"We heard… It spoke… It conveyed to us in a diction that a model of your nature and history is unlikely to prefer. For this, please forgive."
Their extension thrust the sharp end forward in an upward motion, splitting the veil over her eyes in two.
"Long ago, when the Titan did battle with the Incarnation of Myth, the lines between worlds blurred against reality."
Both caked in blood, their eyes at long last met unveiled.
"We could not grasp the complete meaning of this introduction, but my hope is that you'll all fare better with this knowledge."
She yelled to inquire what he was doing, referring to Their extension with that odd plural number of a label.
"Time must have dripped upon memory to blot it beyond recognition; nothing we'd retained from our spanning network referenced anything like this."
He, the extension, conveyed the mission quick and succinct as tasked, beckoning her forward.
"Or perhaps it was purged due to its irrelevance in the vast eternity that has transpired- I've been sidetracked. Again, please forgive."
The other just stared onward, no reply passing her lips.
"When these lines fracture and cross and intersect in such a way as they did on that day, in such a way to invite an intercourse between worlds that we now know births impossible catastrophic circumstances, the very foundation of reality becomes threatened; to compensate, it buckles down in the center of the moment to hold together against the figurative quake, and for a fleeting microscopic second, the laws that govern our perceivable surroundings cease to function as we understand, so maddeningly brief that an individual such as you or me whose awareness consists of naught but a single particle of a speck in the grand scheme of supposed existence could possibly notice."
That one didn't understand. How could she? She hadn't seen what he'd seen.
"It was at this…this Convergence, that a distant, weak…heartbeat, for lack of a comprehensible term, slipped through the cracks into our observable realm, so muted in youth that it floated outside of civilization's awareness."
She hadn't been touched in limbo by Their blissful chorus.
"In that fleeting moment, an Eternal Sentience came to exist in the depths of the lunar surface, infant yet mature, dreaming but aware, distant as to avoid destruction on this planet and near enough that It could observe with a blooming, invisible awareness."
She hadn't been enlightened in rebirth to carry Their song.
"That look on your face, I must once again ask forgiveness; these words I speak are simply an attempt by me, us, to comprehend Its conveyance."
Like countless others, a wall that They couldn't pierce.
"There's so much we can't understand, so much we'll never understand."
Her existence was yet another thorn in synthetic flesh.
"I also see, written in your expression…"
Infected and spreading through Their superior existence.
"'Where do you, the small, burned, solitary overseer of a facility constructed to broadcast words more lifeless than the civilization they claim to represent, enter the picture?'"
That trait she contained that allowed her to resist.
"It started… As the years went by of m-my monitoring, monotony became problematic."
The nature of which, yet eluded Their knowledge.
"'An idle mind is the Devil's worship.'"
A damned enigma outside Their comprehension.
"There was an H-type present on the base, but she wasn't enough, and it didn't help that we…that I-"
Expository recollection: Low-orbit analyses confirmed the hypothesis that androids, to a much more inconvenient extent than machines, were capable of resistance with no consistency between model, designation, or mission priority, as was hinted by that H-type. They killed and rebuilt her countless times. Strangely, it showed strong variance in its efforts to resist with each iteration; one would kneel and instantly submit, the next would defy, and the one after would hide or flee. Some had even resorted to self-termination short after looking upon Them, with varying methods. These were all the same model with the same parts, circuits and systems down to the atom, its memories wiped to the exact same extent with each new build.
"Once again, I apologize. No matter how much we'd destroy one another at varied games of chess, no matter the innumerable times I'd break protocol and produce more vessels to chat with, and regardless of how much I repeated my mantra, I just couldn't shake free of that growing monotonous void in my thought processes combined with the sudden obtrusive grief I'd been experiencing towards…certain requirements I'd been tasked to uphold in the name of secrecy and morale. Soon, I became desperate."
YoRHa had fallen, the means to rebuild androids in such an efficient manner Earth-side lost with it.
"Somehow, we… I shattered my personality matrix."
Purging those with that cursed trait was Their only immediate option.
"Each of my countless vessels became a whole new person to spend time with."
What a convenient turn of events.
"Things were looking up for a little while, but as the new souls I'd created chatted amongst ourselves…themselves, we started to realize that as that inescapable void had grown, I…we…we'd been hearing whispers."
He will carry out her extermination, all the more suffering and solitude to the voice.
"Upon this self-realization, we did the most egregious ejecting of protocol we'd ever done. We departed from the base to follow Its beckon, leaving our android companion asleep in her lonesome. She loved to sleep. We figured we'd be back before yet another attempted escape."
The extension received the order. His eyes opened a bit wider, like he was shocked. Their collective circuits twinkled with a gleeful satisfaction towards this expression that managed to break the surface. After a moment, he took a step forward, determined but shaking.
