Nier Automata Fan Fiction

Reprise

By Kraven Ergeist

Recursion 14


"This is Command. YoRHa squadron, come in."

2B should have been used to the feeling of whiplash that came from being yanked out of the middle of one combat scenario and promptly deposited into another, but it still felt jarring each and every time, even when she knew when it was coming. And what made matters worse this time was their latest discovery – that her entire squadron was essentially reading prepared lines off of a script, and would not only say the exact same thing every single time this mission occurred, but would follow the exact same flight pattern and fall to the exact same succession of long range laser blasts. And not just her flight team – the Operators back at YoRHa Command, and even the Commander herself. For as real as they had all seemed to her, all of them were basically puppets on strings, automatons performing rote procedures down to the letter, regardless of anything but the most direct forms of interference.

Of course, to a certain extent, this had always been the case. They were androids, after all, and they were each programmed to follow a specific set of patterns to maximize output and efficiency. But seeing this behavior through the lens of the time loop made 2B staunchly aware of just how limited their existence had been. What exactly had YoRHa been fighting for all this time? It certainly wasn't humanity, regardless of their mantra of glory to mankind. That may have been the justification at the surface level, but since it was clear that this was merely a farce, that left a glaring whole in the androids' entire Raison d'Etre.

BOOM!

CRASH!

2B swallowed yet another pang of guilt as she watched her wingman go down in flames. She had to stop herself from ramming the other flight unit out of the way of the blast, just to spite the time loop. But if what A2 had postulated about deviations was also true, then it was all too likely that 2B would simply be met with an untimely end moments after she tried.

For 2B, the realization that humanity no longer existed hadn't really impacted her as much as it might have the rest of YoRHa, or indeed the rest of android kind. For most of the androids on the surface of the Earth, the hope of making the world hospitable to their long absent human creators was their entire reason for getting out of bed in the morning. But 2B had never put much stock into that future – not with the path she had always been on.

She had always known that her odds of surviving her mission were slim to none. She was a frontline fighter who saw the worst that the war had to offer, and while she was a skilled combatant and boasted one of the highest kill counts of her generation, that didn't take away from the fact that she was still essentially cannon fodder. And even if she had succeeded in her mission of defeating the machines, driving them off the planet, and somehow restoring humanity to the Earth against all odds, she knew that she would never truly belong in that shiny new world she had helped to create.

Executioner units like her carried the heaviest sins in all of YoRHa, and with a career as prolific as hers, 2B's misdeeds ran deeper than any other model in her class. No, she would have faced oblivion in one form or another, either decommissioned and put into cold storage, or reformatted into a completely different model, with no memory of her previous life. Either way, she would effectively disappear. But she would have faced her destiny content in the knowledge that she had succeeded in her mission, passing on the torch for the next generation of humans and androids to make a brighter future together, untarnished by the sins she had shouldered out of necessity to get there.

But while the futility of her mission made evident by the nonexistence of humanity had not truly come as any great shock, disheartening though it was, it did leave yet another big glaring question mark hanging over her entire life's work: if YoRHa Command had known all along that their stated goal was impossible…what then was their true goal? If the supposed purpose of their entire existence had been nothing but smoke and mirrors, then why hadn't they simply given up? Why keep the lie going at all? Why compel generation upon generation of androids into a pointless, unwinnable war? What secret purpose could be so crucial that every YoRHa android 2B had ever known was subjected to grueling and rigid restrictions that sapped any hope for joy or companionship out of their lives?

She would likely never find an answer to her question. Even if she stormed up to the bunker and demanded an explanation from the Commander herself, the simulacrum in her place would have no explanation to give. The machines running this simulation were clearly just as lost on the matter. Why else would they have kept her and 9S around as test subjects in the first place?

"Captain…I think…"

BOOM!

CRASH!

2B clenched her eyes, blocking out the sounds of her dying companion as she made her way through the factory airspace, rigidly reporting the situation back to Command. She tried to picture her flight team as lifeless marionettes with cold masks of stone instead of the bright and vibrant team of brave young fighters she had fought alongside for her entire career. It was an exercise in futility; no matter how hard she tried to see her wingmen as empty shells, the fact remained that they were still the only version of her team that she had left. No matter how hollow, fleeting, or immaterial they may have been, they were still hers. And nothing could change that fact.

It came as a welcome relief when she finally encountered 9S. As they had done in previous recursions, he abandoned his flight unit, sending it off to return to the bunker, before hopping aboard her own aircraft. She dutifully ferried him off to the goliath class machine, and then went through the all too familiar task of providing 9S with cover fire while he hacked into the goliath. Once he had seized control of the great machine, 2B retreated to a safe distance with 9S' body before he overloaded the Engels unit's core, triggering an explosion that could be seen, heard and felt for miles in every direction.

She felt 9S' body stir to life atop her flight unit, but he said nothing as he did. He was always quieter than usual after this mission ended, and 2B hadn't yet pressed him as to why. They were both conflicted about a lot of things that confronted each of them in this time loop, and for all the good that had come from sharing their troubles with one another, neither one of them was terribly inclined to lay their each and every burden at the other's feet. Neither one of them felt that the other deserved that.

For 2B, the issue she was trying desperately not to think about at that moment was the fact that they were now technically completely different people than the pair of androids who had found happiness in each other's arms beneath the shaded canopy of the pacifist village. There was obviously a very easy way to remedy this issue, as the mischievous little voice in the back of her head pointed out, but she knew that it would only be a temporary measure at best. No matter how many times nor how many ways they found to defy their captors, the fact remained that they were still no less prisoners than they had been from the very beginning, and that their every achievement could be stripped away at the drop of a hat until that changed.

After reporting in and reaching the Resistance camp and quickly completing the little odd jobs the inhabitants had given them, they left the camp area and found a sunny rooftop in the city ruins to rest up, where A2 typically found them before long. Usually by the time she arrived, a plausible amount of time had passed for their mission in the desert to be conceivably resolved without evoking any suspicion when they transferred their combat data from the original timeline.

Although now, given what they knew, 2B wondered if they could have simply transferred the combat data to Anemone when she had given them their assignment right then and there. What would her response be if she were to be confronted with the notion that the task she had given them had already been completed before it began? Would there simply be a hole in her memory, like when their Pods tried to reconcile where all of their combat programs had come from? Or would she call foul on them and request that YoRHa command look into their affairs?

It was not worth pursuing at that point, she decided, though it did give her an idea for something to try later. For the moment, the two of them were leaning their backs against a crumbling wall, their legs dangling off the ledge, the ground several stories below them. 9S had his hand entwined with hers, their shoulders gently pressed together, and 2B was content to simply sit there with him, enjoying his company. A part of her wanted to ask him how he was feeling and what he was thinking while he was there with her in that moment, but if there was one thing 2B could appreciate, it was the value of things left unsaid.

She and 9S had made a connection. Against all the odds, here they were, hand in hand. And while they were no closer to escaping this time loop, they had come so far in other ways. During the fall of YoRHa, 2B had accepted that the best she could hope to achieve was to martyr herself in the hope that 9S might live on. That had been all she thought she could achieve as she had staggered her way from the wreckage of her crash landing. And if someone had told her that some part of her would manage to survive the ordeal and find a little piece of happiness by 9S' side one day, she would have dismissed the idea as mere wishful thinking.

And yet not only had 9S declared his love for her in spite of her every fear, but she had found the courage to admit her love for him in return. Not to mention the fact that she now understood, quite vividly, exactly what her Operators and the other less discerning members of YoRHa had always been gushing about with regard to physical intimacy. As miserable as this time loop made her – and it truly, deeply enraged her almost every time she thought of it – it had still allowed the two of them to find some way to be happy together, in a way that would have been impossible under YoRHa.

What more needed to be said? There would be time for more discussion later. Right then, 2B wanted nothing more than to lean her head against the crook of 9S' shoulder and fall asleep with their hands intertwined.

And then A2 arrived just in time to ruin the moment.

"Alert!" Pod 042 announced, as he always seem to do whenever A2 appeared. "Rogue YoRHa unit detected."

2B sat up and let go of 9S' hand, but A2 had clearly seen what they were doing as she hopped up onto the crumbling asphalt with them with a smirk on her face.

"Aww, look at you two," she said with her usual snark. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

2B ground her teeth together, unable to comprehend how A2 had the audacity to taunt them given how suspicious her own behavior had been.

"Hey A2," 9S said meekly, scratching his head as 2B merely fumed in silence. "So, uh…we good?"

A2 seemed oddly befuddled by the question. "Uh…what?"

2B threw her an odd look as 9S awkwardly bobbed his head back and forth, no doubt rolling his eyes under his mask.

"Come on, you know what I mean," he said bluntly, clearly trying to cut right through the awkwardness left over from the previous recursion. "Things got kind of tense back there, and I just want to make sure there aren't any hard feelings or anything."

A2 glanced back and forth between 2B and 9S, as if trying to figure something out. Her eyes were unreadable as she studied them both, her eyebrows narrowing in concentration.

Then, seemingly coming to a decision, her gaze finally resolved on 2B.

"Uh…sure…" she said dismissively, her voice taking on a somewhat quieter tone. "Hey, 2B…before we move onto our next mission, can I…talk to you? Alone please?"

That got a raised eyebrow from 2B. Had this been their first meeting, she would have been far more suspicious of A2's intentions than she was – after all, despite her misgivings about the other android, it was not as if she presented any greater danger to either of them alone than she did while they were together. The benchmark for 2B's suspicions and expectations existed at a fundamentally different level now. Really, if A2 wanted to speak in private, the odds were just as good that it was to confide something she preferred to keep between the two of them than it was for her to isolate 2B for malicious purposes.

She threw a glance back at 9S, whose skepticism, like hers, used to come from an entirely different place than it did now.

"It's your call," he shrugged, helplessly.

2B nodded and rose to her feet, following A2 as she dropped down to the grassy field below. She followed at a reasonable distance as A2 rounded a corner, just out of 9S' line of sight, but no further. They would be far enough away from 9S that he could not easily eavesdrop, but close enough that he would still likely be able to hear a call for help. And of course, Pod 042 was still with her, and could signal 153 if need be.

2B crossed her arms as A2 stood still, staring at the ground, looking somewhat anxious. She was still suspicious of the other android, but more and more, she was getting the impression that A2 was making an honest attempt at communication with this.

"Well?" 2B prompted, patiently but firmly.

A2 remained still for a moment longer, steadying her breathing, apparently collecting her thoughts.

"Ok, I'm…freaking out a little bit here…" A2 finally said, turning to face 2B with a look of consternation. "How much of our last conversation do you remember exactly?"

2B blinked in surprise beneath her mask. "During the battle with those six goliaths?"

A2 shook her head in agitation, her short white hair waving back and forth with the sudden jolt of motion.

"No, no, before that," she spat hurriedly. "When you told me about how my fight with 9S ended in the original timeline?"

2B pursed her lips, biting back a mean spirited retort. Clearly there was something deeper going on here than any duplicity on A2's part.

"The two branching pathways," 2B summarized succinctly. "One where 9S defeats you, and another where you defeat him."

A2 literally paled at her words. "So you…you remember that conversation now?"

2B narrowed her eyes. "Of course I remember it. I was the one who brought it up."

A2 drew in a breath and suddenly began pacing back and forth, eyes locked on the ground, seemingly lost in thought.

"Okay…" she shuddered in an uncomfortable voice. "Okay, this is really, really weird…"

A2's agitation was beginning to rub off on 2B herself, causing her patience to grow thinner by the moment.

"A2, what is going on?" she demanded in a measured voice.

A2 stopped her frantic pacing, looking up with an expression of stupefaction on her face.

"2B…you and I have had that conversation five times already…" she said.

2B froze in place. "Five times…?"

A2 nodded slowly.

"Yeah," she grunted. "And after every single one of them, you and 9S came back in the next recursion with no memory of what I had told you!"

2B just stared at her in disbelief. Five times? How far back had that even been? Was A2 seriously saying that the two of them have had five separate conversations, presumably in five separate recursions, and that 2B somehow remembered none of them? Surely A2 must be feeding her another lie to confuse her and dampen her resolve.

"You expect me to believe that?" she said coldly. "After what you've been hiding from us?"

"That's the thing, 2B!" A2 said, eyes wide. "I wasn't hiding it before! Hell, I was the one who told you about it the first few times! But when I mentioned it in the recursion after that, you both looked at me like I was crazy, and I had to explain everything all over again! And then in the next recursion, not only had you forgotten about it again, but you had also forgotten about ever having forgotten anything in the first place! I figured it was Adam messing with our heads or something, and eventually I just stopped bringing it up altogether to see if it would change anything! But even when you guys started asking about it on your own, you'd both just forget about it in the next recursion anyway! Except for this time, apparently!"

2B hesitated. It certainly wasn't outside the realm of plausibility, given what she knew of the machines and their meddling. They had already reached into her head and modified her behavior against her will. And Adam had told them flat out that they could rewrite their memories to suit their needs.

Still, it did seem rather convenient how neatly this revelation explained away A2's suspicious behavior.

"That doesn't make any sense though," 2B shook her head. "If the machines were altering mine and 9S' memories, then why would they leave yours alone? That can't have been some kind of oversight on their part."

A2 shook her own head, reaching up to scratch at her scalp with both hands. If she had merely been feigning her ignorance, she was doing a remarkably good job of it.

"Arrrgh!" she growled in frustration. "This is all just so damn confusing! We could have had entire epiphanies about this time loop that just went up in smoke the instant the next recursion came around! We're going to need to start comparing combat data after every new recursion now!"

2B squeezed her hands into fists, reflecting her own frustration. It was still technically possible that A2 was making all of this up in an effort to save face, but even if she was, the truth of the matter was that neither one of them could fully trust their own memories. And the prospect just fit too well into the pattern under which their machine captors had been operating. Neither Adam nor the girl in red had made an appearance since she'd first encountered either of them, and yet their presence could still be felt in the actions of the world all around them. It was an alien sensation that 2B had yet to be able to put her finger on, and having her memories tampered with like A2 was describing only seemed like the next inevitable phase.

"Do the machines simply not want us to be aware of certain things until a specific point in time?" she postulated. "We did progress farther in that last recursion than in any other so far."

A2 took a few steadying breaths as she gathered her thoughts, as if trying to make sense of the world anew.

"Yeah…yeah, maybe you're right…" she said, dawning comprehension on her face as she turned to fix 2B with a look that was equal parts excitement and terror. "2B, I…I need to ask you something very weird and very personal, and I need you to be completely honest with me about it. In that last recursion, did you and 9S…do the deed?"

2B's face went completely blank.

"Do the…deed…?"

A2 rolled her eyes flippantly, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Bump uglies, knock boots, do the sideways tango!" she said with an annoyed huff. "Bury the weasel! Hide the sausage! Take a trip to pound town! Am I being too subtle here for you? I can keep going!"

2B's face went beet red as she held up her hands, a look of utter mortification on her face.

"God, stop it!" she yelped at about an octave or two higher than her normal voice. "Yes, okay?! We did it! Why is that any business of yours though?! Seriously, what is it with your fixation on my relationship with 9S?!"

A2 took a few more steadying breaths before her expression suddenly turned aggravated once again.

"And now we're back to this question again," she said hopelessly. "I've explained this to you five times already, and you're probably just going to forget it again in the next recursion! It's exhausting enough having to repeat the same tasks over and over again without also having to repeatedly reiterate everything to you guys each time! I can't keep tabs on what you remember and what you don't after every recursion – it's just too much to keep track of!"

2B obstinately crossed her arms again.

"I don't care," she said adamantly. "I need to know what's going on here, A2. Right now."

A2 let out another deep sigh, her face going from hopeless to pitying in an instant.

"And that's what you always say…" she said, a note of sadness in her voice. "Okay, let me see if I can summarize this as quickly and painlessly as I can. Basically, it's like I said when you guys first told me about the time loop – why us? Why you two specifically? Why are you and 9S their test subjects when presumably the machines would have access to every android who succumbed to their logic virus?"

2B tossed her head back in frustration. "I don't know, A2. I was hoping you'd shed some light on the subject for me."

A2 shook her head, like she was explaining something to a child.

"Think about it," she said. "The machines want to learn all they can from us, right? So they study us by putting us into various scenarios to run their experiments on us. I'm not a scientist, but I know you have to rule out variables in any experiment. At least, that's how Jackass explained it."

2B's expression did not change. "I'm still waiting for an answer here."

A2 threw her hands up.

"The point is, it wouldn't make sense for the machines to put every android they had on file into the same simulation at once," she said. "The results would be just as chaotic as in the real world. They might as well just go back to studying us in real life. So instead, they isolate us, and put a specific set of test subjects into a single solitary environment to test for one particular thing."

