Time for the heartbreak of… well you already know. Song: Heres to the Heartache by Oceanborn
"What happened here?" Dastun adjusted his cap down while surveying the crime scene.
"The victim was a wealthy jewel dealer, fifty eight years old." The grunt behind Dastun read off the report as the body bag was zipped up at their feet and carted away. It was a mess, blood everywhere, broken glass, table upturned, jewels and jewelry scattered on the floor.
"Did she have any relatives?" Dastun asked while stepping further into the room. As he did, he began accidentally kicking aside some jewels that had fallen on the floor in whatever had caused the mayhem.
"No, but she had a dog, a golden retriever." The grunt stated. On the mantle was a picture of the victim and her dog. Dastun went to pick it up.
"Wow, what a beauty."
"Sir?"
"This dog probably costs more than out annual budget. Any sign of the dog?"
"No sir."
Another grunt burst into the room. He yelled out "Major you need to see this!"
Dastun followed the grunt to the fountain outside, where many spotlights shone on a rotting husk of meat unlike anything Dastun had ever seen. Some of the men poked it with sticks, trying to push the smelling hulk to the other side of the fountain to retrieve it, but it sank below the water.
Dorothy was walking in the rain, a much needed relief from the summer heat. She went down an alleyway that was rarely frequented, but led to the back door of the mansion. She head something make noise in an alcove full of trash cans. She walked over to it, bent down, and a little grey kitten poked its head out.
"Meow?" Dorothy let go of the umbrella in shock, and quickly picked up the kitten, taking it home.
Ray was sleeping soundly for a change, the rain from the day before cooled the house down, so she was relaxed and having nice dreams. But then the dreams changed, there was something heavy on her chest, and she couldn't move it. Try as she might the weight was too much, and she woke up.
"Uh, wha…?" Ray sleepily opened her eyes, and saw something she didn't expect to see. "Huh?"
On Ray's chest was a little grey ball of… fur? Yes it was fur, and it was breathing, and moving.
"Rawr." The little kitten on her chest yawned. "That was a good nap. This ladies bed was nice and warm." The little kitten got up and stretched. "I'm hungry, wonder where Dorothy is?"
"Did you just talk?" Ray looked at the kitten shocked. 'I'm hearing things. I'm hearing things, there's no way that kitten just talked. I need more sleep.'
"Meow?" "You can understand me?"
"Nope, I'm dreaming, cats can't talk." First Megadeus and now this? Ray was beginning to think she was losing her mind.
"Roew!" "You can understand me! That's so awesome. I'm going to go tell Dorothy." The kitten sat on her lap and began to clean itself.
"What? Now hold on…"
"Who are you talking to?" Dorothy appeared in the doorway. "Oh, there you are, Pero. Are you hungry?"
"Meow! Raow, purr." "Yes, can I have some food please? Oh and get this, the other girl here understands me! She can totally hear me too." Pero jumped off Ray's lap and snuggled Dorothy's legs, threading between them.
"He's rather vocal for a kitten isn't he?" Ray could feel drops of sweat forming on her forehead as she tried to find a way to convince Dorothy she wasn't absolutely crazy.
"We'll talk later." Dorothy picked up the kitten and left, leaving Ray alone to her thoughts and worries.
Later that day, Roger came home from a job to find his desk in shambles. Ink smudges on all the scattered papers, a broken hourglass (Rogers favorite at that!), desk lamp knocked over. It looked like a whirlwind had blown through his office.
"DOROTHY! R DOROTHY WAYNERIGHT!" He ran up the stairs to the lounge. He didn't think Norman would have done something so tactless, and Ray avoided his office like the plague most days. "Where are you?!"
"My goodness Master Roger, what has Ms Dorothy done to cause you to be in such a mood."
"Norman I thought I explained when she moved in there are rules to follow." Roger took on a defiant tone.
"Yes sir, like wearing black," Norman tugged as his coat proudly, but also to adjust it before climbing back down the ladder. He had been replacing light bulbs that had gone out in the wall fixtures.
"That's not it Norman, she knows that she isn't supposed to touch my desk."
"Has she done so Master Roger?"
