End of All Meaning
Chapter IX: It All Crumbles Down
The data from Devola and Popola had been recorded in two parts; one of which had been about their lives before they came to the Resistance Camp run by Anemone, how they were victims of prejudice and ridicule from other androids over the years, and how the only ones they had to help them were each other. How despite everything they had been through, they would never leave one another, because existence was simply too unbearable without the other one there to support them. Was it clever or cruel to create two androids with one another in mind, knowing that they would be their greatest support and closest friend? What would happen to one if the other die? Would they even last long, if at all, without the other? These were questions 2B didn't know how to answer, nor did she want to think too much about them, since the very ideas behind them were nearly overwhelming to her.
Instead, she put her attention onto the other part of the report, which detailed what their original function had been. Replicant. Black Scrawl. Project Gestalt. These were some of the terms that were brought up in that half of the report, but without context she was never able to guess what any of it meant. Project Gestalt was familiar to her, somewhat, she had recalled 9S finding several scattered files throughout the city and the surrounding area, but he was never able to piece enough of it together to figure out what much of it meant as a whole. What it was in actuality was a wide-scale project that Devola and Popola, a pair of many, had been in charge of observing, and to put things brief, it seemed to be humanity's last hope for survival, and in the end it failed. Human were extinct, and all that was left was data they had secured on the moon. Not human themselves, just data.
"Are you sure this is from Devola and Popola?" she asked, there was a rumbling inside her head as she tried to process this.
"Affirmative: This unit can confirm the message was sent from the twin units Devola and Popola.
The data she gathered in the Soul Box. It was about the black box, it mentioned how The Bunker was built to fall, it read that humans were extinct.
But that was a lie, it was machine propaganda. They had put that there to screw with her, to make her doubt herself and make her falter in her resolve, because-
-yoUre alReaDy On tHe vERy eDGE-
-it was all false.
If it wasn't false it would mean that the thing she did-
NO! STOP THINKING.
The door opened, and 2B sprint out in a panic because the room was suddenly too small, and rushed into her new, dark, muted surroundings, without any caution to what might be waiting for her, and didn't care.
"Warning: Advancing into enemy territory like this is inadvisable with a high chance of danger. Please return to entrance and-"
"Agh!" 2B tripped, her foot catching itself on a block jutting from the ground, and she crashed and rolled to the ground. She scrambled to her hands and knees, crawling over to a strange pillar and clutched at it desperately, her hands digging into whatever material it was made of until she managed to pull herself back up to her feet. Her head was beginning to hurt, she just needed it to go away so she could think and put one foot in front of the other and-
She's in The Tower, and already she has no idea what she was looking at. Everything was geometric white cubes, bathed in heavy, dark shadows, towers hanging in the distance at sharp angles, and she was certain that the distant sky was just the interior wall of The Tower. How could she possibly describe this place that was too alien and unfamiliar than anything she had ever seen her her life.
Why was she here even? What was she hoping to find at the top? She wanted to go back to the camp and crawl under her bed and wait for the world to collapse around her.
But she's not there, and she might not ever be able to go back again. Did she even want to?
"Pod!" she rasped, holding onto the pillar for dear life, as though letting go of it would slip her from everything. "You had access to all the information that The Bunker had, right?"
"This unit indeed has copied intel from The Bunker's servers, however-"
"Okay, so tell me something! Something I need to know more than anything!"
"What information do you require?"
"9S, what was it that he kept finding out? What was it that he kept getting out of the server? Why-" She couldn't say it, it was too hard, but she needed to know why she had to keep killing him. "For mission efficiency, I had been granted any and all access to 9S's data, meaning all I had to do was ask, and you would have had Pod 153 transfer all relevant data to you." She pointed a shaky, unstable finger at box as it floated a short distance away. "Meaning it would have known what 9S knew, meaning you too would have to know too, so tell me this now, Pod 042," 2B stepped up and pushed herself off the pillar and staggered towards Pod 042. "Is what he found out that humans are extinct? Did he find out that YoRHa was protecting nothing?"
Pod 042 floated there, and in the deafening silence of The Tower it seemed so much heavier than it should have been, but with the weight of the question she had asked, as well as the fact that Pod 042 did not answer instantly and appeared to be hesitating to say anything filled her with a harrowing sense of dread. Something was wrong, so deeply wrong.
