Ahahaha this is what I get for planning out my fics in advance, while writing the previous two chapters I was also working on this one too.
Out in the desert ruins beyond the city, a long black Cadillac pulled up in front of a ramshackle house with some neon signage out front. There was also what looked like a gas pump, but it was disabled.
"I just had to run out of gas didn't I?" Roger sighed as he went up to the door to knock. "Maybe they have some fuel to spare?"
"Hmm, oh haven't seen one of you in a while, you a customer! It's been so long since I've had customers." An old man with unkempt hair standing straight up with a long scraggy bread going to almost his waist came to the door not long after Roger had started pounding on it. He wore a strange shirt with unusual leaf patterns in green against a main color of navy blue. Khaki shorts and sandals completed the weird outfit.
"Um yeah, I was actually going to ask if you had any fuel…" Roger began.
"Sorry, but we're closed."
"Huh?"
"But something must have brought you all the way out here, so come on in, Sonny. It's getting dark, and it'll be cold soon." The man turned around and headed inside.
"Watch your step." The odd, old and short man invited him in. The inside of the shack was like a strange museum with no central theme. Books and artifacts from different eras lined the walls, a jukebox with color neon siding played some jaunty tunes, colorful advertisements covered the walls, toys and other such nonsense filled the shelves.
"This is amazing." Roger was in awe. He didn't even know what most of these things were, much less that they had ever existed.
"Hm, oh well I found most of it out in the wastes." The old man was digging around in a box. "Want some wine? It's the real stuff."
"Really? Sure I'd love a glass," Roger took a sip of the proffered red wine, "I've never tasted wine like this, this is superb." Roger took another look around again.
"Heheh, that so well there's plenty more where that came from, drink up." The old man took a swig from his cup and gestured dismissively.
"Say old man, who are you?"
"Me? Just some old codger." He took a puff off his cigar.
Some distance away from the cabin, a gold clothed man looked through a set of binoculars out in the wastes. His motorcycle was running low on fuel, and he needed to find somewhere that might have at least a can. Spotting an old house with neon signage and what looked like gas pumps outside, he had found his target. "Looks like someone made it here before us. I thought you said no one knew about this place?"
A smarmy little made man squirmed under Beck's gaze. "It's probably just some drifter. Hehe, no big deal right?"
Both men started laughing, until Beck put a bullet through his head. "Geez, what's become of customer service? Well whatever. You're not going to need any money where you're going, but I do. Hey, this dude was loaded!"
He hopped on his motorcycle and headed down the steep path to the shack. He knocked on the door and the old codger answered. "Oh look, more customers. Come on in."
"Hey, gramps is that what I think it is?"
"Hm, oh you know what cigarettes are? Here, have one."
Beck took a big puff. "Hot damn, this is real tobacco."
"That so? Well ,come on in, there's more here. Hey buddy we got another guest."
Ack! What's Roger Smith doing here? Beck's mind blared.
Beck? Why is he here? Roger thought.
"Well now, this is turning into a party." The room got tense despite the old man's attempts at being jovile.
Suddenly a buxom blonde in a black dress suite burst into the door holding an official looking document. "I heard there were some forty year old memories out here collecting dust. I've come to collect them at this establishment under the jurisdiction of the Paradigm Corp."
Angel! Both young men found themselves surprised by the sudden entrance.
"Oho! A party ain't a party till a woman shows up." The old codger seemed buzzed. "Oh she's a real looker too. Come on in."
Roger Smith? Beck? What are they doing here?
The old codger began singing a jaunty tune in German, though no one knew the lyrics but him.
Well isn't this just cozy. Roger was less than thrilled at the situation, and had started drinking more as a result. Beck sat in a chair across from him smoking it up, while Angel went around and examined everything in sight.
This is amazing, so much of what's here was never documented. I'll have to collect as much as I can for now. Angel put on a pair of silicone gloves before touching anything, intending to take stock of everything she could.
"How come no one's drinking?" The old man scratched his head in confusion.
"Hey missy don't just stand there, have a drink with us."
"Oh! This is…!" Angel turned around at being called and grabbed the bottle of wine from the table.
"Let's drink together. This stuffs pretty good." The old man took another sip.
"You need to stop this instant!" Angel stamped her foot indignantly. "That's not the issue! You're drinking and smoking away valuable memories!" Angel protested as Roger downed another glass and Beck continued puffing.
"Hey, where did you find all this alcohol?" Roger asked the old man.
"Hm? This old junk? Oh I found it out in the wastes and brought it here. Not like anyone was going to miss it." He took another drink. "You can have some if you want."
"These aren't yours to give away!" The old man started laughing at Angels shouting. "What is so funny?"
"Well whose are they to give away then? After all there's no one else out here. As far as this old man is concerned, if you see something you want, take as much as you like."
"Mister you're…" Roger was cut off by the shouting match between Beck and Angel
"Argh, look at all these books lying in a heap, they need to be sorted and catalogued." Angel started picking through the books carefully.
"Awesome!" Beck started going through the various selections of no longer produced imbibements and choosing what he wanted to take back. With Angel here he knew he wasn't getting another chance.
"Back off Beck. You can't just take whatever you want."
"Shut it you fallen Angel, the old man said it was fine." Beck didn't much care for being bossed around.
"These two are awful, fighting like that." Roger's cheeks were starting to color from the wine.
The old man laughed at the fighting, "The rowdier the party the better. Here drink up."
Roger took the glass the man offered him. "You sure can hold your liquor old man."
After a while the old man sang another tune in a language no one understood. Roger finally became curious enough to ask what it meant.
"Hhhmmmm? Um? Oh I know, follow me and I'll show you." He went down a set of stairs slightly hidden from view. The rooms behind looked newer and better cared from than the room upstairs. "Let me see where is it? Oh here it is, I couldn't haul this contraption upstairs. There we go." The old man placed a round metal disc on what looked like a giant record player, but it had some ports and addons Roger didn't recognize. A jaunty tune began playing. Roger started laughing when he realized how terribly off key the old man was.
