The Big O: The Final Act - Act 32: Out Of The Blue

Chapter 2: The Recluse's Discovery

April would be a busy month in the mansion. Beck was coming over almost every day to help me, Norman, and Dorothy decipher the file I found on Big O and her. The notes were written in some cryptic language, no doubt to try to prevent anyone other than the author from reading it. But we've never seen the language before and going to the memory archives was out of the question, out of fear that the enemy would be alerted.

Beck also started tinkering with Big O's systems. I couldn't imagine how he felt, having a former enemy of ours, now on our side, trying to fix him up and get him in tip-top shape. Some "glitches" happened, like the lift moving on its own causing Beck nearly to fall off, or the hatch nearly closing on top of him. Beck swears Big O hates him. However, Big O seems to have grown affectionate to Dorothy lately, almost being considerate in helping her access certain comms and weapon systems that normally give Norman and me ample amounts of trouble on the console. However, I noticed she does talk to him, like he's just an ordinary human being. Or maybe I'm just imagining things.

To relieve stress and get back into shape, Beck agreed to start training with me. He's not a bad fighter by any means. Of course, he fights dirty, but I'm slowly getting acclimated to his fighting style. The other day he nearly went off on me after I used one of his moves against him. Dorothy, who had returned from her run with Norman escorting her, laughed until she was crying, which didn't help Beck's reaction at all. Though, I did say thank you to him later for getting Dorothy to laugh the way he did, and the reaction he gave me was priceless. I hadn't heard her laugh like that since before the end of February.

Angel and Dastun were now officially living together, although in secret. Angel had been scared to go alone back to the presidential suite after the escapade in the subway, and her last contact with Big Venus. Every so often, she'll make an appearance, but will sneak out, so as to throw her security team at the presidential suite off her trail. Dastun had his own feelings on the matter, but got flustered every time I asked, so I learned to drop it. He conducted an inquiry into the rep's murder, but it seemed like key pieces of evidence were missing. Eventually, the inquiry was dropped due to lack of evidence. I've never seen Dastun so angry, but at Angel's insistence, he came over to our place, Angel and Dorothy going to the kitchen to talk, while Dastun and I talked about it. It was the second time I had ever seen Dastun drunk over work. Norman and I had to follow Angel to get him back into his apartment as he couldn't walk straight.

Dorothy would continue volunteering at the clinic. It turns out her budgeting skills came in handy as Dorothy had built up a nice sizable fund that we could live off for a while. Norman would screen calls, and every so often, we would take a small, easy case. We agreed that Beck's advice of lying low was probably for the best, and with Beck covering the cost of maintenance on Big O, it freed up the budget to invest into the mansion's defense systems, still at Level 4 security. It also allowed us more free time to spend with each other, including volunteering with her at the clinic. Of course, Dr. Plebanski told the kids embarrassing stories about me, which annoyed me to no end. However, it got Dorothy smiling and laughing, which as of late was becoming a rare occurrence. And, I found myself enjoying the time I spent with Dorothy and the kids.

Dorothy would spend most days in the office, going over the file I had brought back from the underground. She would go over cases and books, trying to see if anything we had dealt with in the past might provide a clue to Angel's case and the file. The times it would take a turn for the worst would be right after her nightmare, especially if it was particularly vivid. Never had I felt so helpless to watch her go through something like I went through with the memories from the R.D. case. Of course, Norman said the best we could do was be there for her and comfort her. But I felt like I could do more.