PART 12

"Are you crazy?" Alexis nearly shrieked. Beck stifled her nervously.
"We're just getting what he owes us. No way he knows about what we did."
They crept slowly through the corridors of the mansion. The floorboards creaked beneath them, adding a fresh layer of tension to an already nervous occasion. Beck gulped and wiped some sweat from his forehead. They approached the door slowly. He reached for the knob with a trembling hand.
Damian sat on the bench before the piano. He was looking down at the keys, his foggy. He almost seemed to be asleep. He emitted a soft hum, like a motor running from blocks away. Beck cleared his throat. "Uh...hey!"
Damian's head rose. His neck arched, slowly turning to face Beck. The eyes rolled over in their sockets, revealing the cold, emotionless pupils. A chill ran down Beck's spine the moment those cold orbs locked onto him.
Damian stood up, knocking the bench over. He began to walk toward them, one step at a time, slowly at first, but then with increasing speed.
"I warned you Beck..." he said in a hushed tone as he advanced. Beck and Alexis both felt themselves slide back against the wall as if they could somehow fade through it, fade away from the monstrosity that was coming for them. "I warned you what would happen if you laid a finger on Dorothy!" Damian snarled, taking long, heavy strides, his feet slamming down onto the floor, kicking up clouds of dust.
"Beck, run!" Alexis screamed, her voice cracking. She grabbed his wrist and they both hurried for the door, but Damian was on top of them instantly. He jammed his hand up against the door, making it impossible to open. Then, with a sweep of his other arm he sent them both flying back into the room.
They both scrambled to their feet, motivated by the sound of the footfalls coming back across the room at them. But too late. Damian clapped his hand down onto Alexis' cranium and lifted her writhing from the floor. A single jerk. The sound of wet broccoli stalks being broken. Alexis fell to the floor, her eyes crossed in a gaze of death.
Beck groaned with grief and fear as Damian's pale hand reached out for him...
"DAMIAN!" The cry pierced the air. Beck and Damian's heads both swung around to see Dorothy standing in the doorway. Damian's eyes went large as saucers and his jaw dropped, already groping for an excuse. Dorothy's eyes flicked from the cooling body of Alexis to Damian. Eyes narrowing, as if tears were about to flow, Dorothy began to step back. "Damian...how could you?" she said, and spun away, running back through the halls.
"Dorothy!" Damian called after her, instantly taking off to follow her. "I didn't want to! They forced it! I'm sorry!"
Alone in the dark room, Beck gave a low moan of relief and collapsed.

Damian burst out the doors into the front yard of the mansion. Looking straight ahead, he saw Roger Smith's car parked on the curb right outside the gate. Dorothy was seated in the driver seat, her head against the steering wheel. Her body twitched, and she emitted low sobs, even without tears. Roger Smith himself stepped forward, blocking her from his view.
"You stay away from her Damian, I mean it!" he demanded.
"Dorothy..." Damian said, ignoring Roger as he slowly stepped closer, "You must listen to me. I..."
"Forget it!" Roger interrupted. "She knows all about you now, Damian. She knows all that you've done."
"Dorothy" Damian said, still ignoring Roger and stepping closer, "You have nothing to fear from me. I wouldn't hurt you for..."
"Go away Damian...please, just go away..." she pleaded through her sobs.
Damian took a step back, his hand going over where a human heart would be, his jaw dangling now. His head lowered, staring at the ground. His fists clenched, trembling, and then he looked up to the sky and leashed a long, mournful cry to pierce the heavens.

"Colonel Dastun!" a young officer shouted as he rammed into Dastun's office. The colonel looked up from his papers, a bitten through doughnut dangling from his lips. "The blue megadeus just appeared off the harbor! Its coming!"

"What happened to him?" Roger said, stepping cautiously up to Damian. The android stood, frozen, his hand reaching toward the sky. His eyes had grown dim, as if the life had drained from his body. "He looks fine, but there doesn't seem to be anybody home..." he snapped his fingers in front of Damian's eyes, to no avail.
The beeping from his multi-purpose wristwatch drew his attention. He looked down at it. "Yes Norman?"
"Master Roger, I felt that I should inform you that a megadeus has just entered the city harbor. It seems to be headed right for you."
"Thanks Norman. Be sure to..."
"He should be there in ninety seconds sir. Shall I be setting an extra place for dinner?"
"I have a feeling only one android is coming home, Norman." Roger said as he turned his attention toward where the sound of sirens were now blaring. He held his wrist up to his face.
"Big O...showtime!"

The blue megadeus faced its black counterpart. It stood, waiting for Big O to finish emerging from the massive hole it had come from. The same demonic voice Roger had heard earlier crackled over Big O's loudspeakers.
"This time, no mercy Negotiator!"
"I should have guessed" Roger smirked, ignoring the threat, "If there was a megadeus attached to Dorothy, why shouldn't there be one for Damian?"
"We, I, us. We are Damian, both us. And once Dorothy joins us, we shall be whole at last. The pathetic people of this city can't stop us, and neither will you!" The massive eye in the center of its head began to flicker, and then the same massive pillar of energy emitted forth from it. But this time Big O was prepared, holding up both of its massive forearms, reflecting the bolt away. It crashed back into its creator, sending it stumbling back.
Big O charged forward, and Damian met it full force. The titans crashed into each other, the impact of their collision shattering glass for a mile. They grappled with each other, both digging their monstrous feet into the concrete of the streets for leverage. The blue megadeus suddenly lifted one leg, slamming its knee into Big O's midsection. Big O hunched over, like a man who had just had the wind knocked from him, and the blue megadeus crashed both its fists into Big O's back, throwing it to the ground. As Big O lay prone, it moved in.
Inside the cockpit, Roger gave a shout of desperation and quickly pressed his finger down onto one of the many switches.
One of the massive harpoons that adorned Big O's waist fired from its position, the enormous chain trailing behind it. It flew up, into the massive eye of Damian. The crystal glass shattered, sending house sized shards flying in all directions. An inhuman cry of pain tore through Big O's loudspeakers, and Roger quickly capitalized. Big O rolled onto its back, slammed its fists together.
"Chrome buster!" Roger shouted as the beam of pure energy lanced from the top of Big O's head. It tore into the blue metal of Damian, ripping the head straight from the massive shoulders. Damian recoiled, the hands reaching up to find the absent head.
Big O rose to its feet. It swung one arm back, the piston in that forearm slamming back. The fist flew forward, bashed into Damian's chest, and the piston mashed forward. The entire chest cavity of Damian blew out, leaving a gaping hold in its torso. It wavered on its feet for a moment, and finally fell, collapsing backwards, its fall leaving a massive crater in the city streets.
Roger Smith breathed a sigh of relief, and then remembered something. "Dorothy!"