"So they had this entire facility down here?" Beck came into the newer partition. "Wow, this looks more modern."
"No wonder the wine tasted real and was so well preserved." Angel had a facial expression of having stepped into a mine filled with gems. "This is an incredible discovery."
"Those two are like vultures." Roger's cheeks were very red at this point. "It's disgusting."
"Let 'em have their fun, and we go get another drink." The old man said.
"Say, unlike all the other elderly people I see in the city mourning their lost memories and shackled to their past, you don't seem to be too upset about the loss of your memories. You're ah… what's the word again? A free spirit."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment youngin? Well no need to flatter this old geezer. Memories are like this stuff here… old junk. They come and go so easy. So if you got one you like, you should just enjoy it for what it is. Don't you agree young man?"
Suddenly lights flashed in the windows, and the sounds of sirens could be heard.
"Oh good, finally they're here." Angel crossed her arms in annoyance. What took them so long?
"Attention residents of this building! If you hand over the memories contained inside peacefully you will be provided a home and job in the city!" A loud voice blared over a megaphone. It wasn't Dan Dastun though, Roger knew that much even when drunk.
Beck chose poorly when to exist from the basement. "Hey what's going on?"
"I told you, this place is now under Paradigm Co jurisdiction." Angel gave a smug look and adjusted her fake glasses.
"Dammit!" Beck dropped the liquor he held and started blasting the cops outside the window, ran to his bike and high-tailed it away.
"Yeehaw, this partys finally kicking!" The old codger seemed not to care that his home was being shot up and ransacked by those from Paradigm.
Angel went up to the officer in charge and started the collection process. "We already negotiated with the resident. So it's fine."
Roger only then recognized the officer as Colonel Gaus, who had survived an assassinated attempt a few months before.
"Hmm, so that criminal Jason Beck was after this place too. Who else do we have to deal with?" Gaus noticed Roger standing off to the side then, seeming not to care that all this was going on. Really Roger was too drunk to stand without the wall. While the old man sang whatever the tune he loved was, Roger started to see an old enemy.
"Roger Smith… When did you first see it?" Schwarzwald was there! No what that's not possible, how could he have snuck in here with the military police. Am I drunk?
"How is it that you can operate IT?" Schwarzwald stepped closer, his arms spread wide as he made dramatic gestures about the room.
"... I'm under no obligation to answer that, especially not to someone insane like you." He felt his face heating up, but was it anger or alcohol?
"YES YOU ARE! It's because of you, because of what you have done that I was created. You made me, created this insanity." The ghostly Schwarzwald that only Roger saw pointed first at him, then to his own chest.
"Who are you?" Roger took a step back, wobbling.
"And for making me this way I thank you. It's truly invigorating. NOW answer me, how do you operate it?"
Back at the mansion, the two teen girls were trying to relax for a change.
"What are you doing now?" Dorothy looked up from the book Ray had somehow managed to convince her to read. She could be quite convincing when she wanted to be.
"Trying to untangle this yarn mess Robin made of my current project." The scene was rather comical, not that Dorothy could really understand that. Ray was part of the tangle, trying to pull loops of yarn through other loops of yarn and creating a pile of criss crossing streams, all to wrap up a ball of yarn that Robin had played with earlier. "Seriously, how did the little dude even manage to make this much of a mess? This is going to take hours."
"Well, enjoy yourself." Dorothy went back to reading the book while Ray went about trying to undo more of the mess. Soon Norman came in to interrupt one of the few times the two got along.
"We might have a big problem. Master Roger has summoned Big O, but it is outside of the Prairie Dogs travel area."
"Seriously? Now?" Ray had somehow gotten yarn tangled around her arms in the process of fixing the mess Robin made, looking somewhat like an unkempt mummy. At present she was attempting to remove herself from the web of mess.
"I'm afraid so." With that the two girls left for the hanger.
"Perhaps keep Robin away from the yarn Norman."
"Yes please." Ray finally freed herself and walked briskly to catch up with the gynoid.
"Why are you even coming this time? Do you presume Roger has started a fight with another Megadeus?" Dorothy began the start up procedures, though she could barely reach any of the controls.
"Well, it's best go see what he's fighting right?" Ray had followed Dorothy into the cockpit and held onto the back of the command chair. "But why am I always the one left standing?"
"We hit the jackpot!" Gaus walked out from the behind the house bunker, enthusiastic at what had been found. "We'll take all this back to the city, and I can gain points back from the last few failed missions… Huh?"
Far from the ramshackle house, the Big O plodded into view, but it had a very unusual pilot.
"I cannot believe he is willing to let you do this." Dorothy sat on the node beside the cockpits half glass dome.
"Neither can I, but here we are. Save, I can barely reach the pedals." Ray was struggling to get the Megadeus to move forward, but it responded easily enough. The only reason Ray was at the helm instead of Dorothy was that she didn't have to sit on the very edge of the seat to reach the controls, and most of the modules were within her reach. "Though somehow I get the feeling he's not going to let me do this ever again."
"He doesn't seem pleased by this turn of events, does he?" Dorothy wasn't usually one to muse, but she was right. Ray got the sense Big O wanted her to get to Roger asap, and was just barely willing to let her at the controls to achieve said purpose.
"Well, there's a house up ahead, I think that's where the signals are coming from right?" Ray was trying to make out the readout on a side screen, but wasn't sure what it all meant. She didn't have to worry, as soon Roger clambered into the cockpit from the hidden elevator, but he reeked of booze. "Oh there you are, we had to pilot Big O out here you know."
On the ground it was chaos. Soldiers ran to their tanks. "The Megadeus? What's it doing here anyways?"
"Holy smokes, I've never had such a large customer before!" The old man took a swig from his bottle and chuckled at the ensuing calamitous events that unfolded.
"This is very far from the Prairie Dog and Ray had to pilot Big O above ground for a few miles. Roger, why did you call Big O out here?" Dorothy had turned to look at him, and he appeared rather disheveled.
