Diabolus Ex Machina

Roatha<Please, please, call me Roatha.>

*Lilith raises a hand for a shake & he dives behind Tipheret.*

Tipheret<You are embarrassing me, Sir.>

Roatha<Shut up. I'm just a public official. What am I supposed to do, fire my slingshot at her?>

Zell tries not to laugh, but fails. She covers it up with a cough, "I'm sorry, I must have got some food caught in my throat."

Tipheret<You, the one with the psychosexual attraction to androids.>

""What?""

Tipheet<Explain why you were sighted in Miss Psyche's car as it was fleeing the Paradigm Headquarters building in the direction of Valefor Pruslas's mansion.>

"We had reason to believe that Pruslas was responsible for the death of the former president," Zell said.

Tipheret<And that reason would be?>

T"He had an open shot at the Presidency, and Barbatos had just escaped on Big Duo. It is unlikely that she would have had time to do this and kill the President."

Tipheret<All circumstantial evidence. Particularly, there is no way to know where former President Vera Ronstadt was at the time of her murder, other than being in the building during the incident. Is there anything else?>

"The caliber of the bullet matched the one Pruslas has," Zell said, remembering that was the reasoning in the first place.

Tipheret<In other words, you were the ones who removed the bullet from Vera Ronstadt's body. Interesting. It also contradicts your story.>

T"Technically, we never denied being present."

Tipheret<Of course. So we have presence & motive. I think that is enough to warrant an arrest.>

"What motive?" Zell asked, "And that makes no sense, it was a bullet from Pruslas' revolver that killed Vera. How could we have possibly taken his gun?"

Tipheret<It is a known fact that Thiera Psyche detested Vera Ronstadt. It is also--rumored--that she stockpiles illegal Megadeuses. Which, with the destruction of Inferno and Big Duo, she now has a monopoly on. As for Pruslas, no one ever said it was his gun.>

Roatha<Well, the records don't say he owned a gun, but I'm pretty sure I saw him with it in the past.>

*Tipheret sighs angrily.*

Tipheret<Sir, with all due respect, what you "think you saw" is not proof of their innocence!>

"But it is reasonable doubt," Zell said, "Or do you not trust the word of your president? Besides, Thiera is little more than a friend and landlord. Do you really think someone would kill someone else because she didn't like them?"

Tipheret<It is our job to prove reasonable suspicion, and the court's to prove reasonable doubt.>

Roatha<She does have a point. Unless you have additional evidence to sway the case, we'll have to have you arrested.>

L"I don't like that."

Roatha<It can't be helped, scary android lady.>

"What reason do you have to doubt us anyway?" Zell asked, "Thiera not liking Vera explains Vera's death, if poorly, but why would we go and kill Pruslas? And why would ALL of us go, in an entirely conspicuous car no less? We got to Vera secretly enough, why muck it up by going to Pruslas so openly?"

Tipheret<The stupidity of your plan is also not evidence of your innocence. We already know that the android killed Pruslas, and that the rest of you were present, so there is no point in denying that. I have my own theories of your motive, but that is neither here nor there.>

L"My motive was defense of innocent bystanders. Pruslas was threatening to shoot my friends."

Tipheret<Horseshit. An automaton would easily have enough power to detain Pruslas without resorting to murder.>

L"He was also conspiring with Aamon Avici and Helen Barbatos to take control of the city. Though both are now dead, it is doubtless that he had lower-ranked spies in the Paradigm office."

Zell folded her arms, angered by how foolish all of this was.

Tipheret<A bold statement. I doubt very much that you have any proof.>

T"He mentioned a Megadeus, a Third Big."

*Tipheret widens her eyes.*

Roatha<What? What is it? Don't leave me out!>

Tipheret<It was our theory that there were at least 3 models of the "Big" type Megadeus--that is, thick-bodied, humanoid Megadeuses, with the recurring design features of eye lasers, gun ports in the torso, & weaponized arms--and that Aamon & Barbatos were seeking them out for some nefarious purpose. But we never shared this information with Pruslas.>

Zell kept quiet.

Roatha<Well, then, it's settled! If you present this Megadeus to the Paradigm Corporation, then we will drop all charges.>

"How do you expect us to find this Megadeus?" Zell asked, "Also, why does that determine our innocence? It has nothing to do with us."

Roatha<Because right now, we have enough to book you. Most evidence is circumstantial, and could go either way in a trial. However, if you were to present this Megadeus to us, I figure it would conclusively disprove any claims of an anti-Paradigm conspiracy. All other charges would be dropped as a courtesy for this massive public service. Of course, you could just go ahead, let us arrest you, & take your chances with the court. But I do not recommend it.>

*He points at Liith.*

Roatha<'Specially for you. The laws regarding androids who kill humans seldom require enforcement, but they are very strict.>

Zell sat there, looking disenfranchised with the justice system.

Roatha<This is literally the best deal that I can offer.>

T"Then I guess we'll have to take it. How much time are you giving us?"

Roatha<This would proceed much as though you had posted bail--you are free until the day of the trial. We'll have to file out the proper paperwork, but I'd estimate that you have about 3 days.>

T"Three days?!"

Roatha<Yeah...the executives are concerned about the riots, and the total anarchy in Paradigm-2. They want to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.>

"But you're the president. Surely you must have the ability to delay the trial," Zell said.

Roatha<Not really. The courts used the time before I got instated as President to put restrictions on the office's power. Guess they thought Ronstadt had too much control over the city.>

Zell couldn't disagree.

Roatha<All right, then. Good day, ladies. And good luck finding that Megadeus.>