2011-02-16 - Big Duo! Showtime!

His name is Roger Smith, and he provides a valuable service here, in this City of Amnesia called Paradigm. As he drives through the streets of the city, fresh from a difficult negotiation between a small businessowner and Paradigm Corporation over the price of fruit, the sleek black Griffon rolling through the streets. Humans, the faceless masses who are Everyone Else, wander the streets of the city, going about their routine and daily businesses with patient abandon. This is a city without Memories, and those who wish to live comfortably in it do well to understand that fact - those who pursue Memories are doomed from the beginning.

But sometimes, there is a glimmer of unfortunate reality in the ways of these people who make up this place called Paradigm, and a memory strikes all too randomly. Those who are doomed to this fate are sure to be followed by suffering and chaos, and pursued by those who seek the power of Memories for their own selfish gain. Is it worth it, to be with memories? What is a Memory? And why are humans so obsessed with them, with their identities, as to beg them from the world and their inheritors?

The traffic light turns red, and Roger slams on the brakes. The griffon skids to a halt with a *skreech*, steam from below the city streets wrapping around the black frame like velvet. Roger frowns, adjusting his sunglasses and looking out the window; all the lights are red.

"What the..."

The wind carries with it fortune more ill still.

Paper. Hundreds of sheets of paper, ink and font typical of an old typewriter. On one side, portents of a certain doom. On the other, the picture of a griffin-like bird, tattered and faded.

"That which men desire they are also said to love; and to hate those things for which they have aversion. Desire and love, then, are the same thing, save that by desire we always signify the absence of the object and by love most commonly the presence of it. So then it is by aversion that we signify the absence of the object, and by hate, its presence."

"Turn your eyes to the sky; while you sit about without worries, while you remain motionless and wonder, your time ticks away! The sky itself threatens to fall once more, and yet you would have life go on, blissfully unaware, unworried, unthinking!"

"Avert your eyes no more." -- "Signed, Schwarzwald."

The piece no doubt refers to the other events of the night; but if text was all Roger had to fear. A man is on the traffic light directly in front of and to the left of his car. The bandages, demented expression and brown, tattered duster make mistaking him impossible. Schwarzwald. He is smiling.

"What do you think, Roger Smith? Fitting for this city to be perpetually stopped in its tracks, don't you think?"

Paper? Roger reaches out and snags one of the pieces of paper from the sky, reading it. Avert your eyes no more? What does that-

And then he's standing there, he's standing *right* there, that madman named Schwarzwald - a dead man named Michael Seebach's replacement, clad in bandages and browncoats and a smile that could chill the soul.

Roger lowers his sunglasses at Schwarzwald, ignorant or uncaring of the people all around him picking up falling flyers to read them. His tongue locks against the back of his throat as he pronounces the name of the man across from him, trying to keep a neutral tone.

"Schwarzwald. You're responsible for this?" He demands, keeping the anger out of his voice as much as he possibly can - which it turns out isn't very much at all. "What are you trying to prove?"

"Everything. Look around you, Negotiator!"

From his perch, he outstretches his arms slightly to the sky, as if designating the whole of the city. "Look at their closed eyes, their blocked ears, their sealed lips! Don't you find it odd there is only one man in this whole city who has the desire to pursue the truth? Don't you wake up, covered in sweat, wondering what this city hides some nights? Or are you really content to know nothing and to be a lapdog of Paradigm?"

"Their eyes and yours must be opened!"

He lowers his arms and glares down, grinning.

"How far will you go to stop me then, Roger Smith? Are the lies perpetrated by this city so important to you that you would risk your life for these people? For these blind, deaf and mute entities who dare call themselves humans?"

Schwarzwald is far from alone, a man who starkly looks out of place clad in some sort of. He's got a helmet on his head it's abiot blucky and has two red optics where eyes would be if it was a true face his arms are folded and an unit patch of unknown origins are on the right shoulder of the suit itself.

The man? tilts his head a little bit and just speaks.

"I have seen the Endless Frontier and I ain't ever seen anything like this place. He's right man, without the truth there's stagnation and only a slow crawling death you can't call living."

Ascian, perhaps, stood out amongst the strange masses of Paradigm city. Tall, tan, and holding an umbrella for no apparent reason. It is the same corner that Schwarzwalt had halted his car at, and is simply staring at the man as paper flies past. Such flair, for a man who didn't particularly look great. In a way, he didn't think it to fit.

His gaze then skips to Roger's car as it screetches to a halt before the red light - the man stepping out and taking the paper, and calling out at the man who had waited so patiently. To him, this was like watching one of those incredibly old movies. The drama between them, however, he cannot follow.

It was almost like he had just jumped into the middle of a movie, and had not a clue about the direction or established facts of that particular movie. He keeps holding that umbrella up, twirling it slightly as his attention shifts to one who stands out much more than he ever could.

James Heller. He had met him only once, and he truly stood out like a sore thumb within this... olden days looking city. He yells something about truth and stagnation? Although the words make sense, he isn't sure why they are being spoken. So he remains simply... an observer.

Ted Morrison is in Paradigm City for a very important reason. He came here to meet up with that hot, nice chick that he's met on his first day here. They're nothing serious, just going out, get a few drinks. What he did not expect, when coming back to bring her back home, is to be intercepted by this /bigass stop/ in the road where... nobody is moving anymore in the streets. Ted Morrison, President of Erehwon, frowns. That's not good at all. Not to mention /omnious messages/.

Solis Vivent is some distance away himself, putting some small touches on the Tengu unit... repaired at last after the battle in the space port. He hrms, drawing a red paint brush across one of the oculars, in a strange mirror of his own most prominent facial scar. He nods at it, armor should reflect its user after all... Its then that he notices the strange paper falling from the sky...

Its not supposed to rain paper...

He frowns, and shouts into another room, "Norman! I'm taking the Tengu out... My Father might need me..." The adopted son of Roger Smith slips out through the sewer and subway access beneath the Smith Mansion, until reaching a safe (and deniable) distance away he leaps skyward, searching for his father amidst the claustrophobic buildings.

Roger throws open the door to his car. The steam blasts up along his black pants, his heavy jacket, rising to meet the challenge of Schwarzwald's declaration as if the city of Paradigm itself backed Roger Smith, backed the Negotiator, in his decision. It was a mere fantasy - but the effect was there.

Roger steps through the cloud, his eyes focused as his arm rises to his mouth. His sunglasses flash, as if representative of the eyes of God; red lights echoing off the black and giving it a terrible pinprick setup in which Schwarzwald's own image is bathed in red.

"How far will I go to stop you?" Roger asks, "These people have lives of their own - they have hopes, dreams, feelings, beliefs, things that your deranged idea of Truth can never touch. If they choose to keep their eyes shut and cover their ears to avoid becoming like you, then that's their choice - not yours to make!"

Roger's gloved hand wraps around his sleeve. "And whether stagnation or destruction follows, I won't allow you or your allies to take that right away from them!" The watch pulses blue, a brilliant circular o sliding into the center. "Here is your truth, Schwarzwald!"

"BIG O!"

Deep beneath the earth, the machine knows. The God of the Land, the Behemoth, the Black Megadeus, it knows. The rails begin to click-click-click as the impossible train picks up speed, responding to its master's call without hesitation, without fear, without a second thought. He is the Dominus. It is the Megadeus. Ever its duty to respond.

Ever its duty.

"SHOOOOOWWWWWWWWWTIIIIIIIIIIME!"

The earthquake rips across the landscape, shaking streetlights down as cracks spread across the ground. Roger leaps upwards as the immense black hand comes stabbing out of the center of the intersection; he falls into it, and it in turn places him within its breast, as the massive humanoid form rises into the sky and dominates the landscape within seconds. Roger crosses his arms across his chest as the joysticks, the familiar joysticks, fall forward and swing into place like a dog greeting its master, like an old friend shaking hands; his gloved fingers close around the joysticks as the message blinks across the old-style screen as it always did.

CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD

YE NOT GUILTY

"AND ACTION!" Roger declares. The Big's eyes blaze to life, purple light erupting from them as its activation sequence is complete, and Roger's eyes narrow as Schwarzwald appears on the scratchy, staticky screen.

"This is my answer, Schwarzwald! If you want to stop this city, you'll have to go through me and Big O to do it! And I don't think you've got the means!"

James Heller is quite the standout in this city, for he is a person who does not belong in this world. Yet he is here anyway. He jumps from his perch and then. As James falls he is caught by a smaller black mecha, with a red optics. It opens it's hatch and lowers it's hands to the entrance. James then enters the small mecha. There's a roar of a combustion engine of some sort from it, the hatch seals and the machine comes to life

The optic light ups and it speeds out on to the street as Big O makes it's entrance.

"So The Black Megadeus? Damn...."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "What is /that/ thing?"

 James Heller transmits, "The Black Megadues.."

The mummy-man leaps off the traffic light no sooner than the earth starts shaking. For all of a second, he is taken aback, frightened, taking steps back until he knows for a fact that the Big O isn't going to rupture the ground on which he stands. But then when all is said and done, he resumes smiling before pointing to the sky.

"Oh, but I have the means, Roger Smith. Whether you want me to or not, whether THEY want to hear the truth or not, it will be said! I will not be silenced! COME AT ONCE!"

Something can be seen in the sky; and then, something falls.

With a crack of thunder, a gigantic white form the size of the Big O crashes into a nearby house, flattening it but surprisingly not breaking through the street level and into the underground layers of the city. As this shape rises up to stand straight, it is more obvious that it is covered in bandages from head to toe, with the only distinguishable feature its massive arms and glowing blue eyes.

Schwarzwald, when Roger looks to him next, is gone, and can be for an instant seen climbing onto the massive bandaged robot and disappearing into what must be a cockpit.

Inside, the dead man grins and grabs ahold of the twin joysticks, main screen flickering on to broadcast the immediate surroundings of the robot, and of course, keep an eye on Roger's own one.

"The power of God created by Man. You are not alone to wield it, ROGER SMITH!"

 Schwarzwald transmits, "The power of God created by Man! A Megadeus. The ruination of this city but also its continued existence, ironically represented in a single form!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "The power of God huh?"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Would you require assistance?"

When a gigantic robot suddenly comes crashing out of the intersection... or rather, a giant hand, /followed/ by the big robot - pieces of rock go flying. Ascian lightly lowers the umbrella, as grit and small rocks fall against the protective canopy, and continue to slide and bounce off.

But, he was confused. What the heck just happened. He quickly turns towards James Heller... who was entering his own mecha. "This doesn't look good." He mutters and takes a few steps back as further larger rocks come falling. Ascian is looking rather calm for standing this close to the gigantic black... thing.

And he quickly turns tail and runs when Schwarzwald too disappears and a gigantic robot appears in his place. He raises a hand to his ear and chatters over the radio. Seems the pamflet guy was on their side. And that was enough reason for Ascian - a soldier amongst the Divine Crusaders.

He reaches into his pocket and presses a single button, and hides in the archway of a nearby building. He then patiently folds up his umbrella and... begins to wait. As far away, a bolt of red energy begins disturbing the air.

 Schwarzwald transmits, "Yes. This city is filled with men who have long since forgotten the utility of fear. They must be taught anew!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Can man truly lose the sensation of fear?"

 James Heller transmits, "Yes, I seen it before."

 James Heller transmits, "I seen civilizations so stagnant the only way to bring life back to the people was to rip it down."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Is that not the kind of future Katharon has in mind for us?"

 Schwarzwald transmits, "That is no future. It is an ending."

 James Heller transmits, "Agreed, their way leads to only a slow death. They are too damn blind to see they'd doom us all."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "So it is. I will stand besides you, Herr Schwarzwald."

Jin had been on in one of the hangars of the Sidhe tuning his Gouf's performance ratings in the cockpit, trying to adapt it to urban combat after its years spent in the jungles of South America before his recent transfer. And while in that cockpit, test running the mech on a few quick maneuvering abilities, he'd picked up a distress signal from the Paradigm City.

Never one to pass up on a chance to deploy, Jun had quickly had some maintenance crew load a mech-scale parachute onto the back of the Gouf Hunter and off he went to hop into a Tausenfussler with his sister close behind him. And then they were off. Its arrival wouldn't take too long and the pair of them were being told they were arriving in the skies above paradigm.

"Alright! Let's DO THIS, baby sis!" Jin shouted, pushing forward on his Gouf controls as he stepped off the transport ship delivering them. During freefall, the elder twin in the Black Gouf was idly calibrating his controls and flipping switches before sayingto himself, "Deploying parachute." And hitting a button on his dash.

The parachute opens wide, slowing the descent of the mech as it falls to Earth, floating faintly. Carefully and professionally, he fires the retrojets on the Gouf, trying to slow its descent further and guide where it will land. The parachute falls off slightly before landfall, listlessly disengaging as the street caves and cracks faintly from the impact of the suit. Jin looks around with his sensors curiously, "Well, let's see what's going on here."

In a hastily-painted digital-urban camoflage, Jun prepares her Gundam ground unit for air drop. Taking one last look at the back, she hurries to the zip line at the front of the mech, hooking her foot into the strap and hitting the switch to winch herself into the cockpit of the rugged crouching mech, and pulling closed the cockpit hatch as the back gate of the tausenfussler opens up.

With practiced hands, she starts hitting switches, her displays coming online. "Preflight checklist. Reactor online. All sensors green. Output nominal. Solid-state propellant at 100. All checks complete." She intones, almost bored. Outside, the Ground Gundam's eyes flash green in that classic 'whuum' as the mech competes startup sequences. "T-minus 10 to drop." She mentions, her mech's feet clanking on the deck of the T-1's hold, as... Her brother jumps out. "Dangit, Jin! We're supposed to wait for the..." She rubs her face, before gripping both control sticks and pushing forward, taking two heavy steps before dropping into the open air.

As it falls, Jun looks over her radar screen. "Huh... A city-scape. Lots of civilians, too. Will have to be careful." She shrugs, pulling back on her parachute lever, thruster nozzles flaring as she descends to the ground with a loud 'WHAM', releasing the backpack-mounted parachute and bringing up her beam rifle. "This is Goldrush, I'm on the ground. Brother, where did you /go/? You're not in the designated drop zone at /all/... And why did you paint your suit /black/, this is an urban area!" She complains, advancing on the Black and Bandaged Megadeus's positions through the cityscape, head scanning for targets.

The red streak in the sky, is actually something falling at incredible speeds. Somewhere up in space, someone claims that the velocity is 400,000 mph. Obviously, that person should either ask the system admin to fix their readings, or should go back to school for reading off such a rediculous speed.

No, that red streak coming in from the atmosphere was going at rediculous speeds, but not that rediculous. Fire flaring against the invisible spherical shield before what looks like a humanoid Phoenix of sorts. The fire fit, in a manner, quite well with the general looks of the thing. Though behind the constant overcast of the city -- to anyone beneath the deck of clouds, it would simply look like a light trying to peer through the clouds and failing.

That was, until its body hit those clouds and the unit comes to a sudden halt not more than a few buildings high off the ground. The clouds above it almost seem to /burn/ away - evaporating... then quickly moving back into their place, as if nothing had ever disturbed them. But the flickering embers of red that come from the unit seem to still linger there, slowly falling towards the ground like feathers.

The machine then continues its descent much slower - the shockwave of its sudden stop still traveling the streets and picking up the papers that still lay on the streets of the mysterious city. Standing at the streetlevel, having moved away from that building, is Ascian. The previously mentioned shockwave pulls at his brown-grey trenchcoat - and rips the umbrella out of his hand.

Suddenly, between the two Megadeuses, an embrella twirls... as if indicating that their battle could start.

Finally, it stands. in a different intersection near the two Megadeuses. It kneels down, lowering its hand, letting the framerunner into its cockpit. For a city so full of symbolism, a mecha with a large 'cockpit' for its... cockpit... at 'that' level... surely fitted in.

