Stephen's eyes glazed over the report she was given. Lids half open, a hand upon her chin, elbows resting against her desk as the report drawled aimlessly into things everyone knew. The same thing said over and over again. Mavericks. Machines. Viruses. Strange DNA readings. Every new page presented itself with new findings of the obvious. More Mavericks. More trouble. More work. More bullshit.
She let the data pad slip from her fingers as she hummed a tune. Tapping into the keyboard.
Upward trends of Maverickism meant more violence throughout the world. And unfortunately, it felt as though the Maverick Hunter HQ was positioned right next to the apparent birthplace of such strange Mavericks. Area Zero.
But they said that it was fine. If these reploids were not harming people, not harming anyone, and wanted to be left alone, then what did it matter to them? Besides, HQ had more important things to deal with where people were dying as well as having to monitor the apparent rebuilding of Earth and the local city.
Everyone initially agreed with this.
Let them do what they want.
Human governments were uncomfortable with the idea, at first. But Signas had somehow proven to them that the thinness of their numbers weren't enough to uphold the law in a place that was lawless. At least, not without human help. And all humans wanted to do was make more and more machines that were susceptible to viruses. Never to fight on the ground.
But what they weren't counting on was the extremely illicit nature of the utopia that they had built in Area Zero. Suicide for the sake of suicide. Killing to appease their new God. Capturing beastloids to hunt them down in order to emulate the same thrill of the hunt that humans had. Sacrifice. Pain. Disgusting rituals that Stephen herself could hardly fathom that they as machines were capable of. The inherited sin of humanity. Murder.
Even she had to admit that it was interesting to see how machines would act without the hand of humans to lead them.
Stephen wrote down a few notes into her computer before closing it to read another report on the newly labelled 'Special-Class Mavericks'. Her apathy turned to annoyance as she read the contents of the report from Signas. And soon after she sent a notification to her squad about a mission brief. She leaned back into her chair, stretching before giving a large sigh.
Alexander looked up from his computer. Stephen gave a lazy smile. "You know, after all this is over, I'm gonna find myself a cute girl and quit."
He rolled his eyes in reply. Returning back to typing at the computer. "Quit?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna marry her. Find a house someplace nice. Live out the rest of my life with her."
"Maverick Hunters don't quit."
Stephen's smile turned into a sudden frown. "I'm well aware."
"They expect you to die first."
"Yes, I know that."
"Besides," he never looked up from his computer. "You should deal with your anger management before you get into a relationship—"
"Alexander!" he looked up from his screen to see Stephen glaring at him. "Do you ever bother to think before you speak?" Alexander blinked, before shifting back to typing at the computer. Another sigh from Stephen's lips before she stared back at the computer.
Right. It's easier to die here than to retire. Because of humans. Only so little of them had ever had the chance to retire to live out their life in happiness. But it was always so short-lived because they too succumbed to Maverickism.
Was that their destiny?
"We have another mission."
"Yes, I am aware." Alexander typed for a little longer before pausing. "They're giving us a cyborg."
"A fucking cyborg." Stephen gritted her teeth. "I'm surprised Signas even mentioned it in the e-mail."
"Probably so we'd be prepared to see it." Alexander faced Stephen. "They're also giving us a Brother-Sister Unit."
A groan escaped her as she slumped onto her desk. "I hate working with Brother-Sister Units."
A sigh as Alexander resumed his typing. "They're the best of the best."
"Yeah, but they're so… machine." Stephen frowned. But that was the point of them. To hook into their consciousness and be a part of them. The machine features helped become one with the machines, splitting her own 'person' into three people without losing her identity. And it freaked her out every time she had to do it. Stephen sighed as she looked at the blank computer screen. "Hopefully Asard will actually read the e-mail contents." She slowly got up from her seat moving towards the door. "I'll be on standby on the roof. I think I need to see a bit of green before I go back to that god forsaken desert."
"What the fuck is that thing doing in here?"