"Have you been drinking?" Ray's nose crinkled at the strong smell. It was real booze, that much she could tell, but how much had he had for the scent to permeate the small area to such a degree.
"Never mind that, move! Something's down there that needs a smashin!" Roger slurred his
words a bit, and if not for the fact she felt she had to move, Ray might have refused.
"Welp, hope it's not illegal to pilot a Megadeus under the influence." Ray mumbled, not that Dorothy didn't hear it. Soon enough Roger began to pulverize the small house below, and would have continued going on a rampage had Dorothy not stop it.
"Roger are you drunk?"
"No I am not drunk! Got to destroy that thing." Whatever nightmare Roger saw, the girls did not.
The ghostly image of Schwarzwald was in the cockpit with him, jeering like a deranged mummy. "What do you think you're doing summoning the forgotten memories of old into the present?"
"It's true that Big O is a memory…" The girls couldn't see who he was talking to.
"Oh no, the memories!" Angel's one track mind was not to her benefit.
"Retrieve as many memories as possible, before the Megadeus destroys the building!" Gaus gave the order, but it was too late. KABOOM! The roof was turned to ash.
"... And that I can operate the Big O!" He set off a few chest missiles.
"Oh no!" Angel yelled out, "Stop you drunken fool!"
"But I'm under no one's jurisdiction, and the military police are nothing more than corporate muscle!" Roger used the eye lasers to rake the ground near the tanks and scare the soldiers below away. "I will use this power… I will use Big O's power for what I feel is just!"
Gaus gave the order to retreat with whatever memories they had already collected, and the lot were gone.
"Roger stop. Stop it. This isn't like you." Dorothy had jumped into the seating area. But he was too lost in his delusions to hear her until she placed a hand on his. "You're making Big O sad."
"Huh?" Roger stopped and soon fell asleep in the chair.
"Well… That happened." Ray wasn't sure what else to say. No, she couldn't say anything really.
Off in the distance, a pink and black car drove away, an angered Angel inside. "Damned Negotiator, if not for him we could have had all of it!"
In another direction Beck was driving back on his motorcycle towards the city using a different route, carrying as much booze and cigarettes as he could get before the hut came crashing down.
"Dammit, what a sweet score. Oh well, at least I can enjoy these with the gang when I get back. I'm going to make crowboy pay now. There's no way he isn't the dominus." Beck's sneer was downright cartoon villianish, but in the dark of evening it made him appear that much more threatening.
The next morning Roger had sobered up, but had an awful hangover. He went down to apologize to the old man.
"You know that his house was destroyed because of your drunken actions Roger." While Dorothy admonished Roger, Ray was poking around what was left to help the old man find anything of use.
"I'm sorry about your house. Could I make it up to you?" Roger wasn't certain having an alcohol loving old man ride back in Big O was a good idea, but Dorothy was right, he should at least offer to do something.
"No worries. It was just stuff." The old man had worked throughout the night and had made a sack to go. "But before you do, fancy a drink?"
He held out a bottle and two glasses, and for a moment Roger got excited before his hangover headache kicked back in. "I'd best not."
"Well, suite yourself." He noticed Dorothy standing not far away and went over to greet her. "Hey there beautiful, fancy a drink?"
He grabbed her hands and noticed they were cold, and rather hard. Giving a strangely half concerned half amused facial expression he turned to Roger. "Say, sonny, when'd they start making synthetic chicks?"
Roger and Ray both laughed at the absurd comment before all three climbed aboard the Big to head home. When home Roger got an earful from Norman not only for piloting drunk, but for endangering the girls as well.
My name is Roger Smith, I perform a much needed job in Paradigm City, the city of amnesia. 40 Years ago, everyone woke up with no recollection of how or why they ended up where they were, but humans are adaptable creatures. If they can figure out how to restore electricity, they can recreate some form of civilization.
This negotiation is of a special kind; I was called in to get a kidnapping victim returned to the family. In truth, I've never been a fan of kidnapping cases as I find the entire idea of exchanging money for a person's safe return repulsive, but my reputation as the top negotiator in Paradigm counts on my taking these cases too. Well, that and the last time I took a kidnapping case I negotiated the return of a tempermental teenage android who would later become my maid and make my mornings hell, but I digress...
Roger had been called in for a kidnapping negotiation. An extremely rich business man by the name of Wise had his adult son kidnapped, and he needed a negotiator to work with the kidnappers because they didn't want the police involved, but sometimes things don't go according to plan.
Roger had brought Dorothy with him for this negotiation, as he felt she might be able to pick up on something he might miss, and she had been proving herself rather useful recently. After having made an artist friend, who quickly fell to the wayside of stupidity, Dorothy did have new appreciation for the various mediums of art. There were many works of art in the mansion of the Wise family. Including a portrait of a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes in what looked like a pink formal evening gown. Dorothy stood gazing at it, hands clasped behind her back, much like a child looking up to some unknown figure.
What was unusual this time, was that Roger had forced Ray to come along, much to her consternation and confusion. At that moment, she had put herself into a corner of the room staring at and taking in everything, as she was more than a little anxious to have been brought along. Moreover, she felt her work attire of loose fitting t-shirt, black jeans and work boots, did not help her fit into the lavish surroundings of the Wise mansion. What with its gold filigree wallpaper, marble columns, paintings and other works of art scattered tastefully on the walls and statues displayed prominently on many surfaces. Ray found herself rather disgusted with the grandiose opulence of it all.
"Geez, half of these works of art should be in a museum." She couldn't help but think that as she looked on at what was to play out before her with annoyance.
"Money's no object! Just get my son back." Dandy Wise was yelling at Roger when the phone started ringing.
"It might be the kidnappers." Roger picked up the receiver, "Hello?"
"Where's the money?" The voice on the other end sounded nasally to Roger, or like they were holding a rag in front of the speakers face.
"Money?" Roger looked over at Mister Wise, who was nodding his head frantically. "There's no money. The family is having financial problems." Next to Roger, Mister Wise made a terrified, then annoyed face, before finally grabbing the receiver from Roger.
