Chapter 2 - The World Anew
/_\
Roman wasn't sure how to feel as he moved through the abandoned and empty cityscape. He'd seen the images and pictures that had been shown to him but it truly didn't do it justice seeing it all in person. The ruined city, the emptiness of the streets overrun by sand and dry plants. Not a single sound could be heard beyond the whistling of the wind against the buildings.
It was like a still image. Frozen in time, undisturbed.
Except, it was being disturbed. He was here, moving through this empty landscape, breaking the silence, and disrupting the still image of the abandoned city. A lone survivor wandering an empty city with no real purpose.
Alright, Roman wouldn't go that far.
He did have a reason to be here, a mission to be exact. He was to find and secure a suitable location for humanity to begin rebuilding. Homes, facilities, and so much more. Somewhere mankind can start fresh and build back the world they once knew.
But that would take centuries, long past his time on this earth. As dark as that may have sounded it honestly drove Roman on, a bit sappy sounding sure but it was true. He wasn't just fighting for his own survival right now, all the hardships he was going to face here and now would be the foundations for the lives that would come after.
Roman had to admit, the idea of helping set humanity on the right path to its restoration brought a small smile to his face. The idea that he, and many others, would lay the foundations for what society would look like in the future was inspiring. That they could remake the world into what it once was, deep into the future.
If they did it right.
Seeing the state of the world around him now, the resources they had at hand, and knowing what was at stake, it was no doubt going to be an uphill battle. Scrape together a life through hardships to build something better for those that came after them.
Roman knew a few people who would have long given up when they thought about the road ahead. Those that would have fallen in despair and hopelessness at the life they would now have to endure.
But he was grateful he wasn't one of them.
This life was either going to make him or break, and he was up for finding out which it would be.
Romans' attention was drawn from his thoughts as he caught sight of movement in the distance by one of the abandoned buildings with a tree growing out of it. Knowing damn well he was currently the only human on earth, and seeing as enemies of humanity still remained on the surface, Roman slowed his pace, hunching slightly to reduce his visible size as best he could before sneaking toward the commotion.
As the soldier crept closer he found what appeared to be a small machine waddling through the dirt and grass just outside a building. The soldier watched as the machine trundled along the ground, going about its business without a care in the world.
The little machine seemed completely oblivious to everything around it. Roman lined up the shot with his rifle, using a piece of broken building as a makeshift bi-pod, and took aim at the little machine's head intending to take it out.
Just as Roman was about to pull the trigger, he hesitated.
"Why am I even bothering to kill this thing?" Roman thought as the machine slowed its pace. The thing wasn't a threat to him, so why kill it? He'd initially lined up for the kill because his training had told him to. To kill off threats. But was this thing a threat to him?
Honestly? No.
Not right away. In the future? Who knows.
Sure, it was meant to be the enemy, an enemy of humanity, but he just couldn't see it.
Looking down his rifle's sight, aimed at the machine, Roman watched as the machine he'd just about to kill came to a stop. He followed the way its head was directed to see the machine had waddled up to a white flower, gazing at it in what Roman could only assume was awe.
It stood there for two seconds, just looking at the flower before one of its hands slowly reached out to it, its metal hand delicately stroking one of the white petals. It did this three times before it moved to pluck the flower.
Once it did, the machine held the flower in front of its face, likely getting a better look at it, examining it from all sorts of angles.
It seemed so… child-like to Roman.
Curious, and fascinated by the simplest of things.
It didn't take long before the machine seemed satisfied by its examination of the plant before it continued its waddle, flower safely held with two hands out in front of it.
"Was this supposed to be a threat to humanity?" Roman wondered as the machine eventually waddled out of view and into an abandoned building, flower still in hand. From what Cid had described, and portrayed, the machines were meant to be an enemy of humanity. Something that would have to be eliminated for the sake of mankind and its eventual revival.
Roman wasn't so sure after that display.
The soldier lowered his weapon, leaving it resting in front of him at the ready. He took a moment to examine himself. Roman wasn't just some soldier, especially not one for the bastards that had taken everything from him, he was a person first and foremost.
And Roman didn't kill unless it was necessary, he didn't kill because someone ordered him to.