2B's eyebrow rose sardonically. "And that is?"

A2 actually blushed a little.

"Come on, 2B, don't make me spell this out for you every time we do this," she said with a hint of awkwardness in her voice. "They chose you and 9S, a boy and a girl so hopelessly head over heels for each other, yet with so much tension and baggage between you that each of you practically define the other. And they threw you both into a simulated time loop that forces you to continue to work together and rely on one another just like you did in the real world, without end. And all while conveniently avoiding the possibility of death interrupting anything you do before the experiment is over. What do you think's going to happen between these two test subjects after enough time passes? Apart from the two of them eventually wanting to kill each other – which would be a moot point - what's the only other possible outcome?"

2B simply stared. She said nothing for a few moments, and then color slowly crept into her cheeks as she began to flush red with indignation.

Was A2 being serious? Of all the outrageous ideas she could have cooked up, she honestly thought this was the most plausible explanation? That the entire reason this time loop existed was to monitor her relationship with 9S? That might have been the most over-the-top theory she had heard yet! She must be seriously desperate to keep the scam going to try to gaslight her like this!

2B and 9S were…she and 9S were just two ordinary androids! Soldiers in a war who had no greater influence over it than any other android. Why would the machines possibly care about their love life?!

"That's…that's ridiculous!" she said, not quite as confidently as she would have liked.

"I never said it wasn't," A2 allowed with a sad smile. "But apart from how far we got, the biggest difference between the last recursion and this one is you and 9S putting a notch on the bedpost. Why else would the machines have put those mental blocks in your head in the first place? They're clearly interested in how you two feel about each other."

2B swallowed as she realized that she was shaking as the color in her cheeks suddenly began to drain away.

Could it be possible…?

"Alert," Pod 042 reported. "Unit 2B's biorhythms have begun to fluctuate at an alarming rate. Proposal: Unit 2B should conduct field maintenance immediately."

2B's jaw hung slack as she tugged the blindfold from her face and stared up into the sky, as if beseeching their machine gods for some kind of answer.

How could she have been so naïve? Her relationship with 9S had evolved so dramatically during this whole time loop, and yet she hadn't spared a second's thought for why that might be. But if what A2 was saying was true, then she and 9S had been playing right into the machines' hands by acting on their emotions as they had. This called their entire relationship into question! To say nothing of the audacity of the machines manipulating them like this! It was utterly sickening! The thought of the machines studying them like lab rats, watching them with impassive focus as she and 9S made love…

"You can't be serious…" she said in a hollow breathy voice.

A2 held her hands out wide, a helpless expression on her face. "'Fraid so, 2B. Adam claims the machines want to study human relationships. It's one of the defining attributes of the species after all. Only they don't have any humans to test with, so we androids are the next best thing. I thought he was full of shit, of course. But the more I'm seeing, the more I think he might have been telling the truth. There's probably a whole bunch of simulations out there, each one containing a bunch of other former YoRHa androids testing out other emotions, like joy, anger, sadness, or fear. And our simulation, this time loop, must be set up to help the machines learn about love."

2B's mouth had gone dry, her hands growing cold and clammy inside her gloves. She felt like crying. She felt like throwing up. She felt like punching the walls of the ruined buildings around her until they were nothing but dust. This was a violation of the highest order, and she just didn't know how she was even supposed to respond to it!

She lowered her eyes, her hair obscuring her face as she shook with rage.

"…So what does that make you then?" she demanded, venom in her voice. "Our third wheel for when 9S and I start feeling more adventurous?"

A2 took a step back, holding her hands up defensively. "Hey, you asked, and I answered – just like I did the last few times this came up. And as much fun as it might be to watch you and the shrimp thrashing about on top of me-"

2B stamped her foot on the ground, her fists shaking with anger.

"STOP CALLING HIM THAT!" she screamed, surprising even herself with the ferocity in her voice. "9S is the bravest android I've ever known! And all you ever seem to do is put him down and call him names! It's pathetic! All you're doing is covering up your own insecurities by picking on him! AND I'M SICK OF IT!"

A2 took another step back, eyes wide at 2B's outburst, her jaw hanging slack as she stared back at the other android with something close to fear. "2-2B…"

2B was shaking and trembling, her face red with fury. She knew that she wasn't truly angered by A2's treatment of 9S, but she needed somewhere tangible to aim her hatred. Being angry at the fact that she couldn't even be certain that she was truly in love with 9S or had simply been manipulated into feeling that way…it was all just too abstract. She couldn't focus on something so far removed from the bounds of reality like that. So her lingering frustration with A2's continued belittling of her partner took the forefront of her fury, and damned if it didn't feel just a little bit cathartic to lay into her over it.

A2 still had her hands raised in a non-aggressive posture.

"Hey, hey…" she said softly, a look of remorse in her eyes. "I'm sorry, okay? You're right, I'm not being fair to 9S by bullying him like that. And it isn't fair to lay all this on you at once either. This is why I didn't want to tell you about this, you know? It was equally painful the first time I explained it before. And if you end up forgetting about it all again, then it's going to be just as painful every time that comes after."

2B couldn't say anything. She was still shaking too hard, her teeth clenched tightly enough that she tasted blood in her mouth. She couldn't even bring herself to cry; her anguish went beyond anything that tears could possibly convey. She was simply gripped by a loathsome seething bitterness that refused to let her go.

"Look…" A2 said, taking a cautious step closer to her. "I know you and I haven't really been seeing eye to eye lately, but for what it's worth…I'm still on your side here, believe it or not. I'm going to help you through this, alright? It's going to be okay, 2B…"

2B shook her head slowly, all of the energy leaving her voice.

"No it's not…" she replied with words empty of all hope. "You don't understand, A2. I can't even trust my own emotions anymore. I thought that as long as 9S and I stuck together, we could at least depend on that bond between us to keep us grounded."

She held her hands up in front of her face, staring at her palms like they were two alien appendages.

"But now you're telling me that the only reason he and I are together in the first place is because some machines made us that way!" she cried in a tremulous voice. "That by being with him, I've done exactly what the machines intended for me to do! How am I supposed to believe…anything anymore? What even am I if I can't trust how I feel about anyone who matters to me? If they can just…reach into my head and change how I think and how I feel…then how am I anything other than just another tool for the machines now?!"

2B tensed when she felt A2's hands in hers, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

"The thing is, 2B…" she said, a hopeful gleam in her eye. "I don't think the machines are manipulating how you feel about 9S. They're controlling for variables, sure, but the relationship between you two is the entire point of the whole experiment. They may be putting you two in the best position that they can think of for you two to hit it off, but if they just made you fall in love, there wouldn't be any purpose to it."

2B shook her head disparagingly, though she lacked the energy to pull her hands from A2's grip.

"Assuming there's a purpose to anything they do…" she muttered grimly, glaring back at A2 as if daring her to piss her off again. "What about those mental blocks they put in my head, huh? Pretty sure those had something to do with our relationship."

A2 shrugged her shoulders. "Ok, so maybe they can crank your inhibitions up or down. Worst case scenario, maybe that's what made you decide to have a roll in the hay. And yeah, that would be seriously messed up if it were true. But it wouldn't be something to have an identity crisis over. Even if they did all that, it'd be no different from drugging you or something like that. The feelings you have underneath? Those are still yours, 2B."

2B's face reddened and she felt her skin begin to crawl as she suddenly thought back to that moment where she had tried to force herself on 9S. It had gotten to the point where he had to put a stop to it himself before she had relented. It had seemed like such an obvious lapse in judgement on reflection, but was it possible that the machines' programming had subtly been nudging her towards making a move on 9S, despite any reservations she might have otherwise had?

She wrinkled her nose, squeezing her eyes shut in contempt. "This whole thing is disgusting…"

A2 didn't release her grip.

"Understatement of all time," she said softly. "But ask yourself this: knowing all this, would you go back now and stop yourself from getting together with 9S in the first place? Would you have handled things any differently, given your feelings both then and now?"

2B took in a few breaths at that as she considered. Part of her wanted to deny it, but the more she thought about it, the more she had to acknowledge that she still would have probably crossed that threshold with him at some point or another. There had been an electrical current running between her and 9S ever since that moment on the beach, and even if she had known better at the time, she feared that it would have overpowered her eventually.

She didn't have any regrets about what the two of them had done. But the circumstances surrounding them still made her feel queasy, and would taint every interaction she had with 9S for as long as they remained in this time loop. She knew that this was something that she would simply have to work through if she meant to make any progress down the line, but the discovery was still fresh and sent a shiver down her spine just by thinking about it.

At her silence, A2 pressed on.

"Do you know why I'm so sure that your feelings for 9S are genuine?" she asked.

2B only responded with a cold resentful scowl. But A2 didn't seem to let the expression affect her.

"Because Adam straight up told me that he wanted me to encourage you two to finally go for it," she said, a hint of wry humor in her voice.

2B's indignant face turned into one of utter confusion.

"Wait, he what?!" she demanded in stupefaction. "He told you to…what?!"

A2 held her hands out wide in a similar gesture of incomprehension. "I know, right? Me, a matchmaker? Can you imagine it?"

2B scratched her head, looking around absently as her mind started going in circles. She felt like she needed to lie down.

"I don't…" she said, looking around for something that made sense. "That's not…how is that…?"

A2 nodded in understanding. "It's stupid, I know. Adam gave me the lowdown like this…"

She paused, waving her hands around in a mock theatrical display.

"He's here to be the detractor," she said, mimicking Adam's pompous manner of speech in scarcely contained derision. "The 'opposing force who exists to discourage you and 9S from believing in yourselves.' His role in this simulation is to try to drive you two apart. And it seems the only reason that I'm here is to do just the opposite. Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably exactly why my memories aren't being altered like yours are."

Something in 2B's head was trying to assemble everything that A2 was telling her in some way that made sense. Her brain ultimately gave up on the effort, and she finally succumbed to her weariness and slumped down onto the grass, kneeling with her legs splayed off to either side.

All those times where A2 had teased them and poked fun at their awkward attempts at flirting, she had also been surreptitiously nudging it along by giving her and 9S sufficient opportunity to kindle their relationship. It all made a crazy kind of sense, but it also just seemed so absurd. She still couldn't get over the idea that this whole time loop was set up just to try to get her and 9S to connect. And now it seemed that A2 was indeed an agent of the machines, at least unofficially. Not as her and 9S' jailor trying to keep them from escaping, but rather as their own personal cupid!

Was this seriously what she had been missing this whole time? Every angle she had tried to deduce as to the machines' intentions had come up short. She knew that she had been overlooking some critical piece to the puzzle, some key motivational factor that drove the machines in what they did. Could it all really be as simple as the machines trying to understand love?

Was that all that her relationship with 9S ultimately amounted to?

"So let me get this straight," she demanded tersely. "Are you actually trying to help the machines with this experiment now?"

"What? No way in hell!" A2 said just as sharply. "I'm not doing this for them, 2B! I'm doing it for you! If they were going to try to set you two up regardless of what I did, then it only made sense for me to play along so that I could at least keep tabs on things. And not that I'm any kind of expert or anything, but if I had found any cause to think that you and 9S weren't good for each other, then we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. But then when I saw how smitten you two were, it just…seemed like the right thing to do, you know? You and 9S were the best of us. Far better than I ever was. And honestly? You two deserve a fucking win."

2B just sighed. She was too confounded by all this to even be mad anymore.

"Then this is why you've been so focused on how things are going between him and me…" she said blithely.

A2 shrugged, an embarrassed look on her face. "Guilty."

2B gave her a confused look.

"And you've known all along that this is what Adam is after?" she asked cynically. "All that postulating and strategizing we did? Was that all just for show?"

A2 shrugged. "Like I said, I don't know for sure that this is what he's after, or if it's all he's after. If there was any chance at all of uncovering any ulterior motives, I figured you guys putting your heads together without the added distraction was the best shot at finding it. And telling you about it would still have influenced your relationship one way or the other. It would have put the subject on the spot, and you would have had to make a choice about it right then and there, with the burden of defying our captors weighing down on you. Better that the two of you come to the decision on your own, without me or Adam influencing you."

2B shook her head more vigorously this time. This whole scenario seemed to have been purpose built to manipulate her, and she was having a hard time believing that anything that A2 did or was currently doing was done so in an effort to diminish that.

"So what do you get out of this, exactly?" she asked, still trying to make sense of the situation.

"Not dead, for starters," A2 said, her mouth twisting into a crooked smile. "I still don't really know what I am, 2B, but if the machines made me, then they can unmake me just as easily. But as long as I play along with their stupid game, it seems like they'll keep me alive a little bit longer. Maybe long enough for me to figure out a way out of here. All I know is, if they make me play matchmaker for some other android couple down the line, then there's going to be hell to pay."

2B shook her head absently.

"This is unbelievable…" she muttered, looking completely lost.

A2 sighed helplessly. "Yeah, no way I could have explained this to you over a video call. And certainly not in front of 9S. Oh, and if I have to go through this all again in the next recursion, you can be sure that I'm going to be pretty miffed about it."

A2 squatted down in front of 2B to meet her at eye level.

"Now look, I don't know if my impulse to help you guys is how I really feel, or just how the machines programmed me to feel," she said steadily. "But what I can say for sure is that all that's really going on here is a really high tech version of a blind date. The machines can throw on some romantic music, light some candles, arrange some flowers, maybe even slip some molly in the champagne…but if there's no chemistry between you and 9S to begin with, then all the window dressing in the world isn't going to make you two fall in love with each other. Not for real."

2B glared back at her defiantly. "You don't know that."

A2 glanced up in thought.

"Okay, think of it this way…" she said. "Would the machines really need someone like me to try to get you and 9S to fall for each other if they had that much control over your conscious mind?"

2B glanced down at the ground, her eyes and heart full of doubt. But A2 continued on, undeterred.

"From where I'm sitting, if the machines had some tool to manipulate you into having feelings for 9S, then you're looking at it," A2 said simply, spreading her arms out to indicate herself. "So ask yourself this…"

She reached out to put her hands on 2B's shoulders.

"Can you honestly say that I'm the only reason you're in love with this guy?" she asked sardonically. "Cause if so, then…hey, maybe you ought to send me a gift basket or something."

2B did not stop scowling, but she didn't push her away either.

"Come on, 2B," A2 groaned impatiently. "I've seen just how you two act around each other. Hell, you nearly took my head off just now for calling him a shrimp. You think all that could be fake? Even in the original timeline, you were like two peas in a pod. Now I'll admit, I am biased in favor of you two hooking up and everything. And I'm probably not even the real A2, so I can't even say that I've known you two in real life. But I do have all of her memories, and based on those memories…I didn't need to do a damn thing to help you at all. You two got together on your own. Simple as that."

2B swallowed hard. Some part of her was still uncertain. Some part of her wanted to throw in the towel and call it all off. Some part of her wanted to point out that A2 had already established how unreliable their own memories were, and that basing her assessment off what she remembered was inherently flawed.

But then she thought back to what A2 had told them before, about having faith in something for the time being, simply out of necessity. If she couldn't believe in anything at all, then she might as well be dead for how effective she would ever be. So if she had any intention at all of prevailing in this conflict, then she had to believe in something, anything, even if just for now.

If that something had to be anything at all…why shouldn't it be 9S?

That's when the tears began to win the battle, and 2B found herself tilting her head forward to lean her face against the crook of A2's neck as she began to shake with the force of her pent up anguish releasing all at once.

A2 awkwardly lifted her hands up, suddenly trying to pull away as she turned her gaze upward in discomfort.

"Hey now, come on…" she complained without any real conviction. "Don't make this even weirder than it already is…"

2B only sobbed some more, her arms wrapping tightly around A2's waist as she held her in place.

"Shut up…" she whimpered, tears and phlegm streaming down her face and drenching A2's chest plate. "Just…shut up…"

A2 sighed and relented, slowly and mechanically tapping her hands on 2B's back to provide the barest minimum of physical comfort that she could get away with.

"Ugh…" she groaned in admonishment. "I am so not cut out for all this mushy stuff…"

They stayed that way for several moments as 2B wept, relief and anxiety coalescing into a single note of disharmony that rose and fell over and over again until she felt only numbness in its wake. When she finally recovered enough strength to raise her head, A2 seized the opportunity to disentangle herself.

"This is actually the first time I've told you about my purpose here, by the way," A2 admitted sheepishly, climbing to her feet. "It's honestly a huge relief to get that off my chest. And overall, you're taking it a lot better than I expected, but…well…"

2B wiped her eyes, snorting back a nose full of snot.

