3 City Without Memories

Elisa groaned and rolled onto her side. She opened her eyes, slowly blinking away the spots that danced before her vision. She got to her feet, her body feeling as if she had been asleep for a month. She stretched, working out the stiffness.
She looked around, and found herself in a familiar setting; a city. The buildings towered above her, the sewers flowed below her. But something most definitely did not feel right. Many of the buildings were decaying, crumbling. And for that matter, there did not seem to be anyone on these streets. Was this a ghost town? She struggled to remember everything that had happened...
"Lady, are you nuts? Get out of here!" a gruff voice shouted. Someone grabbed Elisa's wrist and tugged roughly as he proceeded to run down the street with Elisa in tow.
"What's going on?" Elisa demanded when they came to a stop. She took a moment to examine the man before her. He was a tough looking fellow, with narrow eyes and a scrufty beard. A small scar bulged from the side of his head. She felt a bit relieved when she recognized the uniform of a police officer, but it was certainly unlike any uniform she had ever seen. She leaned closer and looked at the badge on his chest. "Paradigm Military Police..." she read. Before she could ask just what that meant, a massive chunk of concrete slammed into the pavement only a few feet away.
"Dammit!" the officer growled. He grabbed Elisa's arm once again and dragged her even further away. Elisa yanked herself free.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"That's what's going on" he replied, pointing upward behind her. Elisa turned and looked up...and then up, and up, and up some more. She had seen he Steel Clan, she had helped her friends battle The Pack, and she had seen the machinations of The Quarrymen, but she had never seen anything quite like the mechanical monstrosity that towered taller than even the buildings themselves. It was like something from a Godzilla movie! It was huge, monstrous. The people were like insects beneath its massive feet. He turned to look over the skyline of the city, and gigantic laser beams blasted from its eyes, tearing into the buildings, sending plumes of smoke and dust into the air. Elisa gasped and nearly fell over.
"Where do these things keep coming from?" the officer snarled with frustration. Before either of them could say anything else, the ground began to rumble. Then it began to shake. And then it seemed as if an earthquake was coming. The officer groaned. "Here it comes again...megadeus."
"What?" Elisa said, but rather than answer he shoved her up to a lamppost.
"Hold on tight." he instructed, wrapping his arms around the steel pole. Elisa followed suite, waiting to see what happened.
The ground imploded. It collapsed down, revealing the massive labyrinth that lurked below. And from this gigantic hole, a head emerged. This was followed by a pair of shoulders, and a torso, and unspeakable legs. It was huge, just as large as the monster that was attacking the city. Elisa gaped at it, unable to believe all that was happening.
"Wha-what is that?" Elisa stammered, pointing.
"No one knows who pilots it" the officer replied "It just shows up whenever there's trouble."
The black giant thromped forward to face he steel monster that was causing the chaos. It slammed one gigantic fist into the monster, the blow resonating like the strike of a gong. Glass shattered from the impact, and Elisa and the officer ducked to avoid getting cut. The officer shook a fist up at the steel giants. "Hey, watch it!" he shouted, as if they could actually hear him. The two titans battled it out, their struggle wreaking havoc on the surrounding city. Elisa watched in a stunned awe.
"Colonel Dastun!" another police officer shouted as he ran up to them. "We've got a whole division set up on the next street over. All we need is the word from command."
"Hold on" Dastun said. He started to follow the officer, but then hesitated. He turned back and looked at Elisa. "You, stay here! Don't move!" He turned and ran down the street and disappeared around the corner.
Elisa stayed frozen to the spot, not sure of what she would do even if she knew where to go. She watched the battle unfolding, her senses overwhelmed. She started to grow nervous though. It seemed like the two giants were getting a little bit too closer to where she was standing. She bit her lip, not sure if she wanted to follow that man's instructions, or run for her life.
Finally she decided she had to run. The fighting monsters were getting too close to her, she could not risk staying. She turned to start moving, but was struck in the head by a piece of falling rubble. She fell to the ground and blacked out.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Goliath growled at Matt Bluestone. The young detective held his hands up in a gesture of peace.
"I'm sorry Goliath, we're doing all we can. But it really seems like Elisa just vanished. The last time I saw her, she was chasing after that weirdo who jumped off the building."
"He WAS weird" Brooklyn said, supporting Bluestone. "He looked like he was made of twigs. And he had this crazy grin."
"Yeah, like a clown or something." Broadway added.
"What was it he took?" Bluestone asked.
"He stole a disk from me personal data" Xanatos answered Bluestone as he strode out onto the battlement. "It contained information about the satellites my company has sent into orbit, and some information on an idea some of my people submitted to me."
