CHAPTER 8

The two androids fell into a familiar rhythm as they dashed across the city ruins and into the commercial district. As they traversed the wooden bridge, 2B half-faltered as she was struck with a sense of deja vu.

It was here. They'd been in this exact location, the moment the Tower had appeared a day ago. Was it only yesterday? It felt longer. A sense of unease crawled along her skin, and she forcibly shook away the thought.

It wasn't important. She knew that logically, there wasn't anything special about this location. So it didn't matter.

They made quick work of the machines in front of the building - large and tough, but stupid. 9S disabled a few with his hacking, and 2B sliced through the remainder. She felt her body loosening up as she cut another machine in half, taking comfort in the practiced movements. By the time they'd dispatched all the enemies, 2B's core was humming and pleasantly warm from the exercise.

As they entered the building, 9S looked around appreciatively. She followed his gaze to the worn-down walls, but couldn't see anything noteworthy. It looked largely the same as the other ruins outside.

9S looked at her eagerly, "2B do you know what this is?" 2B shook her head. She didn't know. "It's a shopping mall! Human's would come here to buy goods. But not just that, it also had significant social implications as a gathering area, and was often used for recreation…"

2B nodded along as he went into a long explanation of the nuances of shopping in human culture. She offered commentary and retorts in the appropriate places as 9S continued talking about food courts, and arcades, and dates.

She closed her eyes and tried to picture it from 9S's description: Human's walking about in great numbers. Rows and rows of shirts in different styles and colors. The smell of cheap and delicious food.

… No good. She couldn't picture it at all. She simply lacked the data to render such a model.

"Don't you think, 2B? … 2B?" 9S was looking at her now.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, I… nevermind. I've gotten us really off-topic, huh? We should probably keep going."

2B watched 9S for a moment longer, as he played with his hands self-consciously. She felt like she said something wrong, somehow, but she's not sure what.

"Right," she agreed.

After a brief pause, 9S piped up again, "It's interesting that we haven't been attacked here. This complex seems like prime territory for machines to gather."

2B looked around. "It seems like there was a scuffle before we got here. And see? There was some kind of explosion over there." She pointed to an area at the far corner of the complex, which was covered by a rusty metal gate. A large hole was blown through the gate, leaving more than enough room for a humanoid to pass through.

"Huh. Do you suppose it was the Twins?" 9S offered.

"Maybe," she hedged. "It's likely that they came this way, at least."

"Hm." 9S looked thoughtfully at the wreckage as they walked through the destroyed gate. "Were they combat models?"

"Not that I heard. But you aren't a combat model either, and you can hold your own." She offered 9S a slight smile. He appeared surprised for a moment, and then hastily looked away.

… Did she offend him somehow? She meant it as a compliment.

Neither spoke for a while, and she quickly put it out of her mind. They proceeded in silence towards the lush, open forest.

"Who the hell is the 'Forest King'?" 9S asked rhetorically as another wave of machines descended.

"Focus," chided 2B as 9S only barely dodged a slash aimed at his torso.

They had barely set foot into the main forested area before a wave of sword-wielding machines descended on their position. The machines here were considerably tougher than the ones in the city ruins, and much better coordinated. 2B had her hands full with deflecting and dodging the incoming attacks.

She saw an opening and directed a stab at a nearby soldier. It crumbled instantly. She then had to hastily dodge as three of its comrades used the opportunity to slash at her. She retaliated by moving behind one of them and bisecting its torso. In this fashion, she managed to whittle their numbers down little by little.

Belatedly, she realized that she'd gotten separated from 9S in all the hubbub. Just as she was thinking this, she heard a machine scream from the other side of the battlefield. She smirked - that would be 9S, then. Finishing off the last few remnants around her was easy, since their formation had completely fallen apart.

Moving to where she had heard the cry, she found 9S was still locked in combat with several medium-sized machines. She frowned as she took in his appearance. He looked beaten up.

She watched as 9S threw his large sword into one of the machines, completely obliterating its core. As he moved to pull the sword back out, another machine was closing in on him, blade swinging.

Without pausing to think, she put a burst of strength into her legs. In a single leap, she instantly closed the gap, got between 9S and the attacker, and brought her sword up to catch the blow. Behind her, 9S had successfully extracted his blade. He struck down another machine at the same time that she sliced through the one before her.

Both machines fell, leaving only the two androids still standing amidst a field of metal debris. Carefully, when she'd confirmed that there were no other apparent threats, she replaced her sword to its sheathed position at her back. Beside her, 9S did the same.

She turned to face him. Outside of the battle, she could confirm what she'd seen earlier. 9S, still breathing heavily, was bleeding out of several shallow gashes. "You're hurt."

9S blinked in surprise, and looked down at himself. "Oh, yeah, I guess? It's nothing, really. It'll heal in a bit."

2B frowned. "You should have been able to dodge that last attack. You were being careless," she admonished. "If you're not safe to fight, you need to tell me."

"I'm fine, 2B. Really. Not everyone can be a battle model like you. I can hold my own, like you said." 9S offered a smile, but it seemed a bit stiff.

2B looked at him a bit longer, before nodding her head slightly. "Okay. If you say so. Just be more careful next time."

9S didn't have a chance to respond before a mechanical voice rang out.

"Intruders detected!"

Instantly, 2B and 9S were on guard again, back to back with weapons drawn.

"We must protect our king!"

"Protect our king!"

"They just don't stop, do they?" 9S observed with a slight huff of laughter. "Absolutely no self-preservation instinct."

2B declined to answer as she focused on cutting down the machines descending upon them. The enemy's number didn't seem to decrease at all, as new machines emerged from behind to fill in any gaps.

"Loyal knights! Give your lives for the king of our forest!"

