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

Comments

[momentoftherose]

Another mobile suit detected over the horizon, shaking the ground and trampling the flowers with its big hooves. Oenone Zero's adrenaline spiked, being the closest to it since she was helping out at one of the city's poorer clinics, seeing a lot of veterans with ancient prosthetics.

She returned to her airship and retrieved what she needed.

Roger would soon find a crow hovering around his megadeus, poking its way inquisitively around the great humanoid head. Closer inspection would show this was no ordinary bird but a flying corpse, an animated patchwork of body and metal that nevertheless managed to present a credible illusion to casual observation.

[paradigmstop]

What unholy--? It was obviously both organic and mechanical, but this was something he'd never seen before. Big O swept his great hand up to try to shoo the bird away.

"Ugh, that's... disgusting," Roger muttered to himself. Still, it was too small to present a threat to him, and if it did, then it was surely just part of another, bigger suit. Until he saw something overtly threatening, he was going to be as calm as possible.

[momentoftherose]

The bird flitted out of swatting range and opened its beak, from which protruded a little old-timey speaker. From that came the hesitant voice of a young woman, used to running far away from monsters of that size.

"Unid-dentified unit, this city is under the p-protection of the landship White Chalice and The Green Storm. P-Please state your intentions."

[paradigmstop]

PFFT-
"You don't sound so confident, miss. I am Roger Smith, of Paradigm City, Negotiator and pilot of the Megadeus Big O. I'm investigating the Union. You're not Union, are you?" he returned with his loudspeaker.

What a cute voice. She sounds like she's scared stiff.

[spiralribbon]

[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.

[spiralribbon]

[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.

[zetahatsudo]

Kamille's no stranger to out-of-place phenomena at this point in his life. Why, just moments ago he bore witness to lava spontaneously erupting due to a magic BOOK. But that wasn't why he was out at the moment. Normally, he'd be seeking out his girlfriend, Sora Myoudouin, but due to a rather gross gaff on his part, their relationship had hit a rough patch, so he had taken off to make sure the damage from the fight hadn't gotten too bad.

He'd almost made to turn around when he saw nothing out of place, had that black robot not walked into view. It was an impressive weapons platform to Kamille, and while he did admire it, he wondered why it was there to begin with...

Switching the Zeta Gundam out of Waverider mode to Mobile Suit form, he landed several meters away from it, and opened a Communique with it.

"Hello, can you hear this?"

[paradigmstop]

Quite a few mMegadeuses here, and all of them look more advanced than Big O. He shook his head, put his forehead in his black-gloved hand. "Affirmative. I suppose you're also not Union?" he said through the hailing frequency. The connection wasn't up to par with modern technology, but it would work.

[zetahatsudo]

Kamille blinked. "There are quite a few Unions that I could name off of the top of my head, but I doubt any of them are the one that you're familiar with." He paused to let that sink in, before continuing, "My name is Kamille Bidan, I belong to the Flagship White Chalice, and we don't exactly belong to any particular nation. Who might you be, and how might I be of service?"

[paradigmstop]

He smirked. "I'll take that as a 'no,' then. I'm Roger Smith, Paradigm City's top negotiator and Dominus of the Megadeus Big O. I'm investigating the Union and the event that happened fourty years ago that made everyone lose their memories." He straightened his tie, even though he wasn't sure if Mister Bidan could see him through his "ancient" communications system. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

[veiled_fervor]

[A man, wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt... appears in front of the Big O? Flying. He has purple hair and green eyes that are a bit too bright to be normal. But you know... flying. Without any sort of propulsion whatsoever.]

No Unbound Aether infestation detected. Computing likely threat level...

[paradigmstop]

This was the first thing that had actually surprised Roger since he'd left Paradigm. He reflexively swatted his hand up to wrap Big O's hand around the man, but managed to stop before it would have hit him.

"Jesus!" he said through gritted teeth. "What the hell is wrong with you? At least give me a heads-up." He let Big O's arm relax. "Compute whatever you want, big guy, but I'm not here to fight."

[veiled_fervor]

[Despite the halting of the aggressive action, the man... teleports out of the way? But Roger's words reach him before he does any sort of counter action.]

Intentions acknowledged. Inquiry, what is the reason you are here?

[paradigmstop]

Roger blinked hard. This guy must be a hallucination.

"I'm apparently seeing things, but just in case you are real, I'm on an investigation journey. Others have established that you have no relation to the group I'm looking for, but I can never be too sure. Do you know anything about the Union and their recent resurgence of Megadeus attacks?"

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. No, the guy was still there. He reminded Roger a little bit of Dorothy.

[mecha_eihwaz]

[A weirdly-dressed flying woman with disattached mecha wings approaches Big O, addressing it to its face as if talking to the robot directly.]

Please identify yourself! We've had a battle lately so I need to know who are you.

[paradigmstop]

First a relatively-normal looking man could fly, and now this girl?

He sighed, rubbed the space between his eyes for a moment, and then just opened the cockpit, the orange and black collar portion sliding up over the faceplate and obscuring her view of Big O's features. Roger called up from just below where the girl was.

"Come down here, and let's talk face-to-face! I have a rule that only handsome girls can come into Big O unconditionally, though. You should count yourself lucky."

From his position, he might have been able to get an inconveniently-situationed upskirt shot. He looked away, cleared his throat, and straightened his tie, even if she wasn't revealing anything. It was uncouth to stare.

[mecha_eihwaz]

[Well, that certainly was unexpected. She floats down to the cockpit's level and stands on its edge. Nope, no upskirt shots here - she's pretty experienced at avoiding those.]

Oh? Ah, so you are a human in a giant suit as well! I thought I met one of the rare robots who live on this planet. Who are you, mister?

[paradigmstop]

He chuckled. "No, I'm no android, though I've met my fair share. It seems I've met another, haven't I, miss...?" he extended his hand.

"I'm Roger Smith, Dominus of the Megadeus Big O, and negotiator until recently of Paradigm City. The world outside of Paradigm is certainly far stranger than I had expected..."