With its framerunner on board, the red glow suddenly becomes more firm, as its bioluminescent streams flow with Metatron energy. Duat, the artificial intelligence, welcomes the blue haired man. "Welcome on board. I am detecting incoming EFA IFF signals." The unit doesn't wait. It knows what the unit's framerunner wants.

Of course, such a thing immediately perks Ascian's interest. "Here? On Earth? God, you'd think they were too busy on Mars to care about this place... let's get their attention back to this planet -- shall we?"

The wings of the Orbital Frame - Amenthes - spread out. Red Metatron crystals portrude from the folds of the dozen of bits that form its wings, as the unit takes to the air... and then suddenly burst outwards - disengaging that look of 'wings', and instead reveiling their other nature. That of a weapon's system.

The homing beam array quickly aligns to the two incoming EFA units. "Aim for the parachutes. Perhaps we can force some damage on them before they land - and take out the leg units." Ascian mutters, as two video windows come up displaying the units, and a six-some of red dots appears on each of them. He concentrates his will into his unit...

The controls - two halforbs, one on each side - which he has his hands on - flow their red light into the unit, which responds by doing one simple thing...

It fires twelve lasers out into the air, which splits off into two groups of six... which rush for the parachutes on BOTH units.

"Black remains one of the hardest colors for the average person to track in rapid movement. Not to mention it intimidates people to see rapid strikes from a dark source." Jin counters to his sister before adding, "Plus, black is just awesome. And I think I landed closer to the action than you."

"Psh. Designated landing zones? The designated landing zone is where my mech la-" WOAH! Incoming fire from a hostile source. Jin is quick to fire off his mechs boosters, hopping back and making sure to bob and weave as blasts of energy rain down around him in a stacatto of energy. Luckily, he's agile enough to keep a hit from landing. However, Amenthes now very firmly has his attention, "Oh ho, so you wanna play rough, eh? Let's dance."

Jin pauses for a moment in his piloting to bring his hands up and tug at his tie, loosening it and unbuttoning the top button of his shirt, "Phew, this is the part of missions I love." A hand comes up to muss his hair out of its combed neatness now that formality is less required.

"A Crusader, eh? You guys did always bug me, and I owe you one for destroying my home as a kid." He suddenly reaches down and pushes forward on the controls and sends his Gouf jetting forward like a comet. He flicks his fingers over controls expertly, pulling up on the controls to go into a leap as his Gouf draws a heat sword and slices hard at the Orbital Frame that opened fire on him.

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "I will keep the EFA off of your back."

The enemy is... another Big?! The way Schwarzwald enters... the words he's speaking... they're proof enough to Roger, locked inside his great black god, that this is the case. And the very thought of it chills him to the bone. Not only is this an unknown Big - something with the powers and abilities of a machine identical or at the very least similar to his Big O - but it's an unknown Big in the hands of this madman who calls himself Schwarzwald, one of the most dangerous men in Paradigm City. It was like a nuclear bomb in the hands of a lunatic.

There's no irony in that statement at all.

The embrella twirls like a parody of a racing sign as the lights of the city begin to go haywire, red-to-yellow-to-green-and-back at the disruption of their lines by the great black machine.

"You asked for it, Schwarzwald! If you want me to go after you so badly - then here I come!" The panel to the side of the cockpit flips open, revealing a number of blinking lights and buttons that dance in patterns impossible to understand by any mind but Roger's own. Roger's black-clad fist rises upwards as the chest of the immense black robot opens, revealing gattling guns and missile launchers all down the middle. "Whatever power of God you've found, I'll make sure to blow it away in one shot!"

His fist slams down on the buttons, on every button, all at once.

There is a roar like the thunder of the voice of God.

The gattling guns explode into the whirr of noise as their bullets launch towards the mummy-shrouded monstrosity; missiles pour after them, screaming fire and trailing smoke, more missiles than can be counted and certainly enough to warn the enemy machine of the power hidden in this Megadeus. Shell casings fall to the ground, smashing cars and benches to bits; glass shatters at the noise of these cannons going off, and the Big O's assault continues unheeded. It is a Megadeus. This is its city.

And it and its Dominus will not tolerate intruders.

"See, this is why you'll never land in the right plaaaaaaa-!" Jun is cut off as homing lasers strike from nowhere, striking her parachute and mecha, the beams searing armor plating and drilling a hole in the parachute, the unit exploding and sending her suit two steps forward, staggering. "Damage... Within tolerance levels, brother. I'm fine." She breathes, shaking her head a bit and pushing her glasses up her nose. "Right... Okay, beginning operation!" She finally says, her nerves rattled. She usually wasn't shot coming out of the SKY! She was the one that got the drops /on/ people, not the one getting dropped on!

Advancing carefully through the city, she sees the orbital frame rise down a long stretch of road, and crouches down in some cover, reaching back to pull out the targeting computer from behind her head.

"Target spotted. Lining up a shot." She clenches her teeth, the visor on her suit's head dropping down as she raises her beam rifle. "Target - Locked. Firing." She breathes, squeezing the trigger on her right stick, and a beam of opalescant light shooting from her large laser rifle.

Ted Morrison has abandoned his car. Instead, he smacked around a yelling biker and /ran the hell away/. His peripeties during that massivly long chase through the paralyzed streets of this City will be heralded for ages to come. What matters is, he's going to be back.

An odd display seems to signal their fight to start.

And then radio chatter confirms he can go at it "safely".

Not that the madman really cares about that.

The massive machine in bandages looks sturdy but slow. As Big O opens fire with practically every gun at its disposal, it would almost appear to work, but then black smoke gushes out of the giant mummy. Black smoke the missiles and bullets disappear into as it starts spreading, and then, there is no way to tell if there was a hit at all. There is only the sound of the black smoke slowly dissipating and the weapon fire dying off.

And then, the sound of... something spinning ludicrously quickly? The bandaged Big erupts out of the smoke cover like a wreckingball, right hand lifted up, bandages in tow and revealing a spinning propellor. One which it attempts to slam into the side of Big O's head.

"You should not be so quick to judge, Negotiator! Do you not know the significance of these machines? Do you not know the mysteries of your Big, its history, its very goals and motivation? Have you not even bothered trying to understand anything at all, Roger Smith?! These machines do not fall into our hands by chance! If you could only open your eyes, if you could only grasp the beginning of what I am trying to say, you would see!"

"You would see that everything has a reason!"

The wings of the Orbital Frame, unfurled in their current state, quickly lash backwards as Jin begins to approach the unit. Within the cockpit, Ascian has a clear visual on both of them. However, being merely human, he is forced to concentrate on one of them. And as your average human soldier, he concentrates on the one closest to him!

The 'bit' like feathers of the Amenthes refurl back to their destined places, forming the Metatron crystal holding wings and flies straight backwards whilst lifting one arm up and aiming its open palm at the Gouf which had just landed before him and strikes its heat blade at empty air.

"Tssk." Ascian quickly turns his attention to the other unit, which is hiding behind a building for a moment -- giving him only a heat visual on it. He attention quickly flashes back to Jin's Gouf, and the tailfeather-like tendrils flash outwards against the streets beneath - as they suddenly gain the illusion of... burning?

The arm that was once outstretched towards Jin however, then suddenly gets punished. It was just about to shift into the shape of a rifle when opalescent bolt of light crashes into it and forces the entire aim off. The Orbital Frame, for a moment, spins around. However, it simply follows this forced movement through to a degree of threesixty and stopping like someone had attached a rope to the end of a centrifuge. One'd almost expect the person within to just have died due to the sudden stopping motion.

But Ascian was fine. Thanks to some lovely inventions in the realm of compressing space, he barely felt any of the G-forces. "Tssk. Darn EFA." He mutters under his breath and lays his eyes on the 'new' target. The tailfeathers burn frighter. Small orbs begin to appear at the ends of each 'tailfeather', above the ruby-diamond ends. Flickering like fire - red feather-like embers falling off...