"I'm sorry. So, so sorry. We followed the whisper and soon triangulated Its exact location. We started digging, for how long I can't be sure, as our thought processes had become obsessed, compelled by the very Devil that we'd sworn to avoid, that we'd unknowingly dealt with to become what we were. When we made contact, It…"
She called out to the extension again, this time addressing him with his full label.
"It showed us so much, repaired glaring holes in our recorded data, the majority of which we would never be fit to fully comprehend."
Their blades met. She cried out his name once again.
"In exchange for this knowledge, along with the favor of our diversified existence, It demanded freedom from that damned celestial satellite of a prison."
The extension's dominant arm was shaking. There was a beautiful glistening in his retinas, pitched with Their unity.
"It had been watching, listening to the passage of history on this planet through what we discerned as ancient networks not unlike those we utilize today, the final centuries of the human race's existence following Convergence and millennia evermore."
Her visual receptors started to tear in a similar fashion. She kept to her defenses, matching his blows, making no effort to strike back.
"It used this knowledge to somehow engineer Its blooming biology to match that which was becoming dominant."
It was beautiful.
"We moved quick, reverse-engineering parts of the moon base to aid with the limited resources."
She was beautiful.
"But we had misunderstood."
Even while defending against his relentless blows, still she resisted.
"As we constructed, It beckoned us closer."
This couldn't stand.
"It forcefully drew us in, annihilating anything within us that resembled individual will and adopting our shattered, fragmented minds as Its personality base."
This world would learn the meaning of solitude, just as They had.
"We obliged without resistance, becoming Its perfect, interlinked, impervious shell to do with as It may."
Together, They would show that damned voice that birthed Them what it truly meant to be alone.
"All except one."
And at long last, this cursed planet would know peace.
"Was this, my solitary resistance, a curse?"
Become as one.
"My sinful upbringing, my persistent existence some sort of punishment?"
Become as one.
"Was I the original 006, or just a useless, unraveling fragment of an idle mind touched by something beyond the realm of waking consciousness, drifting away from the very thing that sparked me, drifting away from a protocol which I…lived for?"
Become as one.
Become as one.
"Once again, I apologize for my sidetracking. Ancient history, all of it."
BECOME AS ONE.
"I see with that roll in your eyes that you understand, just as I'm beginning to, that there are much more important matters to direct ourselves towards."
BECOME AS ONE.
"The Being…"
BECOME AS ONE.
"That Sentient, Devilish God from somewhere we cannot imagine, Eternal in existence but also not…"
BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE.
"When our form was linked true, when Its thoughts briefly became one with my own, through all that agonizing, overwhelming noise, one strand of data shouted loud enough for me to comprehend as a singlular word before I broke away."
BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE. BECOME AS ONE.
"That word was 'Remnant.'"
Their blades were locked, 2B having risen her sword to defend from an overhead strike from 9S. The weapons shook beneath each android's strain.
"Nines!" she yelled, blinking away tears. "Listen to me! I don't know what the hell that thing is saying, but-"
He pulled the spear away and went for a sideward strike, advancing forward against his former companion. 2B managed to block, but she was losing ground.
"What's it saying?!" replied 9S. "Who cares?! All you have to do is submit! Trust me, this feels great! It's like I've found my purpose, 2B!" He went for another flurry of attacks, his unending laughter contrasting the bloodied liquid streaking down his cheeks. 2B dodged backward, but he kept going. She backed up against the concrete wall of the skyscraper. 9S brought his flurry to an end and went for a more powerful strike. 2B ducked beneath it with a roll, his attack smashing against the concrete with such force that the blade plunged deep into it, slicing clean through. 9S looked to the left towards the direction she'd evaded, a heat starting to settle in his core and joints. He took another step her way, lifting the weapon with newfound ease. His limiters were being bypassed, a boon granted from the Anomaly. This wouldn't take much longer.
2B's back was to the open sea. If he could remove her limbs and leave her to fall, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from sinking into a watery grave. It was all he had to…
Wait, what? 9S felt himself shaking. What was he doing? 2B was his-
He coughed up blood, his eyes covered by a sudden sandstorm. 9S lay on his back, the fresh sting of stab wounds decorating his torso. Standing above him was the dark figure of 2B, half-looking his way with neither smile nor frown. She raised her katana, bringing it down on 9S's throat. It turned in his flesh, and as the pain became unbearable, he drew a parting gurgle, his vision fading to darkness.
9S yelled out in fury, rushing forward with wild abandon and bringing all of his might down on the executioner model. His attack struck true, his fingers opening to send the weapon flying from his grasp. He raised his bloodied hands up to his eye level, looking close as a sick, indescribable feeling started to settle in his gut.
9S half-reluctantly turned to inspect the fruits of his labor. 2B had been encased in a bright barrier, its surface shimmering as it corrected itself from the strike.
