Okay, you try coming up with good chapter titles.

An explosion tore through the courtyard. Concrete shards clattered everywhere, some of the stones even managed to hit you, evidenced by your skin stinging. You didn't have time to blink the dust from your eyes before you heard the sound of the androids dropping into the square below, then launching themselves into battle. 2B charged ahead to take the enemy head-on while 47D and 9S set themselves up a small distance away.

They stared down an intimidating foe. What could only be described as a tank inched onto the battlefield, its poor tracks groaning under the strain. It looked as though its designers knew of only two ways to improve upon its design: "add more armor", and "add more weapons", leaving the end product a jumble of systems rather nonsensically (yet still threatening) fit together. Plates of armor bolted on top of weapons, preventing them from turning. Guns fitted on top of other guns with no thought given as to how something so inconsequential as ammunition could even reach them. As foolish as the construction looked, it all somehow still managed to trundle forward.

Thoughts were barely registering in your head by the time the androids were decisively acting. 2B was quick to maneuver around to find somewhere to attack, but the tank turned just as quickly to bring its weapons (and its treads, you noted with worry) to bear down on her. A large burst of noise rang through the air as its few working guns rotated. You flinched from the noise, but saw 904 and 320 spring into action, firing a barrage of bullets seemingly scattered at random. It was hard to pick out from all the visual noise, but you could barely see a number of them being fired at or toward you.

They traveled a bit slower than the pods' photobullets did, and looked to be fist-sized packets of energy barely contained in their construction. Most of the bullets were being shot out of the air, their contained energy releasing and dissipating. Of the few that made it past the counter-barrage, the ones that crashed against the building you stood on made no dents, cracks, or holes. Seeing them land and- for lack of a better word- discharge without harming the metal, you did wonder why the machines would ever bother firing them in the first-

A sudden explosion of heat and light slammed into the side of your face. A surprising heat spread across your left cheek as a spark of pain stabbed into your skin. There was the unmistakable smell of ozone seeped into your nose. Reeling back, your instincts took over, bringing a hand up to cover and apply pressure onto the potential wound. Sinking to the ground, you found no break in the skin, nothing where blood would be seeping out, just the tingling heat and pain you felt barely a fraction of a second ago.

You looked up, suddenly seeing a sphere dotting shimmering grey circles in the air surrounding you. 320, hoving right next to you, wasn't firing at the incoming bullets, while 904 continued his counterassault.

"Theodore, respond to inquiry." 320 was talking faster than she normally did.

"Wait, hang on, what inquiry?"

"Status; potential damage. Proposal: retreat to cover."

"Got it." You forced yourself up to a crouch then scrambled over to the side. Bullets rang out against the spectral shield in a ghastly cacophony as you pulled behind what remained of a brick wall. The shield fizzled out of existence as you sat down, leaving you rather insecure about your whole situation. You could still hear the bullet impacts on the wall and those screeching by overhead over the din of battle. Do androids really have to deal with all this on a daily basis? Were you just starting to experience what it's like to truly be a part of this war?

The barrage seemed to come to an end, but the sounds of battle below still raged on. You could hear what you assumed to be the tank's guns winding down, but quickly burying that sound was the noise of its engines roaring. You turned to your pods.

"It's stopped firing, right?"

"Affirmative," 904 replied, "but leaving cover is ill-advised."

It didn't seem to be firing at you, so a glance should still be safe, right? After cautiously pulling yourself to the edge of your cover, you peeked around the corner.

The tank had just wrenched itself out of a wall it had rammed itself into. 47D tossed something aside after applying it to 9S, then pulled his prone body up. It didn't seem like 9S was completely sure on his footing, but he wasn't completely out of the fight. 2B had pulled herself on top of the tank, and was systematically removing the machines that stood out on the top. The tank, now free, roared and spun, but 2B managed to keep her footing and continued hacking away.

The tank suddenly shot off, its treads grinding against the broken concrete. Unfortunately, 2B was not so lucky as to stay on. Swerving, the tank swang widely toward 47D and 9S. While 47D did her best to show no opening for the tank to take, 9S took his standard stance: keeling down, arms out. A second later, something exploded within the tank, knocking off parts of its rear armor. It ground to a halt, turned, then recklessly charged at the pair. To your surprise, the androids stood their ground until the last second, then bolted to opposite sides. 9S narrowly sliding past the treads, 47D jamming a sword into the mechanisms holding the treads together. Horrible grinding filled the air until the sword returned to her in a pulse of yellow light.

You heard the guns spin up again, and, not wanting to risk another hit, pulled yourself back behind cover. The din of battle continued behind you, partially drowned out by the 904 and 320 firing into the fray. It wasn't long before a series of explosions started sounding out of the square, echoing back from the rest of the park. When they subsided, 904 turned back to talk to you.

"Theodore, the target has been defeated. Proposal: rejoin the androids for optimal security."

