Pascal was in his village, the trip had been extraordinarily safe. He hadn't seen a single hostile machine on the journey over. All the androids were running around like a kicked ant hill, and every machine that could potentially be hostile had been eliminated.
He had rushed to get here as soon as the situation at the humans outpost had calmed, and he only found out while on his way there that the logic virus had hit his people as well as the androids, it only lent a frantic pace to his journey back.
Thankfully the humans bunker had kept the sane machines safe from their neighbors, and the same cure that had fixed the androids had reached his people; the worst casualties were a few damaged limbs and broken furniture.
It was nearly a miracle that no lives were lost. The only lasting impact it would have on the village being the trauma, not the lives lost.
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Pascal didn't know what had compelled him to follow the human. He could only assume a lack of judgment due to the sheer panic he had felt when he had realized the base was under attack.
He had just been talking with the human and a few of the androids that were willing to talk with a machine then in the middle of a sentence the engineer stopped transmitting, freezing in the middle of gesturing with his hands. Then the lights started flickering, the various screens and games shorted out and the everpresent den of machinery slowed to a halt.
It wasn't even clear if it was an attack or an electrical failure until the distant sound of gunfire and explosions erupted.
That was when the nightmare truly started, in the pitch black game room illuminated only by a few emergency lights and flashlights a few dozen pairs of eyes flickered red. Everyone there was a veteran of numerous battles, it was the only reason anyone there stood a chance.
Before the infected androids could finish screaming dozens of bullets tore through their joints and torsos, these were YoRHa androids though, and Pascal was forced to run for cover as these wounds only slowed the insane droids.
It quickly devolved into a brawl, a few resistance androids donned power armor and descended into the fight. That was all Pascal saw of the fight before he had dragged the human into a corner with him.
Pascal only dimly noted a few androids taking up guard positions around the corner. He was far too busy trying to figure out what was wrong with the human. He was just clutching at his head and crying, his mouth open like he should have been screaming but there was only a wheeze of air flowing from his lungs.
He didn't know where to begin in treating a human, Pascal didn't even know what was wrong. But letting the human tear off its own skin with its nails couldn't be good, so Pascal pulled the engineer's claw-like grip off his face, watching with revulsion as blood dripped from the new gashes in the engineer's face.
Another set of hands, this one belonging to an android with wild orange hair, wiped off the blood with a washcloth and then put a palm to the engineer's forehead. "He has a fever, I can feel the temperature rapidly increasing already" fever? That meant the human had an infection right? "Do you think it's a machine bio-weapon?"
By now more androids had shown up, and the sounds of fighting nearby had died down, though the fighting in the distance had only grown louder. Another nearly identical android with straight hair spoke up "we can't know based off just a fever, but the machines have never used something like it before"
A frantic mummer swept through the room at that, only worsened by the muffled screams of the YoRHa androids. A random voice spoke out "what do we do then?" that only got a shrug from the wild haired android while the straight haired one spoke "get some wet washcloths and try to cool him off"
There was a frantic flurry of activity as multiple androids all went to find cloths and water but they barely made it a few steps before the distant sound of turret fire cut off, Pascal wasn't naive enough to assume that meant the attack had been fended off. It appeared that the androids weren't feeling any safer and soon wooden barricades covered the doors, with what few power armored androids there were manning them.
Soon a damp washcloth was being dragged over the engineer's forehead, cleaning up the beads of sweat that had accumulated but doing little to cool him off. Pascal had just been about to suggest getting some ice from one of the room's freezers and using that instead when the engineer lurched upright.
Immediately a dozen androids all started asking questions, each talking over the other. The human didn't even seem to notice, much less respond to any of the frantic questions about what was going on. Instead he just pulled his hands from Pascal's now limp grip and stood up. One android who hadn't looked up from his tablet since the fighting had died down spoke up. "Uh guys, I was talking with the minds. It was a cyber attack. The minds got wiped out, and the machines got fragged. But they seem to be coming back online?"
Pascal distantly noticed the turrets spinning back to life, the crackle of gunfire and explosions once again drowning out any conversation as the walls started to shake.
Everyone stood back from the human as he started walking, a few drones crawling from his skin and flying through the open doors, no one stopped him as he reached one of the still screaming YoRHa androids, 24B Pascal distantly noted, she had been nice.
The humans hand reached out and caressed her cheek, and immediately her thrashing and screaming ceased as the light in her eye started slowly growing dimmer. It seemed to spread like a wave, each android slowly falling into something like sleep.
"What is he doing? How did he do that?" Pascal didn't even know which android had asked, but he wished he had answers. The logic virus had claimed thousands of machines and androids, the human had seemingly fixed the worst symptoms with a wave of his hand.
The engineer's armor started walking toward him, and the human stood there as it flowed onto him. By this point the androids had given up on talking to him, he just wasn't listening. Pascal didn't know if he still could.
Before anyone could think to do anything the human sprinted at the solid concrete wall, ignoring the doors. Reasonably sure the human had lost his mind Pascal followed ready to try and coax him out of the armor once he bounced off the wall, instead the human strode through a rapidly opening gap in the wall, one Pascal and the red haired androids followed him through before it sealed up.
Through hallways and walls the engineer ran, heading rapidly for the external walls and Pascal followed, watching as the rhythmic jog turned into a wild sprint, the concrete floor crumbling with every step of the power armored boots.
The actual trip through the streets and battlefields were just a frightening blur to Pascal, he had spent the entire time terrified some stray round or piece of debris would hit him. Nothing did though, everything that came in their direction rapidly slowed or fell to the ground in a puddle.
