There were many things Robin had been prepared for in these past few months of training, she'd been trained and taught how to deal with all the enemies she was supposed to be facing, as far as the YoRHa database went, from the smallest machine to the biggest, to the weakest and strongest androids.
Yet it seemed she still had much to learn when for the first time she'd been deployed to Earth, tightly holding onto her very own flight suit.
The data that YoRHa has installed in her brain allowed her to know how to pilot this thing, much like when she discovered to be able to wield and use a sword, and a myriad of other weapons later on, but knowing and doing were two different things entirely.
She, in fact, had yet to learn how to pilot one of the suits properly, and it seemed that this time she would have to learn quickly and well, because here there was no room for mistakes.
So she held onto the controls as they descended from the Bunker and down to Earth, herself, 2B in lead and 9S next to them. She was entirely unprepared to how hard the suit shook when they broke the gravitational barrier. She could swear the thing got even harder to control once they steered themselves through the atmosphere of the planet, she could feel gravity trying to pull her and the suit down.
Then again, she'd been very much more used to the slower speed of a pirate ship being moved from the wind, she always watched the clouds in the sky, never expecting that one day she'd be flying above and through them.
Steering a YoRHa flying suit was all but easy, and she tried her best to follow what her companions did through the knowledge she was given, thankfully her Pod was helping her in keeping her on track.
With a sigh she forced herself to relax, and to revel in what she was seeing from above, feeling the wind on her face.
She saw the deep blue of the ocean she missed so much during the time she'd been up in the Bunker, the familiar sight helped in being less tense.
"Unit 2B to 26E, everything alright back there?" 2B's voice came through the coms.
"All is fine." she just replied, not wanting them to worry, or to think that she was incompetent.
If she gathered correctly from what the Commander told her the very first day, she was also supposed to take on missions on her own, with no squad or companions beside her Pod, so she better get used to being able to drive the suit and fight at the best of her possibilities.
She had to show how far she'd gotten, and not only because of what she'd been taught, but from all the experience she had before, to show that she'd been an independent woman that could handle herself without help.
That had been because she never had any reliable help, but that's besides the point now. Though it was nice to know she could ask for assistance.
If she would was another matter.
9S' voice dragged her attention away from her musings, the Scanner alerting the two women there were enemies incoming, she'd been told of the possibility of that happening already.
Robin's hands tightened on the console… it began…
Conveniently, Pod sent her the data of the location of the machines coming after them, so she could display them through the visor, also alerting her it would assist her in aiming the shots correctly.
This little thing was way too useful for its own good, she was glad she'd been given one.
Soon enough the three flight units were flanked by a large number of flying machines that began firing orbs at them, things that Robin supposed would damage the suit and herself if they hit.
The orbs looked charged with electricity too, which she had grown rather wary of.
Prompted from her Pod, she began firing back at them, the shots breaking through theirs and hitting the targets, the laser piercing through the armor of metal of the machines causing them to explode to bits.
But to each and every single machine that fell, it seemed that ten more took its place.
By themselves the machines were nothing challenging or hard to take down, there were just a lot of them, quantity over quality.
It reminded her of Marine soldiers, weak but numerous.
Narrowly avoiding a shot that came too close, stepping on the right, and mentally scolding herself for getting distracted, she countered with a spray of bullets, managing to spare a glance to her companions while the enemies fell around her.
However they seemed to be doing okay, but she couldn't help but notice the way 2B went out of the way to put herself between the machines and 9S.
Deciding she had enough of shooting, Robin switched to the close range mode, bullets have never been her way of doing things, not even swords, but that was what she had been getting more used to as of late.
She saw her companions do the same with the corner of her eye, as 2B was the first to charge into the fray, cutting down the flyers with the suit's sword. Robin followed her example, not wanting to sit around and let her do all the work, all the while 9S kept shooting from the distance.
He had a really good aim if she had to be honest, not one bullet hit neither her nor 2B, despite a few coming very close, but they were carefully calculated.
Robin had to admit, she had yet to see a Scanner in action, so far she'd been getting acquainted with combat units like her, they seemed much smarter than what the looks gave off.
It took a while to fight off wave after wave of enemies, but eventually they came out of it relatively unharmed.
"Not bad for being the first flight." 9S' voice reached her, she recognized the tone of voice enough to tell he was impressed.