You nodded, stood up, walked to the edge of the building, then hesitated. It looked like a larger drop here than where you were behind cover. Sure, the androids could have just made the jump themselves, but they were made of metal . Maybe. But still, they could take the fall much better than you could, so how could the pods-

904 beeped, catching your attention, his arms suspiciously folded beneath himself to form some sort of bar. The two of you stood, looking at each other. Him waiting for you to do something, you waiting for more explanation.

"Theodore, respond."

"What do you want me to do? That fall's going to hurt me, I'm not built like an android."

"This unit is capable of partially supporting an object's weight, minimizing unwanted momentum. Grab on."

You uneasily grabbed on to 904 and stepped forward. Again, the drop loomed before you, and again, the trepidation set in. Another beep on your other side made you notice 320, her arms folded similarly. You secured your grip and stepped closer to the edge. The pods gently pulled you forward, softly encouraging you to jump. You took a deep breath, steeled your grip (again), and stepped forward into the open air.

Every single instinct was yelling at you to step back, to return the stable ground that you stood on a second ago, but as the pods lowered you down, the opportunity swiftly vanished behind you. Your stomach turned as you hung, suspended in the air. The ground rose up toward you, far slower than any part of your brain could interpret. As you neared the ground, you saw 9S walking toward you, an unsure look on his face. He was right there, steadying you as you touched down.

"You alright, Theo?"

"Y-yeah. 'M fine." Even you were surprised by how uneven your voice was. You released your iron grip on your pods and unsteadily walked forward, with 9S nearly in lock step. Sure, it was a completely novel experience for you, but this whole thing wasn't supposed to scare you. Not the little- you glanced back to check- two story drop.

You turned back forward to see what the other two androids were doing. 47D was kneeling near 2B, helping apply some cream from a container to her skin where a number of cuts crossed her skin. They didn't appear to be deep cuts, only slicing… whatever the top layer of their skin was. Mostly cosmetic damage, you figured. Although there were one or two long cuts you could clearly see, it was readily apparent that what 47D helped apply was quickly causing them to close, leaving no trace as to the original wound.

47D paused in tending to her cuts, at first only sparing a quick glance at you which turned into a full blown double take. She passed the container over to 2B before hurrying standing up and hurrying over to you. You couldn't miss the look of concern on her face.

"47D, is something-" She delicately grabbed the right side of your head, turning it toward the light.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"What- hang on, does what hurt?" Your thoughts first turned to a mirror, to see what she was talking about. Maybe your pod could try to turn a camera feed straight back into a projector…

Unless they already had the feature, as evidenced by 320 making a hologram flicker into existence. Wait, what was-

A red burn dominated the right side of your face. It wasn't that it took up the whole side, but that slightly inflamed scorch marks crawled between your chin and your temple, some lines curling around toward your ear and nose. At the 'center', where these burns spread from, there was a small bloom of irritated skin. It didn't look all that bad, just that it was spread out. You could feel yourself slowly come off the adrenaline high- mostly because of the pain slowly growing from the (apparently) hurt area.

"Yeah, I guess it hurts." With this, 47D quickly pulled back, and, with movements so fast they were nearly a blur, she pulled this cream from virtual storage, pulled off a glove with her mouth, and began swiftly applying the cream across the left side of your face. You pulled back a second later, the skin stinging and burning. "Hey!"

"'If it's stinging, it's working'. I'm trying to hurry, Theo." You could tell she was trying to hurry, but was also tied down with making sure it would be done correctly. "There. What happened? You should have been outside of the battle. I saw you were up there at the end of the battle."

"Alert:" 904 spoke, "some ranged attacks during the battle were aimed toward Theodore. This unit followed all protocols during battle, but one shot came into contact with Theodore. Pod 320 activated the program, allowing Theo to retreat to cover."

9S spoke up after a pause. "Theodore, why don't I hang back with you in future battles? 47D and 2B already know how to draw the enemy's attention, but we need to make sure that you aren't in too much danger. I don't know about you, but I think we should try to head back as soon as possible. Nothing good can come from us staying here longer."

"I- I hate to say this," 47D dropped the cream back into virtual storage, "but I have to agree. Let's swing up to the castle then head out. 9S, you said there was a gate?"

"Yeah, doesn't seem like it'd be hard to break open, if we need to. Come on, let's hurry."

The androids finished up helping 2B repair, and you set out, climbing the rickety and rusty stairs up toward the castle. A broken roller coaster lay in your path, but posed no obstacle to the four of you. To your surprise, the castle was pretty well-built. You traveled along one of the pathways winding around the castle, overlooking the moat. The cobblestone, though weathered and sometimes missing individual stones, were tightly fitted together, and needed little mortar in the cracks.

9S, who was monitoring the signal, led the group in search of the source. According to him, you were getting close, although he couldn't tell the exact distance. He seemed more and more dismayed as he brought the group to the roof of the entryway of the castle. Near the center, he brought up a hand, pausing the group to figure out something odd about the signal.

You heard and felt the ground crack and shift beneath the group. The room beneath you glowed red, a distant note thrumming through the air.

Hopefully, this won't the swan song for our dear reader...