who's up for a Big O RPG!!!!!!!

:: the strangeman and schwrarzwald still running down the tunnel where meggito exited...untill they come to a fork::

Strangeman:....hmm...i guess we need to split up....hopefully there isnt another...
Schwarzwald:ok..ill go left...::runs into the darkness of teh right tunnel::

Strangeman: hmm....i hope i can get to this nightengale....what did guardian 5....do to her remembering before his deactivation " nightngale....must....hear")

Strangeman:...hmmm.....::runs into the left tunnel::

:: The doorbell rang. Dorothy looked away from Angel and left the room without a word and walked right past Roger without even noticing him. ::

Meanwhile dorothy is getting the door....schwarzwald is sclaing the riseing tunnel...

Schwarzwald: this is going strangely high.....i would think i would have reached the surface by now....
::5 mins of walking...he reaches a door....it was strangely elegent...he opened it with ease...inside there was aroom....a very weathly looking room....there was noone in it....but the candels...looked like they were changed only a few hours ago....then he saw the picture.....it was of alen gabrial.....although he wasnt an android....he was human...::


Meanwhile

Strangeman: (limping fast)..hu...hu....im getting closer....nightengale....where....where are you.....where is meggito....what did he do to her...did he tell her something? Connect himself to her?.....who is nightengale?......what...what was guardian 5's mission.......ah......meggito...

::just barly in the darkness...is meggitos shadowy outline...::

Meanwhile, Sister Bridget, decided she had to leave the Smith residence since she was not accomplishing her mission to retreive the relic.

From what she could gather, the particular relic she sought may have been already stolen by whomever piloted the other Megadeus.

In that case, she should just left Mr. Smith take care of the situation.
However, from overhearing the conversation in Mr. Smith's office between the maid and the reporter, she realised she was in WAY over her head with this group. Besides, it sounded like a love triangle from a soap opera and she had absolutely nothing to add to the incident.

She stopped abruptly when she saw the front hall had Major Dastun, the military police officer who had questioned Mr. Burg earlier about the mansion being destroyed.

Yes, vow of silence ... and maybe have some fun ...

Sister Bridget walked directly into the hall. Dastun stood, as was polite, and nodded. "Sister, good to see you again."

She nodded and went up to him, crossing herself, then slammed her palm against his forehead, right over the visible vein.

Dastun hit the floor and was slightly disoriented as the nun stepped over his body.

"What the - ?" he asked no one in particular. He pressed his hand to his head and discovered it was perfectly smooth, no bulging vein.

He should have left his sense of reality at the door - after all, this was Roger's Smith's house ...

Outside, Sister Bridget made her way toward one of the manhole covers.

Everyone feared the underground ... and reason had never been given ...

And underground was where she would find the relic.

She kicked the manhole cover off with her heavy shoes and slipped down into the sewer system ...

Post 601....

Back with schwrazwald...

Allen gabrial: What? are you doing here....schwarzwald is it?

Schwarzwald:you...your the new task boy for rosewater.
allen: (smirks) there is still you have yet to understand..
Schwarzwald: wha---?uhhg(falls to ground because allen has knocked him out).

Allen: now its time to take you to rosewater...

:: Dorothy continued to walk through the halls. Her side was sore, as was her head, and her eyes were watery...very watery...not crying, but watery. She stopped in the hallway and hung her head. She had been knocked unconcious earlier and saud that she needed to rest. Maybe she should go take a nap? Better not, now that she thought about it. Roger was in the house somewhere unless he had been shot at the door...likely, yes, but it didn't happen. She couldn't let Angel continue to go through important documents, but she had won. Whatever Angel wanted Roger for, she would be used instead. She walked into the main room and flopped down on the couch...the cool soft couch... ::

:: Then, someone opened the door and walked in. Dorothy sat up. ::

((( Hey villians.( or whoever could use it) Enjoy this cue. )))

"Hello, Dorothy," said Roger as he walked into the room. "How are you?" he asked. Dorothy didn't respond. Roger walked over to the couch and sat down next to her, "Are you okay?" Dorothy remained quiet. "Well fine, if you want to remain taciturn then fine, but just listen, alright?" he asked Dorothy. "Don't let what Angel said get to you, lots of people are like that. When they get angry they try to hit you where they think you're weakest. You should just get some rest. Don’t worry about it." Roger suddenly felt himself being pressed onto the couch by a great weight; Dorothy had fallen asleep on him. He didn't know whether his talk was boring enough to make her sleep or it made her feel good enough to go to sleep. Roger resituated himself so that Dorothy's head was on his lap.

