-=Speech 1=-
-=-=-=-

The crowd was silent still, and I couldn't blame them. I'd dropped the fucking hiroshima bomb on them because I'd been winging this entirely from the start; there was no notes, no forethought, no script, just my unhinged thoughts on the Council of Humanity lie. I tried to salvage it immediately afterward by giving them a substitute, but the loss of what never existed would of course still hit them hard.

I wasn't certain I could salvage that, this time.

No immediate questions, either… How to segue from that…? There we go.

"Well, I can see we still have a few skeptics among us. What evidence do you want, then? I can think of a few ways to prove my claims. The good Scanners have already proven that I lack any digital presence, and Maso-based connections will breach even closed systems in the right proximity. Any one of you, I'll come down from the stage for you and you can search for a heart beat. The thrum of a heart is a much different tune compared to the whirr of a pump."

Silence among the camp still, so I continued.

"I weigh in at less than half what an android does on average - flesh and blood weighs less than the same volume in steel and oil. In fact, to those of you who'd need even more than that I have a knife. Would you like blood? What more could you want than that, that I strip and show you scar tissue? I'll take off the bandages, show you what that Goliath at the amusement park gave me." I dropped my coat- the coat hid a lot of my arm while it was on, though my hand was still visible. Now, my whole arm was out for the world to see.

"So, what evidence is enough for you?" I picked a face out of the crowd, someone who made me immediately think 'this man's skeptical.' "You, come up here, feel my wrist for a pulse."

The tall android obeyed, making his way through the crowd. I knelt down at the crate for him and offered my good arm, pulling my sleeve up a bit. "Feel for two things- the weight of my hand and my heart's beat." I again offered my wrist, and silently he placed a hand on it.

He spoke, finally. "...The council lied to us?"

I nodded. "Whoever made the council lied to you."

"They all died for nothing, then. It was all in vain."

I didn't know who 'they' was. I didn't need to know who 'they' were. I swallowed and looked off to the side for a second, figuring out how I wanted to say this...

When I turned back, looked him dead in the eyes. "I have a question, if you don't mind."

He blinked, and I continued, loud enough for the whole of my audience to hear. "Did they fight for the Council, or did they fight for Humanity?"

He took a minute to consider this before his reply, and in that moment this wasn't some grand, world-shattering speech, or some grand public revelation- it was a conversation between me and this tall resistance android.

"They fought for Humanity, I think. The Council was just… the voice we thought was Humanity."

"So then, nothing has changed. They fought, they bled, they died for Humanity - for our sake." I placed my good hand over my heart, standing up now. "Their sacrifices are no less meaningful than they were before, their efforts no less valuable than before. Never forget this. Not a single one of you died for nothing. And for this, I cannot thank you enough.

Humanity owes you all a debt, one so large I do not think we can repay it even if you had given us another five thousand years to do so."

With that, I let out a deep breath and let my shoulders relax.

"Never think that your efforts don't matter. Understand?"

The tall android nodded, near silent. "I understand. ...Thank you."

"No, thank you." I nodded him away. "Humanity owes a debt it cannot repay, so it shames me what I am about to ask next."

I cleared my throat again- my voice was starting to hurt, with the volume I had to keep up.

"I have been informed that I am the last of my kind. I have also been informed that there's even the slimmest of chances that my species can be revived. Keep in mind, that even should I be the last one, there's still a chance. We're not gone yet, and I remind you again, we're not going anywhere. We'll just need a bit of help making sure of that."

I saw desolate, empty faces spark with hope- I was the last of my kind, but it didn't have to stay that way. Moreover, I asked for their help with fixing that. A human requested their aid.

They must have felt elated. I just felt envious of them.

How nice it must be to definitively know your purpose.

Another android spoke up - a shorter Female model. I didn't miss the Winged Asklepian on her shoulder. This one ran maintenance.

"Why didn't…" She stopped, recollecting herself. "You've been around for the last fifteen years?"

I nodded.

