9S' eyes were glued shut as mind numbing pain pulsed from his throat in suffocating swells and speared through his black box. Knees and head pressing firmly into the dirt and gravel, his hands were raised to the wounds in his neck where the pain seemed to emanate from, a moot gesture with the intent of staving off the pain that coursed mercilessly though his system.
Noticing that her charge had yet to take the appropriate measures to combat the threat to his life, Pod 153 spoke. "Proposal: Initiate self-hack to eliminate the virus."
Struggling to gather his thoughts, 9S managed a reply. "Got it." It was easier said than done, though. At the mercy of the logic virus, 9S instantly understood what 2B and the other units went through only hours ago on the battlefield. This virus was…almost sentient. The way it thrusted itself through his system, it wasn't random, a stray symptom or side-effect of a foreign mishap in coding. All suspicions were confirmed. This was an engineered attack. The virus virtually shoved itself through the innerworkings of the host and made a direct seize for control of their black box and thus the unit as a whole.
With effort, 9S found himself in the white plane of hacking space. To his surprise however, what he found was nothing like what he encountered when hacking 2B or the other battle androids. He found he was in a virtual manifestation of his own body and ahead of him stood what seemed to be two little girls.
The way they stared at him was uncanny, unnerving. Their faces emitted a sense of innocence, but at the same time there was nothing but a practiced and undaunted sense of knowledge, experience, might and a ghastly cool emitted from their eyes. As his head whipped around, eyes diligently scanning his surroundings, 9S found absolutely nothing indicative of a viral infection, but as he returned his gaze to his front, a heavy feeling set in his gut and his brow furrowed. Everything within 9S told him that the source of his infection was staring him unamusedly in the face.
He already had an idea. These girls were undoubtedly the only things here in his virtual systems that shouldn't be there and the longer he stood in front of them, he could practically feel the suffocating viral flare rolling off of them in waves. Is this a virtual projection of the ones who created the virus?
"Who are you?" He asked, voice steady and firm.
The sound that returned shocked him.
"We are the Machine Network Terminal." The baritone and deep male voice that resounded from the miniscule and feminine forms in front of him caught him well off guard.
Before he could get out another word, they continued with an ever so light air of narcissistic and condescending authority. "We will be taking control of you and we will be using you. Do not try to resist. There is nothing you can do."
Without delay, 9S' virtual body began to crackle and his pod's voice reverberated through his mind. "Alert: virus contamination rate at 10%."
Mind spinning to solve the problem, 9S decided that taking care of the alleged "Network Terminal" was as good a place to start as any. 9S immediately drew his sword and bared down on the diminutive forms in front of him, panic flaring in his heart when the girls began to multiply after each killing blow. As copies began to spawn in his virtual space, they began firing spheres of volatile energy towards him and 9S did all he could to dodge them as the status report from his pod rang in. "Alert: virus contamination at 15%."
As 9S looked around, legions of the girls clouded his vision. All attacking him, all of eerily varying sizes and proximities with seemingly no end or form of hope in sight as he mowed down copy after copy. "They just keep coming! What the hell am I supposed-" Suddenly a thought came to 9S' mind. "Wait a minute. At this rate…" 9S observed as the enemy continued multiplying. "They're gonna burn themselves out!" A grin lit 9S' face and new vigor flowed through him as a the light of hope was lit in his heart. "All I need to do is last until then."
"Negative: the Network Terminal has been bonded with Unit 9S' consciousness. Hypothesis: this occured during Unit 9S' capture by the machine lifeform Adam. As it stands, allowance of enemy consciousness overload would result in the successful conquest of YoRHa Unit 9S' consciousness data. Result: YoRHa Unit 9S would become irrevocably compromised."
Mercilessly, the glimmer of hope was snuffed out and a feeling of pure dread washed through 9S as he numbly replied. "…What?"
"Alert: Unit 9S is nearing the Resistance Camp where multiple androids including YoRHa Unit 2B are residing. Hypothesis: contact could prove detrimental to fragile state of android ranks if further units are infected. Proposal: YoRHa Unit 9S should exit hacking space and regain control of motor functions to alter course."
"What!? I'm…moving!?"
"Alert: virus contamination at 20%."
As he forced himself back to reality, 9S froze in his tracks as he felt an unseen force propelling him to the resistance camp some 400 yards away. "What the hell!?" This was absurd on multiple levels. Not only had the virus somehow been controlling his body while he was unconscious, but his perception of time had even been altered to where what shouldn't have even been a second in real time had translated perfectly to long enough for him to have made his way to the clearing before the resistance camp!
