Restoring Mankind (NieR Automata) Chapter 11 preview 3/4 (Patreon)

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A2 felt strange. 

Following around a Resistance truck carrying boar meat was the most strangest thing she had done. Yet, she still did it regardless. A certain curiosity had gripped her. The Resistance barely went to the Desert and the goods it carried was perishable. Perhaps if it carried boots and other supplies, she would see that they were trying to supply their camps there but meat? 

That was something to investigate. 

She kept her distance, making sure that the drivers didn't see her running after them. The desert was wide enough for that thankfully and there were many mounds and crevices she could jump and dart from. Doing all this was admittedly making her lose her interest fast but that gnawing feeling in her stomach didn't go away. It wouldn't go away. 

Then, the world began to shake. 

She was high above on a ridge, keeping a careful distance between herself and the truck when something large and looming burst from the sands. Multiple cylindrical monstrosities arose from the sands, sharp legs chittering and chattering as it darted about, slowing down to regard the Resistance truck with a single red eye. The Resistance truck swerved to the side, horrified screaming coming from the driver and the other passenger. The machine monstrosity leaned in, centipede-like, and chattered from a unseen mouth as it shone a bright light into the truck. 

A2 snarled, white light glittering at her side as she brought out her blade. She nearly leapt out of her position but she stopped. She...she was a fugitive. A criminal not just to YoRHa but also to the Resistance too. In her years of hiding, she had stolen equipment from the Resistance to keep herself alive. Not only that, she would be reported to YoRHa if she reared her head. 

But...

The screams from the Resistance. The terror in their voices. The chittering of the machine. 

The machine. 

This filthy, disgusting Machine! 

No one will blame her for attacking. Her name was A2. Attacker. Not Runner. 

She leapt from her position, blade brandishing as she charged towards the machine. The Machine turned towards her with a singular eye, registering that the former YoRHa unit was much more threatening to it than a pair of Resistance androids with frozen meat in their inventory. It veered from the truck and snaked towards her. A2's eyes widened when the multiple eyes of the machine glowed and began dropping bomblets in wild clusters. The clusters erupted in dark-reddish explosions. A2 halted, covering herself as the bomb run ran over her. By the time it was over, A2 was left snarling and seething as her UI showed the chunk of health that bomb run took from her. 

If that machine thought that it was the only one with surprises, it was dead wrong. 

A2's body glowed a dark purple. Her core worked into overdrive as power was thrust forth into her systems. The nuclear reactor that was in her body blazed with the heat of a thousand suns. "My turn!" snarled A2. The machine monstrosity had split up into individual pieces, chattering as they rushed to body A2. But here on the ground, A2 was faster. 

She moved in lightning speed, a blur that the machine struggled to keep up with. By the time it had seen A2, she was already upon one of its pieces. But this time, A2 was different. Fire burned in her eyes, a mystical red flame fuelled by rage and her nuclear reactor going into overdrive. An oppressive red aura surrounded her being, dark clouds of violence turning even the air around her murderous. The light for her was too bright and vivid. Her teeth were razors, her nails were daggers. Bloodlust darkened her thoughts and her heart. With a shrill cry, she thrust and stabbed the machine with her blade. Long violent berserk thrusts dug through the machine's plate. It's singular eye darted around in a panic as the murder-drunk A2 stabbed and stabbed. It cried vicariously, beckoning for its other pieces for assistance but even its own voice was drowned out as metal bent, wires were cut and A2 just kept on stabbing. 

"RAAAAAAAAARGH!" screamed A2 as she cut and hacked and slashed at the machine in its death throes. A snarl escaped her lip as she found its core. She did not hesitate as she bit into the core and tore it out with her mouth. Oil and still pulsing wires were in her lips, dripping down onto her body in thick black droplets. She spat it out, disgust and contempt in her eyes as the machine powered down. 

One down. Eight more to go. 

She leapt off the machine but then, she felt pain as a piercing machine laser thrust into her back. "ARGH!" A2 cried out as she was thrown forth to be buried onto the sand. Slowly, the air around her vanished as she returned to acceptable settings. As much as she wanted to go berserk, going into that state or B-Mode was not just a danger to her enemies but also too her. Too much of it and her nuclear core would simply explode from the high output. Plus, it simply made her vulnerable to attack. 

She could not kiss the ground and take what the machines were giving though. She had to stand up. She had to fight. Shaking, she got to her feet, her legs still wobbling as he body recovered from the use of B-Mode. By this, the machine had returned to its caterpillar form, flying high into the air. The data from its fallen piece had informed it that to engage the android on the ground posed its risk. And so, it pulled back to simply saturate the android with bomblets until it was terminated. It flew off, snaking in the air, chittering and chattering in its profane machine tongue, as it prepared to do another bombing run. 

A2 breaths were laboured, her legs were still weak and her UI was in the red. 

If she was going to stay and take the bombs again, she was going to die. 

But...that wouldn't be so bad, would it?

A2...had fought for so long. Lived alone for so long. She....she had no idea if there ever was a heaven for androids like her. But at least she could finally rest and join the others. 

No.21. No.16. 

No.4.

But as she stood ready to embrace death, that final dark void. No.4's voice and final order filtered into her mind. 

"Live," 

For a brief moment, she was back in Honolulu, thousands upon thousands of machine corpses around her. No.4 cradled on her arms, her tears dripping down on her Captain's face. Even in the face of death, she was still strong. 

"Live, No.2. Live...for us." 

A2 opened her eyes, now back at the present, and fully aware of the machine coming closer, bomblets already exploding as it came close to her. She wanted to move, to run and take cover but her legs still were wobbling. She needed a full minute to recover. But she had none. She wanted to run away, to carry out No.4's final order. But she couldn't. 

"I'm sorry...everyone," was A2's final thought. It was coming closer now, closer and closer and clo-

A2 yelped as a heavy weight dropped in front of her. Such was its force that sand and dust kicked up, covering her. Her audio receptors registered the bombs dropping around her...but she wasn't dead. Not yet. Slowly and warily, she glanced up...and found herself staring at a metal giant. But it was not a machine unit. Her sensors, her very being told her that it was something more. 

The machine turned high, twisting in the air as it regarded the necomer. It shrilled at them, displeasure at being denied a kill. But the giant regarded it with nonchalance. There was a hiss and a servo whine as the metal giant turned to her, helmet visor glinting. "You okay?" came an electronically distorted voice. 

"U-uh...y-yeah," A2 stammered, hating how her voice sounded. 

Surrounding them was a bubble of energy that glistened with power. That was what shielded her and it, A2 realized. The shield slowly dissipated. A new contact registered in her senses as a shadow loomed. To her alarm, it was a YoRHa unit descending with a Pod. 

"Sergeant, I will have to remind you that this...unit is a deserter," the bint warned the giant. 

"Proposal: Apprehend YoRHa Unit No.2," her pod oh so wonderfully added.

"Yet she rushed forward to save those resistance members, eh?" the giant responded, amused. "We can argue the specifics afterwards. Right now, we have a machine unit to destroy." It turned to her. "You in?" 

She glared at the YoRHa unit who stared back. Automatically, that unit could go dig a whole and die. She turned to the giant. "I don't know who you are but if you want to destroy that thing....I'm in." Life returned to A2 as her systems finished its self-repair.

2B inwardly sighed. Orders were to destroy or apprehend deserters. But orders were orders. Virtuous Contract flashed in her arms as she regarded the flying machine that began to swerve into their direction for another bombing run.

Behind his helmet, Damian grinned as his HUD planted targets all over the incoming machine. "Epico! Alright! Let's go kick this machine's shit in!" 

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A/N: Don't you love teamwork.