"But there's a good chance I'll just forget about all this anyway in the next recursion," she groaned in agitation as she herself rose to her feet. "I understand…"

"I'll try to keep a backup copy of my memory data to share with you, but if the machines are determined, I doubt that would help at all," A2 shrugged helplessly, before fixing 2B with a curious look. "So…what are you going to do? About 9S?"

2B looked up at A2, eyes so red from tears that her makeup was running down her face. She had no response. What was she supposed to do? What even could she do? Just carry on like nothing had happened? Go back to the way things were before, denying herself what her heart truly yearned for? That door had already been flung wide open, and there was no closing it again. But leaving things as they were felt more dangerous now than anything they had ever done. If she allowed herself to continue on with 9S like this, she felt like a single misstep might shatter what little they had. But to do anything otherwise would feel like a betrayal of everything they had ever fought for.

A2 began to look uneasy at the growing silence.

"For the record," she offered 2B a helpless smile as she winced slightly at her own words. "I am sorry to keep prying into your personal life and everything, but you know…my life does kind of depend on it."

2B clenched her eyes shut. She knew she needed to face facts. They were data in a simulation, and they could only do what they'd been programmed to do. They could decide to act on their own free will just as readily as they could decide to do nothing at all on their own free will. So what she did, ultimately, was still up to her. That their enemies occasionally interfered with their memories or even their programming was no different from their enemies placing a goliath or any other obstacle in their path. She would face those obstacles, overcome them, and keep going.

Just as she always did.

"I have to tell 9S about the purpose of this simulation," 2B nodded decisively. "He's my partner, and he needs to know the truth. Whatever we decide to do, we'll decide it together. As for you…"

She gave A2 a sympathetic look.

"Your role in all this is not my secret to share," she said softly. "You told me all this in confidence, so I'll only tell him about you if you're comfortable with me sharing it with him."

A2 seemed taken aback by that, and 2B had to smile. She was glad for all of these little glimpses she was getting into A2's mind whenever her armor momentarily came down like this. Despite all of her confidence, swagger and poise, it seemed A2 still had a softer side too. 2B had suspected as much, but part of her reason for extending so many olive branches to the other android despite her suspicions was to show her than she too could be trusted. And there was something satisfying about throwing A2 completely off balance by extending her such courtesy even after everything she'd done.

"2B…" she muttered, looking somewhat anxious. "I…well…I guess…if your memories get wiped, there's no reason to assume his won't be wiped too, so…"

She let out a nervous laugh.

"…In for a penny, in for a pound, right?" she offered, helplessly. "Go ahead and tell him whatever you want, 2B. He's earned it too."

2B drew in another breath and nodded her head, clenching her fists as she steeled herself for what 9S might say after finding out about all this. She wasn't sure which outcome she feared most – the prospect of him deciding to call things off…or for him deciding to keep going.

A2 held a hand up as 2B began to turn back to where they had left 9S.

"Before we go back though," she said, the familiar smirk once again on her face, "We should get you cleaned up a bit first. Have you got like a…makeup kit or something?"

2B blinked at that, briefly wondering whether or not she should take offense to the remark, but decided against it as she turned to her support unit.

"Pod?" she said by way of request.

"Deploying aesthetic enhancement module," Pod 042 replied, part of its chassis opening to reveal a small steel cylinder, presenting it to A2.

A2 withdrew the silver tube, twisting the cap open with an impressed look on her face as she assessed the standard YoRHa assortment of cosmetics.

"Huh," she commented idly. "You are a handy little guy."

"This platform does not identify-" the droid began.

"Sorry, sorry," A2 rolled her eyes. "Thing. Handy little thing. That better?"

"Acknowledged," the Pod said, indicating its acceptance.

A2 turned to face 2B, a wry smile on her face.

"I swear, these Pods are the only creatures that prefer to be called 'things,'" she smirked good naturedly. "Here, hand me that sash, will you?"

2B looked down at the YoRHa visor in her hand, before offering it to A2.

A2 took the sash and wrapped it around one finger before stepping up to 2B, giving her face an appraising look.

"Alright, now hold still," she said, bringing the cloth up to dab at the black streaks of running eyeliner on 2B's cheeks. "I'll take care of this for you."

2B closed her eyes as A2 placed a free hand around the back of her neck to steady her grip, and gently wiped her face clean with the fabric of the YoRHa visor around her finger. 2B felt the smooth cloth press against her cheeks, wiping her eyes and nose clean, and was surprised by how comforting the sensation felt. She had only ever relied on the automatic cleaning systems installed in their quarters in the bunker for anything like this, and the hesitant and sporadic motions of another android pampering her was a completely unique feeling.

The black warpaint disappeared into the equally black cloth, and after dabbing the smears of makeup off her face, A2 opened the steel tube and withdrew a tiny makeup brush, beginning to retrace the faint lines along her eyelashes. The eyeliner fluid was rather cold, and 2B couldn't help but flinch every so often at the feeling of the cool liquid being applied so close to her optical receptors.

"Sorry," A2 said, dabbing at her face once again with the sash to fix a smudge, before going back to applying mascara. "It's been a while since I've done this. I'm almost done."

2B drew in a breath, trying to calm her nerves. In any other circumstance, she wouldn't have let the other android anywhere near this close to her. She wouldn't have even let any of her teammates from YoRHa do this for her, come to think of it. When it came to personal matters like this, 2B had always been fastidiously self-sufficient. But here and now, after learning that the world around her was doing everything in its power to undermine her decision making ability, it came as a welcome relief to simply give up control and let someone else handle even her most basic functions for a while.

In a way, this was also a sort of test for her. A2 was clearly trying to prove to 2B that she was trustworthy, and 2B was fully aware that this was a calculated move on her part. That said, by A2's own admission, she had every reason to give 2B any advantage she could in keeping 9S' interest, which meant that she could be trusted with the task of prettying her up at the very least. Whether or not 2B herself had the resolve to persevere in her relationship with 9S, she had little doubt that A2 would back her in this if nothing else. She wouldn't exactly have been 2B's first choice of proverbial wingman in this endeavor, but she supposed she could certainly do far worse than A2.

"There we go," A2 smiled at her, snapping the silver tube closed and handing it back to Pod 042. "Good as new."

The pod accepted the cylinder with one arm, its other deploying a small circular mirror and presenting it to 2B as she blinked her eyes open, turning her gaze to the mirror to inspect A2's work. Apart from some lingering redness in her eyes, all evidence of her tears had been wiped away completely.

A2 gave her an encouraging smile.

"9S won't know what to do with himself," she laughed, offering the sash back to her as the other android studied her reflection.

2B nodded her head in satisfaction, before taking the YoRHa visor and retying it over her face, shaking her head at the absurdity of the thought of two combat androids doing each other's makeup like a pair of human schoolgirls.

"Thanks," she said.

"Don't mention it," A2 nodded.

The two of them made their way back to the building where 9S had remained. He was busying himself with several holographic displays, no doubt seeking a distraction from pondering just what the other two had been up to. No sooner had they rounded the corner then 9S dismissed the holograms and turned to watch as they approached, his eyes fixed on them as they both hopped up onto the ledge along with him.

"Is everything alright?" 9S asked, an expectant look on his face. "I heard shouting, but my Pod said that there wasn't any danger."

2B and A2 exchanged one last glance, before 2B heaved a great sigh.

"You might want to sit down for this one…" she suggested.

A few moments later, when 2B had recounted what she'd learned from A2, 9S was staring back at the two of them with his jaw hanging open in incredulity.

"I…I can't believe this…" he muttered in a weak and pithy voice. "Are…are we just a fucking joke to them?! Is there nothing sacred that they won't find some way to tarnish?!"

2B winced. That was one way to put it, she supposed. While she doubted the machines had any sense of humor to speak of, one could say that in the absence of any real god to turn to in here, their machine captors more or less filled the role of god now. So in some way, this made her relationship with 9S all the more 'sacred' by that definition. The question was, were they themselves practitioners or heretics to this twisted religion?

9S turned to A2, the stunned look remaining on his face.

"So you've just been our cheerleader this whole time then?" he demanded, blithely.

A2 gave him a sour look.

"Seriously?" she asked. "That's your big takeaway from all this?"

9S shook his head, getting up to walk around the rooftop ledge where they had all been standing, and 2B could only watch as he paced the concrete surface, his lips moving wordlessly as he silently worked things out. She wanted desperately to go to him, to talk to him, to hold him and tell him everything she was feeling. But she knew her partner, and she knew that he worked best when he could work these things out for himself first. He would come to her for answers when he had exhausted his own reserves.

"I mean…it's funny, isn't it?" 9S let out a weak, helpless laugh, his voice cracking a little as he did. "Here I was, worried that you were still our enemy, and then it…it turns out that you were just trying to set us up with one another! It's…it's hilarious when you think about it…"

9S' laughter began to break down into frustrated sobs, and 2B couldn't hold herself back any longer. She rushed over to his side, wrapping her arms around him from the side as she pulled him in close.

"9S…" she said in a tremulous voice. "I…I don't know what to tell you. I don't know how to make this better…"

9S tensed and curled inward on himself in her embrace, his whole body shuddering as his tears simply vanished into his visor.

"What's it all even for anymore?" he demanded sullenly. "I thought that getting to be with you was the one thing we had a choice over, the one way we had to prove to the machines that they don't own us! But whether it's machines or YoRHa…it's like there hasn't been a single decision we've made in our entire lives that was ever truly our own! Even when we win…we lose!"

2B cringed at his words. 9S always had a way of digging down to the true heart of the matter. Even if what A2 said was true, even if their feelings towards each other were genuine, they were still doing exactly what the machines wanted them to do just by being in this relationship. In simply confessing their feelings to each other, they were also giving their enemies whatever intel they were after, which would inevitably be used only to further their own objectives.

How were the two of them ever supposed to reconcile that?

"Ok, don't you think you guys are overreacting just a little here?" A2 demanded suddenly.

Both androids turned to look at A2, a mixture of confusion, worry and disdain on their faces.

"W-what?" 9S asked, unsteadily.

A2 put her hands on her hips.

"I mean, yeah, the machines might be influencing how we feel or whatever," she said, matter-of-factly. "But so what? I thought we'd already decided that we were ultimately planning on escaping this time loop anyway. And once we're out, we'll be free of all that. So what should it matter then if we're playing along with the machines' plans until we find our chance? That was precisely what we were already doing seven recursions ago! How is this any different?"

2B set her jaw, not letting go of 9S in her arms.

"The machines have encroached upon our very thoughts and feelings," she declared. "They've gone too far this time."

A2 crossed her arms. "Yeah, they deserve a good stomping, no question. But regardless of whether or not they ever get what's coming to them, what are you two going to do in the meantime?"

That was the one conundrum 2B still wasn't certain of, and she found herself hesitating. But 9S quickly came to her rescue

"That's not such an easy question to answer anymore, A2," he shot back, releasing himself from 2B's arms to stare down the other android. "How do we know that our own desires and motivations haven't already been compromised with this revelation? How do we know that, just by acting on what we think we want, we're not simply marching towards our own undoing?"

A2 ran her hands through her hair in frustration.

"Again - so what?" she demanded in aggravation. "When has that ever not been the case? We never had any kind of assurance going into this! Why should we stop now? It's not like we have anything else to go on! Or are you two just going to put your whole relationship on hold until you figure this out?"

2B found herself trembling at that, and 9S looked taken aback.

"I…" he muttered, his voice uncertain.

A2 did not relent.

"So what's your plan then, exactly?" A2 spread her arms wide, expectantly. "Are you both just going to magically stop feeling the way you feel about each other? Go back to pretending like you two weren't crazy about each other, just like before? I mean…are you two even capable of choosing not to feel the way you feel at this point? Would you actually want to choose that, even if it were possible? Would it even be worth it?"

Now even 9S was at a loss for words, and the look he fixed on 2B made her heart race in her chest. He hadn't even removed his mask, but she could still see the raw need in the set of his jaw, the nervous movement in his jugular as he swallowed, and the way his lower lip quivered as he focused on her. She could tell in an instant that there was no way in hell that he was going to turn his back on her at this point. And with that look, 2B herself realized that the same was true for her as well.

Her heart suddenly felt quite heavy as she returned her gaze to A2.

"So…we have no choice then but to follow the plan the machines have made for us?" 2B demanded.

It wasn't a question made in anger, contempt, or disgust. There was no judgement or harshness or malice in her tone. There was only resignation, a calm acceptance of the inevitable that felt somehow more final than any decision she had ever made.

A2 clenched her fists as her agitation grew.

"Arrgh…" she growled angrily. "When you put it like that…damn it, this can't be the answer we land on, can it?"

9S fixed her with a dirty look. "Why not? You've basically been their lackey this whole time anyway. We've been doing exactly what the machines wanted us to do after all these recursions, and you've just been letting it happen without saying a word."

A2 wrinkled her nose in disgust at that, and 2B didn't even have the energy to try to keep the peace between them.

"Don't even start with that, buddy!" she spat back at him. "I had no reason to believe that anything Adam was telling me was true!"

"You could have still told us about it at least!" 9S growled angrily. "Let us decide for ourselves what to believe! But no, you had to keep it all to yourself and see how things played out. Was all that talk about alternate timelines and branching pathways just a smoke screen or something to distract us? You knew exactly what he was after, and you've been playing dumb this whole time!"

"I did tell you!" A2 blared. "Several times! I wasn't sure what Adam would do with me if I did, so yeah, I hesitated for a bit. But eventually I caved and told you guys pretty much everything! But it's like I said – your memories got wiped after each recursion!"

"Oh, how convenient for you!" 9S sneered. "The one bit of evidence that might actually convince us just happens to have evaporated into thin air, is that it?"

"Give me a break!" A2 hollered, throwing her hands up in the air. "I don't know how any of this is supposed to work either! I'm just as in the dark here as you guys! It's not like I can just call Adam up on speed dial and ask him to explain all this!"

No sooner had the words left her mouth when a holographic video screen appeared from Pod 042's projector amidst the sound of a call chime.

"You rang?" a familiar voice said, a smug pale face appearing on the video screen.

All three androids recoiled in unison.

"You!" 2B sneered.

"What the-?!" 9S gasped.

"Fucking hell!" A2 sputtered, completely thrown off.

Adam's gloating face simply smiled, a delighted grin on his lips as he surveyed the three startled androids in turn.

"Am I interrupting anything?" he asked, snobbishly. "I can always call back later if you'd prefer to go back to squabbling like children."

2B clenched her fists at her sides. She had been pondering what she would say the next time she saw Adam like this. Part of her had been intent on demanding answers, though another part of her had simply been coming up with the most insulting names she could think to call him, while another part still just wanted to scream at him. She knew that none of these options actually had any guarantee of being in any way productive however. Besides, 9S was usually better at asking questions, and no doubt had quite a few of his own that he wanted to ask right about now.

"Alright, what the hell's going on here, Adam?" 9S demanded, the first to recompose himself after the machine's abrupt appearance. "Is what A2 said true? Is this whole simulation just a sick ploy to learn about love by having 2B and me pantomime it for you?"

Adam shrugged, a helpless smile on his face. "We're of the philosophy that any information is good information. So even if we learn nothing about interpersonal relationships from this reality, any other information we can gather will be valuable to us. Even the knowledge that we can't obtain any data from something is, in itself, a form of data. As a scout unit, you of all androids should understand that."

9S crossed his arms, unamused by the weak-hearted appeal. "And you think we're just going to cooperate and play along like good little lab rats?"

Adam looked unfazed. "I think you're going to do whatever you want to do, just as you always have. It is the nature of all living beings to act upon what they perceive as their own best interest within the confines of their environment. Not everyone defines their best interest the same way, nor do they all have the perspective to truly know what their actions fully entail. But at the end of it all, even when we are forced to act, we only ever do what we are both willing and capable of doing."

2B found her voice once again.

"Does that include you?" she asked pointedly. "Our 'detractor?' Or was it our 'overseer?' What exactly is your role in all this, Adam? Why are you really here?"

Adam shrugged off the question with another bemused smile. "Why are any of us here? Higher forces than we have put us all here. All we know beyond that is what we are told. We can choose to either believe what we learn or to deny it. The veracity matters little when it comes to what we believe. If someone believes strongly enough that two and two make five, no amount of mathematical fact is guaranteed to alter this view with any certainty. Such is the power of delusion that is belief."

2B glanced between her two companions. No doubt Adam had been listening to everything that they had been saying since they had last seen him, but he had chosen now to step in and interact with them. Why? Was it because they had discovered the truth of the simulation? Or that their memories had been erased? She began to wonder if they may have even had previous conversations with Adam in prior recursions that had similarly evaporated from memory without a trace, and as she did, the truth of Adam's words became clear to her.