His pod's status alert came in again. "Alert: virus contamination rate at 25%."
As 9S stared at his shaking legs, the gravity of his situation fully set in and sorrow began to overtake his systems. "Sorry 2B… It looks like I won't be able to make it up to you after all." Clenching his rough leather clad hands and forcing himself to face the opposite direction, 9S began to trudge painfully away from where 2B was waiting, just beyond the boundaries of where he said he would meet her.
Within the limits of the camp, 2B and Anemone stood on either side of the Resistance leader's desk.
"Did he say anything else?"
"No, but if there's a connection between the proximity between two black boxes and the enemy's attention, then your people should be safe."2B stood, posture as professional as ever and her tone was all business. There was a certain reliability to it that as a leader, Anemone appreciated, nodding as 2B continued. "There aren't many YoRHa left, if any, so 9S and I will just have to be careful about how we traverse and communicate with each other until we've got this all figured out."
"Thank you, 2B. Speaking of 9S, can you really believe that he's going to be okay?"
"…How do you mean?"
Anemone pursed her lips, hands on her hips as she elaborated. "You said yourself that he had to hack your systems to get you to safety. Are you sure the guys that attacked you are going to let up so easily?"
"I'm not clear on how he escaped, but 9S was YoRHa's top recon specialist. If anyone will be able to recover the information he's studying as we speak and returned unharmed, it's him. But thanks for you concern."
Anemone's eyes widened slightly. "More gratitude? Wow, you've really been outdoing yourself lately 2B." A grin graced her features.
2B wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she opted for silence instead.
"Hah… Well at any rate, you should go ahead and rest. 9S won't be back immediately and you should probably be in your best condition in case something happens. Thanks again."
As 2B returned to her and 9S' room, she sat on her bed, swinging her leg around to rest on the covers as she laid her head on the pillow. "Pod, wake me when 9S arrives. If he hasn't arrived in ten minutes, remind me to contact him for a status report."
"Affirmative."
She smiled, clasping her hands together as she sighed deeply. She was so excited to see him again...without YoRHa, without hiding. "When you arrive, we can get to the bottom of this and put an end to this hell. And then..." 2B closed her eyes under her visor and exhaled slowly as sleep overtook her. Come home soon.
As he summoned a glitched and crackling virtual screen in front of him, 9S began to search for locations absent of android signals. He could feel the Network Terminal working violently against him as a wave of pain washed over his body again and his legs gave way before he threw a shaky boot out and caught himself. They didn't want to destroy his body. They needed him. They said it themselves, and that was their biggest mistake. 9S struggled through the pain as he forced himself forward. No matter how painful it gets, no actual harm is going to come to my body. Just go. They want me to lose consciousness. They want me inside the Resistance Camp. Just walk. Your motor functions aren't going to be damaged. I can make it. Unless…
On cue, the shifting cranks and springs of metal greeted 9S' ears as he surveyed the red eyed machine lifeforms that approached him. Summoning his sword to his only good hand, 9S sent his blade towards the bronze helm of a machine before the sword dropped dead to the ground, the telekinetic field of his NFCS failing. Frustration coursed through 9S as two holograms appeared in front of him, heads cocked ever so slightly to the side and faces permanently unamused. "Damn you…" he cursed.
"Alert: virus contamination rate up to 30%."
Backed up to the gap suspended over the city sinkhole, he forced himself through another bolt of pain to retrieve his weapon. 9S brandished the blade the only way he now could, holding it at length in an attempt to keep his attackers at bay. It was a fruitless gesture, he knew, and that thought was confirmed when a medium biped came plowing towards him and he was forced to make a dive for the other side, plunging his sword into the bedrock of the clip on the other side and pulling himself up before the red wave of energy came colliding into the space where he had just been hanging. As he reached his feet however, a particularly violent surge of pain rocked him and he momentarily loss feeling in his limbs. As his body met the dirt, 9S regained his sense just in time to make several fruitless and desperate grabs at the ledge as he fell into the ravine.
His body met the wet flooded soil of the entrance to the caverns with an painful and jarring rattle. As he picked himself up, he immediately began climbing the ladder, desperate to get back on course before 2B inevitably came looking for him, if he hadn't started already. As he began to ascend, pain rocked his body again and he unceremoniously fell back into the water.
"Alert: virus contamination rate up to 35%"
Undaunted, 9S picked himself up again, announcing with a firm tone and a slight growl, "I will not let them get to 2B." As his hand tightened around the metal rung, 9S once again began to ascend, reciting a constant cadence in his mind to keep him going. As he pulled himself out of the gap and into the greater clearing of the sinkhole, he noted the brief moments of calm in his systems before particularly large swells of pain and took advantage of them to evade his enemies.
