AN: I'm going to start recommending music from here on out, listen if you want to. Most pieces will be on youtube. For this one, the Haukke Manor theme (The Maiden's Lament) works well for the run through the underground.
"It was some time ago actually. Not long after the world lost its memories I found myself in need of direction. I was maybe only sixteen at the time when everyone woke up that day. While many like to forget the first few years after as well, I didn't have that luxury. It happened that a few days after The Event, fighting over food and resources started up. No one knew how to create some of the items humans desperately needed to survive, and we didn't know how to recover that information after The Event. I ended up in one of the various resistance groups that was forming around the city, or the ruins that were left at least."
"So the Domes didn't exist yet?" Ray seemed perplexed, hadn't the domes preceded The Event?
"The domes were constructed after Gordon Rosewater gained control by calming all the resistance groups. But from what I remember, only the groundwork and steel lattice work of the domes had been finished when everyone woke up. The glass hadn't been placed yet, and the artificial suns were without bulbs to light." Norman continued his part of the dinner preparations. "But that still took time. For a few months everyone was panicking, I wasn't any different. The group I joined up with had taken refuge in a disused military base, but from what country or province we didn't know."
"No markings or ID's?" Ray found that hard to believe, there had to be something right?
"Not a one. It was as if the very identities of those who had been there was no more, not even a fragment of memory. We did find bodies inside, but it was as if they had been let to rot for decades, and seeing as no one can remember much from before The Event, that may very well have been the case. Nothing but mummified remains could be found, the dog tags had been worn down by whatever had killed and left the men to rot, and nature as well. Any form of ID was removed from them, and we had no choice but to bury those left behind in a mass grave, marked only by stones we could find."
"Sounds like a haunted house." Actually it sounded more like Silent Hill or Resident Evil right before the zombies pop out and snack on you, but Ray didn't think Norman understood what a video game was.
"Indeed, but unlike the ones we see today, this one was very real to those of us without memories. We couldn't remember what ghosts and ghouls might have existed before The Event, if they had ever existed at all, but to us in that moment of being unaware of who and where we were, those spirits from beyond seemed very real." Norman had that kinda voice a story teller took on when recounting scary stories about a campfire.
"Uh huh, and so the group you stuck with in the beginning holed up there?" Ray set about doing whatever task Norman gave her. She wanted to focus on listening to this knowledge she wouldn't have known otherwise.
"We did, for a while. I was one of the younger men in the group, and usually made to do some of the grunt work. While we didn't have any names of the place we were, we did have some old field training manuals, equipment repair manuals, and manuals on how to use the equipment and operate weapons. There was a rather neatly organized stock pile of prepackaged food and ammunition's available to us, and with training we could use them."
"This almost sounds like some macho-man camp." Ray gave Norman a playful jest. 'That also explains why he seems to be an old hand at weapons usage. Probably had to learn how to repair his gear too.'
"It certainly felt like it. Very few women joined us, most staying in the city remains and hiding. There was a lot of crime in those days, and while the current regime like to make it seem like a peaceful transition, it most certainly was not."
"Scary."
"It was, not having memories, and the all out fights for territory that followed The Event made it unsafe for everyone." Norman continued, "Most of the women that joined up with us did so to learn to protect themselves, or children they had taken in after waking up that day. Some brutes even attacked us to get the women staying with us, not even interested in the food and munitions."
"So is that why you gotta wear an eye-patch?" Ray asked without looking up from cutting the ingredients given to her.
"Well, part of it?" Norman laughed a bit, seeming to be in a better mood now.
"Part?" Ray raised an eyebrow at that remark.
"That is a story for another day."
While Norman recounted some of his past to Ray, the battle with the Ghost Ship raged on out in Paradigm Harbor.
"Dangit! These ships are annoying, I can't even tell which one is real?" Roger worked the controls of Big O furiously, he needed to avoid the torpedoes the ships were launching at them. Well, one ship at least. He suspected that the many ships were actually one and being projected. But how could he figure out which one it was?
"Roger your tea is ready?"
"Huh?" Dorothy's remark wrecked his train of thought. "Not now Dorothy, I'm kinda busy here."
