AN: Okay, so it looks like so far people are enjoying this, but there's one thing I'd like to point out.
Mr. Beaver Buttington: (Sigh) While I appreciate your criticism in general, the tone in which you delivered it I found to be rather rude and obnoxious. I have made changes to the previous chapter in light of that, but the fact remains that I do not approve of how you practically spelled out your sarcasm in your review. I respect that you are entitled to your opinion, but if you're going to leave a review (and this goes to everyone reading this), at least attempt to do so with respect. Otherwise I will be prompted not to take you seriously and just ignore you altogether. I apologize if I made myself sound like an ass, but in my experience, that's really the only way I can get my point across.
Now with that mini rant out of the way, let's dive right back into this hear breaking world! NEEEEEEEXT!
Chapter 2
Why Are They Blindfolded?
"Jesus Christ, it looks like a hurricane came through here." I hadn't walked even a yard, and already I was seeing various dead robots scattered across the ground of the factory.
Everywhere I turned there we the remains of thousands of machines. Some were still in one piece with a few gashes in their bodies; others had been ripped to shreds. It looked swords had done most of the damage, but others had holes blasted through them, as if they had been shot. There were even some that had massive gaping holes in their bodies. No gun that I know of could have done that.
"Inaccurate statement," 106 spoke. "The damage a caused by a hurricane would be more significant than-"
"I'm guessing nobody programmed you with a sense of hyperbole," I interrupted.
"Hyperbole. Definition: An exaggerated phrase that is not meant to be taken literally. Query: Was Sam's aforementioned statement used as an analogy for the state of disarray the factory is in?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Acknowledged. Documenting understanding of the use of hyperboles in terms of context."
"So what are these things?" I asked.
"Destroyed Machine life forms," 106 responded.
"Wait…these are the things that were created by the so called 'aliens?'" They really weren't much to look at. Their design was pretty simple. They looked like they were made out of rusted metal, and the majority of them were small with stubby arms and legs. They all had spherical heads with beady little eyes. There were others that were a bit larger and stockier in design. Almost like they were trying to mimic the appearance of humans. Some of them even had weapons too. Like swords and axes. A few of the smaller ones even had small cannons attached to their torsos.
"Analysis: Skepticism detected in Sam's vocal patterns," 106 voiced.
"Well…for something that an advanced race built…at least that's what I'm assuming anyways…I just have trouble believing that their creations would look…I dunno…more intricate. This? This is just…plain and simple…and kinda dull too." If these were what I was going to fight, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as I thought. But then again, considering how many dead ones I saw, it was reasonable to assume that they worked in groups. One or two small ones I could probably handle, but a whole bunch of them? That's a different story.
"Affirmative," 106 replied.
With nothing else noteworthy, I just continued to walk. Aimlessly, I might add. Because 106 had absolutely no clue where to go, neither did I. I was kinda just stumbling around in the dark. Quite literally in fact. The factory's lighting was…kinda busted. I actually ended up tripping and falling over several dead "Machine Life Forms," as 106 kept referring to them as.
After I tripped about the tenth time, 106 informed me that all Your-Hah Pods come equipped with flashlight modules. But then added it was a moot point if it was clinging on to my back. So yeah, add that to the list of things that needed to be fixed on this thing.
After about twenty minutes or so, according to 106, I had come across what looked like a storage room. There were a lot of Machine Life Forms in cages. But it didn't look like they were moving.
"Is this place some kind of production factory for these things?" I asked aloud.
"Analysis: This factory contains various machines that serve production purposes. Hypothesis: It is very likely the Machine Life Forms have repurposed this factory for the purpose of producing more Machine Life Forms. Sam King's observation may be accurate."
"'Maybe?'" I repeated. "I'd say it kind of is accurate."
"Analysis: It would appear this facilities functions are what the Goliath Class enemy would be protecting."
"Wait, are you saying you had no idea what this place was being used for beforehand?"
"Affirmative."
