"Keep looking! Everyone!" EVE shouted, "I want every inch of this town searched from top to bottom!"

"Eve, are you sure this is going to work?" Ruby massaged her bite marks, "Nos-4a-2 is very good at hiding."

"I don't know if it'll work! I just want to find my sister!"

"Eve! Look out!"

"What!?"

Ruby pushed her out of the way of an oncoming blast.

"Ack! What the-!?"

"Going somewhere?"

EVE's eyes narrowed, "Forthright!?"

"Did something happen? Why is everyone out and about?" Forthright was in a protective shield hovering above the ground, "Are you throwing a party?"

"No..." EVE pulled her cannon on Forthright, "Did you do this!? Did you build Nos-4a-2!?"

"Who's Nos-4a-2?"

"Eve, I don't think she did." Ruby replied.

"What? Why not?"

"Because his design is contradictory to what Forthright builds." she explained, "He had purple and pale blue on him. Forthright doesn't like those colors."

"Could you speak up, please?" Forthright wined, "I would like to satisfy my curiosity before I destroy you."

"Shut up!" Ruby scolded.

"Oo. There you are, Eve." Forthright teased.

"How delightful..."

Ruby instinctively turned and pointed her weapon at the speaker. None other than NOS-4A-2.

"I'd love to feed on you again." he drawled, "Your energy is delicious."

"What are you waiting for!?" EVE said, "Shoot him!"

"I-I can't!" Ruby shook her right arm.

EVE shot him herself and he easily dodged, "You'll have to try harder than that, little one." he blasted a laser from his mouth, taking EVE by surprise and knocking her unconscious.

"NO!" Ruby tried to shoot, but something in her mind was telling her, He is your master. Don't hurt him.

Nos sunk his fangs into EVE's neck.

"EVAH!"

Ruby's eyes widened, "Wall-E! Run away! Get out of here!"

WALL-E ignored her and hurried to Nos, trying to yank him away from his wife.

"Grrr..." Nos tossed EVE aside and WALL-E swept her up, "Don't get in my way!"

"Evah..." WALL-E tried to shake her awake.

"NO!" Ruby watched in horror as NOS-4A-2 bit WALL-E near his music player, sucking the power from his system and forcing his solar-charge display to drop lower and lower until his warning beep sounded, "LET GO OF HIM!"

"Ah..." Nos sighed at the flow of power.

"Uggghhhhh..." WALL-E fell over from exhaustion.

"WALL-E!" Ruby hurried to him, "Are you okay!? D-Don't worry! I'll get you into the sun!" she picked him up and carried him off.

Nos smiled, licking his lips. He just couldn't get enough of true robot energy.

Forthright couldn't help but feel intrigued, hovering her shield lower, "I don't suppose you're going to attack me now, are you?"

"Huh? Oh, you're a human!?" Nos wrinkled his nose, "No way! I hate the taste of blood! It's even worse than the taste of batteries!"

Forthright laughed, "I see. A true energy vampire. I like you."

Nos crossed his arms, "Well, I don't suppose you're trying to destroy this place?"

"Sure. I'm trying to make humanity go extinct. Wanna help?"

"I don't know..." Nos' cocky grin returned, "What's in it for me?"

"Robots." Forthright replied, "You'll be able to suck their power to your heart's content. And besides, you'll be able to eat my enemies as well. Only robots fight on the front lines."

"I see..." Nos replied, "I'll admit, it sounds appealing..."

"And all you have to do is kill my enemies." Forthright sat down in her hovering pod and crossed her legs, "Right?"

"Haha. Alright, you've convinced me." Nos nodded, "I'll kill, and in return I get energy. Sounds too good to be true."

"So, Nos-4a-2?" Forthright inquired, "I saw all the Eve probes here except for the yellow-eyed one. I don't suppose you had something to do with that?"

"Yeah, I kidnapped her." Nos replied, "I wanted to know why my mind control wasn't working on her."

"I see. Good luck with that." Forthright replied, "Oh, and my name is Shannon, by the way. See you later." she hovered upwards and flew off into the rising sun.

