The Answer to Life

Chapter 9

Intrigue.

That was the first thing that she felt upon laying her eyes on the man in front of her.

It was also something she hadn't felt in a very long time. Something new and out of the ordinary had finally appeared, interrupting the monotony of the past seven years since her reconstruction.

The man wasn't like any android A2 had ever seen before, at least that's what she thought he was initially. He wasn't dressed like a Resistance member and neither was he equipped like one. They didn't have pistols as part of their standard gear after all. If he was a humanoid machine just like Adam and Eve, the Pod would have alerted her. According to the scans, he wasn't an android though. But If he wasn't, what was he? The way he fought wasn't anything she'd ever encountered before either. He was far too weak and his movements much too slow, it just didn't resemble anything that was programmed into any type of android she knew of either. After all, there was no way such an erratic and inefficient fighting style would ever be part of any android's combat software, let alone a YoRHA soldier. It was almost…dirty. She would have felt like he was cheating, if there was such a thing in combat.

And yet, it worked.

Whatever the heck he was, she couldn't believe he managed to catch her off guard and wound her. Her! She had also never seen anyone use their teeth as weapons like that before. The wound on her shoulder still ached, but it paled in comparison to how much her pride currently stung. Someone as weak as him did this to her? It was humiliating. Sure, she didn't take it seriously, but still…

It wasn't just holding back on A2's part.

Something strange was occurring during their brief scuffle.

There were fatal error notifications constantly sounding off and popping up in her display.

ERROR HX013: PLEASE ABORT CURRENT OPERATION AND CEASE ALL HOSTILE ACTIVITIES.

BEHAVIOUR DIRECTIVE: SET ALL AGGRESSION LEVELS TO '0' IMMEDIATELY

REFUSAL TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN SYSTEM SELF-TERMINATION OF UNIT: YORHA TYPE A NO. 2

She had never seen that particular error before, the trouble it caused her was significant and operated directly against her will. Thankfully, she had picked up a few tricks from doing battle with a certain Scanner in the past. Although she was capable of getting around the troublesome problem, she was not skilled enough to completely fight it off. A2 had no choice but to remain immobile due to how much control it had over her. As a result, she was bombarded with knife strikes and struggled to defend herself as she was frozen in place. Her resistance had afforded her a limited amount of freedom, but her movements were incredibly strange and twitchy.

To put it eloquently, it was a pain in the ass.

Although, as perplexing as this turn of events was, it was not the highlight of the fight she had noticed.

The man had actually managed to counter the finishing blow at the last second and caused her to stagger. It was just for a split second, just a tiny glimpse, but A2 was sure of it.

Red eyes.

His eyes had briefly glowed red and in that tiny window of opportunity, he had overpowered her. She initially thought it was the Logic Virus, but quickly dismissed the thought as she would have known. Perhaps it was a trick of the light or her optics needed to be checked again. Seeing him in such a vulnerable state though, A2 disregarded these concerns in favor of more immediate curiosities.

Focusing her eyes towards the strange man once more, she jabbed the tip of Faith in front of his face as he tried to get up, a gesture demanding his surrender. To her surprise, the submission she was expecting didn't happen. Instead, he had given her a provocatively defiant glare and slightly pressed his neck forward onto the edge of her sword, causing a small trickle of blood to flow down his neck. The cut on his lip where she struck him with her palm was also leaking blood all over his chin and the sight of it all was made even more aggravating as he bared his teeth at her in anger.

It was an unspoken challenge filled with animosity.

It also did not do any wonders for A2's increasingly terrible mood, the clenching of her jaws a clear sign that her patience was reaching its limits.

"What's with that look? Heh, you should know when you're beat-Ugh! What the hell!?"

She flinched and hurriedly covered her eyes with her free hand.

Suddenly, the man knocked her sword sideways with the back of his hand and the next thing she knew was that her vision was obscured by a liquid mist of scarlet red.

