CHAPTER 23
"Why is 9S still alive?"
2B's heart beat faster. She hadn't expected this. She should have expected this.
Why was 9S still alive? Because 2B didn't want to kill him. 2B never wanted to kill 9S. But she did anyway, every time.
So why was he alive this time? What had changed?
"They were trying to kill me."
Nothing had changed. Her mission still bid her to dispose of 9S. In addition to having access to confidential information, he'd been showing signs of mental instability. It was her duty to ensure he was reset before he could do harm to YoRHa's cause.
"If you value your life, don't stay in YoRHa."
Unbidden, Cain's words came to mind. Echoing in her brain like a whisper in her ear. A snake's silver tongued temptations. She must not pay them any mind.
"You don't trust YoRHa any more than I do. You just stand behind them because you have nothing else."
She mustn't let herself feel. She mustn't doubt. She was a soldier. A soldier who was built to follow orders.
(Except she had always felt so, so much.)
Nothing had changed? No. The thing that had changed… was her.
Carefully, her thoughts not yet fully formed, she asked, "What are your plans to combat the information leak?"
The Commander frowned. "That is not necessary for you to know."
Something was building inside her. She didn't know what it was yet. She didn't think she could stop it. "Even if I killed 9S now, the information still in the Tower presents an ongoing threat. Do you know how that information was leaked? Or by who?"
The Commander repeated more harshly, "You do not require that information."
No. She didn't, did she? So she had never asked. She'd let herself fall into the role of the perfect soldier, became so adept at keeping her head down that she hadn't even questioned the necessity of it. But she was questioning it now.
Spine straight, voice firm but diplomatic, she objected, "Why is it necessary to kill 9S at this time? His services as my partner are vital towards stopping the threat this Tower presents. I cannot afford to wait for him to retrain himself."
The Commander's expression tightened, her mouth flattened into a hard line. In a warning tone, she reprimanded, "You overstep yourself, soldier. That is not your call to make."
She should stand down here. She must stand down here, or she risked losing everything she'd worked so hard for all these years. It would be the utmost of foolishness, the kind of reckless act only 9S would do. And yet, maybe he'd rubbed off on her, because she couldn't bring herself to stop.
"What purpose could this possibly serve? At first, I understood it was part of the development process, that we needed to ensure the 9S model was stable. It hurt, but I accepted that the risk of a new model going rogue was too great. But it's been cycles. 9S is more developed and stable than half of the YoRHa units, his performance record has been flawless. Why are we still doing this? When does it stop?" 2B was on her feet now – it was a blatant act of disrespect towards her commanding officer, but she barely registered it.
Something like sympathy flashed through the Commander's eyes, there and gone in an instant, but no such softness leaked into her words as she firmly refuted. "I don't order this because I prefer it, but it is a necessary evil, so that YoRHa can endure."
"You know best of all how much of a rotten fruit that place is, shiny on the outside but on the inside? It's all maggots."
Inside 2B a frightening conclusion was emerging, something forbidden that she mustn't acknowledge or even consider, connections were being made that she couldn't unsee. Before the thought was even fully formed, she heard herself ask, low and dangerous, "Why was it necessary? Was it so that you could use the corpses for experiments?"
The Commander appeared confused. Carefully, she answered, "The development team did conduct post mortem analysis on several of the 9S bodies, to improve the stability of later versions. You knew this already."
"Right, to view and analyze the log before disposal and recycling. But that's not all they did, was it?" 2B accused, voice tight and strangled, "No, they revived the bodies and subjected them to tests. It would have been excruciatingly painful for the android in question, but I suppose that's a small price to pay for the Glory of Mankind." She spat out the mantra like an insult.
Her hand tightened around the familiar grip of her sword. She couldn't recall when she'd summoned it.
The Commander stood to her feet, properly alarmed now. "2B, what are you talking about?"
