The Big O and all of its setting and characters are © Cartoon Network, Sunrise, and Bandai Visual.

Additional material © Scott Adams

THE BIG O:

ACT 27

ROGER THE VIGILANTE

Chapter Nine: The Unwilling Guest

"Wakey-wakey," Roger's mocking voice called through Beck's delirium.

"Errm," Beck grunted as he struggled through the gray fog that enveloped his consciousness. He had a dream where women that looked like Angel were poking him with sharp sticks. "Urrrumahem," he cleared his throat noisily, then tried to sit up. He couldn't. It was as if he was being held down. He opened his eyes to squint at a light being flashed in his face. "What's going on? Is it time for school already, Mommy?"

"Wake up, Beck!" Roger's voice snapped, now with no trace of the levity it had previously. "Wake up you useless pile of rat droppings!"

A warm liquid splashed on Beck's face and he could taste coffee. "Ow!" he protested. "Ow! Ow! Hey!" the blonde crook squirmed in his bindings. "That's hot!"

"I can't say much for the flavor, but you have to admit, it does wake you up in the morning," Roger quipped, some humor returning to his voice as he set down the now empty coffee mug.

"Roger Smith!" Beck was fully awake now. He was strapped to a table that as if he was Frankenstein's monster, or an android in need of repair. "What's going on? Let me go!"

He was silenced when Roger backhanded him across the face. "That was an attention getter," Roger told him. "You know, Beck. I'm surprised at you. Weren't you the one who said that I should be more involved in kidnappings instead of merely negotiating from the sidelines?"

"If I answer, are you going to hit me again?" Beck managed to sound cowed and defiant at the same time.

"Probably," Roger shrugged. "You've got an ass that I'd dearly like to kick right now."

"What do you want?" Beck whined as he struggled against his restraints. "I don't have Dorothy's memory drive, dammit! The one you want is Alex Rosewater not me! I…"

"Then what is this, pray tell?" Roger dangled a square that contained a plastic disk in front of the blond felon's face. "I found it in your car."

"Oh that!" Beck smiled guiltily. "One of my men found that. The one you want is in Alex Rosewater's megadeus."

"And how would you know that?" Roger smirked.

"I… installed it in there…" the criminal admitted sheepishly.

"I know you did," Roger nodded.

"Argh!" Beck choked a cry when Roger punched him in the stomach. He couldn't block the blow, just writhe in pain and gag helplessly.

"And I'm rather upset about that," Roger continued calmly. "As a matter of fact, that's why you're here."

"Revenge?" a terrified Beck found his voice. "You brought me here for revenge?"

"No," Roger clarified. "This is for revenge." He seized the crook by his blond hair and slammed the back of Beck's head against the table.

"Ow! Stop!" Beck whined.

"I brought you here for the same reason Rosewater had you sprung from prison." Roger continued. "I need access to your memories and technical expertise."

"Stop hitting me!" Beck shouted.

"Beck, are you listening to me?" Roger picked up a hammer and took a few practice swings in the constrained criminal's direction.

"I'm listening! I'm listening!" Beck cried. "You've got my undivided attention! I swear!"

"Good," Roger's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Now that Doctor Wayneright is dead, you are the foremost expert on androids, aren't you?"

"Sure," Beck groaned. "I've got a P H frickin' D!"

"You're going to restore Dorothy's memory drive to its rightful place," Roger stated as he set the hammer down where Beck could see it.

"I don't got it!" Beck whined.

"That's okay," Roger assured him. "I do."

"What?" Beck blinked in disbelief. "That's impossible! It's inside the white megadeus! I installed it myself! There's no way you can get it out of there!"

"I've already gotten it out of there," Roger's told him, "and I've got the bruises to prove it."

"What about Rosewater?" Beck asked him.

"What about him?" Roger replied. There was silence while Beck looked into Roger's cold dark eyes.

It was Beck who looked away first. "Oh…kay you've got Dorothy's hard drive. So what do you need me for anyway?" Beck squirmed in his restraints. "Just put it back in yourself. What's the problem?"

Roger's outburst caught the criminal by surprise. "The problem is that when you removed Dorothy's memory drive you also removed her I/O peripherals you idiot!" Roger shouted. "Now we need you to reinstall them! And you're going to, or else!"