"She did more than touch it!" Roger sounded irate while he showed Norman the destruction that has occurred. He picked up the broken hourglass that usually adorned the corner of his desk. "Ah man, this hourglass was a work of art. The sand was a beautiful shade of black."
"Oh my, could it be that Pero did this?"
"Huh? Who's Pero?" Norman directed Roger out onto the rooftop patio, where Dorothy was sitting with a small grey kitten in her lap, and Ray was petting it gently.
"What in the world? What is a kitten doing here? That can't be here, you have to return it." Roger just shook his head. How could this be happening?
"You mean if he was black furred he could stay?" Dorothy scratched the kittens rump, much to his pleasure and he purred all the more for it. Ray smiled, Pero was certainly a cute furball, given the circumstances.
"What no!, Absolutely not. He's someone's pet Dorothy, and you have to give him back."
"I felt it, you know. Clear as day. He wanted to be rescued. He had been left out in the rain." Dorothy gently snuggled the kitten purring in her lap.
"No that can't be, who would abandon a kitten?"
"Allowing me to keep him is merely your own feelings being tested." Dorothy didn't look up, refusing to meet Rogers intense visage.
"Rescued? Affections?" Roger gave a cruel half hearted laugh. "What would an android know about human emotions…" Dorothy got quiet, Pero quit purring, and Ray gave Roger a 'screw off' gaze. "Um, ahem, sorry Dorothy that was uncalled for."
"It's all right, I'm used to it." Dorothy continued to look down at Pero in her lap, slowly stroking the kittens fur.
"You shouldn't be." Ray mumbled.
"Look Dorothy, the point it that he isn't yours. You didn't put that collar on him. Whoever owns him is probably worried sick trying to find him. When they come back for him..."
"Well then negotiate with them." Dorothy stood up abruptly, causing Ray to step back too. Dorothy had nearly headbutted her, not that that would've stopped Dorothy.
"Huh?"
"One of your job descriptions, Mr. Negotiator!" Dorothy ran back into the mansion with Pero, leaving a confused Roger in her wake.
"Man, you sure like digging your own grave don't ya?" Ray shoved her hands in her pockets and leaned back agaist the pillar behind her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Roger was getting angry, Ray didn't care. She had waited long enough to say this to him.
"It means your a complete ass when it comes to Dorothy's feelings you moron." Roger frowned at Ray's assault, but she wasn't done yet, "Seriously what is wrong with you? You never get on the other androids about having emotions, and that aside she's eighteen. Dorothys been through hell and back, takes care of your lazy ass, helps Norman, and just about everything else in the house. Yet for some inexplicable reason, you just love to point out she's not human. You really freaking piss me off you know that?"
"I never get on the other androids for having…? Ah. Oh… Oh!" Roger got it, and it hit him like a ton of bricks. "I… Well I guess I have been rather rude to her recently."
"Recently?"
"Ok, for a while! You happy now?" Roger shouted and Ray took a step back into the pillar. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you too."
"It's fine," Ray sighed. "Look just, don't be so much of a jerk to her ok? I'm gonna go check on her."
"Since when did you two start getting along? I was under the impression your hatred was mutual." Roger crossed his arms and gave Ray a look mixed of concern and curiosity.
"I don't hate her, and I never have. Honestly at this point I have no idea why she hates me." Ray gave another sigh. "Well, maybe hate is the wrong word, she certainly doesn't like me though." Ray went back inside to find Dorothy in her room, cuddling the little cat.
"You ok?" Ray asked after knocking on the door frame. The door was open, so it wasn't like she had too.
"No."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"Care if I stay with you for a while then?"
"No." Dorothy was more monotonous than normal. Was Ray imagining it, or was she depressed? Ray sat down on the bed next to Dorothy, not saying anything. The two sat there, just enjoying the purrs Pero gave off from all the attention he was getting.
"Do you believe me when I told Roger I could hear him?" Dorothy spoke first, and her voice was low, barely discernible over the din of city life below.
"The furball spoke to me this morning. What do you think?" in the light it looked like Dorothy had a sad half smile.
"Are you sure you aren't going insane Ray?"