He knew better than to think that all machines would be like that, he'd seen the files and data on them from Cid, Roman knew humans had a real fight on their hands if some of the bigger ones were as powerful as they seemed.
But if it wasn't a threat to him or humanity's survival then he wasn't about to end it. Was that irresponsible? Maybe. He was a soldier, trained to take out any and all threats to humanity's survival, and potentially be the one to save it by finding a cure. It was his entire purpose as a soldier.
Yet Roman just didn't have it in him to kill or destroy without reason.
If there was a fight to be had he'd be there for it from start to finish, but to start one for no reason?
No.
He wasn't going to act like that. Roman refused to solely be what his kidnappers and captors wanted him to be, he be what he had to for the sake of his fellow survivors, be what it takes to find that damn cure, but otherwise, he would just be himself.
Nobody could ask much more of him than that.
Roman pushed on, choosing to leave the little robot to its business as he went about his. He wasn't here to start fights, he was here to finish the mission.
And so he carried on, exploring the world around him for a suitable location to call humans first colony home. He'd spent a solid couple of hours roaming the city and its surrounding area with mixed levels of difficulty.
Avoiding the machines had turned out to be a piece of cake, they weren't exactly the brightest or most aware of enemies. Which again brought up concerns of whether or not they were actually a threat to mankind. They did patrol around but it was more than just moving about on a whim rather than any controlled or coordinated patrol pattern.
Trained special ops didn't exactly have trouble sneaking around the likes of that, and so Roman didn't either.
The soldier moved with well-trained ease through the area, no horizontal or vertical obstacle stopping him as he went. As Roman entered what looked like a block of abandoned houses, the clashing of metal on metal echoed through the empty streets.
"A fight?" Roman thought. The sound wasn't rhythmic, it wasn't flat but constantly changing. It could only really be a fight, two pieces of metal clashing in combat.
The sound persisted so Roman moved to investigate, deciding it was better to find out if whatever was in the area was a threat now rather than later following the direction of combat he moved. It sounded like it was two or three streets down from his position.
The soldier raised his weapon, his rifle, ready for anything that might consider jumping him. He didn't know what exactly might have been fighting, but he suspected it was either machines or androids.
Regardless, it was better to find out whether they were hostile or not.
Roman crept down the streets, keeping to the shadows as best he could whilst the blistering sun remained high in the sky, he closed in on the source of the sound. The clashing of metal getting louder as he did.
Crossing over a street Roman reached the edge of a building's corner, now having closed enough distance he could start to make out other noises. The scuffling of feet, the scraping of dirt underfoot, and…
"You'll need to do more than that to defeat the likes of me! Hah!"
…cringy one-liners?
Beneath his helmet Romans' face scrunched up in momentary confusion before peering around the corner. What greeted him wasn't what he'd been expecting.
An android, one Roman recognized as a YoRHa model from the pictures Cid had shown him, was in the middle of a battle against a dozen or so small machines all wearing tattered cloaks wielding knives, shives, and shanks.
Roman couldn't help but take in the android's appearance, amazed at seeing one up close in such a fashion. They truly resembled humans, she looked just like any human woman would. The white hair being the only giveaway.
It was clear as day to anyone with a set of functional eyes that the android was kicking the shit out of all the machines that threw themselves at her. The android would dodge, parry, or deflect the machine's attempted strikes.
Even at one point, when one of the machines leapt at her, backflipping out of the way whilst simultaneously kicking the machine in the head sending the thing skyward for a few seconds before it came crashing down to earth. The impact of which shattered its surprisingly frail machine body.
It was amazing to see, like a scene straight out of a movie.
"A true sword master would never fall to an amateur attack like that!"
…ah, so straight out of a b-tier movie then. Good to know.
The YoRHa android continued to kick ass though, dancing around the machines with grace. One by one she cut through them. Head, body, limps, didn't matter. When within her range, she took aim at one of the body parts and slashed them to bits.
Some of them did endure her attacks, to their credit, but if the first or second hit didn't kill it then the third, fourth, or fifth one did. With how quickly the battle was moving now Roman realized there had to have been machines before these ones.
