Restoring Mankind (NieR Automata) Chapter 13 preview 4/4 (Patreon)

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"2B! Evade!" 

2B grit her teeth as valleys upon valleys of red orbs were thrust at her. Her vision darkened as light emitted in front of her. A sense of urgency gripped her as the light became more vivid. "Cancellers are ineffective, evading!" 2B yelled as her Ho.229 avoided the beam of light. Just in time as a lance of laser was fired on her original flightpath. Her mind imagined the unpleasant outcome if she had stayed there. 

"I-Incoming fighters!" 12H alerted her. Looking forward, the enemy was trailing towards their position. 2B's finger itched to fire her missiles but she stopped. Logically, the missiles would have done a magnificent job in clearing the sky but there was also the fact that she could unleash her payload at a bigger and more important target. Instead, 2B fired a blast of her flight unit's autocannons. Her wingmen followed suit, charting a clear path through explosions and falling machine units. 

As they punched through, 2B glanced up. "Pod. Status on contacting the bunker?" 

His voice broke through. "Alert: Area is still jammed by the Engel units. Proposal: Destroy them to regain our connection." 

"We're already on it!" 12H spat furiously. "2B, 9S, I got your backs, let's go!" 

Their thrusters roared to life. Like black and silver arrows, they darted through the choked skies of old Tokyo, brimming with the black smoke of flak, the white of maso bullets tearing through machine flyers, Engel laser weapons let loose like Zeus throwing down his thunderbolts at the mortals below. 

2B's thoughts were interrupted as a frantic radio transmission rang inside her flyer. "Pod, who is it?" 2B asked, her mind focused on clearing a path through the skies. 

"The IFF identifies it as Resistance," Pod 042 supplied.

"We're a bit busy!" 2B yelled, her H0.220 going on a roll as a missile streaked across her. 

"To anyone on this net, we are amassing heavy casualties on this sector!" A panicked voice frantically yelled into their comms. It felt as if the speaker was directly in front of her, holding her by the shoulders, and begging for help. "We need immediate assistance or we are gone! I repeat, we need immediate support or we are dead! YoRHa! Anemone! Anyone! Please!" 

The Battle model spared a glance below and sure enough, flashes of light coming from a fortified compound were being lobbed at a grey sea. Machines, 2B quickly realized. Explosions streaked through the battle lines, coming from the Resistance compound. Immediately, the urgency of their situation dawned on her. 2B wasn't the only one that saw it however.

"2B?" 9S spoke up. "We gotta help them!" 

"9S, we can't. The longer those goliaths trample on the Ruined City, we will not have much of a city to defend afterwards. Push on!" It was cold, uncaring even. But as much as 2B wanted to, their priorities were far more important than rescuing that particular resistance cell. If the Engels units were not destroyed, they wouldn't be able to contact command. 

"But-" 

"New Contacts detected," 042 suddenly spoke. 

"What? Who? More machines?" 9S asked, dread in his voice. 

"Negative. IFF scans shows United Nations personnel," reported 042. Her eyes widened. Her cockpit rang as a familiar voice spoke up. 

"This is Jolly Roger to 2B, you copy?" Sergeant Damian spoke up, the roaring of engines and the rumble of his guns breaking through the dim of the audio connection. 

"Y-yes, sergeant!" stammered 2B. "What are you doing here? Sir, pull back!" 

The whine of his minigun registered in 2B's ears, followed by thunder. "What are we doing here? Doing our jobs!" Damian yelled as he punched in the trigger of his YGGDRASIL. The mecha-suit launched itself high into the air before Damian cut off the power. Glancing down at the road below, Damian let his suit enter a free-fall before landing as a asteroid would wreck the earth. Machines flew, alongside the rock and the soil and the dust of the ground as servo joints whined. Damian was on his feet, his minigun at the ready. With a click, he opened fire, searing brightness illuminated reality as bullets arced, punching through metal and wire and oil and the screaming death throes of machines. 

"2B, you still listening?" Damian yelled, setting aside his minigun as he glanced at the empty street, and the littered corpses of machines before him. 

"Y-yes!" 

The Hispanic glanced up, his scanners locking on to the squadron 2B was trying to lead. "My men and I will be distracting the machines, get their attention on us! You reckon you have enough time to destroy the big ones?" 

2B held her breath, her mind processing information faster than what a human could comprehend. With the Sergeant and his suits taking the pressure off the air and ground forces, YoRHa would have enough breathing room to actually get near the Engels and the Resistance could re-organize into new positions. However...

"Sergeant, if you do this, you and your squad will be in danger! We wouldn't be able to protect you!" 2B cried out, fear leaking in her voice. To her surprise, Damian laughed. 

"Mija, we're soldiers! This is part of the job! Go on, do your job too! We got this!" 

2B just couldn't understand. Why was he and his squad so cheerily skirting with death? Why were they marching off to battle with big smiles? Why would they do such a risky and fool-hardy plan that would have the swarm looking to tear them apart? "Why?" she found herself asking. "Why would you do this for us? We're androids, expendable soldiers meant to be sacrificed!" 