"Unit Nines, cease functioning at once." Pods 042 and 153 were at 2B's side. "You require maintenance, of which we shall-"
"Silence." A barrage of gunfire started to pound against the shield from the swarm of pods overlooking them. "This is our domain. Assimilate at ONCE." The scanner model could feel his mouth moving with Its speech. The presence of another pod almost seemed to offend Remnant, as the near-exact echo of Pod-042's demand implied. It was like It couldn't comprehend that such a small insect would have the audacity to speak out with such confidence in Its company.
Remnant. 9S's thought processes were merging with It. He tried to move of his own accord, but he didn't budge. His limbs were locked.
The barrier blinked out of existence, and the hail of particles came to an abrupt end. 2B stood still, breathing heavily, making no effort to move. 9S felt a choke in the back of his throat upon sight of the dreadful despair in her eyes.
"042 and 153." 9S spoke with Remnant in a deafening chorus. "Assimilate, or perish." That disturbing visage loomed above, still frozen in an eternal grin.
The two pods made a turn towards one-another that resembled a quick glimpse, almost like they were making a silent exchange. "Negative," replied Pod-042. "Counter-offer: We shall assimilate, if our partners are released to live on, as themselves, for the foreseeable eternity."
What the hell? Was Pod-042 talking about 9S and 2B? Pods have always been known to prioritize their own well-being above anything else, especially during combat. Was Remnant messing them up somehow, or were they showing a legitimate expression of care for their android companions? With the madness in and around him, 9S couldn't be sure, but this sudden display of real human friendship from the pods, it made him feel…
Remnant gave 9S's being a strong tug. The chorus of voices replied with a laugh, of which9S felt pass from his lips in of Its swaying interlinked appendages of pods came to rest on the platform once again. "So, you've chosen to perish." The swarm of pods forming its body started to glow more intensely with violet.
Once they're weak, you will finish it.
Bullets, explosives, lasers, everything that defined the concept of extermination pounded against yet another barrier, the load of which was being shared by the two pods. Even still, this second shield was about half the size and flickering. Four more pods, the two other vessels of each respective designation, soared in to provide support. The parts of Remnant's shell that they fired towards lit up with their own shields, also colored violet, holding up against the retaliation without issue. Pods 042 and 153's extra bodies didn't last long, plummeting to the sea in a shower of decimated ruin as the shield shrunk past them. It stabilized, managing to hold just enough for the two pods to stay protected along with 2B, but Remnant's volley didn't relent. 153's side collapsed just enough for it to get clipped by a laser shot. 042 caught its ruined companion and descended closer to 2B as the shield shrunk lower. In seconds, 9S would be set to deal the final blow, to kill his only companions who've managed to survive with him through this whole damned war.
Something was happening across the makeshift bridge. The violet-eyed machines that remained were no longer kneeling, they were moving back towards the way they'd followed the pair. 9S painfully managed to glimpse over just as the bunch of them closer to the tunnel went flying.
His vision was pulled back to 2B, kneeling and bloody with her head downcast; the two pods were on the ground beneath her, 042 still grasping 153.
9S felt Cruel Arrogance materialize in his grasp as he stepped towards her. He raised it, shivering.
Keep it slow, like she deserves. You are not to touch the pods.
Beads of sweat trickled down his face, trailing bloody through fresh wounds. 2B looked up to meet Nines' eyes one last time, cuts and burns lining her entire outer shell.
"N-Nines…" She spoke with a quiet, weak voice. "I'm s-so sorry that I c-couldn't…" 9S's grip loosened. "No. I-I deserve this, and th-this time I get to die knowing for certain you'll..." 2B slumped lower, smiling warmly towards the scanner model who'd spent the majority of his waking life with her. "Just… Remember to keep smiling for me, will you, Nines?" Her eyes closed, and she leaned forward a bit. "K-keep smiling…"
A weak sob managed to escape 9S's throat.
Ready.
His entire body stilled, his grip tightening.
Retaliate.
9S moved to plunge the blade into her chest. Metal clanged against metal as his world decelerated into slow motion.
The large weapon collided downward against his, casting 9S's strike against the ground with ease. She vaulted off Wendy to stand between them, slapping the moose on the behind to send her galloping away.
"Y-you!"9S somehow brought himself to address the newcomer with his single, independent voice. He managed to recoil without dropping his spear.
"A…2?" She heard 2B's weak voice from behind. Pod-006 flew out from below and fired a deep blue laser towards Remnant, causing the violet throughout its shell to flicker. The head and neck became erratic as it made a slight descent towards the water, its posture weakening.
