"Goddamn machines!" with a yell A2 charged forward before anyone else could do or say anything.

Always them, they always had to ruin everything…

This damn server that had both been a curse and a blessing at the same time, since her comrades were still alive, but trapped here between death and life, between digital and real world.

They were not going to take any of them from her ever again! Not them, not anyone else!

Furious she planted the rectangular and heavy blade in the first enemy she saw, cutting it in half, before summoning the smaller sword, throwing it away with a kick, sending it hurling towards whoever was closest.

It had been three damn years, since that day when she had believed everyone was long dead, she fought hundreds of machines and YoRHas, she had survived anything and everything that had been thrown at her without help for most of the time.

She'd grown strong since then, she no longer was the weak and useless captain that hated fighting, and didn't know how to be good at anything.

That time had passed.

She would protect them now.

She would show them that they didn't sacrifice themselves for a weakling.

So she danced around these machines, dodging their attacks and responding with vicious strikes meant to harm, meant to kill, pure anger guiding them.

She hadn't felt like this in a while… since Robin died…

That time these tin cans had taken the life of someone she loved once again. It happened over and over, and she was no longer going to let that happen another time.

Blinded by her rage, she hadn't seen the laser shot coming straight at her…

Until a chain clad in black and red colors wrapped itself around her waist, and the strength of its holder pulled her away from harm, while someone else shot at the biped's head with lethal precision.

In a mere moment she found herself clashing with Robin's body, as she untangled her from her weapon, holding an arm around A2 to steady her.

She'd been the one that had been saved, again…

"Hey, I thought I was the reckless one here." Number 16's voice reached them from the human's side.

"Number 2, we understand your anger, but please don't throw yourself in harm's way like this." Number 21 quickly rushed over, to see if she had gotten hurt, thankfully not, always due to Robin's quick thinking.

It was unreal how she always knew when people were in danger.

"I can't let them take you away from me again."

"They won't." it was Rose's swift reply. "We haven't survived their attacks for so long so you and Anemone could watch us perish now."

"But we are a team, and we fight together."

She watched Robin nod at her, releasing the hold she had on her shoulders.

How stupid she could have been to think she could take on an army on her own… she had people to count on now…

More friends than ever before.

"Let's do this, captain." Number 4 walked at their side, giving her one of those smiles she had missed so much.

Though she no longer was their captain anymore, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to be called as such. Not when that had caused their demise…

Picking herself up, she recalled her Type 40 Sword at her side, activating the electric core within. "Right." she nodded, ready to resume where she had left from.

"Pod, how many enemies are there?" Robin asked, raising Scarlet Despair in front of her, the glowing blade responding in kind.

"Approximately 500 units."

"Numbers don't always mean superiority." it was White's comment. And she was correct, too many times both here and on her home planet, Robin could say that weaklings acted in groups because they lacked strength, such as machine minions, and marine soldiers alike.

What was surprising, was that their former Commander seemed inclined to join the fight as well, as in her right hand there wasn't the usual riding crop anymore, but her own weapon that they assumed she rarely used.

A silver rapier with a rather intricate design of gold rings on the handle.

It fit her, if anything.

"Since we're already in a cyberspace, it should be easy to hack these things." 9S mused, his assumptions were immediately proven correct from the other Scanner. "Correct."

"The reason why we have a resemblance of weapons, is that Number 21 has managed to break the system enough to allow us to defend ourselves." Gerbera's words of praise were met with a scoff from the Gunner.

"Let's just get rid of these things, so we can go back to what we were doing before." as she said so, Dahlia fired a hail of bullets straight at the approaching horde.

"For once you're speaking my language." Number 16 grinned as she joined her in shooting.

"As eager to battle as ever, huh?" Anemone rolled her eyes at the two, knowing well that despite their bickering habits, the two were one and the same as personality, and loved to show off how strong they were.

But what looked like arrogance was just a will to prove themselves capable in the eyes of their friends, a way to say that they were there to protect, though they would never admit it with words alone.

Their own way to tell that they cared, because they were both too proud to admit it.

Time passed, but some things never changed, even in death.

What had changed, was that now they had even more people with them, even more friends that cared for each other.

A bit like an extended family.

But right now there was no time for daydreaming, they could do that later, once they would all be safe, because they would.

Not only A2 had grown stronger during these years, the people she brought along did too, through hardships and pain, just like her. And she trusted them to have her back. Though she had some doubts on White.

But the Commander didn't look like she was going to neither fall victim to the machines, nor willing to harm anyone else of them, as the rogue watched her stab an approaching biped's body with a swift strike from her rapier.

So she did know how to use that weapon then.

Of nothing else A2 could say she was impressed at her battle prowess, since she'd never shown a thing about it.

At least she wouldn't be a dead weight, like she believed she would be.

