AN: I don't think I've mentioned this before but, this fic was inspired by another NieR: Automata fic called NieR to Death, written by Coolguybest9. Seriously, check it out, it's pretty neat.
Not even a day after I posted the last chapter, and I'm already working on the next. That shows how motivated I am. And that's thanks to you. You guys rock!
And speaking of you guys:
Clearwing Yuta: Considering that the character in question is actually a copy of the original from the first game, the inevitable reunion is probably going to be a bit bitter sweet.
Nerf585: I'm not making anything definite yet, aside from the pairings already listed. But as things stand now, that's undecided.
Darkuz: Sadly, I can't list anymore than four characters in the summary. Those are the four definite pairings, but I cooooooouuuullld, do some more. I just need to figure out how they would work. Besides, even if I did, why spoil it? It's much more fun when you don't know. Yeah, I'm evil like that.
Madame De Blanc: Three is insane yes, but clever and smart. Besides, the whole insane part was courtesy of the Flower pollenating her brain, as it did with most of Zero's sisters, save for One…uh, no pun intended. With that out of the picture, you get something much more rescinded in terms of Three's personality. As for Accord…funny you mentioned that. I have a theory about her, and will put it into practice later on in the story. It's going to be pretty big in terms of a plot device for both the NieR and the DOD (Drakengard) series and how they are even tied together further than the Watcher Queen. As for the Prologues…yeah I could look it up, but I'm more of a hands on guy. I'd rather experience it than read it. I read it afterwards in case there's anything I didn't quite understand. Thank god for Wikis.
HeroBladeRiyet: I do, but not in the way you're probably expecting.
EternalKing: Taro's endings are kinda bitter sweet rather than happy. The hero saves the day, but dies in the process. Though, admittedly, the events that lead up to it to tend to be emotionally crippling. But if they're well written, those kind of endings are arguably the best. They leave a bigger impression on you than happy endings. As for the Intoners, aside from Zero, I'm not making any promises. Gotta keep some things a question mark and leave you guessing. However, not all of them are going to end up in the world of Automata. Some of the others may end up…in some other dimension…that hint alone should tell you what I have in mind. As for the whole Androids being able to have sex thing, while it's a known fact that Androids do not possess the ability to reproduce, as stated by 9S, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't possess the ability to perform sexual activity. Lots of fanfic writers have made this speculation.
Now with that out of the way: NEEEEEEEEX!
Chapter 4
This Is Completely Absurd…
Two Weeks Earlier
"Aaauuuugh!" a frustrated 9S yelled. "This makes zero sense!" He then kicked a stray piece of rubble on the ground. It clattered loudly among the silence produced by the destroyed room he was standing in.
"Analysis: Shouting and kicking debris across the site will not solve the matter at hand," 153 spoke.
"I know that, Pod," 9S replied. "I'm just supper frustrated. Out of everything I've seen in this world, this is the most puzzling thing ever. We're in the exact location where the spatial anomaly occurred and all we have to see here is a bunch of rubble, and some random busted bed. No energy residue signatures, no sign of anything that could have caused this; all we have to show for it is this! How are we supposed to explain this to the Commander?"
"Analysis: We are dealing with an unknown phenomena," 153 explained. "It may not be possible to explain on the initial observation. Hypothesis: It is possible that the injured human may have some answers to what caused this phenomena. Proposal: Collect present data and report to 21O. Return to the Resistance Camp afterwards to verify the status of YoRHa unit 2B and the human, Sam. Further objectives may be disclosed afterwards."
9S gave a rather exasperated sigh. This was turning into one giant headache. "Yeah, I guess that's probably all we can do right now. Okay, Pod, take a picture of the bed."
"Affirmative." There was a single "click" sound. "Complete."
"Good. Contact 21O."
"Affirmative."
Once again a holographic screen popped up, followed by a ringing sound. After a few moments, 21O's face appeared.
"Scanner Unit 9S to 21O."
"Copy. Have you located the source of the spatial anomaly?"
"Well…I'm in the area where the sensors picked it up but…this was all I found. Pod, send the information to 210."
"Affirmative."
