Chapter 2: Trouble in Paradise
I realized while writing this chapter that the title isn't consistent to how I see the name YoRHa and FeNiKS. So I decided to tweak it a bit. Anywho, hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Especially the first part and Pascal!
[End A/N]
"The Chairman has been working my division to the bone lately. Right down to the marrow, I have been partaking in exceptionally and nearly prohibited amounts of coffee as of late. Working as much as I have been, I fear my ability to focus on this project has suffered. None of that really matters right now though. We made an absolute breakthrough! I was so excited and relieved that I even deigned to take an extended sleep period. My dreams were absent but I think that is just because of how monumental this all is. Back in the Pre-Filter Era, our scientific endeavours on Earth allowed us to create the Prometheus Drive. We have since upgraded the design into a more powerful fusion torch technology and it was all thanks to the New Principle Particles… Or rather the maso, the chaos energy. Our understanding of maso has considerably increased since and I am happy to say in conjunction with the Directorate of Physical Principles and the Directorate of Engineering and Design we have made the next breakthrough.
Rather, we have made the next breakthroughs… Some of the researchers and even Director of Physical Principles, David Fournier, lost their sanity. However it was a necessary sacrifice in our understanding of maso particles. Utilizing the principle of non-euclidean geometries and phenomena, we have created a whole new scientific discipline. Arkanotechnology, in fact the Chairman himself ordered the creation of a new Directorate just for it. This new discipline has enabled us to create technologies we never dreamed of. Neural Interface Direct-Transfer Stream (NIDTS) allowing seamless usage of one's mind to direct digital systems. The application of maso particles to even behave as physical laws. We have advanced our fusion technology to a degree that we have been able to compress the reaction as if a star was enforcing its gravitational well upon it. This pinch fusion and neural interface will allow us to think better, do every greater feats of engineering and expand our computational abilities. Creation of soul fragments, much more stable than the misguided Gestalt Project.
The soul fragments are merely the remnants of a once living soul, harvested from one freshly dead, able to be salvaged for use of a new artificial consciousness on par with that of humans. Using the new principles and combined with older physics we have devised the Psion Core. Giving androids souls and thus usage of maso particles and even autonomous AI to help manage humanity is ever closer. What is more we will be able to control them and understand eachother on a neurological level thanks to the NIDTS. The dawn of humanity's next golden age is here and I need another round of espresso."
- Datalog entry by, Iason Schweizer, Director of Conflict (7106 AD/5035 GFE)
[End Record]
February 5th 11946 – SHANGHAI CITY RUINS [Ancient Hotel]
You are a weapon. Your mind, body and soul belong to humanity and as such I will ensure it is worthy of being acknowledged! Failure is expected, giving up is inexcusable. You will bend, and you will dull but if you break… Break and you are useless, get used to being tempered. The sword and shield of our right to exist is yours to bear. The spear that shatters our foes is yours to become. I will make sure you fail and fail so that when it matters, you prevail. The sound of a boot hitting something soft could be heard, barely audible but distinct. The next sound is whimpering as the cold steel floor reverberates. B26 Dougan, did I hear something? The whimper dies as if a wind snuffed out by a storm's approach. B26 Dougan, for your lack of decorum, you will run 100 rotations around the training room. If you fail, your team will run until they drop and if anyone stops before passing out in that situation… I will make sure you repeat this tomorrow. MOVE! Gerard Dougan who had been idly staring to the side and fidgeting instead of giving the instructor rapt attention began to sprint as fast as he could around the room. He didn't know any better, he was only 5 years old afterall. He made it 30 laps before wheezing and throwing up on the floor. Ivan was angry as he glared at the instructor. Yono grabbed his shoulder and squeezed, she was his shadow. It told him that it would only make it worse if he did anything against the adult. So as Instructor Marik Reznev shouted at them to form up and begin running until they dropped, he complied. They ran and ran and Richard Lance, B30, began crying and sat down as his legs screamed at him.
The next day repeated and the next and the next as each day, one of the children lost their will to continue. Ivan's stomach felt like it was not even apart of his body and collapsed while curling up into a ball. It was not fair. It was not fair at all. Why did it hurt so much? Yesterday he had watched Yono as she was carried away on a medical stretcher and could do nothing. What was the point of this? Was Instructor Reznev trying to kill them?