"You and your companion...11B was it? You guys just both went in here willingly blind despite all of the unknowns?"
"Affirmative. All Machine Life Forms must be eliminated to secure the planet. This in turn would ensure humanity's continued survival."
"You say that like humanity's almost extinct."
"Affirmative."
…
...that...was...
"Wait...what...? That's...you're joking."
"Negative. This unit is not programmed for humor. All remaining humans have migrated to the moon."
I remember 106 saying that last part when I met it, but...I didn't really take that into consideration. I was too busy figiuring out where I was and how to get out of here, I kind of forgot our conversation when I first found 106. But...wait...if humans migrated to the moon...there's no way that would have happened overnight...do I even dare ask...?
"When...when did this happen?"
"Query not understood. Please specify."
"When did...I dunno, this war, the machine war, when did this all start?"
There was a long moment of silence.
"Uhh…hello? Earth to 106? Aren't you going to answer?"
"Negative."
…
"What?"
"Repeat: Negative."
"I heard what you said, what I want to know is why you said it."
"Response: The information pertaning to Sam King's query may be misunderstood and possibly denied. Therefore, this unit would become a biased source of information. Sam King has previously expressed skepticism at the mention of extra terrestrial lifeforms invading the Earth. Query: Would Sam King be inclined to believe any further information disclosed from this unit with out cross referencing information from a separate individual or party?"
I had to take a moment to consider what 106 was saying. It's true I was skeptical about the whole alien invasion thing, and even after seeing the wreckage of these "Machine Lifeforms," that still didn't mean anything to me. Anyone could have built these. Just like with what I thought about 106, maybe they were built by some underground company that I never heard of. The idea isn't far fetch. Lots of private projects, both military and scientific happened behind closed doors; away from the public's attention.
But then again, from how monotonous and mater-of-fact 106 was speaking, it didn't seem like 106 was lying to me. But then again, in the words of Gamma from Red Vs Blue, "they can if they are programed to." However 106 was just withholding information from me, so I guess technically that's not lying. Still.
I sighed. "Fine, but the second we get to the resistance camp and make contact with your buddies, I want answers. I don't care what it is, I just want to go home."
"…Affirmative."
Once more I continued to walk. Outside of the storage room, I may as well have walked into a friggin blast furnace. The room was made entirely out of scaffoldings over a massive pond of molten lava. I was guessing this was some sort of cauldron, possibly used for smelting parts to build the Machines. I'm no engineer, but I've watched enough sci-if movies to gain a general knowledge.
I may have said things like "I prefer the desert over the tundra," and I do, but that place was a little too hot for me. Thankfully, I wasn't in there for long. The next room I entered was probably the third larg cylindrical room that I've been through in this factory, and just like all the others, it had no lights on, and it was littered with busted Machines.
"A-a-a-nnnndrooooooid..."
A really creepy sounding monotonus voice startle the living shit out of me.
"Alert: Holstile detected. One Machine Life Form remains active. Recomendation: Prepare to engage."
"Fuck!" I shout, cursing my really shity luck. "What kind is it? Small and stubby or big and bulky?" I was really hoping it was the former.
"Unknown. In this unit's current condition, only scanning for active Machine Cores is possible. Enemy identification outside of this unit's line of sight is not possible.
"Well there's no way I'm gonna turn my back on a threat." Even if 106 could provide cover fire behind me, I'd much rather face an unknown force with my eyes forward. No matter how dark the room was. So I readied the red katana in front of me.
A pair of red eyes beady glinted in the darkness. A light sound of metal pitter-pattering on the floor could be heard, and out of the shadows came…a small, rusty, stubby, humanoid looking Machine.. It looked like the majority of the Machines I saw destroyed earlier, the only differences were that this one's eyes were glowing, and it was in one price. It kept its eyes fixed on me as it continued to waddle towards me ever so slowly. It was…honestly kind of cute.
"Aaaaannnndrrrroiiid…k-k-kiiilll…"
Or at least it would be, if it weren't A; trying to kill me, and B; speaking in that really creepy high-pitched monotone voice.
