Diabolus Ex Machina

Zell stood up and began walking away to her room.

T"Hey, where are you going?"

"To change my shirt, I don't want to leave the house in a painter's smock..." Zell said.

T"Oh, that makes sense."

L"Are we not going to finish breakfast? If humans do not eat, they will starve & die."

"I finished my waffles!" Zell called from her room.

T"He said they had the Megadeus all along...so would it be under Pruslas's mansion?"

L"Possibly, but I actually have been hearing the call of an active Megadeus, near the library."

T"What? Since when?"

L"Shortly after I came out of recharge."

"So all day?" Zell asked, walking back into the room, sensibly dressed.

L"Essentially."

"Well, I guess it wasn't pertinent news until just now."

L"Those were precisely my sentiments."

T"I suppose I should ready a Megadeus transport & start the car."

"Alright," Zell said, "Lets get going."

*Topaz finishes her last waffle and stands up, nodding.*

Topaz: <We can find this thing. Hopefully.>

*As they all pile into the car, Lilith looks in Zell's direction.*

L"So. You have a psychosexual attraction to androids."

Zell blushed, then looked out the window, "This is not a subject I want to discuss in a crowded car..."

L"Suit yourself. But the library is quite a ways away."

T"About that, is this Megadeus under the library, or--?"

L"No. It's under the subway near the building."

T"Wait...under the subway? But I don't have the ability to do heavy excavation. Hopefully you can activate it remotely."

"I thought Basilisk had a drill."

T"Hmm...well, if we consider the Megadeuses, it might be possible to do some illegal excavation. But they are pretty badly damaged."

"Well, we have three days," Zell said, "We have a time limit to work within."

T"Yeah."

*The group gets out of the car & heads into a subway entrance. They walk along the tunnels.*

T"Wait...I think I recognize this tunnel."

L"It is the one that caved in on top of the serial killer. The cave-in appears to have been cleaned up. The Megadeus is down there."

*She points to a vertical shaft with a ladder, oddly illuminated by red light from below.*

"I do not like the hole in the ground with the frightening red glow..." Zell said.

L"Red is 'just a color like any other,' is it not?"

T"I don't know...there is something unnerving about this hole."

*She peers down inside.*

T"It looks like the farther it goes, the newer the materials are. But that doesn't make any sense. Did Aamon build this? If so, how did we not know?"

Zell let out a smile, "I guess you're right, Lilith." Zell gets closer to the hole, "So, shall we drop down?"

*As the group descends the ladder, they feel more & more frightened. Before anyone can suggest turning back, however, they enter into a cavernous space. The space becomes illuminated in blue a moment later when the eyes of a Black Megadeus light up. The Megadeus is partially buried in the wall, with only one of its arms, the front of its torso, & its head exposed. But its design is reminiscent of Big Duo & Big Fau. The ground below is littered with newspaper clippings, some with images of Gordon Rosewater & Aamon Avici. A lone typewriter sits at the center of the room.*

"Well, it certainly looks like the rest of the Bigs," Zell said, "But how do we get out of here, I mean get IT out of here?"

T"It looks like we could get Basilisk to dig it out."

*Thiera walks to the typewriter, Lilith following closely behind. She looks down at the typewriter.*

T"There's an inscription on the side. Michael...See-batch? Oh, it's pronounced 'Zay-bahk.' Michael Seebach."