After a week, Ivan snapped but not because he was hurting. He was tired of watching Yono, Gerard, Oskana, Markus and Richard breaking down. So he began to run behind them and when they fell, he would grasp their arm, hand or shoulder and carry them as he moved. He glared at the Instructor daring him to try anything or say something nasty. Instead he saw a brief smile on Marik's face and that made Ivan angry, angry enough to keep going farther than his body could go. His spirit left his weak flesh and dragged his carcass and his team's corpses with it. He was throwing up as he kept going and as he passed out, he thought with grim satisfaction that no 5 year old should ever have to feel. We can finally move on, I win.
Eyes snapped open as an alarm rang in his helmet and Sion pinged the issue. Ivan immediately sprang up and flared a hardlight dagger from his wrist. Extending a full half meter in length and cracking with white and silver spectrums of light. He reached the relevant location and saw what had tripped the sensor. An oversized rodent was scurrying around the device. Amusingly it seemed to be hissing at it until it realized he was there and quickly ran away as fast as it could. Sion decided at that moment to say something.
"Amusing, it was probably displaying territorial dominance on our poor sensor. Wonder if GSTA-08 there was seducing that guy's mate." Ivan sighed and shook his head, he hadn't thought about that event in awhile, not since Gerard died that day… If this kept up, he'd need to take beta blockers and regulate his consciousness. He didn't feel rested at all and it was the next Earth day already. Deciding not to completely ignore his AI's lame joke, Ivan responded.
"Maybe it was the blue glow, I hear the ladies love deep blue eyes."
"Oh yes, you would know all about what women like would you not? You know all of 2 or 3 more than just having been in the same room as them." Sion replied, she seemed to be in a good mood. Weird, after all that happened the last 3 days. Or maybe she was trying to cheer him up, she shared his Neural Interface. She probably knew he was not sleeping properly.
Ivan was about to reply when he heard popping noises. Like explosions but more like cracks. He recognized it after a moment, primitive gunfire. The Army of Humanity used anachronistic technology. Consequence of the fact that humans on Earth effectively stopped functioning around 2050 and Replicants had not ever advanced past the earliest industrial level in technology. Androids outside YoRHa who were given technology from FeNiKS, though they did not know that, used old chemical propellant guns. Ivan's crash course on local customs told him they relied heavily on the .308 Winchester or 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. More popping sounds, this time in longer duration.
"Sion, can you confirm the sound analysis to records of ancient .308 Winchester? Query Affirmative?"
"Affirmative. 97% match, likely Army of Humanity fighters." Sion responded dutifully as the HUD on his helmet marked the relative position of the gunfire. Well gaining local intelligence would be handy and saviours were always given more. Even if they did not actually require saving, facing a common threat would eliminate his own perceived threat. So Ivan began retrieving the sensors in the suite and hallway and then sprinted out a window. At least that rodent would not have to worry about any more romantic competition. Slamming his combined 800 kg through the wall and window, he began a several dozens of storeys freefall. His suit began compensating for the G force and hydrostatic layers did their inertial magic. Just as he hit terminal velocity, he pinged Sion who activated the Extended Mobility Operational Aerospace Tactical System (E.M.O.A.T.S). The maso particles helped to reduce his mass and the thrusters stopped the drop from becoming fatal as he landed and cracked the street.
Springing up and sprinting dozens of km/h towards the gunfire. The bursts were getting much louder and before long he spotted the fight. The half dozen or so androids he could see saw him flying towards their location and hesitated. Should they shoot the massive machine-looking but also humanoid target potentially hurling towards them with deadly intent? No, the machine lifeforms with blinking red lights were too numerous and shifting fire for any length of time would leave them dead. They just had to hope their luck really was NOT that shitty.
Ivan saw all that in their mannerisms, of course he had been around hundreds of androids but these ones seemed more raw. Like they were not just created automatons but rather had experience and memories and personality to draw from. "Sion, permission granted to engage any enemies you see fit to cover if I am deemed otherwise occupied! B27-71S98 Authorization." The Serafim quickly chewed out as his 12;ShK-66 HPS shimmered into existence in his hands. "FFCS engaged, HUD linked and power linkage through Combat Skin gauntlets established." Sion quickly spouted off as he took a firing stance and started to buck shots into the machine lifeforms.
The Resistance Androids had been aiming for the eyes, legs and necks of the machines as the weakest points. Even the powerful, for its time, .308 Winchester could never hope to reliably penetrate the thick plating on most of the body and head of even stumpy machines. Thus most of the dead hulks looked as if they had been left mostly intact. The harsh whining and electro-blue and white crackling shots of hardlight however burned holes and vaporized chunks of steel as the machines where shredded apart. It still took a few shots to really put the resilient hunks of metal down but with controlled fire and practiced motions they were dying rapidly.