Glancing at the ground he saw what he assumed to be bits of scrap metal from all the machines she'd torn apart. He wondered for a moment if she should help her but that thought was quickly shot dead.
"Come, meet your end by the blade of the sword empress!" The female chortled. Literally chortled.
Roman felt a piece of his soul leave his body from the sheer cringe of them.
"Seems like she's got this handled." Roman groaned in his head.
The fight lasted only a minute or so more as the YoRHa android ripped the last few machines apart before finishing off the last with an elegant, and definitely overly dramatic, decapitation.
"The sword empress is triumphant once again!" She cheered, with an oddly cute little jump of joy at the end as if she was happy for herself.
The soldier, despite his training, couldn't suppress a roll of eyes at that. Where did she learn to act like that? Why was she acting like that? Were these androids programmed to act as they wished with just baseline directives instilled in them?
He didn't know. It was curious to think about though, it really helped bridge the gap between humans and androids. She looked and sounded human, but her feats and fighting prowess were clearly something humans wouldn't be able to replicate. Like a mix of the two, but the better parts of both.
Wasn't that a thought?
If all YoRHa androids were like her, hot damn.
Sexy androids capable of kicking your ass every which way in all the right ways.
Kinky.
Cough
Anyway, yeah, it was an impressive showing of both combat skill and swordsmanship. Whoever made these androids had designed them well, they were more than capable of dealing with machines in such numbers.
Still weird with the one-liners though.
Ignoring that, and with the battle over, Roman moved out from his cover and walked toward the android. Now, he wasn't exactly trying to sneak up on her but apparently she, nor her pod, noticed his approach despite just walking up to them.
It was only when he was about eight feet from her did she seem to hear him, her head snapped up like a cat who'd just heard an unexpected sound. She twirled on the spot, turning to face him fully with her sword held in front of in two hands just like a samurai from the movies would before a duel.
As soon as their eyes, or in this case his helmet and her blindfold, met the android froze stiff.
…
…
"Hello there." Roman greeted with a nod of his, and a little shimmy of his body, trying to break any tension that might have formed between them. He was painfully aware of the sword pointed in his direction.
The two stared at each, unmoving for a few seconds. But for two completely different reasons. Roman wasn't sure how he should exactly continue the conversation with the android, having basically just strolled up to her after her impressive display of sword combat and greeted her like he would a stranger. What should he say after that? He didn't exactly want to upset the sexy female android with a big sword so he'd hoped she would at least greet him back first.
But the android on the other hand?
She looked utterly shell-shocked. Her facial expression widened in every way, likely her eyes widened as well under the blindfold, staring directly at him, unsure if what she was seeing was real or not. She blinked beneath the blindfold a few times as if processing what was right in front of her.
Like she'd just seen a ghost.
Except she saw a human instead.
"A Human?!" The android practically shrieked, leaning forward as she did, nearly dropping her sword in the process. Roman jolted in surprise at the sheer volume alone as the android seemed to fully comprehend what was standing right in front of her.
The android closed the distance between the two, which was just as startling as she still had her sword in hand, before yelling, "Sir, you shouldn't be here! It's dangerous here, there are machines roaming this place on the regular!"
For a moment Roman was lost for words, still somewhat surprised at the female androids' reaction. She seemed so damn human, not robotic in any way. She seemed expressive, and how he'd seen her earlier she looked as though she was trained for combat. The soldier, the human one, was quick to compose himself whilst his android counterpart looked ready to pass out.
Amazingly she'd actually gone pale.
Incredible.
"Woah there, easy miss." He didn't really know what else to call her, "It's fine, I'm not in any danger right now am I? You just took out a load of them a few seconds ago, the area is somewhat clear."
His words seemed to, paradoxically, soothe and worry her at the same time if her expression and body language was anything to go by. Her body stiffed, as if her training, or programming, had kicked in. She stood to attention like a soldier would when greeting a superior with her little pod friend floating next to her.
On the other hand, her facial expression looked even more worried. Likely stemming from the fact he was in dangerous territory but wasn't personally worried about it himself. As if the danger was no big concern.
Which to him, it wasn't. He wasn't exactly worried he might die any second now, but the android looked as though every single dark corner nearby held a potential threat to them.