"Hello? Hello!" He looked at the receiver in his hands and sounded he started screaming at Roger. "They hung up. You fool! I told you money was no object! Why would you say that?"
"I know you're angry Mister Wise, but if you give the kidnappers what they want then they have no reason to return your son." Roger was using his calm negotiation voice, not that it was having any effect.
"Just get out!" Mister Wise yelled while slamming the receiver down on the phone.
"Mister Wise..."
"Get out! You're fired, be gone from my sight this instant, you charleton!" With that the three left, which Ray was more than glad for.
"Ugh finally, I couldn't take it anymore in there." Ray sighed with relief as she buckled up in the back seat. It had been so dang stuffy in that mansion.
"You'd make a poor negotiator if you can't deal with others." Roger gave an amused smile while buckling in himself. Dorothy just looked in the mirror to see Ray's facial expressions change to annoyance as she took in that statement.
"I don't want your job, Roger." Ray sighed as she settled into the seat and tried to relax, she had been on edge the whole time she was in the Wise mansion. "I can deal with the rich just fine, it was the overall opulence and 'too much of all the good things' atmosphere of that place being foisted on me from every angle I couldn't take."
"If you say so. Well, for now we'll go back home. Norman should have lunch ready by the time we get back." Roger revved the Griffin's engine and off the three went.
Ray was dealing with junk, as per normal. Chores, trying to find out more about her situation, or at least what was able to be found. Junk may not have been the best word for it, but Ray felt like her life had slowly become a chore of sifting through dirt and preamble that was a long story in order to find her way home.
Life had taken a strange tone for her. She actually did like living in the Smith household, not minding the chores she had to do to stay, as it was an effective means at taking her mind off the pressing sense of doom she felt the longer she was around the main characters. That, and even Dorothy's attempts to oust her had little effect now. Whether that meant Dorothy had finally accepted her, or was just planning something more effective at removing Ray, she couldn't be sure. But she had more pressing matters to deal with today. Norman had assigned her dinner prep this evening, so Ray had to prepare ingredients and make dinner if Norman was still preoccupied elsewhere.
She finished the ingredient prep early, put what needed to be kept cold in the fridge, and went up to the penthouse to see what else should be done. Norman wasn't there, but Roger was in painters smock with a paint palette and a canvas in front of him. Dorothy was posed in a chair in front of him.
"Is it a good idea Roger?" Amazing how she could stay still and hold an entire conversation at the same time.
"Is what a good idea Dorothy?"
"Keeping Wise mad at you."
"Oh that? He'll call back soon enough, in the meantime I'll indulge in some hobbies. Speaking of which, what inspired this Dorothy? What made you suddenly decide to pose for a painting?" Roger was mixing what Ray could only assume was oil paint on a handheld palette. She drifted over slowly to take a peek. "Well, I have to admit, no one comes close to being able to hold a pose like you do."
"No reason really." Dorothy was holding still for most of this, only her eyes moving to follow Ray as she slowly moved closer to them. Her right hand under her chin, left tucked into the crook of the right arm, legs crossed at the ankles. Honestly if Ray hadn't known better she would've thought her a statue.
"Maybe because her artist friend lacked talent?" Ray mused and was almost behind Roger now, and when she got a look at the painting it was every bit as silly an impressionist piece and an awful knock off Picasso as she remembered it would become. "Though he was probably better at it than you."
"Really Ray?"
"Don't blame me that you suck, did you even do an outline first?"
Roger sighed, "You know someday you'll actually act like a woman and behave yourself."
"I refuse. And for that matter, you'll never see me in a dress either." Ray gave a sarcastic smile. "If you want a prim and proper girl go after Dorothy and leave me alone."
"Why would I want Dorothy?" Roger had turned his head to argue with Ray, and missed what transpired behind him. At that comment Dorothy's eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit, and of course Roger was paying no attention and missed the eyes of doom. Ray just shook her head and shrugged.
"There really is no helping you. Perhaps I should prepare a eulogy for your eventual demise."
"Master Roger," Norman came into the room at that point carrying a telephone on a tray, "A Dandy Wise is on the phone."
"See Dorothy, I told you he would call back soon enough." Roger picked up the receiver after a short conversation said, "Norman, I'll be going out. And you two are going with me." He turned back and pointed at the two teenagers.
"What? Oh not again!" Ray protested. "What are you even doing, forcing me along with you? Taking Dorothy with you makes sense, she forgets nothing and has super strength. I got nothing of importance."
"Just come along. Maybe you'll learn something."
"Like how to kick your ass." Ray thought, but knew fighting wouldn't work so she trudged along. "Maybe this time I can stay in the car."
Soon enough the three were back at the Wise mansion and sadly for Ray, she was not allowed to stay in the car.
Dorothy was standing in front of the painting again, staring up at the woman in pink. She was already short, but she appeared miniscule in front of the large portrait. Ray had taken refuge in the corner again, feeling like she stood out too much in a place where she should have been hiding. Roger stood patiently waiting for his client to speak.
Dandy Wise paced a bit before stopping to look at the portrait, and then faced Roger. "Mr. Smith, there's something I need to tell you, about the case that is."
"You paid the kidnappers, but they haven't returned your son, is that it?"
"Yes, how did you know?" Dejectedly he took a seat and crossed his arms, upset and acting somewhat like a child.
"It's a simple principle really. Tell someone that something they value is worth something, and then ask them to pay more." Roger wandered over to a gold statue of a woman with many arms. "This statue looks expensive, probably worth a fortune."
"It's worth well over a hundred thousand dollars." Wise harrumphed indignantly.
"Ok then, let's say someone wants to buy this statue, and you quoted them that price." Roger gestured to the many armed woman statute. "They gladly pay it. What do you end up thinking? 'Oh darn, I should have asked for more if they thought that was a good deal.'"
"What of it? What's your point?"
"That's what the kidnappers think of Francis. Something you're willing to pay extra for, so if you give into their demands the first time, they'll just come back asking for another payment." Roger adjusted his sunglasses, "The fact they didn't return your son proves this."