"This unit," it said after a time, and 2B took notice of the pause it left. "is unaware of any information regarding humanity's current status."
"And-and is that the truth?" she asked, her voice weak and wavering.
"This unit is incapable of lying to its assigned unit."
Her body felt frozen, unable to respond to anything as she repeated what her Pod had said. She kept thinking about it, trying to figure it out and-
"Query: Is unit 2B alright?"
"...you can lie." 2B took a step back from Pod 042. "You can lie."
"This unit is-"
Pod 042 had to quickly fly back as 2B's sword came out, and was thrust right at it, the tip of its blade almost scarring its casing.
"Pods can lie," 2B said, rattled. "Pod 153 lied to 9S all the time, so did you, and so did I."
"Any questions unit 9S asked-"
"No!" she shouted, continuing to back up. "We all lied to him! So why should this be any different?"
Tactile support units, despite their small size, were powerful, versatile, and durable, they had to be if they were to be sent into the field with a YoRHa unit, but despite that it would take little effort on 2B's part to cleave Pod 042 into pieces. Still, she found herself afraid of Pod 042, because she knew it had lied to her, and what else it might be hiding from her. She didn't think she could feel any more alone than she had.
"Unit 2B," Pod 042 said, hovering ever so slightly closer to her, all while she took a step back from it. "This unit is not an enemy of yours."
"I can't trust you, can I?"
"2B, you can-"
"Stay back!" she shouted, scrambling away from Pod 042. "Don't come any closer to me!"
What was she doing? Why was she doing this? Any of this? Oh god someone please help her.
"This unit does not mean you any harm, this is something-" Pod 042 moved toward her, and cried out and responded with a wild swing of her sword that had almost hit it by a narrow margin, but the force of the blade that came within centimeters of it had been enough to send it off course and tumble in the air.
No no no no.
2B nearly dropped her sword.
Why did she do that why why why
She almost killed Pod 042.
oh god why why what was wrong with her
Her feet caught on a piece of the floor and 2B fell backwards, landing on her back, but she refused to let herself be near her Pod, so she quickly pushed herself back away from it. "Please..." she whimpered, jumping back up to her feet. "Please stay away from me... I can't," she chocked out, "I can't-"
She'll kill it, she know she will, how could she not? She thought she was afraid of Pod 042, but it should have been afraid of her. Everyone should.
"T-"
"NO!" she cried, jumping back up to her feet. "Get away from me! Stay away!" nonononowhywhyw "That's an order! Don't follow me!"
She needed to get away she needed to put as much space between her and everyonething else.
Instantly 2B bolted, running along the pathways of The Tower as fast as she could, not knowing, not caring who or what she would run into, all that mattered was that she not be near something she would kill. A quick turn of her head, and she was grateful to see that Pod 042 was nowhere to be seen, meaning it would be safe from her, and a part of her wished it would leave The Tower behind, abandon her to whatever was in this place. 2B was out in the open now, the narrow hallway she had started in, and now found herself to the exposed, too bright air of The Tower, running along a large floor, but the oddness of this place was not enough to distract her, nothing that would keep her from her frantic desire to run away from everything around her.
Something was running at her from the distance, exiting out of another closed hallway, and running at her with full speed. YoRHa. Infected YoRHa, she could tell from the glowing red of their eyes, each one with a weapon in their hand and a demented laughter escaping their lips.
They died for nothing, infected for the sake of a pointless, meaningless war. They went out on the final mission, thinking they were fighting for some grand and brighter future, but they never knew humans were already long gone. Now they were here, taken in by the machines for some reason she couldn't even begin to guess, crazed and mad, their sense of self completely eroded leaving only these insane and violent androids before her. At once, they both struck at her, swinging their weapons with the intent to crush and slash her, and she was lucky enough to roll out of the way of the attack.
She could fight them. They were infected with the logic virus, and it was clear from the very way they moved and cried and laughed they were too far gone for the prospect of salvation, and in this place leaving any threat alive could be disastrous in the long run. But she couldn't, even holding her sword caused it to tremble and shake uncontrollably, and any nerve she had to strike at them simply evaporated from her body, barely leaving with enough control over their body to just avoid their attack and weakly block their blows.