"Then… Why not show up earlier?" The girl swallowed her nerve. "You could've died, and nobody would've ever known you were here."

Ah. That question was… cruel. Entirely fair, yes, but still.

How was I supposed to say that I was avoiding the exact kind of concern that sprouted this question?

Again, though perhaps absently, I nodded.

"I wish I could say I had a good answer for you." I continued after a moment's silence. "To be frank? I think I was scared."

I let that sit in the air for a moment. I myself disagreed with the analogy I was going to use, but it's how I thought they saw the world.

"Alright, yeah, let's put something into context for you. One day, you wake up from maintenance and find yourself in a very distant future, one where your Pods are fighting a bunch of weird aliens in your name- have been fighting in your name for thousands of years. You quickly find out that all other Androids are decommissioned and their blueprints have been lost, and yet still these pods fight- hoping their efforts would result in an Android. How do you proceed?"

Again, another pause.

"I am… a man out of time. I was, let's say, 'sheltered', for a very long time. Fifteen years ago, when I found out that there had been a war going on- still going on and going on strong for thousands of years-... I was shocked. I wasn't aware a war could last so long without one side collapsing. I wasn't aware that Machines had invaded the earth, I wasn't aware that Humanity had built anything more than prototype Androids in specialized labs."

"I had been confused at first. Could I have been anything else? Frightened, maybe, distraught certainly. But confused above all else. I had very quickly learned that my species was extinct, and that there is an army of artificial men and women at war with an alien Machine over the honor of my kind- it was baffling at first." I sucked in a breath- my voice had already been hurting, but I had a story to tell damnit.

I continued my explanation- no, my excuse. The crowd was rapt, and my arms gestured with my words, after all, a large portion of language is body language. "In my confusion, I had thought to wait out the war. I hadn't yet registered just how long the war had been going on, and thought it would be over soon enough. Eventually, I had settled into a very comfortable, very safe routine. This routine became known to me, familiar even. I did not want to leave it, because leaving this known meant entering the un-known. And there is nothing any human fears more than the unknown."

My head turned from the crowd, and I instead turned to address the maintenance girl who asked this. Let's make this look like my return to civilization was intentional, and that I would not have remained in the woods if I had remained unprompted.

"I had realized that this war isn't going to end any time soon. Without any outside interference, I think that, under the current status quo, this war could continue into the heat death of the universe."

I relaxed my arms, and took in heavy breaths. I think my voice might have started going coarse. What was the original question? 'Why not reveal yourself'? I still hadn't answered that one, had I?

"This war will end, one day. Let's not focus on what could have been, but instead what can be." A good answer, it was not. Too evasive, and I didn't a single bit like how patronizing I've been sounding.

"One more question, I think." Several Androids raised their hands, but much fewer this time. Had they all come up with the same question as the Maintenance Girl's, or did my bullshit simply put them that deep into thought? I picked one of the hands in the crowd.

This one was a particularly lithe male-model, a scout by the patch on his arm. He spoke with barely disguised trepidation- I'd shaken him. Likely, shaken all of them. "You said… the Council of Humanity is a lie?"

Hesitantly, I nodded.

"Then… What have we fought for? What have we died for?"

These Androids, man… None of them will give me an easy question, will they?

"I find it terribly rude to answer a question with another question. I am afraid I must be rude, then, by answering yours with another question."

A pause, while I figured out how to word it.

"What changes?"

He stood for a moment. What went through his mind, I'm not sure. "Pardon?"

"What changes, then? The Council of Humanity is a lie. But that doesn't mean Humanity itself is gone. Your purpose is still there, no? The Council may not be there, but 'Humanity' is, and we're here to stay. In short: Nothing. Nothing changes." I took a moment to pause, to breathe and collect myself. "However meaningful your sacrifices may have been, they are still just as valued. Perhaps it could be argued that they are even more appreciated than they have been before- I know the Council would not care, but I most certainly do."