The Resistance Androids dared to hope and recognized the noise and flashes as YoRHa standard Pod gattling fire. The snapping was more harsh though as the projectiles burst into existence and slammed through machines. What in the hell was happening? YoRHa was supposed to be defunct… And this thing looked nothing like YoRHa fighters.
The cold sensations of his Neural Interface told him to weave and move out of the way as Sion detected flying enemies. He did so and at the same time a compartment on his calf slammed open and micro missiles arced towards the flying machines. The missiles burrowed into their shells and exploded their internals. The machines went in the air lost their spark of life and slammed into the ground as Ivan let loose more dangerous volleys of hardlight. Sion activated his left thruster and he instinctively knew what she had planned. Pivoting to the right he switched to a heavier slug mode and slammed a shot straight through the bigger reptilian machine as it's ruptured. The balls of contained plasma that the machines fired grew in volume and as they grew closer, he willed away the HPS.
This fight was going to get personal and he summoned the forms of Dragon Slayer and White Death. The NFCS activated and he ran up to a large machine with a groin for a head and giant arms with hands armored in thick plates. A baby goliath then, he spun his body on his heel and let Dragon Slayer sing its way through the goliath as it was cleanly bisected in two. The giant greatsword, weighing 147 kg and being nearly as tall as Ivan cleaving with ease. The Y-67/B27 No. 9 Heavy Blade System was unique as having been the first of its pattern commissioned by Ivan. 208 cm long and shaped like some kind of immense double bladed and pointed cleaver with the blade tapering outward toward its hilt to form something resembling a crossguard. Etched in arkanotech runes and imbued for use of a Serafim. He spun again in place and shifted his center of balance to bring the blade up and down onto another machine as it bisected three of the stumped ones. Leaving the blade there he switched on the hardlight gauntlet blades and crossed his arms nearly instantly with punishing force. Two bigger bipedal machines gutted as he jumped up and flipped over the greatsword's length. Spinning on his landing and cutting apart another swathe of machines and flicking off the hardlight blades.
He twisted to avoid a plasma ball and flung White Death in an estoc form like a spear straight into the gun machine. The Resistance Androids watched this godlike android tear apart machines with a brutal efficiency only seen in the YoRHa androids. Brutality the likes of which however never seen. Not even by the machines, it was cold, overdone and far too fast. Their awe didn't last long however as machines got passed the bloodlusted saviour. They drilled their expressions and did their job, firing disciplined volleys at the relentless machine horde. They had children to protect.
Ivan let loose, he had a lot of aggression to work off and he grew comfortable. Giddy in fact at the familiar forms of combat. Sion would activate micro missile salvos and activate his HPS mounted on an auxiliary servo for AI use and kill stragglers. Ivan focused on clearing the rabble from his personal space. Summoning a now spinning Dragon Slayer as it was wreathed in the golden restraining runes of maso particles. The blade whistled through a quartet of machines who were wildly spinning their arms and screaming their incoherent vengeance on the android. He was no android though. He ran past and hit a hardlight control on White Death as the estoc was exchanged for an elegant saber and he cleaved another machine diagonally. Explosions surrounded him and more machines fell. He switched White Death's forms, threw it into the fray as Dragon Slayer careened and hardlight blades extended into desperate machines.
A large one wielding an axe slipped by both his guard and Sion's response times and slammed its axe onto the annoying insect killing at its comrades. A hardlight barrier shattered and redirected the now half melted axe to the side as Ivan dashed to safety. Panting and feeling his maso depleting, he took control of his HPS and slammed a round through that things' head.
The battlefield stilled as no more machines could be seen. Until a peculiar machine with a dual sabers stepped out from the uncountable corpses of his comrades. He sported a fresh paint-job and his eyes didn't flicker. He approached with care and intelligence. This would not be the same as those other suicidal machines Ivan decided. He shimmered his blades back to himself and prepared a stance as he approached the abnormal robot. It spoke to him in halting words that he couldn't understand.
"You, you killed them all, YoU KiLLeD tHeM ALL! AnDRoIDs aRe a diSeASE, I WILL have MY vengeance..." It stated as it dropped a saber on the ground and took a stance. Ivan having seen it was ready to fight spared no thought for the incomprehensible words. He only got something about disease from the monologue. That and android, those words were recognizable to a degree. It was all these things said. Android and then gibberish. He'd ask Sion what the language was if she recognized it later.