"Alert," 106 spoke. "Audio sensors indicate that the Machine Life Form has demonstrated vocal speech. Requesting confirmation."
Confirmation? "Uh, yeah, it did. Why, do the normally not do that?"
"Negative. Machine Life Forms have never demonstrated any form of intelligence before. Hypothesis: Through continued fights against the YoRHa units, Machine Life Forms may be adapting to form their own sort of intelligence."
"Kill…kill…kill…"
"It keeps saying the same thing over and over again. I wouldn't call that 'intelligence.'"
"Primordial though it may be, a Machine Life Form capable of learning bears some concern."
106's point was valid. Ever since Terminator came out, mankind had always feared that Skynet, or something similar to it, would be created and then destroy us in the future. A machine that could learn from mankind was a gigantic X-factor. I always found those fears to be founded on baseless conjecture and overall very far fetched. If technology actually progresses at the rate that most Sci-Fi movies depicted, I'm pretty sure that would have already happed. Granted, considering my current situation, and based on what 106 had told me it was the creations made by "aliens" that were doing this. If any of what 106 said was true, the irony would be so hilarious it would hurt.
But I'm a guy that doesn't focus on "what-ifs." I focus on what is. And what was at this second; a rusty piece of scrap metal that was looking to kill me. Be that as it may, I really didn't feel threatened.
"Well, as long as it's just one," I muttered. I lowered the sword to my side and just casually walked towards the Machine. As I approached, its eyes flashed and raised a stubby arm up in the air and brought it down towards me. It was very slow in doing so, and pretty obvious too. So I simply sidestepped out of the way, lifted my sword and swung it down. The sword cut through its arm like a hot knife through butter. This was a genuine sword crafted for combat; definitely not like the makeshift katanta I got from Otakon a few years back. One or two strikes and it would have been scrapped. Just like how I was about to scrap this wind-up toy.
"Haah!" I shouted, swinging my sword in a horizontal path this time, leaving a gash on the side of the Machine.
"Ow," the Machine muttered, as it staggered and fell on its side.
"How in the hell was I ever afraid of doing this?" I asked aloud. If this was seriously what I could expect from creations built by life beyond the stars, I had to wonder about mankind's competence. There's no way something like this could have forced them to the moon. More and more I was starting to discredit 106's story.
"Proposal: Destroy the Machine Life Form's Machine Core," 106 said.
"Machine Core? What's that?"
"Response: A Machine Core is the main energy supplier for all Machine Life Forms. Similar in structure to a plant cell, a Machine Core is responsible for all the functions of a Machine Life Form, much like the human heart supplies blood through the body. They are typically stored in the torso region."
"So if I destroy that, then this thing joins the scrap heap like the rest?"
"Affirmative,"
"Easy enough, considering what I'm up against." I flipped my sword in revers grip and held it in the air. "Say hello to robot Satan for me," I said as I plunged the blade into the Machine's torso. I heard a loud glass shattering sound, and the Machine's body started to crackle with electricity and spaz a little.
"You…not…Annndroooid…" it said. "H-h-humannnnn…scaaaaarrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy…" those were its last words before its eyes flickered out. The Machine lay motionless on the ground.
"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed," 106 said.
I sighed. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. I mean, here I was in a place that most people my age would kill to be in: Fighting robots. Well…I guess robot zombies would be more accurate. Part of me was expecting something more epic and intense. But this? This was just sad. Then again, I guess I couldn't really complain. As long as I still had all of my limbs attached to my body and alive, I was thankful.
"Alert: Six hostiles detected."
"What?! I thought you said there was only one!"
"Affirmative. However, the destruction of the previous Machine has revealed the presence of others. Hypothesis: The Machine was masking the signals of other hostiles."
"You gotta be shitting me! Where are they?!"
"Descending from above."
