City of Amnesia

*Thiera pulls out her own gun & points it at Luna over Lilith's shoulder. Just then, Luna's father drives up, undoubtedly pointing his own gun at them.*

L"This is ridiculous. The man is dead."

T"Well, there we go. If it'll get Paradigm off my ass, we can hook Lilith up to a projector. She saw the whole thing. Oh. And I'm suing you."
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Roger<Please, stay calm, miss. We're just going to see an old friend & client.>

*He stops & knocks at the door. Some guy with graying black hair comes out, wearing surgical scrubs. He just nods & heads back inside, gesturing to his garage.*

Roger<This is a private clinic. The man's name is John Craig, & he'll get to her much more quickly than the hospital itself. I'm sorry, miss, but I'm afraid I don't know your name.>

[Why the hell would I tell my name to someone who for all I know if abducting me?]

"Put me down!"

"This is why we need you to come to the station, so we can find out what really happened" Luna sighed, "You're making this much more difficult, by the way, you're breaking the law just by threatening me with that weapon. You'll get no where with a law suit"

Zell was wary, but she trusted Roger, "If you... say so. I mean, do you really trust this guy Roger?" She asked. "And will you finally put down the girl, she is only getting more agitated."

*He puts down Hitomi, holding out his hand.*

<Sorry, Miss...?>
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T"I don't care what color your jacket is, if you point a gun at me, I'll shoot before I can be shot. Lilith, get in the car."

*Lilith walks over to the door & opens it, sliding in. Thiera gets in as well, dialing with one hand. Soon afterwards, she's tossing around legal jargon.*

Luna's father suddenly takes the phone from Thiera and ends the call.

"You get to speak with a lawyer once you are at the station, with witnesses, in person" Luna explained, "You are not to communicate with anybody while in our custody, just the rules ma'am, so please keep the phone turned off."

Luna's father then handed the phone back to her, with the battery removed.

*Upon being put down Hitomi slaps him, turns and storms off.*

Zell sighed, I should have seen that coming. With another sigh Zell calls after Hitomi, "Hey, wait up." Zell jogged a few steps until she was at Hitomi's side. "I'm sorry for all of that, I had no clue he was going to pick you up and run away with you, but you probably should get yourself checked out by a doctor."

*Roger puts his sunglasses on.*

<Can't force your client in negotiations.>

*He heads over to the garage & calls in.*

<I don't know if she'll be back or not. Sorry to bother you at this hour.>

*He then heads back to Zell & hands her a piece of paper.*

<My client has agreed to take you in. This is a map, as well as her phone number. She says you can move in whenever you'd like.>
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*At the police station, a projector is plugged into an outlet in Lilith's hair. It shows, from her point of view, her approaching an underground chamber. The ceiling is held up by a giant pile of rubble. A man in black robes with silver hair is waving a gun around, ranting to Thiera & Topaz. She approaches him & passes him, but he keeps talking.*

T"Let's go before he brings the whole place down!"

*They run out of the tunnel.*

<I've done my part. The rest is up to you.>

T"What did I tell you?"

*Lilith suddenly grabs her head with both hands. Her mouth starts moving wildly, weird clicking & echoing noises coming out of it. The scene on the projector changes. It's still in first person, but now it's watching the chamber collapse around it. Senthose's voice continues speaking.*

<Those ignorant creatures above have clung to their false lives for 4 decades now. That is why they fear the underground. It means the unraveling of their false identities! The admission of their own worthlessness! Fear is a worthless commodity, born of ignorance. Death is enlightenment. And so, let us obtain enlightenment...& spread it throughout this city of masks & lies!>

*The chamber finally implodes. After a splash of red, the screen goes to static. The wire explodes out of Lilith's head with a short circuit & she slumps over, in a sleep cycle.*

T"Okay...I don't know what that was."

"You're apology is accepted."

Luna handed the phone battery back to Thiera, then told one of the constables to get a tech in the look at Lilith.

"So, Dad, what do you think?"

Zell turns around and accepts the paper, "Thank you, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but, well, as I said before, I wouldn't feel right if I just left her alone right now. It was a plea... well, it was interesting Roger." Zell said before turning to keep up with Hitomi.

<For once in my career, I am at a loss for words. So I'll just go. I apologize for any trouble I caused.>

*He gives a little wave & walks back towards the apartment, where he parked his black sedan.*
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*Thiera holds out a hand.*

T"Lilith is fine. Besides, no one alive has the memories to repair her, even if she isn't.

