." Wonder Woman couldn't help smiling. "That's one way to put it." "They would benefit from someone capable of constructing equipment that does not explode every third mission." Giganta blinked. "...Are you offering me a job?" "I am proposing a hypothesis." Brain-Zarro extended a hand. "Apply your intellect toward preserving life rather than distorting it." "Challenge flawed ideas instead of enabling them." "Become known not merely for your size, but for your insight."

He tilted his head. "The Outlaws could use a scientist." A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "And I would appreciate an assistant capable of understanding my calculations without requiring three separate explanations." Giganta stared at his outstretched hand.

Then she looked at Wonder Woman. "I don't know if I'm ready for redemption." Diana answered gently. "You don't have to decide your entire future today." "You only have to decide what your next step is." After a long silence, Giganta reached out and shook Brain-Zarro's hand. "All right."