"Don't try to deny it. I have first-hand information that YoRHa was responsible for the creation of a variant 9S model," informed 2B. Her grip on her sword was so tight she could feel it creak. "Was he meant to be a weapon? How many prototypes did you go through in the process? And how many of the ones that I 'killed' were used as your experiments?"
"2B stop, calm down!" The Commander retreated slowly, her hand groping for something at her side. "You're acting irrational! Lay down your weapon and submit for a full inspection."
2B continued undeterred. She couldn't stop now, she didn't want to stop. The emotions she'd been repressing were welling up and erupting like a fountain. Anger. Grief. Self-loathing. She felt like she would choke on them.
"What the hell was any of it for? I believed I was doing the right thing, the necessary thing to keep him and all of us safe!" 2B raised up her sword, as if drawing a line between her and the Commander. She softened her voice, but her words were no less cutting, "...it turns out that was just as much horseshit as the rest of YoRHa's values. Did you need to win the war that badly? What justification can you possibly offer for resurrecting and experimenting on the YoRHa android which YOU ordered me to KILL?"
There was a noise outside. The thumping of many harried footsteps could be heard in the distance, and it was drawing closer. Still, 2B did not move. Her sword was still held up to the Commander, demanding an answer.
The Commander raised her hands up in a gesture of surrender. In her right hand she held a button - a panic button. She had called for help, and it was already on its way.
The Commander spoke in a carefully neutral tone. "2B, I don't know what you're talking about."
2B's eyes shook, although it was unclear if the expression could be read past the blindfold. "...I wish I could believe that." She lowered her sword and took a step back.
"I'm telling you one more time, 2B. Stand down. If you surrender voluntarily, I promise to minimize the military sanctions which you will face for threatening a superior officer." The footsteps were very close now. The Commander was stalling for time, and 2B's time was almost up.
2B dropped her gaze in an uncharacteristic display of hesitance. "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this went on behind your back. I… don't know if that would be better or worse."
2B took a deep, resolute breath, and looked up at the Commander, "There's something rotten in YoRHa. If you have any integrity, then search out the corruption in your own house."
The doors to the office burst open, and half a dozen heavily armored YoRHa units stormed inside and surrounded the evident threat, guns ready and poised to fire.
In front of this audience, the Commander proclaimed, "Unit 2B, you are under arrest for crimes of treason. Pending a full trial, your rights to cognizance are hereby suspended." She raised a hand into the air and, as a signal, brought it down. On cue, the poised soldiers released a barrage of gunfire.
Amidst this, 2B suddenly felt oddly calm. Her shoulders relaxed slightly. This was it, wasn't it? There was no going back from this. All those years of following orders, of being the perfect soldier, and now she'd botched it all up in a moment of passion.
Now she'd been marked a traitor. No one would trust her again.
No one would trust her with orders again.
She couldn't help the wide smile that crept on her lips.
"I'm sorry, Commander, Operator," she whispered to herself. With a flourish, 2B ripped off her blindfold and threw it into the air. Using the momentary distraction as cover, she switched herself with a Decoy and dashed for the door. The ploy didn't last more than a few seconds, but that's all she needed. Sword in hand, she cut down the androids between her and the door – aiming for the legs, to immobilize but not kill – and slipped through the opening.
Emerging into the hallway, she could see more security squads pouring in. The alarms overhead blared a glaring red. The base came alive as if in response to a full on invasion. She was now vastly outnumbered in the most secure fortress known to android kind. A head-on fight would be suicide, she'd have to stage an escape – but the space-ready vehicles would be heavily secured against theft.
The tendrils of a plan begin to form in her mind. It could work – but it wouldn't be something she could pull off alone. Still smiling, she continued her dash through the Bunker halls.
–
9S was feeling miserable.
First of all, 2B was gone. She'd left after getting a phone call about some secret mission that was apparently above his clearance. And he got it, really – 2B was a higher rank than him, she had a higher clearance level to match. But he wasn't happy about it. But then a few minutes later he got an email saying she'd be gone for who-knows-how long, and that he shouldn't wait up, which was… totally not cool. She could have at least said goodbye in person.