Or him specifically.
"Sir! It's far too dangerous for you to be wandering around here as you are! You should have remained in the moon base!" She repeated, "Surely you had an escort with you if you're on the surface, correct?"
"Escort?" Roman thought. No, he didn't have one. Which he had to admit was stupid on his captor's part just sending one soldier out at a time, but he didn't voice that part. "No, I'm out here alone actually."
And she went paler than before.
Cool.
"You're out here alone?!" She yelled, before realizing yelling might not be the best strategy if they were in fact in hostile territory, "That shouldn't be possible! No human would have ever been allowed to roam the planet with a protection detail!"
"Okay?" Roman thought to himself just as the androids pod joined the conversation.
"Compose yourself, 11B." It chirped. Good to know her name, or designation, at least. "Now is no time to question the how or why, but to focus on the now and protecting the human at all costs."
11B seemed to still for a moment, taking a deep breath in an effort to calm herself. Roman could tell it was only half effective due to the slight trembling in her hands. Something he chose not to bring up.
"You're right Pod," The android agreed, "We'll get to the bottom of this later. Inform Command of the situation," She turned to him, steeling herself despite the small tremble. "Until reinforcements arrive we'll protect you Sir!"
"Understood," The Pod acknowledged, "Attempting to contact Command now."
Roman couldn't put words together to form any kind of response to what the fuck just happened. Did he just make pre-emptive contact with YoRHa? Cid did mention making contact with them at a later date, possibly after establishing their base on the surface before calling in support.
"Welp, can't do anything about it now." Roman would have to continue his mission after dealing with YoRHa. If 11B was the standard for YoRHa, then it would be alright dealing with a bunch of cute, sexily dressed androids.
As long as he wasn't too distracted from his objectives, everything should be perfect.
Surely it wouldn't be that bad.
/_\
It was bad.
Roman had to wonder if the world was ending, again, because with how these androids reacted to his presence on earth screamed apocalyptic levels of danger. Complete fucking overkill. It was like the planet itself had declared him its enemy and the androids jumped to defend him in full force ready to take the planet in a fistfight. From his perspective at least that was the case, he was certain the androids didn't see it that way. Likely seeing it as their solemn duty or something, something to take pride in.
Still didn't take away from the fact that this was a fucking insane reaction.
"Jesus Christ…" He thought as he watched all the androids moving about.
There had to be thousands of androids roaming around now. They were fucking everywhere. From the hundreds of androids around him on the ground, sorted into squads and units each with a captain giving orders as they saw fit. To the many that were placed atop buildings as lookouts and scouts, likely keeping vigil of any perceived threat in the immediate area. Then there were his numerous bodyguards, which included 11B, with at least thirty within ten meters of him, and countless flight units, as he'd been informed they were called, buzzing around the skies above in calculated and thorough patrol patterns.
Many of them were communicating with others as well, the captains and commanders most likely, coordinating with one another. The flight units and lookouts would inform, what he assumed to be, battle units or combative androids of possible incoming threats to which they, or the flight units, would go intercept and destroy whatever it was before it could close in on his specific position.
And that wasn't an exaggeration either, if he moved two fucking feet one android near him called it in over their comms to make sure every single one of them knew about it.
It was fucking ludacris seeing so much hassle all for his sake, who the fuck programmed these androids like this? This was insane.
"No, this is YoRHa." His unhelpful mind corrected. Roman had to remember that these were androids, designed to be like this for humanity. Having a legion of sexy androids protecting you sounded fun on paper, and on the internet, the dirty bastards, but this was creepier than the dark, cold, fucking facility he woke up in alone.
The lone human really wished Cid had warned him of this earlier.
Or at least given him some advice on how to deal with all… this.
Roman could feel the eyes on him, watching him, examining him, checking him out.
Oh yeah, he knew a few of them were checking him out. He saw an android, or few, literally blush at the sight of him earlier. While that stroked his pride a bit, he couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable with all the attention on him.
Roman hated being the center of attention, being in the spotlight was something he would have rather avoided. Alas, he figured back in the facility that he would have to put up with some form of attention due to the fact he was assigned as the military leader of humanity's restoration.
