For the Glory of Mankind (Nier Automata/Genshin Impact SI) (Patreon)

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"2B...are you alright?"

"Urgh...my head....Pod! Status report!"

Yorha Unit 2B struggled to get on to her knees, her mind fuzzy. Her internal systems told her that she'd be fine but the shock of whatever had happened, she'd have to shake off first. At her side, YorHa Unit 9S quickly got up to lend a hand to his partner. The gothic dressed gynoid glanced at the offered hand and took it.

"Oof!" said 9S, pulling 2B up. "You're heavier than you look!"

2B gave the male scanner a look. 9S in response began to feel anxious, as if he had just stepped on something that should not be stepped on. "Um, what I m-meant w-was t-that you're really strong, you know!" He nervously explained himself. 2B shook her head, glancing instead towards her pod who should have reported by now....

Except he wasn't there.

Blinking, 2B glanced around where they were in. It looked like they were in a forest area of some sort. The trees and vegetation was unknown to her. "Pod!" she cried out, waiting for it to answer. Nothing did. A groan coming out grabbed her and 9S's attention as they turned to find a blonde woman in white rising to her knees...

"Commander!?" they both cried out in shock and surprise. Commander White glanced at them and was similarly surprised as well. "2B? 9S?" she said under her breath. The two YorHa units quickly ran to assist their leader to her feet. Assistance White accepted.

"I had no idea you came down to visit us down here in Earth, ma'm," started 9S, his voice respectful. 2B nodded, similar in feeling with 9S. Commander White shook her head however.

"I did not come down," revealed the blonde android. "I remember being up in space when I found myself down here."

"W-what?" 9S said in shock.

"We remember exploring a facility that was being converted by the machines before a bright light overtook us, ma'm," 2B reported, looking into her memory bank. Indeed, they had just defeated that monstrous and insane machine songstress before a bright flash of light took her, 9S and their pods. 9S nodded, his memory also the same as 2B's.

"This is troubling..." Commander White whispered, her mind whirling. "Where are your pods?"

"We do not know, ma'm. We woke up without them," 2B said, a little bit of worry leaking out her voice. She had considered her pod a long time ally. While feelings were prohibted in the ranks of YorHa, espirit de corps was not.

"We'll find them, 2B," Commander White interjected. "They aren't helpless by themselves."

At that, 2B nodded. With her worries allayed, the blonde android glanced around them. "Have the two of you found out our position?"

"No, ma'm. We just awoke!" 9S helpfully supplied.

"We mustn't separate from each other. I do not recognize this place or forest." White said slowly, taking note of the vegetation around them. She paused, straining to hear anything that could lead them out of their current location. In the distance, she could hear the faint sounds of seagulls and sure enough, there was a path that led out to it. "We're going to go follow that path and see where it takes us." she declared.

"Yes, ma'm!" 2B and 9S said in unison.

"Units 2B, 9S. Are your weapons still with you?" Commander White asked, turning to them.

At that, there was bright flash as two katana-like swords came into view. Virtuous Treaty and Cruel Oath were their names. Against the light of the glowing sun, it glinted as it captured the sun's rays. Commander White nodded. At least they wouldn't be helpless.

"Onwards," she ordered, leading the way. Her two subordinates followed afterwards.

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The sound of seagulls and of waves crashing against rock and sand filtered through their ears.

Commander White glanced out of the cliffs where they stood, her eyes set in the distance. Behind her, 9S openly gawked at the sight while 2B maintained her bearing, ever the professional.

She had no memory of this place. Nor did she have any knowledge of where they were. The wind kicked up and her white dress fluttered in the wind. Normally, they would have called for rescue and pickup by now but they didn't really have pods to transmit what they needed up top. While 9S gawked at the seemingly endless beauty of the cliffs, 2B silently approached her. "Ma'm?"

White turned to the android. "I don't recall a place like this," she admitted. "We're certainly not in the Day Kingdom. This all feels...natural."

During the Alien invasion of Earth, the planet simply stopped rotating for some reason. Due to that, one half of the Earth was eternally sunny while the other half was engulfed in total night. Android researchers were still astonished as to how the planet remained habitable after so long. In here however, White was able to grasp that this place was simply different. Centuries of war had made her acutely aware to sense when something was going wrong.

She shook her head of those thoughts. Such things weren't for her subordinates to hear. "We continue on. There must be an adroid outpost close by-"

"SON OF A BITCH! FUCK!" echoed a loud male voice. Immediately, 9S and 2B flashed their weapons, alarm filling them. In the distance and through the forests, they could see an android running out of the forest. He was clad in clothes unlike anything they had seen before. Worryingly however, the android was clutching his shoulder where something appeared to be lodged in it.

And strangely enough, there appeared to be red liquid staining his shirt....

The android, eyes wide in panic, saw them. He yelled out. "HEY! Get the fuck out of here! Fucking rabid hilichurls are out there!"