"So what you're saying is, there's no point in us asking you anything at all," she said, bluntly. "Even about whether or not our memories have actually been manipulated or not. You could be lying to us, or you could be telling the truth. But no matter what answer you give us, what we ultimately choose to believe is the only thing that really matters."

Adam pointed a finger-gun at her through the video screen. "I think the old human word to use here is…bingo."

9S appeared troubled by that. "But how are we supposed to believe anything that's happening to us when we can't even believe in what's going on in our own heads?!"

Adam seemed amused by this. "That's just it - you can't! You never could! Even before you entered this reality, the reality that exists outside of this one is just as illusory! You and every other being that can be said to have ever possessed free will was only able to do so because they deluded themselves into thinking that they could! It didn't matter if there was ever any empirical evidence for or against the existence of free will – all that ever mattered was that people thought that they had it! Reality simply does not factor into the equation when it comes to belief. It does, however, have a funny way of catching up with us all in the end."

2B glanced at A2. She still hadn't said anything, and her malevolent gaze had not left the floating holographic video screen of Adam's face since it had arrived. Still, his arguments about belief rang strangely parallel to A2's own – though his seemed to be far more pessimistic. She wondered if either one of them was doing so on purpose, or if this was just how they were both programmed.

"I already told you," 2B said, repeating the mantra she had been relying on, though without nearly as much of the aplomb it had once had. "It doesn't matter whether we can believe you or anything else about this world we're in. 9S and I still believe in each other. Your words won't change that. If your goal is to shake our faith in one another, then you've already failed."

Adam seemed only too delighted to hear the defiance in her tone. 2B knew that her words did not nearly reflect the uncertainty in her heart, and she could tell at a glance that Adam could see this plainly. But despite the obvious opening this provided, he seemed to have already grown bored with the discussion.

"Oh, I'm not here to try to drive any sort of wedge between you and the scout unit," he said haughtily. "We know enough about human relationships to know that were we to attempt to do so at this point, you and the scout unit would only fight all the more fiercely to remain together."

9S bristled at that. "The 'scout unit' has a name, you know!"

Adam ignored him, and instead turned to look at A2.

"I'm much more concerned with my counterpart here," he said, a wicked look in his eye. "We stand at odds with each other, and so it makes much more sense for me to undermine her position. She has no doubt tried her hardest to convince you that it's all worth it, that your belief in each other is all that you need to stand upon, and that this belief can exist for its own sake. But I wonder…how much of her own beliefs has she told you, exactly?"

2B saw A2 baring her teeth at Adam, but she otherwise did not rise to his baiting. Rather than turn her questioning gaze onto A2, as the machine seemed to be goading her to do, 2B instead kept her focus on Adam.

"Don't act like you haven't been listening in on our every word," she said simply, an unamused scowl on her lips. "You know perfectly well just what she's told us. So if you have a point, just spit it out."

Adam's eyes remained locked on A2's angry glare.

"I just find it rather curious that she neglected to mention what we offered her in return for her services," he said with the slimiest smile that 2B had ever seen.

A2's temper flared as her face became one of utter contempt.

"You…absolute…fucker…" she hissed in fury.

2B felt her mind racing at the implications. She knew perfectly well that Adam's words were designed specifically to diminish her trust in A2. Hell, he had outright admitted it straight to her face. And yet, she couldn't help but wonder why A2 would hide this particular detail from her.

Adam seemed to almost feed on A2's rage.

"The offer still stands, little miss prototype," he said, his words like honey laced with poison. "Your whole team-"

That was all he got out before A2 grabbed Pod 042 by the arm to force the holo-cam screen closer to her face.

"SHUT UP!" she yelled at the camera.

"Hey!" 2B blurted out instinctively at the rough handling of her pod.

"Warning!" Pod 042 cried in alarm as it was yanked around. "Unauthorized contact with this platform will result in-"

A2's bitter, raspy voice cut off any further deliberation.

"They're dead!" she snarled, her words dripping like venom from her lips. "My whole team is dead and gone! You machines and all of YoRHa saw to that years ago! Anything you create in their place will just be hollow copies!"

Adam was completely unfazed by the ferocity of her words.

"You mean just like the three of you are now?" he smirked.

A2's anger only grew at his continued barbing, and she shoved her face as close to the holo-screen as she could without passing right through it.

"I will rip the projector off of this thing before I listen to another word of your bullshit!" she screamed.

2B and 9S had both tensed at A2's sudden and violent reaction, though neither of them seemed quite as distressed as Pod 042 in that moment.

"Warning!" 042 cried out, its voice sounding somewhat pleading now. "Damage to this platform will impact mission efficiency! Proposal: non-violent conflict resolution practices should be-"

The Pod was interrupted once again, however, as a voice called up to them from the grassy field below them.

"Number Two?"

2B and 9S suddenly flinched at the unexpected voice, their hands instinctively going for their swords. They both dropped into combat ready stances and stepped over to the ledge to peer down from their position atop the ruined building to make out who was calling out to them.

To 2B's surprise, she saw a small squad of three YoRHa androids, although like no other combat models she had ever seen before. While they were all dressed in the gothic black velvet attire that was standard to all YoRHa units, their field equipment looked rougher, outdated, almost prototypical.

The girl in the lead appeared to be an attacker unit. Her white hair was in a loose ponytail, the lapels of her uniform accentuated with a black cravat, and her shoulders were draped in a mantle of silk. Affixed to her back was an ornate sword, similar in shape and dimension to 2B's own Virtuous Treaty, although scaled down to be wielded in one hand. And rather than a YoRHa combat visor, she wore an eyepatch over her left eye, and had a perpetual smile on her face as she looked up at 2B and the others.

The two behind her were a study in contrast with their leader. One had dark shoulder length brown hair that she wore loose beneath a black hood. Her skirt flared at the edges, her sleeves embroidered in lace, and she appeared to be unarmed – maybe a scout unit? Whatever the case, she moved with a gentle elegance that was uncommon even amongst YoRHa androids.

The third member of the team had black hair pulled into a tight bun, and a pair of long white gloves accentuated what otherwise appeared to be a prim and proper black dress, if a little tight fitting. Perhaps it explained the perpetual scowl she wore on her face, 2B thought absently. That or the heavy spear gun that draped across her back. Gunner units had usually been known for having a chip on their shoulder.

"Number Two!" the girl in the lead exclaimed up at them with a wave of her arm, excitement plain on her face. "It's you!"

2B stared down at the trio in bewilderment, wondering just who they were referring to. She didn't recognize any of the androids below, but they were all staring at her as though they were old friends.

And when she turned her gaze to A2 in search of answers, the look on the other android's face was one of utter revulsion.

"A2?" 2B asked, concern in her voice.

A2 hadn't even stepped over to the ledge to acknowledge the other androids. In fact, she seemed to be deliberately shying away from the edge of the rooftop, keeping herself out of sight. She looked like she was physically ill as she turned towards the other side of the building. And then she took off at a dash across to the adjacent rooftop, bounding across the tops of the surrounding buildings, headed towards the ravine.

"Hey, wait!" 2B shouted after her, her confusion only mounting.

At her outcry, the team of newcomers seemed only to grow more inquisitive.

"Number Two?" the girl below called up to her sweetly. "What's going on?"

2B paused, looking back down at the trio of androids on the ground, before turning to face 9S and their pods. The video screen with Adam's gloating face was already gone. It seemed like whatever he had intended with his call had been accomplished. The question was, what had Adam been after, exactly? If he was supposed to be their 'detractor,' for whatever reason, then it made sense for him to sow seeds of disorder and discontent amongst the three of them, but surely there were more effective means for him to do so then by creating simulacra of three long-dead YoRHa androids to parade before them. But if he was also assigned to be their 'overseer,' as the machine entity had put it, then why had he remained silent up until this point, only to feed them this particular tidbit of information now?

It made no sense! He didn't seem to be pursuing either of his purported goals with any real commitment, which suggested that his true goal was not nearly so clear cut. Maybe there was more truth to her observation that he, too, was a prisoner here, and he was simply performing the bare minimum required of him by the machine entity? Or perhaps, he simply had no goal, and was merely toying with them according to whatever whim entered his head at the time. It was impossible for her to be certain.

9S put his hands on his hips as he watched A2 disappear into the sea of crumbling concrete.

"Where's she going?" he asked pointedly.

2B sighed and shook her head. She could guess the general direction of A2's thoughts based on what Adam had told them. What she wasn't sure of was what impact this would have on their mission overall. To say nothing of the larger implications of Adam simply making three androids appear out of thin air.

Whatever the motivations of either party, 2B wasn't ready to let A2 go without explaining a few more things first.

"I'm going to go find her, 9S," 2B said simply, her mind made up as she turned to go. "Can you, uh…?"

She glanced down at the team of androids below, who were all still looking up at the two of them with a mixture of concern and dismay on their faces, clearly expecting answers of some kind.

"…Deal with them?" 2B finished, her mind too wrapped up in questions to add three more to her list.

9S looked nervously down at their latest visitors, but ultimately nodded his head at her request.

"Alright," he said warily, turning to look down at the three strange androids in trepidation. "If you say so…"

As 9S approached the ledge, the lead android's face lit up in delight and recognition.

"Number 9!" she exclaimed in excitement. "You're back too? I almost didn't recognize you! You look just like a boy dressed in those clothes!"

9S stopped dead in his tracks at that, a blank look on his face.

"Uh…what?" he asked deadpan.

2B quickly decided that she didn't even want to know where that particular conversation was headed, and hurriedly sped off in the direction A2 had run.

She tried not to wince as she reflected on the predicament she had left with her partner. 9S had always been better at talking to strangers and was clearly the more diplomatic of the two of them. Still, he was far from the most confident negotiator, and wasn't particularly good at saying 'no' when people asked him for favors, especially when those requests came from pretty girls. Still, she did not have the time nor the wherewithal to deal with a team of androids seemingly appearing from out of nowhere at the whim of their machine captors.

At the moment, she was far more concerned for the state of their third prospective teammate and whether or not she had any more useful information to share.

"Pod," she commanded as she ran, bounding from rooftop to rooftop as she made her way across the city ruins. "Locate Unit A2."

"Scanning…" her pod replied before a brief pause. "Report: Unit A2's signal has disappeared from scanner range. Marking last known location on map."

2B glanced at the proffered map data and sighed. A2's signal went cold right outside her hideout in the shopping center. The signal jammer within would have made her impossible to track, but of course left only one possibility of where she might be.

"Alright then," she breathed, leaping down from the last of the ruined buildings as she made her way towards the ravine.

A few minutes later, she was pulling the steel grating open from the storefront hideout that A2 had been staying at up until this point. Whatever it was that had spooked A2 about those three androids, it was clear to 2B that their presence had bothered her more than anything else they had encountered in this time loop thus far. And 2B was determined to figure out why.

"Go away," A2's bitter voice sounded from somewhere inside.

2B let the grate fall behind her as she made her way into the darkened room. A2 had neglected to turn the light on, and the only source of illumination came from the tiny bit of sunlight that crept in from the store's entrance. At a command, Pod 042 turned on its floodlight, and soon the entire hideout became bathed in stark white illumination.

"A2," 2B said calmly as she approached the back of the store where A2 had been making camp. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

A2's reply was abrupt and immediate.

"I don't want to talk about it!" she grunted in agitation. "I've got enough to deal with right now, and I don't need any more emotional bullshit from you!"

2B found A2 sitting on her cot with her arms wrapped around her knees, her face twisted into an unamused scowl. She directed her Pod's floodlight to the opposite wall to better disperse the light throughout the room and not blind their photoreceptors.

"You're one to talk," she said in retort, leaning on a column next to the other android. "So I take it that was your old team back there?"

A2 threw her a murderous glare.

"Exactly what part of 'I don't want to talk about it' did you not understand?!" she demanded sharply.

2B crossed her arms, fixing her with a challenging look.

"So you're allowed to stick your nose into my personal affairs, but as soon as the tables are turned, suddenly I should mind my own business?"

A2 gritted her teeth, but said nothing further. She just fixed the wall ahead of her with an intense scowl, as if she was trying to bore a hole through the concrete with her eyes.

"So Adam offered to bring back your former team in an attempt to ensure your cooperation," 2B surmised, putting the pieces together. "Is that it?"

A2's face was a mask of utter disgust. "If that fucker knew a damn thing about me, he'd know full well that a bunch of empty shells wouldn't be enough to sway me. Not with what I know now. Nothing he creates will ever be a replacement for them. Not that anything ever could. They're dead. Nothing left to do but to get over it and move on."

2B could see tears trickling down A2's cheeks as her face twisted in contempt, her breathing increasing with each heated word. And as she watched her stewing in anguish, for a moment, 2B thought she understood A2 just a little better than she did before.

"Just like I was…" 2B said slowly, not moving from where she stood. "What if they weren't just empty shells though? If…if Adam could truly bring back your team – your real team, just as they were – would that make any difference at all?"

The murderous look on A2's face did not abate, and she said nothing in response. 2B supposed that was an unfair question, even though she was genuinely curious about the answer. It certainly made a difference in whether or not A2 could be relied upon in the future, but 2B felt like she had known the other android long enough by now to have some idea as to the strength of her resolve.

"Let me ask you something else, then," she said, choosing a different tack. "Do you actually think that those androids back there, not to mention everyone else in this time loop, are really just empty shells reading lines from a script like puppets?"

A2's scowl turned into a hopeless frown as she hung her head.

"What else could they be?" she asked.

2B shrugged her shoulders.

"Well…what does that make us then, exactly?" she asked matter of factly. "We're all just data in this simulation, after all. How are we any different from any other android that we meet in here?"

"We don't do the exact same thing after every recursion!" A2 stated simply, eyes hard. "We have free will! No matter what that asshole thinks!"

"Do we?" 2B asked inquisitively. "We have perspective. We have memories. And we have emotions. But those can all be manipulated against our will. And in case you haven't noticed, we do end up doing quite a bit the same in each of these recursions. The number of times I've watched my team get shot down, unable to do anything to stop it…"

A2 shuddered in sympathy at 2B's words but said nothing in return. 2B wasn't exactly sure what she was getting at with her inquisition, but the insight into A2's worldview was certainly fascinating, if nothing else. Determined to press her further, she let out a sigh and sat on the edge of the cot at A2's feet.

"9S told me once that water will always assume the shape of whatever vessel it's in," she recited philosophically. "I think what it means is that we adapt to our situations as best as we can, and that sometimes there's only one good way for us to adapt. The ability to choose doesn't really amount to much when all but one choice results in oblivion."

'When limitations dictate all choices, then it is the limitation that matters most, not the choice.' Unbidden, the echoes of the words spoken to her by the girl in red recited themselves in the back of her mind, and 2B shuddered at the recollection.

A2's eyes were closed, her brow furrowed in anger, her body tight with tension as she lowered her head to rest upon her knees. The closer 2B got to her, the more she seemed to close herself off. 2B frowned, trying to decide why she was trying to reach out to A2 so fervently like this. It wasn't like she owed her anything in particular after everything that had transpired between them. If anything, she should be more suspicious of the other android than ever, knowing that she had been keeping so many secrets from them, even inadvertently. And if Adam's offer to restore her team to life held any appeal to her whatsoever, that should only make her that much more of a liability.

But something about the other girl's plight resonated with her. If there was one thing 2B could sympathize with, it was the tumult of emotions that came from a deceased companion being brought back as something other than how she had known them before. And after A2 had attempted to comfort her when she had learned about the true nature of this time loop, she felt an odd connection to the other android; something that went further than the surface level similarities they shared by being identical combat models.

That team of androids back there had been looking at 2B, not A2. They had mistaken her for A2, just as Anemone had. That was more than mere coincidence.

"A2…" 2B said softly. "You told me once that we have to have faith in something, even if that faith later turns out to be misplaced."

She reached out to place a hand on her knee.

"So tell me, A2," she said sympathetically. "What do you believe in, exactly?"

A2 sniffed back her tears and finally lifted her head to face 2B, her expression hardening once again.

"I believe that every journey begins with a single step," she said simply. "And that if we mean to get anywhere, we can't be daunted by the big picture. We've just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and to deal with all the bullshit one step at a time. It's the only way we'll ever get through this. It'll just overwhelm us otherwise."

2B frowned. It seemed that A2's resolve had already returned to her, and that she had closed herself off once again.

"A2…" she muttered.

A2 snorted and swung her legs off the cot, shrugging off 2B's touch and shaking herself as though shedding water.

"I'm alright, 2B," she said, somberly, though her tone of voice was unconvincing. "You can quit worrying about me, okay?"

