Pods

2B's POV

I walked around the roof where we used to practice all the time.

"Pod, are there any missions?" I asked

"Analyzing agenda, save Creed." said Pod 042

"No he's fine for sure. Plus I don't know where to start and how to find him." I mumbled

I sat on the edge of the roof looking down at City Ruins. That's when I heard footsteps approaching in the staircase and Avery and Nines came out.

"Hi 2B." greeted Nines

"Morning Nines what brings you here?" I asked

"Creed's hawk." replied Avery

She handed me a small folded paper. When I opened it it read, "I love you too 2B, I'm sorry I'm not there but I promise I'll be home soon." My heart fluttered in joy and I smiled.

"What did you send Creed?" I asked

"Oh, well uhh we sent him the usual. Let us know what you find." replied Avery

"2B we do have an unusual mission today." said Nines

"What is it?" I asked

"Well for some reason Anemone wants us to find the place Boris was contained in." replied Nines

"Why now and not before?" I asked

"I don't know it just popped into her mind all of a sudden." replied Avery

"Then let's go." I said

"A2 and 4S are already waiting for us at the Flooded City." said Nines, "And 22B, 64B, 8B and 12H are also joining us."

I nodded so I jumped off the roof and grabbed onto my Pod and glided down.

We met up with the others and headed towards the Flooded City. When we got there A2 was waiting for us.

"We found something." said A2

She led us to the edge of the city and she pointed down towards the ocean. I looked down and saw a boat tied up to something.

"That must be the boat Boris made to get here." said Nines

"How do we know where to go in the ocean, we might get lost." said Avery

"Don't worry, our Pods will guide us." said Nines

"Not all of us are going to fit." said 8B

"I'll go with Avery, Nines and A2. 4S stay here and make sure nothing creeps on the others." I said

4S looked a bit sad that he wasn't going but just nodded.

"I'll stay with 4S, take 12H just in case something happens." said A2

4S looked surprised and looked at A2 with joy.

"Understood, 12H let's go." I said

We got on the boat and we started rowing into the ocean.

"How long did it take Boris to get to the Flooded City?" asked Nines

"I don't remember, he didn't say anything about that." said Avery

"We'll see." I said

Rowing the boat in harsh current was pretty tough. But after about 30 minutes of rowing, I saw something up ahead.

"I think that's it." said Avery

"Pod, scan." I said

"Scanning, nothing detected inside." said Pod 042

We approached the factory and we tied the boat to some a ladder on a giant pillar.

I went first and climbed up the ladder with Avery behind. I got to the top and I noticed that the entrance door was open. We went inside and searched the factory.

"Ah Russian flag." said Avery as she removed dust off of something on the table

I looked at it and it had the colors red, blue and white. We continued down to a hallways until we got a big opening. Multiple pods were set up and most of them were covered in dust. I looked around and noticed one pod was open.

"This must be Boris' pod." I said

Avery approached the pod and sighed.

"Let's open up the other pods." I said

I began pushing buttons to open up the pods but most of them had a human skeleton in them. That's when I opened one, steam came out. I drew my sword and pointed at the pod. But there was nothing, just a skeleton.

"Nothing, all of them are dead." said Nines

"Why is everyone dead?" asked 12H

"The freezing thing must have died down. Killing the person contained inside." said Avery

"If that happened why did one person here live?" I asked

"Must have gotten lucky?" shrugged Avery

"I have a feeling someone else is alive." said Nines

"Why?" I asked

"Creed and Avery were in the same containment factory, so I suppose at least two should be alive too." said Nines

"Well I guess both of us got lucky." said Avery, "I don't think that's the case."

"Ah sorry just a thought." said Nines

"Let's go, there's nothing to find here. I check control room but nothing's working." said Avery

A2's POV

"Huh ma'am, why did you stay behind?" asked 4S

I was sitting on the edge of a roof with 4S while the others were waiting a floor below us.

"Cause I wanted to?" I questioned the obvious

"Sorry I was just surprised. I didn't think you wanted to be with me." he whispered

"Why would you think that?" I asked

"So-sorry I thought maybe I wasn't fit to be your partner and I always messed things up." He babbled

'...Cute.'

I looked back towards the ocean and moved myself a bit closer to 4S.

"Don't ever think like that ever again." I said

"Yes ma'am." he replied

"And don't call me ma'am, call me A2." I replied

He nodded and looked away. I could tell he was hiding his red cheeks.

"What are you hiding?" I asked

"N-nothing sorry I just had a runny nose." he lied

I let it slide and went back to watching the waves. In the distance I saw the boat with the others on it.

"Looks like they're back." I said

I got up and 4S scrambled up to but I put my hand on his jaw and forced him to look at me. He gasped and tried to look away but I firmly grasped his jaw.

"Your nose is running." I said

He stayed silent but I just smiled and patted his head.

"Let's go." I said

We got down and helped the others get off the boat.

"Anything?" asked 8B

"Nothing." replied 2B

"Everything's dead there." sighed Avery

"Let's go home then." said 4S

Creed's POV

"Looks empty, I think there's someone else out there." said Josiah

"But how long has it been since this human woke up?" asked Ethan

I gently rubbed my finger on the pod and examined it.

"A long time." I whispered

"There's three pods that are open and empty." said George

"George was this containment area only filled with SAS?" I asked

George thought about it for a second before responding.