"What?!" I looked up just in time to see another machine crash down on the ground in front of me. The sudden impact caused me to stagger backwards and fall flat on my butt. The Machine in front of me this time was different. It had the same head and torso as the small one, but it's arms and legs were a little bulkier and had proper elbow and knee joints, making it significantly taller than the last one I destroyed. It was holding a rusty serrated sword that looked like it was just made by welding a bunch of scrap iron together. Flanking it were two other machines that I hadn't seen dead bodies of before. Again, their heads and torsos were the same, but they had no arms or legs. Their entire bottom half was made up of some kind of circular hovercraft that was allowing them to fly. Mounted on the front of the crafts were small cannons of sorts.
I heard another crash behind me. I turned around and saw the other three hostiles. Exactly the same build as the first three, except this taller Machine was holding a scrap metal axe instead of a sword.
"Yyyooooouuuuu…not…Aaaaannndrroooooooid…" the Machine with the axe said.
"Human…human here…human alive…" one of the hovering Machines spoke.
"Human…kill friend…scary…why…?" Asked another hoverer.
"U-uh…" I wanted to answer, but I couldn't. The words…I couldn't figure out how to speak. The fight or flight function in my brain was stuck in nutral. The fear factor was really starting to settle in now. I was surrounded on both sides, out numbered, out gunned…and maybe out matched, I dunno. The joints of the two larger Machines definitely meant that they had more mobility than the stubby one I wrecked, but I wasn't exactly light on my feet either. Hell, I barely exercise at all! What the hell was I supposed to do?! Run?! Fight?! Curl up into a ball on the floor and just hope that all of this is a bad dream?!
"Human…danger…kill…kill…"
"Kill…kill…kill…kill…"
"ENOUGH!" The tall Machine with the sword suddenly shouted. "Are you fools blind?! We have a rare specimen on our hands! A living fossil from an age lost! We should study it! Not destroy it!"
…
"Uhhhh…" was once again all I could say.
"Alert:" 106 spoke. "A Machine Life For has displayed intelligence equivalent to that of a human. Caution is suggested."
"No shit," I thought.
"Stuuuudyyyy…?" the Axe Machine said.
"Yes! Study!" replied the Sword Machine. "Analyze! Learn! Dissect!"
WHAT?!
"Think of all of the information we could obtain from this creature! Adam and Eve would surely congratulate us! Reward us even!"
"Hey, whoa, whoa there pal!" I shouted, now starting to feel slightly offended at being treated like some kind of object. "I'm not interested in becoming anyone's lab rat!"
"Ah!" the Sword Machine exclaimed, turning to look at me. "It speaks! Intelligence! Excellent! The knowledge that this human possesses could be indispensible to Adam and Eve! To the Machine Network, even! We must capture it!"
"Quit calling me 'it!'" I shouted, getting increasingly angry now. "I am not an 'it,' I have a name! Sam King! First name: Sam! Last Name: King!"
"A first name, signifying the identification of an individual and a last name, signifying the name of the family in which the individual belongs to! Splendid! I have read about such customs that the humans practice, specifically the nation of humans called 'America!' But to actually find one here on Earth that still practices those customs…come to think of it, why aren't you on the moon, boy? I was led to believe all remaining humans had allegedly escaped there."
"Dude, I didn't even know the rest of humanity was supposed to be on the moon," I protested. "I went to sleep in my bed last night, and the next thing I know when I wake up, I'm here in this dump, my bed thrown into a pile of splinters, and learned from friggin' Claptrap on my back here, that there's some kind of war going on, and humanity is nearly extinct! Exactly how, when, and why this happened overnight, I dunno, I can't get this thing to say anything else until we get to this…Resistance Camp, or whatever the hell it is. And…wait…what do you mean 'allegedly?'"
The Sword Machine just stared at me after I ranted. "Hmm. That's…odd. Tell me what do you remember before your slumber?"
"I remember I was exhausted after another day of college and a ridiculous amount of studying and homework," I said. "Why?"