Dorothy turned from the battle that she had just been watching, her concentration disturbed by the sound of footsteps. Her eyes grew large when she saw the body of her brother gone. She looked up at the door of the mansion, and saw it swung wide open. She charged after him.
She found him back up in the large room where they had first met. He was placing his violin back into its case. He snapped it shut.
"Where are you going, Damian?" she asked.
"I am leaving Paradigm City, Dorothy. I will seek greener pastures beyond its borders." He turned and faced her. "You would be well served to come with me. There is nothing here for either of us."
"I cannot allow you to leave, Damian." Dorothy stepped into the room, slamming the door shut behind her. She stood, ready for anything.
"I will not fight with you Dorothy, not against my own flesh and blood."
"But you are wrong, Damian. We are not flesh and blood. We are androids."
"But could be so much more..." he slowly stepped forward. Dorothy remained frozen to the spot, refusing to run from him. "Come with me Dorothy...and I'll give you the disk out father made for you" he cajoled. Dorothy hesitated now, her body shuddered with the thought. "There is so much more to it than the emotions, Dorothy. There's memories, dreams...sights and sounds you could not imagine..." he stepped up before her, placed his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes, matching them with his own, and Dorothy knew what must be done.
Damian flew across the room, propelled by the fist Dorothy had put into his chest. He stopped himself before the curtains that hung over one side of the wall, knowing what lay behind them. Dorothy did as well. She flew forward and gave him one final push, sending him back into those curtains, through the glass of the windows they covered. She waited for the sound of a thud, but heard none.
She found him outside, impaled on one of the broad-iron spikes that made up the fence that surrounded the house. He twitched and writhed as he attempted to free himself. She walked up to him, tapped his forehead, and his disk drive slid out. She reached for it.
"Dorothy, what are you doing?" he said, his voice layered with panic.
"I am afraid I must deactivate you, Damian" she said without a hint of feeling. "You have proven yourself too dangerous to be allowed to roam free."
"Dorothy! I love yooooouuuu..." Damian moaned as his voice died.
"I know, Damian..." she whispered as she watched the light flicker and die in his eyes. "I know."

"I am nearly done, Master Roger." Norman said. Roger looked past the old butler. Damian's body lay on a lab bench nearby. The body had been taken apart, the arms and legs both removed from the torso. The disk drive still lay out from his forehead, like a tongue sticking out, mocking the world.
"That's good Norman." Roger turned away and sighed. For a moment, he was thankful Dorothy had no emotions, for he could not have imagined what she would be feeling after this.
As if summoned by this thought, Norman cleared his throat.
"Master Roger, there is one more thing..."

He found Dorothy in her usual spot. She stood on the ledge of the balcony, looking out over the city. The wind blew past the both of them, her hair flapping away from her face. Roger admired that face for a moment, in all its artificial perfection.
"I'm sorry, Dorothy." He finally spoke up. "I know it must have been hard to do what you had to do."
"I only knew him briefly, but still, I am glad that I met him." She replied, not turning to look at him. "I think he taught me something about myself."
"And what is that?" he arched an eyebrow. Dorothy did a perfect summersault, flying through the air, and landed clean on her feet before him.
"That, human or not, I am unique. There is only one Dorothy, and I am her." She started to walk away when Roger spoke up again.
"Um, Dorothy, there is something else..." She turned to look at him. He reached into his pocket and then held out the disk. "Norman was able to salvage this from Damian. Its not damaged. I don't see any reason why we can't use it."
Dorothy came up to him, her eyes bright and hopeful. It was the same look that she had worn when she first met Damian, and it tugged Roger's heart to see it again. She reached out, as if yearning to touch the disk, yearning to touch the miracle of life. But then she pushed Roger's hand down, the disk still clutched in it.
"No, Roger."
"No?" Roger gaped. "But, isn't this what you've always wanted?"
"Damian was older, more worldly than I," she said, turning her head and looking out at the city once again. "But yet, once he had them, he could not control his own feelings. I do not see how I could be expected to do any better." She looked back up at Roger. "Perhaps, one day, when I feel I am ready." She turned and walked inside.
Roger remained, pondering her words. From inside the mansion, the sound of the piano being played rose to his ears. He pocketed the disk and smiled to himself.
"You may be an android, Dorothy Wayneright, but you are far more human than anyone I've ever met." He chuckled to himself, and went inside.

That's it, true believers! So ends the Saga of Damian. I cannot thank all of you who have reviewed enough. I appreciate it more than any of you can ever know. It's been a great ride. I have enjoyed writing this fic tremendously, almost as much as I have enjoyed getting your feedback for it. Keep reading, and keep believing!