Mia

2B's POV

"I hate the swampy area." groaned Jackass

"Does she always complain like that?" asked Argon

"Yes." I simply replied

"And you said that her name was Jackass right?" asked Argon

"Yes." said 2B

He seemed to be thinking about something.

"I swear I think Creed talked about her once. But I think it was something that disturbed him." said Argon

"Yep that's her." I said

"We have no choice but to go through it." said Gianna

Everyone started to walk through the swamp but Kong stopped me and held out his hand in front of me. I was confused but I climbed on it and he lifted me up.

"What the, why are you getting special treatment?" snapped Jackass

I shrugged as Kong entered the swamp and started walking through it. I sat on his hand to get more comfortable.

"Does he like you that much?" questioned Avery

"I guess he does." said 8B

Argon seemed a bit uncomfortable with it since he never saw any nice machine.

"How are there machines that are acting like humans?" asked Argon

"Creed never told you about that?" asked Avery

"He did, but I never believed it." replied Argon, "After all I lost a lot of comrades in battle because of them."

"I thought that too, I always thought machines were the enemy no matter how weird or nice they act." I said, "But I realized that I was wrong when there wasn't much of a difference between androids and machines."

Argon looked up and shook his head in disagreement but didn't say anything.

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10 hours later

"You must be Argon." said Anemone

"And you must be Anemone." greeted Argon

"Yes I am, welcome to the resistance camp." replied Anemone

He nodded and looked around.

"This place looks promising." said Argon, "But I don't think I'll be staying here for long."

"That depends on Creed's response." said Anemone, "We sent him a message yesterday so he'll probably respond by tomorrow."

Argon nodded his head.

"8B show him his room." said Anemone

8B leads Argon to his room and Anemone sighs.

"The map Argon gave me just now is crazy." said Anemone

"Explain." I said

"Wherever Creed is going to, it's infested with machines." said Anemone

She points at marks all over the map.

"Between here and where their camp is, it's infested." said Anemone, "Either we have to get to them or they have to come to us."

"We should reinforce them, that way we can gain this much land." I suggested

"Yes, but I think Creed has a plan." she said

She pointed at a few lines that represented trails.

"These lines avoid all the populated areas of machines. I think he'll use that as his advantage." said Anemone

"But how is he going to dispatch 200 androids here?" I asked

"I don't know, but he does." said Anemone

I had hope in Creed so I didn't question it.

"And looking at the scales of everything, running will take a week without stopping." said Anemone

"I wish I could go to him." I said

"Me too. I want to help him but it'll only interfere with his plans." said Anemone

"Can we at least expand to this point?" I asked pointing at a part of the map

Anemone looks and nods in agreement.

"That'll reduce their efforts of running for days." said Anemone, "I'll have you there once the area there is secure."

I nodded and smiled in response.

"Anyways, I think Argon has some storytelling to do for us." said Anemone, "Gather the others."

About 15 minutes later, we were all gathered around a burning fire, lighting up the night sky.

"Argon, explain to us. How's Creed doing?" asked Anemone

Argon seemed hesitant a bit but sighed as he played with his fingers.

"To be honest, Creed's not doing well." whispered Argon

My heart dropped by the words he just said.

"He has a lot of things, he's worried about and it's getting to him." said Argon, "And recently he injured his old stab wound on his stomach but he just keeps moving without stopping."

'Oh no.'

"Even though he gives us hope, he never gives himself the same hope." said Argon, "Josiah even caught him crying alone away from our group."

I felt sick from realizing how lonely he was.

"But I don't think it's because of any of you." said Argon

"He's not crying because of us?" asked Nines

"Josiah heard him whisper a name, what was it, Gally?" replied Argon

Avery looked down and started shaking her leg.

"He told us that Gally was his son but why is he crying? He tells us he misses all of you but I think there's another-"

Operator 21O elbowed him and shook her head telling him to stop.

"Huh oh sorry." he quickly apologized

I comforted Avery and she weakly smiled at me but I could tell she was hurt.