"Gah, well it's a little late for that advice now."
"I tried to warn you." Roger just shook his head in mock dismay. Really this was fairly common in kidnappings, not that Roger liked it one bit. Just then the phone rang loudly, making all the room's occupants, save Dorothy, jump a little. "That's probably the kidnappers asking for another payment."
Roger went to the phone and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Put Wise on the phone." The nasally voice demanded.
"I need proof Francis is alive first." Roger was trying to parley with the kidnappers, but had a feeling they were not playing fair.
"Hey, that voice. I know who you are. That negotiator." The click of a gun's hammer being pulled back into the firing position. "Put Wise on the phone now or the hostage gets it."
"Fine, fine." Roger handed the receiver to Wise.
"Yes, yes I understand. Ok. Yes I'll do that then, please just wait a while." Wise hung up.
"You gave into the kidnappers demands didn't you?" Roger was of course disappointed. The chances of the hostage being returned unharmed were slimming by the second.
"You don't understand, if I didn't give in they were going to kill Francis. Also they made a request. They want you to deliver the ransom in person. If you don't…" Wise looked rather upset.
"Fine. Have it prepared. If they want it delivered there's a good chance they plan to return him." At least I hope that's their plan. I have a gut feeling this situation is about to get hairy.
The three occupants were on their way to a cabin in the woods, in one of the mountains that surrounded and was part of Paradigm City to the west of the main island and districts. It wasn't close to the main hub of industry that was for sure.
"This isn't going to end well." Ray was fidgety in the back seat. She begged Roger to drop her at home this time as well, but he had insisted she come along, for whatever reason.
"You'll be fine." Roger was getting a bit fed up with Ray's whining and moping around the house as of late and hoped getting out would make her less so. It seemed to be having the opposite effect.
"You're bringing your teenage ward and a teenage employee to a hostage negotiation. In what world is that fine?"
"Just think of this as extra billable hours."
"Whatever." Ray rolled her eyes before burying her head in a book she had brought along. Figuring it would get her out of the conversation.
Soon the three arrived at the isolated log style cabin in the snowy mountains outside the city. It was a fairly nice log cabin, two stories, what looked like a few fireplace chimneys. As soon as Roger and Dorothy stepped out of the car, the ring of a gun firing once could be heard.
"Ray, get out of the car and follow us inside." Roger growled under his breath.
"Are you insane?"
"If you stay in the car you're a sitting target. Now come one."
"Ugh, fine." Ray followed the two into the cabin, slowly, letting Roger and Dorothy kick down doors and do the stealth work respectively.
"Uhhh." An injured man was moaning on the floor.
"Francis!" Roger went over to examine the injured man. "Hang in there Francis, we'll get you out of here and back to town soon."
Dorothy went over and put the injured man's head in her lap, and undid his bindings so he wouldn't be defenseless.
Oh goodie. Pretty sure I know what comes next. Ray wasn't too excited about it. Suddenly from the windows lights flashed to life, and sirens from military police vehicles could be heard.
"Roger Smith! We know you're in there, come out with your hands up and surrender!" Dastun yelled into his megaphone, lowering it he muttered quietly, "Come on Rog, don't do anything stupid."
"Oh darn, it appears we've been set up, Dorothy, Ray, let's get out of here." He fiddled with his watch and the sound of the Griffin roaring to life outside could be clearly discerned from all the shocked MP's jumping away from the now driverless and moving vehicle. The three started running down the hallway towards the back exit.
"I should've known this was a setup when they wanted to meet at the cabin." Roger puffed as he ran along.
"Uh huh." Dorothy didn't seem interested.
"It's Beck that's behind this, that guy can really hold a grudge." Dorothy gave Roger a sidelong glance as she kept pace. Ray was a little behind them.
"Oh great, now we're on the run from the cops. Can my day get any worse?" Ray whined.
"Uh huh." Dorothy mumbled, which was what let Ray know it was definitely about to get worse. And with that the three had to jump out the window to land in the Griffon. Roger landed in the driver's seat, Dorothy held onto the edge of the sunroof before flipping herself inside into the passenger's seat. Ray had miraculously managed to grab the side of the sunroof on the passenger's side of the car, her feet pressed against the back wheel wells hump so as to not fall off, and climbed into the back through the passenger window, once Roger put it down for her as Dorothy clearly didn't feel like doing so.
"Couldn't've let me in any sooner Dorothy."
"I didn't see a need to let you in, you were doing fine outside."
"Oh fu-"
"Not now Ray!" Roger was irate as he switched his radio to pick up Military Police channels.
"The suspect is fleeing in a two door black sedan, license plate R-33, along Old Mountain Road." Colonel Dan Dastun's voice could be heard from the radio. Roger flipped some switches in the car and it appeared a dark maroon, and the window tint let up a bit, additionally the license plate changed too, with it flipping over to a different plate.
"What will you do now Roger?" Dorothy stared straight ahead as Roger took the mountain roads curves at a high speed with relative ease.
"I think it's time we paid another visit to Mister Wise." Roger seemed to growl.
"Francis had blue eyes." Dorothy piped up after a minute or so of silence.
"Well, family members can have different features Dorothy. Hair colors, height, those sorts of things, so it's not unusual for… No wait. Wise said that Francis was born forty years ago, after the Event. So that means…"
"That means what?" Dorothy just stared straight ahead as she always did.
"That means I have a whole new set of questions for Wise."
In the back seat Ray had finally calmed down from the adrenaline rush that was jumping into a moving vehicle. "Dorothy?"
"Yes?"
"When we get back home, assuming I survive this ordeal, I am giving you the asskicking of your life. And Norman can stuff it."
"Ray that's not very-"
"And you can stuff it too stupid! I told you I didn't want to be here or get dragged along on one of your jobs. Yet do you listen? No of course not, macho man knows best and doesn't listen to frail human girls problems because he somehow equates human girls to mechanical girls survival aptitude for taking a beating, hells if I know how." Ray started to calm down after ranting a little. "But seriously, what the ever loving fuck is wrong with you two? It's like you're taking turns trying to get me killed."
