Chapter 4 - Wheels In Motion
/_\
"White and I are gonna have words after this." Roman thought to himself as he, and his bodyguards, marched toward their first designated location. He and the Commander had discussed possible locations to begin with after Roman had fired off what kinds of needs humanity might need.
The most promising among them had been the mall, the castle, the carnival, and the abandoned apartments.
Each had there problems, namely the machine presence at each of these locations, but they had the best potential and facilities for humanity. And White had assured him that whatever he selected could be cleared upon his command, it would become the most secure place on the planet if he so desired it.
She was confident YoRHa could take control of whatever location he deemed so.
Even if Roman had his doubts about such claims.
He wasn't sure if White was just trying to reaffirm whatever choice he made by declaring their intention to protect it, or if she was trying to convince herself her YoRHa forces could do it in the first place.
All Roman had to do was investigate each location thoroughly, identify if said location had all the required facilities such as housing, farmland, and how they could expand from there. If any of these destinations ticked all the boxes then he had to draw up a plan of sorts and give it to Cid.
That would be step one of his mission complete. The second would be to secure the location whilst Cid prepares the next batch of survivors required to begin Humanity's restoration. Roman could imagine the types of people they'd need, and none of them were trained to fight in his mind.
But none of that was related to the problem Roman had with White right now. Rather his problem lay elsewhere. Specifically, with the bodyguards she had assigned him as apart of his protection detail.
Or rather the amount of them.
"One-hundred-fucking-androids…" Roman finished counting mentally. There were one hundred androids walking, marching, with him. All of them YoRHa models of various types and kinds. Battle models, scanners, gunners, and so much more. Everything he might need for his mission and for his protection, according to White anyway. Unfortunately, the sheer number of them moving at once made them hard to miss.
Except, that wasn't the problem in its entirety either.
One hundred androids didn't sound like a lot, and when compared to YoRHa as a whole it wasn't, but there were more androids involved than just his personal closeby bodyguards. Romans' eyes tracked upward to the numerous flight units above. Hovering in formation above, they were their eyes in the sky watching for any and all manner of threats. Every so often a pair would shoot off in a direction before returning to formation a short time later.
Obviously, they had spotted something, intercepted it, and blown it to pieces before regrouping in the sky above him.
A lot of effort for him. More than he thought necessary. He didn't concede the fact he was far more ignorant of the world than the androids, ironically enough, having not witnessed all the threats the planet had to offer but it seemed excessive. It was as if he needed this much protection just to wander the surface.
But, again, there was more to it than that. White had arranged the remaining androids into battalions and ordered them to preemptively exterminate anything that might be a threat to the lone human before he'd even first departed.
So each location he and White had picked out would be cleared out and secured upon his arrival.
"Not what I had in mind when we agreed upon an escort White…" Roman groaned inside his head. If this was how it was going to be the whole time then this was going to be a major problem.
"There's no way I'm going to sneak away undetected from this lot," Roman conceded mentally, suppressing a grimace, "I need to get this mission done, get more people onto the surface. At least then I might have a chance to slip out and head for my real objective whilst the androids fawn over all the other humans around."
As much as some might claim he was needed for his role as military leader, his civil counterpart would manage most of the work for humanity. Commander White could run security to her heart's content without him, which meant he wasn't leaving a very important role behind for long. They could do without him for a time. He just hoped his civilian liaison wasn't going to ride his ass over every little thing, he had more important things to do than deal with a hard-ass giving him trouble.
The cure was the number one priority. Without it all their efforts would be worthless in the end.
Romans' mind began formulating plans on how he would go about escaping the androids' detection when the time came. The longer he thought on the matter the more he realized he was going to have to wait for an opportunity.
A true golden opportunity.
/_\
"Come on 2B! Now is the perfect golden opportunity!" 9S whispered, leaning toward his partner on his right side. "Nobody is saying anything, and we're as secure as can be. He's safe and I won't be interrupting anything!"