"Alert: virus contamination rate up to 40%"
9S sighed as he responded to his pod's alert, a dry sense of wit painting the tone of his words. "You don't have to keep telling me, y'know."
As he soldiered through the pain, 9S began to make his trek to higher ground, even the more painful shocks becoming numb to him as his mind began to wander, focusing on better things. Resigning his sword to a walking stick, 9S dwelled on feelings that should have been long forgotten, feelings that were the culmination of three straight years of blood, passion, sweat, love and tears. There were things they could never erase, no matter how many times they tried. Every time 2B was forced to kill him, he underwent a wipe. His memories, the times he and she shared were destroyed, but there were things they couldn't quite reach. The basest and most foundational facets of 9S' being were left behind like the foundations of the ruined buildings crowning the mouth of the ravine he trekked across.
What exactly happened, what used to be, there was no way for him to truly know, but what he couldn't deny was what he felt for 2B. Trying to make sense of it, it was a challenge unlike anything he had encountered. Consciously, he had only met her a few weeks ago. In fact, his own internal clock said that he had only been active for around a month before the fact. Consciously, he was a newbie Scanner who was redesignated after a month of recon runs to support YoRHa Unit 2B, a longtime unit whom he had no prior interaction with. But factually…
There was no easy way to say it. 9S wasn't assigned to 2B. 2B was assigned to him. 9S wasn't a new Scanner. He was three years old. Same as 2B, same as most YoRHa units, with him and 2B being the proverbial babies. He had been on countless missions, a lot of them solo, some of them with various other Units, but most of them with 2B. She was a highly accomplished master assassin assigned as his executioner, but… He didn't know what sparked it, but over the three years they spent together, something forbidden between the two of them burned and only continued to grow. It was something precious that budded without fail, flourishing against all odds like a rose in a sea of concrete and rubble.
"Alert: virus contamination rate up to 60%. Infiltrating system-protected region." 9S winced at static blared in his ears and his vision became severely distorted, his legs becoming heavier and harder to move.
He was a man who knew nothing, a man that didn't even understand the feelings that drove so much of what he did, but it didn't really matter to him, because for him, those feelings were enough. It was…natural, the rhythm and groove they found themselves falling back into. With him, information was invaluable and the data Scanners collected was even moreso, especially coming from a Scanner like him. Layers upon layers in depth and crucial to the advancement of their cause. And yet, before he knew it, he was sacrificing it all, sacrificing himself, a top of the line Scanner, for the life of a B-Unit, whose prime mode of usefulness can be duplicated by a simple body replacement. Moreover, a B-unit whom he had little to no conscious knowledge of. Touching all the right places, engaging her in banter, surfing through her cold persona and short remarks as her own slip-ups spawned subconscious reactions and responses from him that inwardly, caught even himself offguard.
In their day to day, he was simply carrying out missions with his battle-oriented partner, but below the surface, he was fighting to take back the Earth with someone…for someone he had once claimed to give his life to. Someone he had discovered and shared the light of life with. Someone with whom he had sat up with for hours on end, doing nothing but regaling her with stories and facts he had found on the world they inhabited. The one person he valued more than anyone else. No matter how many times he learned of the futility of their cause and the impending doom of their kind, he continued to fight, not only for his comrades, for 21O, Anemone, 6O, Pascal, Commander, but for her.
"Alert: virus contamination rate up to 70%. Permanent loss of motor controls imminent if action is not taken." Sweat poured down 9S' face as he struggled to focus on the bridge through the disapproving glare of the little girls floating in front of him.
Even if he was erased from the world and eliminated from their ranks, he took pride and peace in the knowledge that she would be able defend her memories of their time together. Even after he dies, those memories would always be all they had left of each other. As long as they could just keep those memories alive…
And no matter how many times she was forced to put an end to him, no matter how many times she was forced to put an end to them, he would never hate her. He couldn't. All he wanted to do was give her the best he could, but now…he wasn't so sure he could do that anymore. At least he'd be able to protect her one last time. Give her a chance to live the life she never could as an Executioner for YoRHa.
As 9S' foot met the dirt on the other side of the bridge near the commercial facility, his movements grinded to a total halt. In a vaguely aware panic, 9S watched, almost in an out of body experience as his body began to turn around and walk the way he came.
Shit!
He began to make his way back across the bridge, pace rocky as he fought for control from the girls who manifested themselves in front of him, keeping pace with him despite their lack of action.