A knock sounded on the door. "Come in," said Roger. Norman walked in, "Master Roger, Colonel Dan Dastun has come to speak with you." "Very well, Norman, send him in."

Norman walked up to Dastun in the hallway. "Come on, Colonel Dastun, Master Roger will see you now," Norman told Dastun. Dastun followed Norman, still rubbing at his head, still amazed that the vein was gone.

Meanwhile

Meggido furrowed his forehead. It was tempting to speed this process up, but that would be too dangerous. If only the rest of them could be cooperative as the nun. Upon thinking of that he looked forward, seeing the nun, petrified. Sister Bridget stared straight ahead blankly, a prisoner of her own mind...

Angel was left alone again. Her purse removed by Isaac, but her pride and dignity scarred by Dorothy. She wiped her eyes, finding that the comment she threw furiously at Dorothy without thinking, hurt her more then it obviously hurt Dorothy.

But how could it hurt Dorothy? She was just an android. She wouldn't have feelings to be hurt. And yet ... she did.

She knew she was wrong. Whether she wanted to admit it herself or not, she knew that Roger, believe it or not, had a soft spot for Dorothy. Though Angel knew her run ins with Roger had been short of sexual attraction, she didn't bother pursuing anything considering her rudeness.

She got up, and wandered down to the main living room, where Roger braced himself slightly, as Dorothy had closed her haunting eyes and rested against him.

"You have the right to love anyone you want Roger Smith. But I have the right to protect the one I love,"

She sighed, and pulled her coat from the coat tree and slipped it on, heading towards the entrance way.

Isaac had the contents of Angel's purse spread out across the table. There were a pack of Cigarettes, some make-up, a small mirror, a comb, a hair brush, some mints, a small notebook that had addresses and names in it along with phone numbers, and a pistol. Isaac surveyed the various odds and ends from the purse; he had been expecting something more, though the gun did shed some light on her personality. Opening the address book Isaac flipped through the pages. Important people mostly, government officials, high-ranking officers of the Military Police, and the occasional person like Roger Smith. "Paradigm..." he murmured under his breath. Isaac's central processors were being strained to the limit as the android pondered, suddenly it hit him. Looking back at the address book he found several listings that would have not made any sense. Atkinson, Franklin, Jones, and Jefferson. The professors who made the Big Omega. Isaac stood up. Time was of the essence. Pocketing Angel's pistol he went off to find Roger Smith...

Roger and Dastun sat across from one another. "I usually expect visitors to be satisfied with my explanation the first time," Roger stated. "Well, too bad for you that the Military police aren't! The giant black Megadeus crashes out of your mansion and your butler's explanation holds no water!" Dastun retorted. "Well, you know as well as I do that the black Megadeus seems to be able to pop up just about anywhere from under the ground," Roger explained. "Is it my fault that this time around it chooses to do so just under my house?" "Well, I have an eye witness who says that he saw you, that android, and some weird guy with white hair running away from where the black Megadeus was," Dastun accused. "Then that person needs glasses, I can assure you that I have nothing to do with the black Megadeus," Roger stated. Dastun wrung his hat in his hands; he could already feel the vein in his head starting to stick back up. Dastun was about to make another response when Isaac flung open the doors to the room. "Roger Smith, it is suggested that we leave in search of Meggido now," Isaac said, ignoring Dastun. "Meggido? What the hell is going on here, Roger?" Dastun asked. "Something that you should stay out of," Isaac advised before Roger could respond. Dorothy opened her eyes and sat back up, "I'm going too," she said. Together, the human and two android walked out of the room. "Wait! You can't leave! Come back here!" yelled Dastun, following them.

Meanwhile

Meggido smiled. "Soon, very soon...come to the bait..."

:: He had said it. "Lets go after Meggido", he had said. Roger and Isaac walked in front, but she fell back a few steps. Was he the one that caused her to go unconcious suddenly? Maybe. What was this new emotion...fear? ::

:: She was grateful for Rogers conforting words. 'Dont let Angel get to you.' He still called her Angel even after she went through his things? Well, then again, she did need some kind of identity. Isaac opened the door and leapt down the stairs. Roger walked down them. Dorothy hung back a bit. This was going to be interesting. Wait...where was the Angel woman? ::

"Roger...perhaps I should persue Angel instead...what do you think?"

