Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everything that lives is designed to end. 

They are perpetually trapped in a never-ending cycle of life and death.

Even in the face of death itself, they continue to move forward.

How long will it take until every single one of them will lose touch with themselves?

Within the Bunker, there was a speech ongoing.  Commander White and many other androids— including E17 herself, donned combat armor that hid their faces.  Thanks to the defeat of Adam and Eve primarily due to 2B and 9S, the machine network was sent into chaos.  This was the perfect time to counterattack.

Her voice was radiant and echoed throughout the room.

“We've confirmed that the network core units known as Adam and Eve have been destroyed.  The enemy's chain of command has been thrown into complete chaos.  As such, humanity has chosen to seize this opportunity and launch an all-out attack against the machine forces.”

A pause in her sentence.  The atmosphere tensed.

“Of course, the forces of YoRHa will participate in this endeavor.”

“Remember your pain.  The pain of having your homeland stolen.  We will NEVER give up our struggle.  We will take back the seas!  The sky!  The land!  We will take back our world from the scourge of the machines!  We will not fail in this mission!  Here and now, we will put an end to this goddamn war!”  Her voice continued to echo throughout the Bunker, the rest of the androids being mesmerized.

However, E17 was still focused on the idea that A2 could be in danger.  The memories of the deserter android was becoming clearer as time went on, not even bothering to pay attention to what Commander White was saying.

She remembered how short that android's hair was.  The way of how they would stammer if she got nervous, or the way of how she got embarrassed easily.  Yet, the faces of the other androids from the past weren't exactly as vivid.  But there's one particular android that stood out from the rest, an android that had a ponytail and what appeared to be an eyepatch.  The executioner was able to remember her somewhat, but the thought of that one made her feel... insecure.  She couldn't explain why or how that was the cause, it just made her feel like that.  Emotions are so very, very complicated. And by the Gods, it was an awful feeling.

Those were the only details that she could possibly remember.  Everything else was super blurry still.  However, there was another reason why E17 was remaining quiet- her head felt extremely lightheaded.

Her gaze then returned to reality, hearing Commander White say the signature YoRHa standard.

“Glory to Mankind."

Within an instant, the YoRHa soldiers mimicked Commander White's gesture, every single one of them in unison.  E17 was following as well, albeit hesitantly. “Glory to Mankind!”

A young man’s voice began to speak.  It was the inner thoughts of 9S, as he was going to do his one last mission from YoRHa— once and for all.

“Before I could convince myself to tell 2B the truth…  our final major operation had begun.  Still at the time, I knew nothing.  Not how the battle would end… Nor what fate stood in wait for us.”

His mission was a success.  He needed to hack into the machines that would provide air defenses against the final assault from YoRHa.  Multiple other scanners did the exact same mission, and now it was time for everyone to get involved in their final mission against the machine lifeforms.

In the midst of the crowd of the Bunker, E17 is there with the other YoRHa soldiers.  Her mission for this assault is simple— if there were any androids to go berserk, she would need to kill them immediately.  They couldn’t risk anything to go unplanned.

Somehow this… felt familiar.

E17 clenched her fist realizing what needs to be done.  But her thoughts were consistently surrounding the deserter android, wondering what was happening to her in this chaos.

A2…

As the descent happened, the atmosphere was completely different from its sunny view.  Much like how 2B and 9S are there to provide support, E17 is there to provide support but in a different manner— which is to kill anyone that goes berserk.  The mission was almost a success, however, a large EMP attack happened within the City Ruins.

The machines have extended their necks, their necks radiating an electromagnetic field.  Without warning, the magnetic fields went off— causing all the androids to scream out in agony.

Thankfully E17 was at a further distance away from the others, but she could feel the electromagnetic EMP as if it were like a gust of wind going against her.

“2B!”  A voice rang out in the distance, and she looked up, seeing 9S coming down to assist.  He was going to assist E17 in the best way possible, to guarantee that 2B would be safe.  However, as they were in the midst of fighting the machines— a conversation started between the two.

“How are you not affected by the blast?”  9S commented, as he was hacking the machines causing the EMP blast.  Whereas E17 was shoving her Faith sword down a machine’s head.  “That doesn’t matter now.   We have to focus on saving them!”  Her voice dripped with determination, and if her combat mask and visor were off, she would have a determined glare.

