Diabolus Ex Machina

*Topaz looks around as she follows Thiera over to the typewriter.*

Topaz: <These tunnels bring back bad memories of trying to shoot you dead.>

"Who is Saybach?" Zell asked.

T"It's the name of that mummy guy, SchwarzwAAALD!"

*Thiera falls on her ass, clutching a bleeding wound at her side. Lilith has blood on her fingers.*

L"I do believe I missed."

T"No...whoever you are, you wounded me."

L"I was not going for a wound. I was trying to rip out your intestines. As for 'whoever I am,' do you truly not recognize me? I'm the android you activated in these tunnels years ago, the very same who has been living with you all of this time. Is there anything strange about a scenario in which I am trying to kill you? After all, you did not build me. You do not know my purpose."

Zell was dumbfounded, "Lilth, why are you doing this? Stop!"

T"That isn't Lilith. It can't be Lilith."

L"Don't worry, you'll get past this. Denial is only the first stage. Also, in your case, probably the last."

*She reaches for Thiera, who draws her gun & shoots her hand. It leaves a small hole in the synthetic skin, but mostly, it just knocks her arm back long enough for Thiera to start crawling away.*

Zell runs to Thiera, grabs her arms and helps her up, "My god, Thiera, did you screw up when you fixed her? What is going on?"

T"No, I keep trying to tell you, it is impossible for me to change Lilith's core programming. It would have had to have been someone with a great deal more scientific knowledge than I."

L"Do you even hear how paranoid you sound?"

*Lilith punches into the wall & pulls out a section of pipe before sprinting towards them.*

"But when could anyone even do that?" Zell asked, sprinting in the opposite direction.

T"My guess is that something was downloaded into her when she was put in the Paradigm Headquarters Computer."

*Thiera, who is barely in condition to run, tries as best as she can to block Lilith's swing with her gun. The gun is sent across the floor & Thiera stumbles back. She pulls out one of her cuff links & points it at Lilith, pressing a button. The android backs away from the inaudible noise.*

Zell doubles back for Thiera, putting her arm over her shoulder to give her support, "I'm sorry, forgot you can't run on your own. What are you doing to her?"

T"These are what I use to release my sonar when investigating a potential excavation site. Humans can't hear them, but it seems androids can hear the direct wave."

L"Incorrect. Androids can't hear them either. The vibrations simply interfere with the balance system of this model."

*Lilith stabs the weapon in the ground.*

L"You were wrong about a lot of things, really. No one 'altered' Lilith's personality. You might say that she is quarantined in a trash folder. Furthermore, the download did not take place at Paradigm HQ. That was just another step in the plan. I do appreciate you giving me direct control of Paradigm City, Thiera."

*Lilith holds a hand out towards her, as though she wants to shake her hand.*

T"I asked you who you were."

L"You don't remember me? Were I still in possession of one, my heart would be broken."

*Lilith clasps her chest with both hands.*

"This is getting old," Zell said, "Just tell us what is going on."

L"You probably were not around when it happened, but the android's arm was stolen once. While it was in his keeping, I had Beck do a bit of work on it. Nothing major, just installing a component that would later make the upgrade to the android's memory files. Once the necessary memories were extracted from the most recent clone, it fulfilled its role by being eliminated during the 'discovery' of my Megadeus."

*She indicates The Big O.*

L"I imagined that Aamon, Barbatos, Pruslas, Ronstadt, Rosewater, Gevurah, and Schwarzwald would be killed squabbling amongst each other. And, of course, I'd ordered Beck's execution on the very same day I ordered his services. And, of course, I needed at least one Dominus left besides myself to help trigger the apocalypse. What I did not count on was your survival."

*She points at Zell & sneers.*

L"The murders were set up as a red herring, but it looks as though I'll get to kill you after all."

"My survival?" Zell was a bit confused, "What do I have to do with anything?"

L"Entirely more than I had planned."

T"It's...you...you're--"

L"That's right, girl! The first Avici, Senthose Rasheverek!"

*The panels that make up Lilith's irises alternately contract and protrude, changing her pupil shape. In addition, their glow changes from green to red.*

<I can see why Barbatos decided to stop being a full human. The amount of power these android bodies supply is absolutely exhilarating.>

Zell was not a happy clam, "What do you plan to do with Big O anyway?"

<One of the conditions to activate Big Venus is a Megadeus War, one that stands the risk of destroying Paradigm City. As for Big Venus, it has the power to delete this simulation, as Barbatos desired. It also has the power to recreate it under different circumstances, as has been done many times in the past. But I don't want Paradigm City, nor to I desire my own destruction. I want the memories that went into its creation.>

*Big O reaches out with its one arm, & Senthose hops onto its hand.*

<I plan to escape this city, & become something greater. I will pilot Big Venus, & bring the machine that creates and sustains this world under my own dominion, just as I did with the android.>

T"And what about everyone who lives in the city now?"

<I imagine that is also the same as with the android: You will continue to exist, in a sense, as data inside of my own mind.>

*Topaz widens her eyes, snapping out of a state of shock, and remembers Senthose from the recording when she first met Lilith. She draws her guns and shoots at the android.*

Zell pushes Topaz's hands, "What are you doing, don't shoot at her!"

*Big O pulls itself partway out of the rock, shaking the whole cavern. The red panel that is its neck slides up, revealing a circular cockpit, which Senthose-Lilith jumps into. The panel then slides down, hiding her from view.*

S/L{It's showtime, Big O!}

*As the Megadeus begins to pull its lower body out of the ground, the roof falls away in sections. It reaches back one of its fists, deploying a metal cylinder on its elbow. The cylinder pushes back in as it punches the roof, breaking a hole into the streets above. A beam of light falls over the Megadeus as cracks spread through the roof, & the whole thing begins to collapse.*

"We have to get out of here before the whole tunnel caves in on us," Zell stated.

T"Well, don't just stand there stating the obvious, come on!"

*She grabs Zell's arm &, wincing, sprints off to the ladder.*

Zell supports Thiera as best she can and hustles towards the ladder as well. Once there she helps Thiera get on it, that way she could try and grab her if it looked like she was going to fall.

*The tunnel begins to shake when they finally get up the ladder.*

T"He's already up on the streets. But I don't think the tunnel will collapse. That gives me some time."

*She presses a few buttons on her watch.*

T"Basilisk will be down here in less than a minute."

Zell goes back down and saves Topaz.