"Anyways tell us what you guys been doing so far." said Anemone

"The usual, we tracked down humans and recently we found a man named George Walker." said Argon

"We were informed but how's he? How did he handle the information?" asked Anemone

"Not well, he was crying and was screaming like he was in hell." said Argon

I recalled the day Creed was scared when we found him. Suddenly I heard a caw and I stood up.

"Creed's hawk, earlier than I expected."

The hawk lands on Anemone's arm and she takes out the note. Her eyes widened and her hands were trembling.

"Why's the ink in red?" she whispered

My heart started beating faster and I snatched the note out of her hand. I gasped when the note was written in red ink. Avery touches the ink and rubs it.

"It's, blood..." whispered Avery

I started reading the note.

"Be careful, an army of machines headed towards you. This isn't looking bright on our side either. We're not the only ones looking for humans. Argon must stay there, there's no point of a rescue mission. I'm sorry."

My eyes started tearing up.

"There's another note." said Anemone

She pulls out another note and starts reading it.

"I hate to say this but I don't think I can make it back home. Please no matter what happens, do not look for me. Protect the camp and the others." whispered Anemone

I broke down crying and Avery hugged me from the back. I removed my visors because it was getting wet from my tears.

"Another note." whispered Anemone

She opens another paper but she immediately looks away and hands it to me.

"This is for you." Anemone handed me the note

I slowly opened up the note and read it.

"2B, I'm sorry that I can't keep the promise. But don't lose hope, I'll always be watching you on the other side. I love you 2B."

I shook my head in denial and wiped my tears away but they kept falling out of my eyes.

"Why? Why are you leaving me?" I whispered

A2 read the note and sighed in disbelief.

"Anemone, we're leaving." said A2

"No hold it, he told us not to." said Anemone

"I don't give a fuck whether he told us not to!" I yelled

Anemone backed up in fear.

"I'm not leaving Creed." I snapped

That's when I heard shouting near the entrance.

"What's going on?!" yelled Gianna

Two androids came in, holding onto a female android that was struggling to break loose.

"I telling to you to fucking let me go!" yelled the android

"Mia?" gasped Argon

"Argon you made it!" yelled Mia

Argon runs up to her and hugs her.

"But what are you doing here?" asked Argon

"Creed sent me." said Mia

I approached her and grabbed her by the collar.

"Where is he?!" I growled

Mia gasped and tried to free herself but I only tightened my grip.

"He's fine, he was able to get out of trouble!" blurted out Mia

"What kind of trouble?" I hissed

"Hey 2B maybe we should-"

I glared at 4S who backs off.

"He and his team were ambushed by a bunch of machines. Creed thought he wouldn't be able to make it so he sent a message to one of us. He told us if we took the trip that was safer it'll take us about 5 days for me. But if I took the more dangerous route it'll save me a day. He picked me cause I was the fastest." pleaded Mia

"So he's fine?" I asked

"Yes, please let me go." she pleaded

I let her go and she fell to the ground.

"That was a bit too much." said Argon

"And is there a problem?" I growled

Argon looked at me and shook his head as he helped Mia up.

"But what does he mean by an army of machines?" asked Anemone

"Our camp was attacked nonstop by an army of machines. But for some reason we saw them mobilize and leave, headed towards you." said Mia

Anemone got worried and turned to Gianna.

"Get everyone who's stationed at the Town to fall back and regroup here. We'll hold them off from here." said Anemone

"How long did it take you to get here?" asked Argon

"3 days." replied Mia

Argon hugged Mia and comforted her.

"Mia when do you think they'll be here?" asked Anemone

"I don't know, there's no way a machine walk as fast as us so probably 8 to 11 days." said Mia

"We need to prepare." said Anemone

A2 approached me and patted my shoulder.

"Don't worry, he's fine. He'll be back home." said A2

"I don't know if I have hope now." I whispered

"Have faith in Creed." replied A2, "He'll be back home."