The strangeman was hanging back although temted to ambush him....somehow he felt he should wait till the right time...although he didn not know when that would be....

meanwhile with schwrazwald...schwarzwald is following gabrial...
::touch theme starts::
gabreil: its time to see what you have been seaking.

::allen opens another door at the end of a long hallway......its empty...just darkness::

Schwarzwald:...wha....?

Allen: this is what you are trying to find....a flase concept....why do you insist on interfearing with our plans...

Schwarzwald: are you joined up with meggito?

Allen: ::with a small laugh and asmirk:: in a way...

Schwarzwald: dirty work...like you did with me eh?

Allen:::smiles a bit more::...you want to see rosewater?

Roger ponered on it...send Dorothy to go after Angel...hmmm. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea," he said. "I think she might actually want that..." Dorothy raised an eyebrow, "Why would she want that, Roger?" "Picture this on the morning newspaper...'Crazed android tries to kill woman: Woman fights back.' It would be all too easy for Angel to shoot you and then make it appear as though you were trying to kill her," Roger explained. "She may call herself Angel but she certainly isn't one in my book." Dorothy nodded, apparently accepting Roger's answer. "While that may be true," Isaac stated, "we would also have a higher probability of success if you are with us." Roger frowned, he once viewed Dorothy as something like Isaac. Cold and mechanical, not carring for anything in the world. Focusing on statistics and probablilities, formulas and figures. Truth be told, Dorothy was very human.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Dastun shouted just as the trio was about to walk out the front door. "What, you want to come too?" Roger asked. "Of course," Dastun answered, "This obviously has something to do with that white Megadeus. And I'll be dammed if I don't do anything about!" Roger sighed, "You're same as always, Dastun. Just don't get in the way."

Meanwhile...

Meggido smiled. "Heh heh heh...poor fools...they will never see it coming...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And with that he vanished into the darkness, like a phantom.

:: Angel would want to kill her, eh? Dorothy didn't get it, but she followed Roger and opened the passenger door of the Griffon. ::

:: She seized the front seat. After all that Roger had done for her today, she was staying in his company as much as possible. ::

Roger settled into the driver's seat of the Griffon. He inserted the key and turned it, gunning the ignition. Roger pressed down the accelerator and the Griffon slid smoothly forward. He took in a deep breath, realizing that going after Meggido meant that he would need to go underground again. That frightened him. Roger didn't understand why the tunnels of Paradigm scared him so much; he doubted that he ever would. But he had to overcome the irrational emotion that was fear.

"So, just what exactly is going on here?" Dastun asked, breaking the silence. "Roger," said Isaac, addressing the negotiator rather than the colonel, "I take it by the fact that you have allowed this man to come with us that you believe that he is trustworthy." "Yes," said Roger. "Very well then, I shall explain this situation in its entirety..."

Forty years ago there was a great cataclysm, and everyone in Paradigm city lost all of their memories. This cataclysm was caused by the battle of the Mega Gods, the Megadeus. The most powerful of these was known as Big Omega, that white Megadeus that you are seeing now. It was constructed by four scientists, Professors Jefferson, Jones, Atkinson, and Franklin. It is unclear what happened after the cataclysm, but the Big Omega had all three of its energy prisms removed and was seriously deconstructed. Now, a man calling himself Meggido, the apocalypse, is attempting to reactivate the Big Omega. As far as I am currently aware of, Meggido is in possession of two energy prisms and two of the scientists, Atkinson and Franklin. I was created by professor Jefferson in order to prevent the resurrection of the Big Omega and to carry on his legacy. He will not be able to bring the Big Omega to full combat capacity as long as my active status is maintained. This was all that I knew, until now though. I have come upon reason to believe that Paradigm has their hand in this as well.