"Focus on the mission, 9S." 2B reprimanded him, always the serious one, though she was right. Better be careful than not in enemy territory.
"Anyways, good job 26E."
"Wasn't it what I just said?" Robin couldn't see him, but she was sure 9S was pouting.
2B gave him no response, she resumed flying past him, Robin followed to not be left behind, a small chuckle escaping her lips.
She probably shouldn't be so lighthearted though, this was just the beginning.
Fortunately the rest of the flight went on without more annoyances, as the trio proceeded on towards their destination in the city, or rather, what remained of a city.
"Is this all that remains?" Robin asks, while getting down from her suit and stretching herself, her joints felt just a bit stiff from having been in the same position for quite a while.
"The humans abandoned this place thousands of years ago, time and conflict did the rest."
She listened to 9S as she gazed at the ruined buildings from the top of a roof of one of them, taking note of the overgrown trees that tore through some of them, nature claiming what was once its own.
However the state of this place couldn't help but make Robin's black box flutter in her chest. Who knew how many relics the people that lived here left behind? Who knew what stories this city had to tell?
This was an archeologist's paradise…
Though she was now a soldier, and duties were duties. Perhaps she'd be allowed to explore on her own sometime in the future.
She could only hope.
Her hopes were shattered in a mere second as once more 21O's warning about being curious rang through her head, it did that a lot actually. But she could still ask, a simple question shouldn't hurt, right?
Nevermind, wasn't it the reason they were here after all?
Shaking her head from those thoughts she followed the other two as they jumped down from the building, grabbing onto their Pods to slow the descent. Following the example Robin did the same.
2B led them where there was supposed to be a group of so called "Goliath" machines that were causing trouble, apparently the things were blocking the way to some androids for them to reach the safety of a camp.
Upon spotting the machines, Robin could instantly guess why they had been called as such. Those things were big!
About at least three times as tall as she was, and she could barely reach the length of their legs, with over 190 centimeters, heels included, and there wasn't even one of them, but three, one for each android.
To 9S' saying, they were not even as big as other ones he and 2B had encountered before.
This was not going to be pleasant.
Robin steeled herself, materializing her YoRHa blade in her hand, the machines had already spotted them, and began charging at them, stomping down with their enormous legs.
The machine threw her a kick sideways and she just narrowly dodged it by jumping over it, the thing threw a punch at her, trying to get her while airborne, countering by blocking the hit with her blade, she managed to avoid getting punched into oblivion.
She was still sent flying though, her boots skidding through dirt and grass as she attempted to catch herself from the force of the impact.
The Goliath resumed its run towards her, not wanting to give her a chance to breathe, she rolled away from getting stomped from its feet just in time.
But now, the thing had its back bared to her, and Robin did not care about fairness in a fight when it came to life and death. Making use of this moment where the machine couldn't see her, she charged, blade drawn and ready to strike.
"Pod, laser fire!" she ordered, mentally she ordered it to hit the weak part of the machine's legs, its joints. Because everything has its weak spot, no matter how big or small the enemy is.
And Pod did not disappoint her, firing a laser over her shoulder just as she reached the Goliath. The shot sliced through the weaker and smaller part of metal that held the bigger one together and moving.
The leg went tumbling away from the machine's body as it fell backwards, right towards her, as she jumped, her target was set, the Goliath's head.
Robin's YoRHa blade cut through the round thing with an upwards slash, a swift hit that split the head in two. As the Goliath fell and exploded at her feet, she used her aerial systems to jump forward with a somersault and land back on the ground on her feet.
She could see that her companions already dealt with the rest, so she let her sword disappear from her hands and hang on her back, now coated with a rather copious amount of oil.
"That was a smart move." 9S complimented her, sure he was not holding back on them.
"Unit 26E, would you mind checking on the androids? I'd rather speak with 9S alone."
Robin just nodded at 2B, she did have to get used with interacting with strangers too, she assumed. So she didn't question a thing when she asked to leave them be.
Though she should have known it would have come to this, she had known all along but pretended to ignore it until the time came.
She did not expect it to come so early.
She had found the androids that were being held hostage from those machines, spoke to them, told them the things had been dealt with, watched them leave for their camp, and then headed back towards her companions once again.
Robin knew what she'd been about to see, but still it hadn't been any easier even knowing.