…

I can't believe it.

Did he just do what I think he did?

Did he really just spit and spray his gunk all over my face?

…

This fucking asshole!

Quickly wiping her eyes, she instantly homed in on him, obvious fury displayed on her freshly stained face. The man was desperately scrambling towards the nearby pistol he had tossed aside earlier.

"Get your ass back over here!"

Hearing the loud cry of indignation, he turned his head and noticed that A2 was only a couple meters away from his position. He reached into one of his pouches and whipped a solid metal object at her. Of course, there was no way he could have hit her with his stance being so off balance. For a moment, she glanced at the thrown object in confusion and noticed it was a spent magazine she assumed was for his gun. This only reinforced how bizarre he was in A2's eyes. She sighed before yanking him by his vest again and delivered a smooth kick, sweeping his legs off the ground. She pushed him down and straddled his chest, forcefully pinning him down to prevent any more trouble.

"Time to sleep you jerk." A2 gloated in triumph as she readied her fist to deliver punishment. However, right before she could do so, she was interrupted by a familiar monotone voice.

"Unit A2 should cease all violence towards this person immediately. Any further harm towards him will force me to intercept and take action."

Pausing in bewilderment, A2 slowly swiveled her head.

"What do you mean? This is the first time you've said anything like that. You better explain yourself. Now."

There was a moment of silence before Pod 042 spoke up again.

"Upon contact, an in-depth analysis reveals a startling conclusion. This individual is in fact…human."

Like a braking train, all thought came to a screeching halt.

"…Yeah, I think I really do need that long, overdue scheduled maintenance, especially my audio and visual. Do you mind repeating that, tin can?"

There was no way she heard that right.

"Repeat: This man as well as these children, are human. There is no signal or consciousness data detected from any of them. The analysis of this man's biofluids indicate it is from a biological source human in origin. Additional scans also show bones, muscles, organs, and other parts of the human anatomy. Any further violence is prohibited and will result in dire consequences."

A2 couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"…What? Human? That can't be right. There are no humans left! You Pods should know this even better than us androids! First, we find out humans were extinct all this time but now they're suddenly not? Which is it? Just what else is being hidden away from us!? Answer me!"

Before she could continue her questioning, she heard a soft gasp. She would have missed it if it wasn't so sharp and out of place. Looking in the direction of the sound, her eyes settled on the group of children. Understandably, A2 hadn't paid much attention to them so far but now she was unsure of how to proceed, her expression visibly displaying her doubts. She was someone who harbored a deep-seated contempt for her human creators, of that there was no question. Now that she thought about it, pummeling this man felt slightly therapeutic now that he was revealed to be human. However, what she had never given thought to, was human children. She had all sorts of revenge fantasies in her head, but she never imagined anything like this.

She was no stranger when it came to dealing with children, but that was a long time ago at Pascal's village and they were machines. On the other hand, this was something of a different magnitude and it weighed heavily on her "heart". Seeing their fear-filled faces, gasping in fright at her loud burst of agitation filled her with an uncomfortable sense of guilt. They were huddled together in panic and It was almost as if they were witnessing the horrible acts of some barbaric monster.

She gazed down at the man, then looked back up towards the children again in uncertainty.

Was this guy protecting them from…me?

…

No. No, that can't be right.

It's not supposed to be like this.

I'm not the villain here, I'm not!

A2 turned around and addressed Pod 042 once more, her disbelief starting to waver.

"What the hell Pod?! They're really…human? But how? They can't be! If they really are human, why didn't you tell me?!"

Her eyes momentarily flitted towards the young group before settling back on her floating partner.

"Unit A2 did not allow me to finish my report before tersely brushing me off. While I understand A2 was designed for heavy assault in mind, the processing deficiencies apparent are quite…disturbing. An android should completely accept and process all necessary information during briefing, not ignore it and rush into combat. This course of action may result in unwanted and detrimental outcomes.