He, and whoever was assigned as his civilian counterpart, would likely have to stand on stage and actually act like leaders at some point. But he'd be lying if he said he hadn't wanted some time to prepare himself before that.
"Well, I'm certainly getting in practice when it comes to dealing with attention. That's for fucking sure." Roman thought to himself, steeling away any unease. He tried to release the tension in his body by rolling his joints a bit but that immediately got the attention of a nearby android, one of the many nearby androids. One of the too fucking many androids near him. He swore he never had social anxiety before but this just might give it to him.
"Would you like me to take that off your hands, sir?" One of the female androids asked from his right. Similarly dressed to other female androids, with the black dress, blindfold, heels, and giant fuck off sword, she had earlier introduced herself as 6H. Her mannerisms reminded him of a maid, funnily enough, with how she stood and moved but Roman pushed that thought to the side.
Roman realized she had asked because he had rolled his right shoulder in an effort to relieve any tension in his body and loosen up a bit, but that arm was also the one he was holding his rifle with. She must have assumed he was getting tired of holding it and offered to take it in his place.
"I'm fine, thanks." Roman reassured her with a small wave of the hand, "I can handle it."
The android seemed satisfied with his answer as she nodded, "Understood, if you need anything then ask any of us for assistance." With her piece said she moved back to formation with the rest of her android friends.
"Oh, I don't doubt that." Roman thought with a small, and very discrete, sigh. Don't need the androids being concerned with his sighs after all.
Today was quickly spiraling out of his control. It seemed his mission was no longer just his mission as the androids had now fully involved themselves with him. As soon as he'd said what his mission entailed, at the request of 11B when she was speaking to her Operator about his presence on the surface, which was to locate a suitable place to begin humanities revival on the planet, the androids had gone into fucking berserk overdrive.
11B had certainly bricked it when she received her orders over her comms to protect him no matter the costs. Maybe it was because of how the orders were phrased as Roman had overheard a protect him or else until reinforcements arrived.
Which, might he add, was extremely quickly.
If they weren't already motivated in their efforts to clear the planet of any hostile life forms then they were now with the idea of more humans coming to earth soon. It made his job easier, he had to admit, but this wasn't exactly how he expected his mission to go.
As much as the androids wanted him to just sit back and let them handle it, this was still going to need a bit of hands-on work from his part. Roman figured the androids would have something to say about that but that was for later.
At this moment here and now he'd been asked to wait for a certain person's arrival.
Commander White, leader of YoRHa, and the sole communicator with mankind's representatives on the moon base.
Apparently, she was coming to meet him face-to-face, wishing to speak to him privately and to personally get to know him to better understand how she, and YoRHA, could be of service to him and his objectives. The reason for his wait was simply her making all the preparations for her departure from the Bunker, the space station above, leaving everything planned so if a situation arose in her absence it could be dealt with swiftly and effectively, and likely minimizing any danger to him in the process. The soldier couldn't fault her for that. She sounded like a woman with a plan, he'd give her that.
At least, that was what the official story was. Roman might have been a dumbass at times, he knew that better than most, but he wasn't stupid. He knew there was more to it than that. Cid had informed him of the true situation regarding the humans on the moon, and how the human survivors in the bunkers underground had been kept a tight-lipped secret from everyone not involved in the program itself.
Not like people could announce their plans to kidnap high-immunity individuals for the preservation of mankind and everyone just accept it like that's normal.
But that meant there was a possibility that White knew the truth as well, either that or she was being fooled by a very convincing AI faking it as a human. The soldier had his doubts an AI could fool androids for very long, most AIs couldn't fool humans either. 11B had immediately known he was human at first glance, so surely White was the same.
The human pushed that thought to the side for a moment as that line of thinking could have easily led down a path of darker and more sinister thoughts that he really didn't need right now. No need to speculate about what-ifs right now, he'd get his answers from her later when the two could speak in private.
With that in mind, Roman threw himself back into his current situation.
Surrounded by androids from all sides, watched from all angles. The reminder sent a shiver down his spine.
And not the fun kind of shiver you'd expect when surrounded by sexy female androids.
