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A2 stared at the metallic doors before her, their size and frame baring a dull resemblance to the countless others she had seen before during her time on earth. Tall, wide, and wholly unremarkable, though obviously well built due to their complete lack of wear and tear over the many centuries. A typical elevator door.
Yet something about these elevator doors seemed different, like they were calling out to her somehow. It was a feeling she had never experienced before. The only thing she could compare this strange sensation to was from the various tales she heard during her time at YoRHa. Something humans called a 'Pull'.
Nestled in a small outcropping of boulders, the entrance had been obscured by overgrown vines and shaded by the densely wooded forest. Which was apparently a kingdom of some sort, if she were to believe what the raving machines that were roaming the area have been yelling, moments before she ran her sword through them.
That she had even managed to spot it seemed to be serendipitous. All these events were greatly baffling to the Type A YoRHa Unit who had lived most of her life in a world of reason. That this one elevator door could create such confusing thoughts was most peculiar.
Despite her better judgment, the silver-haired android began prying open the heavy-set doors with her makeshift sword. The blade slid roughly between the metal doors with a grating shriek. A2 grit her teeth with exertion as she slowly began forcing the hunks of metal apart.
With a great deal of effort, the combat model android managed to break the doors open, the sour smell of stale air drifted out of the newly unlocked elevator causing the YoRHa unit to wrinkle her nose in disgust. A2 lifted her sword closer to her eyes to inspect it for any damage, the crude weaponry not being in the best condition to begin with.
"This isn't going to last for much longer," A2 growled in frustration while holstering the weapon, "I'm going to have to find something better soon."
Peering into the dark shadows of the elevator shaft A2 noted the complete lack of the actual elevator car itself, a thick torn cable dangling in front of her face gave her a good idea of what happened to it though. This was going to complicate matters a bit.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." A2 spat with great contempt, her beautiful features drawn into a nasty sneer. Yet despite her obvious displeasure at the situation, the indignant android grabbed a firm hold of the dangling cable, wrapped it securely around her waist, and dropped into the shadowy depths below.
Getting a firm footing on the wall, the cable still firmly grasped in her hand, A2 began rappelling down the elevator shaft with surprising speed. The trained combat android managed to deftly and with sure footing navigate her way downward. Despite her rapid descent and dexterous maneuvers, the elevator shaft seemed to be never-ending.
A2 once again wondered why she was doing this, the sound of her heels bouncing off the wall reverberating around her like the thoughts in her head.
What possible reason did she have for doing this? What was compelling her so? Had her programming finally failed her after all these years? Or had she become what the humans described as 'crazy'?
Despite all these thoughts telling her to give up on his foolhardy quest, the rogue android continued her speedy descent into the unknown.
After almost 15 minutes of non-stop climbing, 13 minutes 37 seconds exactly by A2's count, she had finally managed to make it to the end where she found the crumpled remains of the elevator car resting at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
Finding a fairly safe spot A2 released her grip on the cable, unfastened it from her waist, and dropped onto the roof of the car, her heels clacking loudly against the metal remains. The already stressed metal gave a groan of protest from the, not unsubstantial, added weight of her android body.
"Guess time took its toll on this." A2 remarked casually as she jumped down the open maintenance hatch on the roof of the car, the impact of it hitting the ground must have busted all the doors wide open. Cautiously stepping through the crumpled heap of the car's interior, A2 wandered through the smashed open doors and into the vast hall beyond.
Gray-blue eyes widened as they admired the immense cavern she had stepped into, like walking into the past. Signs of age and degradation were clearly evident in the cracked walls and rotting pillars, but much of its ancient splendor still remained. Tall shadows of long-forgotten technology and equipment crawled across the ground and walls, illuminated by bright safety lights that shone across the room. Their power source should have burnt out centuries ago and yet their light shone on.
In her whole life, both from her time in YoRHa and abandoned on earth, A2 had seen many remnants that humanity had left behind. From their tall buildings as if trying to pierce the sky, roadways that seemed to connect the whole world, and humongous parks built for the sole purpose of entertainment and leisure. Androids, and loathe to admit it even machines, had managed to invent technology that far exceeded anything humanity had ever constructed let alone could dream of.
But standing here, surrounded by towers of outdated computers and rudimentary power generators, A2 couldn't help but be in awe. Humans, fragile and fearful, had dug their way through stone and rock to construct a sheltered research facility. For what purpose A2 did not know, but she had to find out. All this hard work had to be for a reason. It might even be why she was so determined to come down here.
