9S was last heard to say: "I can't control my curiosity about machines anymore. I'm leaving so I can study them as much as I want!" ...He was never heard from again.

9S watched the machine carry a pail of oil to the pile with fascination. It kept calling for its "brother." The thought that machines could even have relations to each other, let alone identify each other as siblings, fascinated him. He looked up to see the YoRHa units descend in the distance. "Well," he said with a disappointed sigh, "looks like it's time."

He jumped down from the beam he stood on, landing on a walkway between other beams. As he landed, he received a transmission. "Operator 21O to unit 9S," a stern voice beckoned. As she spoke, 9S examined the structures of the beams, of nearby cranes and nearby machines. He tried peeking through the structure to the machine trying to revive its "brother," but the transmission blocked him. "Come in 9S."

"Um, 9S here," he fumbled a response. "Go ahead." He tried peeking at them with the corner of his eye. It proved too difficult to see.

"The YoRHa troops have commenced their descent," 21O explained. "Disable the enemy base's defence systems immediately." She watched him with suspicion. His visor was up, but he clearly wasn't paying attention to her. "9S, respond," she barked.

"Roger that," he replied dismissively, before the feed ended. She decided to switch to Pod 153's feed. While she couldn't respond to him through it, she could at least keep an eye on him.

To her bemusement, 9S was looking around the factory in strange wonder. Slowly, he wandered further and further from his flight unit. "Alert," Pod 153 warned him, "leaving designated mission area." He wandered further still. She repeated her warning. Soon, he overlooked the edge of a crane, peering at the machine lifeforms below. It repeated its warning one last time.

He turned to her irritably. "I can't control my curiosity about machines anymore," he declared. "I'm leaving so I can study them as much as I want!" With that, he impaled the pod on his sword, disabling the feed.

21O stared in bewilderment, her jaw dropping beneath her visor. "Commander," she said uncertainly, "we have a problem."

Victory in the factory denied to them, YoRHa issued a retreat. Just as 2B faced the Engels unit, she received the order. 9S's former flight unit flew in to provide her a means of escape. "But I can take this hulk down with this unit!" she protested.

"Orders are orders," the commander responded. "Without 9S to rely on, we have no means of lowering the factory's defences. Frankly, it's a miracle you're even alive. We will have to earn our victory elsewhere." As she climbed into the flight unit, controls were yanked away from her. She couldn't even turn around.

Weeks later, the factory had apparently calmed down. "I think they found a purpose in life," Pascal told her. "So, they no longer have any need to attack YoRHa."

"Sure, they probably have," responded 2B, as they walked up to the factory entrance. Outside, four Engels units stood, their placid nature baffling and unsettling her. As far as she was concerned, they could trounce her in a heartbeat, (so to speak.) Still, command demanded that she go along with it. Inside was no less weird, with several purple machines standing in two rows on either side of the room.

"Um, hello," Pascal said, giving an awkward wave. "We're here to meet with to, um, negotiate peace with the androids?"

The door at the other end opened. Out stepped a humanoid figure in long, purple robes, their face hidden by a machine head. As they stepped into the centre of the room, they removed the head, revealing a young boy's head with short, white hair and big, purple eyes.

"You enter the sanctimony of machine apotheosis!" 9S declared. "Here we shall all die and become as gods!"

"Become as gods! Become as gods!" the machines chanted enthusiastically. Outside, they heard deeper voices rumble the same cry. "Shit!" 2B hissed, grabbing Pascal's arm and running for the door. As it opened, the face of an Engels stared straight at her. She gasped in horror.

And YoRHa never heard from her again.