A pop-up appeared on the left of the screen, showing that files were being transferred from 153 to 21O's console. A moment later, said Operator looked over to her left, followed by an arched eyebrow. "9S, how many to I need to remind—"
"I know, 21O, I know what the objective is," an exasperated 9S replied. "But I'm being serious when I say this busted bed is all I found." 9S didn't really remember much before he and 2B had to detonated their Black Boxes to take out a whole platoon of Engels, but he was pretty sure something like this was not common in an abandoned factory.
"Well…that…is definitely unusual, given the location…are you sure there's nothing else?"
"Believe me, I really wish I had more to report, but there's not a clue here about what caused the anomaly. And trust me, I've scanned everything here. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada."
"Alright, 9S," 21O said, trying to calm the Scanner down. "Your frustration is noted, but keep your emotions in check. YoRHa units aren't supposed to take their duties personal you know."
9S sighed. "Yeah, I know…"
"And one denial will suffice."
"Seriously?" 9S thought. "Now she's saying that with the opposite of affirmations as well?"
"What about 11B?" 21O added. "Any sign of her or her whereabouts?"
9S sighed. "Nope, dead end there too. No body and no Black Box signal. The only thing I found is her crashed flight unit. Oh wait!"
"What is it?"21O asked.
"I just remembered, I think I saw 11B's sword by the same place where we found the human. He must've been using it trying to fight the Machines."
"Hmmm…I find that both worrisome yet also reassuring," 21O commented.
"What do you mean?"
"Humans generally do not posses combat abilities or the endurance like that of Androids. However, the fact that he had some method of self defense may very well be what kept him from being killed by the Machines he encountered. But we won't know anything more until we either extract the backlog from 106, or wait for the human to wake up. Although…" 21O put her and up to her chin in thought.
"What is it?"
"11B may have made a record document and remotely stored it inside of her sword. If we can access it we may be able to verify the status of 11B."
"Okay, I guess I'll head back and get it, since there's not much else here," 9S said.
"Well, if that's really all to be done there, then your mission is complete." 21O said. "Rendezvous with 2B back at the Resistance Camp and verify the status of the human. Hopefully, when he wakes up, he can provide us with more information on the anomaly."
"Understood. I'm kinda hoping for the same thing. This whole ordeal is giving me a serious headache. 9S, signing off."
The screen flickered off, ending the call.
"C'mon, Pod. Let's not keep 2B waiting."
"Affirmative."
9S and 153 turned to leaved. However, as soon as 9S descended the pile of rubble, he suddenly felt…off. As though a giant weight of sorts had been lifted from his head. 9S stumbled a bit, nearly falling down, but managed to regain his footing, all the while putting a hand on his head.
"Query: Are you alright, 9S?"
"Uhhh…I…I think so…just…a bit tired all of a sudden…" 9S replied, albeit a bit of a fib. "What was that? It felt like all the energy in my body just…switched off and then back on for a second."
Now that he thought about it, when he entered the area where the spatial anomaly had taken place, he felt…strange…like more…energized. "I was acting pretty aggressive when I was trying to find the source of the anomaly, but now that I'm walking away from the area where it happened…it feels like all that energy is…fading…is this what the humans call 'fatigue?'" Interesting but worrying.
"Pod, scan all critical systems for errors."
"Complying." 153's antenna shot out and beeped for a few moments. Not long after, it immediately retracted. " Complete. No errors found. Unit 9S is operating at full capacity."
"Okay now that's weird. Shouldn't there be at least a little issue that caused my fatigue? Wait…" 9S looked back at the spot where he was no less than a minute ago. Was there some sort of lingering effect from the anomaly that caused this…"mood swing?"
Meanwhile, At The Resistance Camp
"Quick, in here!" Devola said. 2B rushed inside the apartment room with the crippled human on her back. "Popola, do we have anything to keep him stable?"
"Yeah, there's a first aid kit from the Old World in one of the Storage rooms downstairs."
"Okay, go get it."
"Right." Wasting not a second further, Popola ran back downstairs to get the requested item.
Devola then turned back to 2B, watching as she set the human down on the only bed in the room. "How the hell did this even happen?" she asked with pure concern, confusion, and shock in her voice. "Humans aren't even supposed to be on the planet! And where did he get a pod?"