Isaac fell silent afterwards; he seemed like a scholar finishing a lecture. Dastun stared at him. "Wow, you certainly seem to know a lot about this," he said in wonder. "It is necessary for my knowledge of this, if I am to be able to complete purpose of my creation," Isaac stated as bluntly as possible. "Ah, here we are," said Roger as he brought the Griffon to a halt. Everyone stepped out of the car, Dastun looked around to see what their destination was. "Over there," Roger told his friend, pointing towards an old subway station entry. Dastun immediately began sweating; he hadn't known that they were going to have to go underground... "You are afraid," Isaac stated, "If you cannot conquer that emotion then you then you will be useless, having suffered an extreme drop in efficiency." Dastun glared at Isaac angrily, "I am a captain of the Military Police! I'll have you know that I am not afraid of the underground!" "Are you two going to come already or not?" Roger asked, already halfway down the steps with Dorothy. Dastun and Isaac walked towards the entrance. Together, all four of them stepped into the darkness

Maggido smiled, they were coming. He was ready. The trap was set, the prey was approaching, and the hunter was hungry. Meggido chuckled softly...

Dastun hadn't prepared himself for this, this was beyond being a worst case scenario, this was damn near cataclysmic. This man, Isaac, he'd given him a whole lot of information to have to process at once, and it didn't help that he was gallavanting about in the seedy "underbelly" of Paradigm neither.

His mind was playing some wicked tricks on him. With every corner they turned the colonel could swear that there were voices egging him on, begging him to come closer, luring him into a forbidden place...the place between where the boogiemen of his boyhood and the criminal masterminds dwelled. A place he wasn't sure of whether or not he was ready to perservere in.

And to make matters worse, the path they'd taken was quiet. A what-the-hell happens-next kind of silence.

"Hold yourself together Dan, you're a high ranking officer of the Militairy Police. It's up to you to protect the status quo." he had assured himself in a voice that was barely audible over his companies footsteps.

Tipping his trademark hat down he continued to walk, never taking his hand away from the standard issue firearm at his side.

Wha-? where did meggito go?....hmmm.....well....this will be harder then i thought....but i need to try...i need that prism....before is reawakens....agian.......i must stop him....

Meanwhile with scawrzwald
(still in the dark room)

Schwarzwald:....we meet agian rosewater..
Rosewater: do you know...what exactly meggito is awakening michel?
Schwarzwald:....
Rosewater(sarcasticly): oh sorry...schwarzwald....
Schwarzwald:...a ...a god of somekind...
Rosewater:...well atleast you warm....
Schwarzwald: what manmade?
Rosewater: close but still off.....have you heard of....nightengale?
Schwarzwald:...i dont beleive in such tall tailes
Rosewater:....::smirk:: its a shame...(then suddenly he disapears)
Schwarzwald:...a hologram?....SHOW YOURSELF!!
Rosewater:...im sure you have felt this before....in your dorment days....
(complete silence)

The group walked through the abandoned tunnels. Their footsteps echoed throughout the tunnels eerily. Dastun was sweating badly, but he made sure to swallow his fear. The path was lighted by Dorothy’s headband and by a flashlight from everyone else. Roger was breathing somewhat shallowly, the tunnels scared him, he was doing his best to control the emotion, but it wasn’t easy.

“So, which way are we gonna go?” asked Dastun as they reached an area where the tunnels diverged. Isaac surveyed both of the tunnels, “The left one.” They traveled on. “Roger, are you getting frightened again?” Dorothy asked him quietly, so that no one could hear her. “I’m fine, Dorothy,” he lied, “How about you?” “I am an android, I do not feel fear,” she answered. Roger sighed a little.

Meggido grinned, closer, ever closer they drew…the trap was set…

Isaac stopped suddenly. “What’s wrong?” Roger asked. “It is nothing, I must have just heard some crumbling debris,” he stated. This didn’t make Roger feel good; if Isaac was starting to act paranoid then something was definitely going on that he hadn’t let on yet. Dastun was walking numbly; the terror of the tunnels was welling up inside of him. He was really starting to wish that he had taken this day off anyway…

Dorothy stared forward; she walked onward through the darkness. She had wanted to tell Roger…that she was screaming inside, that she wanted to grab hold of him and have him place his arm around her, comfort her. But she couldn’t…and she wished she could.

Roger looked at Dorothy, noticing her pace was slowing. He started to worry about her, she had fainted not too long ago and she had also said that she was tired afterwards, maybe he should have made her stay home and get some rest, not to worry about this. Roger sighed, why was it that you couldn’t have 20-20 foresight… Roger slowed down his pace so that he was even with Dorothy. “Are you okay?” he asked as he sidled up to her. “Do not worry, Roger, I am in perfect condition,” she told him, “All of my systems are functioning properly.” Roger frowned, he hadn’t asked her about her systems, he’d asked how she was. Dorothy would have sighed if she could have, “There went another opportunity…”

Meggido smiled softly. “Now, time to lure them into the web with one last piece of bait…” Footsteps echoed through the darkness.

