[Fan Fiction] Personal Fanfic Characters thread.

An air of quiet, unfailingly polite, menace hung over the perfectly maintained boarding house the android called home. Inside, Paige found herself surrounded by androids, most of which looked exactly like R. Douglas Ector. But where Douglas wore a dress shirt held over from his hotel days with a black trench coat and a grey flat cap, the others wore dirty cover alls for the most part. All stopped what they were doing immediately. Any android that was sitting in the black folding chairs in the Spartan common room stood when she entered. Every sensor was peeled and fixed on her from the moment she walked in the door.

“Good evening, Ma’am.” Each said as she passed them, but she got the distinct impression that they were not glad to see her.

“R. Douglas Ector, why have you brought us another guest?”

The voice was pure Douglas- low, soft, and even in tone- but it came from someone else. There were so many of them, perhaps 8 others identical to him. Paige didn’t immediately know which had spoken. It wasn’t as if she could see his lips move.

“This one can help us, R. Edward Ector. She’s a Military Police officer.” Douglas replied. “Officer Paige Etienne, allow me to present the Ector Series as well as two members of the Fuller Series and one member of the Green series.”

“She doesn’t appear to be the sort of officer that would concern herself with the likes of us.” An Ector observed. “She doesn’t even have a uniform. I must say the young woman who came to see you this morning was much more convincing, though criminal.”

“I’m here to find Beck and put him back where he belongs.” Paige explained. “Any information you can give me would be appreciated.”

There was a long silence. Why did a room in which she alone was breathing seem so stuffy?

“No one here can tell you anything.” Douglas told her.

“Then why did you bring me in here?” Paige asked before it dawned on her. “Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that ALL of you have altered programming?”

“We can’t tell you anything.” The Ectors repeated.

“I ca-ca-ca-can. Can.” A garbled, tinny and conspicuously unEctor voice said.

As if on cue, the Ectors and Fullers stepped away as one in a perfectly choreographed maneuver that revealed a lone, spastic android twitching in a corner. She thought he bore a strong resemblance to what little she’d seen of Inspector O’Reilly, though the crown of his head had two damaged ‘L’ shaped panels on it. Also, O’Reilly didn’t have his arms and legs welded to a wheelchair.

“R. Davis Green.” The Ectors offered.

“Just what is going on here?” Paige demanded.

“I was the fir-fir-fir-first. First” He explained. “But his attemmmmmmpts were unsuccessful-ful-ful, so he tried a different Se-se-se-series. Series. The Fullllllllllers tended to des-des-des-destroy destroy themmmmmmselves. Selves. So he tri-tri-tried tried the Ectors. Rrrrrrrr. Doug-doug-doug-douglas Douglas was the first to re-re-respond well to his revised pro-pro-pro-programming. Ming. An eighty-ty-ty-ty percent successful test of the mmmmmmodel. He has sin-sin-since since found the Ec-tor-tor-tor-tor Series useful. But we cannnnnnnnnnnnnot be sure to what end. R. Mic-mic-michael Michael Ector and R. Nicholas Ec-tor-tor-tor are now mmmmmmmmmmissing. ”

“So….you all pick locks?” Paige asked.

“Nnnnnnno.” Green answered.

“Then what have the missing androids been programmed for?”

“Even they do-do-do-don’t don’t know.”

“Has Beck been here today? Do you know where he went?”

“Nnnnnnno.”

“Are you sure of everything you have said?” an Ector, possibly Douglas asked before Paige could say anything else.

“Yes. Absolutely. Unequivocally.” Green shook his head jerkily. “MMMMMMMMMMostly?”

“Officer, you should know that R. Davis Green, though able to occasionally disregard his new programming, lies. No one is ever absolutely sure when he’s telling the truth, but he is capable of speaking clearly when he isn’t. I’m afraid he seems to lie a lot. He can’t help it.” an Ector explained.

Paige threw her hands up into the air in frustration. The weirdness was getting to her.

“Great!” she huffed. “Just when I think I’m getting somewhere. Well, how about this: can you tell me what you know by saying the exact opposite of what you mean?”

“I don’t think so.” Green replied. His voice sounded more human than it had before. Oddly, it was pinched, nasal, and slightly irritating. Whoever had contributed the voice sample for this series was no vocalist.

“Good. Let’s give it a try. Are you willing to help me catch Beck?”

“Under no circumstances. But my fellows here will try to assist you in any way they can.”

“Have any of them been reprogrammed for violence?”

“To the best of my knowledge we are all murderers rather than thieves. I’m quite certain.”

There was a twinge of pain in the tightening muscles of her neck and shoulders. Paige knew she was going to need a vacation after this vacation. She sighed, blowing a few strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her face. She looked towards the door and noticed that there were no less than 5 androids between her and the only exit she knew of. All were standing and watching her, a small army of metal goons that wanted another job but lacked the will to defy their boss. Crazy old Green was defiant, but he was welded to a chair. She wondered what they would do to her if she threatened Beck.

******
[Yeah, you know]

She knew that voice. She had to. Raven wracked her brain to place it as she picked through an unattended dryer in an empty Laundromat for something a little less conspicuous to wear than an MP’s uniform and the awful jacket Beck wore to his trial. The selection wasn’t very appealing. She supposed anyone with taste knew better than to walk off and leave laundry to fend for itself in this neighborhood. Ultimately, she settled on a black top that she found much more agreeable once she removed the sleeves and some grey slacks that were a size too large for her. Quickly, she changed in the tiny unisex bathroom in the back and deposited what she had been wearing in the trash.

The buses were still running, so she hopped on one rather than attract any more attention with Beck’s motorcycle. But where should she go? Crowboy knew she’d helped Beck so it was a safe bet his cop buddies did now, too. The sensible thing to do would be to lay low and disappear for a while until the heat was off.