They truly looked like balls of fire. "Let's go, Amenthes!" Ascian calls out, letting the speaker pick up on this, as the unit flies forwards. "FOR MARS!" He might not be on Mars, but that didn't mean he couldn't fight for its sake!

The Amenthes rushes forwards and speeds right past Jin's unit, remaining low to the ground and going for Jun's Ground Gundam. Before colliding with it however, it suddenly halts, and flies straight back up. However... that didn't mean something ELSE was not still going 'forward'.

A foursome of giant red balls of energy sear towards the unit, each holding an explosive power within, kept at bay within the shell of compressed space. However, were they to touch something... the streets, a building... that Mobile Suit... their power would surely become apparent.

The Heavy Gear pauses it' heard turning spotting Ted, there's a roar from the engine.

"Huh what the hell? Is that who I think it is but this makes no sense! Why is he here?!"

James floors it speeding after Ted, his machine enaging some sort of SMS system and moving now much like a car and speeding along.

"You seem interesting!"

That sound is like a buzzsaw, slicing right through Roger's thoughts and breaking into his attentions brutally, cutting a path from the mind to the material in a heartbeat. It is a sound he has heard before, long ago, or maybe not, maybe merely a trick of Memory - a sound that is accompanied by fire and death, by things in the sky that rain destruction down upon the city that was once not called Paradigm, scourging it of life. A sound that is accompanied by the images of buildings falling, of people burning alive beneath the bombs, of lasers slicing through buildings from the eyes of hordes of great black gods and the backs of white things that swim in the sea, of the bombs that fall from things great and red and terrible.

It is an unmistakable sound, and as the fist comes in, spinning like the harbinger of sorrow that it is, Roger's hands tighten around the controls of Big O. The fat machine raises its hands to the sky, hiding its face behind its twin black shields like a professional boxer as speed that belies its size sends it to the side of the second Big, narrowly evading the buzzsaw. More cars are crushed underfoot; the footprints of the big god are littered in the concrete near the hole it emerged from. And then...

It presses the attack!

Big O comes barrelling forward, and Roger's hand swings backwards along the rail; the massive black hand curls into a fist as the Big O plows towards its nemesis now. He does not know why, and he does not know how, he understands - but he understands that he must bring this machine to the ground, before it reaches the skies he cannot fight it in.

"Is this your answer, Schwarzwald?!" Roger demands angrily, "Is this the Truth you bring? I know what these machines are! I know their history!" Though he does not know how he knows, it is true. He does. And he names them now, as the massive fist comes swinging in for the enemy's face.

"These machines are destruction! And if that's your truth...!"

"I REJECT IT!"

Hey! Don't ignore Jin!

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" That's right, Jin. You dictate this narrative! The black-haired pilot angrily snarls. Not only did his attack miss, but this guy had the audacity to just rip right by him and... go after his sister? Hot-button pushed!

"Leave her alone!" Shouts the elder brother, shifting in his seat, fingers nimbly gliding over the keys and controls before he grabs the steering handles and turns the Gouf Hunter around. Angrily, his feet work against the activator pedals and his mech takes off, streaking forward like a black bolt of lightning. Heavy footfalls from the black mech crack the pavement under it as it begins to run forward.

As the Amenthes flies upward and launches its attack at Jun, Jin's mech carefully maneuvers, first hopping onto the roof of a two-story building, then up onto a slightly taller building, before finally a third jump is made and his retro-rockets fire to give him extra lift upward.

His target and strategy isn't hard to figure out. While the enemy mech was ignoring him, he was gonna get up behind it and give it a good smack. So as he flies towards the airborne mech, the Gouf's fist comes forward. With some luck, he's hoping to clock the Amenthes square in the pack with a solid punch. It likely wouldn't do too much, but would serve to remind him he had two opponents.

The propellor stops spinning, forming a four-fingered fist that moves to catch the Big O's hand. But that contest is not one the bandaged Big can win; no, at best, it can stall the Black Megadeus for a moment or two. So the enemies remain there, hands locked with one another's for several seconds, as the madman's hand shakes trying to keep the the one joystick pushed as far as it can go.

"You can reject it all you want, but by piloting the Megadeus you set out on the very path you do not wish to talk! Your foolishness, Roger Smith, will be your undoing if I am not! And if I must myself repeat the past to teach this city to open its eyes, to teach it that the events they have forgotten are worth remembering, that they are worth burning into their minds, then so be it!"

The Big O is winning the struggle.

The bandaged Big suddenly jumps backward.

"Have you never wondered, Roger Smith; whether we control them, or they control us? Your Megadeus is no different from the others. Ask it! Ask it why it has chosen you! Ask it about memories! Ask it about yourself! You may learn more than you think you could if you just listen."

Schwarzwald pushes a button.

Like every other button onboard the Big Duo, it has only one purpose, the same as all other buttons.

THESE BUTTONS DELIVER THE TRUTH.

In this case, it's in the form of eye lasers, purple-pink-ish streams of death leaving the giant mummy's blue eyes.

After she lands her hit, Jun lets her rifle lower, stowing it as her left hand unslings her mech's shoulder-stowed bazooka. "Looks like this guy like being... Close?" She wonders, seeing him spin. "That mech moves so strangely!" She gasps, beginning to move from her position, suit creaking a bit as she stands it up from crouching. And then...

Well, she's rushed. "Damn! Strike, get this guy /off/ of me! I can't get range!" She calls tensely at her brother on the tight-beam, thumbing her boosters to jump clear of the explosions. As the orbs detonate all around her, she grits her teeth, aiming her bazooka down. "Get the hell away from me! And here, let me pay you back, double fire!" She cries, her cool breaking as the strange, unknown mecha rushes her.

A pair of rockets fire down as her mech's back grinds against the side of the building she boosts against, and all the orbs scorch her suit.

Ted Morrison does not care of machines following him. However, what he DOES mind, is a hulkin' freakin' robot that IS pursuing him. Morrison looks in the retrovisor as he speeds through the roars, through traffic. He was starting to wonder why why CARS were getting the hell away. "Oh, /bloody hell/!" Morrison curses out, speeding along to the starport of the city, taking harsh turns into the streets to try and shake off his pursuers.

There's a timeless lesson in Paradigm City, an understanding that's instinctually known to be the case no matter where you go.

The truth hurts.

Lasers lash across the Big O's shields; most of them spray outwards harmlessly, cleaving through nearby probably-uninhabited buildings or breaking glass or destroying other hazards. Still, the eye lasers are delivered by the hand of a fellow God; the Big O cannot simply shrug them off. The bolts of the arms begin to melt; the impenetrable metal shields are penetrated, leaving melting red metal in a trail down both arms exactly where the gaze of Schwarzwald's Big has gone.

Roger grits his teeth as he's shaken around in the cockpit. His muscles strain against the impact; the continuous beam is enough to push his arms backwards along the rail, and his feet are locked against the pedals of the great Megadeus as he and Big O resist the force of the laser. It is pushed backwards through the streets, leaving a trail behind it, twin trails of footprints drawn in solid concrete. But this isn't just about the laser, is it, Roger Smith?

No, of course not. This is about the words of Schwarzwald, the words of a mad reporter that ring true in the back of his head. He already doubted his identity; since Third Impact, he has wondered why Big O protected him, why he had this power...who he was. And Schwarzwald...was Schwarzwald right? Was this his destiny? The fire and flames that engulfed Paradigm City...was this the Negotiator's Truth?

No.

Roger lifts his foot, and the Big O complies. Against the weight of the beams and the Truth, the punishing, brutal Truth that Schwarzwald has embraced into his heart, the Big O starts to walk, beam shields wrapped about its face protectively. One step, then another, defying the stream of destruction as only Roger Smith can hope to do. It is slow going.

At first.

"It doesn't matter!" Roger declares loudly, "No matter which way it goes, whether we're puppets or they are, you said it yourself - these are Gods made by the hand of man, and if you're a man - if you're a Dominus - then you already have decided on an answer!"

