Paradigm City - Transcripts - Episode 24 Transcript: "The Big Fight"

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Episode 24 Transcript: "The Big Fight"

Episode opens with a brief recap of Roger's failed attempt to prevent Dorothy's kidnapping.

As Roger/Big O faces Big Duo, Roger tells Norman to stay back, that "...this one is mine." The negotiator is a little surprised to see the red megadeus back in action, and wonders who might be piloting it. He recalls his last battle with it, when it was piloted by Schwarzwald, but his musings are cut short by an alarm from Big O's sensors, reminding him that the scorpionbot holding Dorothy is getting away.

Frustrated, Roger growls that he doesn't have time to play right now, and the fight between the two Bigs commences. A few moments later, the Big O's sensors indicate it has lost track of Dorothy and her captor. Big Duo continues to attack from the air, using small stinger-type missiles. Big O shoots its eye lasers at it as it flies by, but misses.

Cut to Dan Dastun alone in his squad car, driving towards Roger's place. "What the hell is happening?" he cries out, catching glimpses of the titanic battle between the buildings.

Cut back to battle. Everything seems to slow down, the colors fade to sepia tones. We see a typewriter briefly, and hear Schwarzwald narrate over the rest of the scene: "Truth--those who seek it out, unknowingly become obsessed with this grand illusion that they're able to control this world, this tiny world!" (image cuts back to battle, then to cover of "Metropolis" as a tomato falls onto the cover and explodes into pulp and blood-colored juice) "The incomplete book of Gordon Rosewater's, written in his younger days, depicts the final days of humanity and the foolish humans who use the power of God" (cut back to sepia-toned slow motion battle.)

The two Bigs are devasting the area. Finally their fists meet, sending shockwaves out. Image cuts to Alex Rosewater's old-fashioned recordplayer, playing a vinyl record, but he's not there listening. We next see Alex walking out to his car (a white convertible.) He thinks, "I think you understand, Dad, why I did what I did. As I emulate you, I will create history with my own two hands." He gets in the car and drives off.

Cut back to battle in front of Roger's home. Big Duo has knocked Big O flat on its back, and is standing on top of it. It grinds its massive foot into the black megadeus's midsection.

Roger curses in frustration and demands to know who the pilot is. The Big Duo slams its fist into the ground, barely missing the cockpit and Roger. It then stands up, folding its fingers together and spins them like a drill. It then lunges at the cockpit again.

Schwarzwald narrates: "The memories are here, Negotiator," as the red Big slams the drill point against the cockpit doors repeatedly. The doors start to give way beneath the assault.

Roger: "Big O, it doesn't make sense to just let him have his way, don't you agree?" Big O responds by opening up all of its chained anchor ports and firing them pointblank at Big Duo. They crash into the red Big and lift it up off of Big O. The black megadeus then displays all of its missiles.

Roger: "No matter how often you come back from the grave, that's where you belong. Eternal sleep means ETERNAL!" He fires the missiles and hits Big Duo. Pieces of chain and red armor fall to the ground, then the main body of the giant robot. Big O gets back on its feet, and Roger surveys the red Big's body lying at the far end of the street. To his astonishment, Big Duo gets back up.

We hear high-pitched giggling. Alan Gabriel is Big Duo's pilot. He has hundreds of green cables connecting his body to Big Duo's controls. He cheerfully says to Roger: "Oh, I must say, this DOES feel good! I haven't felt anything quite like this since I decided to quit being a total human! My body, my nerves! They've all been tied directly into Big Duo! Big Duo itself is my very own body!"

Roger narrows his eyes and replies, "You'd go that far? Well, you have it backwards. That incomplete megadeus has control of YOU."

Alan is shocked. "What?" he gasps.

Roger calmly continues, "An incomplete megadeus seeks out a domineus. You're just being used as a device to activate it. That's exactly why your master stole Dorothy, isn't it?"

Alan laughs. "Which do you mean? The Union? Rosewater? Either way, I don't care." He laughs again, obviously enjoying all this. "There's just one thing I have to make perfectly clear to you. I have to teach you that your unwarrented self-confidence, your arrogance in believing YOU can control machines, is just a delusion, by sending you to hell. Big Duo, SHOWTIME!"

The red megadeus now turns both of its hands into enormous spinning drills. They scrape briefly along the ground, easily digging out deep ruts as if the asphalt were butter.

Big O raises its left arm, but the right is damaged at the shoulder and can't respond. Big Duo charges furiously, drills spinning wildly. We hear Alan's shrill laugh.