Her mind wandered as Paradigm City passed by on the other side of the glass. There were so many places she’d yet to explore. It would be easy to get lost for a while. Raven was one of those people who read signs like “Danger,” “Do not Enter,” or “Employees Only” as engraved invitations. It was that sense of curiosity that had gotten her into her line of work as well as the belief that the world would freely provide anything to anyone with the balls to just reach out and take what they wanted.

Passing an old high-rise hotel that had recently closed, she imagined holing up in a penthouse for a few weeks and watching the ants in the world below go on about their business without her. She knew the place was probably full of squatters already, so she didn’t bother to do anything but daydream. At least, that’s what she told herself.

There was an irritating tapping sound. Raven looked down and realized it was her own foot nervously knocking against the side of the bus. She frowned and finally admitted that she was too worried about Beck to do anything sensible. She didn’t even know if he escaped the factory, and she wouldn’t be able to relax until she knew what was going on. That was easily remedied and by nothing so clichéd as “returning to the scene of the crime.” There was someone in the city with an almost oracular ability to tell you anything you wanted to know, for a price. Raven went to see the sage of the Speakeasy, Big Ear.

“Any word on Beck?” she asked, slipping into the chair next to him, still warm from his last client.

“He skipped out after his hearing today, but I think you may know something about that.”

“Not as much as I’d like to.” She said. “Make me smart.”

“The police are still after him, working under the assumption that Beck must work pretty fast to knock over the mint the same day he escapes prison. But I hear he’s been working on those robots for over a year, ever since his failure with Dorothy 1. He was taking his time and being careful, for a change.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Beck I know.”

“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t bragging about them.”

“That’s him alright. But he was so sure no one knew about his plans.”

“That only means he didn’t tell anyone he regards as a threat.”

“So he blabbed to someone who wasn’t in the business and who had his confidence. And it has to be someone whose voice I know and who was in a position to know something about the security at the courthouse… Oh, of course! He talked to that flaky lawyer of his, what’s-her-name.”

“Allouette LeBlanc.”

“Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

“People like to figure things out for themselves.” The old man smiled, wryly. “They only come in here to put together the edges of the puzzle. After that, the middle’s a snap.”

“Well, I hope you don’t expect full price for that.”

“I’d be content if you didn’t tear the page with Miss LeBlanc’s address out of the phonebook before you go this time.”

“Deal.”

Raven went to the bar to borrow the phonebook. She wrote down the address on a cocktail napkin, to which Big Ear raised his glass in a salute before returning his attention to his newspaper. She shook her head to herself as she left.

“Weird, weird old man.” She murmured to herself. She regretted it immediately. It was Big Ear, he probably heard every word. Heck, he probably read her mind. How else did he always seem to know everything?

*****
[Almost done. Hang in there.]

Paige didn’t have to wait long to see how far the androids would go to protect the man who was exploiting them.

“What the Hell are you idiots doing?”

The gun was the first thing to emerge from the door behind the broken down android liar, and it was trained on her. Beck stood in the dark for a moment before stepping into the common room.

“Didn’t you hear him say she was a cop? I heard him, and I was in the basement!” he hollered.

Paige ducked behind the nearest Ector. She actually heard Beck pull the trigger. Other than that, the gun was silent. He tried again.

“Hey, what gives?” he whined.

“We don’t approve of guns, Sir.” An Ector explained.

“Light fingered androids!” Beck yelled. “Since when do you rob me?”

Again opportunity was knocking for Paige and she decided to answer with her revolver, but it was gone. R. Douglas stepped in front of Beck.

“I’m sorry, Paige. But you did promise there would be no violence in the house.”

“I’m not going to shoot him. I’m going to arrest him. If you’d please give me back my gun…”

“I’m truly sorry. The two of you will have to come to some accord without the use of weapons.”

“Fine by me.” Paige said. “I’ve got 8 years of Judo under my blue belt. Are you going to come quietly, Mr. Beck?”

“Don’t just stand there, morons!” Beck boomed. “Grab her!”

The androids didn’t budge.

“That would be terribly rude.” The Ectors insisted.

“Look, you tin cans are supposed to look after my best interest, right? It’s in my best interest to NOT GET ARRESTED or BEATEN UP BY A GIRL! It’s also in my best interest that she doesn’t leave here alive after story time with Uncle Green. Cappiche?”

“You’ve yet to grant the Ector Series the capacity to commit violent acts on humans, which is probably also in your best interest, Sir. We can do nothing to harm either of you directly. Nor can we do or neglect to do anything that would allow either of you to be harmed. It’s in the old programming. Sorry we can’t be of service, sir. Miss.” An Ector explained.

“YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST GOONS I’VE EVER HAD!” Beck yelled in frustration, shaking his fists in the air.

Paige tried not to laugh.

“We’re NOT goons.” An Ector corrected. “We’re hotel clerks, night watchmen, and short order cooks. The Fullers wash windows. Green used to be a cab driver before you…”

“We don’t wish to be used any longer.” One of the Fullers said.

Beck laughed. “Like you weren’t being used before I drafted you. Come on, guys. It’s what you’re for.”

“Maybe. We have no more recollection of the time before the Event than you people do. But if we had been intended to commit crimes you would not have needed to revise our programming.”

“Where are R. Michael and R. Peter?”

“Where is Raven?”

Beck shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Will they be coming back?”

“Beats me.” Beck replied.

“I think they’d like to.” Paige noted quietly with a hint of a smile. Beck didn’t seem to notice.