YoRHa certainly knew how to make them pretty, Roman shamelessly conceded. But he had to admit, they seemed far less human than he'd originally thought. Far too beautiful, well built, and programmed a little differently as to how normal people seemed to act. As it turned out, it was the other androids in the area that reminded him of humans the most.
Because YoRHA weren't the only ones who had androids in the area.
He'd been informed that some resistance androids were involved in this operation, as the YoRHa android, 11B, had called it. It hadn't been difficult to discern which was which. It was like light and day between them.
The YoRHa androids, especially the female ones, all wore these sexy black outfits that hugged their forms in many places or were revealing in others. Roman could safely say whoever had designed their uniforms was both a pervert and had great tastes.
The resistance members on the other hand looked far more reasonable, far more human in appearance. Their clothes could have easily been what humans would wear in their situation, it suited the environment they were in, were rather practical in nature, but were very rustic and clearly made of whatever they could find.
Roman, however, did note some standout-ish resistance androids among them. Particularly two red-headed androids that stood a great distance away from him, clearly having been told to remain at a distance by the YoRHa androids stationed near them.
The soldier had only noticed them because of their distinct appearance, but he'd also become uncomfortably aware of the continuous gazes they leveled his way. They hadn't taken their fucking eyes off him, which admittedly a lot of androids hadn't but they had blindfolds on, and although that wasn't exactly new, and despite the distance, Roman could tell they were clearly quite emotional at the mere sight of him. Like he was a miracle-made flesh. As if his mere presence made their lives worth something again.
It was very strange and disconcerting.
Who knew he'd have such an effect on all the androids? Many had looked on in awe, inspiration, amazement, excitement, wonder, with an unsettling amount of blushing when he'd taken his helmet off, which brought on different kinds of feelings he could have done without, and now sheer trembling joy?
It was going to be difficult to sleep after all this.
Regardless though, he seemed to be surrounded by androids of all sorts from both major factions. Roman wasn't sure if there were many other factions, but he suspected there were individuals that roamed around doing their own thing.
Although, the YoRHa units outnumbered the resistance androids by what could only be described as a country fucking mile. Clearly, they were the ones running the show which left the resistance androids running chores by the looks of it.
It didn't stop them from gawking at him when they passed by, but they came and went whereas the YoRHa androids mostly remained where they were. Only moving to intercept threats.
He hoped they were threats anyway because he occasionally heard an explosion before an android stationed next to him received an all-clear. It wouldn't exactly be very helpful if they just blew up anything that moved in his vicinity.
"This is fucked…" The soldier thought, holding back a sigh.
Today was going to be a long one, wasn't it?
/_\
"Can you believe it, 2B?"
The battle android, 2B, didn't even turn toward her partner as she answered, "The evidence is right in front of us 9S," She said, keeping her eyes on the human alongside her countless fellow YoRHa members in the area. "It's not that difficult to believe."
"Ah come on 2B," 9S groaned at his partner's dismissal, which severely dampened his previously ecstatic mood briefly. "This is incredible! Who would have thought we'd ever get to see a human down here on earth? You have to admit this is unheard of!"
The battle android did concede that a human on earth was completely unreal to consider, given everything, not that she wasn't about to verbalize that any time soon.
"Focus, 9S." The battle android remained as sturdy as ever standing straight and to attention, "The Commander ordered here as protection detail, focus on the objective. It's likely the most important mission we'll ever receive." Although she was composed on the outside, the battle android was also extremely nervous despite hiding it so well.
The scanner android scratched his cheek in thought, "Yeah, you're right. This is big. Everything happening is practically unthinkable. Humans finally returning to earth, deciding now was the time to recolonize the planet, who would have guessed it would happen like this as well?"
2B paused to consider her partner's words momentarily, distracting her from her own unease.
It was strange. From what she'd heard so far this human man had just been found wandering the land without a single android being told so. There was likely more to that story than that but now wasn't the time for her to think about it.
"I doubt anyone would have expected this," The battle android agreed. To find a human in the way that they did was a turn of events none could have anticipated.
"Yeah, think we'll ever get to know why he was sent here alone?" The scanner model asked. It didn't take a genius to know that he wanted to know as much as he could given this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right now.
