With no one and nothing more, A2 allowed herself a little time to rest, leaning against the ruined wall of the bridge. Probably not the best decision of her life, given that as soon as sle closed her eyes, her arms closed around her, trying to recreate the familiarity of the arms of the woman that had held as she slept during the past weeks.
And she miserably failed to do so.
How she hated this feeling of helplessness that had gone away little by little, as long as she'd been in Robin's company, and how it had been just taken away in a moment, shattering any hope.
Still, for a while she just laid there, not quite asleep, but not quite awake either. She could hear and feel the world around her, but she laid still to allow her body to recover from the stress she put it through during just a few hours.
The weariness of Berserk Mode was harder to recover from than what she made it look like.
Her evident lack of proper maintenance didn't help either, but she couldn't ask anyone for help, she just repaired herself over the years the best she could. Sometimes she was surprised that her body was still holding on.
This moment of calm didn't last very long, and besides all that happened, she still had questions to answer.
"Pod, why did the machines attack Pascal's village? Aren't they the same thing?" she asked, as she picked herself up.
Then again, machines attacking machines didn't sound that different from androids sending assassins after other androids. The concept was pretty much similar.
"Unknown. Proposal, Unit A2 should investigate the machine's behavior."
She didn't have time to answer, as a loud voice resounded in the air, it appeared to be a sort of announcement? For what?
Pod 042 made the assumption it had been from the thing that she and Robin had seen quite a while ago in the Amusement Park, that wouldn't let them in before. Had someone managed to get in?
"9S." it had been 2B's statement, and well, if it wasn't the Scanner boy then who else? No other android would probably dare to get close to a machine structure like that one, no one that wasn't a YoRHa.
So then why wouldn't the machines let her and Robin into it before? Perhaps they weren't ready for an attack?
Their Pod suggested she'd check the place out, again, not that she didn't have anything else to do at the moment, after failing so hard to just rest, then she supposedly wouldn't rest at all.
2B made herself be heard again as A2 started to head back towards the city from the factory.
"Are you sure you want to go there? If 9S is there he'll probably fight you."
"Don't worry about me." she was long done worrying about herself long ago, only Robin ever did show care for her when she stopped giving a damn about her life.
"He might be even more mad, if he doesn't see Robin with you, he could assume you did to her what you did to me."
"Cut the crap, 2B, I don't care what he may or may not think, I know the truth, and that is enough. You are just worried I'll kill him." the sound her younger twin made told her that she hit the mark.
2B was not so smooth in hiding that she was worried for 9S, and A2 knew better than anyone how much she cared for him, so these tricks weren't working on her in the slightest.
She had seen their memories, so she didn't know why 2B insisted on hiding her feelings, when she could literally feel them as her own at times. Which was rather uncomfortable, if she had to be honest.
"I won't fight him, if I don't have to." she said, and again, 2B seemed surprised by her words.
"2B listen, just because I just lost the person that has been the most important to me only a few hours ago, it doesn't mean that I have to give the same treatment to you too. I can literally feel how much you love 9S, it's so sweet it's sickening." she'd vomit if she could, she was hardly a romantic, but she'd accept it in Robin's case.
"Stop pretending you have no emotions, there's no one that will guilt you for it anymore." White was dead damn it!
"I… I am not sure I know how."
"Then just bloody watch me." she was literally unable to hide emotions even if she tried.
Time passed but in the end she was still Number 2 deep down. She just didn't show much very often because she'd been alone all the time, no one to express feelings with, no one that would understand her.
All she had was furious repressed anger whenever she met machines or YoRHa androids, along with the desire to kill them all…
Of course this had been before she met Robin.
That woman brought Number 2 back to the surface, when A2 herself had been wondering where her old self ended up to sometimes. She believed the young and naive captain to be dead and buried, but no, it had just been sleeping in the depths of her heart.
And A2 wasn't sure she wanted to let go of who she'd been again.
Not when she'd been so close in finally finding peace…
Regardless, she had places to be, and things to do than lose herself in thoughts, so she told herself as the Amusement Park came into view.
Thankfully she remembered exactly where the strange structure was, and even the pattern she and Robin had used to climb it, before being shocked into oblivion and almost falling into the water beneath the bridge.
She just hoped not to receive the same treatment again, she really did not feel like it.
Also she wouldn't admit it, but she wasn't quite sure how much more damage her body would have been able to handle without at least letting her systems rest properly, and repair themselves for what was possible.
She'd have to be careful.
One more reason to avoid a fight with 9S. She knew very well how much of a menace he could be, she fought him before too many times not to know.
He'd almost succeeded in killing her the first few times, until she learned his patterns and upgraded herself with his equipment, so she could use his own strategy against him. And also reinforcing her mental defenses helped her greatly against every other Scanner that followed, not just him.