"We're supposed to be on guard, ready at a moment's notice to act in the human's defense." 2B countered sternly, "Asking whatever questions you have will only divert your attention away from the mission, if you wish to speak to him do so when we're not focused on his safety."
9S sighed quietly, "...I doubt anything is going to get near him."
"As nothing should, as is our mission, 9S." 2B continued, "We should focus on our objective."
9S went silent for a few moments, but 2B knew he wasn't done yet. His silence was sudden, there was no yes ma'am or understood 2B. Her partner was looking for the right words to convince her he was right, using that silver tongue of his.
And she was almost certain he would find the right words to say.
Although she would never admit it, she respected his skill with words. He was far better with his words than she could ever hope to be, his ability to interact with anyone he meets with such a positive attitude and ease was admirable. Her partner was skilled in far more fields than she was.
It didn't take long until she was proven right when 9S spoke again.
"Then can I speak to him about the mission? About our objectives?" 9S asked. His tone was sounding confident, hopeful. She could almost picture his small smile when he'd finished speaking.
And she knew why.
As much as she may have wanted to dismiss his question, she couldn't. It was well within mission parameters to speak to Mr. White about the said mission and to check in with his well-being as per the orders of Commander White.
The name thing was going to get annoying.
Regardless, 9S technically wasn't disregarding the mission by speaking to the human about their objectives, and of all the androids to do so a scanner model made the most sense to speak to given their role as support.
Besides the assigned Captain of course.
2B released a small, discrete sigh. "And he's managed to use that silver tongue of his once again to dance around my words." As much as she may have wanted to shut him down, she had no reason to. "Clever as always 9S."
Even if she could see what his true intentions were, it wouldn't break mission parameters. If the human, Mr. White, was willing to continue speaking to 9S after then that was on him. She wouldn't question him.
"Fine," 2B relented, doing her best to ignore the pleased aura of her partner. "Find the right opportunity after we investigate the first site, then speak to Mr. White regarding the mission."
She threw 9S a bone there, advising him to speak after the first location to give 9S something to speak to him about. Her partner seemed to catch on as he smiled at her before nodding.
"Alright, got it," 9S confirmed. "Thanks, 2B." He added.
Despite herself, she smiled softly. "Don't mention it, 9S."
/_\
Popola found herself wondering how life for her and her sister would change in the future, and how it might improve if everything went well for them. The arrival of a human on earth had changed the course of the world, flipping it on its head, throwing the androids into overdrive. Never in her life had she seen what she had today.
Both YoRHa and the Resistance were in overdrive, the news of a human on earth bringing with him the bombshell of humanity's return had motivated the androids in ways she hadn't thought possible.
"It's truly fascinating to imagine how the world might change in the coming years, and how we might fit into it." Popola thought to herself, watching the androids making themselves busy around the camp.
It was incredible to see the change happening before them, even for androids like themselves if small. Other androids had begun speaking to them, requesting their help even if only for small trivial matters. Most, before the human arrived, would have simply ignored them entirely but now? People were willing to work with them, likely realizing that past grievances needed to be pushed aside for the sake of the future.
Even Anemone had requested their help with an assignment, one, apparently, given to her by Commander White. Needless to say she was quite thrilled with the idea of being utilized for a task regarding humanity if that was the case. Even if small it was something.
"Now if only Devola was here, we could get to it." Popola thought to herself, drumming her fingers by her side. Anemone had called for them only minutes ago, but unfortunately, her dear sister had been pulled into helping another android with a task just prior to being called by Anemone.
"Sister!" Popola heard from her side, she turned to see Devola jogging toward her with an enthusiasm rarely seen and a brighter smile than usual. Popola couldn't help a smile of her own form on her face.
"Good of you to join us, sister," Popola greeted.
"Sorry about the delay," Devola apologized, the two wasting no more time as they moved Anemones' command tent together. "A few of the resistance androids' requested my help loading up a caravan of supplies, they were behind schedule and really needed a hand."
"It's not a problem, sister." Popola replied, "I'm sure Anemone will understand."
