8 Chapter 8

Currently, it was only Azriel, 2B, 9S, and the pods as Commander White told Azriel that she will be meeting him in person at the entrance of the facility.

As they were making their way back to the entryway, 9S asked Azriel if he would mind answering some questions for him.

"Sir, if you don't mind, could I ask you some questions? Um regarding...what it was like before, you know, everything....the war?" asked 9S timidly.

"Which war? World war 1,2? The one with the WCS and its monsters? The current one with the machines and aliens? I don't know much about the latter, though," Azriel amusedly replied.

"Oh! Ah um," 9S then lowers his head and whispers to himself "stupid me, why did I ask such a vague question?" After gathering himself, he scratched his head with one hand and glanced at Azriel before sheepishly saying, "Ah, my apologies for the vague question Sir, I meant the time when it was peaceful."

"It's alright, I was just messing with you 9S haha," Azriel let out a brief chuckle as he replied.

"Let's see, the peaceful times huh, wait, before that, what is the current situation of the world? Are we winning against the aliens? Have our technologies advanced far enough to reach the stars? Did we humans manage to win against WCS? Which countries still exist?" Azriel asked the questions in one breath.

9S was overwhelmed by the questions as usually, he was the one asking questions, not the other way around. He was panicking a bit at which question he should start to answer when 2B decided to answer them for him.

"Sir, currently we are at a stalemate with the aliens and the machines. Both sides suffered heavy casualties with each subsequent war. This is the 14th war against them. Our technologies did advance to fight off the seemingly ever-evolving machine lifeforms but I'm not sure what other advancements were made other than the ones for the military. I also do not have sufficient information on if humanity managed to fight off WCS but since the Council of Humanity didn't mention anything about WCS all these years, I hypothesize that WCS is gone for good. No other human countries exist on Earth anymore as the remaining humans have escaped to the moon. I apologize for my lack of proper information Sir," reported 2B as she bowed her head at the end of her sentence.

"I see...no worries 2B and thank you for getting me up to date. That...was a lot to take in. We are pushed back so hard that we had to give up our planet and escape to the moon? At least there are still some people left and are not wiped out completely," said Azriel in a somber tone more to himself than to others.

"Sir....," voiced 2B in a worried tone. 9S too was looking at him worriedly while thinking of what to say or do to cheer him up.

"Hmm? Ah sorry about that. No matter. At least there is still hope that one day we will take back what is ours. We have already survived and recovered from a major extinction event, the WCS, and we will survive this one as well. As long as we survive, no matter how long or how difficult, we WILL make a comeback," replied Azriel casually with some determination behind his voice.

"After all, we humans are quite tenacious," Azriel continued with a chuckle.

Unbeknownst to him, from the moment 2B and 9S made contact with him, the pods of both of them started to live stream the proceedings for record and for the androids back in the bunker command room to see. His casual comment made the androids watching the stream in the command room fill up with hope, determination, and devotion.

Commander White, who was still at the bunker as her transport was still preparing, on the other hand, was filled with more despair as she would have to break the news to Azriel that humans had gone extinct years ago. The only ones that know about this secret were Commander White, the non-sentient robots on the moon base, and The Red Girls.

Commander White was now debating in her head if she should keep this secret to herself and not tell Azriel. She discarded this idea instantly as it would be impossible to do so. She could imagine what reaction she would get from Azriel after he learned the truth. She couldn't bear to destroy the hope he held. She continued to think of ways to avoid the inevitable but had no luck.

At this point, Commander White wished she was also ignorant of the truth like everyone else. At least then, she wouldn't have to be faced with this dilemma. Nonetheless, for now, she needed to release this recording to all the other androids to further increase their morals. She suddenly stood up straight and saluted,

"Glory to mankind!" shouted Commander White.

""""""Glory to mankind!"""""" echoed all the androids in the command room as they stood up hastily and saluted with renewed vigor. The morale was so high that each and every android in the command room wanted to go down to earth and fight the machines themselves even though they are not combat models.

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2B and 9S too were in the same boat as the androids back in the bunker when they heard Azriel's comment. Hearing what he said fills them with determination, hope, and devotion. As they too made a salute, shouting "Glory to mankind!" which made Azriel cringe when he heard it.

'Eh who came up with that slogan, aren't they too narcissistic? And these androids say it with such vigor and with straight faces. Well, it kind of makes sense since we are the ones they are fighting for but damn is it cringy. Glory, heh, at times like these, we don't have the luxury for such things. To mankind's survival is more practical. Hmm, then again, it is starting to grow on me. I suppose in order to achieve great heights, we must aim high.' thought Azriel.

"Alright, guys.....let's continue on our way, yes?" asked Azriel uncomfortably as he could feel the looks of admiration and devotion behind those blindfolds.

'Why are they wearing blindfolds anyway now that I noticed. Some kind of a military visor or something?' thought Azriel.

'"Yes Sir!"' came two energetic replies.

"By the way, why are you guys wearing blindfolds? Is it some kind of a visor? Or something symbolic? And also is that the official uniform for female androids?" asked Azriel when he finally got a chance to clearly look at their outfits while walking. 2B was wearing a gothic style outfit consisting of a short dress with a flared skirt and a pair of black high heels over sheer black stockings.

'The one who made them must be a man of culture as well indeed, I highly approve. Or is this their formal dress for special occasions and would wear more combat-oriented for combat? Either way, she looks great in it,' thought Azriel as he scanned 2B from head to toe while nodding.

2B, being the focus of his gaze, felt her pulse increase for reasons unknown to her as she felt a feeling she couldn't describe. She felt happy and also embarrassed for some reason sending her thoughts into chaos. She tried her best to fix whatever error it was that caused this but her scans show that everything was normal.

2B wasn't responding so 9S answered his question with a nod, "That is correct, it is a standard-issue military visor, and through it, we can see things that we wouldn't normally be able to see that help us in battle situations. The outfit is also the standard YoRHa uniform for female androids. Is there something wrong with the outfit?" ended 9S with a question while tilting his head a bit to the left.

"Thanks for answering my questions 9S that was helpful and no, nothing's wrong with the outfit," thanked Azriel to 9S with a smile.

'Hmm, either their skins are tough enough to not require additional armor and wear such clothes or these quite revealing clothes are more than meets the eye.' Azriel thought.

"I am happy to be of help, Sir," replied 9S cheerfully.

2B seemed to be stumped so Azriel thought he had offended her with his looks and comment thus he apologized.

"Ah I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable 2B. The dress looks good on you, I was just curious," (Azriel)

"I...I'm not bothered by it, Sir; it's alright," 2B tried to reply as usual but stuttered making her confused as to why.

"Alright then, let's go, we have wasted enough time, I want to get out of this dreary facility as fast as possible," (Azriel)

""Right away Sir!"" (2B, 9S)

"Please allow me to lead the way Sir," continued 2B.

"Go ahead," (Azriel)

"9S, protect the rear," commanded 2B.

"Got it," 9S nodded with a serious look. Azriel was now sandwiched between 2B and 9S as they continued their exit.