Wasn't 11b an abusive psycho? I admit its been a while since I played the game but that quest kinda stuck in my head.
It's just that... she was always such a hard ass, you know? To think she wanted to run away just... Ha ha! And what a miserable way to die. Serves her right for the way she used to heap abuse on me... She always looked down on me because I wasn't a combat model, and now... Thank you, 2B. Thank you for showing me this. Now I can dedicate myself to my job with a clear mind.
Oh, and here. You should take this. I don't have a reason to protect myself anymore...
To be frank, the decision to put 11B early in the story as the first android Menendez makes first contact with was inspired by @Mortanius' NieR: Automata SI fic Our hopes for the future. That, and after I finished the mission "11B's Memento" in the game and learned about her relationship with 16D was a can of worms, I saw a potential character development for 11B in this story.
Several minutes ago, she was lying on the concrete floor dying alone with regret, with no hope of being rescued.
But now, even though she was still helpless, 11B found herself staring in confusion and curiosity at her saviors. They weren't what she expected at all. Not YoRHa, not the Resistance either. The tall, intimidating blue-white humanoid robot was clearly neither Machine nor android, motionless since it's partner connected to a port on its chest.
While the robot was an oddity, 11B's other savior, who had been kneeling motionless next to her, was an enigma.
She didn't know why the Male Android had suddenly closed his eyes and stopped moving as soon as he inserted a cable into the robot. She assumed it had to do with their attempt to purge the Logic Virus inside her when she felt a connection attempt to her own systems. Through a hard line connection through her damaged arm no less. It was baffling that they would use such an archaic method to connect to her systems.
But as long as she had a chance to be saved, she wouldn't care about their methods, obsolete or not.
It would have been easy to mistake him as another robot, had it not been for the faceplate opening up to reveal his true face. A large armored suit stylized in white and black colors, it was unusually decorative with gold furnishings and even an odd cape of all things. Both design and aesthetics were unlike anything she had seen before.
But several minutes had passed, and 11B was still lying on the floor, the beginning edges of worry gnawing at her as she stared at the immobile armored android. Neither the armored suit nor his features were familiar to her. Was he a secret model from the Resistance, built to fight against the Machines? Some kind of assault model? And his companion robot, perhaps something analogous to the YoRHa Pods? But the idea didn't explain why he hadn't spoken to her in the Chaos language, using entirely unfamiliar words instead.
Strangest of all was her reaction to his opened faceplate. He matched no known android model, had transmitted no identification codes, his continued silence and her helplessness should have been worrying.
Yet the moment she saw his face, her agitation and fear were gone, just like that. Which should have been more alarming, not less, but somehow she just wasn't. She couldn't- didn't immediately trust him, but there was something about the Male Android that she'd calmed down and let him help her. Not that she could have offered up more than a pitiful resistance anyway if she had disagreed.
It was difficult to clear her mind, to grasp at any of her function modules. But he appeared to be… familiar in some way. As if he were something more to just what she could see.
Who… who are you?
Without warning, he jerked upwards, inhaling sharply and gasping for air in between harsh coughs. Listening to the coughing, seeing him spitting out gobs of semi-viscous liquid, the facts started slotting together and 11B came to a sudden realization. The oddity of her reactions, the unfamiliar language, and now this. Mimicking involuntary actions could be done of course, but no android would ever waste processing cycles for that, not out in the field like this.
What are you?
There was no answer of course, the apparent android taking a moment to compose himself before removing the dataspike. But in the seconds that passed, 11B noticed her sight becoming clearer, and the painful feedback loops subsiding from the rest of her body.
The YoRHa Battler had never felt this elated in her life before. Whatever he and his companion had done, they must have created and deployed a vaccine against the Logic Virus, her self-repair systems finally booting up to repair the damage that had been wrought.
As the android composed himself, removing the dataspike in the process, 11B noticed the static and data corruption clearing from her sight input, the system lockouts of her body resolving one after the other. A wash of relief shot through YoRHa Battler at the obvious conclusion. Whoever this strange android and strange humanoid Pod were, they must have administered a vaccine for the Logic Virus. Already her self-repair systems were starting to come online, repairing her damaged body.
She wanted to thank them, but with her speakers still malfunctioning and low priority on repairs, she could only manage incoherent words and static filled rasps. She would have to wait until more of her body was restored.
At that moment, the Humanoid Pod raised its weapon, turning and firing the assault rifle at something outside of her view. Alarmed, she shifted her head, trying to see what it was shooting at. Machines, because of course it had to be them. Several Stubbies were already on the floor, their rusted metal bodies riddled with holes. But more were stomping through the large hole in the chamber wall.
Damn these Machines! They don't know when to stop!
The Male Android seemed to share the same thoughts, spitting out a probable curse as his faceplate snapped shut. Grabbing her arm, he pulled 11B over his shoulders, securing her in place while his other hand snapped up her sword, which disappeared into storage space. Together with his Pod, they rushed out from the chamber, forcing their way through the incoming Machines in a storm of fire.
Demonstrating more combat independence than YoRHa models, the Pod took point. Its weapon barked in short controlled bursts, cutting down the hostile Machines as they appeared. And when that wasn't enough, it fired its underbarrel weapon, some kind of explosive launcher that decimated a group of Stubbies that came crashing through the wall. More explosives came in the form of guided missiles, launching from a back mounted launcher and slamming into several Flyers that drifted up from the open spaces between decks.
It was noisy, brutal and far less elegant than any YoRHa Pod she'd ever known, but 11B couldn't deny the effectiveness of its aggression programming. Particularly when paired with someone who wasn't pushing their performance like she knew the android should be capable of.