"On that note- Thank you. Each and every one of you, truly, for the effort; for the work you do and the sacrifices you commit. I could not apologize enough to express my regret over how much blood had been spilt already, but I can say that it is my earnest hope that we can put an end to this all in the coming years."

Someone in the crowd wasn't satisfied with just this, it seemed. At least they were kind enough to wait for me to finish talking, though-"So who lied to us, then? Someone had to have made the Council of Humanity. Who?"

I contemplated for just a moment. Who, indeed?

"I don't know. Really, I don't. But I think that I should like to meet them some day." I put on my best 'disappointed father' face. "I am sure they must have such interesting opinions to discuss."

My scratchy throat began to itch, and I couldn't help but to succumb to a short coughing fit to clear it up.

"I… Ahrhm. I believe that's quite it for today. I've been going on so long that my voice is starting to go, so I've got one request for you lot. See, Anemone's been catching more than a few of you trying to sneak into that bunker: Please, kindly; stop, if you would? I am happy to entertain a few visitors every once in a while, but that does happen to be where I am spending my time recovering from a broken bone or two. If you're so eager to visit, I would appreciate you asking first. Thank you kindly."

I sat down on the box I'd stood up on, and gently hopped down.

The walk back to my bunker was filled with silence, retreating from a silent crowd.

What was running through their heads, I would never know. I could just hope that I didn't screw with them too hard.

Well, that and hope that Paddy recorded all of that. It wouldn't do if only a small sector of Androids listened to these very important words.

-=-S-=-

-=-1-=-

"What the fuck was that?"

The sound reverberated off of the underground bunker's walls. I should have expected this kind of reaction. I had only just gotten to sit back down on my bed when Anemone came down with a great many questions.

Stall for time, to figure out how to answer. "How do you mean?"

"That. That whole… speech. What was that? Why?"

"I've got two answers I can give you."

She waited for a moment, and I took that moment to turn to her- examine her. I could not quite tell what emotion this was supposed to be-but if I had to put a pin on her expression, it would be betrayal.

"Go on, then. Give them to me." Anemone just about ordered. "I sheltered you. I ordered this basement cleaned out and fortified. I built the bed you sit on myself, and protected you within my camp while you healed. You repay this by… what, shaking the very foundations of our worldview? For what?"

Really, I was still stalling for time. I did need time to figure out what I wanted to say, after all. "Don't tell me you yourself didn't know that the Council of Humanity was a lie? You've been around for centuries, or so I'm told."

"Of course I knew. But- but we're old guard. We're used to that." The Major spoke with a certain hesitance. "We knew, and we fought anyway. To preserve a legacy, if nothing else. They- My soldiers out there, they were told these things right out of the gates of Kazakhstan's android production lines. They've built their entire view of the world on top of this information."

"And do you think they wouldn't be able to handle this? That society is now going to collapse because of the things I told them? The truths I revealed to them? Do you think them so much weaker than the 'Old Guard'?" My tone wasn't hostile- or, I wasn't trying to make it hostile. Really, I think I came across as genuinely curious.

I was met with silence. Anemone couldn't respond to this, I don't think.

"Alright. In a way, this was a power grab, I admit."

She opened her mouth, to begin to speak- but I beat her to it.

"The status quo isn't working. Androids are built in the image of humanity; physically, you may have been built to be greater than any one man ever could be, intellectually faster than us and with eidetic memory to boot just as a matter of course.

But you've inherited more than just that. You succumb to any number of emotional weaknesses and vulnerabilities, you feel sympathy, empathy, and can act on those feelings. Constructs you may be, but living ones in the truest sense of the word. And life is built not simply to survive- but to thrive."

I let that sit in the air for a moment, and didn't interrupt her this time when she spoke.

"How does that… how does that justify all of that? You said this was a power grab? Are you saying that because you must thrive, you had to destroy the ideology of an entire generation?"