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Pascal could have sworn he heard laughter when the massive engel crumpled over and fell to the ground.
Then their group, which was really just two androids, a machine, and an insane human, came to a seemingly random part of the road.
And then the earth opened up, by now Pascal had rapidly growing doubts about the wisdom of following the insane man, but by now he was in the middle of hostile machine territory and none of the androids had similar doubts, as they followed the human down, trying to get him to see reason.
The walk through the tunnel was dark and terrifying, some air barrier kept anyone from getting close to the human, and the ground kept groaning with chunks of dirt and stone falling from the ceiling. But the tunnel soon came on what Pascal figured the human was after.
The odd metal wall was torn open, and Pascal didn't even know what he was looking at. A wide open room lined with dead bodies.
Inside there were two androids, and they greeted the human by name. Seeming almost excited to meet him. "Well well well, if it isn't the human we've been hearing so much about, how did you enjoy the gift we sent your way?" The pair didn't seem to know what to do with being ignored, and both the red heads and Pascal were staying in the limited safety provided by the tunnel's entrance. Something about those two androids was… off.
The human strode on the air, ignoring gravity and reaching a console in the middle of the room, then he seemed to freeze in place. Most likely hacking it. The androids did not take being ignored well "if your just gonna ignore us we will have to get your attention some other way" one spoke while the other "and I had so been looking forward to talking to a human, shame your so uncooperative, maybe a beating will teach you obedience"
With that both of them lunged through the air towards the human, who didn't even notice, Pascal and the rest of the androids cried out a warning but it was too late. The androids slammed into the human, and came to a dead stop inches before touching him.
Immediately a blur of lasers and bullets arched into the androids, and the fight progressed at such speeds that even Pascal's mechanical senses failed to properly register the flurry. Drones and bolts of electricity moving at speeds an organic couldn't hope to react to, the human didn't need too. Instead everything that tried to get close was shredded apart under an onslaught of lasers and bullets. The hostile androids failing to get close, even with their teleportation.
Metallic tentacles armed with glowing blades lashing out and forcing the androids back when they tried.
A concrete wall grew hiding the human from view and the drones were left fighting on their own, without the lasers from the humans armor to support them, this let the androids get a few moments of breathing room, and they took rapid advantage. One by one the drones fell to the androids strikes, a single hit being sufficient to pulverize them.
Only 43 seconds passed before the last of the drones were destroyed. And the androids seemed largely intact, Pascal inched further back into the tunnel. Just in case they turned their attention towards him and the red heads, who were still pelting the androids with fire. They didn't seem to care or notice though instead turning towards the egg shaped dome that had grown around the console. "Are small toys all you have to offer? I thought humans were supposed to be the apex predators of this planet, its almost disappointing"
They didn't seem to notice the floor rippling between the androids and the escape tunnel, the human pulling himself from it like it was a pool of liquid rather than solid metal. He gave Pascal and the female androids a short glance and flicked his finger, somehow pushing them back into the tunnel, which collapsed the moment they were clear.
The two female androids did not take this well, and started frantically trying to dig back into the room, "what's he thinking!" "We can't leave him alone with those machines! They'll kill him!"
Pascal spoke then "the human can walk through stone like water, he's likely leaving through the stone around us now. He just didn't want those 'machines' to get us while he escaped. We should wait at the surface for him." with that he reached down and grabbed the wild haired twins shoulder and pulled her up, both the twin looked uncertain but they all started up the tunnel.
The silence was deafening, their thoughts louder than any words they could hope to say.
By the time the reached the surface another group of androids were waiting for them, YoRHa androids, with their eyes free of the infection. One rapidly spoke, nearly shouting at the red heads, "where is the human! He was with you!" Both androids adopted apathetic looks, in contrast to the ones they had worn in the tunnels "he collapsed the tunnel, we think he'll be showing up here with that ability of his." Pascal nodded at this "yes those android like machines down there were terrifying, I do hope he escapes" both the androids looked at him like he was an idiot for a few moments before the YoRHa android exploded, "YOU left the human alone with hostile machines!" the redheads shrugged again "I said he collapsed the tunnel, after pushing us away. We tried to get back in but couldn't." as if on cue the earth rippled and the human crawled out, looking no worse for wear as he started walking back the way he came. Not even giving the androids around him a glance.
He seemed fixated on a small armored box he was holding, looking at it rather than where he was walking. Immediately the androids formed a protective screen around him, and one of the scanner models walked up and tried to start a conversation. "How did you cure us? I heard from one of the resistance androids that you just looked at us and we started to get better, but that can't be it right?" the human didn't even glance up at him.
The oddly chipper android didn't even slow down though, and looked only a little disappointed at the lacking answer, "what's in that box? It has to be important if you ran all the way out here by yourself" the continued lack of a response finally seemed to sink in with the android, and his smile changed into a small pursed frown "are you okay? I heard the minds got taken out but they had backups right? On the other side of the portal?" that got a twitch from the armor, and the humans steps nearly hitched before evening out, but there was no other movement. The android nodded "its okay if you don't want to talk, I understand if you need a minute"
The short boy then just kept pace with the human, while staring at the box. If Pascal knew anything about scanners he knew the android was hacking it, just to sneak a peek at what was inside. Given how the android went rapidly pale, whatever he found was terrifying, Pascal didn't want to know.
The boy then quickly walked up to one of the larger, female, androids. The one that had been talking to the twins. And whispered something in her ear.