"The Commander and 21O are going through all records of the Council of Humanity," replied 2B as she removed 106 from the human's back. "But so far, there hasn't been a single report of a human departing from the moon. As for the Pod, it belonged to 11B. My teacher."
"Affirmative." Pod 106 confirmed, now being held by 2B. "This unit has assisted the human, Sam King, through Protocol 221."
"What protocol is that?" Devola asked. She and her sister may help some of the Resistance and YoRHa Androids with a few tasks, but that didn't mean they knew the whole play by play on how YoRHa operated.
"Essentially, Protocal 221 states that everything and anything related to humanity and their survival must be preserved, taking precedence over everything else," the Battle unit explained.
"Well…doesn't look like the survival part's working out too well for him," Devola responded. "How did he even get like this? Where did you find him?"
"9S and I were on a mission to investigate a spatial anomaly that had occurred in the Machine Factory approximately an hour and a half ago. We found him the entrance exactly like this. Apparently he got into a fight with some Machine Life Forms."
"What?!" Devola was utterly shocked. No human would ever be dumb enough to go up against those things, especially if they lacked any type of combat prowess. Something Popola was fairly certain this boy didn't have, if his missing arm was any indication. "Why would anyone send someone from the moon into a factory where Machine Life Forms are produced?!"
"Negative," replied 106. "Sam King has stated multiple times that he does not originate from the moon. He has also openly stated his ignorance and skepticism about the Machine Wars, Machine Life Forms, the alien invaders, Androids, the Resistance, YoRHa, and the Council of Humanity. He is unaware of everything that has happened in the past 9,927 years."
"How—wh—how does he not know about any of this?!" Devola exclaimed, struggling to find the words to describe how baffled she was. "There's no one, human or Android, in existence that doesn't know about this…wait…what do you mean by that last part?"
"Query not understood."
"Devola's referring to the specific year count you gave," 2B replied.
"Sam King has stated his memories from before he appeared in the factory were on the date of January 20th in the year 2018."
Both Devola and 2B went wide eyed at this.
"Wh…I…I don't…how is—"
"I've got it!" Devola never got the chance to finish her sentence, as Popola ran in the room with a first aid kit, a large monitor on wheels, and quite a bit of wires.
"What's all that?" 2B asked.
"Heart monitoring equipment," Popola replied. "I remembered we had some while I was looking for the first aid kit, and good thing too. We're going to need it to see how well he's doing. Devola, can you help me with this please?"
"Sure thing," the twin replied. Devola walked over to her sister, who was immediately removing the makeshift bandages for the human's wound.
"Wait, what are you doing?" 2B said. "I thought humans needed to be bandaged up for extreme wounds like that."
"They do," Devola replied. "But, no offense or anything, the gauze in this kit is made out of thicker cloth, specially designed for treating wounds like this. Though, gotta say, this work you did was pretty quick thinking."
The Android twins slowly undid the black rags that were once 9S's and 2B's visors, as well as 2B's dress, trying not to aggravate the wound. Upon removing the bandage completely, they noticed something odd…something that, they thought at least, needed a lot more time to happen.
"It's…clotted already," Popola observed.
2B remembered 042 saying that a human's blood vessels needed to clot when wounded in order to stop blood from escaping the body. "That's good right?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, definetly," Devola said. "It's just…with a wound like this, it's supposed to take a really REALLY long time to clot like this. Like a few days, maybe a week. How long ago did he lose his arm."
"Response: Approximately one hour, fifteen minutes, and thirty seocnds ago," 106 replied.
"WHAT?!" The twins exclaimed.
"That's impossible!" Popola said, utterly baffled by what she just heard.
"Pod 106," 042 spoke. "The information presented does not match existing information in YoRHa's archival records on human physiology. Hypothesis: Pod 106 possesses a faulty memory bank, likely damaged by the impact from 11B's crashed flight unit."
"Negative," 106 responded. "Internal clock and memory are still functioning despite the status of this unit. It has been one hour, sixteen—"
106 was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and the Resistance Camp leader, Anemone, stepping inside. "Alright," she spoke to 2B in a rather exhausted tone. "So I just want to make sure the conversation I had with the Commander was not some sort of bad joke. You and 9S found a human on the planet."