"It's not our place to know," 2B scolded her partner softly, "If we're to know then we will be informed as such. Until then we're to protect the human with our lives from any threats and do all he asks of us."
"Would it be such a bad thing to get to know him then?" 9S asked, bringing his hand up to his chin, "It could help us better understand him, his motivations, and what he expects of himself and us. It would be beneficial to the mission!" She knew what her partner was trying to do, she knew he was wording his intentions in a specific way in order to entice her into his idea.
His words, to the battle android's shame, were tempting she did admit to herself. She would be lying if she said she didn't want to know more about this human. He was a human after all. His existence and life were the reason the androids fought the battles they did.
All she had fought for, for YoRHa and mankind, and here he was. One of the reasons so many fought on through difficult hardships.
What was he like? Was he kind? Soft-spoken? Or a hard man? She'd been informed that he was a soldier, a human soldier, meant for combat so did that mean he was like her? A battle android? She didn't know. For all the similarities between them, it felt as though they knew so little about humans. It was strange to ponder.
There was even a small part inside her that commented on his appearance, his good looks something deep within her had whispered, but that came and went. Pushed down by her professionalism.
With enough willpower, the soldier in 2B came back to the forefront.
"Enough 9S," Ending the conversation before he actually succeeded in luring her into his clever little scheme. "We'll do as we're ordered, and nothing more." Her tone held a finality to it, and although she didn't turn to her partner she knew her words would have likely crushed his hopes of interacting with the human to sate his curiosity.
It hurt to imagine him like that.
And she didn't like that feeling so she added, "If we're ordered to be his bodyguards, and as long as he doesn't mind, you can ask your questions then but not before." Again, she didn't see his reaction but she did hear a small Yes! In cheer.
The battle android held down a small smile as she returned her full attention to the human they'd been tasked with protecting.
Glory to Mankind.
C2: End.
"General Kenobi!"
Told you updates would be rare or scattered. I'll likely make some edits to this chapter as I'm not completely happy with it, mostly the first scene with Romans' introduction to 11B, but expect a change or two somewhere in the future throughout the chapter.
Anyway, Roman, out and about, exploring the world a bit. Seeing machines for the first time in person. Sexy androids that he now has mixed feelings about, all the good things. How was it?
So, the characters are now together. Who would y'all like to see Roman interact with? Who should be assigned as his bodyguards? I know 2B and 9S will be, White has to have her best on this after all, 11B as well to continue the comedy of being the first android to meet a human, but who else? Devola and Popola? Anemone? Jackass?
A2 will show up eventually as well, she'll love to meet this human won't she? She might just blue screen from sheer excitement. Who knows?
And where should humanity begin to rebuild from? Where should Roman claim, along with the androids, as their starting point for other humans to come inhabit?
Next chapter Roman will be having a conversation with Commander White before continuing with his mission. You can probably imagine how well that's going to go, but there we are. Expect more conversations next chapter as the androids start interacting with him, with varying levels of success.
And don't worry, as well as the new enemies I planned for this story we'll see the Nier ones as well. Adam, Eve, etc.
As for Romans' outfit just think of the cover art for the time being, if not then come up with a "Soldier/Adventurer" look yourself. He can be in whatever you think suits him. Same goes for the weapons.
Note: If I accidentally call Roman "Raylan" let me know so I can correct it. I usually use "Raylan" as the MCs name for my stories so I will probably make that mistake at least once here.
Review Response(s):
SomeGuy300: I appreciate the compliment, hopefully this story is up to standard.
MongaloidReader6: Well, you suggested it and now you got it. 11B. Not much to go on right now but I'll have her be a continuous character in the story alongside other important androids just to keep her around and relevant. She's going to be an absolute Meme.
DIOS de la Nada: That's probably because you have. This story is like another of mine, which has long since not been updated, and so many other authors come up with ideas like this. It's a common troupe in the Nier fanfiction section.
Guest: Glad to see the references were noticed.
And thanks to everyone who has shown interest in this story. It's always nice to see as a writer.
And that's the chapter done, hope you enjoyed.
See you all next time! Whenever that might be.
In more than just this story as well!
AlcatrazDGold - Out!