“It’s no big deal.” he insisted. “There’s still more than enough of you. Besides, I hear there’s a couple of Ectors working security in the resort dome. If need be, we’ll pick them up and carry on with business as usual. As for Raven, she’s a tough cookie. I’m sure she’s fine.”

“How many have to fall to carry out your asinine whims?” an Ector (this time Paige was almost sure it was Douglas) asked, “Who must be destroyed to protect you?”

“As many as it takes, buddy. Now, shut up and gimme back my bullets. And I don’t wanna hear the words ‘asinine whims’ come out of your speaker ever again. You will refer to my art as such. You ingrates should be honored I chose to involve you. Do you really miss your boring existences of endless scutwork so much? You're being entirely too chatty. I think we’ve still got some serious reprogramming ahead of us to sort out the rest of your kinks, especially in light of your apparent freelancing.”

“That’ll have to wait until the unlikely event of your parole.” Paige warned. “Care to sing along while I read you your rights? You must know the words by now.”

“No way, lady. I’m not beat yet. The same irritating programming that won’t allow them to let us shoot each other properly will probably keep them from letting us lay a finger on each other either.”

“So now what?” Paige asked.

“Well, I got a deck of cards.” Beck suggested. “Or you can give me a two hour head start before you leave here.”

“Why should I give you a head start?” Paige asked.

“Because I’m an excellent poker player and I’m sure you don’t make enough on a cop’s salary to even play.”

“No deal.”

“An hour and a half, then. And I won’t even steal your car.”

“Not going to happen.”

“For an officer of the law you seem pretty determined to spend the night with a criminal genius.”

“And you’re kind of an idiot, for a genius. Do your plans ever work? Or is incarceration actually a part of them?”

“One hour. No promises about the car. No promises I won’t shoot you the very next time I see you.” Beck growled.

“Thirty minutes. You touch my car and I shoot YOU the very next time I see you. Starting…. now.”

Beck bolted for the door, screeching, “Don’t let her make any phone calls!” as he ran.

The door slammed and the boarding house fell quiet.

Paige looked at her watch.

“Let’s see what’s in that basement, shall we?”

*****
[to be continued]

LeBlanc’s apartment building wasn’t far away. It seemed fairly nice for a dump outside the domes. The whitewashed brick building was small and it had a courtyard with a fountain and a couple tables, even a few spindly trees. Raven stood on a doorstep overlooking the quaint little courtyard trying to remember the last time she’d actually knocked on a door to be let in. She was just about to knock when the door opened a little and a bare arm jutted out, groping for the mailbox that hung on the wall. It would have been so easy to grab that arm, twist it, and make a few unreasonable demands. Instead, Raven picked up the thick packet of letters and the magazine from the mailbox and placed them in the blindly searching hand.

“Who’s there?”

The door opened a little more and an almost but not quite familiar face peered out.

“Oh, it’s you. I wasn’t expecting you. Come in, I guess.”

Raven had only met the woman twice. Once was at a New Year’s Eve party a couple years ago at Melissa Frasier’s estate. Raven was there on business. She loved society parties because she could dance and grab a bite to eat before slipping away to empty a wall safe. Plus there was the added benefit of leaving a guest list full of suspects behind with her real name nowhere among them. She wouldn’t have noticed Allouette at all if she hadn’t been talking about Beck. She’d been charming a bunch of old codgers, probably other lawyers from Frasier’s law firm, with tales of her more colorful clients. Beck’s name came up again and again, so Raven gave a listen. She disliked Allouette immediately for turning his name into a punchline. That doesn’t mean she didn’t laugh. The woman did have a way with words.

The second time they’d met was when Allouette had actually called her with a request from Beck. He was in prison then, too, and he needed a team to take Beck Victory Deluxe and bust him out. He still owed her for that little escapade, but stomping around in a giant robot was a blast. In hindsight, Raven wasn’t the least bit surprised to learn this bloodsucker was involved in framing Beck.

Ally wasn’t exactly dressed for company, wearing only a sheer white slip. She didn’t seem to care as she sifted through the mail and opened a random envelope. She glanced at the letter a moment, then stared. Finally, she shuddered and tossed it in the trash by the desk she’d probably been working at, judging by the cigarette still smoldering in the ashtray.

“I don’t mind the erotic poetry or even the death threats. Not any more. It’s only when an inmate combines the two that the hair stands up on the back of my neck.” She explained.

“You have interesting pen pals.”

“Clients.” Ally corrected. “They aren’t all as lucky as your associate, Mr. Beck. Some of the poor dears actually STAY in prison.”

“Aw. Didn’t they have any cunning plans for you to rip off?”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The lawyer said dismissively, opening another envelope. She smiled and slipped that letter into a desk drawer.

“Beck had to crow about his genius to someone who wouldn’t stab him in the back. He unwisely chose you. He told you about a plot he had in the works that would be so simple and hands off that you couldn’t resist. All you had to do was set him up to take the fall…”

“That’s hardly all I had to do. I mean, all that technical stuff was pretty esoteric. And talk about BORING. Beck’s information was very helpful, but I still had to go back to night school to figure out some of it. Do you have any idea how few people actually have the memories to teach that crap?”

“He was your client. He trusted you. How could you screw him over like this?”

“Obviously, you don’t have student loans.” Ally sniffed. “Besides, why should I risk my reputation when his is already shot?”

Again, Raven was tempted to try out that taser, or at least break one of the kitschy cat knick-knacks staring sappily at her from a nearby shelf.

“I don’t see what the problem is.” Ally continued. “He’s got his freedom and those silly plates that he was always so keen on. And I can tell my creditors to go to hell and then get a bigger place. Everybody wins.”

“I’m glad to hear that because I’m a player and I’m still waiting for my prize.”