"As for me, I'm still searching!" Big O starts to run, now, towards the enemy once again. One of its hands whips backwards, the other still planted firmly in front of its face, as Roger's eyes are locked on the eyes of his foe. "I'm still looking for my truth, but I will tell you this right now!"

"SCHWARZWALD!"

Roger's arm swings around, the fist stabbing right into the beams of light; the full power of the arm of Big O is behind it, and with his arm freed, the other one rotates backwards, ready to accompany the first mighty blow like the pounding rhythm of jackhammers on concrete. "No matter what the Truth is...if it involves the destruction of this city once again..."

"IT'S NOT THE TRUTH I'M LOOKING FOR! AND NEITHER ARE YOU!"

!!! DANGER !!!

That's the first thing that appears before Ascian's eyes as Jin decides to pull a melee maneuver on the young man. Rushing from building to building, Duat follows the Mobile Suit closely. And finally, when it realizes that Ascian is watching the sniper Gundam too closely, and is not watching his back, blares that giant red neon sign before him.

The Amenthes quickly sweeps around - the left arm changing into that of a blade somehow and crashes straight into Jin's closed fist! Sparks floor the area for a short moment, before the Gouf suddenly opens its fist and /takes hold/ of the sharpened Metatron-morphed blade - holding the Amenthes in place.

"SHIT!" That's the best thing Ascian can come up with to say at this point, as he turns his head quickly and watches as the missiles of the other unit come flying. "Move!!" He calls out to the unit, hoping it will heed his call. The arm pulls fiercely. But the Orbital Frame can't break the hold!

The missiles crash against the back - the spine - of the red humanoid Phoenix-like mech, causing it to bend forward. Pieces of armor plating fly off, shattering nearby buildings and crashing into houses. Screams can be heard all over the place. Schwartzwalt's wish for these people to learn of fears sure is coming to fruition quickly!

"LET ME GO!" Ascian threatens over the speakers, and the tailfeathers of the Amenthes once again are set alit. The tendrils this time, however, seem to shudder. The Metatron energy-flow through the veins of the Orbital Frame becomes stronger, as its framerunner puts more of his attention to the combat at hand. His eyes dart over the two vidwindows, along with ones of the environment around them.

"Duat!?" He calls out. "Roger that!" He doens't have to say it. He has that kind of link to the Amenthes. A series of small red orbs suddenly appear, along with two sets of large balls of fire. Much like he'd thrown at Jun earlier. "Do it!"

A series of small ones suddenly rush for the nearby building which the Gundam is moving past, crashing into it and SHATTERING its entire body - murdering those foolish enough to be inside. The two large ones dedicated to her unit then quickly go flying, amidst all the rubble and destruction, under the hope that they will be conceiled.

However, that doesn't mean that Jin is safe. The Orbital Frame flips over backwards and lays its pointy 'feet' right against the chest of the Gouf, and /kicks/ fiercely - whilst the remaining two balls of encapsulated Metatron energy go flying right at his unit!

WHAM. The first blow interrupts the eye laser fire that Roger had to shield again, and insodoing damages the head some and causes quite the sparks when the energy weapon is made to stop firing. With a fortunate reaction, Schwarzwald manages to avoid the second one, which would no doubt have left more than bumps and scratches on his plane.

The sparks set the disguise on fire, sadly. And quickly enough the fire spreads on the whole machine, burning the white stripes of cloth into nothing as the bandaged Big takes several steps back and disappears in the blaze. Is that it? Did Roger win, like is so typical after delivering those meaningful punches and a very strongly felt line?

The smoke clears.

The beast in Roger's memories stands before him.

The Red Megadeus, Big Duo, takes a step out of the cloud of smoke and debris, glowing blue eyes staring into Big O's own. Can the two machines understand one another? Do they talk to one another with those looks? Do they hate one another, and if so are they predetermined to fight like this? The madman at the commands of the plane might know the answers to that, or perhaps those are questions he still seeks the answers to.

"Haha... hahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHA! BEHOLD, ROGER SMITH! THE TRUTH YOU CANNOT DENY! THE TRUTH YOU NO DOUBT HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT! THE TRUTH YOU SEARCH FOR UNCONSCIOUSLY, BEGGING TO BE TOLD, BEGGING TO UNDERSTAND NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY! NOW, /BIG DUO/!"

Big Duo's eyes light up brightly.

"/ES IST SHOWZEIT/!"

On its screen flash the ominous words.

CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD YE NOT GUILTY

And with the confirmation flaring up, the repeating rocket launchers open fire on Roger like it's the Fourth of July, delivering truth-filled rocket after truth-filled rocket in five seconds OR IT IS FREE.

James Heller is now chasing after ted, at high speed. He's sure he's seen Ted before and he may be important. Also it's clear the guy ain't a native to the city as well. So clearly he's worth chasing after, the Gear picks up speed and ramps off the back of a large car carrier and gets some air time. The machine lands a bit behind Ted and keeps chasing.

"You got some skills but lets see if you can keep up!"

Rockets filled with truth, and also explosives, crack across Big O's exposed chest as Schwarzwald reveals the nightmare of Paradigm oncee again. The second Big...Big Duo! He knew its name - Big O knew its name, in the shadowy parts of both their minds, the Memory that was Big Duo. This was a Memory unearthed that should never have been so...a nightmare of steel and wing that soared through the skies and heralded the apocalypse.

As leviathan is the king of fishes, so the ziz is appointed to rule over the birds. His name comes from the variety of tastes his flesh has; it tastes like this, zeh, and like that, zeh.

The ziz is as monstrous of size as leviathan himself. His ankles rest on the earth, and his head reaches to the very sky.

The Memory that pierces Roger's mind is more intense than the explosions by far. Each burst of thunder is like a hammer upon his skull as he sees yet again the flashes of the End of the World, of the Disaster of Fourty Years Ago...as written in the book Metropolis, the Chronicle of this City. Fire roars through his mind...a crowd of children before a man in white...and a barcode running through his skull.

"NO!" Roger roars, "I WON'T LET YOUR TRUTH DESTROY THIS CITY AGAIN! Whatever you've discovered in the shadows of the world...whatever this monster you've unearthed may be..."

Roger releases the joystick, and it opens, revealing another, trigger-laden joystick within. The arm of Big O pops open, expanding into what can only be described as an immense gattling gun, and Roger's eyes settle onto his foe with the closest thing to malice Roger Smith has felt in a very long time. Or perhaps it isn't malice, but protectiveness...

Or the illogical emotion known as fear.

"Disappear into the shadows where you belong! SCHWARZWALD!" And Roger pulls the trigger.

The sound of the whirring takes hold of the world once again. It echoes through the streets as the laser bullets come flying, one by one, streaking towards Big Duo's chest to disable it as fast as he possibly can and render it immobile before it releases the egg of the Sun in its deadly frame. The lasers spin faster, and faster, and faster, a great purple ring of energy streaming towards Schwarzwald's machine with vengeance...would it be enough?!

At that close a range there's no chance for Jin to react and dodge. The Amenthes delivers a pair of powerful kicks to the flighty Gouf, rocking the mech heavily and sending it plummeting downward. The downward fall gives Jin a major dock to his maneuverability. Something he could really use, considering the followup energy attack that rocks his suit with a heavy explosion.

Klaxons roar on the inside of the suit, deafening the pilot while alerting him to the massive hit he just took to his suit. Jin Kaneko murmurs to himself, "Integrity down. Pressure in the joints taking heavy leakage. I can keep fighting, but that was nasty. One or two more of those and I'm down for the count." He reaches forward and pats the dash of the mech, "Come on, baby. You know I love you. Don't let me down here." He rubs the control panel. Hands come up to loosen his tie further and roll up his sleeves, "We'll chalk that one up jet lag and new environment. I know you won't let me down again, sweetheart."

Exhaling heavily and setting his hands on the controls, he shouts with a burst of energy, "So let's ROCK." He pulls back on the controls abruptly, the Gouf's agility and bursts of rockets, combined with the arms pushing it up, bringing it back to its feet swiftly, "That was a nice hit! Mind if I return the favor?!" He shouts at his opponent.

