Chapter Text
Life.
One of the hardest things to fully comprehend. What is life? Why do beings live? What is the reason of being alive? At what point can you even call yourself... truly alive?
Those are the main questions of humanity ever since the beginning of consciousness.
Even though many many MANY years have past since the humans on the Earth went extinct and only a few could flee to the moon, this question isn't lost forever within the human server on the moon.
No, the ones who ask themselves those questions now are the androids. The most human thing still existing on the surface of Earth. But besides their strong will to replicate humanity and the resemblance of the androids and the human race in parts of looks, the most important thing making the android seem human being their very pronounced consciouness.
All androids have their own consciouness. If they deny it or not, they all have feelings.
"Emotions are strictly prohibited to all kinds of YoRHa-units. No exceptions."
The overly curious YoRHa No. 9 type S, or in short: 9S, remembers those words from Command clearly. It was extremely hard to execute this specific command. After all, the androids were designed to resemble humans. And can a human truly be a human without any kind of emotion?
It was hard to be a scanner model. The most intelligent type in whole YoRHa. Due to 9S' natrual curiosity and his thrive to knowledge, he could get in lots of dire situations. And he does. Very often indeed.
You could certainly say that he is suffering from success.
The only thing -or one- stopping him was Battle-unit No. 2 Type B. The only males in whole YoRHa were all scanner units so naturally unit 2B had to be a female. And she was. A very stunning one indeed.
The most perfect curves, silky, white and fluffy hair which was cut to beautiful bob that reached until her shoulders. Her face was made even more appealing by a small beauty mark at her chin. A very strong and stunning lady indeed. And she not only looks like that, she also FIGHTS like that. With every move looking like a small part to a big dramatic choreography in a dance where lots and lots of machines die.
9S couldn't deny her beauty and overall gorgeousness. No way he could. He also couldn't deny that he was even the slightest attracted to her or interested you could say. He had read in old documents that humans used to be in so called "relationships" with each other where they would "love" each other and cherish the other partner.
But he knew 2B way too short to be able to compare with himself if he wanted something like that with her. Besides the fact it was prohibited of course..
Still, deep in the back of his head, he was quite wary of the female. Something seemed off. Off about everything. But only somehow. He really couldn't put a finger on what was wrong and how everything would come together but this idea of something greater behind teaming up a scanner unit who usually work alone with a whole ass battle unit just couldn't leave his head. Maybe a little caution wasn't that bad.
".... ....ey...... wa....u...."
"....Nin....g..T....tHe..helL..."
"Proposal: Unit 2B should try to stimulate his body to force reactions."
Huh...?
"Proposal: Unit 2B should try to use physical harm to wake unit 9S out of his recovery trance."
What? Phy....sical... harm...?
WAIT WHAT???
9S shot up from his hard bed located in the small room in the Resistance camp. Upon hearing the proposal of 2Bs Pod, he snapped out of his trance and looked shocked at 2B, hoping she wouldn't do it if he moved.
"You took way too long to recover. Is everything alright?" 2Bs smooth but slightly deep voice (for a female of course) speaks out to 9S, her arms crossed and with an displeased look of annoyance visibly placed on her face.
He couldn't tell her he was playing the arcade till late until he finally entered his recovery mode. He had to come up with something.
"Uhm actually... I researched a bit more about the old world last night and found a strange location within the machine factory. There is a single room which has no data from the old world, nor can I even try to scan it." It wasn't really a lie, he did found this strange place on accident. But "research" was definitely the wrong word for his short 12 second attempt to hack into the system of the machine factory to find more about this room.
"I think this will definitely be interesting to look into. I know we have a lot of requests open from the resistance camp but I don't think that this will take much of our time." 2B looked at him for a short time, almost seeming like she didn't believe what he said at all. But after this short break of conversation, 2B took her hand, which was resting on her hip, next to her side and sighed a bit.
"Alright. We will check it out later. I need to gather a few more materials but I won't need you. Try to find out more about this place and if it's really worth checking out." Much to 9S' luck, 2B believed his half made-up story. He internally cheered and tried to keep his interior calm to not raise any suspicion.
"Well, I'll be seeing you soon."
And with that, 2B exited the room. Not before crushing everything 9S hoped for in this moment.
"And don't slack off like yesterday night, got it?!"
And with that, 9S slumped down onto the wooden bed out of defeat and looked at his Pod which was activated due to the tumult. Poking at the Pod, he fixed his slumping posture into a more healthy one. "Let's get this started then."
And with one last sigh, he started his research which was long overdue.
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Slash, Slash...
POW!
