Act 1: Roger the Negotiator

[paradigmstop]

Paradigm city had shrunk in the distance behind him as he trudged forward in Big O. The city that had lost its memories, that had tried so hard to keep them lost, was now just a speck on the horizon. He and Big O had seen perhaps too much in recent past, but there were too many questions unanswered. He'd resolved to himself, and it seemed that Big

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[The Reccon pack that lined the middle bay of the fighter perked up. With a detection of a large moving mass, the plane rolled in for a closer look.]

*Woosh*

[The silhouette of the plane against the city was almost unnoticeable. Its jet engines were the only thing that gave it away.]

*click...click...click*

"Unidentified Unit, Can you read me?"

[paradigmstop]

A smaller flying object? And again, no propellers. The outside world must have been developing technology from before the Incident. He looked down at his circular display, which read, "Audio Only."

"Confirmed, loud and clear. What is this place? Are you Union?" asked Roger, his old military-police background existing in the back of his mind. A straightforward approach was the best one, and negotiators never put their cards face-down.

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[Had to use the older radio freq. but I got him.]

"Union? No, I am a pilot with the ISAF air forces, Callsign Mobius One. State your intentions and change to course-."

[The connection faded as the fighter banked to require signal.]

"You could use a new Com set up, your RF seems ancient."

[The plane slowed, and its silhouette changed. The wings unfolded, expanding out. The tail flayed upwards giving it a larger profile.]

[paradigmstop]

Roger blinked hard, and then shook his head. He should not be surprised about these kinds of things, with all that happened in Paradigm. "I could say the opposite of your Megadeus. You've got technology Paradigm has never seen before. How do you fly without propellers?" He chuckled a bit. "I am investigating the intentions of the Union and the recovery of Memories. Unless you are Union, I intend you no harm. If that extends both ways, we're on even grounds." Big O's red visor glinted in the sun.

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[Well the pilot of Unknown seems nice, Can afford to turn off voice modulation.]

"Wait, You were expecting Propellers? They had not been on fighter aircraft in half a century."

[Mobius one should expect things like this, at least Unknown is heading for the right ship.]

"If you intend no harm, then I will escort you to the perimeter to clear it with the groups on the ship, non of them are names or called the 'Union'. We are in the middle of an rescue situation, so excuse the third degree."

[paradigmstop]

He nodded. "You'll forgive me if Paradigm had no records of history from 40 years ago or earlier. I'd appreciate your assistance, miss...?"

So this place seemed to not be Union-associated. Did that mean that there were other rganisations that had Megadeuses? This was going to take some researching. An entire world's worth of history and memories was waiting for him to look at it, and now was no time to refuse.

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"A callsign is good enough for now. Although Identifying yourself would not be a bad thing."

[Forty Years?]

"If you head to your right for a half a click, I'll have a place to land, and we can call this in on my equipment."

[Although, compared to the machines on the chalice, the Wyvern may as well be as backwards as Unknown there.]

[paradigmstop]

"Call me Negotiator, then. If you're in a rescue, let me help. I've got quite a bit of experience doing just that. Bring me up to speed?" he said, rotating his shoulder a few times to get the stiffness out.

"Paradigm City has been lifted out of some amount of trouble with the help of Big O perhaps a few times."

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"Well, Mr. Negotiator. Since I doubt you have data transfer abilities, I'll have to come down there and show you."

[A few minutes later, the surprisigly small plane and the shockingly huge megadeus are side by side. The planes Canopy opens, with a less than expected occupant leaving.]

"Well, your machine fits your tech. Now, how does one get up there?"

[The large helmet and glowing effects do not match the soft voice emanating from it. The dull drab flight suit as well do not lend to the Negotiators image from the radio.]

[paradigmstop]

The front of Big O's foot opened like a hatchback, and Roger Smith stood on a platform inside. "There are a couple ways," he replied, not exactly expecting someone wearing a suit like that.

"...you're an android? I've seen some pretty obvious android bodies before, but..." he said, motioning toward the platform. Where he's from, that kind of suit wasn't even in Sci-Fi. Automatic assumption: Android.

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[She disconnected her mask, and raised her visor.]

"Not the first time I was assumed to be mechanic."

[Noting his suit, she makes her assumption.]

"Your one of those guys that yells there attacks, aren't you?"

[M1 thinks there called 'Super Robot' types. She makes her way to him, map in hand.]

[paradigmstop]

He sighed, shrugged a bit. "Looks like nobody is what they initially seem to be here... and what are you talking about, yelling attacks?" The Platform started to raise up Big O's leg, and seconds later it opened into the cockpit, where Roger pulled up a map of the surrounding area to as detailed a level as he could (which is, to say, very little detail, as it was based solely on camera images from Big O's current position).

Certainly, his Megadeus had weapons with specific names to them, but he didn't see what the point would be of yelling the names of those weapons while using them. That would get tiring and tax the vocal chords very quickly, having to declare every motion one's mech takes.

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[Photo-reconnaissance on a ground unit? She showed her detailed aviation map.]

"So, we are here, and the rescue area in there. Assuming you were going at cruising speed it would take you about 15 minutes"

[While mapping, Rodger could see a few locks of brunette hair from under the helmet. She did claim to be human after all]

[paradigmstop]

He nodded. Her maps were way better than what he could put together.

"Okay, and what catastrophe occurred that we are performing a rescue right now? Did a Megadeus show up and misbehave?" He looked at the maps carefully. This city looked nothing like Paradigm.

[spiralribbon]

"Megadeus? If by that you mean mech, then no. From what I've been told, it's less believable."

[How to explain Magic book shooting lava? It seems unnatural to M1 herself, if she didn't already see it]

"How open minded are you Mr. Negotiator?"

[paradigmstop]

He brushed off his cuffs. "I like to think I am pretty open-minded. Why do you ask?" he replied. People here seemed to have names for Megadeuses that were not Megadeus. Maybe they were different categories of giant robot, and Big O was the first of the category "Megadeus" that these people had encountered? Big O was bigger than the other robots he'd seen here so far...