With a burst from the rockets, the Gouf jets forward towards the Amenthes, the elder Twin attempts another strong melee strike, abruptly breaking his mech at the moment he swings the sword to transfer his forward momentum into the strike.

Jun is sent flying back into the building as EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE AND EXPLODES AROUND HER.

She tumbles and skids on her back through the building, hitting a column with a terrible cracking sound. The green eyes of the Gundam dim as Jun frets in her cockpit. "No, no, no! Come on!" She pleads with her suit, beads of sweat rolling down her brow. Warning lights are flashing all over, as she hits the audio-warning override. "Gheez, my reactor is burning up!" She breathes, reaching under her console and pulling a red-and-yellow striped lever, as the vents all over her mech belched steam as she flushed her system with coolant. The heat monitors stopped flashing red, finally, as she flicked her startup switch a few times. "Work, work, work!" She whined, as the aging model finally started to creak back to life.

Bzoom~ Went the green eyes of the mecha, flashing back to life as the Gundam Ground rose back up. She panned her cameras left and right. "Bazooka, bazooka, where did it go?" The girl asked, trying to find her estranged firearm. "Oh, there's... half of it..." She sighs, checking her loadouts. "Damn, that fire cooked off my vulcan ammo and managed to snap my bazooka in two. Looks like the ankle mounts still work, though... A little to clustered for my rifle. Well, it'll have to do!" She shakes her head, cracking her knuckles and pushing up her glasses, gripping both control sticks and pressing them forward.

Her mech grabs the broken launcher, and then lopes through the broken building, heading towards the entry hole the orbital frame made with her suit.

She reaches it quickly, so desperate she throws her broken weapon out first to distract the flying monstrosity, before both ankle ports on the Gundam open. "It's time to take a page from my brother, and end this! It's not my thing, but sometimes..." The mech's hands make contact with it's pair of beam swords, both blades flaring to life at once. "You've got to IMPROVISE! GO!"

She flares her boosters, falling down on the orbital frame and driving down both sabers in a desperate gamble.

Blast after blast pelts the great red armor of the red Big. Disturbing is the fact it isn't ripped apart in an instant, and by the time the purple ring washes over the whole of Big Duo, it is still in one piece. Battered, the red paint certainly no longer red, but it has at least demonstrated that it is indeed a Big.

Schwarzwald bursts out into laughter as the smoke is forced to clear by the propellors of Big Duo activating, its arms placing themselves such that they face up. The thrusters are warming up.

"Destroy this city? Now what would that accomplish, Negotiator? What have I to gain by killing everyone? No! I would not let that happen. I would not let this city be destroyed or let this world be destroyed for that matter! This truth, these facts, the dead cannot learn them! This city must be freed from its shackles, not razed to the ground! And yet, if what it takes to accomplish this is some bloodshed, if history must be repeated for the truth to finally be engraved into the minds of the people. Is that not an acceptable sacrifice?"

With a WOOSH, Big Duo's thrusters lift it off the ground and it finally takes off. Not for long, however; its thrusters are sending it straight for the Big O, with both of its hand propellors no longer spinning after the initial launch, but the rockets still fueling the flight-charge.

First comes the right hand.

Then the left.

Jet-fueled punches! Two of them.

Jet-powered buzzsaw fists crash into Big O's face; the massive machine stumbles, once, then twice, hopping like some sort of bizarre parody of a human being punched, casting a wide shadow across the ground. The damage to the faceplate is the least of Roger's worries at the moment; far more pressing is that Big O is falling, falling, falling. That Big O has met an equal in strength, that Big O is fighting something that is undeniably its brother and shadow, something able to match blow for blow with it. The Big O falls, and it crashes into the warehouse behind it, hands hooked over the edges like a boxer who has just been knocked onto the corner and is now hanging from the ring by both arms. Roger's own head lolls in the cockpit, the words of Schwarzwald ringing still in his ears.

"What right do you have, Schwarzwald?" Roger demands, as Big O pulls itself from the rubble oh so painfully slowly, forcing itself off the ground as Big Duo takes flight. The power to rule the skies...just like in his memories. In those memories of destruction and sorrow!

"What right do you have!" Big O's head turns to look up at Big Duo in the sky, as if accusing the other Big of the same crimes of its pilot. "What right do you have to take their freedom away from them for your own twisted logic...no, that's not the right question here!"

Big O turns, following Big Duo's path with its eyes. Roger's hands swing the joysticks inwards, and they come together as the helmet of Big O slides forwards just a tad. "Whatever I say, you'll tell me that it's necessary...but for all your ramblings, you've neglected one thing, Schwarzwald!"

"You've neglected that I don't consider even one life in this city an acceptable sacrifice to find out the secrets behind your mad rambling! Whatever sacrifice you paid for your knowledge - I'll find the truth my own way, with my own two hands!"

The fists collide, the hammer of a god on the anvil of a titan. The sound rings out across the city, but it is dwarfed by the light, the all-consuming light that erupts from Big O's forehead and streaks into the sky. It pierces through clouds, trailing off into space harmlessly...with Big Duo as its one and only target, the Chromebuster delivers its payload of destruction.

The now-in-flight Big Duo swerves like a plane on a very very very large dime, gaining altitude as it distances itself from the Big O. Schwarzwald at the controls, tightly clutching twin joysticks, can only grin and disregard everything Roger says, not because he doesn't want to hear it, but because he can only hear what he wants to hear, and what he does right now is essentially 'look at me, I'm Roger Smith, I don't know the truth and I do dramatic speeches'!

He really should have paid more attention though because OH GOD CHROME BUSTER.

/CRASH SLAM/.

The beam of light slams into the red plane, and while it manages to veer to the side ever slightly enough to avoid a direct hit, it's enough to disbalance the Big enough that it experiences turbulence.

But it is still airborne.

"Why do you insist on embarassing yourself?!"

Schwarzwald reaches to the side, flicking up some switches. The legs of the Big Duo snap and suddenly lower themselves compared to the body, revealing particularily large missiles stored in the legs and now ready to launch from the knees.

"Nothing you say or think will change the truth, Roger Smith! Nothing! That you will learn it, whether you want to or not, is an inevitable fact of this world. Nobody said it would be pleasant or to your liking! But this city can continue on this stray path no longer!"

Little lights on the missiles suddenly pop online.

"Time to finish this!"

The Big Duo faces the Big O as it starts coming down facing it. Schwarzwald pressed the buttons atop his twin control sticks. The missiles launch, while the Red Megadeus angles its trajectory to not charge straight into the resulting explosion.

This is going to be a hard one not to see once it hits.

The Amenthes is afloat, and is turned so each 'side' of the unit is facing one of the Mobile Suits that are falling down towards the ground - or into a building. Ascian closes his eyes for a moment and lays his head backwards - feeling pearls of sweat running down his face. He was concentrating incredibly hard, and it was quickly taking a toll. It didn't help that some small features of Duat had been turned offline to help him 'integrate' better with the Orbital Frame, and to reduce the tasking amount of stress was being placed on the Artificial Intelligence due to the problematic quantity of Metatron on the unit.

The core of the unit is much brighter than normal, pulsing furiously, synching further with Ascian as he expands his own senses through those of the Amenthes. The feathers of light at its head, those little ornaments, jingle lightly in the wind whilst Jin and Jun pick themselves up through sheer willpower and gusto.

A smile appears on Ascian's face.

The eyes of the unit light up, the red slits burning as Jin is the first to rush for the Orbital Frame. The young man's eyes open again, and his hand make a sickly sound as he increases his grip on the strange controls.

He breathes out slowly. The cockpit, inside, begins to slowly fill with a cloud of red must it almost seems. "I see him... I can feel it. Yes..." His expression slowly shifts to a smile. That smile widens further... manically so.

The Orbital Frame's wings suddenly purse out further, Metatron crystals expanding like some kind of sickly disease. Its bioluminescent flow speeds up. The both arms shift into swords. Jin gets closer! The sword comes flying! The both arm-blades crash right into the Gouf's, which ends up pushing the Amenthes up into the air.

