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Chapter 19: White as sin
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"Come on! Please?"
"No!"
"Please with a cherry on top?"
"…Are you just saying that, or do you actually have any cherries?"
"Oh-ho! So, the legendary A2 actually likes eating human food? The scandal!"
"Shut up!"
Jaqueline barely had time to dodge the rogue YoRHa gynoid's blade as it flashed past her head.
"Sheesh! I almost lost another eye just now!" the Resistance Android complained.
"Hmph!" A2 scoffed, dismissing her weapon. "If I wanted you dead, you would be."
"Awww, you do care!"
Alex watched the back and forth between his aunt and his mom with interest.
"What's wrong, Auntie Jaqueline?" Alexander inquired, gazing up at her with inquisitive eyes.
"Oh, nothing much," the scientist android said dismissively. "I just wanted some more blood samples to work with."
"You already received your monthly quota! You'll have to wait if you want more!" A2 shot back.
"Why do you want my blood?" Alex asked nervously. Just a few days ago Emil had explained to the boy what Blood Magic was, and he was hesitant to give up his precious life goo now that he knew what could be done with it.
"Nothing bad, I promise," Jaqueline assured him, as well as A2. "I just have this problem I've been working on that needs human blood."
"What sort of problem? Am I sick? Am I gonna die?" Alex gasped. A2 stiffened and her face went white as her hair.
"No! No, no, no! You're not sick!" Jaqueline shouted. She bit her lip, trying to decide how to answer. Eventually, she sighed. "Truth is, I've been trying to decode you DNA for a while now, Alex."
"Why?" A2 inquired suspiciously.
"Two reasons: One, if know more about how humans works, I can adjust my medicine to suit him better. And two, well… A2, have you ever heard of Project Lazarus?"
"Project Lazarus…" A2 muttered to herself. "No, I haven't."
"Well, allow me to explain what it was," Jaqueline declared. She plopped down onto the living room couch. As soon as she sat down Alex crawled into her lap and lay down so his back faced up.
"Really?" she drawled, before chuckling at the puppy dog eyes Alex was giving her.
"Please?" he begged.
"Fine, fine. Gosh, you're too cute," the scientist laughed. She reached down and began to scratch his back. "Heh, you're like a puppy."
A2 watched jealously as her son enjoyed the back rub. She'd tried to give him one herself, but she was too strong and ended up hurting him. Only Jaqueline could give Alex the back scratches and pats that he liked since her hands were more delicate, and she was used to using finer tools.
"Anyways, Project Lazarus was an attempt to clone humanity and bring the species back to life."
"Truly?" A2 asked excitedly, only to pause. "It didn't work, did it?"
"Spot on," Jaqueline said with a sigh. "It failed. Most of the human DNA the androids had on hand was too old and corrupted. There was no way to do revive humanity that way."
"So that's what you're doing? Trying to use Alex's pure, undamaged DNA to rebuild mankind?" A2 asked, partly in awe and partly in disbelief.
Before Jaqueline had a chance to respond someone interrupted them.
"Wait a minute, how do you know that?" 9S demanded from the doorway. He walked in followed by 2B.
"Were you waiting outside the room for a chance to make an entrance?" Jaqueline joked.
"No!" 9S said at the same time 2B replied, "Yes."
"That's not the point! How do you know about Project Lazarus, Jaqueline? I only found out about it through investigating the YoRHa servers and the Bunker's secret files! There's no way a Resistance android could know this!" 9S spluttered.
"Maybe not. But, truth be told, I knew humans were all dead for years, now. Way before you spilled the beans, little guy," the scientist said with a shrug. Silence fell, and everyone stared at her.
"What?" A2 gasped.
"Totes. See, it was back in the late days of the 12th War. I was just a newly built Resistance android. During the Siege of Rome I was assigned to a group of combat engineers, tasked with keeping the artillery functioning."
"How does this…"
"Shush! Auntie is telling a story!" Alex said, hushing 9S's interruption.
"Thank you, Alex! Such a good boy!" Jaqueline praised. "Anyways, while I was there, it was during that time as a grunt I met a certain, fancy lady. She was a brand-new model of android. First of her kind! YoRHa wanted her to have field experience, so it was decided she be sent to oversee what was considered a minor conflict in the war."
