Welcome back to another chapter of Nier:Refraction!
i apologize for the current chapters being a little shorter than usual. ill try to get my update schedule back to normal soon hopefully.
i'd like to thank everyone who has stuck with the story so far, even if it got a tad slow at times, im trying to experiment with different types of world-building to really get this story going. sometimes i just get a little caught up with explaining the situations correctly, although i hope im getting a bit better.
the story will be taking a tad of a slow turn for the next 3-4 chapters maybe, there will be action and fight scenes but i mainly want to focus on the explanation of the phoenix project, thats right! Marie will be coming back into the story soon! along with the children of section HOPE and some of the adults as well! i haven't forgotten about R4, specially since she's pretty important story wise, i just want to grow her more as a character for the next few chapters before i can really start her official story arc.
as far as important story characters go, the current list is as follows.
2B
the masked man
A2
R4
Hope
Snow
Violet
Children of the Hope Section
so please keep an eye out for them!
as always, please enjoy! if there's any questions or suggestions thus far id love to hear them! see you next time!
-Okami
Hope
"you should have brought more"
A2's whisper echoed through the torn streets of the fallen camp, a shiver ran down the blue haired girl's back as the face of her attacker became clearer under the sun light. Her eyes were lifeless and void of attention, almost as if she wasn't there, her mouth laid slightly agape, a malicious grin forming on the end of her mouth.
Without warning A2 leapt into action, sword in hand. It didn't take even a second for her sword to reach its target. The blue haired girl screamed in horror as the blade dug itself deep into her left shoulder, slicing her bones along the way.
"W-WAIT! PLEASE!", begged the impaled girl as she attempted to crawl away from the frenzied A2. Her words were ignored however, the silver demon had already grabbed her by the throat, attempting to squeeze any ounce of life she had left in her.
I don't think she'd like you doing this, you know?
A2's eyes seemed to regain focus, as if she had just been awakened from a distant dream, her hand slowly letting go of the wounded blue haired girl, she fell to the ground with a loud thud before screaming in pain once again when her shoulder hit the ground, expanding the wound from its initial size.
"are you ok, A2?", Asked Anemone, who had managed to quietly walk towards the petrified soldier. A2 turned around slowly, tears running down her face, she didn't seem to react to her current emotion however, it was a silent pain, one without sobs and screaming. Her yes told her everything she needed to know however, they were the eyes of someone who was afraid of herself, not the horror around her.
A2 simply nodded and fell to her knees, letting her sword fall violently to the ground with a loud 'CLANK'.
"I'm alright...", whispered A2 before a group of YoRHa flight suits flew overhead, their arrival causing all cloth in the vicinity to shake violently against the wind. Anemone and the blue haired girl exchanged glances before one of the Flight suits landed directly in between them. the front of the suit opened slowly, revealing a short, blonde soldier.
[Extraction target located! All units regroup at beacon 2311], spoke R4 into her transmitter before exiting her suit. Once she hit the ground, she immediately dashed towards A2, tripping many times along the way. Once she finally had her in her arms, R4 tightly Hugged A2's face onto her shoulder section, making sure that she couldn't see the area around her anymore.
"I'm so glad you're ok…you're still here", whispered the weeping blonde into A2's ear, causing her to slowly lift her arms onto her back and return the hug.
"it'll take more than that to get rid of my ass", replied the white-haired soldier as she began laughing silently.
The blue haired girl watched the scene before her with awe, she had prompted herself against the wall of a nearby building. Her right hand clutching her left shoulder, attempting to lessen her bleeding.
It only took 4 minutes for the rest of the YoRHa soldiers to arrive. Anemone sighed in relief since nobody seemed too badly hurt, except for 2 red haired combat units who were covered in bandages.
"what happened here", asked D14 as she retracted her shield with a single, upward motion.
"we were hit while the guards were changing shifts, there were no enemies except for…her, however.", replied Anemone before lifting her index finger to point at the blue haired girl. D14 narrowed an eyebrow as she stared at the wounded girl for a solid minute before returning her gaze towards Anemone for confirmation.
"she did all this, yes.", replied anemone as she nodded slowly.
"wow, she must be packing some serious firepower in that small body.", said D14 as she scratched the back of her head nervously.
"she will be escorted back to the bunker; however, she will remain in the custody of my group.", said 2B as she walked past them, sword in hand.
"who is behind the attack", asked 2B as she pressed the wound using her thumb, causing the blue haired girl to wince in pain.
"w-we don't know his name! he's never told us who he is! Please stop! Ahhh!", the blue haired girl recoiled physically as 2B's thumb buried itself within her open wound.