For once, Dorothy's facial expressions were hard for Ray to read, not that she cared. Roger didn't bother lecturing Ray on language usage either, as at this point she had a reason to be upset and raising her voice as loud as she had. Roger had ignored her pleas to be allowed to stay home, and not to get involved in his work, and now the military police likely had a warrant out for the three of them. They got to the dome fast enough, and Ray was allowed to stay in the car while Roger and Dorothy went to question Wise.
"Mister Wise."
"Ah it's you two." He seemed a little taken aback by the fact two people had snuck up to the window without his security noticing. But he looked back up at the painting of the woman in a pink dress. "Francis is safe, and is at the hospital, I was just about to leave."
"You aren't really Francis father are you?"
He looked over at the two briefly again. "No. I'm not. Forty years ago, on the day everyone woke up without their memories, I was here in this mansion, and she was here with me." He seemed like he was looking at his own past then, "Waking up without knowing who or where you are is terrifying. But because we woke up together in this mansion alone, and had no one else to rely on, we quickly fell in love. Francis was born a few months later, and she died not long after he was born. I... I was merely trying to protect the boy from the ridicule and shame."
"I see, so that's why." Roger grimaced, he was familiar with the tales of what kids born during the first year or so of memory loss had gone through.
"Yes, you should know something. Not long after you left with the ransom payment, the kidnappers called for one last payment to be dropped off for them. They wanted it left at a warehouse in the West Industrial park… Huh?" When Wise looked over the two had gone without a sound.
"Time to pay those kidnappers a visit, and finish this quarrel with Beck." It was Rogers' turn to be angry.
"Roger, I have two questions for you."
"Huh, well that's unusual. Alright let's hear them."
"Why would Wise care for a child that isn't his?" Dorothy asked as she was getting buckled in, for once.
"Same reason Norman cares about us Dorothy." Ray spoke quietly from the back seat, not even bothering to peer from behind her book at them.
"What do you mean?"
"Family isn't always about who you're related to. It can be parents adopting a child, a bunch of roommates that are really close. Family can even be a strange group that's come together under whatever circumstances like the household we live in now." Roger laughed at Ray's explanation, but he found some truth in it.
"So… we are family?" Dorothy wasn't sure she liked the sound of that one bit.
"We have been for a while ya dunce. You're the only one that didn't seem to notice."
"Roger can we disown Ray?" Dorothy's head whipped to the drivers side so fast it felt as if there should be an after image.
"You are so-"
"Ok you two knock it off. And no we cannot disown Ray." Roger couldn't help it, but he was attempting to stifle his laughter at these two's antics. "Besides, if Ray is as skilled with machines as Norman and I think she is, you may be turning to her for repairs some day."
"Absolutely not!" Both girls said in unison, then Dorothy turned back in her seat to look at a rather confused Ray.
"Why would you even suggest that Roger?" Ray was not amused.
"I concur, you are good with computers, but that is not the same skills needed to be decent at android maintenance."
"Well, that's my fault for making assumptions then." Roger just shrugged. Try and help these two get along and look where it lands me, figures. "What's the second question?"
"Nevermind. It's not something you should answer with company. And it's a difficult question to answer."
"Uh… Alright then." What in the world does she mean by that? The car ride was silent the rest of the way.
Inside the aforementioned warehouse, Beck and his three minions were cackling up a storm.
"Ahahahaha! That old crowboy ain't even going to know what hit him." Beck was laughing hard and clapping his feet together in an intimidation of a barking seal.
"But Boss, what if he ya know, actually finds us?" T-bone questioned his boss's jovial nature at this most inopportune time.
"That's not going to happen fellas, the police already have him in custody by now, soon we'll never have to see crowboy again."
"Hey Boss, what's that sound?" Dove thought he heard tires screeching.
"What sound?" Just then the Griffin came through the wall behind them, did a 180 turn when it landed and was facing the three stooges and Beck. A brick hit T-bone square in the face while Yume jumped aside. The doors opened and two black clad people Beck just loved to hate stepped out.
"Well if it isn't Roger Smith, and look little Ms Dorothy too." Beck crooned as the two stepped out of the car. "How nice of you to drop by."
"Oh Mista B, she looks just like a doll? Are we keeping her?" Yume, for whatever reason, thought Dorothy was cute, like a children's well kept doll kind of cute.
"We sure are sweety, right after we get rid of-"
BANG! A bullet zoomed by within an inch of Beck's ear.
"Uhhh! What the hell, who are you?" A young woman Beck didn't recognize had stepped out of the car, and was standing next to Dorothy with a gun in hand, and recently fired at that. Beck eyed her quick glance and guessed she'd be about the same age as Dorothy was meant to be, and she wasn't hard on the eyes. Not easy either. In his eyes, she was average over all, save for that bust! Black t-shirts weren't hiding her stacked rack. Beck's mind started racing to lecherous thoughts of what he would do with her once crowboy was dealt with.
"That was a warning shot, next one isn't missing, drop your weapons right now and surrender or the next one is splattering your brains on the brick wall behind you. I will not repeat myself."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Beck quickly abandoned ideas of fun, this bitch was crazy, and he had a rule about crazy.
"The woman your very existence is pissing off." She hoped he couldn't tell she was bluffing. Ray couldn't stand blood, much less wanton violence, but if it was enough to force surrender let him believe she would blow his brains out.
"Well no matter, you can die with crowboy." Beck didn't know this woman, but there was an unmistakable fire of murderous intent in those eyes. Her finger started to tighten on the trigger, Beck slammed his foot into a hidden button below the piles of cash he and his cronies were playing in, but as soon as he did she fired another shot, sadly thanks to having to jump out of the way of the falling crane Ray had missed her chance to mortally wound Beck.
"Jump!" Roger yelled as the crane slammed into the roof of the Griffon and totalled it. "Ah, no Dorothy." A magnet had been close to the crane, and activated at the same time, making Dorothy appear to float into the air. Ray had dodged backwards in an attempt to avoid both options.