Beck had to bite his bottom lip to avoid blurting out "Or else what?" Given his agitated state, Roger was liable to do anything. Instead the blond crook closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Okay," he open his eyes when he had regained his composure, "and what shall I do with my other hand?"

"Dorothy's blueprints," Roger answered. "Where are they?"

"What?"

"While Miguel Soldano was dying, Dorothy told me that he had her constructed from a set of blueprints," Roger explained. "Later, while kidnapping Dorothy a second time at the Nightingale, you said that you no longer needed Timothy Wayneright's memories."

"I said that?" Beck seemed to be genuinely surprised.

"Yep," Roger nodded coldly. "Right before one of your men shot him."

Sweat began to trickle down Beck's forehead. "H-hey that wasn't my fault," Beck's voice quavered in fear. "I never gave the order to fire. Dorothy scared him when she showed off how strong she was!"

"Did Dorothy show how strong she was when you had Miguel Soldono killed?" Roger asked in a dangerous voice. "Did Dorothy threaten you when you had Francis Wise shot in order to frame me for his kidnapping and murder?"

"Er," Beck muttered as his eyes bulged out in fear.

"Did Dorothy threaten you when you tore out her memory drive and put it in Big Fau?" Roger demanded. "When you installed her entire body inside Dorothy One? When you overrode her motive units and tried to have her kill me? Huh? Answer me, Beck!"

"I'm going to stop talking now," the fearful felon said in a quiet voice.

"Not until you tell me where Dorothy's blueprints are," Roger shook his head. To Beck's relief, he was using his 'command' voice instead of his 'homicidal rage' voice. "You said while you were kidnapping Dorothy that you 'no longer needed that crusty codger's memories'. That means that you did need them before, but suddenly you didn't. Now why is that?"

"Um," Beck wasn't sure if he was expected to answer.

"Because before you went to the Nightingale to kidnap Dorothy, you made a stop at Wayneright's house to steal her blueprints. That's how you knew that Dorothy's main memory was compatible with a megadeus. That's why you didn't need Timothy Wayneright's technical knowledge anymore. The memory fragments stuck in your head may have made you a genius in robotics, but you still needed the blueprints to find out how someone as advanced as R Dorothy Wayneright ticks! Don't play dumb, Beck! Where are the blueprints? And if you say you destroyed them I'll cut off a toe!"

"What?" Beck managed to raise a skeptical eyebrow despite his fear. "Cut off a toe? What kind of a threat is that?"

"I don't want to damage those safecracker's hands of yours, Beck," Roger explained. "I've been thinking of what I can do to you that won't affect your ability to restore Dorothy. Come to think of it, if you were missing some teeth it shouldn't affect your hand-eye coordination either."

"I don't believe this!" Beck shouted. "You stinking ingrate! And after I helped save your bacon, too!"

"What are you talking about?" Roger raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I'm the one who told Dorothy that if she plugged herself into your megadeus you could access a weapon that could destroy Big Fau," Beck explained. "The reason she knew how to defeat the white megadeus is because of me. I told her!"

Roger raised an eyebrow. He hadn't assumed that part of his experience was real. "Was it Dorothy's memory drive that gave Alex's megadeus its force field?"

"Probably," Beck tried to shrug in his confined state. "I dunno. It came to me when I was hit by lightning."

"When you were what?" Roger couldn't hide his surprise this time.

"You think that you're the only one that strange things happen to?" Beck asked him. "This town is nuts, Crow-boy. So is everybody in it."

Roger couldn't answer. He was looking at a sky replaced by a glowing grid, at visions of a robot factory that made Roger Smiths, at a battlefield. He saw dozens of Big O style megadeuses, their dull black armor gleaming in the light of the burning city and the glare from their own lasers, charging into battle while Big Duos flew through the air, the lights of their fire burning in the sky. The glowing and transparent megadeus called Big Venus was marching towards him, causing buildings and landmarks to vanish in its wake…

Beck looked away. "I rest my case," he muttered.

Roger shook his head to force himself back to reality. He found himself slumped to his knees and trembling. Great. Just what he needed. A display of weakness in front of Jason Beck.

He rose shakily to his knees and cleared his throat. So much for putting the fear of God into the criminal. He could only attempt to regain lost ground. "Ahem. As I was saying, I want to be able to check your work, so where are Dorothy's blueprints? You must have them stashed someplace."

"Are you all right, Crow-boy?" Beck wasn't making jokes. He was eyeing Roger critically and worse yet, thinking. Bad things happen when guys like Beck think. "You look really out of it."