"I'll just stir some sugar in."
"Dorothy don't bother… Hey wait that's a great idea!" He worked the panels to call Norman back home.
"Yes Master Roger? Is there something you need?" Norman's face appeared on the little red screen to the right.
"Norman did you send over extra arms in the Prairie Dog?" Roger still had to avoid attacks launched his way.
"Indeed Master Roger, you should be able to switch them out easily."
"Wait Big O has extra weapons?" Ray looked into the screen from behind Norman. "Is that practical?"
"Later Ray, and thanks Norman." Roger switched off the screen, sank Big O back into a rather waterlogged Prairie Dog, and swapped Big O's right arm for the Driller arm before launching Big O back out into the ocean.
"Now, let's stir things up!" Roger allowed Big O to sink down the few meters remaining between him and the ocean floor. Once there, Roger activated the Driller arm and pulled the real ship into the whirlpool he created.
"Bingo!" Roger used Big O's laser vision to destroy the torpedoes, following that up with the hip chains to drag the ship underwater, and ended the fight with a Sudden Impact to the dellerect military ships hull, the pressure of the water and the explosive force of a steel fist into the hull made a rather spectacular display as the remaining scraps of the ship sank around the iron giant.
"Phew." Roger flopped back into the chair, finally able to relax after being on edge and tense for the last two hours.
"Roger you tea is cold." Dorothy tried to hand him the cup anyway.
"Thanks," he drained the cold, syrupy liquid from the cup. "Why did Norman install a teapot in here anyways?"
'Does he really need to destroy everything?' The fallen heavens ward known as Angel had retrieved what she needed from the ghost ship before Big O had made scrap of it. A data disk with information about the ghost ship. It wasn't a complete record, as the ships memory drive had been damaged with age, but it did have quite a bit.
Back in the little hovel Angel called her residence, she was using an outdated computer she bought with her ill begotten funds. Well, it's not like she had stolen the money. Paradigm City government owed her for the hours she worked darn it! Not paying her yet, because they were taking their sweet time certifying her identity. Well, that identity was false, she sure wasn't Jenny Lovejoy or whatever name her compatriots had made for her. Still, they should have paid her for her work. She had to pay her bills and buy groceries just like every other human in the city.
The data disk had plenty of info, but none that the Union would want. They wanted memories, such as who had made it, why, where? But none of that was present. The ghost ship had actually been an autonomous military ship created to take down enemy water transports, whoever the enemy was. But since no one knew what codes to give the ship, it had gone rouge after the event and attacked everything it came across. If another one popped up the Union wanted to capture it for themselves, but even though that ship should have had the codes to stand down on its drive, none were there.
There was one bit of info Angel had found interesting, a name that repeated throughout the files. Ray Law. That was the negotiators butlers assistant right? She barely looked eighteen, how could her name be in the files? And more than once at that? Angel wasn't sure why, but she intended to corner that girl and find out, not just about Ray, but also what she could find out about Roger Smith as well. He had to have a type, right?
"There's no place like home." Angel repeated that line, to give herself comfort. She really did want to go back home, wherever it was.
The fog had abated after the ghost ship was destroyed in the harbor battle, but not long after another fog set in, not as thick or chilly, but it still made it difficult to see much beyond the railing of the patio. Of course, with fog, came the stories of yet another ghost.
Roger was reading his morning paper, with Dorothy annoyed at him for reading at the table. Ray gave no fucks, as she had long since settled into the standard routine of the Smith household. But the article on the front page did pique her interest.
"What's the article on the front about?" Ray usually took the paper once Roger was done with it, but decided to just ask now instead of waiting.
"Hm? Oh, some ghost has been appearing near the Brooklyn Bridge and killing MP's. I highly doubt it's a ghost though. It wasn't the last time this happened." Roger sounded disinterested as he drank his hot coffee. Roger had woken up early for once.
"Master Roger you have a guest by the name of Fraiser." Norman reappeared in the dining room.
"Send him away Norman, I'm not interested in politics this early in the morning."
"And how do you intend to affect Big O's repairs then, Master Roger?" Norman sounded annoyed while having a bemused expression. Ray had to choke back the coffee she was drinking trying not to laugh.
