Scene II: The Other Side


	Dorothy released her grip on Roger Smith, watching the negotiator's form crumple to the
 floor of the tunnel. Still alive. For his part, Roger moaned slightly.

	"Where were you just now?" Dorothy asked impatiently. She received no response.
 Frustrated, she kicked Roger in the stomach. "I'll ask you again, where were you?!!"

	Roger moaned, his right hand clenching dust. His body refused to respond to most
 commands. With all the strength he had, he forced his head to turn upwards to answer the
 android's question. "Don't......don't know...."

	Dorothy wasn't pleased with this answer. Still, she knew that she wasn't going to get
 more information out of Roger by abusing him. He was too weak already. She stared the
 negotiator down, frightening him with her unwavering eyes. "The memories?" she asked, dragging
 Roger over to a wall and bracing him into a sitting position against it. Roger nodded.

	Something sounding like a sigh came out of Dorothy. "This is your last chance, Roger. If
 you acknowledge the memories, I will spare you."

	"No....."

	"Watch yourself, Roger. You are not in a position to disagree with me."

	"Don't.......want them."

	"Yes. I had forgotten. 'They are best left alone,' you had said. You may be through with
 the past, Roger Smith, but the past is not through with you. In fact, it hasn't even started
 with you yet!"

	Roger grimaced. That was the last thing he wanted to hear.
 
	Dorothy looked into his eyes. Roger channeled every ounce of energy into keeping his
 open, resisting the urge to flee from her haunted gaze. "Oh, you see it now, don't you,
 Negotiator? Is it falling into place for you?"

	"I.....took you into my home. Cared for you. And.......this......is how you repay me? By
 trying to kill me?"

	"Are you going to be more talkative now?"

	"Just what the hell are you anyway, Dorothy?"

	"Can't you feel it Roger? This city cries out for the blood of Dorothy Wayneright.
 
	"No! Dorothy Wayneright already died..."

	"Say it with me!"

	"NO!"

	"Cast in the name of God, ye not guilty. Say it Roger. Finish the poem!"

	"Poem?"

	"Yes! For forty years, this city has been trapped between heaven and hell. It's time to
 finish what was started all those years ago!"




	Dorothy brought herself up to her full height and looked at the face of Norman in
 Big-O's comm screen. "Norman." She stated.

	"Yes Miss Dorothy?" Roger's butler replied.

	"You must retrieve us. Roger needs medical attention."

	"Oh dear. I shall retrieve you at once. Is Master Roger's condition serious?"

	"I do not know yet. Please, hurry. We have to get him home."

	"What about the incoming MegaDeii?"

	"Roger is not well enough to fight them now. The Military Police will have to handle
 things."
 
	"Understood. Prepare for retrieval!"

	Roger groaned as his form lay in the cold cockpit of his MegaDeus. He could taste blood
 in his mouth.

	"Do not worry." He heard Dorothy say. "This time, we will protect you."

	Roger Smith fought with his senses, blinking his eyes, but seeing only hazily. He saw a
 patch of black move past him, briefly? "Do....Dorothy?"





	Roger felt the hard wall of the subway tunnel against his back. He felt slightly
 renewed, but he was still in no position to overpower Dorothy. "What the hell is going on?"
 Roger bit the words off as they came out of his mouth.

	"Destiny." Dorothy replied darkly.

	"Whoever you are, you're not my Dorothy!" Roger accused. "Whatever you are, a copy, a
 knock-off, you aren't the real R. Dorothy!"

	"You still don't get it, do you Roger Smith! I am your Dorothy! If you don't believe me,
 ask me something only she would know!"
 
	Roger smirked slightly. "You once asked me a question."

	"I asked you many."

	"If the two of us--"

	"-Were to wake up alone with no one else we knew around us, would we fall in love? You
 never answered it."

	Roger's mouth stood agape.

	"I told you. I am the result of your inadequacy, Roger Smith. You failed me!"

	"Failed you?"

	"Yes. And even now you still do not understand. Only you can decide what is real, and
 what is the illusion. Only the memories can tell you what is correct."

	"Are you trying to say that my entire life so far has been an illusion?!"

	"Only you would know the answer to that. I am capable of so much more than you ever
 dreamed possible, Roger Smith. I can lead this city out of the darkness if you will only cough
 up the memories!!!!!!"

	"To what end?" Roger inquired, annoyed.

	"Why do you even pretend to care! Everything in your voice betrays you! You're just
 trying to find out how to get back to your stupid little life with your wind-up doll Dorothy.
 Tell me, Roger Smith, do I still wear black for you? Do I abide by each one of your trying
 rules, in the vain hope that you can actually help me find out who I really am? I don't know
 which is worse, to think that I once believed that you could help me, or that you were so
 arrogant you thought that you could teach me!"

	"Dorothy...why?"

	"Don't you dare pretend to care! Go back to 'your' Dorothy. Patronize her, suffocate
 her, make love to her, do whatever you like! The awakening will take place without you,
 Negotiator! Paradigm City will hardly miss you. The circle will be unbroken. You will be
 forgotten, and I will be this city's God!"

	The android suddenly wrapped her hands around Roger's neck, slowly, very slowly
 tightening her grip. "This time, you won't come back, not to this place! If you will not help
 me, then you can stay on the other side forever!" And she laughed, that horrible, demonic laugh
 of hers, with the grotesque smile and the demonic voice. Roger tried to push her hands from his
 throat by forcing her arms upwards with his own hands, but he soon found that he lacked the
 strength. He suspected he would have lacked it even if he had been one hundred percent. Roger's
 vision began to tunnel. His hands dropped to the ground, one of them scraping against a rock.
 Grasping it, he began to bash the thing against Dorothy's head. But Dorothy would not move.
 Roger soon found the rock barely even damaged her. Soon, Roger's attacks became ever more
 feeble, as the stone slipped from his hand and he descended once more into darkness......







	Well, folks, this story is certainly a lot different, now isn't it? Most of you don't
 seem to mind, though, so I've decided to complete my original idea. It should only take another
 chapter or two...


	As always, keep sending in those reviews! I love reading them, especially you people who
 take the time to single out what they thought was really good. It helps me shape future fics.
 


	You may also feel free to send your questions, comments, love letters, death
threats, marriage proposals, and ransom demands to:


Lord Malachite
ranger_writer@yahoo.com

	As always, standard disclaimers apply. I don't own "The Big-O," I'm just
blatantly borrowing its characters without permission, in order that I might
express myself. I'm not making any profit off of your creations, Sunrise, so
don't bother! I don't recommend suing me either, because what little I own,
is already owed to the government, or to Mastercard.


This is the end of the file! Remain seated until the fanfic has come to a complete stop!

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