"The Commander is not one to make jokes," 2B replied. "Especially for something as serious as this."
"Be that as it may, I hope you can forgive me of my skepticism, 2B. I just spent the last hour combing the archives of the Council of Humanity with both the Commander and 21O, and we haven't found anything about a human departing from the moon. All the while helping Devola and Popola to clear out this room for the alleged human you brought back. Is it safe to assume that's him on the bed?" Anemone looked over to where the human was laying. Devola and Popola has continued to apply the gauze on the wound since she had come in.
"Yes," 2B replied.
"What on Earth happened to him?"
"Apparently he got in a fight with a few Machines."
"What?!" Popola went wide eyed at this, hearing it for the first time.
"Yeah, my response exactly," Devola commented.
"Why would a human pick a fight with a few Machines?" Anemone asked, her skepticism unwavering.
"Error," 106 spoke. "The previous assumption is false. Sam King did not provoke the Machine Life Forms. The hostiles ambushed him. Sam King's options were limited in the situation, ergo, Sam King was forced to defend himself. A scenario that humans commonly refer to as, 'fight or flight.'"
Anemone looked at the Pod that was still in 2B's hands. "Well…" she thought for a moment. "I guess that's understandable. But he's still incredibly lucky to have escaped with only a missing arm."
"Yeah, well he's probably not feeling very lucky right now," Devola commented as she finished helping her sister with the gauze.
"Well how is he feeling?" Anemone asked. "Is he alive at least?"
"He had a pulse when we brought him in," 2B said. "But it was pretty weak. I got him here as fast as I could while avoiding the roaming Machines."
"Devola, Popola. Did you two check his pulse?"
"We're setting up the heart monitoring equipment now," Popola said as she was setting up said machine. "If he still has a pulse, we should be able to see how fast his heart is beating with this."
"Query:" 106 stated. "Have Devola and Popola accounted for Sam King's injured left ankle?"
Devola, Popola, Anemone and 2B went wide eyed once again. It seemed like this was going to happen quite often for a bit.
"A severed arm AND a twisted ankle?!" Devola exclaimed. "Good God, this guy's inept."
"I think this is something that the humans called…what was it…a 'miracle?'" Popola wondered aloud, taking a break from setting up the heart monitor to apply gauze to the injured ankle.
"How did he even manage that?" Anemone said. "Fighting Machines with an injury?"
"Negative," 106 corrected. "Sam King received this injury after successfully subduing a total of four Machine Life Forms."
2B looked down at the Pod. "What?" she asked in disbelief.
"Sam King destroyed one Small Stubby, one Axe Equipped Medium Biped, and two Small Flyers."
"That's…actually mildly impressive," Anemone admitted. "If stupidly fortunate."
"The injury however was self inflicted," 106 continued. "Not the result of an attack from a Machine Life Form. The leader of the squad was responsible for the loss of Sam King's arm, however. A Sword Equipped Medium Biped. With his injured ankle, Sam was unable to react in time to avoid being pinned down."
Anemone sighed, trying to imagine how terrified the boy must have been in that situation. "Poor kid. I can't imagine how awful that must've been for him."
"Okay," Popola said. "Heart monitoring is all set. Now let's see how he's doing."
Shortly after the monitor powered on, Devola placed a few suction wires around the area where the human's heart was. After a few seconds, a series of slow beeps was heard, followed by a wavelength being displayed on the screen, along with a number.
53.
"That's not good," Popola said, really concerned.
"Blood pressure's not lookin' too hot either," Devola added. "This guy's going to need more blood in his body."
"So…then he…really is…?" Anemone stared in disbelief.
"I found it hard to believe at first," 2B admitted. "But this says otherwise."
The door opened once again, and in stepped 9S.
"Hey, I'm back 2B."
"9S," 2B acknowledged. "Did you locate the source of the anomaly?"
9S let out an exhausted sigh. "No. The only thing I found was this. Pod 153, transfer files to Pod 042."
"Affirmative," 153 responded.
042 beeped a second later. "Files received. Displaying."
042 projected a holographic screen showing a picture…of a wrecked bed.
2B arched an eyebrow in confusion. "What…is this?"
"Analysis: It is a bed that has been irreparably destroyed," 042 answered.