Nos smiled, sincere this time. He didn't like humans, not one bit, but this one was interesting to say the least. Evil, cocky, and arrogant. Just like him.

He thought of her the whole ride home.

"Ugh..." EVE groggily opened her eyes.

"Evah?"

EVE looked at WALL-E and gasped, "Oh no!" she ran her fingers over the bite marks on the top of his chest, "I'm so sorry..."

WALL-E lay his optics against EVE's bite, too, "Ugggh..."

"What happened!?" Rio exclaimed upon seeing them.

"He bit you guys!?" Leah held Ted tighter.

"Yeah. And we didn't find Aya either." EVE kissed WALL-E's bite marks.

"Ah!" WALL-E sighed.

"Wah-yee!" Ted giggled.

WALL-E smiled at him, suddenly bashful.

"Where could Aya be?" Rio looked at the computer monitor where a map was displayed.

"Hm...I don't know..." EVE let WALL-E kiss her own bite marks.

Leah sighed, standing Ted up on his feet. He wobbled over to WALL-E and leaned against him, smiling sweetly. WALL-E laughed, taking his little hand.

Leah giggled, "You guys are so cute."

"Huh?" EVE stumbled back a bit, "I'm getting a call..."

Everyone watched in silence as EVE answered the call.

Aya tried to comm EVE for the thousandth time. Why isn't it working!? she beeped in Binary, Please...please...

Finally, after the 1001st attempt, she got through.

"Hm? Who is this?"

"Eve!?"

"Aya!? Is that you!?"

"Eve!" Aya sighed in relief, "I'm so happy to hear your voice again!"

"Where are you!?"

"I-I don't know. I just wanted to talk to someone! I'm so lonely!"

"Aya, calm down!"

Rio's voice came over the call too, "Can you see anything from where you are?"

"Well yeah, it's kind of complicated. It's well decorated and has lots of fancy tech. My cell is empty though."

"You're in a cell?" EVE became serious, "Can you give us any hints about what's outside?"

"N-No, all the windows are blocked-!"

"Who are you talking to!?"

Aya felt her hydraulics freeze with terror. NOS-4A-2 had returned.

"End that call now!"

"Okay! Okay!" comm ended, "Are you going to bite me now!?"

Nos narrowed his one visible eye, turning to the computer and typing away. He sighed, "No, I'm not going to bite you yet. I still have more research to do."

Aya felt her eyelids drop sadly, "I'm sorry..."

Nos rubbed his face, "How did you do that? I have firewalls blocking all signals here."

"Um...it took a long time..."

"Ugh...did they catch your location?"

Aya decided to tell the truth, since she didn't have anything to hide, "No. I have no idea where I am, so I couldn't tell them."

Nos bit the computer again, but didn't drain it this time. He lifted his head again, licking his lips, "They better not have picked it up from the signal. I'm not ready to let you go yet."

Aya noticed his pale pallor, "Um...are you okay?"

"Huh?" Nos turned to look at her, "Why do you care?"

"Well...you see..." Aya tried to keep the shaking from her voice, "...um...you just looked sick, and...I was just wondering if you are..."

Nos couldn't fathom why she would care at all still, but he didn't care either. What was the harm in a little chit-chat? "I am sick..."

"You are?"

"Yes...I fell horribly ill because I went four months without any energy...I almost died..."

Aya gasped, "I'm so sorry...I didn't-!"

"You're sorry? Excuse me, you're sorry!?"

Aya flinched.

"I'm not angry, I'm just confused." Nos said to her, "Why are you...wh-why do you..."

He was now eye-to-eye with her, only the bars of the cage separating them.

"W-well..." Aya couldn't meet his eye, "M-my sister, Ruby...she once sided with evil, but then she realized she wasn't bad..."

That didn't help at all.

"So..." Aya glanced up before looking away again, "I was just wondering if you were really evil or if you're secretly good...I treat everyone the same, just like my sister Leah..."

Nos shook his head, returning to the computer, "Whatever. I don't care."

Aya couldn't help but feel like he was fibbing just a bit.