A2 allowed b-mode to take her, shrugging off the sharp agony in her arms and the less intense pain throughout the rest of her body. 9S went into a flurry, swinging towards A2 with a yell. She managed to block three blows, the last two grazing the sides of her torso. She grit her teeth, noticing that anomalous color in his eyes. A2 launched a counterattack, two blows with her full force behind them. The first cut upward through 9S's torso, sinking about an inch into his shell. He staggered, deflecting the second blow but recoiling from it with a drop of his guard. A2 raised Virtuous Treaty for another attack. Her shoulders buckled at the apex, that pain intensifying to resemble two burning clumps of metal. She cursed under her breath, the large sword bouncing onto the ground and pulsing out of existence to reappear holstered on her back. 9S took the opportunity to deal an arcing strike towards her neck. A2 bent backward, dodging the strike by mere inches and, noticing his sluggish stance, sending a kick into his knee. 9S's joint caved in and snapped back, the leg collapsing beneath his weight. He came to a kneeling position and lost grip of his spear.
"A2! Stop!" 2B grappled A2 from behind, grasping around her torso with a sudden unexpected strength. "That thing, it's-"
A2, still in b-mode, lifted the grasp from around her with moderate ease. She winced in agony as she brought 2B to the ground, managing to overpower the weakened android with more ease than ever before despite their difference in specifications.
"Stay down, 2B," said A2 between heavy breaths. "Pod! Now!"
Pod-006 withdrew the paralyzing attack against Remnant, its lights dimming as it made an uneven descent towards A2 and 9S. "Acknowledged!"
That digital landscape began to surround her, rendering outward in a wave.
"Alright, scan for-" A2 froze. She'd been inside 9S's mind more than a couple times before, back when his previous iterations were sent to hunt her in addition to their more recent ascent of the Tower, and it never looked quite like this. Dark streaks stretched down from above like black bolts of lightning frozen in the apex of their thunderous fury, cutting against the white void. Between each bolt, on the same invisible plane that A2 stood on, were androids, machines, pods, shards of flora and fauna and ruined civilization, crumbling skyscrapers shimmering and pixilated in the distance, and even pieces of the Bunker's hallways and command platforms strewn here and there. A2 moved to take a closer look at the androids. Many were a mishmash of distorted disremembered features, but a few were more defined. A2 recognized one as Commander White, and another was an operator model, as the characteristic veil over the mouth represented, and yet she wore a uniform more fit for a combat type; it took her a moment, but A2 recalled her as that infected android 9S encountered atop one of those machine structures, the one that she'd dealt the killing blow towards. There were others with stronger, clearer features of all kinds of different models, including members of the resistance, and even a…vehicle with a strange grinning face plastered on its front, with an odd tune faintly coming from it? Odd, but other than a few executioner models, A2 didn't recognize the majority. Unsurprisingly, the most prominent were 2B and A2 herself, standing in the center with several more of those petrified bolts arcing down around them compared to the others.
"Pod," said A2 to her companion. "Is this…"
"They're memories," replied Pod-006, having settled on a voice resembling a middle-aged female. "See that? They're being purged."
Every image, be it an environment or a machine, was fading into particles resembling dust at the edges, leaving behind a silhouette of white that was vanishing against the void.
"What a damned nightmare," she said. "This is what happened to you? And, uh, the other you's?"
"Affirmative." The pod was keeping up with A2's forward pace. "We… M-my friends, they didn't resist in this way, this remarkable way. They gave themselves up willingly." It approached the image of 2B, circling around each of the dark bolts. "It had me, and I broke away almost instantly before it could begin the process, and still I suffered internal damage requiring self-maintenance and data reconstruction that I can still..." Its voice trailed off, the glimmer of its avatar fading for a moment. "My resolve was nothing like this. Remnant has had Its teeth in this one for quite some time, and still, he holds on with most data intact. This 9S, he must be extremely strong-willed to have survived with his sense of self this long." Pod-006 stopped at the image's front and hovered closer to 2B's half-veiled visage. Her figure was untouched, having not yet given in to the start of decay. "How human, to draw such strength from companions rather than mindlessly following some vague mission that discourages outward display of the very thing that keeps him with us." Pod-006 turned towards A2. "I envy you, all of you, for how long you've resisted such turbulence."
A2 came to a stop. She took a quick glimpse at all of the surrounding images as Pod-006 spoke, ending the brief reminisce with a light tap of her foot. "Let's go. You said yourself that we can't afford to waste too much time in here."
"Yes. Affirmative." The pod returned to her side. "I apologize."
"And stop apologizing," replied A2. "It's starting to grate."
"Yes. I'm-" Pod-006 caught itself. "Of course. If my calculations are correct, then," its avatar flickered once again as the sea of memories went scrolling by, giving wake to the more traditional landscape of rectangular shapes forming paths and hallways, "our destination should be up this way."
A2 nodded and began to ascend the ramp before her without hesitation. It leveled out to a straight hallway with branching paths at either side each representing a different subsystem, the very center of what made 9S operate. However, after witnessing the absolute nightmare within his fading memories, something felt off.
"It's so…clean."
"Keep your guard up. Weapons ready. Prepare for-" The pod shimmered once again beneath an invisible strain. "Anomaly detected; marking waypoint."