Jaqueline sighed. "I remember her like it was yesterday. 1C was a cold, haughty woman even back then."
"1C… you can't mean… Commander White?!" 9S exclaimed.
"So that's how you knew her!" 2B stated. A2 just narrowed her eyes.
"Heh! Yup, way before she was the commander of YoRHa, Whitey was just another android! The Command model were originally designed to help coordinate between YoRHa and the Resistance. They had the combat specs of an B-type, the intelligence of an S-type, and the organizational skills of an O-type. The C-type were supposed to be front-line leaders, commanding forces in person," Jaqueline revealed. "Old 1C broke the mold, though! She was the first and finest of them all! Cold and ruthless, but efficient and able to understand the needs of her soldiers. We all loved her."
"We drove off assault after assault, defending Rome with ease," Jaqueline reminisced. "She was often at the front, cutting down any Machine that breached the walls. When that wasn't happening, she helped load artillery shells into the mortars and cannons, and gave advice on hand-to-hand combat to help us normal androids repel the Machines when they got too close. Without her, we'd have been swamped with a lot more casualties. As it was, Rome was considered by many to be a success!"
"But that's not the case," 9S piped up. "According to combat logs, Rome nearly fell! It suffered 90% attrition and had to be abandoned and retaken in the 13th War! The loss of one of humanity's major religious centers was deemed a critical failure!"
"Yeah, I know," Jaqueline said grimly. "I was there. And I saw what happened."
"What?" 2B asked worriedly.
"It was during a scouting trip," the scientist said with a far off look in her eyes. "I was supposed to mark targets for the next round of bombardment. The Machine camps weren't too hard to find, so I thought it'd be in and out, no problem. Whitey came with me. She wanted to observe the Machines up close. At first, we found only a few small sites. Barely a dozen units in each. Easy targets. But something wasn't right, so we ventured deep behind enemy lines. And there, just out of range of our weapons and sensors, we found it."
"What did you find?" A2 asked.
"An army," Jaqueline spat. "Over a million Machine Lifeforms, all huddled together and deactivated in a series of ruins outside of Rome. No way for us to detect them like that. And they were just waiting there."
"But, we were detected. And suddenly, the whole lot of them woke up! White and I ran like hell. I tried to order a barrage on them, but the damned Machines jammed all my signals."
"It was only when sentries on the walls spotted the tide of metal that they began to fire. Unfortunately, some shells landed too close to me and White for comfort. And a lucky shot smashed over a hole in the ground, dumping us into the sewers of Rome."
"Gross!" Alex gagged.
"Yeah, they were pretty bad," Jaqueline agreed with a snort. "Thankfully the rest of the barrage sealed the hole with rubble, leaving me and White alone. I'd lost my eye thanks to the blast, so she had to help me along. We ventured deeper into the sewers trying to escape when we found something strange."
"Metal. And it wasn't old and rusty, but somewhat new! Below the Vatican was a hidden bunker! We ventured inside and discovered the truth."
"The truth? About humans and their fall?" A2 inquired, leaning in.
"Yes. Maybe it was some sick joke on behalf of the bunker's creator, but it was one of the labs for Project Lazarus. Funny, right? The idea that the clone banks to revive mankind were hidden beneath its greatest source of religious creed?"
Jaqueline sighed. "It was abandoned, but enough data was left that White and I pieced together the truth. About humans, and their extinction."
"What did you do?"
"Me? Nothing," the scientist admitted. "Honestly, I never cared about mankind or their glory. To me, they were distant masters too aloof to show their faces to us, even through video. But, fighting was all I knew. I was mad at the lie, sure, but I couldn't bring myself to care too much. White, though? Finding out her whole life was a lie drove her bonkers for a bit. Hence, why there are no more C-types."
"Huh?" 9S asked, perplexed.
"Let me explain! See, after discovering the bunker, we made our escape from the underground and into Rome. Sadly, our time below had not been good for the defenders of the city. They'd been pushed back and to the brink. The city was going to fall. So, White ordered the retreat and evacuation."
"During this time, she was brought back to the Bunker for debriefing. I tagged along because White wanted me there with her when she confronted the Council of Humanity."
"I thought that was all a ruse?" 2B pointed out.