"If I am, you're going insane with me, no two ways about it." Ray smiled. When the two weren't fighting and got along, life could be pretty nice.
The next two weeks were actually rather blissful. Pero made Dorothy seem to come out of her shell. She would love on and shower affection on the kitten. Pero would nuzzle her legs, or face, or beg to be held. He would paw at her hands while she played piano, followed her around while she did her chores. Dorothy would hum a little tune for him while he napped in her lap. And, most importantly to Ray and Roger alike, Pero woke them up without the need of a piano beating.
"Morning Ray! Get up I wanna play!" Ray heard Pero meows loudly while sitting on her chest.
"Let me sleep some more Pero." Ray whined while covering her head with the pillows, "I was up late."
"What were you doing? Did you have another nightmare?" Pero pawed at her head under the pillows with concern.
"No I was knitting something."
"Oh can I play with the yarn? Where is it?" Pero jumped off the bed, excited to find a new toy.
"Do it and I hog tie you to the piano." Ray peeked out and gave Pero a 'you had best not' expression on her half awake face.
"Pero, it's time for breakfast. Ray you need to get up too." Dorothy was in her room to pick up the kitten. "What were you doing in here?"
"I wanna play with Ray. She said she has yarn, where is it?"
"Boy he sure is excited this morning," Yawned Ray as she got out of bed and started getting her clothes out.
"He's going to a piano lesson with me later today."
"Oh, is that so? You plan on yowling along with the piano, little guy?"
Pero ran up to her and threaded her legs meowing enthusiastically, "You bet!"
Breakfast went by rather quickly, as did the chores, and when it came time for her piano lesson Pero was put into a little tuxedo with a bow. Ray decided to tag along, as there was a bookshop on the way, and now that Dorothy didn't blatantly beat the piano her playing was rather soothing.
"Ugh, it's so hot today." Ray fanned herself with her hand. It was mid July now, and the weather was hot. Most days Ray wore her typical uniform that Norman had provided: v-cut t-shirt, slacks, woolen socks and work boots. With how hot it was, Ray had changed to a tank top when not working, thinner styled loose jeans, and cotton low cut socks and running shoes. All in black, of course.
Dorothy looked over at her, "Perhaps you should wear even less?"
"Ah ha, very funny. How are you not burning up in that?"
"I do not suffer from temperature changes the same ways humans do."
"You must have a really nice cooling systems then."
"Better than a humans at any rate."
"Sure, throw some cheap shots my way." The heat really was oppressive. It was almost 100 today, and Ray was sweating bullets for a different reason. "At least Instro's place will be cool."
Except it most certainly was not.
"I apologize Ray, the AC went out this morning, a repairman will be here tomorrow." Instro tried to make the human comfortable by offering Ray ice water so she wouldn't overheat.
"It's fine Instro, thanks for the water." Ray sat at the bar reading the newest novel she had bought. Dorothy's calm playing, a book and a drink; while she couldn't admit it openly, this was an amazing anxiety relief method for Ray, as it allowed her to forget the reality of her situation, if only for a while. Pero was at her feet, napping away. This would be something Ray sorely missed before too much longer.
Ray had felt it when walking to Instro's, and again when she and Dorothy headed home. Someone is following us. Sure enough, not long after arriving home, a few guests wanted to meet with Roger.
"Master Roger, a Mr and Mrs Ferry would like to meet with you." The office was dark while Roger worked on weighing out sand for a new hourglass. The darkness made Norman appear ominous.
"Tell them I am busy, Norman." Roger was busy getting the precise milliliters measurement of sand to make the new hourglass flow at exactly one hour, while having different shades of sand. Making hourglasses was one of his few hobbies.
"It's concerning Pero, sir. They claim to be his rightful owners."
"I see. Show them in then." Roger put his jacket back on. Darn, it's hot, should've gone with a thinner jacket today. After the Ferrys' had been shown in, it was less a negotiation like Dorothy had requested and more of a railroading attempt. "So, what can I do for you two today?"
"We would like the kitten you have in your possession returned to us." Louise Ferry stated with much haste.