The two redheaded sisters arrived at Anemone's tent, "Anemone, you called for us?" Devola said, the two standing outside the tent awaiting permission to enter.
"I did, now come in!" The sisters heard the resistance leader call from within the confines of her tent. The sisters pushed through the tent flap and entered.
Inside the tent was a table, of sorts, with various papers scattered across its surface. At a glance, it was obvious to see many of which were maps of nearby regions, whilst others looked like lists, reports, and records of supplies. Anemone stood over the table, supporting herself with her arms, going over the maps, marking out routes and pinpointing locations of interest. A look of irritation on her face told the sisters what she thought of her current task.
Anemone glanced toward the sisters when they entered and pushed herself off the table, straightening herself to greet them. .
"Good, you're both here." Anemone nodded as she gestured for them to come closer to the makeshift table. "I'll cut straight to the point, I have an assignment for the both of you. I've heard you both have experience with… administration, right?"
"We do, yes." Popola answered with Devola nodding in confirmation.
"Great, because I will be assigning you as administration and logistics officers between the resistance, YoRHa and humanity." The Commander announced.
The sisters felt a fluttering inside their chests.
"Does…" Popola thought, "Does that mean…?" The redhead could already feel her hopes rising at the thought. A subtle glance to her sister told her she must have been feeling the same way.
"As it stands right now we have administration and logistics officials in the camp, but we're tied down here." Anemone explained, "We can't afford to lose anyone here in the resistance camp, things are far too busy and hectic to assign them to a new camp, and YoRHa had already went about working security and military affairs." She gestured to the details map on the table, the sisters barely acknowledged it though. "So I need to pull androids from somewhere and assign them to the new human colony."
The sisters felt their chests thump.
"So…" Popola began carefully, "We're being assigned as liaisons for humanity?" Her sister seemed just as eager to hear the answer, holding a hand above her chest as if to still her beating heart.
"In a sense," Anemone corrected, the sisters barely holding back their joy, "I was informed by Commander White that once the human colony is established we'll be working alongside two specific humans, the leaders if you will." She explained, "One is in charge of military and security, which is the human you both saw earlier, Mr White." The resistance leader muttered fucking names under her breath as she spoke, "The other is a yet unnamed human who will be in charge of more civil affairs including administrations, logistics, and management."
"And we're being assigned to work alongside them?" Devola asked, her tone soft and quiet.
"Yes," Anemone confirmed, "You're the only two who have experience with this kind of thing that I can afford to lose, I can get others to take over your previous responsibilities and run odd jobs for me. You'll be in contact with other officers from the resistance camp and YoRHa, coordinating with the humans to keep everything running smoothly."
A pair of smiles broke out on the sisters, the mood climbing to new heights. It was truly
Anemone continued, "Once we get confirmation of a location you, and a few others, will be sent out to meet Mr. White. You'll be aiding the set up of the human colony, working out of their camp in the future."
"Understood, ma'am," Devola replied, with Popola nodding alongside her.
Anemone hummed in acknowledgment. "Good, now wrap up whatever unfinished business you have here before preparing for your departure."
"Yes, ma'am." The sisters replied simultaneously, both giving an enthusiastic nod.
"Now get going, I have work to do." The resistance commander ushered the sisters out before moving back to the map. The sisters didn't need to be told twice and swiftly moved to leave.
When the sisters exited the tent they paused, it took the pair a few moments to fully process everything. It was like a dream come true. A chance to prove themselves, to be worth something again. It was as though a deep seeded subroutine within the sisters had awakened, jumping for joy at having been assigned to work alongside humans in such a manner.
"I can't believe we've been given this chance," Devola said quietly, "Us of all people, being assigned as liaisons to humanity."
"I know sister," Popola agreed, "This is our chance at change."
Devola nodded in agreement, "I just hope we don't mess this up."
The sisters frowned slightly. As excited as they might have been for this opportunity it was also a responsibility. One they couldn't afford to mess up. If there were mistakes made on their part then all the hatred and animosity they faced before would become so much worse.