Even if the Male Android had his hands full with her, he didn't seem to be moving all that fast in her estimation. Burdened with her or not, Resistance models should be faster, shouldn't they? Or had his design traded mobility for protection? It didn't seem to fit. Even with an external suit, he didn't seem better armed or armored than his Pod. Maybe she'd get her chance to see him in action later.
With how easily his Pod was dealing with those pesky Machines, probably much later. As was, the odds of escaping intact seemed to be in their favor-
The harsh ring of metallic stomps interrupted her thoughts, whirring gears pulling her attention to look at their source. Her eyes widened in shock. Stubbies, Small Bipeds and more were pouring through the hole in ever increasing numbers.
-or not.
The Male Android took one look behind, then ahead, and cursed. In that moment of distraction, Flyers descended out in front, Stubbies hanging onto the undercarriage to complete the encirclement.
Despite the full body armor, 11B felt the android tensing beneath her, the air suddenly filled with a deep hum that quickly built into a whine not unlike the Ho229's engines spooling up. Before she could process the source or cause of the sound, her carrier suddenly jumped, no, flew. A half dozen meters passed by in a flash as they ascended, rising through the factory levels in a blast of wind and the sound of high performance thrusters.
And then they were out in the open air, skimming past the factory just above rooftop height. Flight Units, she realized with a small pang of jealousy. They had integrated Flight Units inside the armor. Where and when did the Resistance get the technology to build something like that?
No answers came as she watched the Machine Factory dwindle in the distance, and she put the question aside as three Goliath-class Machines came into view, the gigantic Machines converging on the hulk of a fourth.
Did another of my squadron mates make it through? Nobody else was supposed to be in the area.
But then again neither was this strange android who had saved her.
Needing a closer look, she pulled the visor back up from her neck and over her eyes.
Her feed instantly darkened, 11B's visuals catching an incredibly bright flash erupting from the hulk of the fourth Goliath-class. Even with the auto-polarization against the damaging light, she couldn't help but flinch, averting her eyes from the blast and tensing for what she knew would come next.
The shockwave arrived moments later, slamming into them with enough deafening force to pick them up and throw them spinning out of control. She slipped out of the android's grip. Pinwheeling across the air, the ground and sky flashing across her vision, she had one long moment of watching a multi-storey building approach with terminal finality. Then a hand caught her, the Male Android reeling her in.
She felt, rather than heard the flare of thrusters one more time. Then his back was towards the building, arms wrapping tight around her. The last thing 11B saw the translucent energy field, shimmering blue against the wall of the building before they crashed.
~~|>> [-//=+=\\-] <<|~~
Author's Note: After more than eight months of hiatus since the last chapter, @Mashadarof402 and I have returned to pick up this story once more. Not only that, we get to read this story from 11B's perspective.
We're terribly sorry for the late update as real-life didn't go easy on us. Apart from trying to overcome the creative burnout and the absence of passion, our personal lives have blown up since the COVID-19 pandemic hit our country. The repeated lockdowns, a sharp slowdown in our nation's economic activity, our bigoted, corrupt and incompetent politicians engage in a Game of Thrones-style political brawl, plus other nonsense stuffs happening in Malaysia on top of the rising number of COVID cases and deaths...
On the other hand, we're taking our time at home during the lockdowns binging on Netflix, the internet, online gaming, playing new games, get preoccupied with other IRL things... Yeah, you could see why it took us this long to update this.
Nevertheless, the notion of dropping this project hasn't crossed our minds yet. We hope that your replies and discussions in this thread will encourage us to keep writing this story.
Until then, stay safe. Wear a mask and wash your hands.
There was lore stating that YORHA units around the globe are fighting the Machine Army at the moment. They arent just stuck in Japan for some odd reason.
What I'm asking is how is it that the Humans underground dont know about the YORHA cell in America at this moment and conversely, how YORHA wasnt looking for bunkers when the humans launched the scout?
There was lore stating that YORHA units around the globe are fighting the Machine Army at the moment. They arent just stuck in Japan for some odd reason.
What I'm asking is how is it that the Humans underground dont know about the YORHA cell in America at this moment and conversely, how YORHA wasnt looking for bunkers when the humans launched the scout?
Because the humans in the Gunma Bunker have been underground for several years since they got out of cryosleep. They spend those time underground increasing their population and raising their kids before sending out a scout to search for other Endurance Bunkers and assess the state of the world. They don't know anything about androids, the Army of Humanity, the Resistance, YoRHa and the Machines until Adam went out scouting.
It's also vice versa for YoRHa, the Resistance and the Army of Humanity; they never know about the underground bunkers' existence. All will be revealed in future chapters.
Also, I don't know about a YoRHa cell, but America has the Kingdom of Night which is mostly Army of Humanity-held IIRC.
11B awoke from her from Emergency Suspension mode with a gasp.
As per standard YoRHa protocol, the first thing she immediately did was go through her personal log data and system diagnostics, eventually finding no signs of degradation. Visuals were clear of static and data corruption, and even if the metal plating in front of her face meant she couldn't see much, critical status updates scrolled through her display, all in the green. A good sign that the Logic Virus had been ultimately purged from her systems. Even though her legs still remained inoperable, the self-repair programs were well underway on the motive systems, promising a return to functionality soon.
But soon still meant that for all intents and purposes, 11B was still a cripple for now and would remain largely immobile for a while longer.