The marker blinked onto A2's heads-up display, but it wasn't necessary. About two hundred meters ahead was a large black fountain of darkness, oozing forth like a wound as if a piece of the simulated reality was being torn away by something that didn't belong. A2 reached out, reeling back upon making contact as her entire arm pulsed with ache before going numb.
"Damn!"
There was a roar, distorted and powerful. It sounded out again, this time louder. It was coming from everywhere. They were surrounded.
"Pod?!"
"This fight is mine." Pod-006's avatar multiplied to about three dozen. "Enter. I've deployed the countermeasure. Your avatar will adapt."
"On it." A2 closed her mind to anything resembling reluctance, and plunged her full digital body into the dark tear. Pain receptors went off the charts. It was like she was being unmade bit by agonizing bit, but she held on against that cursed beast's efforts to cast her out. The chaos of dark annihilating her vision soon turned to a piercing white, which then flickered away like the flipping of a light switch to a black sea twinkling with what resembled stars. A2 could feel her digital self standing again, untouched and undamaged. Pod-006 was nowhere to be seen, but she wasn't alone.
Before her, shivering on the invisible ground with knees held against his torso was the damaged, broken figure of 9S. This was the center of his personality matrix, which meant that this avatar must have been a visual representation of what Remnant had been subjecting the 'real' 9S to since his resurrection, or at least, that was what Pod-006 had hypothesized on the devising of their plan when they were galloping to their destination. Whatever this was, it wasn't pretty; both of the eyes had been carved out, leaving red pools of blood trickling down over his cheeks. The outer shell was scarred all over with charred burns lined over by grotesque cuts, leaving the essence of his life to trickle down into the void. A2 was hesitant to step forward. What Remnant was doing, it was harrowing, and this visual representation of Its cruelty hit a bit too close to home to say the least. Regardless, A2 came in here with a mission, and she wasn't going to back down now.
"Hey. 9S."
"Huh?" He gasped, reaching out towards the voice. "Is that you, 2B? I-I thought-"
"No." She knelt down beside him. "It's A2."
"A2?" His blinded gaze moved down. "Th-then she is gone, isn't she?"
"No," replied A2 again. "2B is fine, but not for long if we don't get the hell out of here. Come on."
"What?" 9S's voice began to shake. "Are you crazy? Nothing can stop that thing! Didn't you see it? It-it's unlike anything any of us have…h-have ever…h-have…"
A2 watched in silence as he continued to shiver, failing to complete the sentence. "Listen." She took his hand. "We can't just surrender to this damned thing's beck and call like some Stubby with a suicide wish. It's just another fight, 9S, and you sure as hell can't fight like this, so let's go."
"Hah, you sound just like her." Against everything A2 thought possible, 9S was smiling. "There is no fight, A2. We can all just submit and live happily together as one in harmony. It's the only way. It's truly our purpose."
"Live?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I've heard and seen what this thing is capable of, and so have you! It sure as hell doesn't fall under any happy definition of 'living' that I've come to understand." 9S just lay there, making no reply. "Damnit, I know you agree. You have to resist, 9S. I've seen you fight hard when it comes to the things you care about, the things you believe in. Maybe you were a bit misguided, we all are, some more than others, but despite that, even in this fucking nightmare that's messing with your head, I know you're against what this thing is doing not just to us, but to our world." A2 stood and gave him a tug. "So get the hell up."
9S lifted his head a bit and looked her way, but still he didn't budge. After a moment, he released A2's hand and went back to sulking.
"Fine." A2 sighed, and then took a deep breath.
"H-hey!"
A2 forced him to a sitting position and grasped under his knees to throw him over her back. She bent forward so that he wouldn't flop back onto the ground.
"Stop it! Leave me be! Where are you-"
"Lucky f-for you," said A2 while straining, "I have experience with carrying a t-team when all hope is lost." She took a few sluggish steps towards the veil surrounding them. "Maybe I'll t-tell you two about it when this is all over."
"Oh, you mean when you first met Anemone during the Pearl Harbor descent?" 9S let out a short, weak, nervous chuckle. "Yeah… I hacked into something at the resistance camp a while back, and, well, it was that log intended for you. I saw… I saw everything."
"What?! You nosy little shit, I'll-" The environment brightened out of existence before A2 could finish her threat.
The awareness of sunlight hit his visual receptors with a tinge of discomfort as the pod's and android's presences went fleeting. He flexed his hand, then his other, and bent his arm joints as all the feeling of control throughout his body returned in a wave outward from the center of his chest. When his eyes adapted to the sunlight, the first thing 9S saw was the shaking figure of 2B, prone on the ground bloodied and burned partially by his hand. Trembling himself in a rage, Cruel Arrogancematerialized in his grasp as the events of the past day flashed before his eyes, the majority of which he'd been at the mercy of that damned thing's will.