"Ah… Ok ok fine, I'll meet with him as soon as I am dressed, until then make sure he's comfortable." Roger rubbed his temples like he had a headache.
"Wonderful idea Master Roger. I'll make sure their needs are seen too. Ms Dorothy, Ms Ray, please take care of the chores for now."
"Yes sir." Both spoke in unison for a rare occurrence.
Once Norman had left to see to the Fraiser man, Roger quickly ate his breakfast and left the two girls alone. Ray looked over at Dorothy and said, "Ya know, Norman can be kinda scary when he's about to lose his temper."
"Then it's best we don't give him reason to lose it," Dorothy finished off the rest of her tea and cleaned up the table, while Ray did the dishes. For once, the two got along without being forced to do so, and it was a quiet amiable day.
Roger had of course taken the Bonnie Fraiser case, he had a soft spot for families trying to find each other, not that he would ever tell a soul. He half suspected that the reason he felt that way was the lack of blood relatives he had, or maybe some odd hope his birth mother was still alive. Not that he remembered her. While he had a personal rule to leave the past in the past, he also knew humans were creatures that relied on hope, and it was better to have some than none at all. Of course Bonnie's brother Rick didn't think that was so.
"So you took the case? You know he's not alive right? What are you gonna do, hire a look alike? My poor old mother's blind anyway, so that won't work." Rick Fraiser, clad in a white tennis outfit, leaned down to yell at Roger getting into the Griffin.
"I'm simply going to do my best to find the truth, whatever that may be." Roger drove off towards the Speakeasy, and away from the opulence that was Dome life, he needed to see Big Ear.
"Everyone knows what happened in the Bonnie Fraiser case a year ago Roger. Well, at least what was made public at any rate?" Big Ear wasn't reading when Roger came in for a change, instead he was smoking a cigarette.
"So the military police were hiding something then?" Roger sipped at his beer, in no hurry to leave for once. The ghost and the rumors about Bonnie being alive involved the dark of night, and it was the middle of the day.
"Who knows? But whatever Bonnie Fraiser found got him killed, that much is certain." Big Ear grabbed his paper and flipped through it, "You seem to be chasing quite a few ghosts recently. And not just the scary kind."
"What's that about?"
"That girl you have living with you now. Ms Wayneright isn't hard to find information on, but it's limited. Ms Law on the other hand, really doesn't seem to exist." He seemed disinterested, but Roger knew that wasn't true. For Big Ear, information was like booze and cigarettes, he needed it for his daily life and work. Not finding something said more than having all the information in Paradigm.
"She seems to be rather alive for a ghost." Roger tried to downplay his own surprise. If Big Ear couldn't find anything out, and Dastun couldn't either, then where else could Roger look for information. Ray hadn't been forthcoming in his attempts to question her.
"Spirits come in many forms Roger. Sometimes it's in a form we can touch. She told you she came from a small town outside the city right?"
"Yeah, someplace it would take a while to get to or from." Roger knew this line of questioning was going in circles, but it was all he had at the moment.
"None of the other illegal residents can corroborate that story, or that a town that far away even exists." Big Ear sipped at his whiskey, "In fact, most say that it's impossible for anyone to survive a journey here to the city from that far away. Nothing but desert for miles to the north and south. It's no secret to those that pay attention that foreigners exist. Even if the government denies it. And most people outside the domes don't care either, seeing as they live with them in the illegal resident districts anyway."
"So you think she's a foreigner that slipped through the cracks?" Roger finished his beer and left the usual amount for Big Ear. "Well, that might be the case."
Rogers next stop was meeting with Dastun to find more out about the Bonnie Fraiser case, and much as what Big Ear had told him, it seemed like all the higher ups that had been assassinated had had something to do with the riots last year.
The riots were over those in the illegal resident sectors wanting better living conditions instead of being displaced by newer domes being built to help support the growing infrastructure, and for the Paradigm City government to stop ignoring their pleas for better lives outside the domes. Of course the city had responded with force, which only managed to make the conflict worse. Furthermore, it led to more riots, more fighting between citizens and police, and for the rioters to actually start acting together as a coherent group instead of many different groups. That all came to an end when the nicest cop on the beat, Bonnie Fraiser, had been shot in the riots and fallen off the bridge to his death. Except…
"Except his body was never recovered." Dastun handed Roger the report.