"Is there any way I could convince you to allow the kitten to continue staying here? The girls who are caring for it have gotten rather attached." Roger wasn't sure why, but these two were on edge. It's not like Roger could refuse to return the cat if it was legally theirs, they would easily win in a court case if it came to that. And of course Roger would prefer avoiding such a thing. So why did he get the sense that these two would bolt at the smallest possible change in situation?
"It's not possible Mr Smith. That kitten is ours." Rick Ferry was getting worked up and upset that Roger hadn't immediately handed over Pero.
"So what you're saying is it isn't a matter of money?"
"Of course not!" Rick Ferry was starting to shout.
"Mr Smith?" Louise Ferry directed Rogers attention off her husbands rude behavior for a bit.
"Hm?"
"Let's say it wasn't a kitten, but a child. Would you be so reticent in handing him over if that was the case?"
"Oh, I see." Roger got up from the couch he was on, "Norman where is…?"
"Ms Dorothy and Ms Ray are on the patio sir."
"I see. Well Mr and Mrs Ferry, if you would please follow me." Roger led them up to the lounge, and went out onto the patio to speak with Dorothy himself.
"Ahem, um Dorothy, Pero's real owners are here and well…"
"I didn't know him very long but I'm glad to have met him," Dorothy turned around and started to get up.
"I think it's best you return him personally then." Roger had a sad smile. He would never tell a soul, but he had liked having the kitten around and would miss the little furball.
Here it comes! Ray backed up towards the windows and grabbed the gun she had borrowed from Normans stash in her waist band, she knew it wasn't gonna do much good, but it was nice having it. Right on cue, a strange helicopter came up from below with a maniac grinning madly behind the glass cockpit screen. Pero started caterwauling.
"We gotta run! Run! That's the man that hurt me, run!" Dorothy needed no other convincing then that. From the bottom of the copter a long clawed catching system deployed. It was reminiscent of an older tin robots claw hands. Dorothy turned and ran, but the claw still got her.
"Dorothy!" Roger ran to try and free her, but the table cloth from the patio table covered Roger, he ripped it off and caught the long arm of the claw. The madman running the copter sent it, and Roger, into a marble pillar. Roger let go just in time to drop and roll onto the stone below, but had to run to avoid the machine gun fire that was erupting from the machine gun attached to the bottom of the craft.
"Agh!" Roger jumped off the side of the building, used his watches grappling hook to catch the railing and pulled himself back up.
"That was Eugene, but what is he doing here?" Rick Ferry asked while watching the carnage play out, and soon he was the next victim. A scream rang out from the roof, and Roger pulled himself up that much faster.
"Oh no!" When Roger got back up Norman had a gatling gun.
"Please step back madam," Norman pushed Mrs Ferry back as he one handed the gatling gun and tried to damage the craft. But the madman known as Eugune used Dorothy as a shield, forcing him to stop. He aimed the gun at Norman and Mrs Ferry fell to the stone, Norman shielded her as best he could.
In all this confusion Ray had tried to hide and avoid the hail of bullets from both sides. But now that it was slowing down, she made a rather foolish move. Fuck this is fucking stupid, what the hell am I even doing? Ray slinked around the fountain, using it as cover, aimed very carefully and took a single shot at where she suspected the fuel tank was.
CRACK! The gunshot of the small .38 rang out, and found its mark. Fuel began leaking out, but not before Eugune shot the remaining Ferry. Sadly, Ray's efforts to stop the carnage would be for naught.
"Eugene, give me back my boy, please! Please give me back Roy." Louise Ferry got up despite Normans protests, walked towards the craft and lifted her hands to the kitten still in Dorothy's tight grasp. Her response was a rain of fire, and she went limp on the concrete patio.
"Mom! Dad! NOOOOOO!" Pero cried as he and Dorothy were whisked away by the helicopter.
"Grr, ugh." Roger looked like he was about to cry, but sucked it up. He put the two corpses next to each other and gave a quick prayer "Norman."
"Yes sir, please leave the arrangements to me."
"I have to go get Dorothy now."
"Roger," Ray slowly made her way over to the two men. She had a thousand yard stare, but worse, unlike Roger who had sucked it up, Ray was actually crying, tears streaming down her contorted facial features. "Roger bring Dorothy back safe, and Pero too if you can manage it."
