Aya was astounded by their professionalism. One simple building in the middle of the landscape was considered "Police Headquarters", ever since the Axiom joined forces with the Atlanta and became a singular city. They had done a scan of Aya (and were astounded by her lack of bite marks) before she was led into another room that obviously had lots of care put into. She sat in a chair opposite from the desk of chief of police, EVE right behind her.

"Well, so far you've shown no signs of mind control. That's good." he said, (Aya had nicknamed him "Chief" in her head) "Where is he located?"

Aya's heart sank. Is this what all the questions would be like? "Um...I can't say..."

"What?" Chief looked up from his desk, "What do you mean you can't say?"

"Um...well..." Aya couldn't meet his eyes, "I don't want him to go to jail..."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm serious!" Aya did her best to explain her mindset, "He was so broken. When he let me go, he didn't even bother to bring me back into the city with my eyes covered, like he did when he kidnapped me. He just opened the door and told me to go!" she tapped her fingers together, "I don't want to betray his trust."

"Miss Eve, this isn't about trust. This is about dozens of people who lost their lives to a ruthless killer."

"I get that! And I'm sorry to every one of those people! But so is he! He absolutely lost his mind when I told him most robots here are sentient!"

"You mean he didn't know?"

"Yes! Are you saying he faked it!? It looked real to me!"

"Please calm down, Miss." Chief replied, "We still arrest people who are convicted of manslaughter. Do you know why?"

Aya huffed, "Why?"

"Because we don't always have proof that it was an accident." he said, "And even then, we need to take the offender into custody to ask them about what happened. At least let us do that. He needs to serve his sentence."

Maybe he's right... Aya thought.

"Aya?" EVE said gently.

"I..." she shook her head, "I can't...it doesn't feel right..."

"Miss..." Chief sighed.

"I'm sorry. I just can't do it." she said to him, "It feels wrong."

"We have to take you into custody." Chief stood from his chair, "Come with me."

"What?" Aya turned to her sister for help.

EVE frowned, "I'm sorry, Aya. I have no power over him as captain of the Axiom."

"Eve!" Aya grabbed her arms, "You at least understand where I'm coming from?"

"It does sound like he was very kind to you." EVE agreed, "Don't worry. I'll come and visit tomorrow."

"Thank you..."

"Come along, Miss." Chief walked to the door on the right. Aya decided to go along with it, following him to a small empty room. Aya caught EVE's apologetic smile as the door closed and she was left alone, hearing the lock click into place.

Did they really not trust her to stay all night?

Aya was getting extremely agitated from being in the small room all day. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't stop thinking. NOS-4A-2 was running through her mind. Was he okay? Were they going to find him? Would he lose his mind again on batteries alone?

She couldn't take it anymore. She hurried to the door, making sure no one would see her as she short-circuited the lock, forcing her way out. There were no guards posted at the door or outside, so she was home-free.

She swerved around the city, taking extra care to make sure she wasn't being followed (and checking her own body for tracking devices), then she spiraled out of the city and into the wasteland humanity had yet to fix. She had to travel across a lot of desert to get to Nos' headquarters.

"Nos?" she knocked on the door, "Nosferatu, are you in here?" when there was no response, she tried the door mechanism. It wasn't locked.

"Nos!" Aya called, the door closing behind her, "Where are you, Nos?" she looked around downstairs before proceeding to the second floor. His bedroom door was closed, "Nos!" she tried the door handle and it let her in.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

Hundreds of empty battery canisters littered the floor. All of them had bite marks in them. Nos was there, huddled on his bed, chewing through more batteries.

"...it isn't enough..." his quiet voice shook violently as he lifted another battery, "...I can't live on batteries alone...I can't do it..." he went so far as to scratch the battery casing with his teeth, but he didn't bite it, "...I can't..."

"Nos!" Aya darted to him and lifted his chin, "Are you okay!? What's happened to you!?"

"Aya..." he smiled sadly, "You came back...hahaha..."

"Nos!" Aya took one of his last full batteries, "Are these not helping?"

"Well...yes, but..." he shook his head, "I feel full, but I can't stop..." he squeezed a battery and it exploded in his hands, "I need that satisfaction from sucking the life out of machines...I need that...I can't live without it, it's all I have..."