In a corner of the place the trio had been fighting, she spotted 2B, she was kneeling, holding her white blade tightly in her hands, and at her feet, there was 9S, lying in a pool of his own blood, dead from having been stabbed through his chest.
The former human didn't need to ask to know what happened, she knew, because this had been her true mission.
Slowly, she approached the white haired woman, her heart ached at the sight, an unfamiliar feeling, but her emotionless mask held in place.
"This had to be my mission." she just commented.
2B turned towards her, raising herself from her kneeling position to face her. "I promised him I wouldn't let any other Executioner kill him."
And by him, she meant a previous 9S, the very first one she met. "I promised I wouldn't let him suffer."
"I see…" Robin just replied. "This does not change my objective though."
2B just nodded, raising a hand, she took off her blindfold, a somber expression of acceptance in her eyes. "I know."
The other woman's blue eyes bore deep into her own, even if they were covered. "Is it true though?"
Robin frowned at her, her silence urging her to continue.
"Is it true what 9S said? Are you truly a human?" Robin did not like the way her blue eyes were so hopeful and expectant towards her, they made her uncomfortable.
"Not anymore, I'm afraid." and she wasn't, she did not consider herself a human anymore, it passed enough time for her to even consider herself as one.
Not that she'd ever been considered a human before, just a tool to be used, or something to be eliminated. Was this any different anyways?
"Were you sent from the moon to help us?" 2B asked, and she didn't know what to answer, or why was she mentioning the moon at all, and not her planet.
Did other YoRHas not know about other planets at all? Or what was on them? Perhaps they'd been told there was no one, perhaps they did not have nor need the knowledge to bother with some other planet, since Earth was their objective.
She was not aware of whatever lies the Commander might have told them to keep them unaware of her true self.
With a sigh she asked her own questions. "Why do you want to know?" wasn't she going to forget all this anyways?
2B waited a bit before answering. "Just to find some kind of hope, I guess." she then shook her head.
"Unit 26E, my true designation is YoRHa Number 2 Type E, I am also an Executioner like you, and as your superior model, sparring partner and teacher, there is one last thing I can leave you with."
Robin watched as the other woman raised her blade, issuing a challenge towards her, like they did many times when they fought when she trained her, and a moment later, she pointed her own YoRHa blade at her.
"You will not find people that will surrender to you, they will fight for their life, and my last mission is to make sure you will be prepared." 2B lowered Virtuous Contract down, bending her legs just a little, preparing to fight.
"This is your last test."
"9S is becoming jealous that I have been giving you too much attention." 21O told her one day shortly after she met the boy.
"I have no intention of stealing anyone from anybody." she chuckled. "The other day I overheard 6O wanting to ask me out."
"She does that a lot." her Operator answered, though she did notice how her posture stiffened more than usual.
"Say 21O… are you jealous?" she asked, the other woman didn't give any visible hint, but she could spot a hint of a blush hiding behind the veil.
"I don't know what could give that impression, Operator 6O and I are merely just colleagues."
Robin just nodded at her, knowing full well the woman was not telling the entire truth about it. She just watched as 21O turned her back to leave, but stopped right at the door.
"She did aid me through some hard times though."
It had been the last answer she'd been given.
Robin didn't quite understand her words back then, until earlier today she received her very first orders. The whole thing of getting down to Earth to help out some androids was not the true reason she and the other two androids were here.
That hadn't been her true test.
She'd been sent here to carry out her first execution. First of many she thought, as she stared at the now lifeless body of 2B, no, 2E, at her feet.
And suddenly 21O's words of that day made sense, where else would she and 6O find comfort after the many times this happened to them? To see their supported units perish at the hand of one another?
Robin couldn't help but wonder just how many times this happened before, because she could feel this had not been the first time, from 2B's words it must not have been.
She leaned against the wall of a nearby building, stabbing the YoRHa blade in the ground in front of her. It didn't even look like a gray blade anymore, just red.
She killed someone yet again.
She hurt the people around her yet again.
She was a curse, a plague, a ticking bomb ready to explode and take as many victims with her.
This was a different planet, a different world, a different body, a different purpose, and yet, it felt like all was just the same as ever.
Being a human or an android did not matter much when it was her, nothing ever mattered when it had been her name involved, her actual name, her YoRHa name, in the end they both spoke of danger and death.
With a chuckle she directed her gaze to the sky, the sun glaring down at her.
"In the end, you're still you. You will never change, right, Nico Robin?"