“R-Right, obviously!”

As the two androids were able to successfully eradicate the machines,it didn’t take long for 9S to rush over to 2B’s side.  

“2B!  Are you okay!?”

As E17 killed off the last machine, 2B was slowly waking up, grunting in pain. The battle android then got up, removing the combat mask to breathe freely, gulping down saliva.  The three androids stood by one another, until the rest of the squadron began to scream out in agony.

“AHH! AAAAAAHHH!”

Almost every single YoRHa android besides the three of them would clutch their heads, squirming on the ground.  9S and 2B stood in disbelief as they watched the events unfold, but E17 knew what was coming.

“Is this a wide-area virus!?”  9S said out loud, the androids continuing to squirm on the ground.

Not too long after, 2B began to also clutch her head in agony, falling down to her knees as she began to express the pain she was feeling. “A-Agh!”

“2B!”  9S didn’t hesitate to reach out to the battle android, going at a knee’s height and trying to figure out what to do.  Immediately E17 spoke to the scanner android, her blade still visible.

“Hack into 2B’s systems.  I’ll kill any machine that comes nearby.”

“Right!”

As the hacking commenced, some machines tried to get close but E17 wasn’t having it.  She defended the two androids with her life, even if she didn’t need to.  They need to live.  They need to live.  As 2B was able to get back on her feet, the three androids looked around at the others.

The other YoRHa androids… They were laughing.  Their eyes flashed a red glow.

The Logic Virus.

9S’s voice trembled.  “They’ve been infected and taken over!”

“No…”  2B responded, holding up her sword in a defensive stance.  They weren’t able to attack the androids!  They were still labeled as YoRHa soldiers and not as deserters in the Bunker!  It was physically restraining them from attacking!

“We can’t attack them!”  E17 commented, as she was clashing with one of the YoRHa androids that have been infected.  E17 couldn't even bring herself to attack, as she could only fight YoRHa soldiers who were labeled as deserters.  “That’s because of their YoRHa ID’s!  2B, 17B— I need to hack into your guy’s systems.”

“Do it already!”  The two androids said in unison, and it didn’t take long for 9S to hack into their systems.  In almost an instant, the two androids began to attack the infected YoRHa soldiers.  In the middle of fighting, 2B commanded Pod-042.  “Pod!  Contact Command and send a distress signal!”

“Alert:  All communications are currently being jammed.”

“Son of a—”

“Don’t worry, I was able to locate the unit that’s jamming our comms.”  9S commented, as the last YoRHa android was able to be killed by E17.  The infected android let out a blood curling scream until their the red glow in their eyes vanished.

“Marked destination on map.” Pod-042 responded.  It wouldn’t take long for the trio to fight the large machine that was jamming their comms, but it still wasn’t going through.  Even after ALL of their attempts to get this working, it still wasn’t going through!

Thankfully the trio was able to relax for just a moment.

“Dammit!  Are they still jamming us!?”

“Negative.  Server authentication failed.  Unable to contact Command due to authentication failure.  Command is not in any of the channels.”

“What the hell is going on at the Bunker?”  E17 commented, before looking at her own Pod.  “Pod, attempt to contact Command!”

As Pod-092 attempted to contact the Bunker, it ended in failure.

“Alert: Bunker not located in channels.  Unable to contact Command.”

“Fuck!”

The three androids were incredibly stressed, and it seemed to be affecting E17 the most.  Her Emotional Inhibitors— it was causing her heart rate to accelerate, her hands shaking.  “Why the hell isn’t Command responding!?”

However, their peace was shortly interrupted with the attack of even more machines coming in.  One of the flying machines that had multiple parts attached to it’s body swooped in when E17 was least expecting it.  She was then on the head of the machine, gritting her teeth.

“You damn bastard!  Let me go!”

“17B!”

As 2B reached out, 9S quickly grabbed 2B’s hand.  “Don’t focus on that now!  Look what’s happening around us!”  There were more YoRHa androids circling around the two, immediately clashing with 2B and 9S.

This is the end of YoRHa.