"we?", said 2B as she extracted her thumb from the wound, slowly.
The blue haired girl let out a gasp of relief before responding, "there's 5 of us, my name is hope, I work alongside 2 others by the names of Shizue and Ripper. Our main objective today was to annihilate anyone and everyone in this camp, my companions seem to have vanished amongst the fights outside, so I can't really tell you where they are right now, I'm sorry."
"it is fine, your information will be put to good use, however I cannot guarantee your safety past this point. Your involvement on the attack, plus the fact you successfully killed majority of the resistance forces in this part of the city won't be overlooked by the commander.", responded 2B as she sighed in annoyance. Finally releasing the wounded girl from her iron grip, she could see a hint of relief in her eyes.
the other YoRHa soldiers were doing their best to dispose of the lingering corpses around the market street. D14 was in the distance, near the end of the market street, 5 corpses on top of each other, laid neatly in a pile on her right shoulder. Slightly to her right were the twins, their rifles nowhere to be seen, they sat next to each other, staring off into the infinite horizon above. In the middle of the market square was M16, the medic unit ran frantically from corpse to corpse trying to find anyone who could be saved, no matter how little the chance of success.
"70 percent", said a voice from behind the thinking 2B
"huh?", she said as she turned around, only to be greeted by an angered 9S.
"70 percent, that's the amount of people from the total population of this camp that died.", he replied in a cold, defeated voice. He began to tighten his hands into fists as soon as the blue haired menace came into his field of voice. "and it's all…BECAUSE OF HER", he roared as he began dashing towards the wounded girl.
UMPH
9S crashed in A2, who had nearly, almost instantaneously, dashed into his path of attack.
"I'm glad that you're upset about the loss of life that occurred today, but don't go getting ahead of yourself kid. Stand down, that is an order, and it is final.", said A2 as she glared down at the downed S unit.
"y-you're protecting HER!? Are you thinking straight? She just killed thousands of innocent resistance members!", barked 9S in return, his eyes filled with fury and anger. He let his right hand go limp before materializing a sword with an explosion of light. "if you won't do it, then I will. Now move out of my way."
"of all the days that you could have grown a pair, it had to be today.", sighed A2 as she picked up a discarded spear from the ground, making sure to remove the blade from it.
2B tried to jump in between them, only to be stopped by 9S's pod unit.
[please do not interrupt the user's actions.]
"but!", she pleaded, trying her best to look past the pod at the 2 figures in the distance.
[please do not interrupt], repeated pod 153.
"you're going to fight me with a stick? You really are delusional", 9S was grinning at the sight of A2 holding the blade-less spear. His victory assured in his mind.
"you have a good point, I don't even need this actually.", replied A2 as she threw the stick unto the ground. Her face expressionless. Almost predatory.
"I wouldn't mind killing you again.", spoke 9S under his breath. Without a second of hesitation he charged forward towards the unarmed A2.
9S was less than 4 inches away from contact before A2 disappeared into a cloud of dust.
"what the!?", yelled 9s as his blade met nothingness.
"see, there's one big difference between me and the rest of you.", mocked A2's voice from within the mist of sand.
9S's eyes grew wide in fear, his hands shaking as his grip on the sword became tighter. He spun around, his sword ready to strike at a second's notice. A hand reached out from the dust, grabbing him by the shoulder.
"I don't need a pod to fight…and kill.", hissed A2 as she kicked the sword out of 9S's hand, the sword exploding into light in midair before reappearing behind on his back. He quickly tried to rearm himself but was met by A2's fist, which knocked him unconscious instantaneously.
2B, who had finally been let through by Pod 153 came rushing to 9S's aid, cradling his head on her lap. A look of disappointed on her face. Disappointed and pain.
"why did you do that you idiot…", she whispered as she brought her forehead to his.
A2's eyes grew wide as she noticed Hope had been watching the entire time. The blue haired girl hesitated before slowly walking towards the group, once she was close to them she took a deep bow and hung her head low. "I am extremely sorry for my actions, I was told that your people were a cult of crazed machines that were trying to break into one of the bird cages. It seems I have been…tricked".
A2 and 2B looked at each other before nodding in approval.
"we understand, we'll look into this but for the time being we have to put you into criminal custody.", replied 2B.
A2 crossed her arms and leaned against a fallen piece of rubble. "nothing will happen to you, I'll talk to the commander, as much as I don't want to. Anyway, what was that about us trying to break into some cage?"
"you people do not know about project Phoenix?", replied Hope in awe.
A2 and 2B looked at each other in case one of the two knew about it.
"no."
