A Tale of Two Cities

"I just found out that I'm too late to save my dad" Luna half laughed, "And I was pretty damned unbalanced before that. Give me the guns, now."

Topaz: <I'm sure your father would so proud right now.>

*She takes a step forward.*

That just pissed Luna off, causing her to blow a hole in Topaz's shoulder.

*Topaz groans and grabs her shoulder, falling on one knee.*

Topaz: <What... do you expect... to achieve... with all of this?>

"What do YOU expect to achieve?!" Luna demanded, "What you are doing... that's what's mad! You expect everything'll be okay if you just keep being the good guy! Well no! I tried being a good guy, and you know where that got me?! No where! I couldn't help anybody and I couldn't save my dad! No, no no... not going down that road again.. You people! You goodies! You'll keep doing the same thing over, and over, and over again! THAT is MADNESS! Now, one last time, missy- throw the gun belt here."

Topaz: <...You're right...I lost my job for doing the right thing...but...>

*With both hands on her wounded shoulder, she presses a button on her watch. Down below, the Adramelech charges into a wall, causing the ground to shake violently. She takes the chance to stumble into her brother's bedroom.*

"Whatever. I didn't want to kill you anyway" Luna shrugged before sprinting off to her own Megadeus and hopping in.
She left, but not before firing another harpoon into Adramelech's main body, injecting it with more super heated metal.

*The Adramelech bats the harpoon away with its tail and Topaz comes running in, commanding the Megadeus with her watch.*

Topaz: <You're starting to piss me off! This is no way to settle things! What the hell makes you think you can kill innocent people just because someone killed your father?! You want to get revenge? Fine! Find the one who killed him! I'll help! But if you decide to keep hurting people, make no mistake, I will slap your shit!>

"Sue me."

Topaz: <I'm going to find the one who killed your father, and I will kill them. And then, I will come to kill you, because you will have become even worse than them!>

"Oh?" said Luna "Well have fun trying. I'll gladly accept dying if it's by the hands of somebody worth it, but there's no way I'll just go quiet."
Then, she fired missiles at the roof directly above Topaz.

*While they're having this stupid argument, the phrase "Cast in the name of God ye not" scrolls by the viewscreen of Prolix Arminas. Before it can get to the next part, however, the screen fades into static & all of the power shuts off. The Megadeus falls over & the weakened street is unable to support its weight, so the road caves in. The end result is Luna stuck in the subway tunnels with a Megadeus that won't let her so much as turn the lights on or open the cockpit.*

"What the hell is this?"

~In the morning~

*Luna is awakened by the noise of the Megadeus rebooting. A ghostly image of Senthose with his arms crossed emerges from the viewscreen in front of her. Behind him, the words "Ye not guilty" appear, but the "not" is blinking repeatedly.*

<You claim you lost your father because you did the right thing, but you know it's a lie. While negotiating with Beck, you shot missiles with complete wreckless abandon. When you lost track of him, you spent your time blowing up dams and flipping cars. You could have easily tracked down Beck before the murders, but even now, you are complacent to hide from the truth. One such as you will not be fit to pilot a Megadeus for much longer. I'm amazed it hasn't cast you aside already.>
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*Zell wakes up to a heavily burnt, thin, and blistered pancake.*

T"Lilith wasn't feeling up to cooking, so I did it. She has to reboot, she'll be online in an hour or 2. Before she went to bed, I brought her up to speed on what I was thinking. But before I fill you in, how does it taste?"
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*Vega's door opens while he's asleep. Chokmah & Malkuth wheel Barbatos in on a wheel chair, most of her body covered in a red blanket. She kicks Vega in the side to wake him up, and he gets the distinct impression that she's wearing steel toed boots.*

Barbatos<Wake up, you fool!>
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*There comes a knock at Hitomi's door.*

"Hey! Fuck you. It loves me."

*Hitomi puts her glasses on then looks at the clock on the bedside table seeing it's the next day.*

[I only meant to lay down for a little while.]