"Isn't that unusual?" Roger asked while reading through the papers on the clipboard that had been given to him.
"Yeah, beats me. It's not like people fall off bridges anyway, other than the occasional suicide that is." Dan Dastun had a way of talking about the macabre as if he was deciding what to get for lunch. That is to say, it was his normal.
"Even then, don't you find the bodies within a day or two?" Roger gave him the clipboard back and sipped at the lukewarm coffee that cops always had on hand, kinda burnt, and maybe stale, but for Roger it was kinda nostalgic.
"Yeah, yeah. Look Roger, I get that this case doesn't add up, but you really need to leave this sort of thing to the police. Why are you even looking into a year old accidental homicide?"
"His mother asked me to as a last birthday wish, that's all." With that Roger shut the Majors office door and headed home.
Later that day, before going out in Big O to confront the ghost, Roger tried to question Ray again.
"So where exactly is this town you come from?"
"To the south, quite a long ways away."
"And its name?"
"What good would that do you? It's not on any maps, and even if it were, getting back is my problem, not yours."
"So you intend to go back?" Why did Roger sound surprised? He wasn't sure, but why would Ray want to go back?
"Yes, eventually." Ray looked annoyed.
"And you haven't tried to go back before?" Roger tried to shrug it off.
"I don't even remember how I got to Paradigm, how am I supposed to remember the way back?" 'If there even is a way back home.' After that Ray retreated to her room, no longer wanting to be interrogated. Once Roger had left she joined Dorothy out on the patio, it was so foggy that the gynoid appeared as if she was spirit, tangentially in the world of the living. Ray couldn't help but sigh. 'Even if I told them the truth, no one would believe me. It's better to keep my head down, keep working here for a time, and take as many notes from my reading as possible.' Except the reading hadn't gotten her even one step closer to finding a way home. It had only served to befuddle her mind further. Much of the books she had read on reincarnation, other worlds and the like had been more or less the same as such texts in her own world. You were either religious or insane to believe such texts, at least Ray thought so.
"Your search hasn't been going well, has it?" Dorothy didn't bother to look at her while staring out at the city. Pinpricks of light shone from behind the curtain of fog.
"Is it that obvious?" Ray sat down, back against a marble pillar. The cool feeling of the stone pressing up against her back was soothing.
"You haven't been going to the library as often this last week." The wind slowly fluttering Dorothy's black dress skirt made the apparition appearance that much more believable.
"Well, it's not like I'm going to find what I'm looking for in a library, at least not now that I've searched as many as I could get into. No matter how many books I read, or what topic, I can't seem to find any answers to any of my questions." Ray closed her eyes and allowed the ambient noise of the city to help her drift off.
Dorothy looked down at what she felt was a sad excuse for a young woman. 'She can't remember how she got here, or why, and instead of looking for a way home she reads old religious texts? Unbelievable.' Dorothy would have just let Ray sleep out in the cold and fog, but thought better of it and took Ray to her room instead. On the way there, Ray started muttering incoherently in her sleep, and what was more, she snuggled against Dorothy's shoulder. Dorothy knew it was an involuntary response in humans, but she disliked that the woman she was holding was displaying any such reactions. 'I should just drop her. It's the least she deserves.' She felt eyes on her back and decided it would be better to put Ray in her bed, Norman wouldn't appreciate Dorothy's behavior. As soon as Dorothy had put Ray down she began to toss and turn, moaning as if in extreme pain. 'She's barely been asleep for ten minutes and already she is having nightmares.'
Nightmares had plagued Ray as of late and had gotten so bad that more often than not Ray would join Dorothy for some time at night, not speaking, only staying close to the gynoid for some form of comfort. What comfort Ray could derive from such limited contact Dorothy did not know, but she knew it calmed Ray to have someone close by.