“Stop,” Isaac suddenly said. Roger and Dorothy complied, Dastun jumped a little at the sound. “Shhh,” Isaac reprimanded. Roger wondered what Isaac had told them to be quiet for. Wait, in the darkness, he could see a beam of light and hear footsteps. Isaac brought his flashlight to bear on the figure, Roger recognized a familiar person, Sister Bridget. “It’s only that nun…” mumbled Dastun, feeling extremely embarrassed that his cold sweat had doubled during that time. “So, Sister Bridget, is this where you convent is?” Roger asked. “Very funny, Mr. Smith, I’ll have you know that my convent is much nicer than this place,” the nun said. “Wait! You can talk?” Dastun blurted out. “I thought that you had a vow of silence!” “Please don’t worry, sir,” Sister Bridget told Dastun. “So, what is your reason for being here?” Dorothy asked Bridget. “I came here several hours ago looking for that Meggido person, I guess that I got kind of lost,” she admitted sheepishly. “Well come with us then,” Roger offered the nun. She gladly accepted.

Meggido smiled, so close now…he could almost hear the sounds now…

About ten minutes in utter silence, other than footsteps constantly echoing. “This is enough to drive a man mad,” Roger thought. Isaac stopped suddenly. “NO!”

Suddenly a bright surge of electricity blasted around Isaac, the android fell to the floor. “What the hell?” shouted Dastun, now whipping his pistol about wildly. Roger scanned the area as fast as he could, he couldn’t see a thing. “Aie!” screamed Bridget behind him, she had fainted. “Argh!” Dastun dropped his guns to the floor, clutching at his head. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious as well.

Roger was sweating bullets. He knew that Meggido was doing this but he couldn’t see him, he couldn’t do anything about it. A footstep echoed through the tunnels. Roger and Dorothy turned to the direction that the sound had come from. Meggido walked into the light. “Hello, negotiator, I see that you found the entertainment that I readied for you…” Meggido laughed harshly. “You are Meggido, you tried to kidnap me earlier today,” Dorothy stated. Meggido mocked a bow, “I’m honored that you remember me…Now, Roger, I have a little request for you…” Roger glared at him. “Now, now, don’t be angry, it wouldn’t do for her final memories of you to be like this…”

“Final…memories, is he talking about me?” Dorothy wondered. “Now Mr. Negotiator, that friend of yours has a gun, why don’t you take it?” Meggido suggested. By a will of their own Roger’s legs lifted themselves and carried him to Dastun, his knees dropped to a squat by their own will, and his hand reached out and took the gun. Roger gapped in horror, unable to control his own body. Meggido laughed. “Roger?” Dorothy was worried about him so she walked towards him. “No! Dorothy, stay away!” Roger shouted, but he felt himself rise and he began to walk towards Dorothy. “Roger, don’t worry, I’m here. I’ll help you,” Dorothy said, still on the path towards him. “Dorothy! You have to stop! Listen to me!” Roger protested. He tried to resist with all of his will, but he couldn’t control himself. Meggido only laughed harder. Dorothy grabbed Roger and hugged him, not like the time Beck had put the control circlet on her and drove her insane, this was a real hug, a hug with love and feelings behind it. “Dorothy,” Roger murmured, tears began to stream from his eyes. “Roger,” she stared back into his eyes…”I’m sorry,” he choked out.

The gunshot echoed throughout the tunnels. Dorothy was still holding onto Roger, he felt his finger pull the trigger seven more times. Dorothy fell away from him like a rag doll. “Dorothy…” Roger cried, as tears streamed down his face. Meggido laughed. “Now, Negotiator, what are you going to do now? How will the great Roger Smith act now that he has destroyed the one that he loves?” Meggido chuckled through all the words. Roger growled, he didn’t care about his rules anymore, he didn’t try to suppress the anger and sorrow welling up inside himself. Roger turned the gun towards Meggido. “Now, now, Mr. Negotiator, don’t you know that violence solves nothing?” Meggido asked. Roger pulled at the trigger, suddenly everything went black…

Roger woke up in his bed, he saw Dorothy lying next to him. “Was that all just some terrible nightmare?” he wondered. “Dorothy, hey Dorothy,” said shaking her, trying to wake her up. Suddenly, she vanished into thin air, and then he heard Meggido’s laughter, echoing through his room. Roger pulled himself into a fetal position on his bed. He started crying. “Wake up!” Dorothy! “Wake up!” Dorothy! “Wake up!”