"He said something about memories" Lexington said as he glided down to join them.
"And that isn't all, Goliath" Xanatos added. All turned to look at him. "The security apparatus of the castle is linked up to one of the satellites orbiting the planet. If anyone breaks in, it will track them. It picked up something unusual. He motioned for them to follow him to his office. When they were all inside, he sat down behind his desk. He pressed a button on a small panel on the desk, and a small section of the wall slid away to reveal a television monitor. It blinked on, and revealed a satellite shot video of Elisa chasing the strange intruder. They both ducked into an alley and struggled for a moment. There was a bright flash of light, and they were both gone.
"What in the name of..." Bluestone muttered.
"What happened?" Goliath snarled. He slammed his fists against the wall in frustration. The other gargoyles could only watch, their concern for they're friend and leader registering in they're eyes.
"I'm not sure," Xanatos muttered. "But the satellite also picked up a tremendous surge of power in the area where they disappeared. It seems there is more to this situation than meets the eye."
"Elisa..." Goliath whimpered. Brooklyn put a hand on Goliath's shoulder, a gesture of comfort. Goliath took a deep breath and straightened. He turned to face Xanatos, his eyes serious once again. "What can we do?"

Elisa sighed softly. The cool compress pressed against her forehead brought her back to her senses. She slowly opened her eyes. She tried to sit up, but a pale hand pressed against her shoulder, pushing her back down onto the soft cushions.
"Do not try to move" a monotone voice told her, "You were injured during the battle between the megadeus'. You need rest." Elisa rolled her head to the side to examine her caretaker. The girl kneeling alongside the couch was pale as chalk, her skin looking as if it had never seen the light of day. She had dull red hair that reached to her neck. Her eyes were the most emotionless Elisa had ever seen. Her face was set in a frozen expression.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Elisa asked.
"My name is Dorothy" the woman responded. She removed the compress from Elisa's forehead, placed into a small dish of water, and then patted Elisa's injured head with it. "You are in the home of Roger Smith."
"Who?"
"I'm Roger Smith" a man's voice said. Elisa looked across the room, and found a man standing in a doorway. He stepped forward, coming more into the light so Elisa could get a better look at him. "I have a rule about people coming into my house" he said, smiling smartly, "Only lovely young women are allowed to enter without my permission. You certainly fit the bill."
Elisa looked him over. Roger Smith was handsome, in a gentlemanly sort of way. He was tall, taller than her partner Matt and David Xanatos. He was broad shouldered, but yet he had a sort of elegance about him. His dark hair was swept back. His eyes had a deep, thoughtful look. His mouth seemed to be stuck in that small, self-satisfied smirk.
"Who's Mr. Smooth?" Elisa asked Dorothy.
"He is..."
"I'm Paradigm City's top Negotiator" Roger interrupted. "And this" he gestured at the room around them, "is my home."
"Huh? What's a Paradigm?" Elisa asked. Roger cocked an eyebrow at her.
"She was injured during Big O's fight with the foreign megadeus, Roger." Dorothy said as she stood up. "I brought her here to tend to her wounds."
"That's good Dorothy." Roger said with a nod. "She probably need's some nourishment after her ordeal. Would you mind bringing her some food?" Dorothy nodded, and left the room. Roger sat down opposite Elisa and looked at her curiosly. "Just what did you mean by that question, Miss...?"
"Maza...Elisa Maza" Elisa said. She sat up and looked Roger in the eyes. "I'm not sure what I meant...just where is Paradigm City?"
"Well...it's here" Roger said, obviously confused. "THIS is Paradigm City. It's a city without memories. It seems you've lost a few of your own."
"I haven't lost anything!" Elisa said, her frustration clear in her voice. She started to stand up, but grew dizzy and sat back down. Roger was instantly at her side, helping her back down onto the couch.
"You should take it easy, Elisa Maza" he said. "It looks like you took a pretty nasty hit on the head." He took the compress and started to resume Dorothy's work of tending to Elisa's injury. "Now, let's try this again. If you don't know about Paradigm City, then where are you from?"
"New York" Elisa said. Now it was Roger's turn to be confused.
"From where?"
"New York, you know, New York City, the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps?" Roger's face grew only more skeptical as she spat out this list of nicknames for her hometown. "You've never heard of New York?" she finally said, disbelieving.
"Not that I can remember" Roger said. "Is it some sort of foreign city?" He seemed to grow a bit excited when he said this.
"Its in America" Elisa said. Again, Roger looked confused. "Okay..." Elisa sighed. "Maybe we should just start from the beginning..."