2B can't do it, not anymore, she can't keep killing, not when there is the strong possibility that every life she took was for the sake of a lie.
She can't she can't ohgodplease don'tmakeher dothisanymore
So she ran, all she could do was push them aside and run past them as fast as her legs could carry her, running further up the path, which only seemed to be less complete in places, leaving the bridge missing gaps, hanging over the oblivion below. She couldn't even see the ground through the clouds that had formed inside this place.
"We're so pleased you've chosen to visit The Tower today!" Not-6O's voice happily rang out through the air, all around her, but 2B couldn't afford to pay attention to it, all she needed to do was runrunrun.
She kept running, jumping over the wide gaps where the path did not exist, continually going up towards wherever this would lead her, to the large, stark white building before her.
"Wow, you look like you're in a hurry to claim your prize for your work in all three sub-units!"
She jumped over another gap, and met with more infected YoRHa, standing in her to an unknown. They attacked, she ran away from them, only able to knock them down to the ground.
"But since you've worked so hard to obtain this much sought after surprise, we can hardly blame you for being so eager."
The door! She saw it was wide open, if she could make it in there, she could shut the door and lock the YoRHa out and keep herself(them) safe. So she sprinted towards the door, to the hopeful haven it could provide her, and cross into the room, and just as she crossed over into the room, dark and filled with shadows, enough so it took a moment for her eyes to adjust through her visor's HUD, she spun around and frantically grabbed at the doors, slamming the heavy material shut. They banged and clawed and madly screamed outside, trying to get through, to kill and maim her and rip her apart.
But for the moment, shethey had been provided a time of safety from themher.
"We hope you enjoy your prize, please come again!"
Her head was pounding as she backed away from the door, afraid that it would burst down at any second, but slowly the sounds on the other side began to fade away, until they vanished altogether. Why they had stopped, why these androids, with single-minded desire to kill anything in their path, had suddenly relented in their assault on the door to get to her, she didn't know, and maybe she didn't want to know. She's used to not knowing things, it seemed, but for whatever the reason, there's no danger to anyone, it's safe in here. 2B turned around, eyes set on the door on the opposite of the room, so far off it felt to her even though it would take not even a minute to cross the stretch between the two points.
She took not even two steps when a group of figures dropped from above, from the darkness that sat above her, and 2B realized if she had died at some point; from her fall into the canyon, from the malfunctions she suffered in the sewers, or was crushed in the collapsing rubble of the God Box.
This was Hell. She had to be in Hell.
000
A2 took a moment to marvel at the grand expanses of The Tower's interior, how massive it seemed, like she was still outside in the open world outside, and for the first time in her life, she found herself with an indescribable feeling of awe and wonder.
"Warning: Companion tactical support unit located," Pod 153 suddenly said, its voice jarring to the atmosphere of this place, and she wanted it to shut up for reasons other than what she usualy wanted it to.
"Companion tactical-Wait, you mean 2B's Pod, right?"
"Correct. Pod 042, unit 2B's assigned tactical support unit, is nearby."
2B was near, and A2 was pensive, still uncertain what she was going to do, and it was becoming harder and harder to decide on what she would make of 2B's fate. She knew that she was getting closer to the moment of reckoning, where she had 2B would meet face to face again, it was an unavoidable encounter somewhere in this tower, and she hoped 2B was ready for it. She certainly wasn't.
To her surprise, Pod 0153 started to fly away from her, taking the lead as it continued up the path ahead of them, leaving A2 to chase after it. She wanted to demand and answer from it, to ask why she was the one running after it, instead of the usual way around, in some meager hopes that doing do would delay the inevitable encounter with 2B, but when Pod 0153 stopped, she did not find the aforementioned android, only instead her Pod, hanging in the air, unmoving aside from the gentle bob of its body.
"Greetings Pod 153," started off Pod 042.
"Greetings Pod 042," answered Pod 153. "Unit 2B is not here in the vicinity. Query: What has happened to unit 2B?"
A2 was glad Pod 153 asked this, because she didn't know if she could have done it herself.
"Statement: Upon entering The Tower, unit 2B began suffering a psychological attack, rooted to repeated conformations regarding humanity's current status on the moon. After making several accusations against this unit, she ordered me to remain here while she fled ahead, and was chased off by several YoRHa units that had been infected with a logic virus."