If they were pulled from this assignment for poor performances, or worse if a human died because of something they did, the backlash would be unimaginable. If something as awful as that happened the sisters could well be exiled, never to return, left to die in the wastelands.
A shudder ran up Popolas' spine.
It was a terrifying thought.
One she could tell her sister shared.
The sisters had a lot of preparations to get through.
/_\
"Three of the four down and out." Roman thought to himself as he and his entourage made their way to the final destination. They'd first checked the carnival, and while he'd been reassured earlier that any machines would be removed before his arrival, there had been plenty of hostile machines in the area despite the efforts of YoRHa.
That wasn't to say they hadn't succeeded, it was just the machines proved resilient. No matter how many they cleared, some would come back.
One of his bodyguards had informed him that the other locations were fully secure. Despite that Roman insisted on examining the area both for the mission and to keep up appearances. It was quick to rule it out since it was proving harder to hold than expected.
The mall and castle though were much better. Although the castle had taken more effort to clear out it was defensible, it held the right amount of space for people to be housed, had grassland for farming nearby, and plenty of room to expand and improve.
The mall was much the same, if more vulnerable to attack given the fact it's not, you know, a castle. But what made either of those choices more appealing was the proximity to the other. They were within a good range of one another.
If he picked one, it wouldn't be inconceivable to expand into the other in time. Which was a very appealing idea. Hell, if he decided on the castle as the starting point the mall would likely be cleared constantly since it lay between the castle and the resistance camp. It was on the most direct route between the two, from what he'd been told.
Now all he had left was the abandoned apartments to investigate and he was done part one of his mission.
"Excuse me sir." A voice spoke from just behind him, pulling Roman from his thoughts. He turned to see, surprise surprise, an android. A smaller, boy-ish android. One he hadn't yet met.
"Hmmm?" Roman sounded, "Need something?" He quickly realized that was a stupid question as the androids likely wouldn't ask anything of him if they could help it. If they were speaking to him it was for a reason.
"Oh, well, I wished to speak to you about the mission." The android explained, "But honestly I'd prefer just to speak to in general, get to know a bit more about you."
"Well isn't that a surprise?" Roman thought as he watched the boy-ish android next to him. He didn't fail to notice how a few other androids seemed to bristle at the male androids words. Specifically, a female android who looked as though she was glaring daggers at the male android through her blindfold. It was surprising to have an android speaking to him about something besides his mission or his well-being.
A social conversation was a nice difference. It'll be the first one he had since waiting up to this shitshow.
"I don't mind a chat," Roman replied, much to the boys' delight. "What's your name?" He suppressed a wince as he spoke. Roman had come to realize that most YoRHa androids didn't have names, more designations like his own SO-312, only White had a name.
And of course, it had to be his fucking surname.
"I'm 9S, a scanner model android." The android introduced himself, "But my friends call me Nines." He added with a small smile.
"Huh, isn't that something?" Roman thought. "I guess he gave himself a nickname from his designation. That's so very… human."
He shook that thought off quickly before answering, "Roman White," he introduced himself, "But I'm sure you already knew that."
"We did," 9S agreed, "I doubt there isn't a single android out there that hasn't heard of you yet. You're kind of a big deal." The android spoke jokingly.
Roman huffed a laugh, "Yeah, you're right about that. I guess I'm the man of the hour."
"Bit more than an hour sir," 9S replied with a small smile.
"Call me Roman, I don't really like being called sir."
9S seemed to smile even brighter. "Alright, Roman it is then."
"So," Roman continued, "What did you want to know about?" The pair walked side by side as the rest of the androids kept them in the center of a moving circle, protected on all sides.
"Hmm," 9S paused for a moment, leaving Roman to wonder if he'd prepared his questions in advance or not. After a few seconds the scanner model android. "You're a soldier, right? What's that like for a human?"
"Curious what a soldier looks like?" Roman asked, glancing over to the android for a moment.