Roger’s eye snapped open. He was still inside the tunnels. He looked, hopping that he might have fainted and had a terrible hallucination, to see if Dorothy was standing over him. It wasn’t, Isaac was the one who had woken him up. “You are delirious,” he stated. Roger looked around the room, where was Dorothy? Then he saw her, her body lying limply on the floor, Roger began to cry again. “This was very misfortunate,” said Isaac, “Meggido has managed to copy my memory banks while I was shut down.” For the entire amount that Roger paid attention he might as well have been talking to a stump. “Stop your senseless blubbering,” Isaac said coldly. Roger stared back at him, “I killed her…” “Your crying will not bring her back,” Isaac said coolly.

Roger hated him. Roger hated Isaac for everything that the infernal android was, for everything that Dorothy had been… “Your sadness is inefficient,” Isaac stated. Roger didn’t even pay attention. “As long as this unit, Dorothy, remains inoperable you will do nothing but cry, correct?” Isaac asked Roger. Roger wasn’t aware if he responded or not, but he must have because Isaac then began examining Dorothy’s shattered remains. “I believe that I can rebuild her, but she is far too damaged to be returned to the way she was before,” Isaac diagnosed. “So what does that mean?” Roger sniffed. “There is only one way to bring Dorothy back into operation,” Isaac said. “But what do you mean?” Roger asked, anger building inside of him. “I will overhaul her body, and rebuild her as a cyborg,” Isaac said.

Roger looked at Isaac, “A…cy-borg?” Isaac merely picked up Dorothy’s body, refusing to respond. Dastun and Bridget began to regain consciousness. “Ow…did anyone get that number on the truck that just hit me?” Dastun mumbled incoherently. Sister Bridget just sat up, looked over herself, and then began to praise thanks. “Roger, what are we doing now?” Dastun asked. “Leaving,” Roger said as coolly as he could. And so they walked away, back to the surface. “Don’t worry, Dorothy,” Roger thought in his head, “I’ll make sure that we can bring you back…”

_________________
Man that was long, 3 pages on 12 point font. I put some real work into this people, enjoy.

(stil in rosewaters slienced dark room..schwarzwald...slowly slipping away into insainity...with a smirk on his face...not the usual triumfentsmirk...but the one he had when he found the archtype.... not knowing but scared....remembering something that could not be pictured...)

Meanwhile...in the underground with strangeman...he is clutching his head in pain.....he had strangely fallen asleep and woken up in a whole nother place in the tunnels.....he was back in the room with the guardian 5.....but guardian 5 was reactivated....not moving....but speeking the same phrase over and over agian... "nightengale must acccept the task... she must reawaken from sleep"


---sidenote---BIG O IS ON

:: She didn't want to leave. She knew it wasn't Rogers fault. She was worried...pure, genuine worry. Something was going to happen. ::

"Dorothy..."

:: Defend! Push him away! She couldn't... ::

:: A pain in her stomache. Roger had shot her. Everything was red. Roger was looking over her. Another shot. Meggido was laughing. Everything went red...flicker...die. ::

~~ End transmission ~~


((( I'll be observing any and all posts until my cue comes in. I wont even post snide remarks or warm compliments. )))

They had returned to Roger’s mansion. Dastun had left, promising that he wouldn’t tell anyone about the events that had transpired underground. Sister Bridget had said a prayer for Dorothy and had then left to her abbey. That left Roger alone with Isaac, Norman being too busy with Big O’s repairs to do anything else.

“So, what is a cyborg?” Roger asked Isaac. The android stared at him, “Cyborg is short for cybernetic organism.” Roger sighed; he didn’t have any idea of what Isaac was talking about. “More accurately then, what are you going to do to Dorothy?” “I will integrate her mechanical systems with biological ones, supporting each other,” Isaac answered, “To put it more simply I will replace some of her mechanical components with biological ones.” Roger regarded Isaac quizzically.

