21O knew there was something bad on the horizon as soon as 26E's black box signal disappeared, but her Pod's signal was still being picked up. It happened that sometimes YoRHa units had to venture themselves in areas where there were no radio signals, and therefore they disappeared from the radar for a while, but usually it would be both the android and its support unit.
When one disappeared but the other didn't, it usually meant bad things.
21O had seen 26E successfully complete every mission she'd been given, and come back to the Bunker each and every single time with varying degrees of wounds, but always alive.
And if her signal was gone it only meant one thing, something that 21O never thought would happen, 26E did have the fame of being invincible by now, so this just seemed impossible.
And yet… she too perished at the hands of A2…
21O had the pleasure and honor to assist the former human through all these three past years, and got to know her better, and she knew very well that her strength didn't reside anywhere else but the experiences she made, and she knew that the former human had been way older than pretty much the entire YoRHa, including A2. So… why wasn't her experience enough this time then?
Clenching her fists, and forcing herself from further staring at the screen before her that displayed a big red warning about 26E's signal being lost, she made her way to the Commander, preparing herself to face whatever wrath the woman might throw, for losing YoRHa's most precious unit.
White turned towards her as she approached, her expression betrayed nothing, but somehow 21O was able to tell that she knew something was wrong already, she was an operator that did not approach the Commander very often if it wasn't on behalf of her supported units.
"Operator 21O, did 9S get in trouble again?"
21O didn't like the way she spoke of him, she made it sound like he was nothing but a nuisance, he'd been recently reset again too but she forced herself not to reply on that matter.
"Unit 9S has been behaving fine, it is about Unit 26E."
"Unit 26E? That is very unusual." White commented. And it was true, except at the beginning, when she still needed guidance, 26E barely ever asked anything, or needed anything.
She'd always been independent, perhaps even too much.
So whenever something went wrong with her it was more than a small concern, but an actual problem.
21O forced herself to hold the Commander's expectant gaze, and to not show her emotions. "I am afraid that Unit 26E has failed her mission."
In a second, White's expression went from completely neutral to a barely restrained rage, and 21O braced herself for the words that would follow.
"She failed?" White almost growled.
It was true that she had sent her against A2, who had survived anything and anyone, but she believed that at least the former human would have been capable of putting her down for good.
The woman had the strength of a YoRHa and experience in assassination beyond any other soldier, and that still hadn't been enough?
"Operator, send a retrieval team to her last known location, I want her repaired and functional immediately." she ordered, sounding calm and collected though she was anything but that.
White waited until 21O was out of her sight and turned away, her fists clenched at her side, staring at that red writing that now appeared on the giant screen before her. Proof of 26E's first ever failure was now there for everyone to see.
The signal of her black box was gone, while A2's one still remained.
"Number 2…" she growled under her breath. "How long do you insist on living?"
When Robin woke up again a few days later, she met the disappointed gaze of the Commander right away. That did not look good, but, what was good was that she still had her memory, she recalled everything that happened between her and A2 down to every detail, and that was what counted.
"I demand an explanation, 26E."
Robin sighed, she knew it would happen, so while A2 was debating whether to trust her or not she had already thought about what to tell White in case the plan would go well.
"There is nothing to say but that A2 was simply stronger than me."
However, White's gaze did not falter, she only glared harder, the darkness of the Bunker making her blue eyes shine even more menacingly.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"Commander, I understand the disappointment, but even I was bound to fail at something. Being a YoRHa did not make me neither infallible nor invincible, as far as I know." Robin made sure to hold her head high and not falter, even after all these years, her acting skills were still as sharp as ever. Perhaps even better, since she could not forget them.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, White's eyes on her relaxed a little, signaling that she accepted the explanation, she knew how to recognize certain clues by now.
"I suppose you've got me used to seeing you succeed, almost with effortless ease, that I did not think you could ever fail."
Bowing her head slightly, she continued the act. "My apologies, Commander."
"However, A2 was someone I would have really wanted you to not let free. She has survived long, but never thought she could ever surpass your own knowledge."
"A2 was different from other regular YoRHa, Commander. I executed many people before, but none of them were ever prepared to fight for their lives, while she was." Robin explained, hoping this little lie, though it wasn't really one, would clear White's doubts so she'd leave her be.
"Also, A2 being a prototype did not help me, she had something I was not prepared for, that I have never seen in a YoRHa unit before."
Also a truth, she did not get told whatever that red glow that caused A2 to suddenly become so strong, and subsequently so weak afterwards, was. And she would really like to know about it, just in case of safety if A2 did try to kill her again.