So, 2B knew the truth now? Or at least she had an idea of it, and from the way Pod 042 was explaining it, she might not be taking it too well.
"Unit A2," Pod 042 said as it floated her way. "On the behalf of unit 2B, this unit would like to formally request assistance in aiding her. Without a tactical support unit to provide assistance, unit 2B will not have access to long range weaponry, or have the ability needed hack enemy locks."
"I-" A2 tried to think of something to say, but what would that be? She would find 2B, that was for certain, but what she would do after that...
She supposed, 2B herself would be the one to determine that?
000
9S.
9S. 9S.
9S. 9S. 9S. 9S. 9S. 9S. 9S.
She was surrounded by him, maybe a dozen or so copies of him, all around her, each one looking like nothing had happened, that everything was okay.
"Nines..." she gasped, feeling as though it had let her body of its own accord. She couldn't stop herself. This wasn't right. This wasn't real. He was Gone, not right in front of her, he's just Gone. "I-"
She took a step back from them, while each of them made one, and in some cases, two steps towards her, closing the gap between her and themselves, and she noticed they each held their own swords up. There was no doubt what they were going to do with them.
Her sword is in her hand, and a part of her, a vile and sick part that deserved nothing less than to be ripped to shreds and suffer, knew how she should deal with this issue. How easy it would be for her to make this all go away...
"can't... I can't..." Her voice was small and insignificant, and her body felt frail and fragile. "I can't keep doing this anymore." She closed her eyes beneath her visor, hoping they would go away, and shook her head in the hope that they would vanish and leave her alone. "Not again, not again."
When she opened her eyes, they were already on her, so close to her that another moment's hesitation would have ended her life, but she jumped out of the way, moving out of the way of the strikes as hey slammed down onto the floor, but this put her into the path of another copy that was able to graze her arm.
She had to run, to get away, to EsCapE. She CoulDn'T bE here AnymOrE.
So she dodged and ran and even went as far as to try and deflect their swings, before running off to the other side of the room, trying to avoid them as best as she could.
Why were they here? How did the machines get them? Did they make them? Adam and Eve were so android-like, that if she had not been their for their creation, she would have mistaken them as androids.
She tried to ignore the horrible thought that they might have been previous 9Ss she had killed, his bodies taken in when the designated retrieval team either could not, or did not, reclaim the body after she had finished with it.
Stopthinkingstopthinkingstopthinkingstopthinking
2B made it to the door, but only only barely able to nudge at the immobile barrier before she was forced to throw herself off to the side as the copies caught up with her, but even with that brief contact, she knew that the door would not open, not unless she could force it open herself. There was no time for that however, she could not stand still for a single moment, to think, to recollect her thoughts, before they were overwhelming her. All she could not was try and get out of their reach, but every move she made only landed her within the view of another one, who launched another relentless attack at her. No matter what she did to avoid them, she found herself in a position that no safer.
Despite her efforts, they managed to land blows on her, glancing strikes that left minimal damage, never enough to slow her down beyond the initial shock of the pain, but it was still marks against her, signs that she would not be able to hold on forever. She didn't know what she could do in this position? She didn't know what she could do. There was no way she could keep avoiding them like this, not when she did not know how to escape in the first place, and she cannot-would not-fight against any of them.
She will not do it. She will not permit it to end as it has dozens of times before. 2B refused to end 9S' life, to have any part of the erasure of his existence.
If only she had this resolve when it mattered.
2B then stopped, her quick and distraught movements coming to a sudden end, leaving her standing in the middle of the room, and for whatever reason, the 9S models paused in their assault against her. Maybe they decided to take caution for her sudden inaction, or maybe they knew what she had planned, but whatever it was, they did not come for her, they left her alone. Slowly, she put her sword away, and reached up to pull her visor down, letting it fall and rest against her collar, and for the first time since she woke up in the Resistance Camp, her eyes were laid bare to the world around her. They stood there, silently and unmoving, on all side of her.
"Nines," she said, softly, sadly and accepting what was about to happen. Who was she saying this to? To the copies in front of her, to the hypothetical form of his soul, or was she just talking to herself? There's so much she didn't know anymore. "I won't fight back, not against you. Not anymore. Nothing I do will never be enough to make up for what I've done, but if I can give you even the slightest chance of peace, than you can take whatever you need from me. It's your right, after all."
