Every muscle in 2B's body tightened, each synthetic strand bundling, flexing and swelling almost painfully around her alloyed bones as she crouched, her right heel poised in front of her. Almost taking a runner's stance, 2B hovered above 9S' body, each leg on other side of his frame, unable to let go. Even as she clenched her right hand, eyes set in a deathly cool upon the battle on the other side of the bridge, she trembled. Her left hand still softly supported his head. Finally and painfully, she slowly let go, carefully allowing his head to rest on the wood again.

At once, she sprung, her lithe form blurring across the bridge. In an instant she cleared the distance, her heeled boot touching solid ground and turning the offending rock beneath it to dust as she dashed straight into the unruly nest of battle.

As she tore into the fray, she threw her elbow into the spine of a corrupted unit, feeling its vertebrae shatter as her momentum and muscle drove the blow further into the unit's back. Almost with tunnel vision, the various black mobs around her slowed to blurred apparitions as her view of A2 grew clearer. Every strike aimed her way as she drew more and more attention to herself missed its mark as she bobbed and weaved through the mass of fallen YoRHa. As she tucked her head low, dodging blades and gauntlets, her legs were constantly adapting to her changing path through the mob. She had one target and one goal on her mind. Throwing a palm out, her hand connected with the hip of a corrupted unit that she used as leverage as she vaulted over the low swinging roundhouse of another, pivoting her airborne body to balance the smooth ivory of Virtuous Grief's handle sliding out of her palm with a smooth hum as it cleanly speared three of the units that had trailed after her.

As her heels touched the ground, she returned her gaze to her front, shifting her head slightly and narrowly dodging the electrified gauntlet that came blistering towards her face. Keeping herself close to the attacker, she caught the unit's right shoulder under her own, twisting and throwing her weight forward to slam her opponent to the ground. Without loosening her grip or breaking her stride, she landed a heel on the corrupted unit's abdomen and before taking her next step, used the leverage to all but rip the unit's arm out of socket, listening callously as its feminine screams of pain rang though its filtered mask. Slinging the writhing body at the legs of the units in front of her, 2B leapt as their collapsing bodies acted as a foothold to launch herself forward above the heads of the crowd and back in, mere feet away from her target.

Summoning Virtuous Treaty to her open palms, 2B swung herself around, counteracting the weight of the weapon before steeling her muscles and slamming the snow white metal into the crackling heft of A2's Type-4O Blade.

Eyes almost wide in shock, A2 stumbled and yanked fruitlessly as 2B expertly maneuvered her weapon, twisting the hilt and catching the gears of A2's sword in the alloyed appendage that emerged from Virtuous Treaty's hilt. Acting quickly, A2 took advantage of 2B's strength and in a split moment, used the suspended interlocked swords as a bar to swing her heels straight into 2B's breasts.

Momentarily pushed back, 2B, rearmed with Angel's Folly, immediately returned to the offensive faster than A2 could regain her footing, prompting the prototype to hastily resummon the Type-4O Blade to deflect the winged bracer that 2B sent rocketing for her chest. The force of the ejected gauntlet slammed the electrified flat of A2's blade into her face and stuttered her optics momentarily. As A2's rear connected with the ground, she blindly swung her leg low in an attempt to trip the advancing Executioner. Undaunted, 2B steeled herself, stance wide and rock solid as she threw herself into a barrage of jabs and hooks at A2's downed form. On autopilot and rolling with the momentum, A2 dodged the flurry and quickly returned to her feet just as 2B slammed her heel into the ground where A2's head had just been.

The two combat models faced off at the edge of the canyon. The billowing long hair and stoic face of one contrasting with the windswept short hair and cold, furious face of the other, bordering on tears. Subconsciously, A2 brandished her weapon again, this time both in an attempt to keep 2B at bay and keep her distance from the advancing corrupted units as she leapt onto a rock protruding out over the canyon below. The almost deafening sound of laced explosions from 2B's pod fending off the corrupted units lit her ears as she met 2B's masked visage again. As their stern gazes met, the look on 2B's face suddenly shattered, almost caught off guard as she slightly lowered her face from A2's. Following her attacker's apparent gaze, A2 locked eyes with the brilliantly glowing golden blade of her…of 9S' sword, pointed directly, almost accusingly at 2B.

She hadn't even realized she had summoned it.

It was almost an instinctual act. She had always only circulated between the two Type-4O weapons she had stolen from a YoRHa unit that had tried to apprehend her in the past. And yet as she was defending herself from 2B, that sword came to her almost as simply and comfortably as any other. As she leveled her gaze with 2B's masked eyes again. She watched as 2B's lips quivered. She'd had an inkling before, but now, with the data that 9S had implanted in her, everything was crystal clear. Watching as 2B's grip on her sword tightened and re-tightened, something bubbling forth from within A2 spurred her to speak out in a tone she wasn't used to… "2B..."

Suddenly the ground beneath them began to shake and the sound of vicious tremors rocked the expanse. Pale white structures exploded from the earth, skewering corrupted units as they grew towards the sky. 2B herself had her attention ripped from A2 as she looked behind her, seeing a great white structure growing in the distance, taller than any of the pieces emerging around them. Pieces of rubble from the commercial facility began to fall around them, crushing fallen YoRHa units and threatening the two remaining YoRHa themselves. Taking in the increasingly chaotic scene unfolding in front of her, A2 decided to take her chances. As 2B returned her gaze to A2, she watched almost incredulously as A2 turned to dive into the canyon, her path to the bridge blocked off and the ground beginning to fall beneath her feet. As A2 moved to jump, her line of sight was snapped skywards and her eyes shut tight at a stinging sensation at the back of her head.

The glowing wire program of Pod 042 reeled A2 in brutally as 2B moved to meet her halfway. In a desperate move, A2 brought Cruel Oath up and slashed the cord at the root, just inches from her scalp. Narrowly dodging the piercing hum of 2B's sword as it plunged into the bedrock, A2 dashed, stumbling at the rumbling earth beneath her as she threw herself from the cliff. 2B made after her, but lost her footing as the ground beneath her gave way. As she hit the dirt, she barely caught sight of the rubble plummeting towards her and made a last ditch roll out of the way.

As A2 fell, grip still steeled on 9S' sword, she barely caught the voice that spoke to her through the wind howling past her ears. "Proposal: hold on to this pod in order to avoid being put in critical condition."

"W..what?!" A2 blanched as she for the first time took notice of the pod that had been hovering above her shoulder for the past five minutes.

"Repeat: hold on to this pod in order to avoid being pu-"

"Shit!" Frantically grabbing for Pod 153, A2 clutched the pod to her chest as the ground approached at blistering speed.


A/N: I apologize that these last two chapters haven't been as long as the first three, but I have recently become extremely busy in my daily life. Splitting my attention amongst all over my tasks, this is the best way I can keep updating the story: in slightly shorter segments so that I don't forget about it or end up updating only once every two to three months. Don't worry though. I won't maintain this approach for more climactic and needy chapters where a style of updating would ruin the progression. If I need to, you can totally expect longer more whole chapters in those occasions. Just know that the updates might be further apart in those scenarios.