It was actually convenient when a few flight units ambushed 9S. He shot down all but one of them with Pod’s artillery. For the last unit, he hacked the infected android aboard and stole the unit. Navigating to the top floor would me much easier in a flight unit.
“Pod, transfer the controls to me.”
“Warning: This flight unit is confirmed to be infected with a logic virus, and will affect…”
“Transfer, now!”
“Roger.”
Viral infection? Like he cared. He was already infected. He had just delayed it by injecting himself with the vaccine on hand. It wasn’t a vaccine specifically designed to combat this type of virus, but as long as it bought him enough time to destroy the tower, he was fine with it.
The edges of his vision began to go dark. He could hear a slight noise in his auditory mechanisms. He didn’t have much time left, probably. Mumbling that he had to hurry, 9S entered the flight unit.
Flying types appeared as he was ascending. They were extremely irritating, like small insects flitting about in front of him.
“Up, up,” 9S mumbled as he fought. He defeated a small walking type, a flying type, a medium four-legged walking type, and a snakelike Machine, before carrying onward.
He also fought a large spiderlike Machine on the way.
“We are… n0t… bad Mach1nes…”
“1 am… We are…”
“1-1-11… W-we…”
The Machines suddenly started making strange noises.
“What’s happening?”
“Report: Confirmed the disintegration of enemy AI. Speech impediment is the repercussion of aforementioned event.”
“Enemy AI? The little girls disintegrated? They died?”
Then why were the Machines still moving? Why was this large one still crawling around, and that flying type still buzzing about?
“Hypothesis: Machine attacks are carried out according to residual data left on enemy servers.”
In the end, unless he destroyed the tower, it seemed like these Machines would keep functioning. And keep spouting vexing utterances.
“Let’s play let’s play let’s play… Play w1th me”
“M0m m0m m0m!”
“We’re gods we’re g0ds we are g0ds!”
Be quiet. You’re so annoying. Shut up. Just break.
I don’t want to hear anything other than 2B’s voice. I only want to hear 2B’s voice. And 2B’s footsteps. And her breaths. And the sound of her swinging sword. And the rustle her clothes make when she moves. And and and…
All the other sounds can just be gone.
Ah, that’s why I’m destroying. 2B isn’t here. I’m destroying everything because I can’t tolerate anything other than 2B.
“Let’s head… t0 the stars.”
“Let’s s1ng… a s0ng.”
“We 0ffer… n0w.”
Shut up. Why do I keep hearing their voices? Am I imagining things because of the infection? That’s probably it. A Machine wouldn’t ask questions like, “Why do we exist?”
Just break already!
“Pod!”
A laser at full power pierced the large Machine. The spherical body melted from the heat, and just as he realized it was swelling up, it exploded in a thunderous bang. 9S hunched over and fought through the blast.
The shock wave passed, and his surroundings settled down. The smoke cleared from his eyes, and he could see again. As he was chasing the Machine, he had reached the top floor.
“A2…”
A2 stood amidst the dust in the air. He had finally found her. There was no Machine presence nearby. Pod was silent too. No enemy signals. There would be no interruption. This time, he could kill A2.
9S pointed his sword at A2. But A2 refused to take a fighting stance.
“This tower is a giant cannon aimed toward the human server on the moon. The residual human data is going to be destroyed,” said A2.
So? What was the problem? What was she saying all of a sudden? This was a really useless conversation. The back of his throat trembled with laughter. It was so ridiculous he couldn’t bear it.
“Whatever…”
He restrained himself from laughing.
“Nothing matters anymore. Not even that.”
He saw A2 faintly furrow her brow. A2 probably didn’t know the truth. That’s why she was worried about how this facility was a giant cannon, with such conviction.
“Did you know? Humanity is dead,” said 9S.
The truth that he was never able to reveal to 2B. He didn’t want to shock her, to upset her, so he had never told her.
“And to hide that fact, the human server on the moon was established to give androids a reason to fight with their lives on the line. We were made to protect that lie,” said 9S.
We weren’t created to exterminate the Machines, or take back Earth.
“To complete the lie, the YoRHa squadron was arranged to be annihilated,” 9S continued.
Humans still lived on a lunar base. As long as that lie was left standing. The rest was…unnecessary.
“Did you know? The commander, 2B, and I…we were all sacrificial lambs.”
We weren’t created to be a symbol of hope for humanity. We weren’t born into this world because someone needed us. We weren’t needed, yet fought, and died. Our lives had utterly…no meaning.
The red girls weren’t lying. It was all true.
“Your existence is pointless.”
They were right.
“9S, we’re…”
A2 opened her mouth to say something. It was easy to tell that she was troubled from her voice and expression.
“Shut up!”
Don’t look at me like that, he screamed inside his head. He couldn’t forgive that face, identical to 2B’s. He couldn’t forgive those hands that held 2B’s sword. That day, she…
“You killed 2B.”
He couldn’t forgive that the most. Even if, that day, 2B was already infected with the virus. Even if her eyes were red when she looked back at him.
“That’s reason enough for us to kill each other,” said 9S.
A2 had still taken 2B’s life with her sword.
“2B…”
A2 opened her mouth again.
“2B was struggling. She had to disguise her model type, and keep killing you.”
Disguise her model type? Why did A2 know about that?
“She was formally known as 2E. A Type E model responsible for executing YoRHa androids.”
Why did this bastard know that?
That 2B’s real identity was a model E, with a directive to execute 9S when he came too close to uncovering the truth. 9S had only figured out this fact after spending a long time working with 2B.