"Oh, it was! But back then, the Council was secretly a group of androids who were all in on the secret and perpetuated the lie. They made fake broadcasts and announcements for the sake of the war effort. White now knew this. And she wanted answers." Jaqueline then shuddered.
"It was… brutal. She barged into their secret conference room, confronted them with the truth, and… killed them. All of them. She tore apart the Council of Humanity when they explained why they did it."
"WHAT?!" every android exclaimed. White, the strictest follower of the rules, the paragon of YoRHa, had done something like that?!
"She then purged the C-type production line. None like her would ever be built again. There was no point for more of her to exist, in her opinion. Not when the struggle didn't really matter anymore. And after that, she… modified her own memories," Jaqueline said sadly. "She deleted her actions from her head. To her, all she knew now was getting knocked unconscious by the blast, and that I had rescued her from the city's destruction. She patted me on the back and returned me to Earth while she stayed on the Bunker and took command. In her mind, the Council had passed on control to her after revealing that they were the last humans and were dying, and it was her duty to uphold humanity's memories."
"That's sick," 9S hissed.
"This whole time, she was deluding herself?" 2B asked in disbelief.
"What a hypocrite," A2 snarled.
"Yeah, that was White for ya. Just a crazy lil lady who made herself keep YoRHa alive even though it was a lie," Jaqueline said, laughing darkly.
"What about you?" Alex asked, looking up at his aunt.
"I made my peace with her long ago," she claimed. Alexander gave her an incredulous look before hugging her.
"It's okay. She didn't mean to hurt you."
"She didn't hurt me!" the scientist protested.
"But she did. I can feel it. The hurt… the betrayal… she also
"She was my friend," Jaqueline choked out after a while. "My mentor, my… my lover. I thought she would never betray me. But… but she also… she deleted her memories of us together! She said she had to lead, and couldn't be distracted by foolish emotions!"
"White is the one who outlawed emotions among the YoRHa, you know? She's the one who made it illegal to feel!" Jaqueline wept. "I thought she loved me! Was it all just a mistake in her eyes?! Was I just a mistake?!"
Alex gently held his favorite one-eyed aunt, letting her cry into his shoulder. None of the other androids could say anything. How could they?
It took a few minutes for her emotions to subside, but when they did, she sniffed and put back on her mask.
She wiped her eyes. "No, it doesn't matter anymore. She made her choices, and I've made mine. In fact, why don't I show you all how much this hasn't hurt me!"
"Hey, I heard some shouting. Is everything alright?" Hatchet asked, poking his head into the room. "I ask because I was in the basement and still heard the commotion…"
"You!" Jaqueline shouted, pointing an accusing finger at her fellow Resistance android.
"Me?" Hatchet asked, confused and slightly concerned. His worry only grew when the female scientist stood up from the couch and darted over to him.
Before he could try to flee, though, Hatchet's head was grabbed by Jaqueline, and she pulled the other android close.
"Holy…!" 9S gasped.
"About damn time," A2 muttered. 2B said nothing, simply watching enviously while shooting the shota-bot glances.
"Why are Auntie and Uncle's lips pressing into each other like that?" Alex asked innocently.
"Look away child!" 9S cried, covering the boy's eyes.
"There we go!" Jaqueline said, pulling away after a few minutes of deep kissing. She then walked away with a sway to her hips.
She looked back with a smirk. "Hey, big boy. Want to help me get over a traumatic break up?"
Hatchet watched her leave, blank faced. However, his eyes were glued to her butt.
"Um, I, uh," he stammered. "I have something to take care of!"
He then ran off after the mad scientist. Everyone remained utterly still, shocked and confused into decent imitations of statues.
"What did I miss?" Sebastian asked as he walked in from the back yard, Emil at his heels.
Loud thumping and cries began to emerge from upstairs and the black-haired YoRHa android blinked before fist pumping.
"About damn time it happened!"
"Okay Alex time to play outside!" A2 babbled, picking up the last human and darting towards the door.
"But it's raining!"
"Then you get to play inside! Just not in here!"
As Sebastian gloated over finally getting a mom, 2B shot meaningful glances at 9S. Sadly, her intentions went right over his short head.
"Uh, what's up, 2B?" the dense android inquired. She huffed in annoyance and walked away.
"What was that?" he asked Emil, who shrugged.
"I dunno. Women, man. They're mysterious."