Trying to lift herself up, the YoRHa Battler immediately realized that there was something heavy pinning her body and arms in place. A moment later, her eyes widened as the identity of that something clicked in her mind.
That unknown android…
Looking up, she found herself staring into the gold and white faceplate of her rescuer's armor. She was lying on top of his motionless body and his arm was what had trapped her in place. Fortunately, she found it not locked in place and it was easy to remove herself from it. Rolling off him and onto her back, she lied there on the floor, scrutinizing every inch of his armored form.
It was not at all like the heavy armor worn by YoRHa assault troops. Sleek yes, but much more bulky. And the right arm was dissimilar to the left, covered in additional chamfered triangle metal plates. Whether it was just extra armor or something else, its design gave her no clue.
But it was clear he had shielded her, taking the brunt of the impact when they smashed through the wall given the damage. Both limbs and backplate bore dents and gouges, paint scraped off as a result of the hard landing and the trench they had carved across the floor. It did not seem to be more than superficial damage, but the android was motionless, as if inactive.
But when 11B looked at his faceplate, the visor was active, softly glowing blue. The armor was obviously still functional, but she was uncertain if that meant anything for the occupant inside. Was he alive, dead? Was he in enforced shut down while self-repair systems like those in YoRHa models went to work? Could his Humanoid Pod help him?
Acting on that thought, 11B pushed herself up, supported solely on her arms while her legs still stretched out uselessly.
But wherever his Pod had gone, she found no sign of it anywhere in the area around them. Not even wreckage. Just the debris from the building they had crashed through. Most likely his Pod had ended somewhere away from their own site, crippled or destroyed on crashing. Even Machine Flyers could not come out from such an impact unscathed, powered as it was by that shockwave.
That shockwave...
She knew there was only one way a detonation of that size could have been created. Either out of desperation or as a final act of defiance, two YoRHa survivors from her squadron had detonated their black boxes in order to destroy the remaining Goliath-class Machines. But the blast would have leveled significant parts of the factory that were close to the shores.
Parts of the factory where she had been trapped if she remembered correctly, dying from the Logic Virus. Hopefully, the blast would have erased any trail she might have left behind if YoRHa decided to send any recovery teams to search the area.
But she couldn't take any chances. Sooner or later, more YoRHa units would arrive to the surface to carry out their assignments, and they would stumble across her if she was not careful. If they found her, she would be hunted down and decommissioned on the spot.
She had gone past the point of no return and nothing would change that now. The plan was still the same. Survival, evasion and escape from any YoRHa units that might be on the surface. But her personal knowledge of this city's interior was so limited as to be useless. That information hadn't been considered relevant to their mission. Only her Pod contained the in-depth map and known ground routes of the local area. Sadly, it was no longer within reach. The Pod had been destroyed alongside her Flight Unit when she had been shot down over the sea.
She would have had a better idea of the surroundings if not for 16D! That busybody Defender had entered her room without permission at the worst possible moment, forcing her to interrupt the copy process before she could finish downloading them off the Pod to her databanks. She'd snapped at her, that naïve, stupid good for noth-
11B quickly shut off that particular train of thought with a shake of her head.
Stop it! It's not her fault!
It took a moment to regain her composure and think about things rationally. Whatever the hurts she had about 16D, getting lost in recrimination grievances wouldn't help her. She had to focus on solving the problem on hand. She could dwell on her… turbulent relationship with 16D once she had located a suitable shelter and hiding spot within the city.
Then, she could follow through on her original plan. Unlike the Machine-held parts of the city, the location of allied units had been made a priority packet for the whole squadron rather than just their Pods. In the event that they were shot down, it was deemed important they knew where to find friendlies or at least make it back to allied territory. Territory which included the Resistance Camp.
She just needed to get out of Machine territory first. After that, would come the discarding of her old identifiers. It was a shame to lose the uniform, but it would have to go, along with everything that connected her to YoRHa. The cosmetic changes would be easy, her ID codes less so without her Pod, but it was doable. But the hardest would be also the easiest for YoRHa to track if they gained a hint of it. She had a few ideas, and hopefully the Resistance Camp would have materials needed to mask her black box signal.
It wouldn't be perfect, even at her most optimistic estimates the black box's signal couldn't be completely hidden from a close enough scrutiny. But as long as she kept her guard up, it would have to do.
And once that was done, her supplies gathered and intel on the surrounding area updated, would come the last stage of her plan. Figuring out where to go. Staying in the Resistance Camp was out of the question. She wasn't like the Independists, but she wanted out of this war for good. Maybe there would be others like her, sick of the war, but she doubted they'd be easy to find. And neither would she once she made her move. It wasn't safe in this region, and she couldn't trust that any of the androids here wouldn't turn her in.
But what about him?
11B's thoughts went back to the him in question, the android still motionless on the floor next to her feet.
He wasn't YoRHa, and while cosmetic modifications weren't unheard of amongst the ground forces, she suspected he wasn't one of the Resistance's either. And that didn't account for his equipment. It was too divergent, too different from anything she had seen or heard of issued to the Army of Humanity. The attached weapons were an oddity too, why wasn't he using an NFCS to store them? He was an unknown, and right now for her, unknowns meant danger.
Even if he had saved her from the Logic Virus, then the Machine reinforcements, he couldn't have known she was a deserter. If he found out, he'd surely turn her over to YoRHa or the Resistance without hesitation. Assuming he didn't try to kill her himself.