Signas stared at the group of reploids. Stephen placed her palm to her face and sighed shaking her head. Already he knew this was going to be a handful based on the reaction Asard gave when entering the room. From everyone else's reaction, he could tell that no one was surprised that he didn't read the e-mail he had sent out. Albeit slightly annoying, Signas could trust Stephen in reprimanding him later.
"Stand down, Asard." Signas slowly turned towards Asard. It only took the other a brief moment before shuffling in line with the others.
A hush filled the room as the cyborg beside him watched carefully. Her eyes tense. Her features hard. It was hard to believe that underneath the fake skin, the fake hair, that it was once a human being. A living breathing thing.
"The UN has given us a highly classified mission." He pressed a button, turning to the projection on the screen. "We have been tasked with escorting a package from Area Zero to a research facility located 30 clicks south of Gate 14S." He clicked another button, showing a satellite view of the location. "You will be rendezvousing with a United States military operation for the package handoff. Meanwhile, X will be at Gate 14S ensuring that the gate is locked down for your arrival. At 14S, X will provide fuel and will be joining the escort party from Gate 14S to the final package location."
They all watched the projection. Taking notes of the mission plan.
"Do any of you have any questions before you prepare for the mission?" He turned back to the group.
"Yeah, actually." Asard spoke up. A finger pointed at the cyborg. "Why is it here."
Before Signas could reply, the cyborg stepped forward. She smiled casually. Her features calm. Her voice seemed to vibrate across the room. "My name is Katsunari. I am a cyborg provided to the Maverick Hunters from the UN for this mission to ensure that the package meets its destination."
Asard scoffed. "Yeah, but why do we need you!? We hunters are capable of handling things ourselves." Even if no one wanted to say it, Asard spoke the words that hung on everyone's mind. "We don't need a cyborg's feelings getting in the way of it all."
Katsunari approached the reploids. Her hands in her pockets. Dressed so casually for the occasion. Her movements so natural. "You should ask the UN that question. I'm just here on orders." She paused in front of Asard. Staring up at the reploid. "But a little bird did tell me they were disappointed of the results of your last mission from the UN. Something about… letting a Maverick off the leash." Signas could see the fury in Asard's face. "They're just making sure you don't screw it up this time."
Before Asard could retort back Stephen stepped forward. Pressing a hand to him. "Enough!" she glared back at Katsunari as she shrugged, walking past the two back to her position next to Signas. X shifted uncomfortably.
Driftwood raised his hand. Patiently waiting to be called upon. "Yes, Driftwood?" Signas turned his gaze to him.
"Can we know the contents of what we're escorting." Slowly he lowered his hand. "Seems a bit weird we're just asked to escort a random truck to a random point of nowhere."
"I agree," Stephen took a step back from Asard, taking her place back in the ranks. "I'd like to know what I'm sending my team into and what it's worth."
It was a respectable question, one that Signas wasn't able to answer. "I'm afraid even I don't know the answer to that question. I was handed down this request directly from the UN." He noticed some of the reploids stare at Katsunari. "That same goes for Katsunari. She only knows what we know." Some frustrated looks across the board, but they subsided with time.
Basalt pointed a massive claw towards the projection. "What communications will we have on this mission?"
Signas turned back to the projection. He tapped the button a few times to show a list. "You will have navigators from Maverick Hunter HQ. Alia will be assigned to X. Baroque will be assigned to 0th Squad. There will be multiple active comms channels, some of which will be provided access by the U.S. Military stationed at the rendezvous point. The U.S. will be providing some drone feed, but be aware that it will be limited due to the radioactivity still present." He turned back towards them. "Unfortunately, you're going to have to rely on trust with each other the majority of the way."
"This is starting to sound more like a suicide mission than just some simple escort." Asard growled.
"I can assure you, it isn't." That was what Signas wanted to believe. But even he knew better than anyone in this room how fishy the entire mission was. Even if he wanted to protect them from whatever this mission was, he couldn't possibly do anything to stop it. He was commander of the Maverick Hunters. But the humans were always going to be the ones who called the shots.
It even made him a little angry.
