The Jeager Project

CH. 10: 8S's Story/Truth

CONSIDERING HE HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN A CLOSE-RANGE EXPLOSION, HIS VISUAL MECHANISMS WERE SURPRISINGLY INTACT. But he couldn't hear at all. His auditory mechanisms were still recovering. He tried to sit up, but lost balance. He had tried propping himself up on his left arm, but instead clumsily fell backward. Peering toward where his left arm should be, he realized it was missing. The moment he saw the jagged, open wound, he felt tremendous pain. Remarkably, he hadn't been aware of the searing ache from his arm being ripped apart. He was immobilized from the great misery. He clenched his teeth in desperation, but couldn't hold back from moaning. He briefly thought he was going to die. He looked around to try and diffuse the pain. He saw 3R. Her chassis was lying on the ground. There was only one left, miraculously having avoided the fate of being buried beneath the rubble. "3R..." He extended his right hand to stroke her cheek. Back at the Bunker, when 3R was going through maintenance, she had lain like this, with her eyes closed. If he said "All done" now, would she open her eyes as she had so many times in the past? "What an idiot." He knew it was impossible. 3R was dead. The fact dawned on him, and rage began to boil in his veins. "I can't...die yet." With every heaving breath his upper body stiffened in pain. Even still, he forced himself to sit up. He was already out of breath. Panting heavily, he straddled 3R's chassis and clutched her left arm. Pain shot through his whole body as he gripped it with his right hand. He tugged on 3R's arm with all his might. He heard a dull snap. It hurt him to hear the sound, as if his own arm had been torn off. He shoved 3R's arm, soaked in red liquid, toward his wound. He needed a replacement. "Need to fight..." It felt like someone was pressing scalding metal onto his wound. He couldn't even clench his teeth or roll around in pain. Instead, he focused every single ounce of will into staying conscious, and at times, wondered if letting go would make things easier. But of course, he wasn't going to let himself do that. The left arm was infected with a logic virus. He needed to perform self-hacking the instant it connected. If he lost consciousness now, the virus would certainly overtake him. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the pain kept him conscious throughout the process. He finished clearing the virus, and tested the arm's functionality. There was a slight awkwardness, but it was acceptable. If he adjusted the movements of his other limbs, he would have no problem maneuvering.

"I will fight..." 8S stood up, with a determined gaze toward the end of the room. 

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He eventually reached the back of the room and arrived at a large door. Right as he passed through the door, it closed behind him. The windows, which were open and facing out, were immediately sealed off. To think he would be so blatantly caged in. It was almost comical at this point. In the middle of the enclosed room stood two little girls. He realized that he knew them. "JeaGer android 8S!" "JeaGer android 8S!" The little girls wore one-piece dresses. One had a high voice, the other a low voice. While it was the first time he had seen their faces, 8S felt like he knew them. Their gaze and presence were familiar. "Welcome to the tower!" "Welcome to the tower!" This mumbling way of speech—he was reminded of the same announcement he had heard three times. It wasn't the same exact voice, but he could tell that these girls had been the ones doing the talking. Swinging his sword through them, he felt no resistance. It seemed that they had no physical bodies. It confirmed a suspicion he had. These girls were the culprits that had snuck into the Bunker and spied on the JeaGer squadrons' activities. They were the very presence he had struggled to detect. "Since you made it here, we have some very tempting information for you, you wretch." "Since you made it here, we have some very tempting information for you, you wretch." Their odd vocabulary and colorless tones were unbearably eerie. So much so that he wanted to run his blade through them right away. "Ugh..." He felt an uncomfortable sensation, like his mind had been scraped with sandpaper. Similar to the feeling he had when he was forcefully given the location to the resource recovery units in the crater zone, but this time much stronger. Words suddenly flooded his brain. "Th-this...is..." A file, labeled "Extremely Confidential," began to unravel in his mind.