"Nosferatu..."

Aya was kind of at a standstill. There was one thing she could do for him, but was she brave enough? She took his hands in her own. They were clammy and pale and cold. It seemed this wasn't enough to cure his sickness.

She thought and thought until she came to a resolution.

What would her sisters think?

She inhaled slowly, "Nos?"

He barely spoke, "What?"

"Do you..." she felt her electric pulse spike, "...want to bite me?"

"What?" he was baffled, "I thought you were afraid of that?"

"I am, I really am, but..." she brought his clammy hands together in front of her, "Seeing you like this is much scarier than when you were happy. When you were healthy. As much pain as you caused me, I couldn't live with myself if I let you suffer like this..."

He stared at her neck hungrily, but he didn't bite her, "I...I can't do that...it would hurt you..."

"I know...but..." Aya dropped his hands and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, "...I don't want to see you like this anymore...you're my friend..." his breath in her ear made her uneasy, "...what kind of friend would I be if I just left you like this?"

She shivered as his tongue traced the curve of the crevice where her head sat. He whispered in her ear, "Are you sure?"

No! No I'm not sure! Let me go! I'm too scared!

Aya pushed those thoughts from her mind, "Yes..."

She buried her face in his shoulder as his hot breath arched over her, his pale blue arms encircling her gently. He hesitated one more moment before he bared his fangs and sank his teeth into the white metal.

"Ow!" she couldn't help from crying out. Stop! Let me go! LET ME GO! She held on tighter as she felt her energy waning, getting weaker and weaker along with the spiking pain near her right shoulder. She was afraid she would black out, but she held on as red diagnostics flashed in her vision and she felt her internal temperature dropping. She balled the fabric of Nos' cape tightly in her fists, shaking with chill and terror. She wanted to get up and fly away. She wanted to scratch at the bite until the pain stopped. She wanted to let go and fall asleep, but she held on, pushing through all the pain and cold and fear.

The draining sensation stopped somewhat and Aya's fear lessened, Is he almost done?

"Freeze! We've got you surrounded!"

She felt Nos' fangs leave her neck, "Where did you people come from!?"

"Silence! Hand over the probe and no one gets hurt!"

"Nos? What's going on?" Aya was somewhat dizzy as her regenerative battery struggled to catch up.

"Aya? Are you okay!?" Nos began to panic, "You're okay, right!? I didn't take too much!?"

"Give me my sister back!" EVE screamed, tugging Aya out of his arms, "Aya! Are you okay!?"

"Eve?" Aya was still out of it, "What are you doing here?"

"He bit you!" EVE ran her fingers over the caved metal, "Why you little..."

"After you earned her trust, too!" Rio screamed, "YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!"

Nos didn't move, terror on his face, "Oh no...Aya!? Is she okay!? Tell me she's okay!"

"Why do you care!?" Rio brandished her weapon, "Aya was telling us some crazy story about how you let her go and stopped eating robots! How could you do that, you monster!?"

"I'm sorry!" he shouted, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it!"

"Tell it to the judge!" Chief handcuffed him and put a harness around his back, "So you can't fly away!"

"Aya!" Nos struggled to catch a glimpse of her, paling at the sight of the wounds he gave her, "No! She has to be okay! Please, no! Aya! Answer me! I beg of you!"

EVE picked up on his desperation, "Wait."

"What is it, Captain?"

"I want to check something. Hold him still." she brought Aya in front of Nos, still restrained by Chief, "Aya? Can you tell us what happened?"

She blinked, "Ummm...N-Nos...he was, um...he was sick, and I...I uh, gave him my energy...because..."

"Because you were afraid for me." Nos finished, "Is that right, little one?"

"Yeah, that's it." Aya rubbed her eyes, "How do you feel now, Nos?"

"That doesn't matter, I have to know you're okay."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Aya yawned, "A little drained, but I'm fine."

Nos sighed in relief, "Good..."

EVE nodded, apparently satisfied, "Now you can take him away."

Aya barely registered the ride home and saying goodbye to Nos. She just drifted off into peaceful sleep once she was there, even sleeping through Ted's crying and Ruby and Rio's target practice the following morning.