A2 believed White to be even weaker than Number 21, or 6O, since they were the only ones not able to use weapons, but she knew very well the Scanner had more than enough ability and intelligence to stand her own ground just with it.

She was unsure about the Operator, but as long as she didn't willingly put herself in harm's way then things should be fine, and she was sure that 6O would not be as dumb as she'd been moments before.

Once again, hadn't it been for Robin, she probably would have ended up in a bad situation.

The woman hadn't left her side since then, as she watched her block an overhead strike from a machine spear right next to her.

"Mon… ster…" said machine spoke in a broken voice.

What did it just say?

With a growl Robin kicked the thing hard enough to leave a dent in its chassis, and sent it tumbling in the middle of its similars.

"These things talk now?" Dahlia asked with a growl.

"You know they can, remember what happened a while ago?" now Rose's words put some curiosity around, Number 21 had mentioned some kind of event too before, A2 remembered.

What could have been to put them on edge this way?

"Whatever they say, don't listen, none of this is true." 9S stated, however it had still struck a nerve with Robin.

Too many times she heard that word, and she hated it with all her might.

"Devil…"

More machines joined the chant, as Robin took a step back, unnerved.

"Your existence is a sin."

"Should have never survived."

As much as she wanted to believe that these were just some words thrown around as insults, Robin couldn't help but believe that somehow they were directed towards her.

No matter what, she couldn't shake off this feeling.

"Shut up!" A2 yelled, rushing over to the group of machines, 2B at her side, knowing just like her what kind of effect this could have on the human.

It took nothing for their strength combined to dispatch those pesky things, as they fought in sync with one another, like the sister models they were, so much that they took out the very last one by stabbing the machine's chest open right in the same spot and same time.

"It seems we've learned a lot from one another." 2B commented with a little smile, certainly she had a lot of time to watch and feel A2 fight, and learn her patterns of attack first hand.

She was still too reckless for her tastes though.

Still, much to their dismay, the machines did not relent with their insults, if anything, they kept repeating them over and over, circling and closing in on the group.

"The fuck's wrong with these things today?" Number 16 cursed, never heard them talk so much.

"It must be some kind of method of distraction." Number 21 said as with a tap of her fingers on her screens, she caused the self destruction of a biped in the middle of its similars by hacking. The explosion caught other machines in the vicinity.

Not wanting to be outdone by the older Scanner, 9S did the same thing, applying the same strategy to another group, before throwing Cruel Oath to another machine, slashing it down with his NFCS. The sword returned to him a moment later.

But if this was what the redhead said it would be, it was working well on a person. Despite the fact she had resumed attacking the machines, Robin was lagging behind, her mind plagued from memories and voices from her past repeating the same things, causing her to lack focus and swiftness in her strikes.

She wouldn't have noticed the biped sneaking up behind her, hadn't Pod 007 fired a laser at it, crippling it, and dashing over, 21O finished it off cutting it in half horizontally.

Placing a hand on the human's shoulder, the blonde and A2 shared a nod, before the rogue resumed slaughtering whatever was in her path, a wordless way to say she'd leave Robin in her care.

"Everything okay?" her presence seemed to ground Robin again, as she watched her eyes focus and her hands grip her weapon tighter. "Better now, thank you."

How could she allow herself to let this happen again? She thought she was over it by now…

Though Robin worried as 21O had left 6O on her own to fend off by herself, however, as she searched for her with her eyes, she found her in company of Daisy and Margaret, the defender model making a good job in protecting her with the support of the other friend.

"I'm getting tired of hearing these bloody things speak." she heard Dahlia growl, as another round of bullets was emptied from her rifle.

But she was right, they were getting too annoying, and whoever was behind it, somehow wanted to make them feel guilty with these words, or at least, Robin hoped they weren't meant for her own self.

Why would they?

She just had so many bad experiences in the past that she let them get to her, but she had to remember that now she was no longer there anymore.

"Their numbers are starting to decrease." Number 21 announced.

"Let's finish them off then."

As soon as Rose said so, they resumed attacking with more vigor, eager to return to the point they were at before all of this happened, so they could talk in peace and know what was truly happening here, share information and perhaps get to know each other.

And if somehow there was a way to save these people…

Robin was sure that A2 and Anemone would be the happiest people ever if that could happen.

No machine was going to get in their way.

Somehow this all seemed a return to the past, back when they were at war, yet not, as there were many new people here now fighting together.

And together they eventually managed to take down the approaching threat without casualties, nor anyone being hurt either too. Which was a good thing given how things had started and evolved, with A2 and Robin's situation.

"Now that we can breathe again, let us talk. Follow me." Rose said, taking the group to whatever they got for hideout, an odd thing to say for such a blank landscape.

But it seemed that they had managed to get their own corner of peace among a rock formation that sheltered them for the time being.