So he'd sulked for a bit. So sue him. He'd done what she said – "keep an eye out for the deserters and attempt to locate them, but do not engage." He opened a channel to scan all major and minor communication frequencies. Some were public, like radio stations, but others were private lines so he had to hack into them with his decryption algorithms, which occupied him for like… ten seconds. Then he set up a regex to check for any relevant keywords that could pertain to the fugitives in question.
If he got lucky, he could spy on their interpersonal messages, but it was more likely that he'd find a rumor that could be a sighting. Of course, it was even more likely that he would find nothing at all.
He set up a script to automate the whole process, so that's just a subroutine running in the back of his head right now. He can basically tune it out. Which meant he was now done with the task 2B asked of him, which left him more or less unoccupied for the next – however long it would take for 2B to finish her thing.
He was left alone, twiddling his thumbs at the Resistance Camp. And being alone led to bad thoughts. He was still angry with 2B – because killing their fellow YoRHa comrades, even if they had deserted, should not be their go-to solution! But he was also missing her terribly.
She should at least have the decency to stick around so he could be angry with her in person.
He had eventually crawled out of his funk enough to head over to the pool just outside of camp and start fishing. Just to have something to do with his hands. Meanwhile he went over several practice arguments in his head for when 2B returned.
Several hours later, he had fished up several pieces of trash, and one robotic fish. Which – why were there fish Machines? They served no obvious tactical advantage in the Android-Machine war, didn't seem to have any capabilities as a spy or a weapon. They just… acted like fish. When had they become this spread out? What were they doing to the existing underwater ecosystem? He was pretty sure no one had researched this before. Maybe while he was on Earth, he could conduct a study…? Take some samples, accumulate some data during his visits.
He was interrupted from his plans to formulate a machine sea life research experiment by an incoming phone call. Thinking it was 2B, he eagerly answered, but his hopes were dashed when it was his Operator on the other line. Not that he didn't like his Operator! She was great, really. Just she only ever talked to him when he had work to do, or was in trouble for some reason.
And it seemed now was no exception. "You're recalling me to base?" he echoed, aghast.
In a cool deadpan, 21O replied, "As I said, you are being summoned for an in-person report to the Commander. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you had completed your reports on-time, as I repeatedly reminded you."
With a groan, 9S rebutted, "But it was 2B's job to fill out the report for our joint mission. Shouldn't that be enough? Why do I need to file a report too?"
"It's necessary for filing purposes", recited 21O in the tone of someone who'd had this argument a dozen times before, "and having two overlapping reports ensures greater accuracy. But that's besides the point, 2B hasn't turned in her report either. Command is very eager for news."
Wait, what? "That can't be right. 2B, late for submitting a report? You sure it's not a bug on your end? Maybe the packet got dropped during submission," he said with a laugh. Because this was 2B. She didn't do late.
"As I am not her assigned Operator, I'm sure I wouldn't know," she said diplomatically. "Regardless, you are requested at base immediately. You have an appointment with the Commander in 15 minutes, and we will both be very cross if you are late." She hung up without waiting for a reply, but she knew him well enough to know the threat would hold. He didn't need yet another coworker to be mad at him right now.
It's only after the phone call ended that 9S remembered he was supposed to be waiting for 2B to get back. But, well… she'd ditched him first. And the Bunker had reception, so be able to find him whenever she finished her super secret thing.
Shoot, he considered optimistically, maybe by the time he got back she'd have finished, and this would all be behind them.
Ending W: [W]orkplace Crisis
# A/N: I've been leading up to this moment since I first posted the fic; this breakdown was originally going to happen *much sooner*, but I decided I wasn't quite satisfied with the character motivations and then added a bunch of content which became chapters 7 through 19. Hopefully it doesn't feel too unnatural.
FYI, we're now caught up to the chapters posted on AO3, so there will only be single-chapter updates from here on. Update frequency should remain unchanged. As always, consider giving a Fave or a Review if you enjoyed!