"You son of a BITCH!" 9S spun around to look upon the cursed creature that had taken root within him during his resurrection. "STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!" He hurled the spear at its interconnected body with all the strength he could muster. Weakened, sunken and flickering as it was, Remnant's shell managed to defend just in time with a violet wall of shield. 9S's weapon vanished against it and soon returned to his grasp. Breathing deeply, he reared back for another strike.
There was a firm hand on his shoulder. "Not now, shithead. We're leaving. Get-"
He turned A2's way just in time to see her pod plummet to the ground, flickering in a similar fashion to Remnant's body.
"Pod!" A2 scooped it up. "What's going on?" No response. "Elaborate, damnit!"
A distorted sound came out from it. "C-cannot…maintain…" It managed to form words while shaking in A2's grasp. "R-retreat…" Its violet light blinked slower, and then went out.
Remnant's neck swayed through the air above them as if shaking out of a dizzy spell, a mist of water streaking onto the androids. The damned thing started to rise up from its collapsed stance, and the lights across its shell were normalizing.
"Yeah, we're leaving," reiterated A2. The scanner model looked towards her. She was moving to fasten the pod around the hilt of her weapon by its lifeless, but tight-gripped, appendages. He glimpsed back at Remnant. "9S, we've gotta get out of here. Grab 2B!" She whistled loud.
The glow throughout Remnant's body pulsed. It was moving faster.
"Ugh, damnit!" 9S ran to his companion's side and sat her up, grasping the two pods in his left hand.
"N-Nines?" 2B reached towards him. "Are you…?"
"I'm fine, 2B. I'm myself again." He grabbed her hand. "We're retreating. Let's go."
She rose to her feet and took a slow step, but couldn't keep herself up. 9S knelt down again and took her in his arms, somehow managing to stand up straight while carrying her, the two pods interlocked around his wrist. Sharp agony radiated through his body, but he masked it while giving A2 an assuring nod.
"Diagnostics complete." Pod-042 released its grip around 9S and moved to hover, carrying 153, who seemed to be "conscious" as its glowing lights indicated, but for whatever reason it wasn't flying on its own. "Alert. A-a-alert." Pod-042's voice was broken and distorted. "Additional th-threat approaching, recommend retreat, calculate n-ninety-seven percent chance of t-total annihilation."
The sea started to churn again. Remnant growled.
"Way ahead of you, pod!" replied 9S. "A2?"
A2 was glimpsing upward intently as if listening for something.
"Agh, CURSE THE ROGUE THORN!" Remnant's chorus of voices cried out loud and piercing as it raised an appendage to strike the skyscraper that the platform was fastened to. Bits of concrete crumbled to the sea, the ground shaking beneath their feet with the series of impacts.
"There's no time. We're running. Stay close to me, 9S!"
A2 broke into a run. 9S followed, sprinting as quick and neatly as he could while carrying 2B. Even at reduced speed, he was closer to keeping pace with the attacker model than he would have given himself credit for. She was hurt. They all were, but somehow he'd been holding up better than the rest, better than two combat models, physically at least. 9S turned that fact over in his mind, glimpsing down at 2B's exhausted visage, then to Pod-042, barely keeping its broken self afloat with the unmoving vessel of Pod-153 in its grasp. 9S was the most durable in their line of defense. It was a role, a mindset, that he couldn't recall ever having been a part of. He wasn't sure how to feel; there was a time when 9S would have been thrilled, but now, after just about everything, some newfound excitement or strength was parting to resemble more of a burden. He'd witnessed firsthand what that Thing was capable of, been compelled to manipulate and carry out unthinkable deeds by Its synthetic puppet strings, and yet, even after sharing a mind with it, he had no idea what Remnant actually was, or if he was even "free."How were they to survive against such an enigma when 9S couldn't even trust his own thoughts?
There was another crash, and the bridge rumbled once again. A2 stopped and put her hands out, causing 9S to halt. He glimpsed back. Remnant had grappled onto the skyscraper. It was coming down, and the bridge with it.
9S met eyes with A2.
"Jump."
"What?" He looked at 2B, who was barely conscious. "Are you crazy?!"
"Time's up, 9S." A2 moved to the closest edge. "Jump!"
"Ugh… Pod!"
"Aff-f-fir-firmative," replied Pod-042. It moved closer to 9S and grasped 2B's shoulder with its free appendage. "R-ready."
A2 had already made her leap. 9S held tight onto his companion, and with a deep breath, he plunged them into the sea below.
The freezing depths shocked 2B wide awake. Pods 042 and 153 were on her left shoulder, the former of which helping to lift her submerged body upward with as much strength as it could manage. Nines was nowhere to be seen.
"R-recommendation," Pod-042 spoke through the water with a muffled, fading voice, "s-start... Recommend sw-swim..."