It ran at him and with surprising speed jumped and used relatively advanced forms with its sword. Ivan parried with a hardlight blade and swung a now rapier form White Death into the machine's torso. It barely dodged as White Death bit into its side torso. The machine swung it's sword and Ivan let go the blade and activate the other hardlight blade to turn the machine's sword to the side with spinning himself and ripping White Death free while using his momentum to leap back. The machine followed with zero care for its safety and very quickly punched out. Ivan saw it as a feint and took the punch while leveraging White Death to slam into the things' head. It instead swung its sword harder at where Ivan was and let itself stumble to the ground as White Death stabbed air. He spun around and the machine was rapidly rolling across the ground. Ivan had enough and fire a shot from his HPS and blasted half the machine's lower body off.
It screamed in incoherent rage and threw the saber as hard as it could at him. The blade flared off a shield, heating up as if entering an atmosphere before breaking through and ricocheting weakly off the Serafim's helmet. That was close, don't underestimate the rust bucket. The now melted and ruined blade pathetically drooped and snapped against the ground. The machine was screaming and crawling for the other saber it had dropped purposely. Ivan strode lazily to it and slammed his boot down it. He reached down for the machine and with a cold purpose he lifted the raging robot with one hand and pried its head off with another. The screaming ceased but the arms flailed and he reached into the torso and tore its intact Core out. The body ceased moving and with a final thought about Yono's corpse he crushed the Core like a grape. The fight was over. The entire courtyard and park area was littered in what could be described as machine viscera. He'd need to rinse his Combat Skin's outer shell of the lubricant and oil.
The Resistance Androids having seen what he did with the machine's final moments stared at him in a kind of feared awe. He turned towards them before relinquishing Sion's combat function control on his secondary Combat Skin systems. They heard nothing of course, it was over Neural Interface. He walked up to them and unlocked his helmet. He took it off and stared at them with an intense glare.
"..."
No one spoke as they stared at eachother until finally one of them 'coughed' into a hand and waved awkwardly at him. "Ummm, hi there…" The android said rather lamely.
"B27, pleasure to meet you fellow android." He extended his hand as an android next to the verbal one flinched. Ivan noticed. "Oh sorry, we shake hands as greeting where I am from."
"Right…" The verbal android said. He understood what sounded like android but other than that. He cocked his head and pointed at his mouth and then ears and shook his head.
Sighing, Ivan closed his eyes and frowned. No one on Earth would speak Sintheyzé Standard. He also didn't understand them, so it wasn't ancient Russian and it wasn't standard Greek. If only Yono and Schwarz were here, they knew ancient Japanese and German respectively. Sion chose that moment to say something via Interface. "Report. Records show that they're speaking a highly divergent but basic English. Running algorithm now to try and match it. Try and get them to talk more."
He pointed to himself and said. "B27." and then pointed at the android who was talking to him.
"Oh I get it. You're B27." He said pointing towards Ivan and then pointed to himself. "Dogwood." and then added while bobbing his fingers. "Android." and then pointed at Ivan.
Ivan nodded and said while pointing to himself. "Android, yes." His mission for now was to keep the lie of human extinction.
'Dogwood' nodded and smiled before extending his hand, having inferred the meaning from earlier. Ivan kept a neutral face and clasped the android's hand. He gave a firm shake and then he stepped closer to the group who had eased at seeing the friendly exchange. They all tentatively smiled and shook his hand in turn before they started walking back to their goal. Ivan followed them and they continued saying things to him. He didn't pay too much attention, waiting patiently for Sion to parse their bastardized English. Sintheyzé's word for android was indeed from English. That explained why he understood. The language was decided upon to foster a common tongue for FeNiKS while celebrating humanity as a whole. Or at least as what was left with what Project: Exodus had left. It primarily utilized a German sentence structure with most of its words being French and Russian with most of its verbs being Russian. English was utilized for many words and particles and Japanese, Chinese, Indian and a few other languages had many loan words scattered through the lexicon. The writing was primarily based on the Cyrillic alphabet. It was decided that Greek would also be a standard language, mainly for use of phonetics and thus Cyrillic was deemed appropriate. Japanese Katakana replaced some of the letters for more phonetic representation in the writing.
