Restoring Mankind (NieR Automata) Chapter 14 preview 2/4 (Patreon)

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The thruster died slowly, the life it had ebbing away from a furious roar to a slow and calm whine. 

A hiss escaped his cockpit as the mecha suit opened up. He glanced up and saw a hand reaching down to him. He gripped it and was pulled out of the suit. The other man wore a uniform denoting him to be a mechanic and his expression was one of barely hidden fury. "I've heard about what you boys did out there," the man drawled, his accent a thick New York drawl that made Damian think of a mobster with an education. 

"That we kicked ass and took names? Hell yeah," Damian said in celebration. Around, the other pilots had returned as well, being rushed to by the ground crews. 

The mechanic wasn't amused. "Funny, ya ball buster. Have you seen what your own suit looks like, pal? It looks like it got chewed out by a grinder and spat out by mechanical Satan's asshole." The mechanic turned to look at Damian's suit. Calling it battered was a understatement. Deep stabs and cuts were on it, as well as blast marks from machine lasers and projectiles. 

The mechanic turned back to Damian. "The fact that you and your squad came back alive is a frank miracle. You're lucky, pal. Now, my moms always said that our luck will always run out. You better make sure that your luck is spent wisely, capisce?" 

"We make our own luck," Damian shook his head. "Anyway, what's the point of having a big ass mecha suit and not get to use it? And from the way you say it, you make it sound like the Jolly Roger is going to be inoperable. Is it?" He asked, slight worry in his tone. 

The mechanic even looked more offended. "And you's make it sound like my guys and I can't fix it up. We can." He calmed himself down, glancing at the damaged suit. "The problem here is spare parts, Tom Cruise. We're burning up our stock keeping our shit maintained. Frankly, I'm surprised that our shit is still operable, We've gone to ground like what, a couple thousand years?" 

"Mysteries of life," Damian shrugged, his arms on his hips. "Something for our nerds to figure out, si?" 

"Definitely. You've seen the rack on that Japanese chick? Fantastic. Ever slept with one before? They make you go through eighteen rounds of cleaning yourself up before they let you's touch em. They're clean like that." The mechanic rambled, turning on his heels to walk over to a table with a few papers on it. 

Damian laughed. "Well, have you looked at yourself? You smell like oil and copper wire most of the time. It is not surprise that women won't let you touch them." 

"Eh, fuck you," the mechanic said, rolling his eyes. He took a clipboard and slid it towards Damian. "File that in, loverboy. After this, get your ass up to see the Colonel. I reckon he's going to either tear you a new asshole or reward you." 

"You're charming, Chief," Damian said, picking up the clipboard. 

"Pffft. Save the sweet talk for those androids, Tom Cruise. They're the ones with the fat assess and the juicy paloombas, not me." The mechanic replied, shaking his head. Damian snorted, filing down the paperwork on the clipboard before handing it to the mechanic. 

"Alright, looks to be in order. Now you go move on and get your ass beat by the Colonel. I'll handle fixing your lady," the mechanic said, putting the clipboard aside before whistling for his workers to join him. Damian watched in fascination as the man walked off, yelling at his crew to move along to work. He shrugged his shoulders before going on to walk. As he did, the sound of boots walking up to him registered in his ears. 

His team greeted him. Big Bertha's fist balled as she smacked Damian lightly on his shoulder. "Well, well. Look here. Where you off to next, Sergeant?" she asked, her voice a sweet Australian accent that was just pleasant to the ears. Her hair was a light shade of red, a muscled body underneath her uniform. A slight smirk was on her face, her head looking up slightly towards Damian. 

"Off to the chopping block, I assume," Falafel Man mused, his arms crossed. The Egyptian smiled slightly, his copper skin and jet black hair giving him a exotic flair. His sharp features and height added to that mystique. 

"Don't be too harsh on him. We're all in this together, aren't we?" Hummus Maker said, slapping a palm on Falafel's shoulder, earning an eye-roll from the other man. The Israeli was older though slightly shorter than Falafel. His hair was a curly mop compared to Falafel's cleanly combed one. He turned from annoying the Egyptian to Damian. "Seriously though, you're going to have to max up your charisma before you face the Colonel, Sergeant." 

"Yes. A proper explanation on why he risked our necks out," glumly joined in Spirit Indomitable. He was as tall as Damian though blonde-haired and blue-eyed Swiss man to Damian's Hispanic heritage. 

"Why? The androids needed our help, Spirit. If we hadn't lent a hand, the pressure on them would have sent them on the brink," Bertha said, exasperated. "Would you have let them all die simply because we had no orders? Or that it was too dangerous?" 

Hummus shook his head. "Spirit, why don't you just tell us why you're really upset instead of being so glum about it, hm?" 

The Swiss man turned to the Israeli. "We had no orders. We could get censured or worse." 

"I don't think the Colonel is going to punish us for doing the right thing," Falafel theorized. "Let's think of it this way. We managed to secure an important victory, the androids will look on the UN favourably for it's actions and local feelings to us would be through the roof. That's nothing to scoff at." 