2B drew in a breath, nodding her head in resignation.

"Tell me about your team," she offered in a sincere voice. "The real one, I mean."

A2 stiffened, drawing in a breath, and for a moment 2B was sure that she would get only staunch obstinance for her trouble. But eventually A2 hung her head, a wistful smile slowly appearing on her face.

"I mean, what do you want me to say?" she blurted finally, snorting back what might have been another wayward tear. "We were a team. We watched each other's backs. We didn't always get along, but…in the end, we did what it took to get the job done. Even when YoRHa was knowingly sending us all to our deaths. We started off with sixteen units, but by the time we made it to the surface, there were only four of us left. And things only got worse from there."

2B nodded slowly, the picture of A2 slowly clarifying in her head.

"Those three girls back there used the name 'Number 2,'" she said inquisitively. "This must have been before YoRHa androids were identified by model type."

A2 shuddered, nodding back at her.

"Yeah," she said, slowly regaining her stamina. "Number 21 was always cool under fire. She was a damn good scout with a good head on her shoulders. Kind of like 9S back there if he wasn't such a softie. And she taught me everything I know about hacking. But in the end, it didn't do her much good after…well…you know…"

A2 trailed off, shaking her head forlornly as memories seemed to come flooding through her mind.

"Then there was Number 16," she said with a smirk, her eyes vacant with reminiscence. "She was a real hard-ass, didn't take shit from anyone. I really liked that about her, even if she could be a total bitch sometimes. But she looked out for us when it really mattered, and I always felt a little safer with her around. And when it came down to it, she would always be the first one to volunteer for a dangerous mission when things got rough. Right up until the end…"

A2 shuddered, and 2B could hear her breathing increase once again. She had never heard A2 speak so candidly about herself like this before, and now that the dam had broken, it all came spilling out at once.

"And Number 4…" A2 breathed, her words escaping in a tremulous voice. "She was…she was a better leader than I could ever be, always knew just what to say to people to get them to stop bickering and start working together. Nothing ever seemed to get her down either. And out of all of them, she was the only one who ever actually treated me like a real friend. She would always stick up for me, always come rushing to my defense whenever anything was happening to me. And then she just…threw her life away, without a second thought, just to give someone like me a chance to survive…"

A2 wiped at her face and 2B could hear her sniffing back more tears, but by the time she saw her face again, it was already clear of any evidence of emotion.

"It sounds like you had a good team," 2B offered sympathetically, reaching over to place a hand on A2's shoulder.

A2's face was once again a mask of stolid resolution.

"That asshole is spitting on their memory by trying to use them against me like this," she shuddered again without reacting to 2B's touch. "And I am going to tear him apart the first chance I get."

2B nodded in understanding. She wanted nothing more than to make the machines pay for what they had done to her and the people she cared about. 9S, her flight team, her operator, every android she could ever claimed to have truly cared about…they had all suffered at the hands of the machines, and she would have given her life to make them pay for the pain they had inflicted. But a part of her knew that this very drive was what had perpetuated the cycle of violence in the first place. Part of how she had coped with the pain of loss had involved a significant amount of introspection and the very difficult decision to let things go. Of course, it was easy for her to make that decision with 9S still in her life. But a compromise was a compromise, and if she had been given the opportunity to abandon everything and escape with 9S, letting go of her hatred for the machines seemed that much more palatable.

Which, she quickly realized, was probably the very point of this whole experiment. Whatever she could say about her relationship with 9S, it was clear that the machines understood at least as much as she did how important he was to her. What she couldn't be sure of was how this would affect things going forward. If the machines truly wanted to learn about love, what was their end goal once they had learned all that they could? She doubted that they would simply let her and 9S walk away, and it seemed that asking Adam about it would be about as productive as the last few times they had spoken. She had no choice then but to assume that they would be disposed of, and plan accordingly.

Which still left her wondering what she was supposed to do about A2. It was clear that A2 had no such anchor as 9S was to 2B, and any attempts by the machines to broach the subject with her had only resulted in hostility. What then was the purpose in provoking her as Adam had? He must have known that she would respond as negatively as she did, given all that the machines had learned about them. Had that simply been the point then, to dampen A2's resolve? If his aim had been to undermine 2B's faith in A2, his words and A2's subsequent reactions had seemingly resulted in the opposite effect. If anything, her affinity towards A2 had only been strengthened by seeing her like this.

Was it possible that this had been his true goal all along?

No, 2B shook her head. That couldn't be it. Loathe as she was to admit it, they still simply did not know enough to make an educated guess. And after more than a dozen recursions (assuming that her memories hadn't been tampered with to the point of forgetting multiple recursions in their entirety), the deepest point of despair for her was in how little their understanding of their situation had fundamentally changed at all to show for it.

A few moments later, 2B heard the grating of rusted steel as the hideout door slid open, and she soon saw 9S making his way inside accompanied by his pod.

"Hey…" he called out to them when he spotted the two of them on the cot together. "Everything alright?"

2B nodded, though A2 remained unmoving, still looking somewhat drained. 9S at least seemed to have the presence of mind not to antagonize A2 in her vulnerable state, and instead he took up 2B's former position against the column next to where they sat and gave a quick report of events.

"I brought our, uh…new friends over to the Resistance camp," he summarized, looking rather uneasy about the whole situation, and completely avoiding looking at A2. "Anemone seemed to recognize them right away, and they were still talking to each other by the time I left. No idea what that's going to do to the timeline, but at this point, I'm ready to call that Adam's problem and be done with. Oh, and I also took the liberty of submitting our old combat data and getting our new mission assignment, so we can hit the theme park whenever we're ready."

2B nodded her head at him in appreciation, before glancing back at A2 inquisitively. She still did not seem entirely ready for action just yet, but thinking about A2's problems was proving to be a fantastic way for 2B to ignore her own.

"What was your take on those three androids, 9S?" she asked.

9S fixed A2 with an appraising look, as if assessing whether he should soften his words for her sake or not.

"They seemed like regular YoRHa androids to me," he said, crossing his arms. "Their intel was pretty out of date, but after I gave them my combat data, they got up to speed pretty quickly. I didn't tell them anything about the time loop though – no way they'd react well to something like that. As far as they seemed to gather, the 14th Machine War is still ongoing, and they've all somehow been restored from backup copies. And I made it very clear that you and I don't have any data from their former comrades, so that should take care of any resemblance you or I have to anyone they knew in the past. As for A2 though…"

9S glanced back to the attacker unit, who slowly raised her eyes to give 9S a level gaze. He simply sighed and sat down on his haunches to meet her at eye level.

"I don't think any of them recognized you back there," he said with a shrug. "They took one look at 2B and seemed to assume that she was you. If you'd like to keep it that way, I don't think it'll be a problem. But if you want to talk to them…I mean…I'm not going to assume I know what your feelings are on the matter, but…well, if it were me, I'd…"

A2 snorted and gave 9S a lopsided smile.

"Thanks 9S," she said in a hoarse voice. "I think it's fine like this."

9S kept his gaze focused on her, before drawing in a long cleansing breath and rising once again to his feet.

"Well…" he offered hesitantly, glancing back at the door. "Not much more we can do about this situation for now, but…if it'll help take your mind off things, and if you're feeling up to it, we could always swing by the amusement park and beat the crap out of some machines. What do you say?"

A2 let out another amused chuckle and lowered her eyes.

"You know something, 9S?" she sighed, before slowly rising to her own feet, something close to a genuine smile on her face. "You're alright."

9S actually seemed somewhat taken aback by that, and 2B had to hide a smile as 9S fumbled to contain his awkward response to the unexpected compliment.

"Oh, uh…thanks, I guess," he mumbled, red faced. "We scanner models are pretty good at these things after all."

A2 snorted in amusement, as if remembering an old joke.

"And you know something else?" her smile twisted into something mischievous. "Number 4 was right - you really do look just like a boy in those clothes."

9S' jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Y-you heard that?!" he blurted, his blush increasing tenfold. "Wait a minute – do you know something I don't?!"

2B sighed and nodded her head in approval as she rose to her feet beside A2.

"Alright, alright, that's enough you two," she said before the repartee could escalate. "Let's go take care of our next mission."

It took a bit more carousing, but eventually the trio was enroute to the amusement park, having persuaded some wild boars to give them a ride. Once they arrived, the machines there posed no particular challenge to any of them now that they had learned what to expect from their enhanced strength. About the only difficult area outside the theater at the center of the park was the roller coaster encircling it, which was particularly crowded with all three of them on board, to say nothing of how close they came to surpassing its weight capacity.

They had made it this far several times before, however, and 2B was not terribly concerned with their odds of getting inside the building. Once the little rail cars ground to a halt outside the theater, however, the three androids found their away inside, where the true threat came to life, as though lying in wait for them.

"Beautiful! Beautiful!" the songstress screamed, as she always did. "I must be beautiful!"

The real test, 2B thought grimly as she drew her sword, would be whether or not they would be able to replicate the same feat they had executed the last time they had confronted the songstress. Or, more specifically, whether A2 and 9S could cooperate long enough to do so.

BOOM! BOOM!

"So what's the plan here?!" 9S shouted as the fight went on, dodging every energy ball that his pod was unable to neutralize within the ancient theater.

"We kill this thing and everything else in here that's trying to kill us!" A2 replied, slicing through one of the android husks firing at them in time with the machine's song.

"That's not a plan, that's a goal!" 9S retorted, ducking under a wave of expanding energy rings coming off of the songstress.

"Then the plan is to hit it until it dies!" A2 barked, darting behind the songstress to hack at its back with her sword.

"Never mind!" 9S growled as he sent one of his hacking probes into the machine. "Just cover me! I'm going in!"

2B took her cue to position herself in front of 9S to deflect any attack that might interrupt him. She made eye contact with A2, who dodged a slashing arm from the songstress, and with the same motion, positioning herself behind 2B as well, sending a probe of her own into the machine.

"Back in a flash," she winked at 2B, before her eyes went glassy, just as 9S' did during hacking.

2B nodded as she aimed her Pod's laser at one of the crucified YoRHa androids weaponized by the songstress, and fired, reducing it to smoldering scrap metal. She only had to fend off three or four more attacks before the songstress' upper body suddenly fell limply to one side, the light flickering in its eyes as something inside of it went critical. It let out one final grievous scream before exploding, its gargantuan body scattered into pieces across the macabre auditorium.

Before 2B even realized it, the battle was already over. It seemed that A2 and 9S managing to work together hadn't just been a fluke after all. Not only had the two of them pulled off the same trick as before, but they had actually managed it in even less time. Either they were getting better at this, or the machines were making things easier on them. And 2B wasn't terribly inclined to believe their captors would show such mercy on them.

"Man," 9S commented as his body stirred to life. "It is so much easier to hack this thing with someone watching my back in there."

"You could just try saying 'thank you,' you know?" A2 smirked at him without malice, stretching her body after returning to consciousness herself. "It's not that hard."

9S rolled his eyes, his relief palpable in his voice. "Thank you, A2. Anytime I need a tactless berserker to keep the machines busy, I'll know who to call in."

"Oh, fuck you," A2 snorted good naturedly.

As 9S laughed in return, 2B fought down a twinge of envy that rose up somewhere in the pit of her stomach as she watched the exchange. She had never been much of a hacker, and though it was technically within her capabilities, she knew she would never truly be able to offer the same level of support in that area as A2 could with her years of experience. And while they were only gone for the briefest of moments from her perspective, whole minutes could go by while the two of them fought side by side within the machine's mainframe.

At least the two of them seemed to be genuinely getting along now, 2B reflected. She had consciously pushed them both towards reaching an accord after all, and all things considered, it was a definite improvement from how they had been acting before. It wasn't that she was concerned about anything happening between them in private. But while they were hacking, A2 still got to see a side of 9S that 2B didn't get to see very often, and she wished that there was some way that she could be a part of those interactions too. Though she supposed that the two of them sharing in these little moments together was the inevitable outcome of their cooperation.

Though of course, now came the question of what came next. With the songstress defeated, the next step on their journey was Pascal's village, and she had no reason to suspect that A2 was any more inclined to visit after the day they'd had so far. Which meant that it would just be 2B and 9S for the next leg of the trip, and quite possibly another stay in the room Pascal had provided for them.

2B felt something cold run down her spine at the thought. Were it not for the knowledge of the machines and their goals of observing their relationship, 2B would have only been too happy to spend a bit of time alone with 9S. But after learning what she had, she wasn't entirely certain she could stomach the prospect knowing that doing so would be giving the machines exactly what they wanted, nor was she at all prepared the broach the subject with 9S. She knew that he would ultimately understand, but she also knew that he would still take it as a reflection on himself, and the look of heartbreak on his face at the thought was more than she could bear at the moment.

Although, she suddenly realized, there might be a way to avoid the inevitable awkwardness altogether for just a bit longer. It was little more than a delaying tactic, she knew, but she just needed a bit more time to process it all.

Perhaps in the next recursion, she would be able to summon the courage. But not now.

"Why don't you go on ahead to the village, 9S?" 2B offered once he and A2 appeared to have finished dusting themselves off from the fight. "I think I'll keep an eye on A2, just in case."

Both the other two androids fixed her with a peculiar look. 9S' expression seemed to wrestle with what he perceived as a strategically sound decision conflicting with his own desire to spend time with 2B. And A2 seemed torn between the notion of whether 2B still didn't trust her or if she was simply trying to avoid 9S.

"Oh…okay…" 9S said in a disappointed voice. "If you…think that's necessary…"

2B felt a lump forming in her throat at 9S' crestfallen expression, and it was everything she could do not to rush over to him and wrap her arms around him. She should have known that he would see straight through her intentions like that. But it was too late to change her mind on the subject; the damage was already done.

"There'll be time later, 9S," she assured him, unable to meet his gaze to affirm whether her attempt to mend the situation was successful at all. "I promise."

9S said nothing for a moment longer, before finally nodding, seemingly steeling himself.

"Alright…" he said evenly, his eyes never leaving 2B's. "I'll reach out to you after I'm finished then."

When she finally lifted her gaze to meet his eyes, she saw his mouth forming silent words on his lips.

'I love you.'

2B inhaled, mouthing the words back to him, unable to give voice to them even if she wanted for the lump still in her throat.

'I love you.'

The two of them seemingly sufficiently reassured for the time being, 9S turned to make his way out of the theater, disappearing from sight.

A2 finally took the moment to speak up.

"Barf," she droned in a teasing tone. "You guys are killing me here."

2B closed her eyes, her brows furrowing in mild irritation.

"Oh, knock it off," she chastised.

A2 let out a chuckle of amusement as she picked through the remains of the androids around them, her scavenger's instincts kicking in despite the lack of use such resources offered within the time loop.

"So, what, we do each other's makeup one time, and now you're turning down playtime with your boyfriend just to spend more time with me?" she mused sarcastically. "Should I be flattered or worried?"

2B fixed her with a withering look. "You know that's not what this is about."

A2 let out a breath and nodded, the humor leaving her voice.

"You're going to have to work things out with him eventually, 2B," she said, matter-of-factly. "You know that, right?"

2B let out a groan of displeasure, sitting down on the bottom row of stairs leading out of the auditorium.

"Of course I know that," she grumbled unhappily. "I just…need more time."

A2 crossed her arms, fixing the other android with a probing look.

"Is more time really going to help?" she asked.

2B shook her head, not in answer but more in attempt to clear her own head. This whole awkward situation with 9S might also have been a lot easier if A2 wasn't so skittish of going to the pacifist village for some reason. Were she to accompany them there, there was no doubt in 2B's mind that 9S would have been far too shy to attempt anything overtly intimate with 2B, thus avoiding the whole conversation entirely. As convenient an excuse as this would have been, 2B knew that this still would not solve her problem, and would merely serve to buy her more time. But it still irritated her to no end.

"What about you?" she turned the question onto A2, desperately trying to change the subject. "Has more time made it easier to talk about your own problems? Like why you refuse to go to Pascal's village?"

A2's expression soured and her eyes narrowed.

"Where did that come from all of the sudden?" she demanded. "What does it matter what happened with Pascal?"

2B crossed her arms stubbornly, putting more emphasis into her words than she truly felt. "There's still a lot that I don't know about you, A2, and the more I find out, the more of a conundrum you become. 9S shared everything that happened to him after I died, but I have almost nothing from you. I've been respecting your privacy up until now, but if I'm going to be trusting you with my personal matters, you need to be able to extend the same level of trust to me. Otherwise this just isn't going to work."

A2 seemed to stew in frustration at that, and she kicked a stray lump of scrap metal across the smoking auditorium.