It... was a line of thought she didn't like. She didn't want to think that the strange helpful android who couldn't speak a word of Chaos language would turn on her like that. It was likely a slim hope, but…
She would at least stay for a little while longer to see if he would perform any self-repairs and reinitialize himself. She did owe him that much at least. After that, they would go their separate ways. She would go to the Resistance Camp, and him to wherever next that his mission demanded. And that would be that.
Hopefully.
Scrutinizing his armor, she found her thoughts circling over how strangely he had acted, trying to find an explanation that made sense. But then she realized that among that strangeness, he was taking far too long to reboot. Much longer than she had in fact. Worry began gnawing at her as worse case scenarios suggested themselves.
But if she wanted to do anything about that, she'd have to help herself first. Stabilize her damaged systems, then restore mobility. After that… she'd do what she could.
Very little, if she was being honest.
She wasn't a Pod, never mind a Scanner. Battlers like her had limited E- capabilities. Communication pings and digital handshakes weren't going to be useful here exactly. Not that she didn't try, but like the rest of him, his communications link remained inactive.
Maybe if she poked him...
"Tch," she scoffed at the thought. What a stupid idea. As if that would work.
But it wouldn't hurt to try...
Straightening her position, 11B reached out to his right arm, giving it a shake. As expected, it elicited no response from him. Nonplussed, she tried again. This time she put a hand on his breastplate and shook even harder.
This was a waste of ti-
"GAH!"
She jerked her hand back in surprise when the android jolted out of his inactive state. His breath, and wasn't that a strange thing to hear, was short and rapid from behind the faceplate before trailing off to a soft, almost-inaudible groan. Slowly, he turned his head towards 11B, the azure visor of his helmet meeting her gaze. In a fraction of a second, she wondered what thoughts were going on behind that faceplate.
Relief, she hoped, at seeing a friendly face in a city swarming with Machines. As long as her secret remained that way…
But no words were said as he turned his head back, arms moving to push himself upright and prompting 11B to scooch away a little to give him some space. Once on his feet, there was a sharp hiss, and 11B watched as the armored suit unfolded from the rear, revealing itself as some kind of armored exoskeleton as the somewhat smaller pilot emerged. Clad in a dark grey bodysuit, the pilot hopped down to the floor, briefly stumbling before catching onto the suit for balance.
It was an oddity, but one quickly dismissed as once he was upright, the pilot materialized a transparent pack filled with blue liquid in a flash of light. Wasting no time, he placed it on the exoskeleton's hand and 11B noted the sudden wafting of condensation as a thin layer of frost instantly encased the pack. Before she could ponder on the why, the answer became apparent when the pilot applied the frozen pack to his head.
11B was confused. Manifesting localized cryogenic fields on a platform that small was something currently beyond any android organization she knew of, and not for lack of trying. The program to do so must have been exceedingly complex. On the other hand, why was he using such an inefficient and crude method of heat dispersal? Had all the development budget gone into the exoskeleton and left the pilot as a sub par model?
It was ridiculous.
His dark grey attire didn't give the look of being made out of cast offs at the least. The design resembled a Resistance uniform in some ways, but looked more refined and methodical than the occasionally eclectic Old World military battle dresses used by most androids in the Army of Humanity she was familiar with. But contrasting that were his hands, bare of any artificial skin and looking absolutely primitive by current android standards.
The facts were a jumbled mess. His primitive design, unfamiliar language and mimicry of involuntary actions back at the Machine Factory. All of that indicated that he was an old android, possibly thousands of years old and almost as long out of contact with the world if he didn't even have the rudiments of Chaos language. Yet he was equipped with an advanced combat exoskeleton with cutting edge technology built into it.
He was a conundrum.
But thoughts of his oddity were shelved when he turned towards 11B, seating himself in front of the former YoRHa Battler with a hand set against his chest.
"Ah-Dum," he introduced himself, gesturing at her in turn with an expectant look.
Unfortunately, her speakers were still malfunctioning and low priority on repairs. 11B instead pointed to her throat and swiped her hand across her mouth as a way to indicate her current inability to speak.
It was as basic a form of communication as she could think of, one which got the gist of it across when he nodded in clear acknowledgement.
Then he continued to confuse her by lying down on the floor next to her feet, eyes closed, and the frosted over pack still applied to his head. Was he still damaged somehow? It wouldn't be a surprise after the crash, but if he was still in the process of self-repair, why the heat dispersal pack? Was his design that poorly optimized?
Pushing her thoughts to less unproductive directions, she found her eyes drawn to a peculiar blue circular patch on his right sleeve. It was a white emblem with an outline of Earth's map, an azimuthal equidistant projection centered upon the North Pole with all the continents radiating outwards from it. And surrounding that map was a pair of white olive branches, sitting atop a blue background. Like the pilot, the exoskeleton he wore, and just about everything about him, she didn't recognize the emblem either.
Though perhaps that was a question for a later time.
Whoever he was, this Ah-Dum didn't look like he was associated with any of the major android factions on Earth.
But at the same time, he couldn't have been just some ancient relic from several thousand years back who was reactivated recently. Not with the exoskeleton and Humanoid Pod in tow, both of them looking far too pristine, and more importantly, more advanced than he was. The thought that he had simply woken up for some arcane reason, stumbled into some abandoned advanced weapons lab and then made off with both prototype armor and Pod was considered and dismissed almost as quickly as it had formed.
That was just too ridiculous even for her.
But that still left her with equally unlikely theories as to who he was and where he came from. High fidelity mimicry of involuntary biological functions, primitive limb designs and substandard cooling. All of that sitting right next to examples of high performance technology. There were just too many contradictions about him to make any kind of educated guess. And the easiest way of getting some proper answers was stymied by the fact that he apparently just didn't speak any known dialect of the Chaos language.