"Hee-lee-chorls?" 9S mouthed, confused at the foreign word the android was screaming about. White wondered what it was when she got her answer. Through the vegetation, some...creatures came out of the forests. They were bare-chested, muscles in full display. They were near human-like in appearance save for their feet which was clawed and fuzzy white manes were around their necks. They had no faces, a white mask with some symbol over them. And they were armed.

"Hey watch out!" 9S called out as he saw one of those creatures march forward, knocking the android out with a swift strike to the back of the head. White had no clue what a heelowchorwl was but if they thought they could assault androids without just cause, she had something else in store for them.

"2B! 9S!" she barked, she would have flourished with her riding crop but it was absent from her hand. "Assist the android!"

"Yes ma'm!" affirmed 9S and 2B, blades in hand. With unnatural speed, the two gynoids were upon the hilichurls. The hilichurls on the other hand saw a black and white blue descend upon them, steel flashing in the sun before they were all slaughtered with a quick and efficient strikes. Their screams echoed in the air as the Yorha androids cut them down where they stood. Unlike the more robust machines, flesh proved no match to Yorha steel. Black blood decorated the Earth as 9S and 2B flashed their blades.

But the hilichurls were not a species that would back down from a fight. And so, they charged.

2B had just cut a hilichurl in two when she sensed two of them charging at her, war clubs raised. She charged to meet them, her sword dripping with black blood. With a powerful strike, she bisected the first one with relative ease, sending its head sailing. The other hilichurl, uncaring of its safety and seeing an opening, delivered a strike against 2B's back.

If 2B were human, her back would have been cracked by the sheer force of the attack. But she wasn't human. She was an android, built for the Army of Humanity to fight off foes made of iron and steel, and whose most basic unit could crack concrete if it wanted to. To her, the hilichurl striking her was akin to a small child punching a fully grown adult.

It was nothing to her. Holding the hilt of her blade, 2B wheeled around and dug her blade into the hilichurls heart. The hilichurl froze, one of its paws grasping at the steel that was stuck inside it. 2B's face was chilling as she twisted her katana and instantly, the hilichurl went limp. She withdrew her blade and the creature collapsed on its back.

"Yeah! That's right! Run away!" 9S cheered, watching the remaining hilichurls flee before them. His blade too was similarly wet with their ichor. He felt unbeliavably good, even better compared to fighting machines. Hearing their screams...seeing the blood on his blade.

He could get used to this.

"9S!" 2B yelled at him, all to aware of the sensations that 9S was feeling. Androids after all had a certain kink to when it came to battle. When they did it, they were flooded with a boost of emotions similar to a drug.

"Don't get distracted!"

That had snapped 9S out of his dream-like state. 2B always got him out of the clouds. Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head as he turned to the battle model. "Hehe...Sorry about that, 2B." he aplogized. "It just felt...really good."

"Emotions are prohibited. Don't forget that, 9S" admonished 2B. "Come. Let's return to the commander"

"Yeah...yeah..." 9S said with an eyeroll. He took a moment to glance down at the corpses. Those were creatures he had never ever seen before. Scanners were programmed to be curious and of course, his curiosity demanded he investigate the cadavers. What were they? What did they look like behind their masks? How come he hadn't seen one before?

"A single affirmation is sufficient," said 2B, walking off. "And the commander's orders were to dispatch the creatures, not investigate them. 9S, let's go."

"Okay! Okay! I'm coming!" 9S called out, rushing to join his comrade. All the while, Commander White hadn't been idle and stood by as he subordinates watched. Instead, she had gone off the retrieve the fallen android as the creatures were massacred. She knelt right next to him and was about to pick him up when she realized that the android was warm to the touch. Now, she was keenly aware the androids like her were built in humanity's image. That even involved secreting sweat and faux blood in homage of their creators.

But this...android...

It was different.

A wild theory sprung in her head, watching the man's chest rise and fall. Slowly and hesitantly, she reached for the place where she remembered a pulse would be...

She blinked, pulling her finger back as if she had touched something scalding to the touch. She stared at her hand, unbelieving of what it had done. She wondered if a logic virus had consumed her and this was it giving her an image of what she had craved for her entire life before driving her mad.

Hesitantly, she touched the spot again.

There was a beat.

9S and 2B approached her and saw their commander frozen in place. 9S was the first to break the silence. "Commander? What's the status of the android? Is he okay?"

Slowly, Commander White turned to them and 9S and 2B saw the fierce and wild look that was on their Commander's face for a second before White forced it down, professionalism controlling herself. For a second, she said nothing, internally still coming to terms as to what and who she was holding.

"Commander? Is everything alright?" 2B asked, concern filling her as she saw the look Commander White had.

Finally, Commander White spoke. Haltingly. "This is not an android...."

"What?" 9S asked, not believing what he was hearing. "If he's not an android, then what is he?"

2B had a feeling as to what it was but she refused to believe it. There was no way. No possible way. But from the way that Commander's White bearing was breaking, all her worst fears proved possible. "He's...human?"

Slowly, the blonde gynoid nodded.

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A/N: Plotbunny demanded it. I will give more soon.