"Haven't you prodded enough, 2B?" she growled in irritation. "I told you about my old team, didn't I? You already know way more about me than I'm comfortable sharing with anyone. And you might recall me saying that I don't work well with others?"

2B winced. She knew that this line of questioning wasn't being fair to A2, given all that she had been through already. But if 2B didn't turn her skepticism fully onto A2, then it would land squarely on herself. And she just wasn't prepared to see how her own resolve would fair under such interrogation.

"To tell you the truth, I don't either," 2B admitted simply, rising to her feet. "But it seems that neither of us have a choice in that regard. I was actually the one who encouraged 9S to reconcile with you because I knew we'd be working together. But it sounds like you've still got some reconciling of your own to do."

A2 clenched her fists and began stomping up the stairway and out of the auditorium.

"I see no reason whatsoever for me to share any more than I have with you, 2B," she said stubbornly as she walked away. "Kindly fuck off now please."

2B followed after her, undeterred.

"You pushed me and 9S into talking about our feelings with each other," she said in challenge. "Seems only fair to me that you talk about yours."

A2 increased her pace as she passed through the door to the theater and began to make her way down the stairs leading to the entrance to the building.

"I said fuck off!" she growled.

2B kept after her. She was clearly treading on thin ice with A2, but she had been seeing cracks forming in A2's armor throughout the recursion, and was keen on trying to get through to her. Getting A2 to open up would be the key to determining whether she could truly be trusted or not. And if doing so allowed her to avoid confronting her issues with 9S for a bit longer, well that was merely a happy coincidence.

"Why is this so hard for you, A2?" 2B asked sincerely. "If you don't want to talk about Pascal, then fine. It's not Pascal that concerns me. But can you at least tell me why-?"

2B froze when A2's Type 4O sword materialized on her back and she reached behind her to grip the hilt with one hand.

"I said…" she hissed in a warning tone, glancing over her shoulder at 2B. "…Fuck…off!"

2B's expression remained calm as she stood still. She didn't reach for her own weapon, but she did not attempt to approach the other android either. Her warning was clear; A2 was nearing her limit, and to push her much further would be to risk her wrath in a much more physical confrontation.

2B smiled inwardly. 9S would have been so proud of her.

"You'd rather fight me than talk about this?" she asked, a harsh judgmental tone in her voice. "That says a lot right there, doesn't it? I thought you were supposed to be the most mature out of all of us."

A2 sneered and turned to keep walking. She dropped her hand from the hilt of her sword, but the sword itself remained on her back as an ever-present indicator of her scorn.

"I don't answer to you, 2B," she said coldly. "Not to you, Adam, YoRHa, or anyone. I am done being controlled and manipulated for someone else's ends."

2B felt a twinge of frustrated anger flaring up inside herself at that. She and 9S had been controlled and manipulated just as A2 had been. Where did A2 get off taking umbrage with her when she was just as much a victim as A2 was?

"And yet you won't hesitate to try to manipulate others," she countered, following her out of the main building and back out into the theme park. "Isn't that the whole reason you're even here? To convince me and 9S to put on this sick performance for the machines?"

A2's pace picked up as she tried to put some distance between them, but 2B was just as fast as she was, and was not easily deterred.

"I do what I have to in order to survive," A2 scoffed as she crossed the bridge into the outer park. "I'm not apologizing for it."

"But you at least need to acknowledge what you're really after," 2B said, hot on her heels.

She felt like she almost had her figured out. The fact that A2 was avoiding her meant that she was getting close to something sensitive, but that she hadn't simply fled outright meant that she still wanted to preserve what little rapport they still had left.

"And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?" A2 demanded as they strode past the various dancing machines shooting balloons into the air.

"If you're really as independent as you claim, then why do you keep meddling so much?" 2B kept prodding, the truth behind A2's actions clarifying in her mind. "You're not just interested in my relationship with 9S. Taking me aside to talk in private, doing my makeup, even telling me about your old team – what was that all really about?"

A2's cheeks began to flush red as she quickened her pace towards the park entrance.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, without demonstrating any interest whatsoever in hearing the answer.

2B kept pace with her without difficulty, suddenly realizing why it was that she felt such kinship with A2, why she kept going out on a limb for her, kept encouraging 9S to open up to her, and why she kept giving her so many chances. It was something that went well beyond their shared programming as combat models. It was something so much simpler than that.

"Are you genuinely trying to play me, A2?" 2B inquired stoically. "Or do you just want a friend?"

A2 stopped in her tracks, her fists clenched at her sides. It seemed 2B's words had finally struck a nerve. And for the first time that she could recall, A2 seemed completely at a loss for words.

2B didn't give the other android a chance to regain her balance.

"I told you before," she continued earnestly, halting her approach. "I'm here to listen if you need someone to talk to. But you have to start opening up first."

A2 was breathing heavily as 2B spoke, her hand once again rising to her sword.

"Shut up, 2B…" she growled in a warning tone. "I'm not going to tell you again…"

2B did not relent. This was it. She was sure of it. One more push, and A2's true intentions just might be revealed.

"You need to figure out what you want to be, A2," 2B said softly. "You're either a manipulator, or you can be honest with me. There is no middle ground."

And that's when A2 finally seemed to snap.

"GRRRAAAGHHHH!" she snarled.

She seethed, grabbing the hilt of her sword, and drew the blade. 2B braced herself for the attack she was sure was coming. But rather than turn to face 2B, A2 hurled the sword in the other direction, flinging it out through the park entrance gate with a whoosh!

It sailed through the air, spinning end over end, until it struck the bronze robotic bunny statue standing in the middle of the fountain just beyond the gate.

CLUNG!

The blade embedded itself halfway into the machine's forehead, and the sheer force of the impact seemed to be enough to wake the sleeping goliath.

"Hey!" a squeaky sounding voice suddenly rumbled from within the machine. "Whaddya think yer doin' there!?"

2B stared in disbelief as the machine came to life and began to unleash a wave of red and purple orbs, accompanied by expanding rings of energy.

"You've got to be kidding me…" 2B groaned in disbelief when the machine's stats appeared on her HUD, leaping out of the way of the initial wave of fire.

"Proposal," Pod 042 chimed in helpfully. "Defeat the giant machine life form."

A2 looked just as surprised as 2B did by the sudden activation of the machine lifeform, and she retrieved her sword with the flick of her wrist as it rematerialized in her grip.

"Oh come on!" she complained, bounding over an expanding ring of energy. "This is the last thing we need right now!"

2B directed her pod to unleash a blast from its heavy laser cannon as she dove in under a barrage of energy balls, slicing her way through each of the giant mechanical rabbit's limbs.

BOOM! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

2B gritted her teeth as her sword came into contact with the machine lifeform's metallic armor. It was like striking solid titanium, each impact sending painful vibrations up her arm as she hammered away at the enemy, dodging left and right as it lashed out at her and A2 with energy balls and expanding beam rings. The sheer amount of armor plating on this enemy was unfathomable, and if Adam had made the machine's more powerful, then this might actually be an enemy that they weren't prepared to fight.

"Fer cryin' out loud!" the machine hollered in anger as it shrugged off her attacks. "When it comes to cute, I'm the goldurn BOSS'a cute, ya hear!?"

2B stole a probing glance at A2, trying to determine whether or not it would be best for the two of them to make a run for it. But A2's furrowed brow showed only frustrated outrage.

"Cover me!" A2 suddenly hollered as she launched a probe at the machine. "I'm hacking in!"

2B ground her teeth and positioned herself in front of A2 to fend off the pink and purple balls of energy lobbed her way, slicing through them with her sword, her pod's turret fire making short work of the rest. But then the machine life form came charging at them, its arms revolving like propeller blades as it approached them. Its mass far exceeded hers, and she would not be able to deflect a full body attack, nor would she be able to defend A2 should she attempt to dodge it.

"Come on, A2…" 2B grumbled in agitation.

Suddenly the mechanical rabbit recoiled, its structural integrity failing as it sparked in anguish. Moments later, A2 was moving once again.

"Now's our chance!" she cried, grasping the hilt of her sword.

2B followed her lead, lunging in towards the machine in a synchronized slash along with A2 as both of their swords connected.

SCHWING! SCHWING!

They both landed on opposite sides of the enemy, their swords held still as they waited for the outcome. The combined attack power of their two blades didn't seem to have any effect on the machine, and for a moment, 2B thought they still had their work cut out for them.

But then she heard a loud clung as the bunny's head fell from its shoulders, the rest of its body exploding in a conflagration of sparks and shrapnel.

BOOM!

A2 let out a huff of breath as she sat on her haunches along the rim of the fountain from where the machine lifeform had been perched up until that point. Her sword rematerialized upon her back before vanishing into points of light as she put it into storage. 2B took that as her cue to sit down next to her, similarly stowing her own sword as the two androids caught their breath.

"Jeez! It took way more firepower than that to wake this thing up when I fought it last," A2 observed in annoyance. "Guess the machines made it easier to trigger this time just to make it harder for us."

2B gave her a questioning look. "Wait…you fought it too? I thought I was the one who destroyed it in the original timeline."

A2 just shrugged.

"More branching memory pathways?" she suggested. "Or maybe there's just more than one of these things? Either way, I have no idea why this machine of all things was as powerful as it was."

2B nodded, still panting hard as she slowly came down from the adrenaline high of an unexpected battle of such a high caliber. It had been a reckless lapse in judgement, pushing A2 like that. True it had been A2's outburst that had caused the fight to break out, but it had still been 2B's actions that had riled up A2 enough for her to explode like that. At least they had been able to work out their aggression on a mutual enemy rather than each other, and the catharsis that came with it could not be denied. But it had still been a risky move on 2B's part nonetheless.

A2 turned to give 2B an annoyed look.

"Also, exactly how am I the manipulative one here?" she snorted absently. "I'm not the one picking at old wounds just to avoid dealing with my relationship problems."

2B let out a rueful sigh and nodded her head, ceding the point. It seemed that, like 9S, A2 had seen right through her. She really needed to learn how to be more subtle about these things. She was used to hiding her emotions by remaining silent and aloof, effectively hiding the truth through omission. When it came to disguising her intentions through deliberate words and actions, however, she was far out of practice.

"Alright, you've got me there," she said somberly. "I'm sorry."

A2 just fixed her with a peculiar gaze. "What are you even worried about anyway, 2B? None of us are here because we want to be. None of this is part of our original purpose. We have to figure things out for ourselves now, so why shouldn't you take the opportunity to enjoy yourself while you can?"

2B was staring down at her hands. They were still balled into fists of tension after having fought the absurdly proportioned carnival machine. But she knew full well that the previous fight was not what was making her clench them so tightly.

"If it were really so easy," she said in reminiscence, "I would have done so long before 2E's blade had ever had a chance to fall."

For the second time that day, A2 seemed to be at a loss for words. Though 2B supposed she didn't have to say anything more – she had already struck at the heart of the issue. Irrespective of the time loop and the machines and their meddling, the fact of the matter is that 2B's actions, her behavior, and her relationship with 9S had been no less a fabrication under the watchful gaze of YoRHa. She and 9S had been no more free to explore their true feelings outside of this time loop as they were inside of it. And if she hadn't had the courage to push past the mandatory facade for the sake of what she truly cared for back then, how could she expect to do so now?

The two androids sat in silence for a moment more before Pod 042's video call chime went off, and a holographic screen with 9S' shy face broke the silence.

"Hey, um…" her partner said timidly, still clearly walking on eggshells around her. "I finished the delivery to the Resistance camp. We can trigger the goliath attack whenever we're ready. So, umm…where are you guys?"

2B and A2 exchanged another look before they both slowly rose to their feet.

"Hang on, 9S," 2B said soberly. "We're on our way."

A few minutes later, the three of them were sitting beneath one of the tents in the Resistance camp, discussing their next strategy for taking on the goliaths. Anemone and the three YoRHa androids from A2's old team were nowhere to be found, but somehow 2B was certain they hadn't seen the last of them. But for now, she would just as soon not deal with any further complications.

9S briskly summarized what he had recorded from the battle in the previous recursion, his pod helpfully displaying a holographic layout of the city ruins and the approximate positions of all six goliath units represented as six red circles towering over the buildings and frozen in place.

2B could only watch him as he worked. He was throwing himself into the task, his focus completely devoted to formulating a plan of attack, and despite how intensely 2B's gaze lingered on him, he never seemed to raise his visored face to meet hers. It was a deliberate effort on his part, she knew. She had seen him work enough times to know that he was purposefully distracting himself from something he didn't want to think about.

The two of them had that much in common at least – any time either of them felt guilty about something, they would immediately seek a form of redemption by dedicating their every effort into their work. It was a common trait in almost all of their comrades, and it was a difficult habit to break, having been such steadfast soldiers of YoRHa. And the worst part was, now that YoRHa had been revealed as so much smoke and mirrors, the work ethic that continued to remain instilled within their every gear and sprocket somehow felt even more valuable in spite of it. Since their entire ethos now was bound up in the idea that they themselves could now decide their fate based on what they thought and how they felt, how then could they justify turning aside this undeniable yet wholly manufactured instinct to be productive?

"So I think our best strategy is going to be to split up, and have one of us trigger the attack while the other two are waiting by the landing zone for our flight units," 9S concluded with a sigh of resignation. "The attack might not trigger unless 2B and I are the ones specifically going to the village, but we're still at our most vulnerable outside of our flight units, so it'll be worth a try at least. The less time we spend on the ground, the better. If we can get to our ships right as the attack happens, we'll be in the most effective position to fight back against the goliaths."

A2, who either wasn't nearly as tuned into 2B's observations or just didn't care enough to take note of it, simply crossed her arms with a nod.

"That might be worth trying," she said in approval. "Should 2B and I take the flight units then? Since she and I are the combat models? I mean, no offense man, but unless you can hack six goliaths at a time, I figure you might be better off sitting this one out back at the village."

Man, 2B noted. Not kid or runt or shrimp. It seemed A2 had been serious about treating 9S with a bit more respect.

9S shook his head with a rueful sigh. "That would be the ideal arrangement, honestly, but there's a problem – you're still wanted by YoRHa. You may be a fair hacker, but do you think you can splice into a current generation Ho229 flight unit while under fire? Cause there's no way you're getting airborne otherwise."

A2 held a finger up and opened her mouth to retort.

"You…" she huffed in annoyance, but eventually retracted her finger into a closed fist "…might have a point there…"

9S shook his head, throwing his hands up in a shrug.

"If there's going to be any mixing and matching going on between the three of us, I'll need to be there to facilitate it," he summarized judiciously. "I know you don't like going to Pascal's village though, so if you'd prefer it, I could probably convince the flight unit's control systems that you were 2B, especially if you had Pod 042 with you. You and I could take on the goliaths while 2B took shelter in Pascal's village. Your two combat outputs are about the same though, so I don't really know if we'd be any better off against the goliaths."

He glanced back at 2B, as if seeking affirmation, but 2B was lost in thought. The entire conversation felt like it was happening in an adjacent room, and she was just a passive observer to it all. Everything 9S was saying made sense on a practical level, but nothing about their plan or their end goal was registering with her. Not while everything they did still ultimately ended in a giant question mark.

What was even the point to all this? This was all just a big game that the machines were playing with them. The machines had arbitrarily changed the rules on them to make their battles more difficult just because they could, and the most aggravating part was, their combat missions from YoRHa had nothing to do with their captors' main objective. Instead, it was all just a backdrop and set dressing for her and 9S to perform in some kind of sick romantic melodrama for the machines' research purposes. Hell, it might all just be for their amusement! Maybe after all this time, the machines had just grown bored and needed someone to entertain them for a while! That would certainly fit with Adam and the girl in red's sick twisted machinations!

"2B?" 9S asked, finally breaking her out of her reverie.

She glanced up at him, and could see real worry on his face, even through the visor. As to whether that worry was for her state of mind, the state of their relationship, or her assessment of his combat strategy, 2B could not say.

"9S…" she breathed, unable to think of what to say to alleviate his concerns.

A2 took that moment to jump in.

"Hey, you know what?" she offered congenially. "Why don't I go to Pascal's village and trigger the attack myself? That way you don't have to worry about hacking your own ships and you can focus on the enemy instead? Plus it'll give you two some quality time together."

2B and 9S exchanged a worried glance with one another before they both simultaneously fixed A2 with startled looks.

"But…" 2B mumbled.

"I, uh…" 9S muttered.

A2 groaned in agitation as she threw her head back.

"Oh my god, you are both such drama queens!" she grumbled in irritation. "Look – the two of you need to either work this out on your own or work it out together. But for god's sake, work it out somehow!"