Until they could actually talk to one another, 11B simply wasn't going to be getting any answers from him.
We're strangers now, but I hope you'll be reasonable about this Ah-Dum. I really don't want this to end up in a fi-
...
...
...
Wait a minute...
As 11B stared at him longer, she found herself focusing more on the uncanny yet mundane things about his body. Mimicry of involuntary biological functions, she remembered thinking. Now that she was looking for it, there was more to observe. Ah-Dum's lips kept shifting slightly at semi-random intervals despite being in a rest state. His chest as well, kept rising and falling by minute amounts, her auditory pickups detecting the rhythmic sound of breathing that matched to said chest movements. Rhythmic, but not entirely even. There were minute differences in timing and volume for each cycle she noted.
There was... there was a consistency to that inconsistency, as strange as it was to contemplate. Not even the most detail oriented androids would have done something like that in the biomimicry of their creators. Almost like he was actually-
...
...
...
N-no... No, it can't be...
11B suddenly felt as if her entire world had been turned upside down as idle thoughts became… not quite facts, but close. It would explain so many of her earlier questions, it would make sense. Underneath the advanced technology of her YoRHa visor, she laid wide disbelieving eyes on the brown-skinned figure.
I-is he...? Could he...?
Consciousness returned to Adam Menendez slowly as sleep began to fade. It tickled in his brain, pushing him slowly from the borders between sleep and waking. Enough that the throbbing headache from earlier began to make itself known again, lessened though it was by the cold gel pack.
How... long?
The thought was a barely coherent spark, not helped by the headache nor the rough concrete floor that was his current bed. Shifting the gel pack slightly over his closed eyes to better block the glaring light, he tried to fall back to sleep.
Only to remember where exactly he had passed out.
Eyes snapped open, but instead of a mechanical foe or worse, the Lancer was greeted by the sight of pale, shoulder length hair framing a face that was staring right back at him.
Or at least, he thought she was staring at him, the black blindfold covering her eyes made it impossible to tell. She was a lot closer than earlier too, kneeling on the floor next to him. Her posture ramrod straight as if she'd been like that the whole time.
Curiosity flickered through his mind, but before it could form into a question, the woman brought her hand up to her chest, palm inwards. Mimicking his earlier introduction, he realized.
And like him, she spoke her name.
"Veis Aksteiz."
The language was strange, unlike anything he had heard of before. Yet the name was also much more personable than he had expected for an android, and uplifting to know. A name like that felt more personal, more familiar to him than a simple numeric designation he half-expected her to have. It was more… human. And out here, with the closest being to a human around in hundreds of kilometers, that gave him some comfort.
Nice to meet you too, Veis Aksteiz.
Adam nodded in kind with a small smile to her greeting, before he felt the strain of the concussion pulling him under again. He hoped it would wear off by the time he woke up again.
~~|>> [-//=+=\\-] <<|~~
Author's Note: The part where 11B's reaction to seeing Adam is actually inspired by a segment from @lolrus555's NieR: Automata/Drakengard fanfic Singularity [D]isplacement. I asked him on PM if I could borrow small parts of the narration from his fanfic, change (a lot) and then apply it to this chapter. He was actually fine with it.
It's not exactly word-for-word, just using certain sentences, changed some of the words with their synonyms and edited some stuffs as well. Such as word arrangement, punctuation and so on. But the main idea is exactly like his.
Also, why 11B called herself "Veis Aksteiz" to Adam?
Keep in mind that in NieR 'verse, Chaos language is supposedly so divergent from English and any Old World language that they have no similarities to each other at all. Therefore, it makes sense that "11B" is pronounced very differently in Chaos.
Furthermore, "Veis" is based on the Hebrew letter "Bet", while "Aksteiz" is based on "üksteist", which is an Estonian word for "eleven".
I like the way you went about the reveal. It's not some infodump, all his secrets (and non-secrets) have not been aired, and 11B doesn't even have confirmation on his humanity. Just two people making inferences about the other based on what they can see and the little they can communicate.
I especially liked how the MC misinterpreted her alphanumeric designation as a proper name. That was a nice touch. You're doing quite well in writing an engaging story, I look forward to reading more.
Nevertheless, aside from beta-reading, @Mashadarof402 also plays an equally important part at creating this story, and at the same time making sure everything stays consistent and sensible. Proper credit should also be given to him as well.
Nevertheless, aside from beta-reading, @Mashadarof402 also plays an equally important part at creating this story, and at the same time making sure everything stays consistent and sensible. Proper credit should also be given to him as well.
To be frank, I was surprised that he added that anger vein on Adam's irritated expression. I could've asked him to remove the anger vein but since I found it amusing, I decided to let that remain in the image.
Adam banged his cybernetic fist three times against the white plate on the Storm Javelin's right side, checking if the armor's integrity was still holding up after it had been patched up with nanogel. It seemed perfectly fine so far, but that didn't deter him from pounding his fist on the armor a few more times out of an abundance of caution. He needed to make sure this particular section of the suit was still as solid as the rest.
Especially after it had been hit by energy weapons over the forest in the Kanagawa Prefecture. Even now, he still couldn't get over how a single energy bolt had managed to effortlessly punch through the Storm's Kinesis shield and tear through a good chunk of the armor plate, injuring him in the process. A single shot from what he was now increasingly certain was a foot soldier equivalent doing that much damage, unbelievable. He hoped the nanogel patch was sturdy enough to take another hit without completely failing.
