The Jeager Project

CH. 09: 8S's Story/Obsession

"...COMPLETED. JEAGER ANDROID 8S, OPERATIONAL." It was bright. Was the lighting broken? He would have to go report the issue to the maintenance department. Either way, resources in the Bunker were very limited. Launching resources from Earth was becoming a challenge. It was all because of the enemy's air defense system...huh? Hadn't he already succeeded in nullifying the defense system? "Good morning, 8S." Pod 153 floated into his field of vision. Beyond it 8S could see sky. The view of the sky, from Earth. No wonder it was bright. "I..." Why was he sleeping in such a place? "Fighting inside the enemy unit led to the collapse of the structure. JeaGer android 8S sustained damage from the fall, and was put into a state of emergency suspended animation. The landing location was deemed dangerous, and 8S was transported to the current location." Fall? Ah, that's right, 8S thought, as he pulled himself up. A significant enemy had suddenly appeared, and destroyed part of the wall and floor. Right where 8S had been standing. He lost his footing, and there was nothing he could do. Even though his target was standing right in front of him. This was the second time he had missed out on killing A3. Last time the abrupt appearance of the tower had collapsed the bridge. He was frustrated that twice, Machines had interrupted, taken his footing away, and ended their encounter. What aggravated him even more was what A3 had said to him. "3R said she warned you to be a kind person." He thought it despicable that she would use 3R's words in an attempt to deceive him. It was already bad enough that she wore an identical face. But she had used those identical lips to quote 3R. Unforgivable. No, the person impossible to forgive was himself. His careless self, who allowed A3 to save him. He had failed to finish off 21O, or 21B, and instead was almost killed. Right before 21B dealt the decisive blow, A3 swept in from behind and stabbed 21B in the back... "Operator..." "The model 21O you encountered has died. Black-box signal is no longer active." 8S's tone was indifferent, bluntly acknowledging the statement with an "I see." He already knew that 21O had died. "Update me on the current situation." "The required number of access keys has been acquired." Even though he had fallen from the roof, he was still able to collect the necessary items. It would have been a disaster if, on top of that, A3 had stolen the access keys. Well, if that had happened he would have just taken them back. "Accessing the subunits and investigating the tower is now possible."

"Roger that." The end was near.

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The mumbling voice rang throughout the crater zone. Perhaps he had just heard it so many times and gotten used to it, but this time he didn't feel as irritated. All he wanted to do was hurry up and destroy it. "Hello! This is the Tower System Service." The echoing made the words sound even more broken. The locks on all three subunits had been released. Finally he could enter his original target, the tower. "Congratulations! You've unlocked all the subunits. The last prize is stored in the tower." Prize? Wasn't it just going to be another foolish Machine, enshrined as though it were some God? "We look forward to your visit!" Right as the announcement ended, Machines started to fly down from the sky. Attacking even though they had just said they would be "looking forward" to his visit. What a Machine-like thing to do. Even if Machines couldn't talk in the first place. "Get out of the way!" The more enemies he destroyed, the more appeared. The tower's door had an ostentatious hacking point. While he was hacking the door, his chassis would be vulnerable to attack. If there were only a couple of enemies, he could tell Pod to cover him, but it was infeasible against a large force of Machines. He was reminded of the times 3R covered for him while he hacked. He felt the glaring absence of 3R now more than ever. If this was what the enemy was aiming for, he had to admit it was effective... "Shit! There's no end!" If only he could destroy the enemies as quickly as a Type B, he would be able to hack the door while the enemy reinforcements were on the way. But with the battle capabilities of a Type S it took too long to defeat an opponent. As soon as he destroyed one, another would appear in front of him. At this rate he would never vanquish enough of the opposing force to let Pod do mop-up. Once he was out of energy, that was it. 8S panicked, thinking of a way around the situation. "Report: Signals of allied troops." "Allied?" Did it mean enemy troops? The JeaGer squadron had fallen. The only troops left were infected and had gone berserk. "We knew you'd come." 8S heard his name and turned around to see Devola and Popola standing behind him. They were both holding swords. "You're..." The two started sprinting at the same time. They slid past the speechless 8S toward the Machines. Their swords flashed. Machine heads fell to the ground.