'What could she possibly be having nightmares about anyway? Her life back home?' If only it was so innocent as what Dorothy imagined. Dorothy stayed by Ray's side for a time, wondering if the presence of a gynoid being there could calm the nightmares in the human.
In Ray's nightmares she was being chased by the archetype through the paths of the underground. Only tonight's nightmare would end differently. Tonight, she could hear the archetype chasing her, calling out to her, begging her to join it and make it whole again. Ray didn't bother to look back as she ran through the barely lit corridors, it wouldn't do anything to belay her fears. Behind her would be the archetype, jaws gleaming from the diodes behind whatever material made its face plating. More recently a new Megadeus had joined in the chase, one Ray knew the name of, but not why it was chasing her. It said nothing, just followed behind the archetype plodding after her, wearing a sheet like a ghost. Osrail, the projection Megadeus, had joined in the fray that was Ray's nightmarish run through the underground.
But then something changed, the corridors started to have paintings on the walls, the paintings turned into empty fields, then not so empty fields giving way to wheat fields, the lights above became glass and artificial sunlight, and much like footprints on the beach get washed away, so too did the sounds of the precursors ebb from her mind. Before long she stopped running, and slowly walked up to the farm house before her. There sat someone she expected to find, but wasn't sure why he would meet her in dreams.
"You have come a long way to be here, young lady. Sit with me here for a while, let your mind be at ease." Gordon Rosewater, the 'creator' of Paradigm City and father to the current head of the Paradigm Corporation, sat in his wooden rocking chair staring out over the farm that surrounded his small wooden cabin. He wore much the same as he always did. Red shirt under blue jean overalls with a kerchief in his pocket, browned and beaten work boots and a straw hat. The old man didn't bother to look at Ray while he spoke. That was just his way, Ray knew.
"So you finally summon me here?" Ray sat on the edge of the porch, looking out to the farm. It was rather nostalgic, even though Ray had never been to the main farming dome. "Why now?"
"There wasn't a reason to call you here before. You who are of another world had no part to play in the story originally." His voice was raspy, but sounded somewhat exhausted as well, like he didn't want to repeat himself, only rest.
"Did something change?" Ray looked back at the octogenarian.
"Indeed, quite a bit has changed. And there is much to tell you in so short a time." Gordon stopped rocking and became serious.
"Well, best get on with the explanations then." Ray laid back on the porch to listen.
"To put it plainly, the negotiator and the android have come to find you a curiosity, the negotiator finds this mystery solvable while the android wishes for your nonexistence. What is more, the butler has come to see you as one of his own, and memory given form has found you to be a part of a past that shouldn't exist."
"I thought you said you were going to put that plainly." Ray couldn't help but laugh. Always talking in riddles this old man was, but she understood what he meant, all the same. "So Roger wants to fly too close to the sun, Dorothy wants to cast me out as the beast does to the witch, Norman thinks of me as someone important to him, and Angel… Wait, what was that about "finding me a part of a past that shouldn't exist"?"
"You will learn soon enough that you who should not be in this world in any form, have become an indispensable part of it."
"Wait, hold up. Does that mean I cannot go home?"
"It means that there is no easy way home for you." And with Gordon's last words at parting Ray woke up with a start, in cold sweat and shaking as if she had run yet another underground marathon.
Ray got up and went about her usual after nightmare ritual, she went to look for Dorothy. Though she knew Dorothy disliked her very being, she was also the only one awake late at night, and so the only one Ray could seek a form of solace from. Ray left her room and set off towards the parlor, where Dorothy was usually at night.
For some reason Ray heard what sounded like the clip of high heels behind her. "Ok Dorothy that enough trying to… scare… ME! AAAAHHHHHHH!"
Behind Ray's back wasn't Dorothy at all, but some tall fair skinned apparition whose body was only partially visible in the gloom. Ray took off like a rocket and kept running towards Roger's room, not sure what he could do, but it was a better bet than standing still.
"Help, help someone's oof!" She tripped. No, someone tripped her. Ray felt small cold hands grab her and yanked her into a small room. "Uwah don't hurt me!" Ray threw her hands up in defense against whatever had grabbed her.
