"if you could choose between being frozen by the cold heart of a woman, or shake at the sight of a beautiful lady, which would you choose?'
the words his mother had told him played on repeat inside Ika's head, 6Q was, by all meanings of the word, a woman, but her mannerisms outside of battle almost made her seem like a lady. She was both. So how was he to choose between two lesser evils?
6Q's stride was slow and threatening, she walked as though she meant to kick the ground inside out, Ika usually always found himself far behind her, like a sidekick to a hero. But this time was different, 6Q was far more attentive and focused than she had ever been, the shine in her eyes was replaced by a dull, inexpressive stare. The road up to the top wasn't a pretty one either, there was no grass, no animals, no color, only ash and lots of rocks. Upon arriving at the edge of the crater, Ika's instincts drove him to assess the threat before him, and see just how deep the abyss before him really was.
"h...hey, 6Q, do we really need to do this?"
Ika's left eyebrow began to twitch as he stared at the bottomless pit before him. 6Q was kneeling on one knee at the edge of the crater, staring down with an inhuman amount of concentration.
"yes, we do, and we will. The contract clearly states that the creature bothering the citizens of Emeriya is right here, in this very location. Pod, scan 500 meters below us for signs of life, prioritize life forms exceeding 47 feet in length"
6Q responded in a commanding voice. She then extended her right arm which brandished a metallic looking, dark gray, bracelet-like piece of equipment. The bracelet hummed quietly before projecting a fully 3-D map of the ruins around them.
[understood. Order received: processing...scanning complete. No life signs matching given parameters were found. Commencing visual search]
Pod began to float around Ika and 6Q in a circular manner, like a pendulum circling around a magnet.
Ika and 6Q proceeded with their search, passing through hollowed out caves, searching and inspecting littered cadavers of past deleters. The crater was not a very traversable place, unlike 6Q, Ika was susceptible to discomfort and limb damage. The ground around the traversable areas of the crater was filled with jagged rocks, with edges sharper than any dagger Ika had ever seen, his arms began to shake as if they were the most powerful of earthquakes every time he thought he saw a creature in his peripheral vision. It didn't help that the place stunk of Sulphur and death, Ika almost wished he could take a bath in manure to cover the scent of the damned hole in the ground.
"why do you...want to make me an eraser like you? I always drag you back during combat, you have to watch out for the both of us 90 percent of the time, doesn't that tire you out?"
Ika's face was painted with fatigue, his forehead was drenched in sweat, his mouth was dry, and his legs were beginning to ache, making his movements ever so slower. As he finished speaking he noticed 6Q turn around with an awkward smile, holding her Pod in her hand, machine guns at the ready.
"did I just hear a certain someone refer to themselves as useless? What a pity that would be, I absolutely hate gunning down people for no reason." She fired a warning shot which made the bullet fly right by his ear.
The wind suddenly picked up, waking up Ika from his daydream of past adventures. He was now in a train headed for the biggest city in the region of Amalia: Yhando, the trading city was home to the Deleter's Union office, which was the post that 6Q was assigned to. The walls were made of fabricated titanium, and larger than any skyscraper he had ever seen. The rooftops of a few of the larger buildings in the downtown area were visible from the outside of the city, especially around the railways. The area shifted back and forth from living complexes to farms back to living complexes, with the occasional small market. Despite all this; Ika's attention was entirely on his silent companion. Her neck was visible through a break in the folds of the fabric of the hood she had on. Her porcelain-like skin was shinning against the early morning's sun, her reflection in the train's window showed her blindfold slowly starting to fall, showing her somewhat long eyelashes. 6Q's lips always seemed shiny, almost too glossy at times, even now, her lips perfectly reflected the sun's rays. With a sudden turn, the train made 6Q awake from her slumber.
"you don't have to stare at me, you know? There's other things to look at, for example; I'm sure that the waitress going from cart to cart caught your eye at least once, or maybe you want to look at the cows, there's more scenery around here than me."
Ika could tell that something was bothering her, 6Q had a bad habit of quivering her upper lip whenever she was in discomfort or pain. They had not been in any combat in at least 4 days so there was no way that her wounds were physical. He recalled to when they first entered the train at the station roughly 4 hours ago, 6Q was wearing her usual monotone colored, gray, hooded robe. Parts of her synthetic skin was falling off, she had done her best to attempt to patch them up, Pod tried to help as well, but there was only so much that pod could do.
6Q had always been shy about her appearance, she understood the concept of aging, knowing very well that she would never age. She was over 100 years old, but she still physically looked like she was in her 20's, a fact which caused many frowns in their travels together. His thoughts were interrupted when Pod quietly spoke in his usual, extremely monotone voice.
[time estimated until arrival to Yhando: 300 minutes, 22 seconds.]
"thanks pod. Anyway, what's your fascination with me? After I scared you back the forest a couple weeks ago you stuck with me, you never said goodbye to your parents, you never went to get anything from your house, no food, no water, no clothes, I had to buy you clothes at the trading post in Fyrion, which you still have to pay me back for by the way."
6Q removed her hood and turned towards Ika, letting her long ashen hair flow freely, her blindfold was still covering her eyes, she absolutely loathed to take it off when she was around other people. Much like Ika himself who always tied the sleeve on the place where his missing arm would be. Ika sighed and let his body fall back into the train's chair.
"you're...kind of like me, you get self-conscious about the smallest things. in the morning before heading out, you always make sure that the hood of your robe is clean. you hate it when you have to take off your blindfold. You detest having to show emotion. And you don't like having to tell people you care about them. You want them to know based on your actions."
6Q's face reddened at the realization that someone had been paying that much attention to her. This shouldn't be a surprise, she had been accompanied by many other men and women in the past since her activation. So why did it feel so different this time? The Heads-Up-Display inside her blindfold showed readings on her internals that she had never seen before. Her core was unstable and pulsating at an unusual rate.
So why now, why now of all times did she feel like the wall she had built up was now falling at her feet. Her core vibrating at such a speed that she felt her body pulsate along with his words. Her upper lip was now back at its rightful place, and no longer quivered.
[abnormal readings detected, proposal: begin backup checks immedie-]
Pod was suddenly interrupted by 6Q's demonic stare, which made him float slowly down to her lap and turn himself off. Ika smiled at the visage, a floating box and an android which was more human than robot. Pod had been the only companion to 6Q during the times she was alone. What had she gone through in the past? Hopefully her sadness was now over, now that he was there for her.