Machine heads dislocated from their body and tumbled on the floor with a thud, being incapacitated by the YoRHa Android 2B. Various cables and machine limbs fell onto the floor next to her. The fighting has been going on for roughly half an hour. And 2B was slowly not having it. Thanks to her partner, 9S, she has been fighting off the machines who are trying to guard a huge metal door, 9S is currently trying to get through. Was it Mission-critical? It wasn't even mission relevant. No. He merely wanted to find out what was behind the heavily guarded doors to ease his curiosity. And yes, doors. There were approximately 7 heavily guarded doors. And, to be fair, 5 of these doors were already opened by 9S who really seemed to struggle with not only the amount of doors but also their cyberwalls.
While 2B is busy slashing, 9S is hacking. And with a loud jingle, the door was opened.
"Access granted." A loud robotic voice ringed one again through the factory. It was slightly distorted, very very VERY old and has been ringing for the 6th time now. This happened every time a new door opened.
"Don't worry 2B! I'm at the last door!" The short boy screamed to his partner, who was more than relieved to hear this information, even though it was already clear after the jingle appeared once again.
9S wondered, why would something in a mere machine factory be so heavily guarded? And why is the technique they used to guard these doors so damn old? It felt like 9S was about to discover something life-changing. Or at least something cool in his eyes. Whatever was behind these doors, if was sure worth the curiosity and the hardships this pair encountered to get here fore sure.
That's what 9S thought. 2B on the other hand was sceptical. It was a mere factory where machines were produced. It can only be some human documents which were once relevant, like financial documents, which would now be useless. 9S was way to reckless, 2B assumed, and she had to pay the price of his endless but programmed curiosity. Like every time. Hopefully 9S wouldn't find out too much though. Or this could end bad for him.
At first, the machines which encountered 2B were mere small machines. But now, they've become heavily guarded, some of them even carrying huge chainsaws now. And slowly but surely, 2B was pushed backwards due to the massive amount of machines overwhelming her. She now was at the entrance of the endless corridor with doors, with the doorway just below her foot. Her Pod was frantically supporting her with firing lasers and another Pod they found in the dessert was shooting missiles at the enemies. But even though the force of 2B and her Pods was quite heavy, the machines continued to come and come.
But before they could completely defeat 2B, another loud ring echoed through this old, rotten building. "All Access granted. Please enter the following room with utmost caution." The final door has opened. With her own Pod shielding her, and the other one still firing, she immediately retreated into the long corridor. After she crossed the first doorway, she quickly closed it off and did the same to the next 3 doors, just in case. Out of exhaustion, she leaned on the 3rd door, huffing loudly out of her presiding exhaustion and relief that this long battle was over.
"Well... This took longer than I expected... Sorry 2B..." Even though she couldn't see 9S, due to the 3 doors behind her and one last simple metal door blocking their way to the target room, she still could hear the guilt that 9S felt and expressed. It put a small smile on her face, which sadly vanished just as quick as it came.
"Don't worry about it." The female Android answered. "I just hope the trouble was worth it. Pod? Activate the Flashlight."
"Affirmative." The room lit up slightly, and she could now see 9S fully, which was blinded by the light directly shining into his eyes. But 2B also needed some time to recover her visual system after being a while in the old, dark factory.
"Pod? Also activate Flashlight." 9S asked his little helper and it complies with yet another: "Affirmative."
The light now shined at the metal door. But there was an interesting detail right next to the door which they weren't able to see before they made the light. A slight squeak could be heard from 9S, who was slightly taken aback by the sight.
"Are those... Andorids?" 9S asked out loud. There were seemingly two corpses of androids. They were next to each other, the one lying on the others shoulder. Their clothing was only slightly ripped but most of it was missing due to the time they must've lied here. Their hair also fell out for a few bits. Only a few brilliant red locks were kept on their head. Next to them lied a set of Swords.
"Damn they scared me. What are those doing here? Wait. They look familiar... Pod. Scan these Androids for their models and functions."
"Affirmative. These two androids are Popola and Devola units. Devola and Popola models are rare Android models designed for medical treatment and mantainance. They used to serve as Guardians to the Humans but the productions have stopped after some malfunctions were detected in a certain set of Androids which caused some humans to go extinct."
2B was now standing next to 9S and examined the two swords. She graced over the weapons, only to realize how sharp they still were. Thinking that it was a shame to leave with nothing in hand, she took one sword and put it on her back.
Next to her, 9S was still fascinated by these andorids. He wondered... How did they get there? Why would they be in such a heavily guarded place? The protectors of humanity in front of a safe locked door. This was quite interesting.
But 9S' gushing didn't impress 2B in the slightest. She just looked at him for a minute before making a suggestion. "We should look inside the room and take everything of use. I don't want to go home without anything to bring with us."