"That's none of your concern!" Roger growled, then clenched his teeth and caught himself. So far he had channeled his anger into a performance designed to cow Beck into doing his bidding. Now he was using it to hide his weakness, and Beck knew it. "Just cough up those plans, Beck, I mean it!"

"You really ought to see a doctor," Beck continued with dangerous calm. "The idea of being captured by someone who's not all there scares the stuffing out of me."

"In case you haven't noticed, the last week has been hell on me," Roger grumbled. "I'll be fine. You worry about Dorothy, got it?"

"Where is she anyhow?" Beck looked around. "Is she still defying the laws of science by walking around without any memory?"

Roger's voice was still angry, but at least he had regained control. "No. She's been pretty still lately. She hasn't moved a servo in the last few days."

"Few days?" Now it was Beck's turn to lose control. "How long was I out?"

"We kept you out for about two days," Roger smirked. "We didn't want the workmen to ask any questions or for you to get away in the confusion. Now that Big O and the mansion are repaired, Norman and I can devote our attention just to you."

"You son of a…"

"Blueprints, Beck," Roger reminded him. "Where are they?"

"Let me get this straight," Beck pretended to be bored. "You hate my guts, you're emotionally unstable, I'm totally helpless, and you want me to hand over my one bargaining chip? I expected more from Paradigm City's top negotiator."

Roger was afraid of this. Beck had figured out that if a man could repair and maintenance a megadeus, a set of Dorothy's blueprints could very well give that man the technical knowhow that would make Jason Beck redundant. Trust wasn't a commodity a snake like Beck had a lot of. For all he knew, Roger would dispose of him once he was finished. It was a difficult tightrope to walk. On one hand, Roger had to scare the crooked genius silly so he wouldn't double-cross him. On the other hand, he couldn't afford to scare the felon so much that Beck felt that he had no choice but to betray Roger for his own survival.

"So you want to bargain?" Roger tried to make the statement sound mocking, but he was opening negotiations. He hated to give Beck an inch or make the golden criminal think that he was negotiating from a position of weakness though. Once Beck had the advantage he wouldn't give it back.

"Sure, why not?" Beck shrugged awkwardly. "What have I got to lose?"

"Okay," Roger shrugged as well. "What do you want?"

"My freedom comes to mind," Beck said with a silly smile.

"Done," Roger nodded. "I was going to give that to you anyway."

"Are you kidding me?" the fettered felon asked in disbelief. "You're going to let me go, just like that?"

"Until we find out what kind of government we're going to get now that the 'new order' has been cancelled, I don't trust handing you over to the authorities where Paradigm can get a hold of you," Roger shrugged. "If I killed you, I'd be killing the goose that laid golden eggs and I wouldn't be able to look Dorothy in the face if she knew I killed a helpless man in cold blood."

"You could always lie about it," Beck didn't seem convinced.

"She'd see through it," Roger sighed. "She always does. If I let you go I'd be able to come and get you anytime I needed you," Roger smirked at Beck's indignant frown. "Of course, if I thought you were going to betray me, who knows what I'd do? You going to play ball, Beck?"

The criminal paused in thought. "I don't suppose there's any money in it for me?"

"Pay you to undo a crime that you committed?" Roger asked skeptically. "I don't think so."

"Believe it or not, that was not my idea," Beck countered, "and the crime was state sanctioned. I regret taking part in that whole 'new order' thing. I'm glad you beat Rosewater, Crow-boy. He was crazy. You are definitely the lesser of two evils."

"Back at'cha," Roger grunted, "but saying 'I was just following orders' doesn't excuse the crime you've committed."

"Hey, what do you want out of me, anyway?" Beck whined like a child. "I said I was sorry. They had a death warrant on one side and a full pardon and a paycheck on the other. What would you do?"

Roger answered him with an icy glare.

"Okay, I'll restore Dorothy to normal in exchange for my freedom," Beck sighed, "but the blueprints, they will cost extra. If you want them, you'll have to buy them. We'll haggle on the price later."

Roger grunted and nodded.

"In the meantime," Beck spoke calmly and then shouted. "Untie me! I've gotta go to the bathroom!"

On a desk filled with hourglasses a phone rings. Norman's hand picks up the receiver and a sinister voice says:

Next: Getting in Dorothy's Head