"Kinda," 9S confirmed, "My partner, 2B, is a battle android." He gestured behind him, Roman followed where he was pointing to a rather unique-looking female android. As his gazed landed on her she seemed to go rigid, her posture straightening, her head seemed to look past himself and 9S. "I'm wondering what kind of soldier you are compared to her."
"What kind of soldier huh?" Roman thought to himself, "Given the shit I saw 11B doing earlier I suspect we're vastly different." Androids, at least the YoRHa variety, seemed to focus on close-quarters combat. All the androids he'd seen from YoRHa so far all had a sword of some kind, be they single or double-handed blades.
He, on the other hand, was trained in hand-to-hand, firearms, and experimental weaponry. His training was vastly different, but that raised another question. Were the androids trained or programmed to have their skill sets?
Roman supposed he could start with that. Explain his training, with some slightly edited context and details regarding his kidnapping and the forced nature of his training.
"Alright, well, how about I explain what my training was like." Roman began, with 9S paying extra attention to his every word.
Roman would have to be careful to direct the conversation in such a way as to avoid revealing something he shouldn't, such as the underground bunker or the moonbase.
But it was a refreshing change of pace to finally speak to someone like a normal human being again instead of doom and gloom missions.
Huh, ironic.
/_\
A shattered machine head bounced across the ground before its body quickly followed, finally bringing an end to the fight. Well, A2 wouldn't exactly call it a fight.
"Hardly worth swinging my sword." The Assault android thought as she stepped to the scrapyard she'd just made from her foes. Easily over one hundred freshly crushed machine corpses littered the ground around her.
"Tsk," A2 clicked as she sheathed her blade on her back as she kicked her way through the scrap. This was the third time today she had fought a small horde of machines like this. Something has kicked the hornets' nest.
"What has YoRHa done this time?" A2 grunted in annoyance.
She'd heard, and seen, explosions in the distance around the city. Flight units in numbers she'd not seen before buzzed through the sky.
For some reason, YoRHa was out in force, and the machines were reacting. The flight units reacted to the slightest of commotion as they broke formation, carpet bombed an area with laser fire, before resuming a patrol pattern.
"What the fuck is going on?" A2 swore as she swiftly left the massacre behind her. Breaking out into a sprint in the direction of the YoRHa clusterfuck.
Something has YoRHas' knickers in a twist, and she wanted to know what the fuck it was.
And if it kept causing her problems then she was going to fucking kill it.
/_\
The operations center was alight with activity, with the operators working overtime to coordinate all the field agents currently stationed on the planet.
Which was basically all of them right now.
It was all hands on deck, and it likely would be for the coming times ahead. Despite how busy the center was there were still whispers between the operators, all talking about the lone human discovered on earth.
No doubt gossiping, spreading information and rumors between each other. A rumor had formed that the lone human, who was confirmed to be male, had requested his guards mainly be of the female kind.
One which the Commander knew for a fact was false.
"I will need to nip that in the bud at some point," White thought to herself as her operatives went about their work. "Romans' reputation needs to remain clean and positive, something that can be admired and inspire the androids to continue fighting for." Even if the rumor had some people interested in the idea.
It might be manipulative but that wasn't new to the Commander. Roman, as much as he was a savior in her eyes, was also a propaganda device. Never before had White seen the androids, YoRHa, resistance, or otherwise so motivated. They had truly come alive like she had never seen before.
"No matter what happens, he must be protected." The Commander thought to herself, "And so must every other human that follows him." Her clenched into fists. White knew that the loss of any human would be a devastating blow to morale for the androids.
Humanity returning proved to be a doubled edge sword, on one hand the androids were more willing and able than ever before but on the other failure was no longer an option.
As far as everyone else knew, some humans from the moon base would be joining Roman in the coming days. It was up to YoRHa to provide all necessary support to their masters.
The reminder of more humans coming to earth reminded her that she would have to speak to the council at some point, just for show of course but such an announcement would surely be made after such a revelation.
But that raised a problem.
"For what reason did the council decide not to inform YoRHa they were sending a human to the surface?" White thought to herself. "No sane reason, of course." She huffed in mild annoyance.