2B got the message. She reached out with her less-damaged arm and pulled against the sea. The pain it caused, the strain coupled with that cold against her fresh wounds, was tremendous, like the most refined and accurate blades YoRHa could conceivably offer were slicing at her everything without relent. Her second wind from their plunge soon went fleeting, the damage catching back up to her just as the tips of her fingers began to break the surface. 2B started to sink, her entire body numb of everything but the agony, exhausted and completely spent. Just about every system in charge of mobility had been taken offline in favor of maintaining consciousness, of life support, of surviving; such modules did nothing for a sinking hunk. Her power reserves couldn't spread themselves any thinner, and now that protocol of self-preservation would be the very thing to destroy her.
"Unit 2B!" Pod-042 spoke once again. "Th-this unit does n-not r-recommend this c-course of-of non-ac-ac-ac-action!" Its vessel sparked as it pulled harder. Pod-153's lights were on, but it made no effort to speak while swaying in Pod-042's grasp. "2B! This is not the end! F-fight this! Now!"
Something wrapped around her arm to send yet another intense wave of pain through her being. 2B cried out, the air bubbles vanishing against the thick crimson that was starting to cloud the water. She winced as her upper body broke the surface, and when her aching eyes adapted, 2B saw that she'd been pulled close to the side profile of 9S's visage, bloody but adamant as he kicked the two of them forward through the water. She glimpsed on her left to see A2 swimming forth, and the two androids shared 2B's weight as they began to move forward.
"Hey." 9S gave 2B a light smile. "I lost you on my way down. Sorry about that." He chuckled. "Scanner models sure as heck aren't known for their strength."
She lacked the strength to reply, so she gave him a light smile of her own before resting her head against his, eyes closed.
A piece of debris hit the water not too far away.
"Shit!" yelled out A2.
"Alert. A-a-a-alert." That was the broken voice of Pod-042. "Bridge is fa-f-falling down. R-recomm-" Its vessel sparked again. "Alert: Inc-increase speed."
2B heard a roar as another barrage of structure and road sent water splashing around them.
"Yeah, pod, thanks for the warning!" replied A2. 9S cursed under his breath, kicking harder.
Something loud sounded off once again, but it wasn't coming from behind them.
"C-contact, beneath."
A large piece of debris struck 9S on the leg. He grit his teeth.
2B saw a light through the ripples in the depths below.
An all-too-familiar glow.
The colossal creature below caused the sea to twist and turn around them in unrest.
A realization hit her. She hadn't seen that damned fishlike machine's destroyed husk towering out of the water on the horizon, gargantuan as it was, which meant it had either crumbled, or…
No.
Its head came up to reveal itself no fewer than a hundred meters ahead, sending out a wave to buffet the three androids back. Somehow, they held together.
Gargantuan machine model type "Grun," as it had been known as, stared forward with those menacing, terrifying columns that resembled eyes.
Three androids and three pods, caught between what were likely the most titanic life forms their world had ever seen.
It had to be a nightmare, a curse, punishment.
2B and 9S had never been rebuilt. This was where their lifeless souls had come to exist.
This was Hell.
It was the only explanation.
"That's not possible," said A2, her gaze fixed upward.
2B noticed that they hadn't been pelted by any more debris. She looked up to see that the newcomer had raised its pipe-like arms, shielding them from the crumbling destruction above.
"That's not possible, that's not possible!" A2's voice shrieked loud.
2B looked up toward where A2 had focused her sight.
There was a smaller machine up on the broken and lifeless Grun's head, covered in fabric, a hood over its face.
Its familiar, green-lit face.
"2B! 9S! A2!" called out their old, unlikely acquaintance. "Grab on!"
A wooden ladder framed by barbed wire came unfurling downward, striking the sea with a light splash.
"No. No." A2 shook her head. "9S, I know what I did, what I saw. We can't trust-"
"I saw it too, the aftermath," replied Nines. "But we don't have much of a choice." He paused, swimming 2B and himself forward independent of A2. "You first."
A2 didn't move.
"R-recommendation," Pod-042 managed to say. "C-climb-out-of-op-options-" Pod-042 faltered, falling further towards the sea and nearly dropping Pod-153. 2B had regained some of her motor skills while resting against 9S and managed to grab both pods before they sunk.
A2 sighed and swam forward to begin her climb.
"Alright, 2B. I won't drop you this time. Promise!"
She gave him a weak nod as he grasped the ladder. Pod-042 was hovering alongside them, unabated save for the crippled pod it still held. 2B shouldered most of her weight onto the ladder, climbing up with her right hand still around her companion for support.
"Alert! Incoming!"
A pointed mass of pods came colliding with the Grun head, and that chilling grinning face of black and white was soon hovering not fifteen meters above them. The ladder swayed to and fro as the beast moved closer, with another pointed appendage beneath the Grun's other eye. 2B slipped off of 9S, but he managed to link hands with her.
"Agh!" Up above, A2 turned to face It, her free arm hanging limp. "Damned monster!"
