"I still can't believe we all that survived," 2B frowned. "There were several hundred of us soldiers out there. All of them were infected?"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, 2B. I ran into a fellow Scanner Model, 4S, in the Forest Kingdom while on my mission to destroy all of the machines. He was gathering data on the enemy, trying to find as much as he could. With the forest's machines slowly deteriorating from lack of maintenance, it shouldn't be too hard for a couple of combat models like you two to deal some significant damage to them."

"Yeah, I found a couple still surviving too. Two girls in the desert. They were too high on these things called e-drugs to comprehend any situation," A2 said.

2B remembered those two girls. Jackass had created this really powerful combat enhancer that had some nasty side effects. 2B had turned to the drug a little more recently after killing 9S.

"Yeah, it's pretty powerful stuff," 2B said.

"You say that like you know a thing or two about it." 9S raised an eyebrow at his partner's last statement.

"It was about a year ago. Command had me kill you again. It was awful. I couldn't keep doing it. I wanted to abandon my mission, so I asked Jackass for help. She gave me an experimental version of a drug she made and I went crazy killing machines for a few weeks. They sent 7E after me, but only to bring me back to the Bunker for some rehab. We were back out doing missions in the Desert for a while, trying to repair the damage on some experimental base. It's sad you don't remember a lot of the stuff we did together."

"It's okay, 2B! Now I won't forget it!" 9S climbed up onto the branch of a nearby tree. "The Resource Unit's been deactivated, but the steam just won't clear. I can barely get a glimpse of the castle from here."

"Right, those machine buildings that showed up with the creation of the Tower. Still trying to find 4S?" A2 drew her sword and took down a small machine that came up to her. "Make sure to destroy their cores, 2B. Otherwise they'll regenerate."

"Proposal: Unit A2 should not destroy the cores of the machine lifeforms. However, you should remove it from their body and deactivate its programming." 042 responded. "Us Tactical Support Units can reprogram and reformat them to create the YoRHa Black Box circuitry."

2B stopped dead in her path. "We're made from machines."

"Affirmative."

"Pod 042, how do we remove the black box and reprogram our bodies to be made from human technology?"

"This pod has extreme concerns about YoRHa Unit 2B's current objective. The Black Box gives YoRHa units the capability to destroy machines in large numbers before maintenance is required."

9S jumped down from the branch. "Yeah, it shocked me too. But now we at least have a reason for destroying machines."

2B drew her sword and continued to fight off the remaining machines in the Forest. "I guess we're just going to have to live like this."

"Yep. Better than dying again and letting people actually believe humanity still exists." A2's sword imbedded itself deep into the core of a spear wielding biped.

"What a hilarious lie. I can't believe androids actually believed that for so long."

"Yeah." 9S began walking but stopped once he realized what had happened. "I didn't know you knew, 2B."

"I always knew. One of the telltale signs of me needing to kill you was you telling me. Command decided it was better for me to know."

"Glad that slave driver is gone."

"She should've gone out on the battlefield for once in her life instead of letting others do the dirty work for her. She was designed to have the functionality of all 7 types of YoRHa units combined." A2 continued cutting down machines as she made her way through the forest. "But she never really used any of her skills."

"There's only 6 now. Gunner and Attackers were replaced by battle units when I was created."

"2B, you're an E type," 9S replied.

"Not anymore. I hated that job more than anything else in the world."

"Fair enough."

As they began to approach the ravine, the steam grew thinner. From the base of the collapsed bridge, the three androids could see the castle in front of them. 2B began to approach the mechanical remains of the Resource Recovery Unit.

"What was this place?"

"Pod 153, show her the recordings from July 14th."

"Affirmative."

2B saw quick flashes of battles inside a mechanical structure, with the pod firing a beam of energy at its core upon reaching the top floor.

"And you did this 3 times?"

"Yeah. Quite a lot of work to get myself killed by accidentally falling on your sword."

2B frowned a little before continuing across the bridge. She attempted to imagine how 9S felt about her death. She was always extremely upset when he left her, even if it was for a short amount of time, but her death was seemingly permanent. They were only alive because of the pods.

2B remembered what 042 had said to her when they were searching for a way to wake 9S up. He had launched a suicide attack to destroy the project protocol that was supposed to delete everyone's data. 2B believed she owed a lot of her pod, but she didn't know how to express her gratitude. Emotions were still a concept that was very unusual to her.

"Alright, it might be difficult, but we can reach the top floor by climbing up to that balcony. I know, I jumped down from it before."

"Right after you almost killed us!" 9S shouted.

"I was nowhere near killing you, you guys actually held up pretty well in that fight. 5th time I fought you guys. Something was different about you that time."

"5th time?" 9S and 2B said in unison.

"Yeah I killed you guys pretty easily. You were weak back then. But 2B got a little colder that last time, and was pretty ruthless."

"Well, now you're the only friend we've got, so be glad we didn't actually kill you."

"I am. Alright, Pod, I need you to attach a cable to the end of that balcony up there. Make sure it's secure, we're pretty heavy chunks of metal."

"Affirmative." The trio of white and orange pods began to fly up to the top of the balcony.

"One thing I hate about having long hair," A2 said as she drew her sword, "is that it always gets caught in everything." With a quick slice, A2's white hair fell down around her. "That's better."

"I must say, you look better with short hair. Probably because you look like 2B."

"Yeah, we all know you have feelings for her."

"I do not!"

"Report: Lying to your teammates might upset those units. Proposal: Unit 9S should tell the truth to Units A2 and 2B," Pod 153 said.

"153, I think I actually like you!" A2 started laughing hysterically as a cable dropped down right behind her. "Oh, here's our ride."

"Let 2B go first. She's more equipped to handle an ambush if one's waiting for us," 9S said.

"Are you insulting me?" A2 asked, putting her sword away and approaching the cables.

"No, I'm just making the observation that with her pod and her enhanced weapon capabilities, she can do more in case of a fight. You can definitely go second."

"Fine. Just remember, I've killed you once already."

"There will be no murder on my watch," 2B replied, grabbing onto the cable. "I'll see you two at the top, both perfectly intact."

"Yes, ma'am!" 9S jokingly saluted his partner.

"What did I tell you? You don't need to be so formal around me."

2B stared directly at 9S and A2 as the pod's cable wound back up, pulling her up. She patted one of the pods on the head.

"Gratitude confirmed," the pod replied.

Back on the ground, 153's sensors picked up signals belonging to various machines nearby. "Uh, A2? We've got company!"

"Dang it!"

Drawing her sword, A2 ran out into the small crowd of machines. "9S, a little help?"

"Combat was never meant to be my forte!"

"Says the idiot who attacked me! Hack them or something!"

"On it!"

9S flipped himself onto a pillar and began hacking the enemies from afar. As A2 cut them down, one by one, one of the machines shook violently before attacking their former comrades.

"What the hell?"

"Subjugation. They were too distracted by you to attack me, so I was able to rewire their systems to see you as an ally, and their fellow machines as foes."

"Good work. I think you should go up next, in case more machines come back."

Pod 153 said, "Hypothesis: Unit A2's reasoning is sound. Proposal: Follow Unit A2's suggestion and grab Pod 042's cable."

9S smiled at the other android before grabbing the cable. "You know, I like you better after I knew what happened."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't act so insane and attack people before understanding their motives."

"What about machines?"

A2 paused a bit in her thinking. Without a pod to help her locate the information she thought she knew, she was forced to wait to join her comrades in the Royal Chamber. As soon as the cable dropped, she grabbed on and watched as the animals below grew smaller and smaller. Before she knew it, she was standing right next to the corpse of one of her missions: The Forest King, Immanuel.