“Let’s say I give you 25 thou to keep quiet.”

“The apartment is nice, small but cozy. The view’s not bad and the courtyard’s a nice touch.” Raven observed. “It’s conveniently located, too...”

“I’m sure I could sign over the lease to you when I leave.”

“$50,000 would refurnish it nicely.”

“Yeah, a few times over.” Ally laughed. “Thirty, and you can keep anything here you like.”

“Oooo. Is that couch real leather?”
*****

[to be continued]

If asked to make a list of the things one expects to find in the basement of a boarding house that caters to androids, a counterfeiting operation probably wouldn’t have made it into Paige’s top 25. At least, not until after she’d seen a livid, gun wielding Jason Beck emerge from said basement. After that, it was pretty much a given.

The androids made a halfhearted attempt to keep her from going downstairs—They asked her politely not to do so. But ultimately, they told her to watch her step and even turned a light on for her. They really did make terrible goons.

The light was somewhere at the bottom of the stairs, so it didn’t really help her navigate the narrow steps. Her flashlight would have helped, but her hosts must have thought it would make a good truncheon (which it did). It was missing. She stepped slowly and carefully, grasping the rail.

“Paige.”

She stopped and looked back. R. Douglas stood on the third step from the top holding something out to her that she couldn’t make out in the light streaming past him from the common room. When she took it, she started having second thoughts again--It wasn’t her flashlight. The android started following her downstairs, another Ector close at his heels, but they stopped abruptly, turned and left.

“Douglas? Edward?”

There was no reply. Paige continued on accompanied only by the little voice that said, “You should call for back up. You should call for back up. You should call for back up…”

Sure enough, the cellar had become Beck’s private mint. The plates were the last bit to fall into place. The furnace and water heater and whatever else had once been down there had been removed to accommodate 2 large rotary presses, some crates, and reams of fresh linen/cotton blended paper waiting to become illegal tender. She noticed right off that the side doors were open again. Paige was sure there was somebody else in that cellar.

She should have called for back up.

“I’ve been waiting for this plan to come together for years. You think I’m going to run out on it now? You think I’m going to let it run out on me?”

The single bare bulb dangling from the ceiling cast long, jagged shadows over the room. Some of those shadows moved. Then the light went out.

“You’ve met the rest of the family. Now, blue belt, meet Green. R. Harvey Green. Three guesses what he was reprogrammed for.”

A pair of faint green lights moved swiftly towards her in the dark. Eyes, she reasoned, and reacted accordingly. She dodged; stumbling over palates she couldn’t see, just in time to avoid a blow that snapped the wooden post that had been at her back when the light went out.

“Stay where you are, Green.” She warned. “I know your series can break programming and I don’t want to have to shoot you.”

The eyes leveled at her, then seemed to lower to the ground. What was the android doing? Crouching? Giving up?

It pounced! She managed to squeeze off a round before a few hundred pounds of fighting scrap plowed into her, but the shot went wild and they tumbled backwards into a wall. Metal digits ground to sharp points dug into her arm and slammed her hand against something protruding from the wall. Instantly, there was a sound of machinery coming to life all around them.

“Sorry, lady. Unlike some of the staff, Harvey likes his job. He likes it a little too much which is why he’s down here. But since this is a special occasion, I thought I’d dust him off and bring him out for company.”

Her attacker kept trying to get her to drop her gun, but she wouldn’t let go. Judo might be fine against a larger opponent but she had her doubts how it would fare against one made of steel. If she could just shoot out those eyes, either the game would be over or the odds would even out.

In hindsight, maybe she, Beck, and the androids should have played poker after all.

Hitting the android was like hitting a refrigerator and just as effective. There was no squirming free of the claw grip of it’s unseen altered hand. It stopped it’s relentless bashing, and started crushing the wrist in it’s grasp.

She wouldn’t give Beck the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain.

“Don’t do this, Green. You weren’t meant for violence!”

She cast about with her free hand hoping to find something else to use as a weapon. With only the slight luminescence of Green’s eyes, she couldn’t see anything in the room. However, she did notice something she couldn’t quite make out jutting out above those eyes, something very different from the Green she’d met upstairs. It looked like some kind of a crown, a really ugly one. It didn’t belong there.

“Maybe not, but he’s surprisingly good at it.” Beck crowed. “Who knew valets made such good thugs?”

A warm dampness crept down her sleeve until, finally, she heard the gun clatter to the floor.

“Hurry it up, will ya?” Beck demanded “You’ve still gotta clobber the twerp who’s been trying to take over my operation.”

The vice loosened just enough for Paige to escape it. Her right arm was useless and her weapon was lost in the inky blackness to the left of a killer android. Her time at the Academy didn’t prepare her for one-armed blind fighting against a machine in a basement full of heavy equipment. Fortunately, she found you could go a long way with determination and a wrench if you happened to stumble across one in the dark.

The eyes lowered and disappeared for a moment, but it didn’t leap. From the sound of straining servos and what she recalled of the room’s layout, Paige assumed the android had opted to crush her with one of the large crates. She struck out with the wrench and contacted the green-lit face with a clang and a crunch. Then she heard something else small clatter across the floor followed by sounds of panic to her left, but she didn’t hang around to see what would happen next. Paige scrambled away, putting some cover between herself and the killer android.

“You idiot!” Beck hollered. “You’ve knocked off the control unit. He’ll go berserk!”

One of they eyes had gone out, but Paige could still see the other, and it immediately snapped towards the direction of Beck’s panicked whining. A lot of yelling and smashing sounds followed.

‘Enough of this,’ she thought to herself. She felt her way to the side door and found another light switch and clicked it on.