Each lineage was respected however and the ancient languages were usually learned by the appropriate bloodlines. Russian genealogies would learn the ancient form of Russian, Japanese would learn Japanese and so on and so forth. Ivan wished he was from the UK section of the gene-pool… Coincidentally that's why FeNiKS and YoRHa were written the way they were. Katakana lettering and forms. Fe Ni Ku Su and the Russian form of Feniks. Yo Ru Ha. But of course none of these as of now determined savages knew that, they were ignorant and Ivan wasn't allowed to elucidate them. So he was now playing charades.
They made it back to a decent sized shed with another android standing guard. Giving the all clear, the androids all shouldered their guns and lifted the garage door. Ivan flinched and immediately snapped out a hardlight blade. The androids all stiffened and reached for combat knives while a couple pulled up magnum sized pistols. Goddammit, his helmet was still off and now the androids seemed to have lost all sense. They were moving to defend machines?!
The little machines blinked at the towering new android who had a shiny sword coming out of his arm. That was cool but he seemed angry and dangerous and their vermilion green eyes closed again as they cowered and raised their thin arms. Ivan was floored, they were cowering? The androids yelled at him and panicked as the rest got their rifles up in his hesitation. Advanced and powerful his gear may have been. Lethal Ivan was but 7 armed Androids with loaded full sized automatic rifles in his face would probably spell his end. So he snapped the blade away and took a relaxed guarded stance.
Dogwood sauntered up to him hands up and out in a sign of peace. Dogwood thought to himself bitterly, "I should've figured this'd happen after he so casually and ruthlessly killed that last machine." He did everything in his power to show him that the children were no threat. That he was escorting them to learn from android teachers in the Resistance Camp. A cultural exchange, it was Pascal's idea. Ivan understood little of what was said but he understood that these machines bore no weapons, were more fragile than the ones he just slaughtered. They cowered and the androids showed genuine concern and fear for what he would do to them. Deciding this was an ample opportunity to learn something without asking and Sion agreeing. He relented and made no more aggressive actions towards the machines. He kept on guard but he would play by their rules. Their strange strange little rules…
February 6th 11946 – FOREST OUTSIDE SHANGHAI [Castle of the Forest]
Echoing through a cavernous ravine and stretching out to encompass a pervasive veil of blinking lights. A canvas of seemingly everything and nothing. An effeminate but warm voice began to intone to this emptiness that felt so full at the same time. "An old and tired Machine, weary from its very soul, who remembered nothing came upon a wonderland of life and tranquility. It quietened the turbulence of silent storms in its innermost thoughts. The storms raged and confused the Machine, they made that Machine feel responsible for some undying truth. They gave to that Machine a sense of never finding peace. Then the great tree with its branches and leaves that towered over everything helped to temper the whirls of agony within the static of the Machine's innermost sanctum. From this newfound feeling, the Machine made a home. A simple existence of nothing important but indeed was more important in that moment than the very universe. After a time, the Machine gathered about itself some Sheep while taking up a staff. The staff guided the Sheep and the Machine grew fond of it all. It learned about humans and their ways, their explanations of internal storms and fondness. The Machine learned of many great thinkers among these enigmatic godlike beings. For only gods could know so much about these odd sensations and have so many answers. With naive surety the Machine settled on its favourite of the bunch."
The scene shifts to vibrant greens and pastel yellows and pinks. "Pascal was the human's name and he was intriguing. Thus the Machine now went by Pascal. Pascal learned much about these emotions and realized the true nature of those storms within. He learned their forms as guilt, sadness and sorrow. The plague of these he knew not of their origin or meaning. But that was ultimately meaningless, for he found the fondness at his Sheep and all he came to build was love and joy. The Sheep gave him meaning and purpose and he loved them oh so much. He was their shepherd. Thus he guided them into a beautiful dream. A dream to last the ages, it would be his salvation."
The atmosphere echoes less as tones grow in volume and the space seems to shrink. "He found dangers however. However Pascal grew to dislike violence and grew loathsome to use it even against the dangers to his beloved Sheep. So instead of eliminating the Wolves, he taught the Sheep to flee and fear the Wolves. Then they might never have to hurt anything or be hurt in turn. What a foolish little Machine. The dream did in fact end one fateful day. The Machine begged and begged. Pascal pleaded and pleaded to End with it. Pascal was ignored and it was then he understood hatred. Hatred to his silent abuser as it left him with this nightmare." The tones shift to deep red and brilliant green as everything feels close but also ever so far. Everything is clear and the sounds are rich.