But he couldn't rely on that. These rustbuckets presented a significant problem, and he needed a solution to that if he ever ran into them again out there.
Until then, if he was going to survive any further battles where he couldn't rely on his suit's protective systems, he'd have to simply adopt a more stringent combat ethos - don't get shot. Just like how it was in the last years of the Legion War, when he and his squadmates had to face new enemies armed with actual directed energy weapons of all things.
Ah Dios, what a nightmare... The Lancer grimaced at the thought of those insane engagements, shuddering at the revived memories of having to dodge lightspeed weapons that could carve him apart the instant they had a clean shot. Even in the dying stages of the war, those white monstrosities were still often able to come up with some nasty surprises.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Adam took a few steps back to give the Storm a full look. It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't terrible either. Dents, gouges and scraped paint practically covered the suit, not a single surface plate was left unblemished. Even so, the Javelin didn't look all that different from the other times when he returned to base after a mission.
"Not enough to give me an earful," Adam muttered, remembering the moments when Anjali Dutta, the Indian engineer back in the Yamanashi Bunker, gave him a lengthy reprimand or lecture every time he brought back the suit with extensive battle damage. Assuming of course, that this mission wouldn't be any different from what he used to carry out.
Sometimes he wondered if he was pushing his luck, performing solo assignments this deep into hostile territory. Though technically, it wasn't quite "solo", not when he had EVANS-Main and -Subroutine accompanying him through such missions. Regardless, instead of Legion grunts, he had robots to deal with. Hunchbacked machines everywhere, and most of them armed with energy weapons. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
Though speaking of… he worked his lips, feeling the dryness within. He hadn't hydrated at all in hours, hadn't he? Sending a mental command to his prosthetic arm, Adam's hand was engulfed in a flash of light, fading to reveal a steel canteen in it. But as he was about to open a lid, he caught a figure in his peripheral vision. Pulled back to the present, he quickly turned his sights to the only other person in the room.
Veis Aksteiz, the android he and EVANS had saved earlier. She stood a few feet away behind him, observing everything he did in silence as he examined the Storm.
She seemed friendly enough, as evidenced when the android helped him stand up after his recuperation from the concussion. Apart from giving him her name, she had remained quiet the entire time, the face of a stoic and silent observer. Which was… not entirely unexpected since none of them understood each other's language, resorting to basic gestures and pantomime as their only means of communicating with one another. Even with the black blindfold covering her eyes, he really doubted that she had any trouble seeing anything through it. The Lancer had a feeling that the piece of fabric wasn't so much just an aesthetic choice, but a vital piece of battle gear for the android.
It was on that tangent that Adam offered Veis his water canteen, driven by a curious whim. How deep was the emulation, would androids like her consume food and water too? But she raised her palm up in negation and shook her head, refusing his attempt at sharing water.
Nodding in acknowledgement, he started drinking. A few gulps later, he briefly mused on what thoughts were going on in Veis' mind regarding the human standing in front of her. Would she consider him odd? Something interesting for how he presumably didn't act like the others of her kind did? It was a broad assumption, but it wasn't like he had anything else to go on. In any case, he was pretty sure that by the act of sleeping, she would already know he wasn't an android. Androids didn't need sleep, right?
He wondered what humans were like to androids like Veis. Were there others amongst them, walking alongside as allies? Or were they living separately? Or perhaps he could be the first human her kind had ever seen in thousands of years… one that just happened to appear deep inside hostile territory while wearing ancient power armor and a combat mech that was so old, it might as well be obsolete by their standards. Either way, Adam wouldn't be getting any answers from her until they sorted out the language barrier between them. No doubt she had her own questions about him as well.
Done with his drink, the Lancer capped the canteen, letting it disappear back into his personal Flat Space Inventory. But as it vanished in a flash of light, it reminded him of a specific item he had secured into the FSI earlier at the factory. And from there, his thoughts went over to Veis. Usually, saving someone was a good way to build trust. But perhaps he could reinforce that belief further with this little gesture.
He placed a palm on the Javelin's forearm, gaining access to the suit's FSI and in an instant, a long slightly curved sword without a crossguard materialized in his hand. Flipping it around, he held it by the blade, pointing it hilt first to the person in front of him. Its rightful owner.
But when Veis Aksteiz didn't move to take her sword and just stared, Adam was suddenly worried. Had he offended her somehow with this gesture?
Thankfully, it proved not to be the case when she calmly reached out to take the sword from his cybernetic hand. In one smooth motion, she swung the weapon over her shoulder and a translucent yellow halo formed around the blade, locking it into place just behind her back.
It was maso, Adam realized.
His arcanist training letting him recognize the minute traces of magic from the glowing ring. An extremely refined application that even his military-only arcanist training could recognize was an incredible feat of engineering. He certainly couldn't remember the artificers and researchers in the old days being able to develop such finely tuned techno-magical capability, with or without the aid of alien Shaper tech.
Aside from Veis herself, that "halo-holster" just showed how far ahead her makers, or people, were compared to Project Endurance. If he made it out of this alive and brought Veis to the bunker, he had no doubt the poor android would be bombarded by a multitude of questions from the resident scientists Hanako, Hikari and Raymond.
But especially from Hikari, Adam thought with a silent chuckle. That woman wouldn't be satisfied with just a game of 50 questions. No, she'd want everything, scanning Veis from top to bottom. Nothing invasive, the woman still kept her morals fortunately. But she would keep going until she had enough information for her research.
A moment later however, and that feeling of nostalgic amusement faded, changed to a far more somber thought. He remembered why Hikari kept conducting arcane experiments in the laboratory for the past ten years. Just as he very well knew that nothing he could do would dissuade her from carrying on with her research.