Big O raises its left forearm to shield itself from the onslaught. The drill tips slide off, but one manages to strike Big O's face, digging a gash in the right cheek. As Big O retreats, Roger grumbles aloud, "Ordinarily, I'm not one to whine, but I DO have to admit this fight has me a little worried." He scowls. "However, that isn't the megadeus's original form. The fantasies that Gordon dreamed up will NOT be REPEATED!" With that outburst, Big O swings its left arm forward, throwing back Big Duo. Big O then goes on the attack, grabbing Big Duo's head and slamming the robot against a building. While holding it in place, Roger activates the laser gatling gun in the left arm, firing pointblank. The pink laser blasts rip through both the mecha and the building it's up against. After the barrage ends, Big o pulls its head off and backs off a few steps.

The now headless red megadeus stands still for a moment, then (to Roger's surprise) it attacks again. It thrusts its left drill clear through Big O's midsection, on its right side, then closes in and pushes Big O hard up against a building. Alan attacks the Big O's cockpit again, gleefully chirping, "Be afraid, Roger Smith. This particular dream isn't going to end til I bring your life to an end."

Roger growls in return, "You're nothing but a monster!"

Alan giggles, then yells, "DIE!" He pushes the joystick forward, but it stops of its own accord, as does Big Duo, its drill tip scant inches from Big O's cracking cockpit.

We now hear Schwarzwald, and so does Alan Gabriel as the ex-reporter solemnly intones, "A megadeus chooses its domineus." Alan looks around frantically; "Who's there?" he cries out, finally frightened. He struggles with the controls, but they are locked in place. The cables connecting him to the Big Duo begin to move snakishly of their own accord, whipping around him as if alive. He cries out again.

Big Duo stands up, moving away from Big O. Back in the red megadeus's cockpit, we see the control panels popping off, revealing still more cables writhing. They wrap around Alan as he shrieks, "Why is this happening?"

Big Duo moves further away from Big O, then starts its engines and takes flight, going straight up. Alan screams shrilly as it rises; Roger and Big O watch in stunned silence.

Alan continues to struggle, trying to reach the controls. "But I haven't killed him yet," he chokes out, as more cables wrap themselves around his throat and arms, pulling him back into the pilot seat. As he is buried by the mass of cables, Schwarzwald sternly says, "You! You possess the foolishness of BOTH man and machine."

Alan: "SHUT UP!"

Schwarzwald continues: "It chooses one who controls the power of God created by Man, one who is able to arrive at one truth. That's not the case with you!" As Alan Gabriel continues to struggle to stay above the cables, he sees Schwarzwald floating outside the cockpit, then sees the viewscreen light up with a single phrase: "Ye guilty." Alan stares at it in horror, fully aware of what that means, just before he is swallowed up by the remaining cables. Big Duo continues to rise above the city, finally disappearing in the thick clouds.

Cut back to Roger in the cockpit. He watches all this in silence, then hears the rumble of aircraft engines. He turns and sees what appears to be three triangular squadrons of planes approaching. "The Union," he mutters softly. He exits Big O via its foot and looks up at the black megadeus, surveying the damage. It's extensive. The Big is in no condition to fight. He turns without comment. Dastun is waiting there for him, leaning against his squad car.

Dan: "We have a serious matter ahead of us. Gordon Rosewater's dome was set on fire and it looks as if--"

Roger (looking utterly exhausted) walks past the colonel and curtly interrupts him: "I'm sorry, but I have something urgent to see to."

Dan: "Those combat machines that attacked your place--my men are successfully trailing them."

Roger pauses and turns round to face Dan. "I appreciate it, Dastun, but at this point I already know where I need to go." He turns away and keeps on walking.

Dan yells at him in frustration: "What are you telling me, Roger? That I can't help this city? That there's nothing I can do?"

Roger, without looking back, replies: "A man should find out for himself what his purpose in life is. Isn't that right, Dastun?"

Dan stares after the negotiator as he walks to the Griffon amidst the rubble and finally drives off. Smith is apparently heading for the place where Alex has the replaced megadeuses--we see images of both Big Duo and Big Fau as Roger drives and thinks to himself: "Alex Rosewater is trying to become this world's god, even if it means committing patricide...What am I doing? Angel, and now Dorothy...I chase after people who have left, people who have been taken away (image of Dorothy's skirt and legs against the sky) but this time, its..."

The road is blocked by a crowd of people all staring up at a building. Roger looks up too, curious, and sees Dorothy standing on the edge of the roof. He dashes up there to get her. "Dorothy!" he cries out, relieved. "Dorothy, you're safe now." As he reaches out for her, she falls backwards into his arms. He manages to break her fall and gently lowers her down. To his horror, her disc drive has been ripped out, along with her memory core. She is lifeless, her now pale green eyes staring emptily.

Cut to maintanence bay, where Big Fau is being worked on. Jason Beck is overseeing everything, and Alex Rosewater is there as well. Alex congratulates Beck on his successful transplanting of Dorothy's core memory into Big Fau, and tells him his paycheck will be waiting for him. Beck, in the course of conversation, comments that he feels Alex knew exactly what was going to happen to Gabriel once he gave him Big Duo. It's also obvious from Beck's facial expressions and body language that Alex makes him uncomfortable, and he is anxious to get out.