Robin forced herself to ignore the pain in her chest as she watched Number 4 wrap an arm around A2, not letting her go at all, though the rogue did look a bit conflicted she accepted the affection.

She knew what had been between them two, was this jealousy?

Most likely.

She couldn't help but wonder what would be now of her and A2, knowing that the rogue most likely still held feelings for her old companion, and if Number 4 were to come back… how could things change? Would she be shoved aside again?

She didn't know if she could do that anymore, but she did want A2 to be happy too…

But she shoved down her feelings for the sake of the others for now. This wasn't the time to make a scene, not that she would, she wasn't the type to do such things.

There will be a time to deal with this, hopefully.

The place Rose led them to almost looked like an uneven sort of cave formed with rocks, and by looking at it, it was easy to tell that they were piled up this way on purpose, but at least it was somewhere away from prying eyes.

The group made itself comfortable on the floor, against the walls, and makeshift rock chairs.

"Again, I apologize for pointing our guns at you earlier, but the recent situation has put everyone on edge." Rose began explaining.

"According to Number 21's calculations, there must have been a part of the server located even further below than the main one, like a sort of safety net. This server has absorbed the data of our consciousness for reasons we do not know, and at the same time continues to generate more machines."

"But it doesn't seem strong enough to generate anything in the real world, we haven't seen a single enemy outside." 9S stated, and it was true, outside of here, there was nothing.

"So far, the attacks were few and sporadic, probably they were just trying to remove our data by force, however, recently we've been suffering more and more of them, bigger and more vicious." Rose then turned to A2.

"Remember when we accused you guys of being android looking machines? We feared this kind of evolution, but I have reason to believe it has already happened. We briefly saw two figures, machines, males, threatening to reclaim this place, and to rebuild the machine network from here."

Machines, and males, also two people. Sounded too familiar to be a coincidence.

"What did they look like?" if Robin's intuition would be correct once more, then those two weren't dead yet in the slightest.

"They both had white hair, one wore them long and was dressed elegantly, the other had them much shorter and didn't even have a shirt."

So that settled it then.

"Adam and Eve." Robin's words fell from her lips so easily. So they were still alive somehow.

She wasn't so keen at the idea of meeting them again, and if she was correct, then now it wouldn't be so wrong to assume that the words spoken from the horde before couldn't be a stab at her, Adam knew something, and what if he had found out more of it?

Somehow he knew she was right here right now too.

"But how, we killed them. 2B stabbed Adam to death, and together we defeated Eve." 9S shook his head, 2B looked equally troubled at his side. A2 also had a rather dark expression on her face too, recalling when Adam almost killed Robin in front of her.

"They must have had some kind of backup data, even if they were disconnected from the network." Number 21 mused.

"We discovered that as long as machines had their cores intact, they could live again, because their cores contained their consciousness." White stated, and they had discovered it because of Pascal.

"So maybe something reformed them. And in absence of the main server because it was destroyed, they found themselves here." 9S said, recalling well that the Tower had fallen.

"It doesn't matter, we'll just kill them again." A2 stated. "And with two Scanners here it will be easy to disconnect them now." because she trusted that Number 21 would be just as capable as 9S was.

"It would be nice if it was that simple, Number 2." Rose sighed. "Not even a Scanner can access the main server, even though she can modify the data to allow us to survive, we can't access the network."

"It needs a machine imprint, and we have none."

A machine that could aid them to hack into the server that would help them…

"Pascal."

The whole group spoke of his name at the same time, their friend machine could aid them, and they were sure he would.

"Who is that?" Rose frowned.

"A machine friend." Anemone stated, before being taken by the scruff of her neck from Dahlia. "You made friends with a machine!?"

The shorter woman shoved her away. "Times change, Dahlia. Pascal has never harmed any of us. We've been trading supplies and information with his village in an effort to understand machines better."

"He and his village are a group of machines disconnected from the network, who have taken conscience and refused to participate in the war any longer, instead wanting to make peace with us androids, we've been collaborating for some time. We're sure that if we asked he'd help us." 9S explained.

"I'm not sure about this…" Rose shook her head, so did a few others.

"Pascal isn't dangerous, none of those machines is violent anymore." A2 pleaded, she couldn't understand why they wouldn't leave from here when the answer was right there.

"Like in any group, there is always someone that may think differently from others, it isn't all black or white, there's many shades of gray in between." Robin said, hoping to convince them, but…

"The fact that you will have to trust a machine is not the only issue here, right?" she asked, because their expressions told her so.

She was proven to be correct as the others just looked at each other holding their heads low, seemingly not wanting to answer.

Eventually it was Number 21 that took it upon herself to do so.

"We can destroy the server, and the machines within but our consciousness does not have a body to return to…" the redhead forced herself to look them in the eyes.

"We will disappear, forever."