She has made this proposition to him before, first in the desert ruins, and several times afterward, but no matter what she said to him, how she tried to convince him it was fair and deserved, it always ended the same way, and he took his own life so she wouldn't have to.
Those were always the worst, by far, when she was too weak and cowardly to do the one thing he had asked of her, forcing him to do it himself.
No more. Today, she would get what she fully deserved.
Slowly the 9S models approached her, closing the distance between them and her with every step, maybe it was caution, or maybe it was just to make the seconds stretch out longer in an attempt to make her anxious, but it didn't matter, she would wait as long as was needed of her. It was the least she could do, after all, it was the least she owed.
Their swords were drawn, each one posed to end her life, to make things the slightest bit right.
Instead of them ending her life, the doors that she had come in through had exploded, white rubble and dust, bursting fire and two blinding beams of destructive energy came through, with a force that was powerful enough to knock 2B and the other 9S models to the ground. She had been close to the explosion, and was sent crashing to the floor, but it was hard to tell where she had landed, with everything now blinding her with sight and sound. The ringing in her ears was too intense, and it was difficult to take in the things around her, but as the seconds passed, the static and cracks in her vision began to fade away and she could make details out through the dust in the air.
Most of the 9S models had been destroyed in the explosion, torn to pieces, bleeding heavily with smoldering burns and deep cuts covering their remains.
No no no why were they like this?
Several of them lay on the ground, struggling to stand up, to move, but their injuries were too great for them to even move.
He was finally going to take what she owed him. Why did he die? Just why?
She could see something in the dust, walking into the room, two smaller shapes floating in the air by its side.
Why did it always end like this?
"What the hell is this?" The voice was distant through the pain inside her skull, but even so, she knew what that was.
"Alert: Enemy machine life forms detected," said one of the small boxes.
Suddenly one of the remaining 9S models charged the figure, striking against it, only for their sword to block the blow.
The figure-A2-held the blade against her own for a moment, a flash of confusion and disbelief marking their face, before they pushed back and swung down, her own sword-
-She cut him down, he didn't even realize what she had until he-
-had hit the ground with a heavy thud, and did not get back up.
"No..." she gasped, crawling forward, desperate to get to her as she dashed towards anther one, her sword-
-thrust forward into his chest, he coughed up blood as he clutched at the blade-
-but it was fruitless and it fell dead and joined the other dead models. More came at her, but A2 evaded them with ease, and cut them-
-down almost too easy because he didn't fight back why did he not fight back? Why why why? All she could do, holding his cold and still body, no longer caring how heavy or cold the rain pouring down on her was-
"Stop it," 2B growled, grabbing her sword so tightly it hurt. "Stop it!" Louder now and she pushed herself to her feet and began to make her way to A2. "Leave him alone!" she screamed, bringing Virtuous Contract down on A2, only for the other android to spin around and block her own sword strike.
"2B?" She seemed surprised, her eyes widened in shock, and this close to A2 filled with a suddenly powerful and burning rage inside her. She hated A2, she hated A2's face-
-she hated the image looking back up at the rain-made puddle, mixed in with his blood-
2B roared as she pushed against A2, breaking A2's stance and forcing her to stumble backwards, but before she could stab her sword into A2's throat, she jumped to the side, throwing her off balance and stumbling to the side-
-and right into the swinging blade of a model 9S.
2B screamed as the blade slashed at her face, the tip of the sword tearing through skin and flesh, leaving her to crumble helplessly to the ground. She writhed in pain, still crying out in agony, as her free hand clutched at the wound over her left eye, blood freely pouring between her fingers,and soaking through her glove, and she couldn't see anything through the blood and the tears and the corruption invading her vision.
A 9S fell next to her, a deep gouge in it chest.
She had to get to him, she had to be there, she couldn't help him be alone.
With her free arm, she clawed at the ground and tried to make her way to him-but-not-him.
"Nines..." she said through a weak rasp. "Nines..."
Please be okay, he had to be okay, if he wasn't-
BEEP BEEP BEEP
"Wha-" Why was he-
"2B!" she heard A2 cry out from behind her.
She had no time to react to her, or to anything at all, before the bomb inside the 9S model before her went off.
000
Please be well,
Mrfipp