"College…a higher educational institution for young adults seeking a career in the work force," the Sword Machine mumbled. "What was the year in which you recall?"
"2018."
"…Interesting…in any case, I must ask that you come with us. There is much both you and I have to learn about each other. All of your questions will be answered when we report back to Adam and Eve."
"Fuck that," I replied holding my sword in front of me. "I already told you, rust bucket. I'm not interested in becoming a lab rat!"
The Sword Machine sighed. "Suite yourself. I was hoping to avoid this, but I suppose I should have expected it. I did read that humans were quite stubborn after all. My friends, engage the human, but do not kill it. Cut off a limb or two if you must, but leave the head attached to the body."
"Alert: The Machine Life Form's intent has been deemed as hazardous to Sam. Engaging."
I looked behind my back to see 106 open fire with some kind of energy bullets on the Axe Machine. It was rapid fire and it hit the Axe Machine square in the face.
"Ow," the Axe Machine muttered while covering its face.
"Huh," I said, pretty impressed. "Well that helps." But I didn't have time to be too impressed. I heard footsteps in front of me coming fast. I turned just in time to see ole' Swordy Scientist McNutso & Bolts jump at me with its blade in the air and coming down on me. I barely had enough time to level my sword in front of me horizontally in the only defensive stance I knew at the time.
But when Sword Machine's blade came down, the impact was stronger than I anticipated. The force of the strike made me stagger backwards, nearly making me drop my sword. Sword Machine came at me again, and fearing getting cut into pieces, I played defense once again. But this time I was ready for the strike, and put more force into pushing back the strike. Our blades locked, each seeking to gain the upper hand.
But…
"Alert: Tall Machine bearing Axe closing in at six o'clock."
"Keep him off me, I'm busy!"
"Affirmative. Activating Beam."
"Acticating wh-"
BWEEEEM!
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
106 released a blast of energy, which unfortunately rocketed me forward several feet. Good news is that it caught the Sword Machine off guard, and pushed him over on to the ground. Of course I did end up falling flat on my face.
"OOOWW!" I shouted as I got up on my knees and rubbed my face. "A little warning before you do that next time?!"
"Affirmative. Alert: In-"
"No, no! Not right now!"
"Negative. Beam function recharging. Alert: Incoming enemy fire."
"Wh-SHIT!"
I ducked quickly to dodge a massive light purple sphere. I looked up to see a bunch more coming at me in rapid succession. They were being fired by the Hovering Machines.
"What th-BULLET HELL?! Seriously?! What the actual fuck?!" I scrambled to my feet to get out of the line of fire.
"Proposal: Destroy the ranged fighters first."
"That's not going to be easy with them shitting bullets like this! OH FUCK!"
Axe Machine had gotten back up for another round. It rushed at me, raising its axe in the air. There was no way I was going to be able to block against that. So I did something I thought I couldn't do. Maybe it was the adrenaline doing the work. I ran towards the Axe Machine and then dropped down into a forward somersault, moving between the Machine's legs just as its axe slammed into the ground. Wasting no time, I took the opportunity to plunge my sword into the Axe Machine's back.
"Gotcha!" I shouted as a loud "CRACK" sound was heard from in side the machine. I quickly pulled it out, and the Axe Machine collapsed on to the ground.
"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed," said 106.
"Typical," said Sword Machine. "The Weakling is the first to fall, followed by the Oaf. But your stance and movements show that you lack combat experience."
"Hey, I'm a student, not a soldier," I replied. "Look, all I wanna do is just go home, drink a TON of hard cider, black out, and then wake up the next day to forget ANY of this shit ever happened, okay? I'm really not enjoying this whole fight for my life thing."
"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to return to the moon, boy," Sword Machine said.
"Except I'm not from the effing moon! I'm from the effing United States of America! I'm a senior in college! Whatever kind of 'war' is going on in whatever part of the world I'm in, I'm not part of hit! I don't want any part of it, so if you'll excuse me, I'm outta here!" After that rant, I ran towards the exit. Specifically the door I was headed for before all this nutty stuff started. Except…
Clank.