"While the thought has crossed my mind, Norman would not approve of violence." It was Dorothy. She had dragged Ray from the hallway into a hidden security room with surveillance cameras.
"Oh thank gods, it's just you Dorothy." Dorothy was not amused by that comment. "There's someone in the house."
"I know, I saw them break in, and then after you left your room they followed you until you started running." Dorothy was half looking at the monitors and half at Ray.
"Have you been standing in this room all night?"
"Yes, I usually watch you while you're sleeping." The less than amused, befuddled and incredulous look on Ray's half asleep features made Dorothy aware that that was probably not something she should have ever admitted to.
"We're gonna have a talk about your hobbies later, but for now, who the heck snuck in and why were they chasing me?" Ray looked at the monochrome monitors, and saw that the person who had snuck in looked rather familiar. "Oh, is that Angel?"
"And how exactly do you know that woman's name?" Ray could've sworn Dorothy hissed, but she was also slowly coming down off adrenaline and waking up.
"I don't. Not personally anyway." Angel walked back towards Ray's room, and hid around the corner. "Is she waiting for me to come back?" When Angel didn't move and used a mirror to peak around the answer was obvious.
"Hm… But why?" Gordon's words rung out in Ray's ears "...The memory given form has found you to be part of a past that does not exist." 'Oh, maybe she wants to question me about something? But where did she find out about me?'
"Ok Dorothy, I have an idea, and I need your help. No don't give me that look, just listen." Ray explained her plan, and Dorothy raised an eyebrow, which Ray wasn't aware she could do, and just nodded affirmation.
Ray quickly snuck out of the room, and slowly, taking her time, went back to hers. Just as expected when she got close Angel came out from around the corner ready to meet her.
"Well, if it isn't the fallen Angel? What exactly are you doing here outside of regular business hours?" Ray tried to play it cool, hands in her pant pockets and sort of leaning back like she never had a care. But on the inside she was anxious as could be. This all hinged on Dorothy doing what Ray asked, and Angel not being unhinged herself.
Her suspicions were confirmed when Angel drew a gun and leveled it at her point blank. "You have information I want, and you're going to give it to me."
"Then you had best lower your gun dumbass." Ray gave a cocky, shit eating smile.
"And why is that?"
"Can't get any information if I'm dead can ya?" Angel lowered her gun, looking suspiciously at Ray. "You were never gonna shot me anyways, just all bluff and blunder you are. You've never shot anyone before, I can tell, your eyes say as much and your expression just now allies my claim."
"So what? I still have a gun, and I can still shoot!" Angel sounded angry, like she couldn't believe her non-hostage was questioning her.
"That would be a rather ill fated idea, Ms Lovejoy." Right on cue Norman came around the corner, in his striped pajamas of all things! And was he wearing bunny slippers? His face was illuminated by a small candle casting shadows, trying to make him look even more intimidating was Ray's guess. Ray tried to hold herself together and not laugh at the strangeness of it all.
"What? How?"
"All according to keikaku." Ray said victoriously. "You never suspected a thing did you? That it might be you walking into my trap?"
"Why you! I'll…"
"Be leaving now, and returning at a more appropriate hour. For the sake of your health, I recommend after nine o'clock in the morning Ms Lovejoy." Norman may have been smiling, but he was very annoyed. On the verge of forcing Angel to do chores out of spite, even if she didn't work in the manor annoyed. Ray would've loved to see that play out, but knew it was unlikely to happen.
"Grr, fine. I'll come back for you then!" Angel shouted as she ran away.
"Be sure to use the front door next time Ms Lovejoy." Norman followed her out to lock up. Not long after they were out of sight Dorothy appeared from the shadows.
"Norman isn't happy about being woken up you know."
"Yeah, but it worked, she got scared off without finding anything but how to sneak in. And hopefully Norman fortifies where ever she snuck in from." Ray sighed, she was exhausted from lack of proper sleep and nightmares. "Well she's gone, that's what's important."
"Why was she after you? And what's a keikaku? Is it another foul word?"
"I honestly have no clue. Keikaku means plan. I was poking fun at her acting all high and mighty."