No… Frustration and desperation clawed at 9S as he tried to force himself to turn around. Tears began to pool in his eyes.
He continued to backtrack across the bridge, even as he received an incoming call from 2B. No, please… But it was too late. She had seen his face and the agony and exhaustion that gripped it draped a blanket of confusion and worry on her tone.
"9S?" Despite the situation, she still managed to sound steady and slightly authoritative as she questioned him. "What's going on?"
In a panic, he hastily ended the call and blocked the next incoming transmission, but he already knew that she would be on her way. Think 9S!
As his gaze fell to his function arm, a thought came to his mind. The network terminal hasn't managed to commandeer all of my body yet…
With one last push, 9S summoned all of the strength he could muster to raise his hand to his throat, arm to weak to even handle his sword anymore. As he began to squeeze, the little girls watched him, still seemingly unamused.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence since he left the Flooded City, they spoke as one.
"You disappoint us, YoRHa Unit No. 9 Type S." The tone with which they addressed him was dismissive and before he knew it, he saw corrupted YoRHa units rushing towards him from the commercial facility. If they couldn't have him, they would make sure he would die painfully by the hands of those he trusted. In an instant they were upon him, blades thrust into his frame and combat bracers and bare fists alike pounding into his skull. Reflexively, he raised his arm in defense, but in the end, he lowered it, hoping only that they'd be able to finish him off before 2B got there.
Suddenly a blade erupted from the chest of his attackers and he panicked. No. No, no, no, no, no! 2B!" But the face that greeted him as the rest of the corrupted units began to fall was not 2B's. It was an image of hers, but somehow all too distant.
"A2…" he managed.
The blade she carried crackled with electricity as she slew the corrupted units, her stark white hair billowing around her as she turned into a whirl of destruction. Before he knew it, the assailants were all dead with more on their way. "Behind you…" He croaked.
She saw them and the number was greater than the mob that had just attacked him. It had to have been around twenty corrupted units that approached them from the commercial facility, pouring out of the entrance violently like ants.
"Shit…" He heard her mutter.
A violent clang and the sounds of metal being torn met his ears and dread filled his heart as he laid eyes on the scene on the opposite side of the bridge. In the distance, 2B was working towards him, gracefully tearing through machines as they blocked her way. Turning back towards A2, he watched as she engaged the corrupted units as they swarmed them on the bridge, her sword plunging into each one, killing her enemies without grace or ceremony. He looked back to 2B. She was getting closer...
In one final move, 9S made a call. "A2!"
She looked back at him as she held another unit at bay with the flat of her heavy sword.
His gaze was desperate and honest as he removed his battered and ruined visor, revealing to her disorienting, red eyes. "Kill me."
Unsurprised and inwardly grateful, 9S almost let out a sigh of relief as A2 beat back the last few remaining units in a flare of red aura and turned to him without hesitation.
Glancing over her shoulder at the corrupted YoRHa that had once again set their sights on his body, A2 approached 9S' downed form, half straddling him as she leveled the tip of her crackling blade with what she knew to be the location of his black box.
"As she was about out thrust forward, 9S stopped her. "Wait!"
Through her bangs, she looked at him, her hair almost enveloping him like a curtain as he shakily grappled with the hilt of the sword that lay next to him. Mimicking a very rudimentary and seldom practiced protocol, 9S imparted his data into his sword, uttering the command in a soft whisper. Offering it to A2, he made his last wish known. "Please… You… There are a lot of people that still need help…"
She continued to stare at him, blinking and looking down to grasp the blade in his hand as she evenly leveled her gaze to meet his again.
"Help them. Take care of them, A2. A-and 2B…" His eyes shut as her calls of his name rang across the gap as she struggled her own swarm of machines. No doubt a courtesy of the network terminal. "She's going to need your help from now on. So please… She's quiet, compliant and she won't complain. She holds it in. She just keeps forcing it all down…it's a bad habit of hers." He smiled. "Her future…she deserves… She deserves better. She's been through so much… Please, protect her for me…please."
Something 9S vaguely interpreted as understanding passed through A2's eyes and she fully gripped the blade out of his hand. Leveling the golden tip of his weapon to his black box, A2 pierced Cruel Oath through his core and the wooden plank below.
Blinding pain shot through 9S and almost instantly, the red-clad girls that had been haunting his every step for weeks began to fade away. As the pain began to leave his system, 9S turned his gaze to the sky. Barely aware of A2 re-engaging the other fallen YoRHa on solid ground, 9S could faintly make out his own name on the calls of 2B as she cradled his head in her hands.