"I am not begrudging our achievement," Spirit sighed, crossing his arms. "I am talking about the respect for command, professionalism. We cannot always decide to jump off at the first sign of trouble. The chain of command exists for a reason." 

Damian decided to butt in. "That's true. However, remember that communications were jammed. Initiative was given to us hence I had us attack." 

"We should have pulled back and gotten communications up," Spirit pressed, arms still crossed. As Damian was about to make his reply, Bertha stepped in between them. 

"Alright, alright, you slags. You can continue this dick-waving later. The Colonel's waiting for us. The only way to find out what the Colonel thinks is to see him, alright? Come on, you wankas." Bertha said, rolling her eyes as she began dragging the two along, to the chuckling of Falafel and Hummus. 

Inside the Colonel's office, the squad stood in a neat row, ramrod straight as Colonel Smith glanced up at down from his chair. He tapped a single finger against his fist, crossed as they wore on the table. "Now, repeat yourself, Sergeant," Smith said, his eye set solely on Damian. 

He took a step forward. "Aye sir. Things went according to plan. We attacked the Amusement Park in tandem with the YoRHa androids and faced no resistance. We only encountered it from that one songstress machine that YoRHa units 2B and 9S fought with."

Smith nodded, bidding him to continue. "Continuing on, I joined the two alongside YoRHa Unit 12H and other resistance androids in heading into the inner sanctum of where that Hegel unit was nesting. There, we encountered..." Damian paused slightly, still processing what he had seen. He decided, in his best interest, to not mention the crosses and skinned androids. "...machine units that took on a android form, complete with skin, hair, and all other parts. They looked like YoRHa androids sir." 

Tits and ass included, he quietly noted. 

"Or so I've been told. Commander White spoken to me about it and has assured me that she has means in finding out these new machines. I'll trust her on that." Smith said with a single nod. "Now, the Amusement Park seems to be a smooth mission." 

His features sharpened. "Now, about the Engels units. Tell me why you decided to risk your team and take on the machine swarm, Sergeant?" 

Damian took in a breath. "For three reasons, Colonel." 

Smith bid him to speak. "One, communications were jammed. Initiative was forced on my and so, I decided to engage the enemy as to restore communications." 

"You could have retreated," Smith pointed out. Damian nodded. 

"I could but there's my second reason," Damian continued. Smith raised an eyebrow. Damian took this as a sign to continue. 

"If we had retreated, it would surely impact android morale seeing us move away. Colonel Anemone had asked for help. While surely they would understand, it won't help the fact that the androids would feel abandoned if we would leave. That would have ramifications for the battle, sir." 

Smith listened quietly. "I see. And the last reason?" 

Damian perked up, his tone unflinching. "It was the right thing to do." 

"The right thing to do?" Colonel Smith repeated. 

"Yes. Since we first woke up, sir. I figured that was the way you wanted us to conduct ourselves. When the desert skirmish happened, you had no reason to intervene since the androids themselves wanted you to not take part yet, you did. You sent us out to fight." Damian explained to Smith, face inscrutable. "If you wanted us to be careful, you would have conserved our strength and only thawed us out if you really needed us. I felt your intentions were to be good to the androids so, I acted in that understanding." 

"Sir." Damian added at the end. 

The tapping on Smith's fist ended as he leaned back on his chair. "So, you fought on the androids behalf because you had no way of getting orders from me, wanted to help them out to prevent them from shattering and because...it's the right thing to do?" 

Damian nodded. "Aye sir. They're our brothers and sisters in arms now. And we watch out for each other." 

Smith hummed, glancing at the other pilots. "And you all share this sentiment?" 

Bertha grinned and nodded. Falafel craned his head up and down.

"Oh, yes. Absolutely." Hummus said with finality. 

Spirit remained quiet. This Smith picked up on. "You don't, Hauser?" 

Spirit Indomitable aka Conrad Hauser sighed. "We...didn't have orders to do it, sir. The chain of command has to be respected." 

"But the androids needed help, Conrad. Would you, if you were in Damian's place, not help them?" Smith asked, curious. 

After a moment's hesitation, Conrad sighed. "I...I would have helped them." 

Smith hummed again, face inscrutable. He turned back to Damian. "Well, I can't say I'm upset nor am I happy. I will congratulate you on your victory though. This will surely mean a lot for our relationship with the androids. For now, you and other squads will be grounded for the meantime. Our mechanics have reported that your suits got chewed up bad. Spare parts are in short supply at the moment and I'd rather we not cannibalize our other suits. I'll be speaking with White and Anemone to supply us too. There's also the fact that the Army of Humanity has finished refurbishing one of their stations in space. We wake up the civvies we have, transport them off-world, then we go in to wake up the rest of humanity." 

His seat creaked as he stood up. "We've already done more than enough at this time. Until there are moments where we have to intervene or if White and Anemone asks for it, we will be keeping our suits and guys on the downlow for now. You lot are dismissed." He ended with a salute. 

The others saluted as well and turned to leave. As Damian was about to go, he paused to look back at the Colonel. "May I ask a question, sir?" 

Smith nodded. 

"Did we do the right thing?" 

The Colonel answered after a moment's thought. "You did." 

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A/N: Next up, Naoka and A2.