The clacks of A2's heels on the floor echoed through the room to the vast ceilings above, the combat android heading, as if in a trance, toward a series of strange metal contraptions situated in the center of the room.
Her piercing eyes noted the makeshift medical station off to the side of the room, concluding this place must have been some kind of research and/or science facility. But toward what goal.
As she neared the first mysterious machine a startled gasp escaped her lips, eyes widening dramatically, at the extraordinary sight before her.
A human was lying inside the glass tube.
"They survived." A2 stood in shock at what she had found, her breaths coming out in ragged bursts as if she had been punched in the stomach by a Goliath class machine. She could feel the painful sting of hot tears welling up in her eyes, a feeling she believed she had lost a long time ago.
"This whole time..this whole time they were here." Maybe her life, the sacrifices and pointless deaths of her fellow YoRHa units, had not been for nothing. Maybe things can be fixed. Maybe everything will be ok.
A2 took unsteady steps toward the cryogenic chamber, desperately searching with trembling hands for a hatch or mechanism to open the door. She had to save them. She had to make life mean something. Something besides anger and vengeance. Something wonderful.
Thick layers of frost had built up on the outside of the glass door, obscuring her vision of the person within. Fumbling across the surface of the chamber, A2 wiped her hand across the glass door to get a better look at the human. A sharp gasp escaped her lips, her hands flying up to her mouth, as she recoiled back in horror.
The human within lay decomposing in the tube, parts of his rotting flesh floating in the murky water. Dark spots of rot covered his whole body, pieces of his skeleton exposed where the skin had completely withered away.
"W-Why?" A2's question came out with a choked sob, her mind barely willing to acknowledge the sight before her. A bright red flashing light above the corpses head displayed the words "SYSTEM FAILURE".
A2's eyes flickered rapidly back and forth from the body in front of her to the other cryogenic chambers, her body moving before she had time to think.
In a panicked frenzy, A2 rushed to the next nearest pod, wiping away the layer of frost on the glass with trembling fingers to check on the occupant within. Another human, a female, lay dead within, her face frozen with a look of abject terror. She must have suffocated when her chambers life support systems failed, her fingers broken and bloody from trying to force the door open.
A2's thoughts were running a mile a minute, a screaming panic echoing in her mind as she hurried from pod to pod. From every pod, to every deceased body within, A2's hope slowly began fading away bit by bit, like a candle's flame in a summers rain. But despite the pain and despair in her core A2 pressed on, displaying her trademark defiance.
Someone had to have survived. There are over twenty pods here someone MUST have survived. The power is still running. Many of the bodies are still fresh. There has to be a survivor!
A2's mind was screaming at her to keep going, to not let this chance slip through her fingers. Humanity couldn't end like this. There has to be a reason why she is here. She didn't want to go back to a life of anger and hatred, to a never-ending battle that cannot be won. To hide and fight. Never to belong anywhere.
And yet every chamber just held more death, more cruel visions of despair and tragedy worse than the last. Healthy men and women, the elderly, even children were not spared the cruel fate of deaths touch. Their faces once full of optimism, their heads filled with dreams of bright future, were now grim visages of death and decay.
Frozen, drowned, suffocated, dissolved, and some even just passed on with a serene smile in their sleep. All kinds of death, from horrific to peaceful, awaited her at every new chamber she approached. She was walking in a subterranean graveyard.
Pod to pod she went until A2 finally came to the last chamber and crumpled onto its hard metallic surface in a wretched heap, her strength slowly evaporating as she lost all hope. She couldn't go on. Getting her hopes up just to have them horribly spat back in her face. To see humans, ones she was programmed to love so dearly, twisted and defiled in so many horrible ways by a bitter twist of fate broke her.
"No," A2 pounded on the glass door in frustration and despair as an anguished scream tore through her throat, "no, no, no, No, No, NO, NO, NOO!"
Why? Why did this have to happen? Why did life give her hope? Why did she have to keep living like this? What was the point of coming here? To see how much they, SHE, had failed humanity?!
A2 hung her head low, her silver hair obscuring her face as the long locks draped across the chamber door. Silent teardrops fell from her gray-blue orbs, clenched tightly shut in sorrow, onto the curved glass and gently rolled down its smooth surface as A2 slowly fell to her knees. There, amidst the lost souls in their glass prisons, a lone android cried for humanity.
A/N: Yay Chapter 1 done. Had to rethink what I wanted to do in this chapter a couple of times but managed to stumble on a good ending on accident. A2 is my favorite character in Automata so I'm excited to write her. I hope everyone enjoys my story and I hope to get the next chapter done as quickly as possible! Constructive criticism is highly appreciated!