"I'm aware, Pod. But what I want to know is why this is in the factory. I know for a fact it wasn't there before."
"Unknown."
"It was the only thing I could find," 9S said. "The whole thing in general is bizarre. I couldn't find anything that could've caused it."
"Hmmmm…" 2B pondered on what to do about this.
"How's the human doing?" 9S asked.
"Stable for now," Devola replied. "But just barely. Loosing that arm of his must've been a pretty big shock for him. His heartbeat's pretty low, and so is his blood pressure. We gotta find someway to fix that."
"How long do you think he'll be a sleep for?" Anemone asked.
"He's not sleeping, Anemone," Popola answered grimly. "He's in a coma."
The room went silent after that. Then…
"Um…what's that?" 9S asked.
"Coma," 153 answered. "Definition: A state of deep unconsciousness that lasts for a prolonged or indefinite period, caused especially by severe injury or illness."
"Prolonged…" 2B repeated. "Wait…does that mean he…?" The realization had dawned on her.
"I'm afraid so," Popola replied. "We don't know when he'll be awake. It could take days, weeks, months, maybe even years."
"There's also the chance that he could die in his sleep if his body doesn't get the proper nutrients it needs," Devola added. "Like blood for example. We need to get more blood in his body somehow."
"How would we go about doing that?" Anemone asked.
"Back in the day, whenever a human's blood levels were deficient, procedures called blood transfusions were done," Devola explained.
"Blood transfusions?" 9S repeated a confused look.
"Humans would donate a portion of their blood to other humans, which was then administrated into the receiver's bloodstream," Popola continued for her sister.
"Oh, okay. So if that's all it takes, then we can give him some of our blood," 9S suggested.
"That won't work," said Devola.
"Why not?" 2B asked.
"Because Android blood is synthetic. It's artificial. It would be like mixing good and bad batteries in a lamp. It wouldn't work, and could even do more harm than good."
"What about the humans on the moon?" 9S spoke. "Couldn't we just ask them?"
"I doubt that would be any better," Anemone said. "Considering the upset this is no doubt causing for both the Commander and the Council, I don't think anyone's going to be volunteering as a donor until they get this whole dispute sorted out. I'm definitely not looking forward to any future calls on the matter."
"All the more reason why we need him to wake up as soon as possible," 2B added.
"All that aside," Devola spoke. "Even if the humans were in a position to volunteer, there's still the issue of getting a matching blood type."
"Blood type?" 9S asked, curious at this new information. "You mean…humans have different types of blood?"
"Yes," Popola confirmed. "Just like each individual human's DNA code is unique, so is a human's blood. If a donor's blood type doesn't match the receiver's, then it's incompatible."
"There's also the issue that the donor's blood has to be free of disease or any harmful bacteria," added the twin Android. "We don't know what this guy's allergic too. So if we do a transfusion without knowing how it will affect him before hand, we could end up inadvertently killing him."
The room went silent after this.
"So…" 9S spoke up, trying to alleviate the grim uncertainty going around. "Is there nothing we can do?"
"Well," Devola started again. "The good news is that the human body can produce new blood. And since the blood vessels connecting his missing arm have now clotted, we don't have to worry about anymore blood escaping, unless of course something happens to re open the wound. Unfortunately, that really only works if the human in question has a stable heart and enough nutrients like Vitamin D. And going by what we're seeing right now…this guy's a long ways away from waking up in the next few days."
"Okay, so basically," 2B began. "We just need to get the human's heart back to a stable beat in order for his body to produce more blood, which in turn will cause the human to wake up sooner."
"Yes, but…" Devola said. "We need a certain kind of drug to stabilize the heart."
"What kind of drug is it?" Anemone asked.
"No clue," Popola said. "We don't have enough information on humans from the old world to figure out what would work best for him."
"If we did, we could probably replicate the drug," Devola added. "But that requires both information and ingredients. Neither of which we have."
9S sighed. "Okay, so…what are we going to do then? If we leave him like this, he'll never wake up. We can't keep him hidden like this. Other Androids are going to start talking. I've already had a few people ask me a few questions when I came here."
"Well…" Anemone began. "I do know one person who might have the information we need…"
Devola and Popola went wide-eye in terror. They knew exactly who Anemone was talking about.