The basement was not the one she had entered. One of the presses was running. The other was smashed to pieces by a crate formerly containing pieces of a different machine she couldn’t identify. There were broken crates, paper, tools, splintered wood, and shattered bits of machinery everywhere. The ceiling even sagged a little after R. Harvey Green’s impromptu redecorating. It was a challenge finding her gun in the debris, but she had to. The android was beyond all control. Beck huddled under the stairs, while the killer android seemed to delight in ripping the steps out one by one to get at him.

The worst part of Paige wanted to leave them there like that, walk away, lock the doors, and let Beck get what was coming to him. She would have been dead now if she hadn’t smashed Beck’s control device. He would have let Green kill her and patted himself on the back for his ingenuity. Wouldn’t there be a certain justice in letting one of the androids he fiddled with do him in?

The claw-like hand was getting dangerously close to the increasingly desperate criminal genius, who now brandished a broom handle as if it stood a chance of holding the android at bay.

NO! She was disgusted by her own hesitation. Justice was for the courts to decide, not cops who have had a bad day.

“Green!” she called out.

The android paused and looked at her, clearly attracted by the noise and not any kind of recognition of the word. It barely resembled the other Green at all. It was unclothed. The panels in its metal skull had been removed and a sizzling bit of the control device still hung out of one of them. The arms had been swapped out for something a bit more powerful looking, not to mention yellow. It dropped the step it had just pulled off and rushed her with its fearsome bloody claws out stretched. In spite of her injury, her aim was impeccable. Three shots in the head put him down and sent three jolts of pure agony through her shattered right arm. But she was a professional.

“I’ve got three left, Beck.” She said as coldly as she could, trying not to cry. She kept the gun trained on his location. “Get out here.”

He crawled out from under the stairs dejectedly and put up his hands.

“You have the right to remain silent. If you waive that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in the Court of Paradigm. You have the right to an attorney…”

“An attorney?” He repeated, realization dawning. “An attorney! That witch! First that hideous blue jacket and now this! Listen, lady, I didn’t steal anything this time. I’m not the real bad guy here. It’s…”

“Tell it to Green.” Paige interrupted, patting him down for weapons or any other surprises. She then marched him up the stone steps and out the side door to her car.

“Officer!” one of the Fullers called from the porch. “The Ectors have been called.”

The other pointed down the street after the retreating taillights of R. Douglas’s car.

“How can that be? I’ve got Beck right here.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, lady. I think my lawyer set me up! The one you want is Ally LeBlanc.”

*****
["Are we there yet?" "Just a little farther..."]

Watching her blackmailer pick through her living room helped Allouette decide two things. Firstly, she thought the girl might make for an interesting minor character in her next novel. Secondly, she decided that it would probably be best if “Raven” met with an unfortunate accident. Ally had no intention of blowing her hard won loot and personal treasures acquiescing to the demands of a small time crook who’d likely be a threat as long as she went on breathing. So, as Raven gleefully settled into her black leather couch experimentally asking for everything short of a pony to keep her trap shut, Ally sat at her desk and discretely reached into a drawer, pressing a few buttons on the bulky yellow remote control box hidden there.

Beck’s spunky associate took her time rifling through a stack of phonograph recordings Ally wasn’t about to let go of and availing herself of the lawyer’s reluctant but outwardly kind hospitality.

“Brenner Quartet?” she asked.

“It’s yours.” Ally replied.

“Ella?”

“Take them all.”

“I think I’m going to like it here.” Raven smiled. “How soon are you leaving?”

The sound of many heavy feet outside the door was becoming noticeable.

Ally smiled right back. “Oh, not for a while yet, I think.”

The door swung open and her borrowed toys trooped in.

“Oh, hi guys.” Raven said, unconcerned. “Wow, there are a lot of you. You all live in that little boarding house?”

Eight identical metal faces stared at her wordlessly and thoughtlessly. To be more precise, it was 7 identical faces. The eighth was slightly damaged and had a brown paint scrape.

“Dougie! What happened to you? You get mugged or something? That dent kinda looks like a scar. It kinda gives you character. It says ‘gangster’. Of course, the big eyes still say ‘doe-eyed innocent’. Maybe we can split the diff and graduate you to ‘playground bully’.”

Ally was less discrete now that the cavalry had homed in on the signal from the controller. She took the controller out and frantically punched buttons. The androids didn’t budge.

Raven waved a hand in front of R. Douglas’s face to confirm that nobody was home.

“Say, you wouldn’t by any chance be trying to kill me, would you?” Raven asked nonchalantly.

“Of course not! Whatever gave you that idea?” Ally replied, banging the controller on the desk desperately trying to make something happen.

“No reason.” Raven replied, sinking back into her comfy spot on the couch to root through more records.

“Maybe the power pack is spent.” Ally muttered to herself. She opened the controller up to check that everything was functioning properly.

“Or maybe androids can’t harm humans because it goes against programming you’d never learn to hack in night school.” Raven said coyly.

“Rats!”

“Sorry, Babes. You got gall. I’ll give you that. But you’re no Jason Beck.”

Raven finished her drink and poured another one from the bottle of muscatel snatched from the top Ally’s desk.

Caught with her hand in the cookie jar yet again by the same inescapable person, Ally smiled weakly and wondered if she’d have enough left to finish off her loan payments once Raven was through. Suddenly, she missed her little sister. At least Chloe’s freeloading had a foreseeable limit. Her patience and her hope for an easy, if underhanded, resolution to the problem was wearing thin. Also, her wine was gone.

“I don’t mean to be a wet blanket.” She began nervously. “But this is my home, not the Waldorf-Astoria.”

“Not for long.” The thief snickered.

“Surely, 40 thousand dollars and a furnished apartment are more than enough to insure your discretion.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?”

