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Chapter 11: Betrayal and Blades
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It had been a few weeks since the FPS had been brought online, and the people in Emil's mansion had settled into a routine. Aside from Jaqueline, who had to return to various Resistance bases at intervals, everyone spent most of their time around the house.
Emil cleaned and fixed what he could with magic, Sebastian tended to Chompy, 9S and Hatchet worked on repairing the house and various pieces of tech, 2B surprisingly learned to cook, and A2 was the full time mother of Alexander.
Said baby was getting into a lot more mischief recently, now that his magic was starting to awaken.
That meant chasing after the flying infant and putting out the fires he made whenever he sneezed.
There were also the hilarious moments when Jaqueline crossed paths with Hatchet. The two would stammer stupidly, recalling the accusations Sebastian had made regarding their feelings, and then the pair would flee in opposite directions, unable to communicate without their faces overheating.
Whenever this happened, Sebastian gleefully rubbed his hands together. Soon, his plan to get his father hitched and to obtain a mother would be complete!
All in all, the days within the house and the eccentric family were nice. Pleasant, really.
But at the moment, 2B was growing frustrated with the person invading her kitchen.
"Is there perhaps something on my face?" 2B asked, annoyed. Seated at a table nearby, Jaqueline shook her head.
"Nah, just wanted to get a good look at you."
"Why?" the combat android demanded.
"Just 'cause," the crazy Resistance gynoid replied. She pursed her lips. "You know, you and 9S just don't look like you're part of YoRHa's top three Most Wanted."
2B froze, and slowly turned to Jaqueline. "What?" she hissed.
"Yeah, just found out a little bit ago when I stopped by the Resistance base in the city to report to Anemone on the refinery," the scientist explained. She then frowned. "Seems like you two really pissed off Whitey. You both are now tied for first place with A2 as YoRHa's most wanted. Complete with matching bounty!"
"I can understand why 9S might get slapped with a blacklisting, he did reveal the truth to everyone, but why me? I did nothing against YoRHa!" the white-haired gynoid cried, hurt and betrayed.
"Well, let's see," Jaqueline mused, pulling out two slips of paper. 2B recognized them as Wanted Posters. And they had her and 9S's faces and ident codes on them.
"Ah! It says you are guilty of aiding a wanted fugitive by providing restricted tech and classified YoRHa data," the drug lord mused.
"All I did was give POD 42 to A2!" 2B protested, causing Jaqueline to shake her head sadly.
"And she's number one on the hitlist for a lot of reasons. Some trumped up, others completely reasonable. And I'm not just saying that because I'm still bitter about the name change!"
Jaqueline then shrugged. "Though, let's be honest, here: White was probably looking for any excuse to punish you and your boytoy for running away and questioning orders. Not to mention, you two were smack dab in the middle of all the events that led to the reveal of the truth. They just slapped the easiest crimes she could onto you as payback for that, no doubt."
A look of horror crossed 2B's face, and she felt the servos in her knees fail, and her legs become weak.
"You're a liability to them, 2B. Or should I say, 2E?" Jaqueline said, leaning forward slightly. "You're a dirty little secret, and I know White. She hates dirty things."
She stood up from the table and walked off. "See, ya, 2B. And for what's it's worth, I am sorry."
2B stared at where the Resistance android had been for a long time. After a moment, she felt something wet on her cheeks.
Hands shaking, she reached up and touched the tears that streamed down her face.
Unable to hold it in any longer, 2B collapsed to her knees, bawling her heart out. It hurt so much. The betrayal… being cast aside…
She continued to cry even when 9S rushed in to her side, demanding to know what was wrong.
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"What should we do?" Hatchet asked, looking over the group. A solemn silence had fell upon the house and its members. Even Alexander had sense the mood and had not laughed once the entire day.
A meeting had had to be called to address this issue, and the entire household had shown up. Even Jaqueline, normally aloof from matters in the mansion, had attended.
"Going anywhere to get supplies is going to be much, much harder," 9S noted, arms still wrapped comfortingly around 2B. "We can still make it to Pascal's village for trade undetected, as we won't have to cross any major android travel lanes, Resistance or otherwise. But everything else will have to be obtained by Hatchet, Sebastian, Emil, and Jaqueline."
"I could just go to the Bunker and destroy it," A2 suggested, materializing a Faith model katana in one hand. "No more problem then!"
"NO!" 2B shouted, standing up.
"No," she said, softer, but no less firm. "We can't do that."
"They just black-listed you two. It matters not to me, I'm used to it, but I can tell you're both broken up over this matter. So, why not let me get some revenge?"
"Because YoRHa still serves a purpose, and destroying it will lead the world to destruction," 2B said, wiping tears from her eyes. "How many Feral and Rogue Machines are still out there? How many factories the world over still pop out our ancient enemy? Too many to count. And with the Bunker now resting in the ocean, the production line for us androids, Resistance and YoRHa alike, is severely limited. All the major production centers for us were on the moon. Supplies can still be sent and received, but without the Bunker to act as a half-way point, most of the items we used to be able to get will be unable to be sent to Earth."