"You truly are an enigma, aren't you?" Dorothy left Ray with those words, and Ray attempted to get rest. Not that it would mean much. Norman woke Ray up early and made her do more work than usual. Not out of spite, but because there was quite a bit to do today, finding all the places one could sneak in from and installing cameras. Still, the work gave Ray time to think. She wanted to know something, and the only real way to find out was to hide in Big O and wait for his encounter with Osrail. It should've happened the night before, but something must have happened, as the ghost hadn't appeared.
The next night Roger went out again to watch for the ghost. The deadline for finding Bonnie Fraiser was drawing near. His mother's birthday was the next day, and Roger had promised to bring him home. He had worked out a deal with Dastun to convince Bonnie to turn himself in after visiting his mother, so no more violence would be needed.
Roger was waiting on the Brooklyn Bridge, looking out over the choppy waters. It was late, foggy and chilly, and Roger really hoped that the ghost would show up soon. He didn't have to wait much longer. A police cruiser drove by, stopped, and a high up MP got out of the car, screaming and shooting at someone, Roger couldn't quite make out who, but he had his suspicions. The figure of the MP soon fell off the bridge, and the ghost appeared, that was his cue.
"Now Big O." And the black metal giant arose from the waves, stopping the missiles the massive looking ghost had launched. Roger quickly got into the seat, never knowing that behind the cockpit's red glass dome and the metal panels in the neck, Ray was hidden behind all the neck instruments listening for something she hoped she wouldn't hear.
"Big O, action!" with that, the battle began. As did the faceless voices.
"I don't want to fight you, only harm the one that hurt my master. Begone from my sight!" Unlike the voice of the archetype that had been a shrill metallic scream, Osrails voice was angry, but also level. "You need not fight us, we can work together later, but for now revenge must be enacted!"
Big O gave no response himself, only the one Roger gave by continuing to fight. The military Police needlessly wasted their bullets below, and in return one vessel was obliterated by a missile. Ray kept her place well hidden, until Roger fired the hip anchors to get Big O out of the way of some lasers, and in the process tipped Big O on his right side.
"Wah!" Ray came tumbling out from behind the back neck panel and slammed hard into the metal wall of Big O's neck. "Ow!"
"Ray? What are you…?" Never mind that now I need to finish the fight. Big O lock onto that missile trail." The iron giant responded to its masters request, and Roger smashed the launcher buttons to send a volley response. "Ha! Take that!"
The response was received, and Osrail fell over, still active, but no longer able to fight. He did use what up time he still had to show how he had projectors installed.
"But why? I had no qualms with you, we could have worked together to end the corruption of this city." with that Osrail went silent, and Ray heard nothing more from him. Soon after day broke, Roger convinced Bonnie to see his mother and turn himself in after, and the brothers had a tearful reunion before Bonnie was arrested and carted away.
Back at the mansion Ray was being scolded by Norman. How could she do that, sneaking into Big O, and staying hidden when a battle was going on? Roger needed to know she was there to account for her safety and so on. Once the lecture was over though, Ray still had the stony and terrified, thousand yard stare she had had when Roger sent her home and informed Norman that she needed to be disciplined. Norman had levied a number of tasks on Ray while seeing to her injuries and making sure she didn't have a concussion. But nothing Norman could threaten would make her expression change. Ray's mind was too far away, too far gone. She finally understood part of what Gordon meant, and she hated every second of the knowing, and the not knowing.
When Norman left her, only shaking his head unsure of what to do for or about Ray, Dorothy came to her side. In an unusual show of solidarity, Dorothy sat beside Ray on her bed, saying nothing.
"Dorothy."
"Yes?"
"What if I'm not me anymore?"
"I don't understand."
"Neither do I, and that's the problem. I'm scared Dorothy. I don't know why I keep having these nightmares, or why I can hear the megaduce when Roger and Big O fight them, but I can hear them as clear as I can hear your voice beside me. And it scares me." Tears started to stream down Ray's cheeks, her face contorted with fear and agony, and for the first time in about three months she cried.
Dorothy laid her small hand on Ray's back, and tried to soothe her. Dorothy knew all too well what it meant not to understand yourself, and just how frightening that could be.
No Side
Happy Halloween all.