"Ahaha, who's dying now!" Beck cajoled. Not that he would be for long. Roger flung himself at Beck, only for Beck to get out of the way. The cronies had run off to either side, save for Yume, who had another target in mind. While Beck fiddled with a remote that brought the magnet and Dorothy, closer to the giant hook he was standing on, Roger could only watch in horror as he inserted some kind of gaudy gold tiara into the cd drive in her head, this was the night her father died all over again. "Well, time to make your worst nightmares come true."
"Argh, you monster." Roger moaned as he got up. Beck had managed to get in a sucker punch to his stomach. Dorothy dropped onto the crate in front of him as the magnet was turned off. Soon as she was down, she bent over, grabbed the shoulder of Roger's blazer, and unceremoniously dragged him up onto the crate with her, dropping him with a thunk.
"Uh, Dorothy?" Something was wrong, her eyes had a purple glow to them.
"Damnable bastard. Shouldn't have fired a warning shot." Ray had dodged the crane, but still had the wind knocked out of her when she fell, as the force of the crane falling sent her flying with the rush of wind it had produced. She had finally managed to drag herself to her feet when she saw Beck on a metal hook in the air above her. "Better make this one count I guess."
"Oh no you don't!" Yume hopped into view then, swinging her purse at Ray. Ray was too weak to be jumping around while still trying to catch her breath, so she just blocked the purse instead.
"Are you stupid? I have a gun! I could kill you, what do you think a purse is gonna do you dumb blonde? There aren't even bricks in there." Ray couldn't help yelling at the young blonde woman whose name she didn't know. After all, in the world Ray knew of, her name was Yam, and she didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to name their kid after food.
"Why would I put bricks in my purse?" The woman yelled back.
"You really are stupid." Ray could only look on in disappointed disbelief at the woman in front of her. She couldn't be that much older than Ray. "Look, just move your ass outta my way. You aren't my target and I don't want any more weight in my soul than killing that rat bastard is going to cause me to carry."
"I'm not letting you kill Mista B. What'd he ever do to you anyhow?"
"Killed my best friend's father, forcing her into a life of servitude to a rude jerk that verbally abuses her constantly, and as far as I know, only has dealt with it because she is too traumatized to do otherwise and thinks the jerk is handsome."
"Geez. You need therapy."
"No, well yes, but it's my friend that needs therapy. And right now she's also trying to kill said handsome jerk." Ray pointed. For whatever reason Yume glanced behind to the scene playing out.
"Rog..er." It sounded wrong. Like she was being forced to speak.
"Dorothy, are you alright?" Suddenly Dorothy threw her arms around his waist. "Now's not the time for a hug Dorothy."
"Rog..er… I love you…" She started squeezing him.
"Huh!" He was a little too stunned to respond as she started to give him a back cracking bear hug.
"Ro..ger…"
"Ow, Dorothy, snap out of it that hurts." Her grip got tighter. "Come on, remember.. Who you.. Are." It was getting harder to breathe, and Roger heard a few of his ribs cracking.
Beck, up on his littler perch, played with the pen that seemed like a controller device, "Bye bye, crowboy." He turned the pen a notch.
Somewhere inside Dorothy's functions, a part of her was still there, and seeing the agonized and pleading look in Roger's eyes, she forced an emergency shutdown, making herself defenseless, but ultimately she knew it would stop the headband from controlling her.
"Ah." She gave a small gasp and did the android equivalent of fainting.
"Huh?" Beck started turning the pen top furiously before it exploded in his hand. "Grr, whatever! Just get up here!" The ground started to rumble.
"Dang it. Hey you better get out of here woman." With that Ray ran to help Roger get Dorothy out of the warehouse.
"Hey, I said get up here already!" Beck yelled before the ground burst from under him and his henchmen, Yume had joined them and clambered into the cockpit with them.
"Now then, where is he," Beck scanned the surroundings to find Roger and Ray supporting Dorothy on either side and running to another building, "There you are. If I can't get your android lover to crush you, I'll do it myself."
"Dang she's heavy." It was Rogers' turn to whine after all that had happened a few minutes before.
"Yeah, well why do you think I'm helping you." Ray grunted. Dorothy really did weigh a lot, but it's not like Ray had ever tried to pick her up before. The two struggled to get into another smaller warehouse, and Big O burst forth from the ground to lend them a hand into his cockpit.
"I'll get her settled, you deal with that thing." Ray soon had Dorothy set down on the side of the cockpit, and tried to keep her balance during the upcoming fight.
"Big O, Showtime!" With that it began. Roger took some swings at Becks Victory whatever the hell it was called this time. His naming scheme had gotten as convoluted as a light novel title as far as Ray was concerned. "I'm going to put you back where you belong, behind bars."
"Like that'll work." Beck seemed pleased. With the money that his followers had gained from scams, and his own maganations, Beck had added quite a few new tricks to the Beck Victory Deluxe Ultra's arsenal. "Dove, use the fingers."
"Well if you say so boss." Dove wiggled his fingers like playing an invisible piano.
"I don't think he meant it like that Dove." Yume deadpanned.
"I know what he meant, can't anybody take a joke around here?" Dove activated the finger guns, but they didn't leave a scratch on Big O.
"Er, how about this then?" Beck pushed a button, sending a volley of missiles from the knee caps into the ground, and a series of explosions went off on the ground around Big O's feet and crumbled the pavement he stood on, knocking him over.
"Oh yeah, now let's follow it up with this: laser beam eyes! A trick out of your own book Black Megadeus." Beck hit a button on his console that activated the laser beam eyes, but all it did when it hit Big O's orange glass crown was to deflect the beam into a nearby dome.
"No way. It just bounced right off." Beck couldn't even comprehend such a thing.
"What'd we do now boss?" T-bone was quaking in his seat.
"Isn't it obvious you fools. Run!" The torso of the Beck Victory Deluxe Ultra and it started running away in such a ridiculous fashion.