"One last thing," Katsunari tapped her finger on her arm. "If the mission becomes compromised it is expected that we blow up the van." There was an uncomfortable silence as she walked in front of Signas. Standing at command. "And if anyone opens up that van..." they all watched her. She was so human. But acted so mechanical. "I'll have to kill you." A weight fell over the room. "No Maverickism. No labels. No begging."
Driftwood snapped. "Is that why you're here!? The UN can't do that!"
Katsunari gave a bit of a laugh, "And reploids can't kill humans, otherwise they'll be considered Maverick." She faced Driftwood. "This mission, you might have to." Signas kept a stone-cold face as he watched everyone's face sink. "Just this once, you'll get to see how it feels to kill a human without becoming a Maverick. If you're lucky."
Stephen gave a half-hearted laughter, "You have to be kidding." But Katsunari's face kept still. "No… You're serious!?"
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Signas interjected. Everyone stood still trying to shake away their shock. None of them wanted to believe it, but the reality was unfortunate. "It is true. You might have to harm humans. I will not lie to you. The probability of that happening is 0.004%." But not exactly zero. He watched everyone carefully as their anxiety slowly slipped away, but some remained. "If you have no other questions, you're all dismissed."
Driftwood practically booked it out of the room. Basalt was slower to leave as he gently made his way out. Carefully, X also left, looking pale. Katsunari was to follow him. Soon after, Asard and Alexander. The doors closed, and Stephen was left behind. Her eyes trailing over the words soaking in each and every letter that was pressed to print. Maps. Names. People. Places. Faces. Her worries were not with humans. Not with the package. But with her squad.
"Something is troubling you," Signas approached her.
"It just seems so easy for something so tight lipped. Especially from the UN with humans and a cyborg involved." She didn't believe for a second that they gave them a cyborg because of their previous mistakes. And Signas felt the same way.
"Try not to worry about it. Everything will be fine." He placed a firm hand on Stephen's shoulder. Hoping that it would wash away her worries.
"Yeah," her voice was soft. "Yeah… I'm sure it will be. Probably just over thinking it." A moment longer she lingered, watching the slides replay. But soon she broke from the ranks as the rest of them did. "I'll see you in a few hours for the final preparations." A hand wave goodbye. A wordless farewell.
When the door slid shut Signas relaxed himself. He sighed, pressing a button to the projection off. Though his mind swam with possibilities of what they were escorting, the worst of them all landed on a reality that he could not bear to utter to his mind. Even to utter it would risk deactivation. Hopefully, just hopefully, it was nothing. And the mission would proceed as planned, and nothing would befall their group.
He looked towards Brother and Sister who stood waiting for command.
A simple mission. It was all he asked.
"X…" he felt someone grab his shoulders. An unfamiliar touch. He pried away, finding the sensation uncomfortable. Staring at the other who would touch him. A small frown on his face as she came into view.
The cyborg.
Her presence was overwhelming. Or was it her soul that made it that way?
In the human eye, the cyborg might have tricked anyone who gazed upon her. Skin supple, wrinkled, imperfect. Hair black as the night and cropped unevenly. A posture that machine yearned to replicate. A breath that came natural to her. Humanity that any machine envied. But to X, to a reploid, to any machine, it was obvious to them. The small details of perfection that no human can manage. The hidden jacks and wires behind the neck. The eyes that glistened in a particular way that flesh could not. A voice that vibrated with the same sound box that any machine had. Movements that felt just too machine to be human, but too human to be machine.
A unperfect existence. Walking the border between mechanism and flesh. Unidentifiable. Unknown.
It was not the first time X had ever worked with a cyborg. But it was always an interesting experience if they knew who he was. And judging by the way she looked at him, he could tell what this one would be.
"Do you hate me already?" a small smirk reached her lips as she put a cigarette in her mouth. Even if she could not enjoy the addiction, it looked as if her soul, her echoes of the past, willed it forward.