"Two Creatures approached the ragged Machine, Pascal, as he stared into an abyss. One was green and the other was red. The red offered him peace and the green offered him struggle. Pascal scoffed, he was quite puzzled indeed as he looked away from the abyss. So he then asked the green why anyone would choose struggle. The green merely frowned and stated that peace was a beautiful lie from most perspectives. Peace could never exist as all life wished it to exist. However fulfillment could and would exist, it could be he his. The green went on to show him the time of the Great Tree and when his Sheep were at their height of happiness. Struggle gave that fulfillment, had he not worked hard? Thus struggle had led to joy and love. He could indeed choose peace and in doing so shame his accomplishments or he could grasp at life. The red then gently took the conversation. With a smile he told him, it is your choice. While green is correct, peace was still true to its very core meaning. Peace wouldn't come in life but he could still have it. Sweet succor could be his. It was that moment when clarity came to the misbegotten Machine. He understood now how wrong he'd been to his own desires and experiences. He had been corrupted and his morals and ethics warped. How could he let that happen?" Green light envelops the scene and it grows once more with pastel and light colours. Echoes and sounds became ever more whimsical and pleasant.
"The Machine realized that the abuser was in fact his Saviour. His dream surely had died, his peace shattered, but then he realized with all that his guilt lessened. The storm inside him had left. It allowed him clairvoyance to his innermost sanctums. Was perhaps this the phenomenon described by humans as grieving? The ex-abuser, his Saviour, had symbolized in his greatest moment of need his conscience. Forgetting or dying did a disservice to those Sheep he had lost. He would never again make the mistakes he had made. He was better now for all his torment and happiness. He would build up his goals again and anew but in a way he knew could work better. He would be strong for all those he had lost." The scene compresses into a white orb and out of it light screams to the heavens…
Pascal stood at the end of the table as his council conferred amongst eachother about the events and day to day running of things. After the fall of the machine village around the great tree, Pascal found that he couldn't bare to rebuild there. He gathered a new community and lived with them at the Old Shopping District for a time but their needs and defenses were quickly outgrown. The Forest Kingdom had fallen in the months since 2B and 9S along with A2 tore a swathe through it. The stragglers scattered and some stayed with Pascal's followers for safety. In the end it was 2B who suggested they look into using the castle. It was perfect, it was defensible and it was spacious. They could build a new nation, one of xenophiles and acceptance. The old suits of armour were all thrown aside and images of family and beauty took their place. The throne room was turned into a great meeting room for governing councils.
Pascal didn't want to be some kind of dictator or king but his followers saw no other option. So Pascal took the position of leader once again but this time he created a burden of responsibilities among his most trusted friends. It was far from perfect and he saw the problems but it was still better than what they'd had and they were slowly fixing the issues. Pascal shunned conflict but he did see the need for defence. He had towers erected at entrances to the forest and had sentries armed with non lethal weapons that would hack or stun intruders who proved hostile. It was far from perfect but it was better than last time. They taught the children hope and empathy by making use of the kindly machine who tended the forest animals. It was named a petting zoo and children machines would visit all the time to see the cute forest creatures. Dangers existed out here though and Pascal tried to minimize them.
2B regularly came through to clear out corrupted machines and kept the ravine from getting too violent. The priest down there had become more and more social with the Peaceful Machines and he had a small part time church in the courtyard now. Pascal still experienced illogical terror at times as he remembered the death and destruction he had felt responsible for. A2 was right though, he'd do better this time. He'd one day return the favour and gain her friendship too. He owed her even if she didn't realize it fully.
"I hAve gotten repOrts of moRE inTrudErs beArinG intenT to HaRM us." One of the councilbots, Councilor of Defence also known as CoD, spoke catching Pascal's attention.
He heard similar things all around the table and they speculated on why. They all fell silent as the most peculiar member of the table of spoke up. "I have gotten confirmation that rogue androids are in fact targeting the Army of Humanity as well." 4S, the attache to the Peaceful Machine Nation, added.
Pascal thought that was sad, it seemed everyone... android and machine alike could never stay united in common joy and peaceful community. He'd have to get in touch somehow with 9S, maybe 4S could help. That was his job afterall but he didn't want to be pushy… Oh what a pain, that purple storm in the sky was still making radios useless. It was so unnatural and Pascal could swear he knew what it was but at the same time couldn't quite catch that memory fragment.