"No!" Devola declared. "Absolutely not!"
"Anemone please," Popola pleaded. "Not her. Anyone but her."
"You got any better suggestions?" the Resistance Camp leader deadpanned.
"Who are you guys talking about?" 9S asked, completely oblivious to the twins' frustration.
"Think about it 9S," 2B said, already figuring out who it was. "Who's the one Android that we helped to develop what's called the E-Drug?"
9S eyebrows shot up in realization. "Oh God, no…"
2B let out a very rare exasperated sigh, brining her hand up to her face. "This is completely absurd…"
…
AN: I actually had to do some medical research to figure out what drug is going to be used in the next chapter.
…
One Week Later
"Who in the actual hell has a name that's an insult in reference to a friggin' donkey?" Zero asked, still trying to wrap her head around this woman's bizarre name.
"Hey, it wasn't my choice," Jackass replied. "But I stick to it. And it's actually grown on me. What about you? What's your name?"
"…Zero."
Jackass was silent for a bit before answering. "Just Zero?"
"Yup."
…
"How is a number representing the absence of anything any better than Jackass?"
"Because it sounds badass?" Zero replied (no pun intended from the writer).
"Heh, yeah, sure," Jackass scoffed. "Whoever manufactured you must've had some serious screws loose."
Zero was getting more and more confused by the second. "Um, what?" she said. "Manu—you mean like built?"
"Well duh," Jackass responded. "How else would you be thrown into this war?"
There was a moment of silence before Zero responded. "Okay…couple things. One, I wasn't built, I was born. Two, what war? Does this have anything to do with those 'Machines' that you mentioned?"
The trade offs of confused looks appeared to be following a pattern. Every time one would say something odd, the other would reciprocate with their own odd statement. Jackass was about to respond when she heard her own comm link ring.
Zero, hearing the ring, looked around, not really sure where it was coming from.
"It ain't nothing to panic about kid, it's just a call," Jackass said.
Zero turned to face her again. "A…call?"
"Yeah, and from the looks of it, it's kinda important. So just sit tight for a bit, yeah? I gotta take this." Jackass then placed her right hand up to the area where her right ear was. "Jackass here."
"Jackass, it's Anemone," a more gentler yet authoritive voice responded.
"Is…that some sort of telepathy?" Zero asked herself. A similar type of communication over long distances was possible through that, but they can only be heard in someone else's mind. This she could hear loud and clear with her ears. So clearly, it wasn't telepathy. Hell it wasn't even magic. Come to think of it…Zero couldn't sense any kind of life force from Jackass.
"It's not quite man, yet not quite beast." The words of her long deceased comrade Michael echoed in her head. "It appears to be some sort of automaton."
"But…that's impossible," Zero thought. The only thing she saw that fit that description were the countless number of Titans she fought, and they were MASSIVE. Jackass…had she not been paying attention closely, she would've most certainly mistaken her for an actual human being. What the hell was she?
"Hey, Anem," Jackass replied. "What's up?"
"An anomaly apparently," the response came.
"Huh?"
"I got a call from the Commander," Anemone explained. "Another anomaly has been spotted somewhere in the desert."
"Wait, hold on," Jackass said. "Does this have anything to do with the..." she paused for a bit, trying to choose her words carefully, just in case someone was listening in. "…'new arrival' in the camp?"
"I…don't know," Anemone answered. "It could be. The Commander did say that the nature of the anomaly was the exact same as the one found in the factory."
"Did she dispatch any of her guys to come here to check it out?"
"Yes. 45D and 22G should be meeting you shortly."
"Wait, only a Defense and Gunslinger Units?"
"They were the only ones near by. And available. Everyone else is either back at the bunker for maintenance, or are out dealing with their own missions."
"I thought Scanner Units were a must for this sort of thing."
"9S couldn't even figure out the first anomaly. Hell, he's still trying to wrap his mind around how a spatial anomaly can even happen in the first place. Same with the Commander. Besides, he and 2B are too busy helping Devola and Popola with…'other things.'"
It took a moment for Jackass to figure out what she was non-verbally trying to say. "Speaking of which…any word on how…'you—know—who' came to be?"