"What the…it's locked?!"
"Analysis: Machine Life Forms are emitting a jamming frequency that is interfering with this door's functions."
"Oh come on! That's bullshit!"
"This unit would like to remind Sam that the destruction of the small Machine Life Form revealed the location of six more hostiles. Said Machine Life Form was emitting a similar frequency to mask the presence of the other Machines."
"Seriously? They can do that?!"
"Affirmative."
"Now do you understand?" the Sword Machine said. "You either leave here in our custody in peace or in pieces. This is as stressful for me as it is for you."
"Stressful?!" I shouted. This guy was really starting to piss me off. He wasn't the one who got thrown into a batshit insane situation. "Ooooooohoho, buddy I am about to work out five years of personal issues and inhibitions on you and your cronies! RRRAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
I yelled as I charged at him with my sword scrapping on the ground. I was furious now. If I was going to have to fight for my life, then I was going to fight tooth and nail. If I was going to either die as a lab experiment of some kind or in a fight, I'd at least like to have some control of how I'm going to die.
Sword Machine charged at me raising its blade in the air again. But I wasn't going for him. I ducked and spun out of range from his swing, but not without leaving a retort. As I ran past him I left a gash on his right side. Sword Machine yelled in pain as I left him behind.
"106, I'm going after two of the Hovering Shooters. Cover me if Swordy and the other two Shooters start getting clever."
"Affirmative. Proposal: Deflect any shots fired with your sword. Warning: Shots with a darker hue cannot be deflected."
"So slash my way through," I replied. "Got it."
The Hoverers started to fire at me once I got in their sights. Once again a ridiculous amount of light purple spheres were headed right towards me. But this time I wasn't just going to run around trying to find some place to hide. I turned my attention to the hostile on the left and went for it. I swung my sword at the first bullet I saw. Sure enough, it dispersed in a small purple mist. But I didn't have time to be awestruck. The next shot was headed right for me. So I just swung at the next one.
And the next.
And the next.
And the next.
Until I had made myself a path to the Hoverer. It was hovering higher than I was standing, but not high enough to where I couldn't jump up and grab onto the front of it. I jumped as hard as I could and grabbed the edge of the Hoverer's craft. It started tilt forward due to the extra weight. I didn't have a lot of upper body strength, so getting on top of this thing wouldn't be easy with one arm. So I tried put my other arm on the edge to pull myself up.
"Alert: Incoming enemy fire. Proceeding to return fire."
I looked over my shoulder to see 106 open fire on the other Hoverer, shooting down its bullets with its own bullets.
"Well, good to know that works too," I said as I continued to pull myself up. The Hoverer started to jerk around a bit, trying to throw me off. I tightened the muscles in my arms, weak as they were, and tried my absolute best to hold on to dear life. Thank God I didn't get motion sick. But if this was the ordeal I had to go through to take down a single Hoverer, this fight would take a while.
Wait a minute…
"106, is that Beam attack of yours fully charged yet?" I asked as I continued to struggle to get on.
"Affirmative."
"Good." I heaved myself with all the strength I had and hoisted myself onto the Hoverer. "When I give the signal, I want you to fire it."
"Query: What is Sam's plan?"
"Trust me, okay?"
"Negative. Trust is a human concept in the belief of a reality, truth, ability or-"
"Look, you said that…protocol whatever thing gave priority to my safety over all else, right?"
"Affirmative."
"Then just go with the fact that I have a plan of sorts and follow my lead if you still want to get me out of this mess alive. Understand?"
"…Affirmative."
"Good. Okay, get ready!" I finally managed to get my footing leveled, turned to the Hoverer's main torso. It looked at me with those beady yellow eyes. Its gun wasn't able to maneuver without the aid of the craft, so it had no way of getting me off. Aside from trying to shake me off that is, which it was still trying to do. But it was moving slowly, clearly not capable of going the speed of a fighter jet.