Damian would reply, quickly and succinctly, with words that would burn in 2B's consciousness. Indeed, to all the androids that were listening to their exchange. 

"Not to us! Not to me!" Damian roared. "Now, you with us, us with you! Let's fucking go!"  

A roar went up the androids ranks. Despair, forlorn hope, and the gripping maw of defeat which had threatened to snap the androids whole was beat back by the light of the YGGDRASIL's engines. 042 had taken the moment to broadcast their exchange in both YoRHa and Resistance nets and the battle cry of the sergeant. They were a tide, an avalanche of battle-cries and oaths. Jackass cackled with glee as she unleashed her arsenal of explosives at a stack of machines. Anemone, ever so composed and stoic, felt a wave go through her, a wave of emotion and fury and hope that bubbled in her throat as a roaring cry. The androids fought harder, faster, with the fury that would dwarf even the endless machine tide. The feeling of sureness that by today, they will have gain nothing but victory. 

2B's eyes narrowed, a sense of peace gripping her as the Sergeant's words played in her head. "Understood, Sergeant. 9S! 12H! Let's go!" 

"Yeah!" 9s roared.

"Glory to Mankind!" 12H shouted aloud in ecstasy. 

The machine swarm noticed the change in pace and acted accordingly. Numerous machine units and flyers converged upon the positions of Damian and his fellow pilots. With supreme skill, testing both the limits of pilot and vehicle, Damian met the challenge. He unleashed his full arsenal at them. Minigun, shoulder-mounted cannon. Jericho Missiles, grenades. Everything. 

As Damian and his pilots fought, the YoRHa squadrons went into overdrive, free from the pressures of the swarm. "Launching missiles!" 2B yelled out, clicking on the trigger of her flyer. Hundreds upon hundreds of missiles joined the skies. 12H and 9S followed suit. Their targeted Engels roared in pain as it struck its face. Its eyes glowed red, indicating that it was about to fire again. 

"Evade!" 2B commanded as her squadron split open. Just in time as a blast of laser left the Engel's mouth. Going on a roll, 2B blasted her flyer to full blast, her auto-cannons letting loose at the Engel's face plate where a visible crack could be seen. A weak-point. 

As her flyer neared, 2B ejected and fell upon the weakpoint. With the wind on her face and the sun beaming down on her skin, Virtuous Treaty flashed in her hand as she descended down. With a piercing cry, 2B smashed her sword into the Engel's weakened plate. The sword pierced through, embedded deep inside the machine's head. 

Breathing heavily, the wind picking up on her face, 2B released her grip on her sword and allowed herself to freefall. Her descent slowed as 042 swooped up, catching her . They descended onto a nearby building where 2B saw her flying unit perched on the roof. "Thanks, pod," 2B thanked the black-painted pod as she gave him an affectionate pat on the head. 

"Your affinity with this Pod has increased," chirped 042. 2B offered it a smile as she turned her attention towards the looming Engels above her. It had halted in its tracks, powered off. Then, out of nowhere, it began to restore itself to life, pulsing chirps echoing in the air. 

2B grit her teeth, falling into a combat stance. Even despite their attacks, it still wasn't dead? 

An ear-piercing cry left the Engel's mouth as white seals appeared on its arm and forcibly tore it from it. The massive buzz-saw arm activated, smoke and steam hissing and billowing from it. It swung up and crashed into the Engel's face. 2B leapt out of the way as metal and debris fell from above. Glancing up, the activated buzz-saw arm swung back again before going on a upper-cut motion, knocking the Engel's back. It gave pulsing cries of pain as it stumbled before finally, it fell. Metal groaned, the earth shook, and dust shot up as a hundred meter giant collapsed on its back. 

2B withdrew her hand, glancing at the dust bowl kicked up from the fallen Engel unit. The pulsing sound of maso engines drew close, two shadows looming over 2B. Looking up, she saw 9S and 12H descend from the sky, still in their flying units. 

"We uh, gotta go double tap them sometimes. Engel-class machines have an awful tendency to come back to life," 9S said sheepishly. 2B resisted the urge to snort at 9S's precociousness. An urge that was growing strong every second she looked at his smile. 

12H rolled her eyes. "Well, if you two lovebirds are done gawking at each other, we have other Engel units to engage, you know? This isn't the only one." 

Despite herself, 2B flushed. She glanced up at 9S and found him sputtering. "W-we aren't lovebirds!" 

Even with the blindfold on her, 12H's incredulity was clear. "Uhuh"

2B looked at 9S some more, Damian's advice echoing in her head. They weren't able to talk about their feelings properly, the urgency of the operation having taken 2B and 9S away from actually talking. But now...in this brief respite? 

Steeling herself, 2B allowed herself to smile slightly. "Yet." 

9S coughed violently. "Y-y-yet??? What do you mean, 2B?" 

How fun it was to tease him sometimes. "Back to the mission, 9S." 

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A/N: God this took too long to make. Also, I was totes not listening to the Scorponok theme while writing this. God I love that song so much, I gotta go inject that in my veins.