"Grrrrhhhhhn!" Ascian feels the G-forces as the Amenthes if forced out of its position and the unit ends up crashing into a nearby slightly higher building. Windows shatter, sending glass shards into the air - reflecting its alien red light - setting the entire area aflame with its almost magical light.

The young man's head then quickly turns as Jun suddenly comes flying at him melee style! He tries to get his unit to get away, and raises the two blade to try and block them! He manages! Or...

The two metalic bladed arms catch the beamsabers. Sparks go flying. Embers rush. Then, molten metal! The sabers begin to cut through its arms! "Graaaaah!" Ascian screams out over the speakers, almost as if he were in pain himself, as he retreats the arms - and the sabers lash across the chest of the Orbital Frame and pass by the sides of the cockpit, leaving two long scars across the unit which suddenly twists around and uses the flat sides of its blade arms to push the enemy unit of-course and uses the magnificent velocity its wings can produce to break off and rush to the top of one of the nearby buildings where... it lands.

Within the cockpit, that red glow has materialized what looks like a ghostly image. A red floating woman with wings, like fire, floating before Ascian. Smiling at him. "Kill them all. They are in your way. Are they not?" -- To which Ascian just smiles at her. "Yes... yes, they are in the way." And his attention turns to the area right beneath him.

"Shift to Vector Cannon Mode - Mark Two."

Duat suddenly announces.n he unit begins to unpack, pieces of metal appearing out of nowhere, connectors shifting around and locking into place. The bit-wings shift further outwards to give more room for the Vector Cannon equipment. A large barrel even purses from the torso of the unit whilst two rail-gun like sidings appear over the length of the cannon.

"Enery Lines Connected!."

The crystalized mass behind the bitwings grows to such size that they now clearly look like /wings/. Stretching out far and wide from the unit, glowing red and yellow, as if they are /truly/ on fire.

"Gravity and Kinetic Energy Cancelers - engaged."

The cannon-tip begins to shine with a crimson light, purple lightning begins to crackle along the railgun as the unit engages its thrusters and flies straight up into the air - trying to line up both the Gouf and the Gundam at the same time. Hoping that if he'd pierce one... it'd hit the other. Although it'd be much more likely to ENGULF them!

"Inner Chamber Pressure Rising Normally."

A eightsome of circular plates suddenly appear right around the half-way point of the railgun beams and begin to circle around it, slowly speeding up and forming a red electric link like lightning constantly seeking earth - spreading this all throughout the long metalic beam towards the cannon as well as its end.

"Life Ring has started revolving."

The rings flare up quickly, much more so than normal, and within mere seconds, Duat is already notifying Ascian;

"READY TO FIRE!"

The unit is clearly showing on any kind of radar by this point, with the amount of energy gathered. The space between the Amenthes and the area beyond the two mobile suits begins to warp as the space is starting to be compressed by the unit. Buildings around them begin to strain. Nearby cars begin to suddenly be crushed with no explaination other than... they just are.

Then finally...

Ascian shouts...

"TASTE THE POWER OF METATRON!!!"

There goes the neighbourhood.

More freaking missiles. As Roger prepares to punch the everloving hell out of them, alarms start to go off in the back of his head; these are not normal missiles, something tells him. These are the missiles he so fears. These are the fire from the sky that once brought ruin on Paradigm City - no mere explosions, but the fire of the sun, the darkness that becomes light and becomes something more besides, that rages through buildings and melts them to ash. This is a nightmare given the form of metal, and it is coming to destroy him. And it will destroy him. And it will destroy everything else around him.

And the Chromebuster needs to cool down, and the guns, and the missiles, and none of them would be enough. He is out of options, he is...

... he is sitting in the cockpit of Big O, dressed in the uniform of a soldier. He is looking upon Big Duos raining chaos from the heavens, a legion of Big Duos who bring destruction, a legion of an unknown white Megadeus that does the same by sea. And there is a legion of Big Os, too, the great black titans who wreak havoc across the ground.

Below him, unfamiliar footpedals expand and shift and change, in both the real world and his memories. A single glowing flares, as the arms and chest and everything else Big O has expand and unfold. Lightning rolls down its arms; light flares about its head, as a field of power begins to spread from Big O's body. Roger's eyes, in the fiction and the reality, widen.

His foot stamps down on the glowing button.

And it explodes; lightning and power, raw plasma, crackles around Big O as it spreads, a light show of interminable power spreading to meet the reflex missiles Roger so fears. The missiles are caught in the explosion, high above the city; even still, the shockwave crumples buildings, shatters glass, and the sound is like the sound of a sun being born above Paradigm City.

And then the world goes white, as the Plasma Gimmick erupts.

Destructive, dangerous gimmicks. The Big Duo's missile intercepted in mid-flight, it detonates and adds to the raw power of Roger's newfound resource. And what a blast it is, too. The shockwave that results from it and the flash of light cause the Red Megadeus to be completely thrown off its flight path, its armor crushed by the pressure and the pilot screaming at the sudden complete lack of balance in his plane.

This is not a good day, after all.

The truth can wait.

A battered but still flying Big Duo swerves, no longer attempting to close in on Roger Smith and his Big O. But Schwarzwald won't leave quietly, oh no.

"Remember what I said, ROGER SMITH! No matter how hard you and these people try to avert your eyes from the truth, all you will succeed to do is become a puppet of this city's curse! Do not let it win you over, Negotiator! There are only three who can ever hope to reach the truth fully! It is our DUTY to share and spread it, not to ignore and deny it!"

And the Big Duo flies off, trailing some smoke behind due to the damage, soon disappearing from sight.

Every single alarm in the Gouf starts going off at once, "Those energy readings are off the chart! Something big is coming!" He turns his mech around to face the Amenthes, locking his eyes and sensors upon the foe. He grits his teeth and starts checking every readout he has, panic setting in for the first moment, "No, no, no. This is bad. Very bad. I have to dodge." He starts to tilt his mech to get out of the way before a little screen pops up from some special equipment he has and... shows him the condition of Jin's mech. And where she is. A calm sets in over the pilot.

He pauses from turning away, turning his mech back towards the Amenthes as it charges, "Nnnn..." Protect your sister, Jin. That's what brothers do, right? And this guy wants to kill your sister. And that? That's not something you're going to abide. The hesitation fades... the rage burns. He closes his eyes as he tilts every mech forward with every ounce of force in his body, "JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"

As Far as the eye can see Sharp dressed fools with their crazy rules here And blinding advice from all my friends Reaching into perfection

As the energy blast of immense proportions, with enough force to level a neighborhood, begins to be launched, Jin reacts like any hot-blooded melee expert with someone to protect would. He charges down the center of the attack, right towards the Amenthes. His hands glide over the switches as every meter begins to light red, his machine screaming at him that this was the worst possible idea for him to be executing.

But the worst course of action is the one you sometimes need to take to protect the person you care about most. And this was one of those very moments. And so, despite every single warning his Gouf is giving him, Jin pushes it forward right into the mouth of Hell itself, with his eyes set on a single goal: Jun Kaneko.

His hand comes up to rip his tie off of him, the first time he's removed it in years during a combat operation before his fist slams down on his broadcast button, "YOU! Do you hear me?! THIS IS NOT HOW THIS ENDS! I WON'T PLAY BY YOUR RULES NOR WILL I FALL DOWN SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU DESIRE IT!" He screams in the cockpit of his Gouf.

I take off into the night, it won't be long I'll be fighting when the dawn is breaking Holy fire I'm not scared of you, I'll take you to burn Watch out for your enemy

The right hand of his Gouf comes up to the heat knife holstered at the machines shoulder, grabbing it and igniting the blade of the weapon as he closes in on the Jin and her mech as the attack itself hits its apex and launches. With a single smooth motion, he ducks his mech to the left, trying to control where he's forced to take the hit.