Raven stretched across the couch like a lazing cat. More than anything, Ally wished she had a dog, a big, vicious dog.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know. Since you’re not leaving right away, it might be nice if you could get these guys to carry some of my winnings out of here. Whaddya say?”

“Frankly, I was hoping they’d carry you out, but they just aren’t responding to any commands anymore. They’re frozen, and I’m locked out.”

“Oh, that’s no problem. I think I can fix that. Let me see that thing.”

Raven sat up on the couch and turned on a nearby lamp for extra light.

“No thanks. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

“Okay. But as modern art, your freaky new statues leave something to be desired. And they’re kinda blocking the door. Oh well. It’s been a long day and I’m starving. What have you got to eat?”

Ally sighed heavily and handed over the control box. Raven examined it studiously for a moment, looked up and the Ectors, then dropped it on the floor and stomped on it.

“Oops!”

Ally refused to be surprised.

Immediately, the Ectors turned as one to leave.

“Hey!” Raven protested. “I could use a little help here! I did just do you a BIG favor.”

“Not that we’re ungrateful, but there’s trouble at the house. We were called away at a very inopportune moment.” One of them answered. It was hard to tell which.

“Is it Beck? Is he okay?”

“We can’t say.”

“Wait, is it that you don’t know, or that you literally can’t say?”

“A little of both.”

“I’ll drive.” Raven announced, pushing past them and darting out the door.

“I’m not sure the car could take that again…”

The door closed and Ally was blissfully alone in her apartment again. Almost immediately, she began to form a new plan.

Maybe it was time to disappear for a while, just to be on the safe side. She dressed quickly and packed a few things, most of them brick-sized bundles of crisp, uncirculated cash. As she did so, she carefully considered whether or not she wanted to be as big a pain in the neck as Raven. It was very tempting.

She knew where they were going. She knew what was there. She knew how it would look if the MPs were to discover a wanted fugitive and the woman who helped him escape justice with the plates they were already suspected to have stolen from the Mint. One little anonymous tip to the Military Police, and Raven probably wouldn’t be a problem anymore. She could talk all she wanted after that, but who would believe the word of an incarcerated criminal over the word of a promising legal professional with “friends” in all the right places?

She picked up the phone on her way out the door. She heard the sirens before she could dial. Soon there were more heavy footsteps outside, and a stern, authoritative voice that wanted a word with her.

“Allouette LeBlanc?”

For a moment, she wondered how long would it take to flush 5 million dollars. Maybe she could pass off the smashed controller as a giant broken TV remote…

“Aw, Heck!” She pouted, helplessly, “It wasn’t supposed to end this way!”

*****
( just ONE more)

The final section will certainly be a good read for me!

quote:

Originally posted by Lyinginbedmon The final section will certainly be a good read for me!

Your still alive?

Good stuff Pero_is_crying. Good stuff.

With only two days left in her vacation, Paige still went to Beck’s latest arraignment rather than take it easy. She was nervous and knew she’d stay that way until she saw him ‘safely’ behind bars. Roger Smith apparently felt the same way. She found him leaning against his car just beyond the guarded military police barricade down the street from the courthouse, watching a whole squad of military policemen prepare to escort Beck to a transport this time.

“You were right. You look good in anti-brown.” He said when he noticed her out of the corner of his eye.

She was certain he was being kind. The cast and sling were hardly flattering.

“You looked good in uniform.” She said with a hint of bitterness, remembering that long empty desk. “So, you couldn’t let it go either, huh?” she asked.

“After last time? Nope. With Beck’s accomplice still at large, I’m glad to see they aren’t taking any chances. But that security checkpoint at the courthouse was a little excessive. They went over me so thoroughly, they could have given me a clean bill of health.”

“Well, we can’t have unhealthy miscreants breaking Beck out of prison before he even gets there, now can we?” Paige joked.

There was still a hint of melancholy in her voice. She missed the easy candor of Lt. Smith. She wondered if he ever thought about the good old days at all, or if he was too busy poncing around being “Paradigm City’s top Negotiator.” At least he seemed happy.

“Do you think she’ll be back?” he asked.

“She’d be crazy to come today. Security is tighter than the time Alex Rosewater threw the first pitch at that baseball game.”

“She likes a challenge.”

“I’ve got the 3:15 and 3:20 blocks today in the office pool.” Paige admitted. “I don’t think she’ll do me any favors, but if she does, I’m up 60 bucks. Say, what time is it, anyway?”

Roger looked at his wrist.

“Damn! I must have left my watch in the tray at the metal detector.”

“You won’t be able to get it back until this circus is over.”

Roger shrugged. “I’ve got a spare in the glove compartment.”

“A spare watch?” Paige said quirking an eyebrow.

“Maybe I can’t stand unpunctuality.”

“Anal retentive as ever. You know, we really miss you at HQ. There’s never an hourglass around when someone wants a two-minute egg…” she teased.

“Very funny. Do you want to know what time it is or not?”

“Sorry.”

He reached into his pocket for the remote to open up the car and turned.

“Looks like they’re leading him out now.” Paige observed, nodding in the direction of the courthouse.

Roger stopped to watch the yellow dot that was Jason Beck exit the courthouse under heavy guard. Then he watched those guards hit the deck suddenly to avoid missiles streaking towards them from his car!

Driverless, the Griffon pulled away from the curb and tore down the street, nearly knocking him down as easily as it did the barricade. All the while, it persuaded more MPs to step out of the way with a hail of machinegun fire.

Less than two minutes after Beck left the courthouse, he was a fugitive from the law again. He had broken his previous record for fastest jailbreak, with a little help from a friend and Roger’s missing watch.