"For the king of our f-forest."

"Give-give-give your lives."

"2B… these ones are talking weirdly," 9S observed with a tinge of anxiety.

2B replied, a bit out of breath, "Just ignore it." She slashed through the horde of machines again, felling two machines with one blow.

"Don't let - intruders - get in."

"The e-enemy is a-a-a-mong us."

"The enemy is among- among- among among among..."

There was a loud screech of metal gears grinding, and the machines seemed to seize mid-movement. Where before there was a veritable din of metal swords and armor, it was now eerily silent.

9S noticed it first. "2B, their eyes."

Shuddering through the machines like a wave, from one side of the horde to the other, each machine's eyes flashed a bright, familiar shade of red.

The two androids watched in shocked horror as the machine's eyes flashed red, then reverted, only to flash red again. Blinking on and off like a pulse, each machine's rhythm out of sync with its neighbors. It looked like a low-budget light show, or a visualization of an encoded data packet.

"We must protect - protect our -"

"The enemy is among us."

"Aim for… a-androids..."

The machine's were all talking over each other, words stilted, with none of the coordinated unity they'd displayed before.

2B looked around uneasily, searching for nowhere the next attack would come from. "9S, what's going on?" she asked her Scanner.

Hearing no response, she risked a glance behind her. 9S was facing away from her, limbs loose at his side. He looked… vulnerable.

"9S? 9S!"

Still no response. She looked around, and saw that the machines still weren't attacking. In a split second, she made a decision.

"We're retreating," she declared. In a smooth movement, faster than the machines could react, she twisted on her heel, ran past 9S, grabbed his hand, and kept running. Thankfully, 9S ran behind her, his feet stumbling under him. She wouldn't have to carry him.

When they'd run for what 2B considered to be a safe distance, she turned around to face her companion. His gaze appeared unfocused, and he still hadn't made a peep. 'Unresponsive', her mind supplied.

Tearing her gaze away, she instead inspected their surroundings for a good location to regroup. There. A clearing, not too far from their position. The open space would be difficult to ambush, so she'd have time to react if a new threat appeared.

She gave another tug on 9S's arm to get them moving again, but was mildly surprised to feel resistance.

"What?" came a confused but familiar voice. "Where'd the machines go…?"

She snapped her gaze back so quickly it almost hurt. "9S!"

9S looked back at her, expressive and present. She released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Ignoring his query for the moment, she leaned in and snapped her fingers in front of his face. Good. His eyes were tracking movement.

"Uh... what are you doing?"

From this close, she noticed his skin color seemed slightly off. 2B put a hand on his forehead experimentally.

"You're cold," she reported.

"Is that right? I do feel… kind of off." He looked it, too. 9S was swaying unsteadily, and she didn't trust his feet to hold him.

"Sit," she ordered. She pressed a hand down on his shoulder to emphasize the command.

Still appearing confused, 9S compliantly sat criss-cross on the forest floor. "Um. Do I get to know what happened, now?"

2B grimaced at that. "9S, you were unresponsive," she reported unhappily. "... How much do you remember?"

"I…" he started. Then squinted a bit in concentration, or possibly pain. "There was the machines, and they received some kind of signal, and… then it's kinda fuzzy for a bit."

2B frowned. They're androids, they shouldn't have 'fuzzy' memories. Not unless something goes wrong. "You said you were feeling fine, before. Pod!" she called to her personal droid, "How are his vitals?"

The pod responded back politely, in its usual matter-of-fact tone, "9S has several mild contusions from the previous fight. Auto-repair is activated and has already made a protective seal." In other words, mild scrapes and bruises that were already healing. "There appears to be an unusually high degree of deviation in his main consciousness process, which is affecting older functions, including body temperature regulation." Almost apologetically, the pod added, "I am unable to identify a cause."

9S's pod, which was also reviewing the information, piped up, "Symptoms are consistent with the human diagnosis of 'shock', which could occur following a traumatic event."

2B looked at the femine-voiced pod dubiously. She wasn't sure how much a human diagnosis helped here. Certainly, they were built around a humanoid design, with similar emotional and hormonal functions, but androids weren't as vulnerable to diseases as humans. That's why they had survived, when humans… didn't.

9S seemed to agree. "I'm not in shock," he protested. "It was… that was clearly a malicious attack of some sort! Pod, rerun the diagnostics and virus checkers. Do redundant scans and compare them for any irregularities." His pod beeped in affirmation, and 9S relaxed a tad as he could feel the scans kicking off.

2B stood over him, looking on worriedly. She chewed her lip, and seemed to be wrestling with something mentally. Eventually, she seemed to come to a resolution. Her usual determination returned to her posture, and settled onto her shoulders like a mantle.

She looked away, towards the castle-like building in the distance. "We need to find the Twins. They'll be able to run a proper diagnostic." She returned her gaze to 9B, who was still sitting on the ground, and said firmly, "You need to fall back for now. I can fight better if I'm certain you're not in danger."

"... Right. No problem," 9S agreed with a weak smile.

For a moment it seemed like 2B had something else to say. But she held her piece, and silently turned to follow the trail they'd been on. 9S, as always, was right behind her, although he kept a larger distance as per her request.

2B stopped short and called back to him, "You're more vulnerable to ambush back there. When we're not in combat, I need you to stay by my side."

"Yes!" he agreed, jogging to close the distance between them. This time, the smile on his face didn't seem forced at all.

Ending H: It's Just in Your [H]ead

# A/N: And I'm back! This chapter did not want to be written. I had the general locations and encounters outlined, but nothing beyond that. For all the trouble I had getting started, I'm real happy with how it came together?

Updates will continue weekly going forward, as I'm able. Stay tuned~

As usual, comments are welcome and awesome-sauce. :D