"I will never say die! I will be the best! And I don't do it for glory... or for money... or for prestige..." He continues shouting, focused firmly on where he's going and what he's trying to do. As he weaves, the hand with the heat knife is.. sacrificed. He plants it firmly on the shoulder of her Gundam Ground as the beam from it rips through him. His arm literally is vaporized in the extreme size of the Vector Cannon, the heat knife and any hope of a counterattack vanishing with it. He saved his sister and he sacrificed the upper-right quarter of his mech to do it. The Gouf Hunter stumbles past the Amenthes and falls over onto the ground.

Death can be seconds away Live for now like there's no tomorrow And forward we ride in this war like machine There'll be no returning

Jin lies in the lifeless machine. So he lied. He did fall after all. He stares at the blank screens, sighing. And then... in the corner of his eye... one weapon was still functional. He perked his head and smiles wryly. He had one thing left, but he had to do this all or nothing. Everything at once. He whispers softly, "Now, Jun."

With a trained calm, he pulls on all his controls at once. The Gouf, with its last facets of energy, rips off the ground in a flurry of activity. The remaining left arm grabs the heat sword all at once, lunging and slashing for the Amenthes all at once as he screams, "LET'S SHOW HIM HE CAN'T BEAT THE CHILDREN OF GOLD!"

And when life is evil I'll fly my wings across the sky Is it our destiny killing our brothers?

Jun sees everything going to hell around her, and the massive orbs forming around the metatron-fueled cannon of destruction. The massive energy attack starts to build, and Jun pulls back on her sticks, thumbing her booster rockets as she tries to bust ass out of the blast zone. She hears the tell-tale whine of the retro-rockets powering up, propellant burning as she lifts a few inches off the ground...

And then the dumb things peter out, the fuel warning finally being noticed by the female twin.

"Oh... Shi-" And then her brother JUMPS INTO THE LINE OF FIRE, pushing her out of the way, as her gundam ground falls in slow motion. Her left side is ravaged as the beam tears her mecha apart. The entire left bank of monitors goes dead, and her cockpit steams up as smoke fills it from fires begin to crackle inside her mech's body, electrical explosions cherry-bombing through her mecha's wracked shell. The Gundam Ground, customized for taking out enemies at long range and not taking lasers at point-blank, falls on its side, the shield, left arm, left leg, machine gun, and most of the head melted off. Her suit steams and smokes, the cockpit filling with choking smoke.

And Jun just pushes her glasses up, bashing her free hand on a large red button just out of normal reach marked 'fire suppression systems', toggling off systems and rerouting power. "I won't need my targeting computer for this one..." She smiles wryly, before going into a coughing fit, tears welling up in her eyes from the smoke.

Her mech creaks, straining and groaning against servomotors in its remaining arm as it unslings one final, mostly untouched gun strapped to its side that had escaped the massive lasers and explosions of earlier.

It's a long gun that the mech braces against the ground, the heavy 180mm anti-armor cannon that... practically bumps against the Orbital Frame's chest.

Jun smiles, flipping off the cover of a secondary firing stub, firmly depressing it.

There's no hot-bloodedness from Jun. Instead, she just coughs... "Don't underestimate us, jerk."

And the huge cannon, meant for bombarding enemy positions, opens up at point blank.

Ascian remains seated within his cockpit, laughing madly as the Vector Cannon scourges through the streets! Pavement and tarmac are ripped to shreds, a harmless hotdog stand gets crushed into the size of a sugar cube, and a foursome of buildings ahead crumble instantly, and disappear within a green-red smoke as it they are entirely crushed and destroyed at the same time - vaporizing their very existance.

And it is that beam that keeps going, thinning out, but still going, as Jin bursts through - and past the beam. It keeps going even as Jun raises that cannon up at the Amenthes in that last moment of desperation.

"HAH! LIKE YOUR STUPID CANNON WILL DO ANYTHING AGAINST ME!? I AM LIKE A GOD!"

When suddenly! *thump-thump!* His heart skips. He quickly grabs for it, and watches as the visage for the woman of flame quickly disappates. And somewhere, back in his mind, he hears a different voice. Not one from Amenthes, not one from Duat. Not even a memory. But more like, his concience. What... what would Hera think of him doing this!?

No way she'd be okay with this. The grip on his military uniform - near his heart - firms and pushes against his chest. "GRAAAAH! CHIIIKUSHOOOOOO!"

Sensors go alight within the cockpit suddenly, as the world begins to fall apart around him. Not literally, but figuratively. Jun gets up closer and fires her weapon. The large bullet flares through the Vector Cannon that is still active... aimed to stop the bullet -- which seems to quickly become smaller... stalling in midair. Would it not reach?

Jin then manages to stumble and crash his heat blade STRAIGHT through the back of the Amenthes - slightly to the side of the spine, and crashes it right through its armor. The unit buckles forwards slightly - and the powerflow through its body is suddenly hampered.

Ascian tries to guide his unit to reach around and grab away at Jin's unit, but at that same time the Vector Cannon disengages - that last thin beam scorching straight above the cockpit of his long range opponent; just barely not close enough to kill the female pilot... were the machine not to move.

And the bullet finds its way. It stabs through the other side of the Amenthes, ripping into its body and causing the entire unit to Jerk and twist around - wrenching the heat blade out of the Gouf's hand and sending the Orbital Frame plummeting to the ground.

It crashes into a nearby house - sending screams of people who suddenly are crushed beneath the massive frame. Sparks of red jump all over its body. Yet... it was not done yet.

The equipment that formed the Vector Cannon all suddenly disappate, whilst its hands move and push onto the ground beneath. The unit begins to lift itself up from the downed position when suddenly...

FWOOOOM! The light that the Big O managed to fire off crashes down onto the invader, setting it ablaze not with its red energy, but under a cleansing white. The machine /HOWLS/ in a monster-like manner for a moment, as the entire area whitens... and the brightness gets too much...

And when it is finally gone. The unit too, is gone. In the distance, one could see the hampering figure of the Orbital Frame, barely capable of staying straight, flying with only one wing left, fleeing to wherever it came from...

Jin has precisely zero idea what is going on with this guy's mech. He's read one, maybe two reports of an Orbital Frame in his entire career, and never encountered one before in his life. All he knows is that the mech is sitting still and that's going to make his job easier for him in his last ditch assault.

Jin lets out a satisfied yell as he brings his head sword down through the Orbital Frame's back, the blade burning as it sears through before his mechs last power gives out and the blade flickers several times before crashing to the ground with a heavy clatter. With a last heavy pull, Jin adjusts the fall of his mech, making it crash to the ground in a heap on its back.

Jin watches on his sensors as the Orbital Frame degrades under heavy damage and then retreats. He lets it go this time. There was no way he could pursue it in his condition anyway. The pilot pulls a shattered piece of glass from one of his moniters out of his forearm before wrapping his red tie around the wound like a bandage. He pulls a lever with his good arm that has 'Emergency Hatch Release' written on it in black letters.

There's a loud hiss as the chest cavity of his Gouf opens up and the pilot climbs out, surveying the damage on the machine as he stands on the stomach of it. He was missing a shoulder and an arm. Extensive damage to every other system on the mech. He watches the Frame retreat and sighs.

Bending over, he reaches into the cockpit again and pulls out a large gun. This gun is pointed skyward before he pulls the trigger. A massive white flare streaks from the gun before exploding in the sky, setting off a beacon to the Alpha Numbers about his and Jun's location.

The pilot looks over at his sister's mech as he sits down on the remnants of his Gouf. He scowls and murmurs to himself, "This new job is gonna be way harder than South America."

Jun's mech buckles, and then the eyes dim out, the remaining arm going limp as the laser ravages her mech a bit more. In her cockpit, Jun reaches up, and pulls down on two yellow-and-black levers, small 'pops' sounding all over her mech as all the ammunition packs are ejected and shot away a short distance. Well, all the ammo that was left. She couldn't afford it exploding while her mech was so close to busted!

Finally, she pops the cockpit hatch with some doing, crawling out of her smoke-filled cabin and taking a heaving breath, flopping out on her scorched and battered and basically totalled suit.

She shoots a little v-for-victory sign at Jin, before continuing a small coughing fit from all the smoke.