"Even I have limits to my patience you punks." Roger was gritting his teeth as he set about working to defeat Becks equally as gaudy as his clothing robot. First he had Big O use the pile drivers to upright himself, then he shot a hip anchor at the fleeing machine, hitting it in the back, as Roger tried to use Big O's hands to pull the chain back, Beck's machine turned it's arms 180 and fired another volley of shots, though it did little more than leave surface scratches on the Megadeus. Some of the warehouses nearby caught fire as the two continued to slug it out.
"Crap, he's not letting us go." Beck was furiously trying to loosen the anchor and had an idea. "Hey T-Bone, maneuver the eye lasers to focus on the chain."
"Got it boss."
"Great, Dove, get ready to fire them and rebalance after this." Beck hit the charge button for the lasers. "We'll be running as soon as the chain is melted to slag!"
Beck hit the laser button as soon as the charge indicator was full, and the lasers melted through the steel of the chains. "Freedom here we come!"
"Oh no you don't!" Roger fired a second hip anchor as soon as the laser had focused on the first, and using all of Big O strength, pulled the gaudy golden robot right into his right hand, used the left hand to yank the anchor out and set off a pile driver into the Beck Victory Deluxe Ultra's head, separating it from the now practically destroyed body.
"Dammit this is going to be a lot of paperwork." Back at the military police depart outside the domes, Colonel Dan Dastun finished the dregs of his coffee, crumbled the cup and tossed it in the can, all while reading the report his men had written about the incident. A car that can drive itself. I know Roger has money, but where does he get all the fancy toys he has? Norman can't make all of them can he?
Outside a clamour of noise drew closer to the station, shaking it as whatever made the noise drew closer. Ke-chang, ke-chang. Heavy metal feet walked ever slowly towards the station.
"What!?" Dastun ran outside to be greeted by an unusual sight. "What? The Black Megadeus! Wait what is he holding?"
Soon Big O dropped what he was holding at the doorstep of the police station, and a large golden head with it's face missing fell to the ground with a huge thud.
"Ugh." Beck and his cronies groaned in pain.
"Beck? Wait how?" Dastun peered up from the broken head towards the Black Megadeus before he plodded away.
"This is going to be such a headache and too much paperwork." Dastun sighed before yelling at some subordinates to bring med kits and handcuffs.
At home Norman was waiting on the catwalk for his master's return. Soon as the prairie dog returned and the Big O was back in place, the orange glass neck piece opened and out walked a rather disheveled Roger and Ray, trying not to drop a still unconscious Dorothy. Norman had thought ahead upon hearing the situation and had brought a wheeled stretcher capable of holding the gynoids' weight.
Soon they had the knocked out gynoid on a mechanical work table and Norman set about analyzing the gold tiara that had been taken from Dorothy's head, and examining the components while also running what amounted to a medical diagnostic on the sleeping teen.
"Hm, it appears to be a device meant to over power her logic circuits, but the parts are faulty or subpar, which caused them to short circuit." Norman was using a jewelers lense to examine the board inside the broken contraption.
"No, Dorothy did that all on her own." Roger had shoved his hands in his pockets while he leaned against the surface of one of the many workbenches lining the room.
"Ah, quiet right." The jeweler's lense fell from his eye, held to his waistcoat by a chain. "With that said, to prevent this from happening again perhaps it would be best to swap out Ms Dorothy's memory circuits. Of course, it comes with the risk of her losing some of her memories."
"No, that's all right Norman. Leave her as she is."
"Yes sir."
A few days later Dorothy was back to normal, but it did take a while for her to reboot. She walked up towards the lounge to find the painting Roger had been working on before, this time the eyes had been finished. But much as Ray had said before, it really did suck, for lack of a better term. On the patio, a coatless and robeless Roger was staring out over the city.
"I see you painted in the eyes."
"Yeah, you feel better now Dorothy."
"I seem to be fine."
"Well, there's that. Oh I've been wondering, what was that second question you wanted to ask me?" Roger turned to face her.
"Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Why not? It can't be that difficult to answer, and we don't seem to have an audience."
"If you and I lost our memories, would we have fallen in love?"
"Oh, um, well you see…" Roger turned away and tried to avoid the question.
"I warned you it was a difficult question."
Even later that evening, Ray was finally finished with all the assigned work she had been expected to do. Since Dorothy had been out of commission for a few days Ray had been made to pick up the slack and had to do both their chores.
"Uh, I am so tired." Ray sank into the lounge chair to let her sore body unwind. "Is Dorothy awake yet? I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."
"I've been awake for a few hours." From behind the chair a familiar monotone rang out.
"Wah!" Ray couldn't help jumping when someone appeared behind her. "Would you quit sneaking up on me?"
"You do make it rather easy."
"Ugh."
"Enough you two." Norman came into the lounge bearing a tray of tea. "I'll say, you can be rather tiring to deal with at times."
"Sorry." Ray took her tea without further complaint and drained it quickly. "I'm just frustrated and exhausted."
"Understandable, you have been doing more work recently. As well as keeping up with your training."
"Oh Ray, you mentioned something about kicking my ass when back home." At Dorothy's words Ray's face went from exhausted to exasperated to finally disappointed.
"Is that what we're gonna do today? Are we going to fight? Ok fine then. I'm going to get grounded for cursing in front of you again anyway, so I may as well do the thing and just take my punishments all at once." Ray got up and stalked memisingly towards Dorothy.
"What will you-"
Before Dorothy could finish her question, Ray swept her legs from under her, quickly turned around while crouched, thrust her hips back towards the gynoids, grabbed an outstretched arm that Dorothy had put out to balance herself, and slung Dorothy to the ground over her back onto her metal behind with a rather loud thud.
"-do?" She just laid there for a bit, unsure of how to process what had happened, beforing sitting up and getting up.
"Ok Norman, do whatever, I got it out of my system now." Ray sat back down and ignored the stares she was getting for that sudden physical display, instead choosing to drain another cup of tea.
We Have Come to Terms
I made Beck a bigger jerk in this because I feel like his manga personality works well as a villain. But just plain evil or deranged doesn't work well, so I upped the ante so to speak.