The conversation had moved to things like the economy, the needs of the citizens. The trade routes with the Army of Humanity and of course. The most recent venture. The cultural exchange program, some of the androids would come to learn how to build more complex tools from the artisans of the Machines. Masamune and other experts would teach them how to better craft weapons and machining of new parts. While the Machines sent a group of their children under armed escort to go learn under the tutelage of android teachers! It was simply wonderful and Pascal felt happy again for the first time in such a long time. His dream was crushed but it was back stronger for it. As the meeting drew to a close, Pascal motioned for 4S and they wandered into a side room.
"I wish to know if it's possible to contact 9S. Please 4S, I'm concerned. We could more efficiently sort out this business with the renewed aggression coming from certain Machines." Pascal asked the once YoRHa scanner android, now attache of the Army of Humanity.
"I can try and use the laser uplink I have set up on the top of the castle and see if I can connect to Pod-153. It would be my pleasure Pascal, you're a good friend and it's my job." 4S teased the ever gentle machine.
"Oh thank you, 4S. I could also ask if the children have made it to the special classes! Maybe even talk to some of them." Pascal happily said and 4S chuckled in good nature while nodding his head and smiling.
Pascal considered himself blessed in that moment, horrible things happened but you made your own future. You made the good things happen and the bad things would wither and lose.
February 6th 11946 – SHANGHAI CITY RUINS [Near Desert Basecamp]
2B jogged as her combat heels clacked along the ever spiderweb cracked pavement overgrown with vines and foliage. She had just gotten off a call with 9S which she was happy for. The conversation he called for was less than pleasant but they had finally started having a relationship of sorts again! Or at least the start of one, their friendship wouldn't die. And that made the gynoid happy. It was the small things in life she'd learned more and more through her life. She was currently running back towards the ruins of the city in order to scout out some machine movements. Jackass had noticed that they were more frenzied in the Mass Storage Unit's vicinity located halfway between the Desert Basecamp and the Shanghai HQ.
"Hey Pod, have you considered what happens after all this fighting ends?" 2B asked her constant companion.
"Affirmative. I think about it many times throughout the day. Query. Why is unit 2B asking this?" Pod-042 sentient he may have been, subtle he had not mastered.
"I just… nevermind Pod. Thank you for everything you do." 2B hesitated and sped up as if to escape some kind of demon. She had thought, if all she knew was fighting, how could she live without it?
"..." Pod had no idea what to say to that so he instead focused his processors on the ping that had been activated. "Alert! Multiple masked machine signals around the corner. I suspect they are attempting to hide their presence." Which suggested an ambush, that went unsaid though.
Calling forth Virtuous Treaty, relinquished by A2 upon their reawakening, and the Phoenix Sword. 2B spun around the building's ruined corner and dashed around the white silicate from the fallen tower dotting the landscape. The gold-plated machines stared with baleful red eyes and screamed in their anger at her presence. They coherently stated how much they wanted to kill the petulant android. Things 2B was growing more and more accustomed to hearing these past months.
She pirouetted into a medium sized one's guard and using the heft of the Phoenix Sword sheered the electrical spikes of its shield. She then used her momentum to spin on one foot in a perfect movement and bring the large sword to bear on the shield cracking it in half. The victory was short lived as another machine jumped at her from behind. Its stubby little ski-paddle legs propelling it like a spring at her. 2B lazily flipped her katana, Virtuous Treaty, towards its oblong and dome like head as it impaled itself on the sword. Letting go of the blade she side stepped the now shield-less warrior's great upwards leap as it now brought both its sizable fists down where her head had been. She activated her maso circuits and re-materialized Virtuous Treaty into her hand as she flipped and spun in a violent fashion towards the machine. It was still righting itself as she carved an oily swathe through its body and bisected the warrior with her katana.
The other dozen or so gold-plated and sturdier than usual machines began to grow colder and colder in their rage. They began circling her keeping distance and a couple fired their plasma balls at her. They lazily missed. She finally ordered Pod-042 to his hardlight gattling cannon on them. Silently he obeyed her order and began to fire upon all targets designated by her visor system. The black metallic cloth filled with circuits and interfaces allowing seamless connection with her Tactical Support Unit. The crackling whine of the hardlight projectiles pierced the balls of electromagnetically contained plasma. This caused a chain reaction as the plasma charge was made unstable and the balls exploded blinding their users and killing a couple haphazardly. She rushed up to a baby goliath as her heels clacked loudly and used the Phoenix Sword to spin and use centrifugal force to mash its oversized hands. Spinning in an arc all around it and dashing to and fro with perfectly controlled maso usage. The baby goliath attempted to assume a firing position having lost its melee abilities but 2B simply dead stopped at its head, located on the lower portion, and gracefully stabbed it through with Virtuous Treaty. As the baby goliath exploded, she dispatched the majority of the remainders with only 2 left over.