There was no telling if the woman would trust her or not, for now. Not until she saw her again.
"That is called Berserk Mode, it was an old experimental mode that would temporarily let a unit exceed their physical limits, at the cost of losing mental capacity."
"Like a logic virus?" she asked. She'd never caught one for now, but she'd be lying if she had never seen one in action, she did have to put down people that were infected before, but A2 did not seem that she had entirely lost her mind like infected units did.
"It is similar, that mode puts an android's body under pressure beyond what it is capable of handling, but it has a failsafe that prevents it from melting itself due to overheating. Usually when that happens it follows a period of time where the android needs to recover."
Robin nodded at the information, she had already guessed some of it, such as the self damaging aspect, but everything was more clear now.
"This mode was deemed too dangerous and no longer implemented afterwards in favor of a self-destructing system that you also possess. Currently the only living android that still has Berserk is A2. I hope this information was useful."
"I will certainly remember it." she replied, and she had to remember it for sure.
From what it sounded like, it was almost as if White had intention of sending her after A2 yet again, but she could not wait however long she decided to give her the order. She needed to see A2, and she needed it now.
But she was not going to ask the Commander, she had another idea, possibly safer than an official order. Because it would mean having to think and stage another loss, or a fake death from A2's part, and she did know know if the rogue would be willing to comply again, nor if the Commander would believe another lie.
She would be walking on much too thin ice, and she did not want that.
"If you have no more questions you're dismissed."
Saluting the Commander, Robin made her way out from the maintenance room, a place she grew not to like too much in the past years. She didn't love people poking her too much, never did before, and she still didn't now.
At least she could drop the act, White believed her, that was enough.
She could finally sigh in relief at the familiar sight of her Operator approaching her, that unlike the Commander seemed more worried than angry, even if she still tried to keep that mask of hers, the furrowing brows did not leave her emotions hidden.
"You gave the entire YoRHa quite the shock." it was 21O's first comment, and honestly it was more pleasant than how White's one had been.
"I was bound to fail a mission sooner or later."
21O just nodded at her. "With your spotless record, no one ever expected you to by now."
Robin gave her a slight chuckle. "I suppose you're right. But this failure of mine can also be a lesson, for me, and for others too."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that no matter how good or strong someone is, no one is invincible, we can fail, and that is okay." Robin explained, as 21O listened intently.
"Are you not mad for failing?"
Robin shook her head. "Failures happen, it means I can learn from them, and next time, if there's any, I will be more prepared to fulfill my duty."
Again, 21O listened, but she waited until they reached her assisted unit's room to speak, so she could talk freely where no one else could hear them talking of things anyone but them knew.
"I never thought the human mind would be able to handle things so well." the blonde android sat on the chair at the desk. "Other units don't take failing missions too well, some get angry, some get sad."
"That is because failure is not accepted, if I had to be honest, I'm scared at times too. I'm just somewhat used to not failing, but it doesn't mean it still can't happen, I try to do what I can to not make that a reality." Robin instead sat on her bed, crossing a leg over the other.
21O took a moment to look at the former human, these past couple of days while she was being repaired and inactive, she couldn't help but worry if in some way 26E was experiencing some kind of mental problems, every Executioner eventually did after being subjected to so much death around them, and she wouldn't tell, but she could feel that gnawing fear of seeing her be reset.
She'd grown so used to the woman's pleasant company, she was mature and it was easy to talk to her, perhaps there was still a bit of admiration towards humans due to her programming.
The fact was, she did absolutely not want her to become like 9S, his personality and memory was reset so many times that 21O sometimes struggled to recall just how much he remembered. She always had to choose her words carefully around him, and with how curious he was he could pick up any word that was out of place easily, and start looking into things he was not supposed to because of that reason alone.
26E had somewhat brought some fresh air into this cycle, even though she did not appreciate Executioners and their role, due to 2E's own role in 9S' whole ordeal, but it wasn't the human that chose what she would become, that had been White's choice, and 21O could not go against it.
But she'd been thankful, almost happy, to see her be herself again right now, to feel her fears wash away.
Lost in her thoughts, the Operator almost didn't hear the other woman talking to her.
"21O, I'd have a favor to ask you."
"A favor?" she couldn't help but frown, odd of her to ask anything.
Robin nodded, entirely serious. "I was hoping you could set up one of our usual research missions."
Ah yes those. After discovering 21O's interest in human culture and history, 26E had revealed she was a former archeologist, and since she was not from Earth, she would have liked to know more too.