"Yeah, I'll try." With that Roger made a beeline to the Speakeasy to meet with Big Ear. Back at home, Norman called the military police. Dastun came personally knowing that Roger was unlikely to trust anyone else to investigate his house. Really, at that point, Major Dastun just called for the coroner, and a few crime techs he trusted. They snapped pics, questioned the 'witnesses' Norman and Ray, and had the bodies carted away in under two hours. The crime was still ongoing, and Dorothy had yet again been kidnapped, but somehow Dastun felt it best to leave that to Roger. After that he stayed behind to talk with Ray.
"You doing ok, kid?" Dan took off his hat and sat down in a chair next to Ray.
"No." Ray had stopped crying, but still looked as if she was staring into another dimension.
"What's buggin you, besides the obvious?"
"What isn't?" Norman brought some tea for Ray, and alcohol for Dastun, even though he was still on duty he had his own driver, so he could occasionally indulge himself. "I just saw two people brutally murdered in front of me, my friend got kidnapped by a madman, and I'm scared of what comes next."
"What do you mean what comes next?" Dastun paid even closer attention to Ray now. Roger had told him she had a lot of inconsistencies in how she dealt with the world around her, like she wasn't a part of it. And unlike other foreigners, she wasn't afraid to admit it. Roger stated that "It's like Ray's from another world sometimes."
Oh how true that was. While this was true, mind you, but only four people in the world knew, and only one was in the room at present.
In a dark cell lit only by a few red led's, Dorothy was handcuffed and left to wait. Her captor had her thrown in the hole, then took Pero at gun point from her but an hour before.
"Put me down!" Pero had tried to bite the kidnappers, but the thick clothing the underlings were wearing made it impossible. The underlings took the kitten away, cuffed Dorothy and forced her into a cell that went down, not behind bars, so there was no easily available method Dorothy could use immediately to escape. Up above, the sounds of an animal in pain could be heard.
"Pero is crying." Dorothy observed as she looked up at the opening. A man peered down into the opening, his voice grated on Dorothy's few nerves, sing songy and high pitched, full of himself the captor cajoled away. He had long, wavy grey hair, pale complexion, teeth yellowed from lack of care, long upturned pointed nose. And on his left cheek three hexagonal cells adorned his face under his eye.
"Oh what a pretty doll, almost human!" He signaled for his underlings to bring Dorothy up. He led her away to his 'office'.
"All of creation, just from a few proteins!" He gloated and continued on as Dorothy was led down a series of rooms at gunpoint. The cell rooms had more cells like hers, a hallway full of samples and specimens with scientific names she didn't recognize, a water tower like room were he stopped on the bridge to turn around and lecture at Dorothy. "And it only took the memories of dead scientists to come into my possession to make it possible. All of creation under my thumb, I can make anything I want!"
"I'm not interested." Dorothy deadpanned at her as yet unnamed captor. He's really annoying. Roger please get me and Pero out of this! I'd even welcome Rays rescue attempts at this point. He sounds crazier than Ray's nightmares.
"Hmp, well a doll is just a doll after all." He continued on lecturing about all the terrible things he could and did do. Finally ending in his office, the captor sat down and dismissed his henchmen. Dorothy stood silent, the light in the room made a reflection on the floor that made it appear Dorothy was positioned on a cross, ready for crucifixion. It fit the disgusting monologue the man gave as he continued! "Yes, all of creation under my thumb. I Eugene Grant can become god. Not not become God!" He stood up abruptly and threw his hands wide, "I am! I am the creator, I am the new God of this world!"
Dorothy refused to engage; you don't keep a captive alive to kill them after all, so she had no reason to play along. He flipped a switch on the console behind him, and the tubes that ringed the dark lit room in a grotesque semblance of a choir lit up, showing the ghastly creatures within. Twisted amalgamations no longer in their original form, but worse yet, the voices...
"Help me!"
"I don't want to die!"
"I wish for an end, the pain! Please end me!"
So many voices. All crying out for their suffering to be put to an end. Dorothy could only stare aghast at the scene around her. She was suddenly glad Ray wasn't here, it would cause her to have a mental breakdown.