"Yea it was." I said

I looked at the empty pod and sighed.

"Whoever this person is, woke up at least a year ago. Chasing him now would make us lose a lot of time but that's something we have to deal with in order to find the others." I said

"That means you don't get to go home then." said an android named Talus

"I know." I sighed

"Creed look over here." said another android named Theo

I walked over and saw footprints on the floor.

"This isn't one of us." I said, "Someone's been here recently."

"How recent?" asked George

"About 2 weeks ago." I replied

"Think we can catch up to them?" asked Josiah

"Yes. We have to." I replied

"But which way did he go?" asked George

I looked up and saw that the footprint was pointed at a door. I also saw extra faint footprints headed towards the door. I followed the footprints and opened up the door. It led outside to a stair so I walked down the stairs. I examined the floor and sighed.

"He went that way." I said

"That's further up north." said Josiah

"Yea, further away from home." I whispered

We all gathered around and I pulled out the map I was drawing.

"We head north." I said, "We find the other humans."

We headed out to a long journey to who knows where. Luckily I mapped out most of the places we've been to so that I wouldn't get lost.

"Hey Creed, can you tell me about your past while here?" asked George

"Yea, so I woke up in a desert that was nearly buried. When I woke up I thought I was left behind. I checked on other pods but most of them were empty but I didn't check all of them. I left and headed east and I bumped into machines." I explained

"The machines are the bad guys right?" asked George

"Yea, but then I bumped into three androids and that's how I learned about the extinction of humanity. Apparently after we were detained, some virus was wiping out humanity or something, I don't know. So humanity built androids to carry on as humans. They also created an android military corporation called YoRHa. But they were destroyed and the three androids that found me were the last ones. And shit happened left and right, too long to explain." I said

"Ah, I see. Well, tell me about it another time." said George

"Yea sure." I replied

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8 hours later

2B's POV

I laid on Creed's bed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Pod, can you show me a picture of Creed?" I asked

Pod projects a screen on the ceiling, showing Creed but with his right arm on his hip and looking at something. I smiled and stretched out my arm towards him but grabbed nothing.

"Would you like me to show more pictures?" asked Pod 042

"Yes." I said

He began skipping through pictures, some with Creed smiling, others with me. My favorite picture was when I carried him in bridal style after he hurt his ankle. I could see that his cheeks were bright red and he was avoiding eye contact.

'Cute.'

Then when Pod 042 switched the pictures, I gasped. It was a picture of me holding Creed when I stabbed him.

"Pod!" I yelled as I sat up from his bed

He quickly shut if off and I glared at him.

"Apologizes, I didn't know that was in my inventory." said Pod 042, "I'll immediately put it in the trash."

I sighed and played with my fingers.

"I wonder if he still remembers that time." I mumbled

I got up and undressed myself and laid back on his bed with his blanket covers. I rested my head on his pillow and sniffed it.

'It smells just like him.'

"Would you like me to shut you off?" asked Pod 042

"After 5 minutes." I said

"Understood." said Pod 042

But then someone knocked on the door.

"Belay that order." I said

I quickly got dressed and opened the door to reveal Avery, A2, Nines and 4S.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked

"Well, we thought you wanted company since Creed left." said Avery

She sat on the couch with Nines while 4S sat on the window frame with A2. So I took a seat on a wooden chair.

"We've been noticing that you've been missing him a lot more lately." said Avery

"Is there anything we could do to help you?" asked Nines

"No there's nothing." I said

"Maybe we can ask Anemone to let us go after Creed." said 4S

"Even if she does allow us, where are we going to start?" I asked

"Well, I thought maybe we can call him back." said A2

"But he said he thinks he found something." said Avery

"What if he didn't?" asked A2

Avery looks down at the ground and sighed.

"As much as you miss him, we need to focus." said Avery

"I know, I apologize for not being able to see the mission ahead." I said

"No need to apologize, it's just something we're all having trouble with." said Avery, "Especially Jackass."

Avery chuckled but I just rolled my eyes.

"I'm kidding, she does miss him but it's nothing compared to you." said Avery

Even Nines chuckled.

"Anyways, we have another mission tomorrow." said A2, "We cleared out the remaining machines at the town where Creed found the body 2 years ago."

"I thought we already did." said Nines

"Well according to Gianna, most of them are good at hiding and ambushing others." said A2, "There's still some machines lurking around there."

I nodded but then Avery slowly stood up.

"I heard something." she whispered

She slowly pulls out her knife and we summon our swords.

"I heard it too." said A2

A2 pushes 4S behind her and we all look out the window. Suddenly something flaps in and I nearly strike before realizing it's Creed's hawk. It landed on Avery's arm and she pulled out a note on the ankle and set the hawk on the chair I was sitting on. She opened the note and as she was reading it her eyes got bigger.

"He found a human." whispered Avery

"Read it." I said

"It says, 'I found a human, an SAS named George Walker. There are 2 other humans out there. I don't know how much further I'm going. I sent an android over named Argon to explain to you what's happening, he should be there in a week or 2. Tell 2B I'm sorry for being late again.'"

"Creed found a human." whispered A2

"Damn, he's going to be late even more." said Avery

"It's fine, he found what he's been searching for. That's all that matters." I said

"He'll come back with more humans for sure." said 4S

I nodded and smiled, knowing that Creed is doing well.