Anemone gave an exasperated sigh. "No, not yet at least. Every time I ask, it's either an answer that equals 'we're working on it' or they just try to steer away from the topic all together. If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect that they're trying to sweep this whole thing under the rug."
"Heh, yeah that sounds like Whitey alright. They're probably just waiting for him to wake up. Can't get the full story without hearing it from both sides, right?"
"I'm hoping it's that simple."
"What about that Pod that was there? Surely that'd have some information right?"
"Ugh, no luck there, either. As far as I'm aware, that thing's still undergoing maintenance. I asked 9S if he could talk to the Mechanic unit that was performing the maintenance, and he told me that it wouldn't work. This whole scenario is classified Level 5, remember? Very hush-hush."
"The worst kind ever. Well, whatever. Tell the two YoRHa units inbound that their search won't take long. I'm already standing at the place where the anomaly happened."
There was a brief silence before Anemone responded. "What?"
"Yeah, was taking a bit of a stroll through the more rubbly parts of the desert, when all of a sudden, BAM! Bright flash of white light up in the sky, followed by, 'It's raining shit, halejgluia!'"
"I'm…pretty sure that's not how the song goes, Jackass."
"It's called a spoof, Anem. It's supposed to be funny."
"And what kind of 'shit' are we talking about?"
"Some cardboard boxes with labels on them. They've all got the 'you-know-who's' name on them, but the rest of what they say, no clue what they are."
"Have you looked in them?"
"I will, but…there's uh…there's something else here that's…kinda important…"
"What do you mean?"
"The, uh…anomaly…kinda spat out a…new visitor…"
Anemone went silent after Jackass said this. Choosing her words carefully, she finally responded. "Does she have…the same thing as the other?"
"'Thing?'"
"Rhymes with 'false.'"
"Rhymes wi…oh." Jackass understood what Anemone was asking for.
"Hold on a second. Hey, kid," she then turned to Zero. "I'm gonna need to feel under your wrist for a bit."
Zero arched her eyebrow. "Uhhhh, why?"
"Oh, don't get paranoid on me. I'm not gonna bite. Just trust me, okay? Gotta make sure of something."
Zero eyed Jackass cautiously. She had no idea what was going on between her and this…"Anemone" lady…but it seemed like they were being very picky about their word choice. Almost as if the sand around them had ears.
"Ugh, whatever," Zero thought. "Fine," she said as she begrudgingly held out her hand. Immediately, Zero winced as Jackass got quite an iron grip on her wrist. "Okay seriously, what IS this woman? Her hand isn't generating any heat, and it feels like it's made out of…metal…wait…is…is she related to Accord somehow?"
Jackass held Zero's wrist, focusing on finding that one small detail. Eventually, she got it.
A pulse.
Jackass stared wide-eyed at Zero. Zero stared back, not really sure what got Jackass so shocked.
"Yup," Jackass said. "She's got one."
"'She?'" Anemone asked shocked. "It's a girl this time?"
"Yup. White as a sheet. Got a pretty menacing glare too. Could give Whitey a run for her Gs."
"I'm sitting right here you know," Zero replied irritated.
"So yeah, might want to update the YoRHa guys. This is probably going to be another Level 5 thing."
"Got it. 45D and 22G will be there in about fifteen minutes," Anemone said. "I'll let them know what's going on. In the meantime, try to see what you can find out about her."
"Gotcha. Jackass out." Jackass then hung up. "Okay kiddo, pop quiz." She turned to Zero. "Are you from the Council of Humanity?"
Zero gave yet another puzzled look. "The Council of…what?"
"…uhhh, the group of all the remaining humans that are on the moon?" Jackass explained. "Seriously how do you not—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out," Zero interrupted. "Humans? On the MOON? You're fucking with me aren't you? C'mon, you've gotta be fucking with me."
Jackass was starting to get more curious than she was confused with Zero's responses. She didn't know about the Machine War and she apparently doesn't know about the Council of Humanity. Where the hell did she come from to NOT know about that? "You don't believe me?"
"No shit," Zero replied. "Traveling to the moon? Seriously? That wasn't even a good attempt at a joke. No airship has ever been able to fly that high, hell not even dragons could do it, not even with magic." She should know. Mikhail tried it once. And let's just say it didn't go too well.