"Humans. All of these are humans!" She tried to block out the voices and focus, but there were so many, it was overwhelming.
"Indeed." Eugene walked over to a tube and petted it affectionately as the creature within shrieked in unheard pain, smacking its skull against the glass tube. "Oh but don't assume I'm happy with these experimental specimens, these are just failed samples I keep alive for more tests and splicing experiments."
"Pero was made this way too?"
"Oh that little grey kitten?" He cackled insanely. Then he walked over to Dorothy. "Oh my poor baby! Please give me back my baby." He pantomimed begging and praying. "Poor Louise, all she could do was beg. Her little boy with those beautiful crystal blue eyes! He made such a lovely specimen, and I just had to teach the parents a lesson that there is no escape from the new god of this world!" Eugene grabbed Dorothy's shoulders and shook her with a grave expression.
"Oh, but don't you worry girl. I have special plans for you!" He pushed her away and laughed maniacally.
Dorothy would've ended his monologuing then and there, no longer considering him human, but for all his madness he was also smart enough to take proper security measures. He handcuffed her with electromagnetic cuffs, used to arrest misbehaving androids. So she could only wait.
A long black car resembling a classic Cadillac pulled up in front of the Speakeasy, a black clad man got out of the car, pressed a button on the key fob and the car armored itself.
"I'm in a hurry, so cut the chit chat." Roger threw down the bills ahead of time.
"This isn't like you, what's the hurry?" Big Ear peered out from behind the newspaper.
"I need information on a man named Eugune."
"Do you mean the infamous Eugene Grant?" Big Ear put the paper down, grabbing his whiskey instead. "Roger what have you gotten yourself into?"
"That's what I'm asking you for. I need to know what I'm getting myself into." Roger crossed his arms, being impatient as he was.
"Do you remember the incident in East Town almost a month ago?" Big Ear started at his whiskey.
"Yeah, rich lady was supposedly murdered by her pet dog. What about it?"
"That was Eugene Grants doing. Grant is a scientist, word is he created that dog, and he's learned something that even has Paradigm scared of him." Big Ear took a sip.
"What did he learn?" Roger tried to keep a steely gaze, but it was difficult with professional curiosity got involved.
"The key to life itself. He learned how to manipulate proteins to create the seeds necessary to bring back extinct animal species. But then his experiments took a gruesome turn and Paradigm cut off his funding. Now he holds up in an old abandoned Natural History museum on the edge of the ruins. Says he'll make himself into a god. I'd be careful if I were you and avoid the place altogether."
"Thanks for the warning. I'd best hurry to save Dorothy." Roger got up and headed for the door.
"Some day you'll listen to the warnings I give you Roger, and the young people of this city will learn that the sun will never rise again." Big Ear finished his whiskey and used the cash Roger left to order another.
Roger found the Natural History museum pretty quickly, and hopped out of his car to carefully navigate the rubble on foot. "You could at least thank me for showing you the way Ms.?"
"I told you to call me Angel, geez do you have memory issues?" Angel followed Roger to the museum. "But still, didn't think you would come here alone."
"Well, you do tend to use a number of aliases, and with you following me I'm not exactly alone now am I? I need to save Dorothy, and Ray wanted me to try and bring Pero home too."
"Well that's unlikely. Eugene holed up here are after Paradigm cut his funding." Angel turned on a flashlight as they entered the run down museum, and the two navigated the derelict exhibits that had been left to rot after the calamity.
"What exactly did he do to scare them so?" Roger pried open an elevator shaft door and the two descended the cables to an underground level.
"Human experimentation. The Ferry's son was used to create that kitten you had, in retaliation for his parents coming to their senses and leaving his cult." Angel stated as the two emerged a few floors below the ground level. Angel checked a map she had, and Roger came to a distressing realization.
"That's why? Dorothy said she could sense Pero was in need. So…" An alarm started going off.
"Oops. Sorry." A red laser was visible at ankle level. A few of the henchmen appeared in the hallway and started taking shots at the two intruders. Angel took a few shots, but was ineffective. Angel tossed the gun to Roger. "Here."