"Damn it, of course!" 9S cried, slapping his forehead. "The Moon Base can still send big, uncomplicated things like replacement parts, tools, and weapons, because it can shoot the containers and have the contents survive atmospheric entry with little damage, but delicate things like Chips, Nano-Meds, and Black Boxes will be nigh impossible!"
"Not sure how this relates to me not wiping out the Bunker," A2 commented. Still, she dismissed her blade all the same. The Faith model katana had been a gift from 2B and 9S after they'd learned she missed her old custom sword. They still had theirs, so they offered her up one of the blades in their collection. A sweet gesture that had earned the two androids a servo crushing hug.
"It matters, because YoRHa is still operating. It still sends YoRHa androids to clear out machines and to acquire data and materials for the planet side factories. It continues to do what it can to rebuild the world, despite the loss of all humanity, save Alexander," 2B claimed.
"And if the Bunker, YoRHa's nerve center, is taken down, who will tell the androids what to do? Most will just bugger off, and not bother to defend settlements and facilities when they come under attack from the Machines," 9S continued. "Unless they take them over and rule over these vital points, in which case we devolve into a feudal society ruled by combat type androids lording over non-combat androids while they squat on the crumbling remains of our technology."
"Exactly. As much as it hurt to be tossed aside, YoRHa is last bastion for civilization. Even the Resistance camps will fall under the sway of barbarism if no one is there to protect them," 2B stated.
A long silence filled the air.
"Yeah, sounds about right," Emil said, adding his opinion. "Throughout history, the strong always take control when a society collapses. It's only when a new society rises and has time to establish itself does the concept of law and order based on morality, rather than might makes right, come into play. I've seen it happen, myself."
"I agree with 2B and 9S's assessment," Hatchet commented. "YoRHa might be bullies, but they perform the vital service of keeping us all unified. Best not to tempt fate right now. All in favor of staying as far from YoRHa as possible to avoid having A2 go on a murderous rampage?"
"Aye!" a chorus of voices called out.
"Eye!" Alexander cried out. "Eye!"
"The 'ayes' have it. Now, I think it's time for dinner. Does that sound good, Alex?" Hatchet asked the cute little infant.
"Swor! Wan swor!" Alexander declared, waving his pudgy arms at A2.
"No, swords are not for babies," his surrogate mother declared. Alexander's face scrunched up, and he looked like he was about to cry.
"SWOR!" he hollered. There was a bright flash and a hiss of dematerialization, and suddenly A2's Faith sword appeared in the air a few centimeters above Alexander. It landed in his lap, thankfully without cutting him, and everyone stared at the blade and the baby.
"Swor!" Alexander cried in victory! He'd done it! He'd beaten mama! Now he had swor of his own!
"What the heck? Why does he have one of our swords?" 9S asked, incredulously. He then turned to POD 153. "POD 153! Did you give Alexander that weapon?"
"Negative," the POD replied. Somehow, her monotone was laced with genuine surprise. "This Unit did not relinquish User 9S's sword from Compression Storage into the vicinity of Last Human Alexander. Please Wait: Checking Inventory Data…"
There was a moment of silence as the androids carefully kept their eyes on the baby. A2 gingerly took the sword from Alexander's grasp, but kept it close by in case he used his burgeoning magic to summon it again.
"Alert: This Unit has checked Inventory Data. It appears that 23.116 seconds ago, an Error was registered when an unknown magical matrix/spell went off and interfered with the Compression Storage System. Possible Cause: the innate magic of Alexander is stronger than the defensive magical matrixes this Unit possesses," POD 153 droned out. "Recommendation: Upgrade my magical defenses to prevent further theft, or teach Last Human Alexander that stealing is bad."
No one said anything. How could they? They'd just witness a one-year-old baby 'hack' into a POD and steal a weapon from it using magic!
"Emil, any suggestions?" A2 inquired.
"Um, I know some anti-theft spells," the skull-bot-boy said weakly. "Should protect 153 from being the target of magic theft."
"Is there anyway you can start training him to control his powers?" 2B asked. Her sorrow over being thrown out of YoRHa was momentarily overshadowed by this revelation.
"He's too young. I can try and limit the damages he might cause by magic-proofing the house, but until he can walk and talk on his own, there's no chance I can teach Alexander," Emil claimed.
"In that case, we must be extra vigilant," A2 declared. "Stay on your toes for both YoRHa interference and magical shenanigans."
She grabbed the Faith sword and returned it back to POD 153's inventory. Alexander whined a bit but was quickly comforted by Sebastian, who gave him a random stick from outside to play with.
Alexander accepted this trade. Stick look like swor, so it must be swor! And hadn't he seen Uba 2B beating up one of those clanky toys with a bigger wooden stick like it'd been a swor one time?
The baby nodded happily. Yes, this was definitely a good trade.