Roger Smith permitted himself a few words that weren't normally part of his vocabulary when they found an empty building. "You're sure you have the right address?" he asked Dorothy for the third time.

"We saw the truck," she pointed out. Her voice was as inflectionless as always, but her narrowed eyes boded trouble if the question was repeated a fourth time. "The video screens are still warm." Roger touched one and nodded.

She fiddled with the controls and the bank of monitors flickered into life. "They must have seen you leaving," Roger said, pointing to the monitor that showed the truck. "It gave them plenty of warning that we'd be back."

"Very good, Roger Smith," the door slammed shut and a voice sounded from behind them, making them both turn. "I don't underestimate the resourcefulness of Paradigm City's top Negotiator." There was no one there; the sound was coming from a speaker on the wall.

Roger frowned. "I know that voice," he hissed to Dorothy. "Horace Bartlett," he addressed his adversary. "Is this another one of your get-rich-quick schemes?"

"I'm flattered you remember me," came the reply. "I told you to keep your nose out of places it didn't belong. I'm so glad you didn't pay attention!"

"What have you done with Molly?" Roger demanded.

"She's just fine, which is more than I can say for you," Bartlett laughed. "In exactly sixty seconds, a bomb is going to go off that's big enough to destroy this building. It's been nice knowing you, Mr. Negotiator!"

Roger immediately went for the door and found it locked. He rammed into it with his shoulder, but it didn't budge. "Dead-bolted," he said to Dorothy, looking around for another possible exit. "What are you doing?"

"You can see the device on this screen," she said, calling his attention to one of the monitors.

The timer ticked down another second. "The door is made of metal," she observed. "I can try to break it down if you like, but even if I'm successful, we won't have enough time to get out."

Roger had come to the same conclusion and was speaking into his watch. "Big O!" When nothing happened, he checked for signal and cursed.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Bartlett inquired gleefully as Roger frantically searched for a way out. "The room is fully shielded, intended to be used as a shelter in case of an accident in the factory. When we saw your... friend had paid us a visit, it was just too perfect!"

Roger didn't answer; he was pulling at the ceiling tiles hoping for a vent. "Dorothy... what the?" She had grabbed his arm and was pulling him into a corner.

The reason for this became clear a heartbeat later as one of the walls exploded. The timer read eleven seconds as Molly's watcher came through the smoke. "Hurry! Call your megadeus!" he said. Dorothy was already pulling Roger out of the room.

"Big O!" he shouted as the two androids ran with him towards the nearest window. Dorothy jumped through it, shattering the glass and Roger followed without hesitation, the other android right behind them.

All three were caught by an enormous hand. They were just reaching the safety of Big O's cockpit when the timer went off. The explosion was so large that the Megadeus shook with the shock waves.

"What the hell is that?" In the smoking crater formerly occupied by the building was another archetype Megadeus. Roger was glad to have something to fight. "Big O, it's show time!" he shouted.

"I've got to get Molly," her watcher told them. Dorothy nodded at Roger and he opened the cockpit just enough to permit them to exit, closing it as soon as they disappeared from sight.

"How many of these did they make?" Roger wondered out loud as he positioned himself for battle. He swung at his opponent and gave a little grunt of surprise as it deftly moved out of the way. The archetype was equipped with jets similar to Big Duo's, but they were smaller and didn't seem to permit it to actually fly.
Roger struck again and again it dodged, using the jets to leap well out of range. He settled himself more securely in his chair, preparing for a long fight.