"It goes against my principles, but I guess I don't have much of a choice." Roger peeked out from behind the partition he had been using for cover, shot the gas and various liquid pipelines overhead and created a smoke screen, then ran to knock out the henchmen bent over from coughing fits.
"So you won't shoot anyone? Even if you're in danger?" Angel took the gun back.
"Not if I can help it. Let's move." The two descended a staircase towards the lab below.
In the control room of the lab, Eugene and Dorothy watched the two creep further into the lab."Oh my, looks like we have a few uninvited guests. How rude, guess I'll have to send the guard dog after them."
Hurry Roger, I'm not sure how much longer I can go before I try to snap this monsters neck.
Roger and Angel were in the water tower, discussing how to deal with Eugene when the water underneath started vibrating, and some long, fleshy objects shot up and lashed at the bridge, destroying it. The two started running from the tentacles attacking them, when the head of the beast popped up to screech at them. It destroyed the section of walkway they were on, and sent the two down to the water.
"AHHH!" Both Roger and Angel yelled out. Roger used his grappling hook in his watch to secure him to a section of not damaged bridge after he caught Angel midair and passing out after hitting the water. "Man, this Angel is nothing but trouble. Norman?"
"Yes sir, it has been sent to your location." Normans face appeared on the watch screen before disconnecting.
"Great." Roger pulled them back onto the walkway and called it. "Big O!"
The creature was looking for them. It was strange to say the least. The head was cat like in shape, the eyes were bright yellow and slitted, it had spiky gray fur, the whole body was gray too. The back looked like a toad back ready to hatch eggs, and tentacles came out the sides. The stomach had a second mouth with fangs sticking out. It's legs were spindly, barely anything other than bone and sinew, and didn't look like they could support its body. It had two tails that swished back and forth, and looked like matted fur tongues.
Rogers watch beeped, and he smiled, "Hey big guy!"
The creature looked his way, the eyes narrowed further, and the creature lunged at the negotiator and the sleeping Angel. And ran right into an iron giant.
"Big O, Showtime!" Roger shouted as he began the activation sequence.
"Oh dear, what a mess they'll make of the lab." Eugene pulled a pistol on Dorothy, "Move doll, we're going topside."
In Big O's cockpit, Roger was a little surprised Ray wasn't there. But he had little time to reflect on the reasons for that. The monster in front of him commanded all his attention. Roger maneuvered and grabbed the spindly shoulders of the creature, pushing it back and out of the water tower. It screamed in pain. Soon the two were outside, Roger trying to avoid or rip the tentacles off as they wrapped around Big O.
"I don't like your idea of playing rough." Roger grunted while working the controls. How did this creature regrow the tentacles so quickly? Finally it snagged Big O, and had him right where it wanted the Big. The fanged mouth on the stomach snapped and snarled at Big O, trying to get closer than the Megadeus arms length Roger had it at. "I'm not some tasty snack you can munch on either."
Roger sent off a missile volley and forced the beast to disengage. Then Roger had the Big grab a shoulder and rendered it particularly from the body, forcing the creature to screech in pain yet again. He followed with a laser barrage and seared off the tentacles coming at him, cauterizing the flesh and they didn't grow back again.
"Now then, let's finish you off!" In the background the museum was on fire, the dark of night made the battle seem to go on so much longer than it had. Roger wound up for a pile driver finish, when a voice yelled out at him.
"Roger don't!"
"Huh? Dorothy?" In the screen on the left Roger could see Dorothy being held captive on the ruined ground below.
"Roger Smith don't do it! Pero's in there and his soul is in there too!" Dorothy knew Big O would pick up her voice and Roger would hear her. The two giants stopped taking swings at each other and Roger was forced to look at the beast in front of him.
"That's Pero? What the hell did that madman do to him?" Roger could only stare in horror at what had been a beloved kitten earlier that day.
The madman cackled yet again. "Yes that's right. That chimera is my ultimate experiment, my best product!" He laughed while keeping the gun pointed at Dorothy's head. "Any parts I find useful I add to it, and this android will make a lovely addition. Now my fiend, finish that giant off so I can add it to you too!"