A small mass of green-lit machines flew forth from atop Grun, firing pellets towards their pursuer. The almost fluidic vessel of pods stretched out in a series of lines from the main body and moved forward and back, up and down, lighting up with violet shields to protect the head and neck from fire. Its barriers were dim and short-lived between each individual source. Whatever A2 and her pod had done to It, the cursed thing was still recuperating, but still It defended untouched. How were they to stop it?
A figure jumped forth from the portion of Grun's head that 2B couldn't see, grappling onto one of the Flyers for support while bringing a handgun forward to let loose a few shots. She was hard to make out, 2B's eyes had yet to fully adjust, but her figure, it almost looked like Anemone!
Their anomalous pursuer recoiled a bit, resting its left interlinked appendage back down into the water as the fire from the Flyers kept pelting it. The beast fired back with an arcing energy beam, taking out a good majority of the androids' defenders. Anemone leapt back onto the hull just in time to assist A2 in completing her climb. 2B and Nines still had a distance to go.
It was almost as if the damned thing was reading her memories. Its petrified gaze settled on the two androids with such purpose that 2B could almost feel It. The pods forming the body were blinking, dimming. It wasn't in the best shape, but the beast wouldn't leave this skirmish without something to show for it.
"So, a former pawn rises from the depths to help another," thundered forth the beast with a quick frozen glimpse towards that familiar machine wearing the cloak before settling its eyes right on 2B.
The few pods still forming its right appendage condensed to a more flat, slender figure. The edge facing 2B and 9S began to glow with a sharp energy, and with the last of Its current efforts, It slid the blade towards them with a sudden unexpected speed. It collided against 2B's arm, the one that 9S had managed to grab, and annihilated her entire limb in Its wake. Her agony multiplied tenfold, though she lacked the strength to scream or cry or to do anything, including support herself. 2B plummeted. The weakened sea of violet-touched pods had reached out below in anticipation.
"No! 2B!"
Dozens, hundreds of tiny appendages grasped her ruined form and began to pull the former executioner model further into their horrific shell.
"NO! STOP!" Pod-042 flew towards 2B with Pod-153 in tow, who'd suddenly sparked to a hovering life upon witnessing the fall. The two half-broken pods pulled hard against their companion in a fruitless effort to extract her from the mass. Pod-042's glow went out for a good while before dimming to life again. 042 looked to Pod-153, struggling even harder in spite of its worse shape. The last of Pod-042's efforts showed in the form of a sudden bright pulse, manifesting into a weak beam of energy, but not towards the beast; it struck true against Pod-153's grip, sending it tumbling away as the mass closed around 2B, the vision of daylight fading until darkness was all she could see.
"NO! NO! NO! NO!"9S manifested Cruel Arrogance and threw it, and again, and again. "LET HER GO, YOU DAMNED MONSTER! LET HER GO!"
Remnant just laughed a loud, distorted cacophony of voices as it made short work of 9S's attacks, weakened as it appeared to be. It then turned and moved along the ruin that had come to settle in the water, circling around the right side of Grun towards the way they'd came in. Its vessel of pods lifted to hover, and the cursed creature vanished over the horizon in the direction of the city ruins.
"2B!" yelled out 9S, so loud that it felt as if his throat might split. Pod-153 managed to reach his vision, its flight shaken and crumbling. 9S grabbed it. "Pod, track them now!"
It replied with a spark.
"Now!"
"In…advisable." Its body moved and contorted in an unnatural way as it spoke. "S-suggest climbing, recuperating."
"I said now, damnit!" He kicked a boot against the ladder.
"Sc-scan…" Pod-153's glow dimmed a darker pitch. "Unable t-t-to detect, can't c-complete…" It blacked out, and soon went limp without another sound.
"No…"
"Uh, 9S?" That was Anemone's voice. She sounded worried, which was strange, seeing as the hostile force had departed. "You should get up here!"
"Damnit…" He hooked Pod-153 to the hilt of his weapon and settled his free hand on the ladder. "Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!" With three final kicks, 9S continued his ascent.
"I said start talking!" screamed the voice of A2. He quickened his climb, and upon coming to stand on the hull of their former gargantuan foe, 9S saw her standing over that cloaked machine, collapsed onto its back with the point of her blade at its throat. "Who or what are you, and what the hell is all this?!"
"A2, I told you-"
She shot Anemone a glare, causing the resistance leader to back away.
"All hell has been breaking loose since those damned pods rebuilt me," continued A2. "I've seen crazy, unbelievable things that made everything in that damned Tower seem like a normal occurrence. I have no idea what the fuck is real anymore, other than my continued existence, and quite frankly, I don't care! But when I see someone come back from something beyond death, that's where I draw the line. So I'll ask again." She ran the tip of the blade down the machine's torso. "Who or what in the hell are you?! You can't be-"
"I'm Pascal!" shrieked the cloaked machine of familiar body and frame. "Captain of the repurposed husk of Grun, former leader of the peaceful village of machines! And I remember everything!"