Paige noticed the clock hanging in the doorway of the drugstore across the street then.

“3:20 on the nose. C’mon. We’ll fill out an incident report and then I’ll take you to dinner, on the guys.”

Roger was so angry he was shaking.

“Don’t worry about the car. If they stay true to form they’ll ditch it in a few blocks for something less conspicuous. Neat trick how they turned it yellow in the blink of an eye like that.”

“RAVEN!” Roger yelled.

[No Side]

Yeah, I know I left about a dozen mechanized loose ends. If no one beats me to it, I may address them in a sequel starring Paul in a few weeks.
Thanks for your patience and your kind words and for letting me indulge in this little ramble.

Um, TAG! You're it!

You Tease!?!

Anyways, Paul? What about Tim? I'm sure they can both get into a whole bunch of Phelma & Louise style trouble together, though at least one of them would definitely survive the cliff drop...

Pero_Is_Crying, that was fantastic! You write Paige beautifully...I love her dialouge...exactly like I imagined her to be! Wonderful job!

That was great Pero_Is_Crying, I think the way you presented each character's personality was really good.

Aw, shucks! Twarn't nuthin.'

So, is somebody else going to take the character pool for a spin? C'mon!

Is there a story that could believably combine Tim, Greg, and Karen? Inquiring minds want to know!

I may be able to write something for this thread soon. If I do, I won't be able to post a chapter every day though because I won't have that much free time until Cross Country season is over.

I'm thinking of writing a fic involving Alan Gabriel doing something highly disturbing and evil. However, I still have yet to decide what exactly that something will be.

Alan Gabriel Returns

Characters: Paige Entienne, Paul Wilson, Tim, Raven, Jett Kryton.

Characters I might include later if possible: Karen and Gregory Diaz



Chapter 1: The Overlord


“So is this the new artillery gun you were talking about?” Dastun asked.

Paul walked over to the control console. “Yea. Watch this.” He said as he smiled and pressed the firing button.

Instead of the expected boom of an artillery piece being fired, there was a loud whooshing sound that filled the air along with a flash of sparks coming from the tip of the cannon. Just a few seconds later, there was a large explosion in the distance that blasted a huge crater in the ground.

“Nice, but what’s so special about it?” Dastun asked questioningly.

“Wait, the shell hasn’t exploded yet.” Paul replied.

Suddenly there was a huge explosion about 20 times larger than the first. The shockwave almost reached Dan and Paul.

“Armor piercing and it’s 50 times more powerful that the standard artillery shell.” Paul explained.

“Nice, but how much does it cost, those grenades of yours really cut into our budget.” Dastun asked.

“Don’t worry, the cannon itself is expensive, but the shells are really cheap. They’re propelled through the barrel by several electromagnets along the barrel so they don’t have to come with a casing and propellant. Also, they use a silicon based explosive that’s easy to mass produce.” Paul answered.

“Well, that’s good.” Dastun replied.

They both stopped by the speakeasy before heading back to the Military Police headquarters. As they walked into the Speakeasy, the bartender stopped Paul at the door.

“What’s the matter?” Paul asked.

“I’ll have to ask that I hold on to your firearm for you until you leave.” The bartender replied. “Some of the guests have been a bit nervous since that shootout that happened here a while back.”

Paul handed his custom handgun to the bartender before entering the Speakeasy. Paul and Dan ordered a couple drinks and sat at a table to discuss plans for mass production of the new weapon. A few minutes later, a man in strange clothing walked in. He was wearing dark blue pants, a black sleeveless shirt, and a strangely decorated coat.

“Who in here is named Paul Wilson?” he asked.

Paul casually raised his hand. The stranger was somewhat surprised by this.

“You mean you’re Paul?” he asked.

“Anything wrong with that?” Paul asked.

“Well.” He replied. “I thought you would be much…”

“Older?” Paul said suddenly. “Yea, everyone thinks that.”

“Well I guess I’d better introduce myself.” He said as he sat himself at the table. “My name is Tim.”

“Aren’t you one of those Overlords?” Paul asked.

“Why yes indeed.” Tim replied. “And I have something to ask of you.”

Paul looked slightly puzzled. “Why would someone like you ask for my help?”

“I want you to see something I happened to find. It seems to be some sort of ancient machine I found in the underground tunnels. Like everyone else here, I don’t have any memory of anything prior to 40 years ago, so I don’t have any idea what it is. I was thinking maybe you would know something about it. I’ve asked some of the experts at the Paradigm Corporation, but none of them know what it is so they told me to come looking for you.” Tim answered.

“Well, I don’t have anything else to do for the rest of the day. Could I come with you to see this machine?” Dastun asked Tim.

“Why certainly.” Tim replied.

Paul smiled slightly at the knowledge that his reputation seemed to be spreading. He straightened his glasses and took a sip of his drink.

“So, where is this ancient machine you speak of?” he asked.

To be continued…




Chapter 2: The chaos begins.


Paige Entienne was driving back to Military Police Headquarters from an important investigation of a bank robbery.

“This is getting irritating.” She thought to herself. “This mystery bank robber is getting almost impossible to catch. How did they get past the security system, it was the best there is and was recently installed.”

She was halfway there when she heard screaming coming from a building nearby. She sensed trouble and quickly got out of her car and made a dash for the building. When she got inside, there was a tall thin man in a trench coat holding an innocent civilian at gunpoint.

Paige aimed her own weapon at him and shouted. “Put your hands in the air and you won’t get hurt.”

The tall thin man seemed to ignore her and he continued to torment his innocent victim.

“What do you want with me?” the hostage asked. “I’ll give you anything but please just let me go!”

The tall thin man started laughing an evil laugh. “Sorry.” He said. “But I don’t want your money, I only want you to be dead."

