The Big O Act 22: Hydra

A woman runs through the street during a rainy night, with three Military Police officers chasing after her. She is able to lose them, but is quickly found by several police cars and flees, being caught when she tries to climb a fence. Another woman and a man are shown in a room packing, when the door bursts open and Military Policemen take them captive. Dastun, sitting in a nearby police car comments on the Military Police being “just dogs” and looks at a series of suspects and their photos, which includes a photo of Angel. At a large villa in one of the domes, Roger and Alex Rosewater sit at a dinner table. Alex operates a small remote controlled toy of Big Fau. He says it is a shame that the real Big Fau isn’t restored and that something is missing. He says Roger found the energy that enabled them to wake Big Fau in the first place. The toy Big Fau falls over. Alex sits down to eat a meal of spaghetti and says this villa of his father’s doesn’t suit his tastes. He asks Roger to eat, but Roger says he isn’t here to eat lunch and wants to get to business. Alex, calling him dominus, asks if he has business to attend to. A rain-soaked Angel shows up in Roger’s mansion where Dorothy is looking outside the window. Dorothy tells her that Roger isn’t here right now. Angel, who is in a depressed mood, says that she isn’t surprised. She says she can’t forgive herself for thinking for a moment that it would be okay to let Dorothy be destroyed. Dorothy says it isn’t necessary and that there is no need to apologize. Angel says there is no need for “he” to know. Alan brings a cart to the table and Roger says he assumed he was a foreign spy. Alan calls himself an ambassador. Alex speaks of Angel, calling women foolish creatures. Roger calls Alex’s actions of betraying his father, making a pact with foreigners and then doing something to upset them foolish. Alex calls the Union scum and says there’s no law saying he needs to keep his bargain with them. He says that since 40 years ago, Paradigm is the only stage where human civilization can continue. He respects his father for building this stage, but he lost his memories before he could pass them on to his son. He expects to have those too. Alex says those who live outside the city can only think of their own survival. They banded together out in the desert and tried to steal memories without building a civilization for themselves. He calls the Union simple thieves, but Roger says he entered an agreement with them. Alex says this is because they had a common objective. At Roger’s mansion, Angel asks Dorothy to pass along a message for her. She says the memories Alex is searching for are vitally important for Roger as well and that they can’t let Alex or the others that are after them have them. Angel tells Dorothy she knows she doesn’t like her, but she likes her and leaves. Norman comes up a minute later saying he heard someone but Dorothy claims there was no one there. She says she has the ability to lie also.

Alex works on repairing his Big Fau toy and says Big Fau is the most powerful MegaDeus. Alex says that the Union collected the pieces of Big Fau out in the waste lands and that he will give them a fitting payment. Roger asks him what he is going to do with the Union members he has captured. Alex says he’ll send them home as long as they don’t resist. Angel walks through the street in the rain and is splashed by a passing car. Water drains into the sewers, deep underground. Later, Dastun looks outside and wonders if the seemingly endless rain is retribution from the foreigners. An officer reports to Dastun, saying that of 24 known foreigners, they have captured 15 and have the location of two others. They plan to transfer them to the Justice Bureau. Dastun asks about Number 340 (Angel) and the officer says her whereabouts are unknown. The officer says the Paradigm Science Division has also informed them to expect occasional power outages outside of the domes. Some engineers plan to apply high voltage current to Big Fau to attempt to revive it. Roger tells Alex that he didn’t care that the Union posed a threat to the city. Alex asks Roger if he feels like a prisoner living in this city which Roger says is not true. Alex says they are not like others and have memories that permit them to pilot a MegaDeus. He says they are the stars for which without, the show cannot go on and that they do not need another stage. Alex operates the toy Big Fau which walks over to Roger’s side of the table. Roger has another vision of the bald children and a tall one standing in the back. Roger struggles and grips the table, knocking over his meal. Alex says he would remove his memories if they could and says Roger doesn’t know what kind of being he is. Alex asks if he wants to continue to living this way. Roger says he and Big O will never become the sort of power Alex wants. Alan says if Roger doesn’t want to continue living, he can grant him and his android eternal peace. Later, Roger stands still outside in the rain. Dorothy also stands in the rain, on Roger’s balcony. Angel walks down the street among a number of people with umbrellas. Alex listens to music from a record and drinks some tea. Alan stands over Alex, with his hand sharpened to a point. Alex says he has something very special in mind for him due to his work for negotiating with the Union. He says as a new kind of human being, Alan doesn’t need to be concerned with memories, but Alex must be. A massive amount of energy is generated and transmitted into Big Fau. Vera Ronstadt watches and triggers a bomb to go off in an underground chamber filled with water. A Hydra-like creature travels through the water. The Paradigm engineers wonder why the power has suddenly dropped. Roger is buying flowers at a flower shop when his watch goes off. Norman tells Roger that Big O has detected tremors underground. Suddenly the ground shakes and the power goes out throughout Paradigm city. Water emits from fire hydrants and soon a three-headed white Hydra comes out of the ground. The Hydra’s heads blast electricity at one of the domes, shattering the glass around it. Roger runs through the street shouting for Big O. Vera shouts for the Hydra to burn the city down to the ground. Big O bursts up from nearby. Roger remembers encountering a similar creature earlier, and flashbacks show Paradigm personnel taking the remains of the Leviathan Big O had previously defeated. The Hydra launches itself onto Big O, which quickly blasts two of its heads off with lasers. The Hydra is able to immediately regenerate the heads however and blasts Big O with electricity. Roger tries to move Big O with no luck as the Hydra wraps its tentacles around him. The Hydra tries another blast. Roger has a vision of many Big Os, and a man trying to pilot one in a similar battle. Suddenly Big O’s armor shifts around its torso and arms and emits a shield around Big O. The Paradigm engineers also deploy a lightning rod which attracts the Hydra’s blast. Big O emits its shield which destroys the Hydra. Having drawn the energy from the lightning rod, Big Fau activates. Dorothy, who had been watching from nearby, wearing a wetsuit, jumps into Big O’s cockpit and Roger thanks her. Dorothy asks Roger if the flowers he bought were for Norman. Roger says no and puts two flowers in Dorothy’s hair saying it is a token of his thanks. Dorothy tells Roger she has a message to give him.