She extended a hand out to 9S.

"Now give me that…whatever it is that you're supposed to bring to Pascal!"

Seemingly not knowing what else to do, 9S abruptly produced the cannister of high viscosity oil that Anemone had given him and offered it to A2, who promptly snatched it out of his hands and stomped off towards the passageway leading back out to the city.

"A2!" 2B finally found her voice and called out to her, jumping to her feet.

A2 halted her march, but did not turn to face her. The look in her eyes had been chilling, and 2B wasn't entirely sure she wanted them pointed back at her again anyway.

"You're…actually going to Pascal's village?" she asked softly. "You're sure?"

A2 drew in a breath, still keeping her back to 2B.

"We've all got to deal with our own shit at some point," she said simply. "You go deal with yours, 2B, and I'll deal with mine. Call me when you're ready to trigger the attack."

2B watched A2 go, wondering if she was being abandoned or being granted her one last chance. She wasn't any clearer on how she was supposed to resolve things with 9S, but she couldn't keep putting it off, and all three of them knew it by this point.

"Huh…still kind of want to know what happened with her and Pascal," 9S noted, sounding hesitant as he turned to her, a mask of casual indifference on his face. "Oh well…should we get to the landing zone then?"

2B just nodded her head as she followed him out into the city ruins, feeling somewhat dizzy as she did. Her heart was thundering in her chest, and her palms were sweating inside her gloves. Even though she had been to that same landing zone over a dozen times by now, the thought of what was going to happen up there was unfathomable. It wasn't fear or anxiety or nerves that troubled her, it was simply in not knowing how this was supposed to play out.

She just had no idea how any version of this discussion was going to end favorably. She had run through every scenario she could think of in her head. Either 9S would agree to break things off, in which case they would both go back to living the same old lie, or he would insist they keep going, which could only result in 2B forever doubting herself. Unless the two of them somehow got themselves out of the time loop within the span of the next conversation, 2B just didn't see it going any other way.

"2B?" 9S called down to her from up on the ladder. "Everything alright?"

2B glanced up. She had fallen behind once again, having gotten lost in thought. They had already made it to the north-west end of town, and found the ladder that led back up to where their flight units typically set down. She hadn't even noticed 9S had been gentlemanly enough to go up the ladder ahead of her. Not that he would have seen anything he hadn't seen before, she thought with a wan smile.

"I'm coming…" she called up to him, bounding the last few rungs to dismount on the top level next to him as they made their way across the roof-top towards the flight unit landing area.

The wind whipped at their hair at that height, the otherwise pervasive heat blowing in from the desert all but whisked away, leaving a biting chill in the air. 9S was busying himself verifying their landing zone as 2B found a seat for herself on the ledge of the crumbling skyscraper, and before long, there was nothing left for him to occupy himself with as he finally sat down beside her, their two pods hovering just over either shoulder.

He didn't say anything. He didn't reach out to take her hand, he didn't turn to look at her. He just sat there, looking out at the city ruins next to her, as though he were simply enjoying the view. If there hadn't been an entire universe of problems weighing down on them, the moment could have been peaceful, even solemn. In any other circumstance, 2B might have actually been able to enjoy the view with him. But inside, she was tying herself up in knots, waiting for 9S the broach the inevitable subject.

What was he waiting for? Was he waiting for her to break the silence first? Was he just too timid to take the lead on this, and felt that he needed her go-ahead? Or was he just postponing the inevitable as she had been? 9S was a perceptive android; she had no doubt that he had guessed her concerns by her recent behavior. If he was as fearful of what came next as she was, then perhaps she was right to be so afraid. After all, she relied on 9S to solve all the problems that she could not. If not even he could see a way out of this…

"2B?" he finally said, his voice causing her to flinch.

"Y-Yes?" she blurted suddenly, her whole body stiffening as she looked at him.

He still hadn't turned to her, nor made any kind of movement. If she didn't know any better, she might not have believed he'd said anything at all. But she suddenly found herself flinching again when she felt his hand slide over hers on the concrete ledge beneath them, giving it a squeeze.

2B knew she wasn't prepared for what he was about to say, but she forced herself to listen to him anyway.

"I…" 9S breathed, looking down at the ground far below them, his hand still clenched tightly around hers. "I…don't want this to end…"

2B felt something in her heart breaking a little at his words.

"9S, I…" she said, before something caught in her throat.

9S slowly shook his head.

"I know you're afraid," he said slowly. "I know you're confused, and I know that none of this makes sense. I know that…after so many years of locking your emotions behind a wall, it can't be easy to try to let them out, only to find out that someone might have been messing with them this whole time…"

He finally turned to look at her, reaching up to pull the blindfold from his own face.

"But I don't want this to end," he said resolutely.

2B felt her resolve crumbling, and she continued to shake her head, already feeling the tears welling up beneath her visor and soaking into the fabric.

"9S, please…" she whispered, trying to withdraw her hand from his grasp.

Her partner's grip on her hand only tightened.

"I won't pretend that I know how this is going to go, 2B," he said, patience in his voice – how long had he been thinking about this, 2B wondered? "I can't even pretend that I know what this is. Is this love? Can an android even feel love? Do I just think I'm in love? Is anything that I feel even real? There's so much about this that we just don't understand, and I know how scary that must be for you. To be honest, I'm scared too. But in a way…that just makes it all the more exciting to find out!"

2B didn't have the resolve to struggle anymore. She just shivered, trying not to let herself get overwhelmed by the passion in 9S' voice. She still felt somewhat lightheaded, and if she wobbled too precariously, she just might slip off the edge of the building!

"I don't know if what I feel for you is real or just the impulses that some machine imbued me with," he admitted, his voice still somewhat heated as his breathing increased. "I don't think there's anything in this world that can really be taken at face value anymore. But honestly…how is that different from any other day of our lives?"

2B couldn't muster the words to deny him anymore. In earnest, she felt the same way. Even if they hadn't found themselves at the mercy of the machines and thrust into a simulated time loop for the purpose of studying human emotions, the prospect of exploring her feelings with 9S would have been just as terrifying and mysterious to her. So really, the question she had to answer wasn't how she felt about continuing down this path under the scrutiny and direction of the machines, but how she felt about continuing down that path under any circumstance. The question of whether any of her desires were truly her own was just as academic as whether she had ever truly existed in the first place. And at the end of it all, she had nothing but her own instincts to go on.

Seemingly of the same mind, 9S reached out with his other hand to clasp her by the shoulder, and 2B felt her whole body tighten in response.

"All I know, 2B…" he said, his breathing finally slowing as he gazed up at her, "Is that being with you makes me happy. It's…always made me happy. It's the one constant in my entire life, the one thing about the world that makes any sense to me! And if the machines are so keen on observing our behavior…then I say let them watch! I don't care who sees us like this! I'm not ashamed of this! And you shouldn't be either!"

2B clamped her jaw shut tightly so as not to let any sounds leave her mouth unbidden. How was it possible for 9S' words to sound so clinical and so brash and so sweet all at the same time?

He loosened his grip, sliding his hand down to take both of her hands in his.

"So please, 2B…" he whispered sadly, tears forming in his own eyes. "Don't take this happiness away from me. Don't push me away. You're too important to give up on, 2B. I don't…I don't want this to end…"

2B shook her head back and forth, squeezing his hands within her own. Just as he had always done before, 9S had burrowed down to the heart of the matter, and she had no choice but to stare the truth boldly in the face. It was just like A2 had said – none of them were here because they had chosen to be here. None of them had a real purpose that truly mattered in the end. And the fact that they still had each other despite everything was such a colossally unprecedented turn of events that, while it may have been suspicious beyond measure, they would have still had to have been utter fools not to take advantage of the fact. Letting themselves be paralyzed by indecision would doom them more completely than any failure to date.

She felt like she was dangling over a precipice, a sensation that was only reinforced by the vast swell of empty space beneath her feet over the tower's edge. Behind her, on the one side, lay the safety and security of a solid concrete floor. Cold. Unyielding. Familiar. A return to the status quo of the past, where the two of them remained at arms' length for the rest of their days, never to embrace one another or their own true feelings again. But ahead of her, on the other side of that ledge, lay a tremendous plummet into the unknown. A terrifying, exhilarating drop, into which the two of them could hold onto each other, if for no other reason than for their own survival, but where they ultimately had no way of knowing how, where or when it might end.

And there was 9S, taking her into his arms and asking her to follow him into that void with him. As much as her instincts were screaming at her to remain safely on solid ground, she already knew which side she would fall to.

Because the truth was that she loved him. She loved him. It wasn't something that could be quantified or defined or measured or proven. It wasn't something that she could explain or interpret or even understand. It was simply something that she knew. She knew it better than she knew her own name. She could open up her mainframe and run diagnostics on her memories, her combat data, her manufacturing records, and measure every last heartbeat and breath of air down to the nanosecond. But nothing, absolutely nothing within her core programming offered any sort of proof that she was in love with 9S.

Except for the fact that she knew it to be true.

She pulled the mask from her eyes before bringing her hands up to his face, clasping her fingers around the back of his neck as she brought his lips to hers. She couldn't fight this anymore. She had fought against machine, against YoRHa, against the world, and against herself. And after all this time, she just couldn't see what all the fighting was for anymore. What was she gaining by denying what she yearned for? What was she gaining by holding herself to some arbitrary standard against an omnipotent machine captor who could literally rewrite the world to its will? What was she even fighting for at that point? Who was she fighting for? What other purpose did she have to fight other than to be true to herself?

And in what way could she be more true to herself than in this?

"2B…" 9S breathed as he reached up to tangle his fingers through her hair.

"Nines…" 2B smiled into the kiss.

This felt right. This felt absolutely right. If the machines thought that they could somehow replicate what she was feeling with 9S in this moment, or if they thought that they could manipulate her into feeling this way against her own volition…

"Mmmh!" she shivered in surprise as 9S' tongue slipped between her lips.

At her reaction, he just as quickly withdrew, red-faced.

"I…I'm sorry, I…" he stammered bashfully, before Pod 153 inevitably cut him off.

"Alert," the pod reported, a seeming note of smugness in its voice at having broken the tension yet again with its warning. "Unit 9S' biorhythms have begun to fluctuate at an alarming rate. Proposal: Unit 9S should conduct field maintenance immediately."

2B reached up to run her fingers on her lips experimentally, once again intrigued by all the sensations she had been discovering lately, a smile appearing on her face as she climbed to her feet.

"It's alright, Nines…" she sighed, slowly catching her breath. "We can continue this discussion later. For now though, let's not keep A2 waiting. We do still have a mission to complete."

He shook his head, seeming to snap back to reality as the moment abruptly passed.

"Okay," he nodded slowly, jumping to his own feet. "Okay, but…umm…speaking of A2…"

9S trailed off as 2B paused, waited for him to gather his thoughts.

"Yes?" she eventually prompted.

9S finally shook his head in resignation.

"I just…do we trust her at all at this point?" he asked, helplessly. "With all that she's been keeping from us…I don't know, what if she's hiding something else even bigger still? What if she is just doing all this to see her old team again? I know if it was you that Adam was offering to bring back, I'd be considering my options."

2B pursed her lips. There was no malice or disdain in his voice, only the sound of exhaustion one makes when constantly grappling with what the truth may or may not be.

"Honestly?" 2B offered, gazing out over the city ruins. "I don't know if we'll ever be able to truly trust A2. But by that same token…neither of us can really even trust ourselves either. Our thoughts, our feelings, our memories…they could all be false. This entire time loop has been an exercise in blind faith from the very start. At this point, it doesn't make any sense to try to heap any more suspicion on A2 when an equal amount can be directed inward at what our own minds are telling us."

She fixed him with a warm smile.

"It's like you said, Nines," she said earnestly. "If we don't draw a line for ourselves, how do we justify drawing it for her?"

9S slowly nodded his head at that, letting out a breath as he seemed to take some comfort in the thought. 2B was relieved to see that 9S didn't hold any undue animosity towards A2, and instead was treating their albeit strained relationship with the other android as the simple security risk it represented. He still didn't trust her, or even like her, but he wasn't taking it personally anymore either. He knew as well as 2B did that they still needed A2, and regardless of how much she could be trusted, the fact remained that the three of them were still probably the last of their kind. And that wasn't something one discarded rashly.

Then 9S seemed to finally notice 2B smiling at him, and as he turned to meet her gaze, a curious expression crossed over his features.

"Hey, uh…odd question 2B, but…" he said, sounding somewhat sheepish as he chewed on his lip "…Did you, um…change your makeup or something? It looks good."

2B felt a little fluttering of something inside her stomach. He'd seen her uncovered face a mere handful of times, and yet he still picked up on such a miniscule detail like that?

"Oh, um…yes…" she stammered, feeling flustered all over again as she looked away. "I'm…surprised you noticed…"

He simply blushed in return, letting out a shy chuckle of his own.

"Well, I…don't get to see your eyes that often, so when the opportunity arises, I…tend to pay attention…" he muttered.

Now it was 2B's turn to blush. Even at this stage of their relationship, 9S still seemed to find ways to fluster her.

She might have lingered on the feeling a bit longer - god knew the fire she had tasted in 9S' lips could have easily overwhelmed her had she let it. But she couldn't let herself get distracted now. After hearing 9S pour out his heart to her, she had finally figured something out. Something that gave her and 9S an advantage over their machine captors that she would have never thought possible. It was something so utterly simple that she might not even have believed it had it been shown to her. If she hadn't spent years of her life under YoRHa's rule, following their guidelines to the best of her ability, she might have seen it far sooner. Looking back at it now, it was no wonder that the machines and YoRHa ultimately had the same goal in mind, because it was clear to 2B now that they had both been bound by the same limitations.

Neither YoRHa nor the machines could comprehend the notion of love.

Oh, they could refer to it in generalities and vague terminology, attempt to crack down on its expression and take advantage of it by trying to predict its outcome. But neither YoRHa nor their machine captors understood what it was to feel love. That was why they were here, after all. The machines – both through YoRHa and now here through this time loop – still could not fathom this simple human emotion. Or perhaps, more precisely, they could not tell it apart from hatred. Adam's desire to die at the hands of an enemy, Eve's rage at his brother's death, the girl in red's fixation on conflict…

There was only the one girl in red that 2B had seen, but according to A2, there used to have been two of them before. And Adam and Eve had been a matched pair as well, but now Adam too was alone. What was it about the machines that seemed to shun the dual nature of relationships? Whatever the reason, perhaps this was an indicator of what it was the machines truly lacked: the ability for two beings to truly commune with each other without losing whatever it was that originally made them distinct individuals in the first place.

Out in the field, it had always been her and 9S, and while the two of them could hardly have been more different from one another, together they operated at a significantly greater efficiency than the sum of their combined abilities would suggest. By that same token, the taciturn 2B had been paired with the boisterous and bubbly Operator 6O, while the curious and soft spoken 9S had been paired with the stringent and meticulous Operator 21O. Even their two support pods, 042 and 153, were the opposite gender of their assigned YoRHa unit.

At every layer, this pattern of inverse duality persisted throughout every relationship the two of them thrived upon. Together, they were stronger, not because of their similarities, but because of their differences. And yet, if A2's combat data could be believed, the two girls in red had ultimately turned on one another because of the conflict that arose between them. And despite how much Eve had cared for his brother, the feeling was clearly not mutual enough to prevent Adam from seeking his own death at 2B's hands.

Love. Hatred. Conflict. The machines had no way to distinguish these things from each other. The girl in red had insisted that conflict was the predominant force in the universe, and yet here they were, trying to understand how two androids could possibly be in love. Love presented an alternative to conflict. Love meant that conflict could be resolved. Love meant that conflict did not always bring things to an end. It spat in the face of the machines' entire understanding of the universe. And it was something that the machines simply could not seem to understand.

She smiled. It may not be a significant advantage. But it was something that she and 9S had that the machines did not. And based on what she had seen…it was something that they would never have.

And that meant that they would always have a way to beat them.

"Pod," she sent a command to her support unit. "Open a channel with A2."

"Executing command," 042 replied.

A holographic screen appeared in front of her with A2's expectant face on it, her arms crossed.

"'Bout time," she said smugly.

2B smirked back at her in return. "A2, we're ready to begin the attack. Proceed into the pacifist village whenever you're ready."

A2 drew in a breath and nodded her head. "You got it."

2B's smile turned genuine.

"And A2?" she said simply. "Thanks. For everything."

A2's expression seemed to soften at that.

"Don't thank me yet," she snorted. "We've still got a long way to go until we're out of this."

The connection went dead, and then moments later, the ground began shaking.

BOOM! BOOM!