The Commander had frowned at their request to let her do this kind of missions, and if 21O had to admit, she feared that the woman would be too curious, just like 9S, but 26E had proven more than reliable when it came to not revealing forbidden information, so eventually, she let it slide, and sometimes they would be allowed to set these kind of missions for her, an excuse to let 26E unwind from all the killing.
So every now and then 21O would send her to some areas where she'd find that there could be some old relics, and she was allowed to research and restore them too, she'd share her findings and pictures with the Operator through her Pod.
And 21O would always be eager to know and see what she found, because she too was curious and… 26E looked happy…
She'd do anything to see her and 9S be safe and away from danger.
However, it usually was 21O the one to set up the missions whenever she knew 26E had a long period of downtime, to make sure she wouldn't get too bored, and to not let her spend too much time with potentially dangerous thoughts floating in her mind.
"I could. Why do you ask?" Are you okay? She wanted to say, but refrained from it. She was sure that there was a reason for 26E's question.
However she couldn't ignore her chest tightening with worry. Did this reset trouble her more than what she was saying that she needed to relax so badly?
Robin didn't question it, but she saw right through it. It was easy to tell when her Operator was worried about something, from the way she tensed up.
"I just need to clear my head, I'll be fine, okay?"
When 21O didn't answer she decided to take off her blindfold, so she could look directly in her eyes.
She truly was fine, but she couldn't tell her that she would be up to no good, and possibly risking her life and memory. She did not want to put 21O in this position, the whole situation with 9S already hurt her so much that she did not want to be the cause of more pain.
"21O, I'm okay, I swear."
Robin looked at her in those emerald eyes of hers with her own, she was sincere, partially, she did want, need, to get back down to Earth, and not stay closed here in her room with her thoughts, and she did love those artifact searches, they reminded her of home…
"I will never get used to seeing those eyes of yours." her Operator softly smiled, though it wasn't an insult, they were just odd but just as lovely.
"No one ever does."
"I will see what I have in my archives." the blonde android answered. "But…"
"Don't get in trouble. I won't, I promise." though it sounded rather empty to her own self.
21O excused herself from the room, leaving Robin alone. Phase two was done, now, all she had to do was wait until she'd be notified of the new mission, take a flight unit, and fly back down to Earth, where she truly hoped A2 would be waiting.
If not at least she would have an excuse to tell the Commander for leaving, so she wouldn't get suspicious. A story to cover herself with.
She felt bad for dragging 21O into it, but if things went south, she could still blame herself for asking to be assigned the mission, in the end it all fell back down on her, and 21O should be fine.
She would not ever dare to use her own Operator as a shield, ever. The woman had been a patient guide and a person she could count on since the very beginning, she'd always been at her side like a guardian, and a watcher, always kind, always helpful.
21O had taken care of her in ways she could have only dreamed before, she had someone to talk to, that also shared her interests, and… someone that looked after her too.
She'd been someone Robin had always desired to have with her, but year after year she found herself more and more alone the more time passed. No human ever treated her like she did.
21O was too important to be sacrificed for her own crazy schemes and hunger for knowledge.
Robin was distracted from a sudden ping from her Pod, alerting her 21O found her a mission and that a flight unit was already waiting for her in the hangar. She almost rushed towards it, eager to get going.
After thanking the units at the hangar, she made her way back down to planet Earth.
Thankfully the trip down was uninterrupted from machines, for as odd as it was, but she did have her Pod set the safest route for her to follow, she did not want to risk seeing A2 again in a weakened state.
She couldn't.
So once in the familiar sight of the city ruins, she steered the flight unit towards the forest area, where she told the other woman she'd want to meet, where they fought just a few days before, hoping she'd be there too.
Safely landing her suit on top of the commercial facility she took a moment to stretch her limbs, before jumping down and heading into the forest, easily navigating through it using her photographic memory of android.
All there was left was now to just hope and pray that A2 hadn't strayed too far, that she believed her words and would show up.
Of course, A2 could very well be wanting to cut her head off again, and honestly Robin wouldn't blame her, Executioners weren't the most lovable units, but she had to be more than careful if she didn't want her plan to go to waste.
She already had her Pod sever the connection with the Bunker for the time being, she knew that Commander wouldn't ask, she often did whenever an execution was involved. She also ordered it to restore it should she perish, like last time.
Robin anxiously looked around, hoping a flash of white hair would soon appear in her sight before the machines found out she was here.