It sounded very outlandish, replacing Dorothy’s damaged parts with human tissue and organs. It didn’t sound like something of that caliber would be possible. But as Roger had learned over the years of being a negotiator: never rule out anything. “Okay, how can I help?” Roger asked Isaac. Isaac pondered over the question for several seconds. “Yes Roger, there is something you can do…”

Roger stepped out of the Griffon. He was in a run-down part of Paradigm city, it was about as far away from the domes as you could get. Roger surveyed the area, trash was all over the streets and the pavement had adopted a perpetually oily look. He found it hard to believe that professor Jefferson, the man who had created Isaac, had lived here. Checking the address written down on an extremely large sheet of paper that also included a description of everything that he needed to find. When he had asked Isaac what he could do to help Roger hadn’t expected it to be something like this. “Oh well…” he sighed as he walked up to the door to Jefferson’s former home.

Roger opened the door, looking inside of the house. There was very little inside. A moth-eaten chair, newspapers scattered about the floor, and cans of food. The most technological thing in the house was a coffee maker that looked like it was assembled out of stuff one might find in a trash dump. Roger walked in, surveying the house. Maybe he had come to the wrong place, but a squeaky floorboard caught his attention. “What was it that Isaac had said? Oh yeah!” Roger brought his heel down on the squeaky floorboard three times in rapid succession. On cue the floor before Roger opened up, a stairway leading downwards was revealed, he began to walk down the stairs.

Roger looked around the lab. It didn’t surprise him that this was hidden so well. If Paradigm had even had the slightest clue that this lab had existed then they would have seized it in an instant. The only other places that he had seen equipment nearly as advanced as this was at Big O’s maintenance room and Waynewright’s lab, but neither of those had equipment as advanced as this. Roger pulled out the large sheet of paper; he scanned it quickly to see what he would need to take from the lab. “Why didn’t he just ask me to get Big O to uproot this place and just bring it to the mansion?”

First things first, Isaac said that he would need a CD contained in the computer, a large gray rectangle. Roger walked over to the computer and pressed the power button. He then turned his attention to the monitor, which was now flashing with colors, letters and numbers. Roger saw something, ‘Windows 2053’, whatever that meant. He pushed the button to eject the CD and took it, placing the disk into his pocket. Then the negotiator turned his attention to the rest of the list, this would be a lot of work. Fortunately there was a metal gurney in the corner, at least that could help him haul out all this junk…

Three trips later Roger had gathered everything on Isaac’s list. It had been all sorts of strange odds and ends. Roger really didn’t know what to make of all of that equipment, or even what to figure what its uses would be. Roger drove the Griffon back home, and thankfully Norman came out with a miniature dolly to help haul all of the equipment.

Roger entered the room where Isaac had set up his lab; it was the same room where Norman tried to make sense of Dorothy’s systems for her monthly tune-up. “I’ve gotten all of the stuff that you’ve asked for,” Roger told Isaac. Isaac was busy working over Dorothy, who was mostly covered in a white sheet. “Just place it over there,” Isaac said, gesturing vaguely to the other side of the room, not even bothering to turn around. He seemed to be very absorbed in his work. “Here’s the CD,” Roger said as he handed the disk to Isaac. The android reached over his shoulder and took it. Roger left the lab.

The next day was Hell on Earth for Roger Smith. He barely slept any last night, worrying too much about Dorothy. And he had woken up at precisely nine o’clock, expecting to hear her savagely playing the piano with his morning alarm, and he heard nothing. He barely ate at all, mainly just poking around at the food. At random moments he ran over to the lab to see if Dorothy was alright, but since Isaac had locked the door the moment after Roger left the lab after delivering the equipment it was useless. Norman was gracious enough to cancel all of his appointments, and Dastun seemed to be keeping the Military Police off of his back.

It was around 8:40 when Roger heard Isaac calling up to him. “Come to the lab, Roger Smith, I am almost finished.” Roger ran as fast as his legs could carry him. When he entered the lab he saw all of the equipment that he had brought lying neatly in a corner, whatever role it had was completed. Roger looked over at Dorothy, lying completely still on the table. She looked much as the way the way she had before, but her skin had more color now. Roger placed his hand on her face, it was real, human skin. Isaac pulled the final plug. Dorothy suddenly sat up and gasped, as though she was surfacing from a long dive. Wait…a gasp…she could breathe? Was this right? Dorothy’s thoughts were interrupted by a familiar face in her vision, Roger was staring at her with a look that was a mixture of extreme happiness and worry. “Dorothy…” “Roger…”

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Yay! Everybody! Dorothy is back!