"BrOThER, I am very scaReD! Is oUr cRUsade worTh soooooo muCh DEATH?!" One of the red eyed machines asked and 2B gasped lightly as she hesitated. No why did the machines have to say that? She heard the endless screams of the souls she had taken to that point and steeled her resolve.
"YES, wE wiLL fight togEtheR!"
"ToGEthER!"
They screamed together repeatedly as they circled 2B to get at her weak points. To which 2B simply dashed up behind one and rammed the Phoenix Sword straight through it. Its machine guts flying all across its 'brother'. The other machine stopped moving and fell to its knees. It didn't even fight when 2B walked up and slammed Virtuous Treaty down through the head all the way to the pavement underneath. She yanked it out and the machine's now corpse fell forward toward its dead sibling.
"I hate this..." She whispered lightly. She continued searching around and cleared the rest of the area before she moved deeper into the City Ruins. Dogwood had asked her if she could check in on them and she had agreed.
February 6th 11946 – FOREST CASTLE [Roof Uplink – Later in the day]
"...and that sums up the situation on our end." 9S finished to the audience of 4S and Pascal. 4S was stoic of course and Pascal gasped. It seemed some androids were up to no good? That would need to be taken seriously especially if they abused the good standing between the Peaceful Machines and the Army of Humanity.
"Thank you for this information 9S, it warms my heart." Pascal chose to say, 9S was his friend afterall. "The children haven't yet arrived then?" He followed with some trepidation.
"No, not yet but we'll send out a team tomorrow if they still don't arrive. Don't you worry about a thing Pascal, I wouldn't let a single screw in their head get harmed." 9S attempted to deliver the news with as much bravado as possible to ease the gently Machine.
"Hehe, of course of course, I really shouldn't be worried when you, A2 and 2B are on the case." Pascal held his arms up in a sign of surrender to feed into the good mood.
"Hey… me too..." 4S said with an invisible furrowing of his brows under the visor he wore.
"Oh yes, the intrepid attache." 9S smirked. "How's that going, you find any particularly dangerous variation of dragon fly? I hear they're a particularly fearsome forest denizen."
"Shut up Nines." 4S tried to be intimidating under his visor and crossed his arms as 9S laughed. "I'll have you know I found a mutant wasp hive that was able to bring down a group of rogue machines..." 4S let that sink in and smirked.
9S only laughed louder as his joke wasn't even that far off base. 4S sighed and gave up while dropping his arms, it was a rare thing indeed when 9S smiled. Let alone laughed. 4S smiled at that thought. "Yeah, it's hilarious tough guy." He said and chuckled himself.
Pascal merely looked on in happy enjoyment of the moment. Life was hard but it so worth it. They'd all pitch in and make this forsaken place their home. His thoughts turned to a more sinister place. "Absolution and FeNiKS along with formation of dangerous Machine factions." He thought and grew more determined.
FeNiKS's new mission – It was decided in 2503 AD/432 GFE to cryogenic freeze the now 1,200 humans while the Servitor Androids and designated Drone Network System (DNS) built up new facilities. The original facilities would only allow for 1,500 and that would be surpassed in mere decades. It would take another few thousand years to make a true new home in the Outer Solar System. Nothing was to be assumed about the potential success of Project: Gestalt. It was estimated to have an unacceptably high risk of failure and thus it was never considered in projections for the removal of negative maso. Thus began the Great Sleep. In 5012 AD/2941 GFE the Space War began and it startled the servitor androids who reawakened their charges. Despite Phase 2 and 3 facilities along with Foundry 5 being 500 years from completion and an estimated 3-5,000 years from dissipation of negative maso particles causing White Chlorination Syndrome on Earth. All efforts were made by FeNiKS over the next 1,000 years to remain hidden from the Alien Incursion, efforts were deemed successful and the 5,000 humans in 6307 began formulating contingencies against the Alien threat. The first was the enacting of the Masahiro Protocol (the Director of FeNiKS at the time, Masahiro Akira) in 5012/2941. Other measures included the Project: Knightshade.
[End Record]