[Pre-paid] MEHR "Behind the Curtain" part 4, 4000 words (Patreon)

With a dollar short of the milestone, it'd be dickish of me not to raise the minimum word count. So far I've got close to 500 words done, here's a rough draft so far:

 With a gesture, a small mandala of golden light appeared around the android's wrist, and through what could only be the Mass Effect – or perhaps something else? — the shotgun was drawn into her hand. 

 Even as he looked at her porcelain face – her unbelievably beautiful face — Adam couldn't stop his mind from trying to process the fact that there was a hobo version of himself behind the counter. He could practically feel Conrad's justifications trying to cut off the myriad branches of his own suspicions: Of COURSE there would be an alternate timeline version of him in all this insanity. It doesn't mean anything. Stop asking questions. 

 But Adam Jensen was like a dog with a bone, and he kept catching the scent of a big juicy one, full of fresh marrow. He could imagine this aspect of himself, panting over said bone even as another woman — an artificial woman, of course — clad in dark silks pets him, whispering to him what he had always known deep in his heart and soul. 

 Everyone Lies, said Eliza. 

 And Conrad, for all the good he did, for all the help he gave, was a liar. 

 You're so close, said the dog in Adam's mind. You can almost taste it, the truth behind everything, what lies behind the curtain. You just need everything to click. 

 Curtain? Adam wondered. Like in Oz? If there's a curtain, who's the wizard behind it all? 

 Suddenly, one of Fyodor's drawings came to mind... No, that's stupid, that's impossible. Hein's no wizard, he's a mortal man, he's meat and bones and blood and he's lying in bed on the verge of death. 

 Everyone Lies, insists Eliza. 

 “Hey,” said Elsa in front of him... the living, brown-haired version of Elsa. The alternate timeline Elsa. Or was it... past Elsa? Was her name even Elsa? It wasn't, but Adam didn't know it. 

 Jesus fucking Christ, this is so fucking weird. 

 Adam tried not to think too hard about how good she looked as a brunette...  He had been standing there awkwardly with his hands up for a few seconds, the 108's faceplate hiding the expressions he made when he cogitated too damned hard.   

 “What are you?” she asked, scanning his armour. “Type-T?” 

 “Type-T?” Adam asked, more confused than ever.   

 “Titan,” she added, her suspicions growing. She taps the side of his head with her sword, and Adam can feel the hum of the high frequencies that gives her weapon such absurd cutting power.