<What we saw...was obviously the last memory of the perpetrator. But how it was implanted into this android, that I can't say.>

*He glances over at Thiera, who folds her arms & continues glaring at them.*

T"...I'm stuck here until Lilith wakes up. She literally weighs 5 hundred pounds."

"Surprising that she can run so fast, even though she's an android, with all that weight" Luna speculated, "Anyway, I am sorry for any distress I have caused you, but you have to admit I had good reason for suspecting the two of you..."
Luna ran her fingers through her side fringe, "An android and an armed woman are perfectly capable of committing murder, then you appear and the subway comes apart... then I'm told the murderer just killed himself."

*Topaz is leaning against a wall at the corner, staring at the floor.*

[...All of this... and he suicided. But why...?]

T"If you're expecting me to drop the lawsuit, you'd have a better chance of hooking me up with a Paradigm executive."

*Lilith awakens moments later. By this point, their shift is pretty much over.*

L"What happened?"

T"Apparently, you can see the memories of dead people."

"Well, I honestly don't think it'll do you any good to sue us" Luna shrugged, "You'll probably get a public apology and some support money from the government for emotional distress, at best."

~The Next Day!~

*Luna & her dad are back in the office because, as they don't know who the Hell this guy was, nor do they have a motive, or even sufficient evidence linking him to the crimes, the case is not closed.*
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*Thiera is eating eggs & pan cakes on the veranda. She's wearing a white bath robe & fuzzy white slippers, sitting on a lawn chair that, for some reason, has gargoyles perched on either side of it. Lilith has taken a chair & is sitting beside the front door landing.*
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*By some miracle, Hitomi has not died. As such, it's time for her to go into work at the library. Coincidentally, it's time for Vega to get on the job, as well.*
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*Topaz is at her home doing whatever.*

*Topaz is having breakfast with her younger brother in the kitchen.*

[...Who was that guy?]

C.: <Sis, is there any milk left?>

[If he really was the killer, there's nothing else I can do, but it all seems so off...]

C.: <Sis?>

Topaz: <What?>

C.: <Milk.>

Topaz: <Oh, we don't have any, I'll see if I can buy some tomorrow.>

C.: <Hum, okay then.>

"Oh, damn, I slept through all of yesterday."

*A glass of orange juice and some toast later, he's out the door.*

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*After changing her bandages and a bowl of cereal, she's out the door.*

Zell, after having a very weird day, finally managed to pack everything she would need, which included art supplies, as well as a suitcase of clothes, totally three, reasonably sized bags. After a while Zell made her way to Thiera's place. With a quick check to make sure she had the right place, Zell rang the door bell.

Luna rubbed her eyes, "I didn't get much sleep last night..."

Without a positive identification they couldn't establish anything about why the crimes were committed, or if it was done by more than the one person.
It wasn't entirely out of the question that these foul acts may have been to doing of an organization.

*When Vega arrives, they're starting to set the bricks that the library walls will be made of.*
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*When she arrives at the library, her supervisor, a redhead with glasses similar to hers, puts down a book she'd been reading.*

<You're late. That's a first. Is something wrong?>
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*The door swings open, Lilith standing in front of it with a stony look on her face.*

"You are 3 minutes early. Come in."
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"You know, in retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have let Lilith answer the door."
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*Luna's dad is sifting through mail they've received.*

<Oh?>

*He opens an envelope to find a newspaper clipping from 20 years ago. On the front are 2 men. On the left is the killer, the right a man with green eyes & black hair.*

Are Memories Unique?

Top Paradigm Industries scientists Senthose Rasheverek (left) and Aamon Avici (right) say, "Sorry, but you aren't such a special snowflake." The duo is working on memory transplants. So far, all they've been able to do is get wild mice to run through a maze they should have no knowledge of, but they have grand plans for this research. "Memories," says Dr. Avici, "Should be able to be transplanted from person to person. But perhaps more important than that is the fact that we can recover them to begin with. Information cannot be lost. It's a basic law of physics. No matter what condition your memories are in, it should be possible to retrieve them. And, hypothetically, when they are transplanted, it would be like experiencing them for the first time--good as new."

*Having reached the end of the clip, he checks the envelope to see who sent it.*

<"Schwarzwald"? Well, that's obviously a fake name.>

*After telling someone he's arrived, clocked in or whatever, he joins the brick laying crew.*

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"I guess."

"We should get the envelope checked for finger prints, hairs and finger nails other than our own" Luna is already putting on rubber gloves to take the envelope for forensics.

It's a bit hard to believe that this, Senthose Rashervek, was the murderer... although he looks like one...