Just like a week ago, when she tried to do the same and get him to move on… and that had ended in disaster.
But that he blinked back to reality, belatedly realizing he had been staring at Veis' sword for too long. An act which she had noticed in turn and was now staring back at him. Quite possibly trying to wonder what made him so fixated on her weapon.
Suddenly feeling sheepish, he looked away from her and started climbing into the suit.
Once the rear hatch was closed and locked into place, the Javelin's familiar HUD hologram lit, turning the darkened interior bright. Adam ran a quick diagnostics, pleased to note that all systems were nominal and there was no further damage of note from the crash. Ammunition checks revealed a similar state of being, with plentiful of spikes left for his Impulse rifle and the Steadfast heavy pistol was still full, having been unused yet.
So far, so good, but with the worrying large number of hostiles out there, he couldn't quite suppress the niggling fear that it wouldn't last the entire mission. The Lancer knew all too well from past experience that things would turn really… unpleasant for him once he started overly relying on combat magic at every engagement.
But for the time being, his current priority was to find the other Spectre mech.
"EVANS, do you know where the last drone crashed?" Adam asked.
"Based on the Spectre's last signal, I estimate its location to be 1.2 kilometres west of our current position," the AI subroutine replied, only to immediately speak again when a navigation pointer appeared on his tactical display. "Marking the location on your HUD."
Adam considered the indicated crash site, contrasting it with his current location. It wasn't far, not when a Javelin was concerned, but it was directly opposite of where he'd crashed through. Speaking of…
"By the way, have any idea what this place used to be?"
"Kanagawa Kenritsu Kawasaki Senior High School."
Upon hearing that name, he started looking around the dilapidated room, his eyes taking in the empty space they were in. It was… ordinary. A little too spacious for a regular classroom, it looked more suited for an office. Judging by the view outside the empty windows and large hole before him, the floor they stood on was several storeys higher than most high school buildings in Japan.
"Really? Looks more like an office building to me," he noted, walking past Veis to the other side of the room.
Part of him wondered if this building had been built later, and its builders unaware that there used to be a school here. On the other hand, it had been thousands of years since the bunker was sealed up. The builders here had probably tried putting up something else in its place.
"There is a stairwell nearby. We can use it to exit this building," EVANS suggested.
He considered it for all of a second, visions of endless crumbling stairs and painful tumbles dancing in his head. So too was backtracking, leaving by the hole he'd made in his crash and flying around. Adding, at most, a minute more of travel time. A minute that suddenly felt like far too much for him.
"No need. I have a better idea."
It was a shame they were so small, Adam thought, standing in front of the empty windows.
He wouldn't have fit even without the Javelin. But that was no reason he couldn't take a shortcut anyway. Arcane seals on his right arm flared anew with power, encasing his right hand in white rime. Icy fields chimed into being above his palm, short bursts of cryogenic energy striking the lower wall and ceiling, encasing them in a layer of frost. Another thought, and left hand was set ablaze with bright orange-red flames. With a gesture, an orb of fire shot out of his hand, lancing towards the frozen wall. Maso-manifested flames collided with ice, the two opposing elements violently detonating in an eruption of flash steam and pressure that blasted apart the wall, leaving an opening more than large enough for his purposes.
As the dust and mist dissipated, the first sight he was greeted with beyond the new hole was an unusually immense urban environment, packed thicker together than even the industrial zone he'd fled from. But these were in even worse condition, crumbling empty husks, devoid of anything but the occasional overgrowth that covered them from top to bottom. The view was too much like the ruined cities he'd fought in during the Legion War. It was eerie, but he hadn't made a second door just to reminiscence.
Turning his attention back to Veis, he knelt and pantomimed a few basic hand gestures about what he wanted her to do.
Instead she just stood there, staring back with a shocked expression. A second passed, and he started to wonder what was going on inside her mind. But then her face firmed up and she just walked over towards him without a word. Only when she was close enough to touch did she stop walking, staring up at his faceplate.
And still not saying a thing.
Was she offended? Or was she just shocked? Adam didn't know, but his patience was running a little low. He'd made that hole for a reason after all.
He was considering just scooping her up when she nodded at last.
Finally!
Wasting not another moment, he scooped up Veis' body in a bridal style carry, barely waiting long enough for her to put arms around his neck for additional support before standing up. Turning to the cityscape, he tapped into the flight systems, feeling the electric hum of its engines spooling up. A heartbeat, a second, and then he launched the both of them out the hole, letting gravity and momentum pull them clear. A moment later, and the distinctive mist-like aura of maso wrapped them both, suspending gravity for the duration.
With a strident whish, Adam took off into the air with an android in his arms.
Gusts of cold wind blew in 11B's face, ruffling her long white hair and fluttering the skirt of her combat uniform. But none of that distracted her, busy scanning for any suspicious movement with her visor as they flew past multiple city blocks. Any of these ruined structures were a perfect place for the Machines to hide and launch ambushes on unsuspecting androids, on foot or in the air.
It was no substitute for a Pod's sensor suite, but she was confident even in her impaired state that she could detect those rust-covered robots and warn Ah-Dum well before they attacked.
But with her thoughts now on him, the veteran Battler found her attention drifting on to other oddities around him. Like back when he blew a hole in the building.