It was problematic, everything would have gone a lot smoother if White could have planned this in advance but she was not given such a boon. She would have to get creative with this one.
White would have to think on the matter and plan out what kind of announcement the Council would make in response to a human on the surface. Whatever she decided to have the Council say she would have to do it soon and make it believable. Use this chance to dispel any rumors and doubts YoRHa and the androids might have.
"Glory to Mankind."
/_\
The facility was silent, nigh a sound could be heard throughout the long empty halls. It was chilling, eerie, but a familiar sight. A lone figure wandered down the halls at a leisurely pace.
It had been so long since they'd last walked these halls, and since then nothing had changed. It was as it had always been, undisturbed and clean. Just how it was meant to be.
The figure continued to mozzy on toward their destination at a calm pace.
Wandering the halls always brought back memories of a different time, a better time most would say. Whilst the figure agreed with the sentiment, they also knew that a much brighter future lay ahead of them.
If only they had the strength to reach out and grasp it, to hold it, and make it work.
The figure arrived at a security door, moving to stand before the center of the door. A light flickered from the top of the door, moving down and back up their body as if examining them from head to toe.
The light cut out the moment it finished its cycle, a second passed before the door hissed as it began to draw open. A small gust of cold escaped through the crack in the door before dissipating. The figure didn't dally and instead swiftly entered the room.
The room was a familiar sight, one seen many a time over the years. A commander center housing a massive screen opposite the entrance that went from floor to ceiling. On one side stretched housings holding computing servers. In the center of the room stood a raised platform surrounded by computers.
The figure bypassed all that and went straight to a lone console by the servers. The figure placed their hand on a scanner beside the console before it came to life. They swiftly went to work typing in various lines of code and passwords, navigating through the system before coming to a program labeled Overlord.
Once open, it immediately displayed an input screen awaiting certain key phrases.
Two words were inputted.
Protocol Seer.
The console instantly whirled to life, going to work following the procedure from the command, the computer working itself step-by-step through the protocol given to it.
The figure gazed at the display monitor, watching as it went about working through the protocol as it intended. With little else to do, with their assignment complete, the lone figure turned to leave. Slowly waltzing out of the room content to let everything run as they knew it would.
Only time would tell if the future was within their grasp.
C4: End.
Another long wait for another chapter, a short one too. Sorry. That's just how I work the majority of the time. Chapters will always take time regardless of length unfortunately, this one just took longer because I couldn't really do any writing over the month of February. Had too much shite to deal with.
Anyway, hopefully soon (inside the story) we'll be getting to the real meat of the story. I'm going to skip and jump through the introduction of other humans once Roman picks the location of their base. Once he chooses it I plan to skip to the "set-up" of the case, jumping through how things are run between humans and androids, before getting on with the story proper. For both Roman and Amora, as well as key android and machine characters.
Roman has his mission to do after all. He's gonna have to sneak away from YoRHa first though, who do you think he'll run into when he's on his own? The good, the bad, and the ugly of the world of course! lol
Review Response(s):
Arclight001: N2 will be in the story (spoiler, lol), and they're planning to do both of what you mentioned and more. Specifically, though they will be keeping an eye on Roman for… reasons that will become clear later. No brainer that Roman is central to pretty much everything given he's the MC.
Windruid (Guest): There is a reason, but I don't think everyone will enjoy it. It's one of those "exists because the story requires it to" kind of things. It doesn't exist in Nier, I completely made up the main reason. Sorry if that disappoints people but it creates situations for the story. That's how fanfiction works, some may call bullshit but it's what I gotta do.
Shadow (Guest): I'm looking forward to Devola and Popola interacting with Roman too, and their interactions with other humans. And yes, she's here, A2 will also be appearing in the story quite frequently. She truly is best girl. The G.O.A.T. She has her part to play given she's independent from YoRHa which will be key later on. Baddest bitch this side of Nier Automata, fuck yes.
I hope people enjoyed the chapter!
Talk again in the future. Until then, good luck!
AlcatrazDGold - Peace!