Diabolus Ex Machina

*Thiera enters the room. Her shirt has been placed by a simple tube top, & her wound dressed. She seems to cross her arms over her torso uncomfortably.*

T"So you wound up back here, too? I'm afraid Lilith wasn't in her room. I haven't had time to search anywhere else. However...."

*She strides to the window & pulls apart the curtains, revealing an undamaged city.*

T"It looks like the world was reset after all."

"Reset how?" Zell asked, "Did Lilith do it?" Zell stood up and walked to the window. "Wait, so... Lilith really did kill herself?"

T"There's no way to know until we find out what state her memory circuits are in. Which means we have to find her body."

"Where would it be?" Zell asked, "And if she reset... um, the world, how far back did it go? Is Vera still in charge?"

T"Judging from the way Senthose spoke, she could have changed just about anything she wanted. But she didn't have much time, so I'm guessing she gave simple instructions. Maybe something like, 'Fix the city and take everyone to safety.' But since I was still wounded when I came to, that implies that no one who was killed was revived."

*The doorbell rings.*

"Well, I guess that means Arelaz is still in charge..." Zell gave a quick thought to the potential jail time, but found she didn't really care. When the doorbell rang Zell began to make her way over to the door, hoping it was Lilith.

*It was Lilith! Sort of. Tipheret & Chesed were straining to support the shoulders of an unconscious Lilith, who was staring at the ground with empty, gray eyes. Her memory tray was still open, & had been bound with police tape. But Zell could already see that the disc inside was broken into dozens of pieces. Roatha was behind them, sporting an arm in a sling, & an eyepatch.*

Roatha<We brought her back just as soon as we found her lying outside of HQ. We tried to keep her the way we found her as best as we could.>

Zell rushes to Lilith, trying to see if she was alright, or at least responsive, "What happened to her?"

Roatha<It looks like the disc was weakened by extreme heat, then broke while it was still spinning. I'm sorry.>

Zell looked at Thiera with big, hopeful eyes, "You can fix her, can't you?"

T"N-no. I don't know how to create android memory circuits. And even if I did, back-ups of Lilith's memory don't work. There's no one alive who can fix Lilith. Except...."

R"I know what you're thinking. But Big Venus has vanished along with Angel. It wouldn't stay where humans could easily activate it."

Zell looked like a sad puppy, "So... she is dead?"

*Thiera looks at Zell, then at Lilith, then back at Zell.*

"Sadly, androids die when their memory discs are destroyed."

And now Zell is crying.

*Tipheret & Chokmah deposit Lilith on a couch. Thiera puts a hand on Zell's back & sheds a single tear.*

Roatha<Perhaps we should leave now...aside from that, I only came to inform you that the charges were dropped.>

Zell wraps her arms around Thiera and cries on her shoulder.

*Roatha, Tipheret, & Chokmah exit quietly, shutting the door behind them. Thiera hugs back, sniffling.*

"I should have known something was wrong...should have inspected her arm when we found it...or installed a power-jammer while I was fixing her. I know the technology to control androids exists, yet I did nothing. How could I have been so myopic?"

Zell acts as a shitty conversation partner while she continues to weep openly.

"What...what will we do now?"

Zell wiped her tears away from her face, "I... don't know. I guess I should go back to my apartment."

T"Then...I guess it'll be really lonely here from now on...."

"Yea... It'll be really lonely at my apartment too..."

L"That is less than ideal. The 3 of us should stay right where we are. That way, no one will be lonely."

*Lilith had sat up. Her eyes were slowly regaining a green glow.*

Zell lets out a small squeal of shock before she realizes that Lilith is alive, and shouts as much to everyone, "Lilith! You're alive!" She rushes over and hugs her.

*Lilith puts one arm around Zell, while using the other to rip off the police tape & take out the shards of her memory discs.*

L"I appreciate your gratitude at my continued functioning, but technically I am inorganic, & thus neither alive nor dead. Thiera, would you please bring me a trash can?"

*Thiera is shaken out of her daze & fetches a wastebasket from the kitchen.*

L"Oh, one other thing...it would be improbable to predict such subtle machinations as Senthose's. You can no more be blamed for his actions than for not destroying Big Venus with your bare hands."