Her visor had detected a massive surge of maso from the armored suit the instant Ah-Dum had activated his attack programs. Cryogenic and exothermic spells weren't entirely unknown to her, though hardly anyone used them anymore due to their limited effectiveness against the Machines. But simultaneous casting was something she'd never seen or heard of before, the processing load was simply too high to keep the maso stable. Was it a function of his flight suit, or was it just intrinsic to his nature?
Damn it. She didn't know, but it offended her on a professional level. YoRHa was supposed to be outfitted with the best, weren't they?
And then there was Ah-Dum himself.
With what she knew, her situation had changed, everything had. Her original plan to desert YoRHa and abandon this war was now so much scrap. It was just suspicions, little pieces here and there that she put together that didn't fit. But for something like this, even suspicions would do. The Machine War? After thousands of years of back and forth, it was just a pointless waste of lives.
But this, this mattered. More than escaping from YoRHa, more than her life even.
And for it to matter, she had to keep Ah-Dum safe, following him wherever he went. Staying in the city confines wasn't acceptable, not when the place was still crawling with Machines. But telling him that was frustratingly impossible when they didn't even share a common language. She didn't know of any kind of hand gestures that would convey just how dangerous the city was, or how there was actually a safe place where they could take shelter. Pointing fingers just wouldn't be enough.
But a change in the wind direction drew her thoughts away from how to redirect Ah-Dum to the Resistance Camp, and more towards the fact that they were descending. Wherever he was going, they were close.
Down they went, coming up to a cluster of empty multi-storey buildings before landing on the roof of one. Almost immediately, she understood why he'd chosen this place. Close to their landing spot was another Humanoid Pod, apparently having crashed on a pile of now broken machinery.
11B dismounted, following after Ah-Dum as he approached the Pod and began the process of stripping it for useful materials, starting with the weapons on its waist. When that was done, he took one of its hands, and a faint orange light began to glow at the point of contact. It wasn't any program she was familiar with, but the context was easy enough to figure out.
He was accessing the Pod's storage space to remove anything useful. Given the battered state of the Pod, barely resembling the original form she first saw, it was unlikely Ah-Dum would be attempting to repair it on site. Without access to full service facilities, it was doubtful it could be restored to any level of functionality, and there was neither the time nor carrying space to try and bring something so large with them.
It was both a pity and a shame. 11B had hoped to see it in action once more, to gauge its performance and usefulness for YoRHa in the Machine War.
The transfer of materials completed, Ah-Dum released the Pod's hand with a fading wink of light. But contrary to her expectations, he was not quite done yet, removing the back-mounted launcher from the articulating arm and vanishing it into his storage space.
Only then did he rise from the wreck, walking past her until he was next to the parapet where he just… stood there.
Was there something at the ruined building across the street he was staring at, or was he just thinking? With his face concealed and no other attempts at communication, she had no idea what he was planning.
Wait… Was he… upset over the loss of the Humanoid Pod? No, that was silly. Who would care about that? Pods were meant to be replaceable, more so than androids.
Right?
…
...
...
What was she supposed to do? 11B knew a dozen ways on how to dismantle the Machines with just as many different weapons, seamlessly integrate into a fight with her sisters whether it was in the air or on the ground. When it came to combat, she was as good at it as any other Battler series out there. But how was she supposed to comfort someone's emotional issues?
…she couldn't even deal with 16D's.
She lowered her face. Thinking about that particular Defender brought back a wave of unpleasant memories. 11B hated that part of her, venting her pain on the only one who looked up to her. She hated herself more for abusing the meek android with words and more, despite the promise she had made to protect her. Guilt gnawed at her, memories of every cruel thing she had heaped on 16D filling her head. The abuse she had heaped on during training, the rebukes for every little thing. She had been horrible towards 16D, and the Defender deserved better than that.
Heavy stomping from Ah-Dum's exosuit fortunately spared her from dwelling further on such thoughts, prompting 11B to lift her face up to him as he approached.
Standing before her, he held out a hand and a holographic 3D map of the city was projected from the palm. The small red dot in the middle leapt out at her almost immediately, but there were no tags to explain its significance.
But studying the other details of the map, 11B suddenly realized that she knew this area. The Resistance Camp was in this sector, and relatively close to that marked location at that. She could-
A throat cleared, startling her from her thoughts. With her attention gained, Ah-Dum pointed at himself before directing a finger at the map, making his intent obvious even without words. The red dot was his next destination. Switching off the map after a few seconds, he waved his arms for a bit, pantomiming scooping her up like he had on their flight over.
The message was easy enough to figure out: Did she want to come with him?
As if he needed to ask.
A quick nod, and Ah-Dum had her nestled in his arms again before taking off, leaving behind the damaged Humanoid Pod as they oriented towards the center of the City Ruins. There were still a lot of uncertainties to deal with, but 11B felt more determined than she had ever been.
Maybe this time, this time things would get better.
~~|>> [-//=+=\\-] <<|~~
Author's Note: Hello, fellas. We're back and this story is not dead in the water. Real life truly has a habit of placing hurdles in our way each time we try to do something, huh? Anyway, we have a new collaborator on this fanfic - halosammy from SB. I invited him to take part of this story's development as our loremaster, to make sure that every NieR-related stuff we write in the story is consistent with canon.
Oh, hey. One of the best NieR fics is back! Glad to see it's not dead, though I do hope you update again this year.
11B's character development is coming along nicely and is visibly growing past canon. I look forward to seeing her grow into her chosen role more as the story progresses.
On the other hand, Adam sems to be unduely impatient for as yet unknown reasons. Not sure what that's about, but it sounds bad for 11B's plans to point him torwards the resistance base. It might be difficult to pin him down long enough to get that communication through.