"Wh—okay, what?" Jackass said. "You must've hit you're head pretty hard, kid. Dragons and magic? Seriously? Those don't exist."
"I can pull a sword out of thin air," Zero said, demonstrating by summoning her blade once again in front of Jackass. "How do you not describe that as magic?"
"Because I know several other guys who can do the exact same thing," Jackass replied. "I dunno how they do it, but it's some kind of exclusive YoRHa tech. I'd LOVE to get my hands on that if I could."
Your…ha? "What kind of stupid name is that?" Zero questioned.
"Although…" Jackass eyed Zero a bit carefully. "You're the first human I've seen that can do that. Hell, at least you're conscious. Last human I met got into a fight with a few Machines and got his arm cut off."
"I'm not a human. I'm an Intoner."
"Uh…what? What the hell is that?"
"A being of ridiculously potent magical power, essentially. Not that I was the one that came up with that name. I honestly hate it." Although…for whatever reason, she felt that her magical power was…a bit more rescinded than it was when she had the flower.
"That's the second time she brought up magic," Jackass thought. "Does she really believe that strongly that's a thing?"
"And what did you mean by 'First Human?' What do you mean by that?"
"Okay, seriously kid? Where have you been for the last few centuries? How do you not know anything about what we've been talking about?"
"I already told you, I'm supposed to be dead, remember?"
"Yeah I remember. What I don't understand is why you think that you're supposed to be dead."
"Because…because I needed to die…"
…
"Oooookaaaayy…why?"
"Because it was either that, or let the worst parasite in existence bloom inside me and destroy the world…"
"…Well…world's pretty much destroyed now…and it wasn't caused by any parasite I know of."
Zero looked around the sandy environment she was stuck in. "The world…doesn't look like this, does it?"
"Nah, there's a ruined city about a few minutes walk from here," Jackass replied. "No sand for miles. Just lots and lots of busted streets, buildings, and rubble."
"'Ruined?'"
"Yeah, we call it 'Relic City,' since it's pretty much one big fossil of what the humans built back in the old world."
"You keep using the word 'humans' like their extinct," Zero said.
"They kinda are," came the reply.
Zero froze. "What?"
Jackass paused at Zero's expression before answering. "Kid, do you know anything about this war?"
"'Okay seriously, what war?" Zero was getting really irritated by this. "The only war I know of was the one I waged against my sisters for three solid years."
Now that caught Jackass's attention. She knew there wasn't any infighting on the Human colony on the moon, at least not that she knew. But Zero was claiming to have not only been in a war, but waged it. Against siblings no less. "What's the last thing you remember before coming here?"
Before Zero could answer Jackass interrupted. "Besides supposedly dying, I mean. Like the date."
Zero frowned at this. "Does it look like I keep track of that kind of shit?" Zero desperately tried to wrack her brain for the answer. She sure as hell didn't remember the exact date. Hell, she wasn't really that focused on remembering a whole lot, considering that she was practically rushing to her death. No point in remembering pointless things when you're going do die anyway, right? But she wasn't dead. How? No clue, and it was really pissing her off. But for now, that could wait. What year was it last? And why did that matter? "Uhhh…sometime in the…1020s I think?"
Jackass's eyebrows noticeably shot up at hearing this. "Ten twe—are you sure about that?" she asked incredulously.
"Do I look like I've got a fucking calendar on me?" Zero asked irritated. "I don't keep track of the days that go by, that's too much trouble to remember. All I remember is the year. The year that I finally managed to kill all my sisters. 1023. Yeah, that was it."
Jackass let this information sink in before she let out an exasperated sigh. "This could be a problem."
…
AN: I may have flubbed up on the recent date that was in Branch D of DOD 3. I'll go back and check it (when I'm not too lazy to do it), and then update it accordingly.
…
VOICE CAST
2B – Kira Buckland
9S – Kyle McCarley
Pod 042 – D.C. Douglas
Pod 153 – Abby Trott
Pod 106 – Cynthia Marcucci
Devola – Eden Riegel
Popola – Eden Riegel
Anemone – Erica Lindbeck
21O – Connor Kelly-Eiding
Zero – Tara Platt
Jackass – Amanda Celline Miller