*Climbing out of bed she goes and answers the door.*

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*Vega groans and wakes up rubbing his side.*

"At least you're not too beat up."

Zell looks at the pancake then nods, "Uh, sure..." She said, taking a bite. "It is... good."

T"Hurm...I think I'll eat out today."

*She tosses the rest of the pancakes in the trash.*

T"Anyway, the bottomline is that the only others who might know about Aamon are the ones who funded his research & are now hunting him down: Paradigm Industries."
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*She finds a thick hardcover book with a newspaper tied to it.*
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Barbatos<You could say that my body is a bit...harder now.>
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*Senthose tosses his head back and laughs. The metal around seems to groan in tune with the noise.*

<Ridiculous! Megadeuses know nothing of loyalty towards a master. Why, you're little more than a puppet to it. If it finds you lacking in amusement, it will cut your strings...violently.>

"Hey, I was eating that!" Zell exclaimed. With a small huff she responds, "So, what do you suggest now. I've got a contract, should I merely ask, say it will help with my painting?" Zell asked jokingly.

"Well if it enjoys knocking the fuck out of shit, it ought to like me."

*She looks from left to right before picking the book up and closing the door. Sitting down she unties the newspaper and takes a look at it.*

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"You can say that again. So what brings you and your friends to my lovely abode?"

Valefor Pruslas promoted to Board of Trustees!

*Next to a picture of Pruslas smiling and waving was the first part of the story.*

Pruslas has been gaining support through much of the Paradigm populace with his open condemnation of war & poverty. The Board of Trustees allegedly unanimously voted to approve him, passing no less than 3 vetos from President Vera Ronsdadt before she finally allowed it. When asked of Ronsdadt's policies, Pruslas replied, "She is undoubtedly an intelligent woman, but she has all of the subtlety of a tommy gun. I would not handle the Paradigm-2 situation with as much violence as she has. Whatever Barbatos's reasons for hostility, Vera has only given her reason to declare open war, though we can only hope that she will consider her options carefully before taking such drastic action." -Story continued on B2.-
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"What an imbecile."

*Senthose disappears as the machine comes online.*
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"That is one idea. I was thinking that we could infiltrate the Paradigm Headquarters."
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<I want to enlist you in a military campaign to eradicate foreign and domestic enemies once and for all.>

Zell laughed a little, "Very subtle." Zell said, "I'm sure there is another way, one less dangerous and slightly less illegal."

[This doesn't concern me at all.]

*She turns to B2 anyways.*

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"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

When asked if he condemned Vera, he explained, "I advise to avoid judgment. Vera has a very difficult job." He went on to indicate that, although she is also compared unfavorably to her predecessor, it was Gordon who appointed Aamon Avici to the head of the science department, and Aamon was now plotting subversion against Paradigm City. "We cannot fathom the human heart," he said simply.

We decided to poll the other investors about Aamon's inclusion on the board. President Ronsdadt refused to comment, as did most of the board. Only the electrical/transport executive, Roatha Arelaz, had anything to say: "I find his hokey religion a bit creepy, honestly. And I'm not just saying that because he's looking favorable as the next President." When pressed further, he said he didn't know Pruslas well enough to give an opinion on him, personally, but he felt that Paradigm should "keep its distance on religion and focus on actually running the damn city."

But regardless of anyone's personal opinion on the prophet, what cannot be doubted is that both he and his Name of God sect are rising quickly in popularity within Paradigm City. As the only board member not at odds with Vera--due to not being present at the time of the power struggle for the position of Vice President and thereafter President--he looks like a prime candidate for the Third President of Paradigm City, should Ronsdadt be forced to abdicate for any reason.

*The other stories on the page are "The Situation in Paradigm-2" and "Back From the Dead?"*
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<You have precisely no choice at all.>
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T"If Paradigm knows anything, then there is no other way to find out. They'd never tell us about their secret dealings with Aamon. The only reason they even acknowledge that he was on their payroll is because they couldn't hide having made him the head of the science department. And now they're claiming that they heavily cut his budget and tried to fire him before he left the company, which is not true, if you check their records."