"Yeah... You're right..." After one more thoughtful look upon these andorids, 9S stood up and stopped examining them. She was right. If they left open-handed it would be a shame to her body which surely needed maintenance after a fight this long.
The last door wasn't locked the way the others were. While all other doors were locked with the use of very old programming code, it took quite long. With the other doors looking like every other door in this factory, this last door looked quite differently. It was larger and looked way thicker than any of the doors before. It was grazed with some gold features where most of it has fallen off during the ages. A single wheel on the right was the lock. Apparently, this wheel was once locked but the lock was destroyed on the floor next to it.
2B stepped forward while 9S was still admiring this old chunk of metal and held the wheel tightly. With a short pause and a sigh indicating that she overcame a small fear of the unknown that rose up, she started spinning the wheel. It had to be quite heavy since grunts left her lips, along with her stance being very forced and indicating, that she was using a lot of her energy.
As soon as the door was slightly opening, a big beam of sunlight shone through the room, blinding 9S while he was still looking at 2B. The heavy part of the door-opening seemed to be over, since 2B already finished to open the door in mere seconds. Oddly, even though they just entered a room within the machine factory, which was heavily guarded, the androids were greeted with blindness due to an overload of sunshine which shone through the new opening.
Sheer curiousity drove the androids to move forward into the room anyway, disregarding the fact that they were unaware what could lie in front of them. But with the feeling of sunlight, also the sounds of a blooming vegetation followed in form of birds singing, insects buzzing and grills chirping. A sense of familiarity and also relaxation washed over the androids, allowing them to ignore their instincts to be prepared to fight at any time.
As lively the room sounded, as it was brimming with life. Vegetation seemed to grow perfectly in this huge, made out of metal room, which was quite contradictory. A lot of trees, grass, tendrils and even flowers grew in a undimensional measure. Even some Lunar Tears grew in the middle of the room. The room had no ceiling, instead the 20m high room ended with just a glass construction on top of it, which seemed to be movable since it was halfway open, which allowed fresh air and sunshine's to go into the room.
A lot of the plants that grew inside this room should already be extinct for a very long time. But still, here they grew fantastically without having to seem any trouble at all.
"Proposal: This room seems to be an relic of old times. The construction indicated that something that was very important in the past might be in this room."
"Already figured that out." 2B responded to her pod with a low voice, still fascinated and buffled from this kind of discovery.
"Proposal: Proceed with utmost caution to the middle of the room to analyze the structure."
"Told you, that it was gonna be worth it!" A grin spread on 9S' face as he looked at 2B, hoping she would acknowledge the finding and kind of redeeming his depts of letting her fight so long to even get to that room.
"Well, we'll find out if it's accurate shortly." With that comment, 2B stepped forward onto lots of stone plates arranged in an order which seemed to lead directly to an overgrown construction. Soon, 9S followed his partner and stepped on the stone plates as well as her but trying to avoid harming any plants that grew on there, which was quite difficult since the place was basically full of plants, aside from the construction, which only had some vines and lunar tears along with ankle-high grass growing there.
The construction wasn't really a construction, it seemed more like a box but with rounded edges, seemingly containing something below thick layers of glass. 2B was the first one to reach the capsule-like structure. The pods followed behind 9S, just in case.
9S was distracted kneeling and looking at long extinguished plants, keeping the pods with him to record the data. On the other hand, 2B froze in her stance as soon as she reached the construction.
After a bit of silence and just 9S gushing over the plants, 2B let out a shocked sound, grabbing 9S' attention but not fully, as she only gained his acoustic attention. "No way... This can't be real..."
9S snickered slightly at her comment, just answering with a simple question back. "What can't be real?"
But as soon as those words left his mouth, he could hear 2B drop on her knees, which grabbed his full attention and making him run up to her.
"2B! Is everything alright?!" He shouted at her as he made his way to her slumped figure. Apparently, her finding shocked her so much, she could only point her finger to the construction which was laying in front of her. She was shaking uncontrollably, which confused 9S as he tried to comfort her any way possible.
But before he could try to come up with ideas how to make her feel normal again, his curiosity got the best of him and he had to take a glance of the object that made 2B go into the state she was right now. But as soon as he looked up into the capsule, his face matched 2Bs open wide jaw perfectly. Even though he wore his goggles (his eyefold), his eyes widened significantly and he took a step backwards from 2B and the capsule.
"Is this...?" 2B managed to speak out. Her hand falling to her side again.
"Proposal: This is a subject which is widely known as a "human". Further procedure is to be agreed upon with the command. No exceptions."
"A HUMAN?!?!?!"