Dorothy raised her arms, and begged to the soul she knew was inside, "Pero?"
"Grr," the chimera looked between the Big and it's master, but when Dorothy lifted her hands to it, something reawakened in the beast. It's slitted pupils widened in recognition of the girl standing at its feet below.
"Hey, why aren't you listening? It couldn't be this machine could it?" Eugene let go of Dorothy and took a step back, aiming at her head. "Why you, I'll destroy you! Huh?" Pero lashed out at the madman grasping him in a tentacle that had managed to regenerate, knocking Dorothy over in the process.
"Hey no stop!" Eugene shot at it furtively, and soon Pero snapped his spine, neck and swallowed the remains. He meowed after, and stroked Dorothy's cheek with the tentacle. She clasped it in her small white hands.
"Pero. You can come with me." His eyes widened, fear and knowledge of what he was haunted him. The many souls and minds fused into a single being. He knew his place, it was not at this young woman's side, it was in the fires of hell that raged behind him in the abandoned museum, to be erased from the world. He pulled away and walked towards it.
"Pero!" Dorothy got up to chase him, but Big O's hand stopped her, picked her up to watch the beast consign itself to his fate. He looked back briefly.
"Goodbye, and thank you for taking care of me." He walked into the fires then the building collapsing after him, and the fire department could be heard in the distance.
"Dammit, I couldn't retrieve anything." Angel jumped from the rubble pile to her motorcycle that had been knocked over in the battle, and rode off.
Dorothy stood there in silence as it began to rain, covering every inch of her in water. She couldn't cry, but the rain helped. Roger pulled Dorothy into the cockpit and used some tools to free her, tossing the handcuffs to the side and holding the young girl close. Soon they were in the Griffin heading home. The Big arrived home before them, but when Roger and Dorothy got home Ray and Norman waited by the door.
"Ray I'm sorry... hm?" Ray had run past Roger and was wrapping a towel around Dorothy's soaked body. She them pulled Dorothy into a hug, and Dorothy didn't resist.
"Ray, why are you crying?" Dorothy's voice was almost mute it was so low.
"Because you can't." She held Dorothy close for a while sobbing, and neither bothered to pull away for a time.
"So those two can get along," Roger mussed as he got into the elevator.
"Sir, while you were out I had glass repair men replace the windows, also Major Dan Dastun is waiting for you in your office." Norman took Rogers tie and Blazer after he slipped them off.
"I see, thanks Norman." He headed to his office after the elevator doors opened to the living quarters level. "So, whats on your mind, Dan?"
"It's about Ray. You were right about her."
"How so?" Roger walked over to his liquor cabinet, he needed a drink after today.
"Some of the things she says don't always add up. You mentioned she knows how to build a computer right?"
"Yeah?"
"Only people who work for the head office are supposed to know how to do that in this city." Dan put down his drink. "And she kept fretting about Dorothy, like she knew that kitten wasn't coming back."
"Hm… That's true. It's like she knew the second we got home Pero was gone. As to why she knows how to build a computer, if she knew before she came here, she probably doesn't realize how valuable of a skill that makes her."
"That's just it, the head office would probably kidnap her and force her into working for them if they knew. Only those who inherit memories know how to build them. And from what Ray said earlier, she probably knows how to build something more advanced than the home computers the head office sells after making better ones." Dan picked up his glass and drained it. "Listen, just keep an eye on her, and make her keep her mouth shut, you never know who's listening." He replaced his cap on his head and headed for the door.
"Right, thanks for the warning." With that Dastun left and Roger had much to think about.
A few days later, Dorothy was sitting on the concrete railing, Roger standing not far away. She was humming the tune she would hum for Pero.
"Roger, who do you think this song belongs too?"
"Well, it doesn't belong to anyone, you should just try and savor the memories you have with Pero for as long as you can."
"Thank you, Roger." Dorothy slid from the railing and ran inside.
We Have Come to Terms
Oh boy, now we're slowly started to unravel a few points of the mystery, while adding to the hill of the climax. Also this is techincally a half way point for the first season, I didn't know if I would make it this far, but now I want to finish it all, but it's going to take a while.