Seeing my chance, I raised my sword into the air and plunged it down into the head of the Hoverer. "You're grounded!" The craft started to lose altitude.
"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed."
I pulled my sword out and quickly turned around to face the other Hoverer. I prepared to jump.
"106, now!"
"Affirmative."
I jumped and as soon as I did.
BWEEEEEEEEEM!
106 fired its beam, propelling me through the air in mid jump. The force nearly made me loose concentration, but I was mostly prepared for it to happen. The Hoverer started to fire at me, but my trajectory was too fast for them.
"You're next!" I shouted. I swung my sword down as I descended. Something that I'd only seen done in anime and video games; it was stupid and reckless. Yet…
"YYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
As my sword made contact with its head the force of my decent carried the blade through its structure like a hot knife through butter. The Hoverer split in half, and I fell in between the halves.
"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed.
Okay, so good news, I had cut down the Machine Life Forms in half.
Bad news…I didn't stick the landing.
As soon as I hit the ground I stumbled, and then I felt a sharp pain in my left foot.
I just twisted my ankle.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH, FUCK!" I yelled as I fell forward on the ground. I grabbed my ankle in pain.
"Alert: Muscular strain detected in Sam's left ankle."
"You don't say!" I shouted sarcastically. Two small explosions rang on both sides of where I was lying. I looked up and saw the remaining two Hoverers floating above me with their guns aimed at me. And that wasn't even the worst part.
"Alert: Hostile closing in at 6 o'clock."
"Shit!"
I rolled over on my back and saw Sword Machine just a few steps in front of me, raising its sword. I barely had enough time to raise my sword in defense with both hands. Our swords clashed once again.
"You stubborn fool!" Sword Machine shouted. "This would have been much easier if you had just cooperated!"
"I've said it once, I've said it twice, and I'm going keep saying it, until it sticks!" I shouted back. "I'M NOT INTERESTED IN BEING SOME FUCKING SCIENCE PROJECT!"
"And I told you," Sword Machine replied. "You either leave in our custody peacefully…" It then managed to hook its sword under my sword and ripped it out of my hands. The sword fell over a few feet on my right with a clatter.
"Or in pieces."
SLICE.
The next 3 seconds were a big blank. But when I came to…all feeling in my right arm was gone. What just happened? Did it fall asleep? Sword Machine was standing over me with its blade down on my right. What was it doing? I remember it disarmed me, and then…
No…
Oh God, please no…
Dreading what I would see, I turned to my right…
And saw my severed right arm…
And a pool of my own blood oozing onto the floor.
It was then that my brain registered the pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It hurt worse than anything I had ever felt. I had just lost a part of my own fucking body!
"A crippled foot and a severed arm," I faintly heard Sword Machine say. "There's no possible way for you to resist now. It's a shame really. To damage such a pure specimen as yourself. But I suppose there are some variables in this world that one cannot control. Such are the many unknowns of existence itself."
"Why…why…are…you…doing this…?" I said through tears, pained grunts, and stuttered breaths. The blood loss was starting to get to me.
"To learn about you, my boy," Sword Machine replied. "About humans. Interesting that you excrete the same red liquid that the Androids do when they are injured. Blood I believe it's called."
The Androids…bleed…like us…?
"Although a bit messy, and costing two of my comrades, I'd say this is a worth wile catch. Besides, it's not like they'll die, as long as they backed themselves up to the network."
Son of a…they can make backups of themselves…?
"Alright then enough rambling. You two, cauterize the wound. Unlike Androids, if a human looses too much blood, their hearts could cease to function and then they would die. Use the heat generated from your guns to sear the wound shut."
No…no more pain…just kill me already…
"We'll take him back to Adam and Eve and see what they can find out about it. If it survives the trip, then an interrogation could provide us with more information. If not, well it's not ideal, but we can still extract the brain and-"
BWEEEEEM!
BWEEEEEM!