Alex compliments him again, then says that Paradigm is going to be a battlefield soon. Once it's over, he plans to "reset" it but to HIS specifications. Beck asks if that means they're all going to lose their memories again. Alex replies no, that was too inefficient. That was the one blunder that Gordon had made. He then tells Beck he wants his help "...now, and forever." Beck doesn't look very happy to hear that.

Cut to front door of Roger's trashed mansion. A little boy hands Norman a letter in exchange for some money, then runs off.

Cut to Roger and Norman standing solemnly over Dorothy's motionless body. Norman sadly tells Roger that ALL of her memories have been taken, including the peripherals, and that there is so much damage that even if they got her original memories back, the only person capable of restoring her is...

Roger finishes Norman's sentence: "...is the late Prof. Wayneright."

After a moment of silence, Norman says he'll go repair and rearm Big O. He starts to leave, then returns and hands Roger the letter, telling him it had been delivered shortly before. The butler than leaves Roger alone with the little android's body.

Roger looks at the envelope, and sees it's from Michael Seeback. "Schwarzwald," he murmurs softly.

Cut to Roger sitting morosely beside Dorothy's body, as if at a wake. He narrates: "Schwarzwald's letter was to be delivered to me only in the event of his death. This man had continually made it his mission in the city to faithfully seek out the truth and report it to the public. Schwarzwald...I can't help but wonder...it's as if he were still wandering the city relentlessly, in search of his own personal truth, even after his body had perished."

As Roger narrates, we see Berg rounding up older people from outside, and organizing them to quickly fix Big O.

Roger: "I wonder if he knew, when he was betrayed by Big Duo, did he realize then, that there is probably more than one truth?"

Cut to image of "Metropolis," lying on a cracked floor. Roger is now in what's left of his bedroom. He picks up the book and flips through the pages, pausing at a photo of a young Gordon Rosewater shaking someone's hands, with the domes under construction in the background. Half of the page is torn out, so we don't know who the other person is. Roger reads aloud: "The power of God, created by Man...divine thunder raining down from the heavens." He closes his eyes, as if coming to a decision.

Cut to Roger returning to the lifeless Dorothy. He stands close beside her, and says, "Dorothy, since you first came to live here, I feel like I've known you forever. You know, I never answered that question you had asked me a while ago, did I? You had asked, if you were human instead of an android, would you and I have fallen in love? If things had been different, like you said, maybe we would have. That's my answer to you. And please don't tell me that I'm dodging the issue. Right now I can't seem to commit to one truth, but I know that I won't waver in doing what needs to be done, or in going down the path that I have to take. Wait for me."

He leaves.

Cut to Angel. She is stumbling down a dark, narrow tunnel or hallway. She is dirty, barefoot, exhausted, alone. As she walks, she recalls bits of her childhood, and thinks: "I don't want to be here anymore. As soon as I can, I'll find the memories, and then I'll go back home, to Mom...Will I ever see Mom again? She was the only one, the only one who called me a true angel...only my Mom called me that."

As she wanders, she hears something, and a red light suddenly glows dimly ahead of her. Angel pulls out her gun and cocks it, then runs towards the light. It gets blindingly bright, and she unexpectedly finds herself emerging from a wooden hallway onto a sound stage, full of cameras and monitors and props. There is a mock-up of her childhood home, complete with wood-burning stove, bubbling cookpot, and fake painted mountains behind the windows. She wanders the set in a daze, utterly confused. "It can't be," she murmurs. "This is impossible."

Cut to Dan Dastun, walking down the streets of Paradigm, seemingly deep in thought. He notices a red balloon across the street from him. It's held by a little blonde girl, who is standing in front of a movie ticket seller with a somewhat taller boy. They are buying tickets. Something about the poster for the movie being shown startles Dastun. The colonel darts across the street, almost getting hit by oncoming traffic.

He stares at the poster in shock. It's for "Winter Night Phantom." The picture is of the blonde female terrorist and the police officer facing each other on a snowy pier. The names of the stars are beneath the picture: Dan Dastun and Sybil Rowen.

He stammers, his eyes wide: "That's...How can that be?"

Dan goes into the theater. It is empty, save for the two kids sitting together in the front row--exactly as he remembered from his own childhood. "This is crazy," he mutters. "This can't be happening."

The curtains part and Dan watches, his confusion only increasing. "These are--my memories...How did they...?"

We now see the film. It's black and white, shows thick clouds parting over Paradigm city as it is at that exact moment. We hear the sound of aircraft engines rumbling on the soundtrack.

End of Episode.

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