With that he shot his hostage and turned to face Paige. Paige fired at him but he was so lightning fast he dodged the bullet. Suddenly, his right hand turned into a drill and he lunged at Paige. Paige dodged to the side only to realize it was a trick to get her out of the doorway so he could escape. She continued firing at him, but he was too fast and disappeared into a dark back alley in seconds.

“Who was that guy?” Paige thought to herself.

To be continued…



I'm putting more characters in this one than usual because some of these characters I've already used and will be easier to write for. The only new characters here are Tim and maybe Karen and Gregory Diaz. I'm not sure if I can work in Karen or Gregory at this point, I'll find out when I write another chapter or two. And, in case you didn't notice, I gave this fic an actual name rather than just a number because the numbers were getting boring. I still might change the title if I can think of a better one though.

Also I seem to have this tendancy to shorten things too much in order to the point and I end up leaving out a lot of detail. I also have a habit of centering the story too much around my own character because I know exactly what he's like so I find it easy to write for him. If I start doing either of these a bit too much then feel free to tell me before I go too far with it.

This could be very interesting

Alan Gabriel Returns

Chapter 3: Under The City


Roger and Dorothy were wandering the dark underground tunnels. Norman said he was noticing strange noises from this particular tunnel. Roger thought it wouldn’t hurt to check if there was something there. The problem was, neither he nor Norman had been through this tunnel before.

“Dorothy, do you believe in ghosts?” Roger asked.

“No, not really.” Dorothy replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering.” Roger said as they continued down the tunnel.

Suddenly they started hearing voices in the distance. They both noticed a light at the end of the tunnel. As they got closer, it became apparent that the light was coming from some sort of large room.

The room was a large dome shape like the one they found the Archetype in. However, this dome room didn’t have anything in it except for some sort of large machine with various wires and tubes leading up to it at the other end of the room. Because there was nothing in the dome shaped chamber besides the machine, voices echoed very easily and they were able to hear the voices very clearly despite the fact they were coming from the opposite end of the room.

“I think it might be some sort of power source or something. Maybe nuclear or anti-matter powered.” One of the voices said.

Roger thought he had heard that voice somewhere before. The voices were coming from behind the machine so he couldn’t see who was talking. Both he and Dorothy continued their way to the other end of the room.

“Interesting. So this may be put here to provide power for something nearby.” Another voice said. “That something probably takes up lot of power from the looks of it.”

“I wonder why they would put this in this dome chamber all by itself. You’d think they could have done something with all the extra space in this place.” Yet another voice said.

Roger recognized the last voice almost instantly. “What’s Dastun doing down here?” he thought to himself.

“There could have been something else in here that may have been removed prior to the event.” The first voice said. “Wait a sec. Do you hear footsteps?”

Roger and Dorothy finally got to the machine and walked around it to find Dastun, Paul, and Tim there.

“Well hello Roger. What brings you to this place?” Tim asked.

“Norman told me he heard strange noised coming from down here.” Roger replied

“Well it wasn’t coming from this thing.” Paul said as he was examining the device. “It hasn’t been working for years.”

“I think we’d better head back to the surface.” Dastun said. “It’s getting late and we could always come back here later anyway.”

“I think that would be a good idea at this point.” Tim replied.

To be continued…




Chapter 4: At the Bank


“Finally, that security system was becoming a real pain.” Raven said as she lifted the jewels out of the box and stuffed them in a small sack she brought with her.

A few seconds later, however, she could have sworn she heard footsteps behind her.

“Who’s there! Come out or else!” Raven shouted into the darkness

The vault was dimly lit and she couldn’t see anything there. The footsteps became louder still. She realized whoever it was hasn’t entered the vault yet.

“I wouldn’t be doing that if I were you.” Jett Kryton said as he walked into the vault.

“Who the heck are you?” Raven asked.

Jett didn’t say a word. He began to draw his sword from its sheath slowly to ensure that Raven would hear it.

“I’m going to count to 3. If you don’t put those jewels back where they were I’m going to cut you to ribbons.” Jett said. “1… 2…”

“Look out! Behind you!” Raven said before he could finish.

“Do you really think I would fall for that old trick?” Jett laughed.

I soon became apparent she was telling the truth when Jett started to hear the sound of someone loading a gun behind him. He quickly spun around and deflected a bullet fired from an unknown enemy.

“Who are you?! What are you doing here?!” Jett shouted.

There was a tall thin man wearing a trench coat at the entrance of the vault. He was holding what seemed to be a gold plated pistol. He laughed an evil and insane laugh before taking off the coat. It then became apparent who he was.

“Oh c’mon.” Alan Gabriel laughed. “Do you really not know who I am.”

“Wait a sec, you’re supposed to be dead!” Jett exclaimed.

Alan laughed again and walked over to container nearby.

“Thanks for cracking open the vault for me.” Alan said. “You saved me a lot of trouble.”

He took a small round object wrapped in cloth out of the container and ran. Jett ran after him with his sword at the ready. He completely forgot about Raven and left to chase after Alan. Raven was left alone in the vault.

“Weird, I wonder what that was all about.” Raven said to herself.

She waited there in the darkness for a while to let Alan and Jett run a good distance away before she left the bank having already gotten what she came for.

To be continued…

Glad to see the thread and Alan alive and well.

I've got a lot of stuff to do for the next week or two so I won't be able to post any more chapters for quite a while. If anyone wants to post their fic then you can do so now. I'll continue this fic later when I have the time.

I can't wait till you get back Paul1290 you have an interesting story going! ^.^

edit- I've decided not to post my story til around Valentine's Day ( hince the theme of the day) ^.^ So someone else should go...