I saw two bright beams of energy fly across the room and struck down the remaining two Hoverers. They both flew into the wall and I heard them explode.
"What?!" Sword Machine shouted, clearly not expecting that. "Who dares to-HUGK!"
A massive sword suddenly sliced down Sword Machine through the middle.
"Y-You're…YoRHa…" I heard him say though his already failing voice box. "But…how…how did you…find us…we were supposed…to be masked…"
"You weren't what we were looking for," I heard a medium low female voice answered.
Sword Machine then split in half, both sides falling to the ground. Now in my fading vision I saw two people…a boy and a girl…both wielding swords…and two more floating boxes that looked like 106…they looked like…young adults…
At this point my vision was going black. The last thing I remember before it failed entirely was asking aloud…
"Why are they blindfolded…?"
…
AN: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN! I bet you didn't expect for shit to hit the fan this early in the story. I'd figured I'd have the loss of Sam's arm as a shock factor, amongst others, that would serve as a building element for Sam's character in the future.
I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter out. I have several other stories that I'm working on. That and I also have some video editing to get back to and several lines to record that I owe people. Top that with having my wisdom teeth removed and then getting a cold that borderlines a sinus infection has slowed me down quite a bit. I really wish I had better organizing skills.
But until then…STAY TUNED!
...
Zero awoke to the sound of wind blowing through her ears.
Wait…this didn't seem right…
She was supposed to be dead…right?
She slowly opened her eyes…and saw herself plummeting towards a desert.
"What the sweet crispy fuck?!" she shouted.
She hit the sand hard, cursing the pain she felt upon impact. What the hell was going on?! She knew that Mikhail destroyed the flower when it was in full bloom, thus destroying her as the host, along with the only way her sisters could be reincarnated. Properly, that is.
But here she was, alive and well, stuck in the middle of the fucking desert again.
"Well…at least I'm familiar with my surroundings…"
Or at least she thought. When she looked around there were strange things around her. Crates of sorts. But they weren't like any kind of crates Zero had ever seen before. They looked like…brown sheets of paper…but they looked too sturdy to be just paper alone. There was also a grey stripe on their sides with writing on them.
Sam's DVDs & Blu-Rays.
Sam's Video Games.
Sam's Equipment.
They all had the name Sam on them. Did these strange crates belong to someone with that name? Now that she got a better look at her surroundings, this didn't look like the same desert she and her disciples had traversed. There were ruins around her, but they definitely didn't look like the same ruins that she had seen before. These looked…more organized…more sophisticated…oh Goddamnit did she get blown into another Branch?!
"Well holy shit," a husky female voice said. "Androids falling out of the sky, and not at the result of a Flight Suit crash."
Zero gave out an irritated grunt and summoned her sword. She sprang to her feet, whirled around and pointed her blade at the source of the voice.
The source was a mature looking woman dressed in a lot of rags. She threw her hands up in surrender. "Easy there, kiddo, I'm with the Resistance."
Zero arched her eyebrow in confusion. "The what?"
Now it was the woman's turn to arch her eyebrow. "Y'know, the Resistance. The guys that are partnered with YoRHa to fight against the Machines and reclaim the planet for humanity."
Zero's eyes widened. "What…?"
The woman looked at Zero up and down. "You seriously don't know? Where the hell have you been?"
"I'm supposed to be dead," Zero replied. "That's really all I know right now."
"Well, you definitely don't look dead," the woman replied. "Jackass."
Zero spluttered, clearly offended. "Excuse me?!"
"Not you, kiddo, me," the woman replied. "My name is Jackass."
…
"The fuck?"
…
VOICE CAST
Sam King – Andrew Hindle
Pod 106 – Cynthia Marcucci
2B – Kira Buckland
Jaque (Sword Machine) – Bryce Buckley
Zero – Tara Platt
Jackass – Amanda Celline Miller
Machine – Robbie Daymond
Ben Diskin
Bryce Papenbrook
Wendee Lee
Rena Strober
Lauren Landa