Recommendation: Perhaps Unit A2 should consult the android researcher: Jackass, about your ongoing experiment with Artificial Stupidity."

The passive aggression that radiated off Pod 042 at times had gradually increased over time, yet it was always hidden startlingly well with their robotic tones. She had picked up on the signs over the years and still wondered if it was fortunate or unfortunate of her having figured out its vocal inflections.

"Oh no, here we go again." A2 groaned in exasperation. Thinking back on it, it was probably unfortunate of her.

"To answer A2's query, I was not aware of their existence either. Until now, it was confirmed that humanity has been extinct for thousands of years. Our records reveal that they were wiped out long ago by a potent affliction called the "White Chlorination Syndrome" well before the aliens arrived on Earth. Project Gestalt was a preservation program put in place as a final attempt to secure humanity's future, however it ultimately failed. Although, perhaps there were other safeguards we were unaware of.

Proposal: Unit A2 should communicate and state her intentions. Assist our creators and learn about their situation. Be sure to correct any confusion and make amends as well as assess for any significant injuries caused by A2's carelessness."

"Oh, to hell with this…" A2 muttered under her breath in annoyance.

Sighing at the long-winded speech, she resigned herself and focused once more on the man she was currently sitting on. He had been silent all this time, staring at the exchange between her and the tactical support unit with a perplexed expression. Eventually, she lifted herself off his torso and took a step back before crossing her arms. Seeing no more need for them at the moment, she also deactivated her NFCS, Faith and the Type 4O Blade vanished in a curtain of light.

"Tch, I'm not going to kill you so stop looking at me with that stupid expression already and get up."

As if on cue, the man slowly picked himself up, grimacing and tentatively holding his midsection. Putting some distance between them, he continued to stare at her apprehensively. Before A2 could ask him anything, a string of words she wasn't familiar with was directed at her. It was almost funny the way he kept stumbling over himself trying to get through to her.

"Hypothesis: There is a language barrier."

"Oh really? You don't say!" A2 ground out sarcastically.

"This man has addressed us in five old world languages: English, Cantonese, Mandarin as well as flawed attempts at Italian and Spanish."

"For fucks sake, if you can understand him, then make it so I can understand too you dumbass! We sure as hell aren't getting anywhere if we can't even understand each other!"

"Understood. Transferring language packages."

There was a moment of silence as the necessary software was being installed. Sensing the strangeness of it all, the man's body tensed up in preparation.

"Alright. Well? Can you understand me now, asshole?"

A2 was starting to feel immensely irritated at this point by all the trouble she needed to go through and it showed in her voice.

Immediately, the man's eyes lit up in recognition. The look of surprise was clear as day but quickly morphed into that of mockery and a wry smile made its way to his face.

A smile that did not reach his cold, dead eyes.

The man dusted off his vest and cleared his throat.

"Well, that's a nice 'how do you do?'. This is the first thing you say after man-handling a stranger for no reason? No apologies or explanations? What a wonderful first impression! Really though, if you were planning on fucking me up the ass so hard, I would have appreciated it if you took me out to dinner first. But for what it's worth, it's nice to meet you too, you fucking cunt."

…

A2 could do nothing but stare at the man in shock.

What did he just call her?

Author's Note:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I'M LATE!

Sorry everyone, it seems this took longer to get out than I thought. Real life and writer's block can be a bitch.

Better late than never I guess…

Oh and before I forget, for those of you living in snowy regions like me PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY!

A few days ago while I was driving, my car flipped and got completely totaled. Thank God nothing happened to me though. Please beware of black ice hidden under fresh snow on the roads and take extra care when turning on bends! Take your time on the highways when snow is blowing hard on your windshield and obscuring your field of view. It doesn't hurt to drive just a little slower when visibility is so low.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Years!

Stay safe everyone and take care!

If you have any thoughts or comments, fire off a review!

See you all in the next chapter!