"The better question, Anemone," I began. "Is how it does not justify my actions. We both must thrive- species and construct alike. The current status quo will not allow for that, however. We are reduced to mere survival-scraping by, by the skin of our teeth. If I have the potential to take power and attempt to change that, and I refuse to use that potential? Is it truly moral to sit by and watch while untold more fight and die in the name of a species that has been extinct for millenia, all while I have the power to do something about it?"

I didn't get much in the way of a reply, for a moment. "Do you think that makes it right? On top of all of that, you've completely destroyed the justification for YoRHa's existence. Do you know how reliant we are on their operations? Maybe this is only going to be a minor blow in the Army of Humanity's morale- but they're liable to collapse now."

Hmm. Well, nobody's perfect. I did fail to take that much into account, I suppose.

"I have dug a hole, I think." My voice came out as scratchy still. It was a miracle it hadn't given by now, after that long speech in the yard.

"...What?"

"I have dug a hole in the foundational ideas in the minds of every android. Metaphorically, I mean. I can accept that it has destabilized a great many things. But it is a very human-shaped hole that I have dug."

Anemone spoke with confusion evident. "Where are you going with this?"

"I think that I could perhaps fill that hole. It would be troublesome, I think, but I am in a very unique position in history. I wouldn't know the name for such a role, but I think I could fill that same role the Council did before I exposed it."

We remained silent, then. She needed time to process this, I realized, so I let my mind wander.

How would those I knew take it? Elena would question me, I think, on why I didn't tell her myself. Why this was the first she was hearing of this. Popola and Devola knew already, but I suspect they would question me in much the same manner Anemone was. Paddy…

I wasn't entirely sure Paddy would care, actually. He was alright.

"You said there were two answers." My train of thought was interrupted by Anemone's very curt statement.

"Aye. That I did."

"That was one answer. Elaborated on, yes, to hell and back. But one answer only. What's the other one?"

I hesitated, trying to remember what the other one was.

Oh, right.

"There was a saying, way back when."

She gestured for me to go on.

"That which can be destroyed by truth; ought to be. Ought to, as in it is your duty to."

She blinked. "Is that… absolute?"

"No, no it's not. A child comes up to you with a picture they drew with crayons; you can barely tell what it is, but they tell you it's a portrait of you. Do you tell them they did a good job, or that you can barely tell what it is?"

The Major seriously considered this for a second before I interrupted. "That's a rhetorical question, Anemone. The point is, it's not absolute-but it is a good principle to follow. The truth is, my first answer is a nice benefit on the side. What I really wanted accomplished was the destruction of those lies in the first place. And think of it like this, the way I did it was controlled. If you find out a building is liable to collapse, take everything around it with it and you don't know when… Do you demolish it while you can still control it, or wait for it to collapse while still making people work inside? Even if my best is slightly less than everyone else's average, I still did my best to mitigate any… shall we say, damages? Imagine if someone else had revealed this before I did- someone with more malicious intent than me."

I sniffed. My voice was just about gone now. "The revelation of the truth would always have been a disaster. Perhaps I could have done it more subtly, perhaps I could've picked a better time. But how long would it have been until someone else beat me to the punch? How long would it have been until I was under lock, key and heavy guard, where I wouldn't have the opportunity to do this at all?"

Despite my now very sore throat, I powered through. "This was an impulsive action, yes. Incredibly so. But perhaps it was my best opportunity to do this." I needed to close this up, to get some rest. Maybe some water, too.

"I could go on and on all day about this, but then we'd just rehash points. You've got a job to do, Anemone, and while I'm not certain the specifics- a war will hardly wait for the convenience of one person. Have a good day, yes?"

The Major didn't say anything back- she simply contemplated while making for the exit.

Before opening the door, she turned back to me and said "I'm not happy with all of this… but I think I understand."

I nodded. "That's all I ask of you."

In seconds, I was left alone in the bunker. The Twins were out doing chores, and I'd have to wait for them to get back before I could request water. There wasn't any running water in the bunker itself, yet, after all.

-=Speech 1: Mythbuster=-