Realized Truth

"In the chaos of the fighting a hope of light appeared. The machines had stopped their terrorist attacks and the remaining machines were fighting with a meager resistance. A stranger suddenly appeared in the streets of Paris speaking against the blind hatred that was burning in everyone's heart. The individual soon made appearances across the world in Moscow, London, New York City and Tokyo gathering huge media attention as well as public interest.

"Many combine to become one voice so immense that it seems nothing can break it, but one can become the voice of many with a power that can never be silenced…"

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian -

Several hallways and a couple floors of running closed their search to the main assembly room of the building and the location for the summit. When they arrived there was no one around guarding or watching the entrance. It was difficult to know if they were taken out or just simply not present. The strange lack of security before had been a mystery. However, it didn’t really matter if there was security since Asami would have been able to take anyone out with little trouble.

Yuu cautiously approached the closed doors to the assembly room. He hugged against the wall not sure what to expect at this point. It was the only time that he had been uncertain about the outcome. He turned back to look at Satoru who was moving a little too quickly for his liking. Ever since he reminded him of what was important it had made him unfortunately headstrong and oblivious to his surroundings, terrible traits to be encouraging. "The summit room is just ahead. No doubt Asami’s in there. We'll need to be careful and look for a-" Yuu was forced to cut his words short as Satoru continued past him ignoring the need for stealth. He tried to grab at him before he reached the door, but it was too late. "Satoru! Ugh…so much for patience…"

Being painfully obvious, Satoru moved with reckless abandon not caring about anything other than reaching Asami. He pushed the doors open not even thinking about what it would do. The sudden noise that entered the room made all of the members turn. Satoru looked around to see all of the world leaders and representatives gathered together in one place being held hostage by Asami. Down at the center of the room she was holding the Japanese Prime Minister at gunpoint. "Asami!" he shouted down the stairs towards Asami until she turned the gun on him. He stopped in the middle of the stairs, still ten meters apart. "Ah! It is me, Asami! Satoru!"

Yuu slapped his face in disbelief, regretting now what he did to get Satoru motivated. He had acted with this same recklessness in Qintech, but he had hoped that he might have learned something from the encounter. "Satoru! Be careful the programming is strong and resilient if it managed to resurface again." He kept himself near to the door to not further pressure the situation.

"I know what I'm doing." Satoru stood calmly on the steps, casually looking back at Yuu. He had seen Yuu stare down death and walk through danger as though he was controlling everything. This was something that Satoru knew. He knew what he was doing and didn’t fear his actions.

"I won't argue with you," Yuu said, noticing the change in Satoru. 'Took him long enough…I guess he'd not a blind as he looks…' This moment was for them alone, even if they did have an audience of strangers watching them. He waited to see the choice that would be made from this. "You're the only one that can do this."

Satoru took another step moving slowly towards Asami while everyone in the room held their breath fearing that he was tempting fate by challenging the woman. She tightened her finger around the trigger, taking clear sights on Satoru. "Don't step any closer, Satoru Kuromura."

'She acknowledges me,' Satoru thought, recalling the first time that she was like this. When he found her in the Qintech she wasn’t the same. 'She is different this time though.'

"Any further steps and I'll begin to execute the summit members." She pushed the gun up against the head of the Prime Minister seeing that he wasn’t showing any fear. The change in Satoru was different from before. He was moving as though he knew what was going on and knew that what he was doing could do him no wrong.

Satoru covered the scenes from the last time that he saw her. 'She was mute last time as though she was fighting or distracted.' It was as though she was empty or lost from the world. The last time in the lobby she was pulled away struggling to keep control of herself. 'But not this time. Did it completely take over her this time?' If she was struggling before, but now it had gained control over her this would be much harder than he originally planned. He had thought that just simply being in the same room and talking to her would snap her out. The control should have been weaker this time rather than stronger.

"You think you can save me like you did last time," Asami said, recognizing that look that he had in his eyes. "Don't you." She had to keep him at a distance so that he didn’t get any strange ideas. Asami pulled the Prime Minister back with her towards the podium.

He stepped forward reaching the bottom of the assembly room feeling all of the eyes around him looking on his actions. Satoru stretched out his hand to Asami to build a bridge out to her while knowing that she would not do anything with it. The futility was something that he had to do. "Asami…listen to my voice." He had to pierce the programming that was controlling her slowly and carefully that would not trigger her to do anything rash with the hostages.

Asami gave Satoru a smirk at his weak efforts to stop her. "Your voice won't reach me this time." Nothing that he was going to say would stop her this time. All she had to do was keep them busy until the others were done with their task. She couldn’t do anything until then. It would be so much easier to kill them all immediately, but the situation had changed.

"You don't know that," Satoru said softly to Asami, still trying to reach her through just his voice. He was not seeing any change, but he had to keep her talking.

"It is a futile effort." Asami stepped back from Satoru, maintaining her control and watching Yuu out of the corner of her eye. She was more concerned about what he would do knowing that he actually had the power to stop her.

"It might be futile, but I'll try anyway." He couldn’t deny that she was right in that he was getting nowhere by talking to her. She hadn’t done anything yet, but there was no change either. If things remained the same nothing was going to change. He was going to have to go for a stronger approach. "My voice will reach you just like it did last time," he said with determination, narrowing his face as he approached her further.

"Arrogance now." She backed away from him, keeping the same distance that they had before. Asami could tell that he was serious in believing that he was going to be able to stop her, but he had no power over her anymore. The control was complete and she was buried out of reach of Satoru. "You really are human just like the rest of them."

Satoru was careful to not twitch at being called arrogant, while knowing that in some part she was correct. He believed without question that he would save her again and that only he could do this. This had to change; he had to strike at her heart to waken the feelings that would free her mind. "Yes, I'm human. But I've seen that some machines are more human than us." He thought about everyone that he had seen and the cruelty that humans had done. They could be as cold as any machine and worse. "It doesn’t matter what we are made of on the outside. We can think for ourselves and experience joy and pain."

"That's just imitations," Asami retorted, not wanting to give him the chance to build an argument. "We are different, too different. You fear us and seek to destroy us. You created us to serve you, but now you can't control us. We don't need you anymore."

"That's not true. We need each other," he said remembering Isaac's words about walking together. "You are alive here before me standing as proof of your existence. That is no imitation." He needed her; she was the only one in his life that was left. He wasn’t going to let her go. He would put his emotions into each of his words. "When I see you smile it fills me with a warmth that I can't explain with any science. When I hear you laugh I know that it is honest and true. When I cause you pain I want to…" The scene that night when she told him her secret played through his mind. It made him pause for a moment, choking on his words. He could see that pain so clearly; it was taken into his heart. "I feel the same pain as you."

Yuu leaned against the doorframe seeing how difficult it was becoming for him. This had to be done; he was finally walking the path before him that was set out. "Satoru…"

"We're connected, Asami. I know that now. I can't deny it anymore. I can't let my confusion cloud my eyes any longer." He could see Asami as he remembered her. She had been blurred and out of focus to him for so long. He remembered this feeling that he had felt before. It wasn’t lost, as he had thought. Satoru raised his head up proudly looking straight into her eyes without any more hesitations or reservations. He could say it to her now and know that it was honest from his heart and nothing more. It was so simple. He felt so warm. He smiled to her even while she stared at him as an enemy. "I love you, Asami!"