CHAPTER 1

I'm not sure where to begin in telling our story, but it must be told. We must not forget what we learned. What it cost, and the weight of the future that died at our hands.

He deserves that much.

"Say 2B. When do you think you'll be willing to call me Nines?"

9S followed behind 2B as they raced across the rickety bridge on their way to the forest that Pascal had told them about.

"9S works just fine."

"Well…"

Suddenly, the ground started shaking.

"What was that?" cried 2B.

Pod 153 responded. "A sudden spike in energy was detected from the city ruins. This seemed to be the source of the earthquake we just experienced."

9S chewed his lip anxiously. "Do you think it's another machine attack?"

His pod responded. "Negative, no machine lifeforms detected at the epicenter of the event." At this, the pod hesitated, as if it had more to say but wasn't sure how to put it into words. "I do detect one energy signal at that location. But I cannot get a reading on it from this distance."

2B's pod piped up, "Proposal: 2B and 9S could visit the location to obtain more data."

9S locked eyes with 2B through their respective blindfolds. "What do you think, 2B?"

"I don't know. It could be dangerous, and it's unrelated to our mission at present. However… command will likely want to know about an anomaly of this nature. Just… be cautious, 9S. I have a bad feeling about this."

The two androids both dashed back the way they came. The forest ground flew underfoot as they raced towards the city and whatever they would find there.

As they neared the city, the first sight that met their eyes was a giant white tower.

9S looked up, mouth agape. "How… how did this get here? Where did this come from?"

His pod responded helpfully, "Unknown. It's unlikely that a building of this size could be constructed without being noticed. Hypothesis: the tower was constructed elsewhere and transported here."

"But, why?" 9S asked in confusion.

2B, who had been considering the sight in silence, spoke up. "The 'why' doesn't matter. We should treat this as a potential threat, and notify Command immediately. Pod, relay the data from the phenomenon to Command and request further instructions."

"Data transfer already in progress," Pod 042 reported helpfully.

Turning on her heels, 2B announced, "For now, we should return to the Resistance Camp and resupply, so we're ready when our orders come in." And with that, she strutted towards the camp, not looking back to see if 9S would follow.

9S jogged a little to catch up. "Hey, 2B?"

"Yes, 9S?"

"That tower, it's like nothing we've seen before." 9S pursed his lips. "It could be important. Is it really safe to leave it there?"

"It's outside of our orders, 9S. Our obligation is to YoRHa HQ and to the preservation of humanity. We can't act recklessly, or we'll become a liability."

"...Okay, 2B." 9S fell silent, trodding along behind 2B's more graceful footsteps. He offered a long, thoughtful gaze over his shoulder at the tower as it faded into the distance.

9S, as a Scanner, was naturally curious. It was his job to be so, and he was very good at his job. He was the best at his job, actually. So although he followed 2B back to the camp, his mind never left the tower, instead furiously buzzing with thoughts and ideas and questions.

He meant this figuratively of course. His mind was currently very much in his body, although that couldn't be taken as a given. He tended to spend much of his time in hacking space lately, or in the body of various machines, ever since being assigned to 2B. He's gotten more ground experience in the past few weeks than ever before. Normally, as a Scanner, it would be much too dangerous to perform the operations they've been doing. Good Androids have died that way.

2B makes it look easy. She cuts a path through their enemies, distracts them, and dodges their blows as if she's dancing. 9S can almost stand still in the battlefield, trusting that she'll protect him from any threats.

He's never felt safer.

He's never felt more afraid to lose something.

He's shaken out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, we've got orders from Command," 2B announces.

They've hardly gotten any rest - Androids don't need sleep, after all, and they weren't heavily damaged. Returning to camp was more of a formality.

Even so, 9S found himself groggily dragging his thoughts back to reality. "What'd they say?"

"We're to investigate the Tower and gain any information we can. If we find hostiles, we're to eliminate them. All nearby YoRHa units are already stationed on other missions, so we're going in alone."

That wasn't true, really. 9S hadn't gone anywhere alone since being assigned to 2B. That was the point.

Outwardly, he just nodded.

Ending A: Sudden [A]nomoly

# A/N: This story started as an expression of my impotent rage, and developed into something I'm really excited about. I have a good number of chapters already written, and I plan to update weekly going forward. This is a cross-post from ao3, so if you enjoyed, you can read ahead there (under the same title and author name).

If you enjoyed, you can Fav or Follow - or check out the continuation on ao3! Reviews are also very welcome, and I love reading any reactions or speculation you all have! :)