All at once, the city ruins suddenly became engulfed with smoke and dust, and three massive goliath units appeared out of nowhere, with three more slowly emerging off in the distance.

"Whoa!" 9S shouted as he staggered at the concussive shockwaves. "Where the heck did those things even come from!?"

2B said nothing as she returned her mask to her face, focusing on the emergency call from command.

"2B!" Operator 6O's voice chimed in from the holo-screen. "This is an emergency transmission from the bunker! We're reading a goliath class enemy inside the city ruins! And it looks like there are a ton of other machines there with it! All YoRHa units should proceed and engage immediately!"

As the holo-screen vanished from view, suddenly two Ho-229 flight units seemed to materialize out of thin air. They didn't descend from the sky as they would if they had been sent from the bunker. They simply appeared with their landing gear already down on the rooftop landing zone, as if by magic.

9S let out a scoff at that.

"They're not even trying to hide the fact that this is a simulation anymore," he guffawed.

2B frowned at her flight unit, somewhat ill-at-ease to be mounting up on something that simply had not existed two seconds prior. But she decided that there was no helping it, and she boarded her flight unit and took to the air with 9S close behind her.

The wind was filled with the dust and debris of massive machines engaged in combat. They appeared to move in slow motion as the two androids drew nearer, their massive buzz saw arms arcing through the air like colossal pieces of construction equipment. But as they approached the goliaths however, the enormous machines' behavior did not seem to change. 2B managed to get close enough that she could have swiped at one of them with the tail blade of her flight unit, and yet the towering Engels unit didn't seem to take note of her proximity, its attention focused on the other YoRHa flight units scattered through the air like a swarm of hornets.

It was like the two androids were completely invisible.

"2B, look!" 9S shouted in elation as he began to open fire on the goliath. "It's acting like we're not even here!"

2B pursed her lips, a feeling of excitement rising inside of her. Had they managed to outwit their captors yet again? If so, it would be but a temporary advantage – no doubt the machines would correct the oversight in the next recursion. But for now, if there was an advantage to be had, she would happily capitalize on it.

"It would seem the goliaths were meant to pose a greater threat to us on the ground than in the air," she surmised hurriedly. "That or we somehow did not register on their scanners by jumping the gun like this. Either way, open fire!"

9S was only too happy to oblige her request as the two of them unleashed a hail of turret fire on the enormous beast. The goliath continued to swing its two claws at the other flight units around it, at no point taking note of 2B or 9S' units. 2B watched in morbid fascination as the guns from her flight unit tore the machine apart, carving holes into its chassis until it was little more than scrap metal. It took a full minute of sustained fire, but eventually the titanic machine collapsed onto its side.

BOOM!

"It's down!" 9S shouted in triumph. "We beat it!"

2B clenched her jaw as she waited for the first goliath's destruction to trigger an attack from the rest. But no attack came. The five remaining goliaths simply continued to flail their arms about in the air, as if performing a choreographed dance routine. Each movement of the gigantic Engels units kicked up a dust storm, and the goliaths' massive excavator claws swung this way and that as they seemed to churn the air around them like butter. But for all that, the devastating claws came nowhere near 2B or 9S.

The two androids moved onto the next goliath and took it down in much the same fashion. And then onto the next. Not a single one of the oversized machines turned its attention on the two of them, and instead solely maintained their aggression against the dozen or so YoRHa units peppering the skies. It didn't even look like YoRHa was sustaining any heavy losses from combat either. This didn't even feel like a battle at this point, 2B reflected – it felt more like an execution.

BOOM!

By the time the third and then the fourth goliath went down, 9S began thinking out loud.

"Okay, what the heck's going on here?" he demanded – although 2B noticed he did not halt his attack. "These things were a nightmare to deal with before, but now they're dropping like flies! Did the machines turn the difficulty back down or something? Are they just getting bored with our lack of progress and trying to compel us to get on with things?"

2B had no answer for him. All of his postulations had the possibility of holding true, but she was not one for looking gift horses in the mouth. She would be more than happy to think through the repercussions of what was going on after they had secured their victory here. She was still a combat model after all.

BOOM!

The fifth Engels unit fell, and the soon only final goliath stood before them. Even bereft of its entire legion of comrades, the metal monstrosity still did not seem to notice the presence of the two androids. By now, the skies were buzzing with YoRHa flight units, and they were all concentrating their fire on the remaining enemy target. But none of the YoRHa units seemed to be dealing any damage to the monstrosity. It was only through sustained fire from 2B and 9S' flight units alone that the behemoth machine was slowly worn down until its reactor core suddenly started going critical.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

True to the original timeline, the final goliath detonated its internal fusion reactor, sending the two flight units careening back through the air, a resounding shockwave cascading through the city ruins, sending dozens of ancient superstructures caving in like sandcastles. Acres of dust were kicked up into the atmosphere, blanketing the entire city, and obscuring the ruins from view. And when the two androids regained their balance and the dust had finally settled, the city ruins had opened up, the massive hole in the ground revealing the final resting place of the aliens beneath, leaving only a single derelict Engels unit positioned like a figurehead just beyond the entrance to the Resistance camp.

Almost immediately, the airwaves became abuzz with chatter and alerts from YoRHa as the alien signatures were suddenly revealed. And 2B and 9S landed their flight units once again, their commander appearing on screen.

"YoRHa! This is your commander!" the austere woman said in a harrowing tone. "For the first time in centuries, we've intercepted a signal belonging to the aliens. These are the creatures that are in direct command of the machine lifeforms on this planet…"

As the commander's voice continued to drone on, 2B and 9S could only stare down at the hole in the ground in a strange kind of stunned silence. On the one hand, it was just as awe-inspiring and eye-opening as the first time they had seen it, but on the other hand, both of them knew full well what this discovery entailed.

To say nothing of their most recent one.

"We can't let this chance slip through our fingers!" the commander finally finished her speech. "Glory to mankind!"

It was all 2B could do not to roll her eyes as the commander's transmission finally ended.

"What do you think happened with the goliaths back there?" 9S pondered inquisitively, not even paying the commander's words any heed. "It was like they were stuck on loop, as if they were programmed to behave a certain way until one of us revealed ourselves. Only…they somehow never even registered that we had appeared on the battlefield. Maybe by having the two of us wait by the landing zone, we somehow…broke the simulation? Bypassed whatever window in the goliaths programming they needed to trigger the next phase of their attack pattern? It's like we were never even intended to make it that far before they wiped us out. Based on how our flight units appeared to us, we were clearly not meant to be there when we were at the very least."

"Maybe," 2B nodded gravely. "And the fact that the rest of the YoRHa flight units didn't make any mention of this fact further supports the autonomous puppet theory. And there was something else I noticed as well. Didn't the goliaths seem awfully quiet to you?"

9S froze in place.

"Hey, yeah, you're right!" he blurted. "Usually they start chanting the words 'kill' over and over whenever we fight them. But this time, they didn't do that. What do you think all this means?"

2B let out a breath.

"I'm guessing it just means that the machines screwed up, and we should take advantage of this oversight while we can," she said dismissively. "I doubt we'll be so lucky in the next recursion. What's our next move?"

9S seemed troubled by that, but eventually nodded his head.

"Well, I guess all that's left for us now is to upload our combat data on the dead aliens from the original timeline," he shrugged. "No need to go investigating anything ourselves. I'd just as soon avoid seeing Adam again. Plus I'm in no hurry to find out how the transporters would affect us here in the time loop."

2B nodded, stepping off the building's ledge and dropping down the ground below.

"Then after that, we go investigating the forest kingdom, correct?" she asked.

"Right," 9S confirmed, dropping to the ground beside her as the two of them approached the edge of the massive pit, both of them drawn to the negative space within like a magnet, gazing at the flying segmented snake-like machine twisting and turning through the air. "Technically we're supposed to talk to Pascal first, but maybe…"

That's when a loud shrill voice suddenly pierced the stillness

"Guys! I finally found you!"

2B and 9S wheeled around just in time to find a small white sphere about the size of one of the machine's heads come rushing towards them on the ground. Only it wasn't a machine head – instead, the face plastered across the surface of the orb was a horrid toothy grimace, its eyes paralyzed in a rictus of terror.

"What the-?!" 2B blurted, her hand instinctively going for her sword before she could think.

9S reacted in a similar fashion, though he seemed to recognize the newcomer much more quickly.

"E-Emil?!" he cried out in astonishment. "Emil, is that-? Emil, is that you?! What are you doing here?!"

2B blinked her eyes in confusion beneath her mask, recognition suddenly dawning on her. It was indeed the odd little entity from the old world that they had met during their travels. Emil hadn't yet appeared at this point in the original timeline, had he? He would have had to have popped out from the shell of one of the machine heads in the shopping district, but that had only taken place after they had consulted with Pascal about the forest kingdom.

Was A2 still in contact with Pascal? Had that been what triggered Emil's appearance? And regardless of how he had come to be here, the fact that he had recognized them and had come rushing towards them here and now must have meant that, like Pascal, Emil had some knowledge of the time loop.

The small spherical entity came screeching to a halt next to the two androids, before bowling over with a gasp, seemingly out of breath despite the lack of any apparent space in his body for lungs.

"I couldn't-" he said with a stammer, catching his breath. "I couldn't reach you guys until you got to this point! I've been watching your progress this whole time!"

9S and 2B both exchanged knowing glances with one another. 9S had obviously reached the same conclusion she had regarding Emil and the time loop, and it was encouraging news to see those suspicions confirmed.

"So you know about the time loop as well then?" 2B confirmed brusquely.

"Yeah!" Emil replied in excitement. "I've been trying to hack into it ever since I woke up!"

That took 2B by surprise. 9S let out a flabbergasted noise that 2B could only silently commiserate with.

"Wait, you what?!" he demanded. "You…you're trying to hack the time loop?!"

"Yeah!" Emil blurted, a mixture of excitement and pride in his voice. "But we've got to hurry! They're bound to have noticed by-!"

That's when, for the first time that anyone in the world could remember, the skies above the earth suddenly went dark. It was as if the sun had simply been switched off, leaving only a dim ambient light for them to see by. The light in the sky was simply swallowed by an obscene and permeating darkness.

Then the entire world started to shudder as a tremendous voice filled the air.

"MEDDLER!" came the thunderous voice, seeming to shake the very planet. "YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE! BEGONE!"

2B and 9S clutched at their ears as everything around them seemed to reverberate from the violent cacophony of the howling roar. It sounded vaguely like the voice used by the machine entity when speaking as the girl in red, but it was difficult to say for certain as the sheer volume and depth of the voice all but cracked the very earth, the ground beneath their feet vibrating like it was under an enormous jackhammer.

"Ahhhhhh!" 9S cried out in pain. "What the hell?!"

Emil began rolling around the two androids in distress, his frightful face suddenly matching their situation.

"Oh no!" his child-like voice blurted in alarm. "I'm too late! They've found me already!"

"Warning!" Pod 042 announced, rather inanely as the city trembled around them. "Thermal sensors picking up erroneous readings. Extreme seismic activity detected. Unusual frequencies appearing on all scanners."

2B winced in agitation as she stared up at the night sky in confusion and fear. She had never seen the sky go dark like this except on missions where she had deployed to the far side of the planet. Special thermal gear had always been needed for such missions, as the lack of sunlight had plunged the dark side of the earth into an eternal winter. But for the sky above the scorching heat of the sunlit side of the planet to suddenly plunge into darkness meant that something was very, very wrong.

"9S…" 2B cringed, reaching instinctively for his hand.

She never found it, however, as all at once, the ground beneath their feet began to crack and split open – whether by the thunderous voice or by some other force, it made little difference – as the two of them were both caught completely flat-footed. Both androids, as well as Emil, were suddenly left staggering for balance as the ground all across the city ruins began to crack and crumble and fall apart, leaving them no stable ground to stand on. Then with an enormous shudder, pieces of the ground began to simply drop out from beneath them, as if the very earth had fallen out from below the city ruins.

K-K-K-KRRRSSSNCH!

"WHOAAA!" Emil cried out, wobbling precariously, before rolling and bouncing down the pieces of crumbling asphalt like a marble before disappearing into empty space.

"2B!" 9S shouted as he was flung away from her grasp, he too tumbling down the disintegrating terrain.

2B reached for him desperately, but they were both sent sprawling by the seismic upheaval, their feet scrambling for purchase on massive chunks of concrete and rock that were breaking into smaller and smaller bits by the second. The surface of the entire planet seemed to suddenly open up beneath them, as all around them the newly darkened world began to give way, as if it were all a massive diorama that was rapidly falling apart.

KSSSHRRRMMM!

The noise was deafening! Entire buildings began to crumble and shatter into pieces, and soon there was not a single square inch of solid ground beneath them that was not in freefall. The two androids were suddenly left tumbling towards the unknown, their pods nowhere in sight. A vast chasm expanded beneath them like a gaping maw, engulfing them into darkness, as if the creators of the entire world had suddenly decided to cast it all into the abyss.

"Hang on guys!" Emil's child-like voice called out to them from somewhere within the chaos. "N2 is purging the system! This is going to get rough!"

2B had no idea what Emil meant by this, or who N2 was specifically, but it certainly didn't sound good. A part of her had hoped that maybe they had found another ally in the strange magical entity, but if this was the machines' reaction to his presence, she had her doubts that he could offer them much aid.

She thrashed her arms and legs about in mid-air as she tried to steady her descent, her body being pelted by tiny stones. The rushing wind ripped the mask from her face and tore the feathers from the sleeves of her dress, and the unnatural darkness had left her all but blind as she careened ever downward. How any of them could ever hope to survive something like this was beyond her comprehension. This was it, she realized. The machines had simply flipped a switch, and decided to end the recursion then and there. As she watched the world come apart around her, she suddenly realized that with the new recursion, her memories would be wiped once again. She resolved to try to hold onto what she had learned in her head – the truth about A2, about the purpose for the time loop, all of it - but she knew that, ultimately, this too was pointless.

How much would she remember the next time she opened her eyes? Would she and 9S even be the same people anymore? Once they died, their conscious minds were entirely at the mercy of the machines. They could rewrite the two of them as they wished, remove whatever memories they saw as problematic, or even insert whatever other memories they wished for them to possess. All the progress she and 9S had made up until that point, it could all be forfeit. Whether it was the fact that they had gathered too much intel, gotten around too many hurdles without sufficient struggle, or simply because they had encountered Emil, control over their destiny had been abruptly yanked out of their hands.

2B felt a burning, seething anger boiling inside of her that refused to cool down. Nothing they did ever seemed to make a difference. They could push every boundary they could find, but it wouldn't matter so long as the machines held the reins of power over their lives, and could undo their actions with the push of a button.

"2B!" she heard 9S shout over the din, his voice sounding like it was a million miles away. "What's happening?!"

"9S!" 2B cried out in desperation, flinging her hand out in the direction his voice had come from, the wind whipping at her hair and clothes as she fell. "Hang on!"

Before he could say anything further, the machine entity's massive booming voice suddenly filled the empty chasm, the pressure so monstrous that it was impossible even to breathe over the sound of it.

"THIS IS NOT YOUR WORLD, REPLICANT!" the sonorous machine voice split the air. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A RELIC OF THE PAST! WE WILL SUFFER YOUR PRESENCE NO LONGER!"

Before 2B could try to wrap her head around the machine entity's words, the pale beam of one of their pod's floodlights managed to illuminate a shock of white hair in the distance, and she flung herself instinctively towards her partner.

"Nines!" she cried out, praying that her voice would reach him.

"2B!" he shouted in recognition, flailing around to face her as she approached him.

She reached out towards him, their bodies tumbling through the air, before finally managing to seize his outstretched hands in hers. And as they clasped hands, falling once again towards certain doom, their eyes finally met. His mask too had been torn from his face, and 2B could see the fear in his eyes mixed with relief at getting to see her again before the end. And as they gazed at one another, they could still make out the sound of Emil's frantic voice crying out to them from somewhere nearby.

"Keep going you guys!" Emil called out to them in a desperate panic, his head seeming to float comically beside them. "You can make it if you keep trying! I've installed a backdoor program you can use! Find the coliseum in the desert! I'll try my hardest to reach you again! And don't forget-!"

And then there was nothing but emptiness, before a set of flight controls were once again in her hands.

"This is Command. YoRHa squadron, come in."


A/N

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I recently got a new job, and have also been sick for most of the winter, so I've been focused on other things. I also had to do a bit of research on this chapter, and it took me way too long to find the right details on A2's team. I only realized after almost finishing the chapter that 2B distinctly dismisses the idea of cosmetics as foolish in a side quest, so I'm claiming artistic license on this one. I will try not to take so long on the next chapter!