X shook his head, slowing his steps as she walked beside him. "No," he watched her as she lit her cigarette. Taking in a deep breath. Reveling in the smoke. He frowned as she took a breath and exhaled it out. His hand waved away the wafting smell with a look of disgust. "I just don't understand why you're here."
Katsunari smiled, taking the cigarette from her lips. "You don't have to lie, you can tell me you hate me if you want. I don't really care." She watched X who stared at her emotionless. A huff of a laugh, "Anyway… Like I said, I'm not really sure either. I'm just following orders like you." She kept her smile firm as she noticed other Hunters sneered at her presence.
The nauseous smell of smoke rose in the air. Trailing behind her. "You didn't mean what you said back there." The cyborg raised her brow at X. Not sure what he meant. "At the meeting." He made a vague handwave. "About humans."
"Unfortunately, I was."
Slowly, X's face became pale. Even if it was such a small chance of it happening, the mere fact that the UN would happily let Maverick Hunters slaughter humans made him feel ill. To slaughter his own kin was a torture in of itself. To dare see the guts of humans… "I don't believe you." A shake of his head as Katsunari merely smiled at his reaction. Did she think it was some sick joke?
"Well, whether you believe it or not it's up to you to pull the trigger." She slowly slid her sunglasses over her eyes. "I don't really care who I kill. Whether it be machine, human, or cyborg." A small laugh crossed her lips. "Guess I got lucky with becoming a cyborg."
X frowned at her. "I thought they stopped making cyborgs."
She shrugged, "They say they stopped a lot of things." She pointed at a Hunter at the other end of the hall. X's eyes trailed her finger. "AN-LNOB-56879901. Model AS. Variant Sierra." She put the cigarette to her mouth and drew in. "All models recalled." X swept his gaze back to her as she looked back at him. "Don't worry. I won't tell." X watched her carefully. "To answer your question. Yes, they did. Officially, anyway. Not since 27 some years ago. But we both know that doesn't really stop anyone. The war machine keeps on going. So long as It makes money no one really cares. Much less the people who wrote those laws." There was a small chuckle from her lips as she looked towards a reploid that stared in disgust. "I always hated you machines. Guess this is karma for how I treated you all."
He maintained his frown, but not towards Katsunari. Rather, the predicament. They were once human. A body of flesh and blood. To react and think as human. To breath and laugh as human. To enjoy the world as human. Only for that beautiful perfection to be ripped apart. For the mind to be transferred into AI components. For the soul to be siphoned out from the body and placed in a machine habitat. Not reploid. Not machine. Not human. Only in the between.
"How does it feel?" X pondered.
"Feel?" Katsunari looked at X with a raised brow. Her smile grew. A laughter from the pit of her stomach. It echoed through the halls. It pierced everyone's soul. It sounded hollow. Pained. Mocked. "You want to know how it feels for me to not be human?" The reploids turned towards them. Their stares prying. Their thoughts swarming. Their hatred burned.
X stared at her confused. "No, I don't mean it like that."
She shook her head. "No, it is exactly that way." The laughter subsided. Her smile remained. But her soul... "I miss what I used to be. But I miss it like how I miss my dog. There are certain sensations you can't replicate as a machine. Alcohol. Cigarettes. Physical sex." There was a grin over her lips. Slowly she closed in on X. "Say, X. Have you ever tried it? E-sex?"
"Huh?" X flushed red. "What!?"
"Heh, made you blush." She pinched his cheeks. Exhaling the smoke into his face. A swat to her hand. A scowl on his face. It was not typically easy to get underneath X's skin, but Katsunari was doing an incredible job at it. "You get used to it." She shrugged withdrawing away from him. "But I can assure you that I have some of the very best upgrades that the UN has to offer. I'm on par with Zero's capabilities, you don't have to worry about me."
Somehow, X couldn't believe that. "But you're still human."
"Huh?" she furrowed her brows. A frown finally managed to cross her face. "Just barely, not that it makes any difference. A cyborg has the human and machine advantage."
With all the disadvantages.
"That's exactly the problem," X passed her as she could only stare. "Zero never needed that."