She honestly lost count of how many self-modifications she made to her body in order to survive whatever YoRHa had to throw at her. Physically, she was very strong, though she wished she found this strength when it had been needed during her first mission, instead of being dead weight to the team, and they still had trusted her…
Mentally, she couldn't say to be strong, besides the very weaknesses YoRHa itself bestowed upon her, such as the lack to comprehend and associate more complicated words, combat models in general weren't built to be mentally strong, unlike Scanner types, since hacking was their best weapon, and sometimes their only one, they had to be way smarter than someone that was just good with swords alone.
It still didn't mean she couldn't fail, given how hard she had failed against Robin.
But given what happened later she'd hardly call that a failure, before maybe, but not anymore, more like a hit to her pride of undefeated android.
However this time failure was not accepted, she did not want to risk being stuck with 9S in her head, and especially not in the state he was, and also she didn't know how he could react upon finding 2B within her.
Reason why Robin didn't tell him she was still alive was to protect them both, because he wasn't reasoning straight, to her saying, A2 recalled it clearly, and believed it, no reason not to.
But, as she finally climbed up the whole cylinder structure, which she had noticed was hovering way lower than the first time they had seen it, she saw that 9S was too busy to even notice she was there.
There was a blonde android upon him in battle armor and… glowing red eyes.
Oh how tired she was to see that damn virus running rampant…
"No way… that's 21O… why is she here?" so there were things that even 2B did not know then. However A2 couldn't quite recall why the name sounded familiar.
Besides the Number 21 in it, obviously.
"I just w-wanted a f-family…" she heard the woman mutter through a broken voice.
"9S… 26E… I wanted t-them to be safe…"
Poor woman… it seemed that some of her old memories still surfaced over the script of the virus… and had she mentioned Robin?
She had no time to think over it, and before she even heard 2B shout in her head to help 9S, she had already been moving.
She landed a swift strike into the woman's chest with Virtuous Contract, stabbing her through and into her black box from behind, just before she could have managed to land the final blow to a cowering 9S.
A2 let the body of the woman fall from the sword, leaving her where she was, and walking away, past the point where the boy was kneeling and dumbly staring ahead.
But perhaps she could leave him a message, hoping he'd catch the hint about 2B.
"2B once told me, she wanted you to become a good person." and she did say so, after Robin told them of their encounter in the forest and what resulted from it.
She wasn't interested in fighting, however it didn't look like he understood, or perhaps he didn't want to, as she heard him get up, she swiftly turned to block his strike to her head.
"Don't you dare speak about 2B!" he yelled, his face distorting in pure anger as she struggled to keep his sword at bay.
A2 wished she could have told him what Robin didn't, or at least try to, but as the ground shook beneath them 9S fell down with it and from her. She would have done the same if she had just taken a step forward.
She had no time to reach him, to see if he was fine or not, she could only hope, as a machine biped with two long arms rose from behind her.
She cursed to herself, more damn fighting…
"You've got to solve this quickly."
"I know." she replied, she knew it, but also she knew that 2B wanted her to be done with this ordeal to check on 9S too, or maybe she'd been worried he'd return, no, that had been A2's own concern.
Hurrying over to the other side and away from the hole in the floor, she didn't notice the machine starting to spin its arms, or rather, she did notice but didn't dodge in time, as the thing hit her square in the chest, sending her flying into the wall.
As she slid back onto the floor, she sat there, holding her chest and wheezing, trying to recover her breath, steadying herself with Virtuous Contract enough to remain standing, even though she was very much hunched over it.
Her body was not in good shape, at all, it was taking too long to recover from such a hit that she normally should have walked off easily. She was indeed in dire need of maintenance, or rest.
Thankfully the machine appeared to be weaving its arms around as its main attack patterns, which with the right timing once she learned them, A2 dodged rather swiftly by ducking under the arms over and over…
The problem was to get close and damage the main body.
"Ah to hell with it…" with a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she resigned to just rushing forward towards the center, sliding down on her knees whenever the thing's arms starten spinning and moving too close to her.
She got knocked back from the mere force of the wind the machine was creating, even though as an android she was rather heavy. She knew that if she got hit again she probably would not recover from it.
Patience was not her strong suit but for her own sake, she had to fall back on her steps a few times, better to wait than die, and repeat the same motions of running through and ducking a few more times instead.
Once she got close enough, summoning her Type 40 Sword and activating its electric core, she slashed at the body from beneath, and as it fell over from not being able to move properly due to the electric charge, she stabbed the white sword, still dirty with the blood of the blonde android, directly into the head of the machine.
A2 thought this would have been over just like that, but apparently the machine wasn't dead yet, and since it wasn't, a dozen of stubby units came to beg her to let him live. "Brother" they called it, reminding her of the machines of the village.
Gritting her teeth and clutching Virtuous Contract, she held it above her left shoulder and behind her head. It didn't matter what they said, these were not the villagers she came to know, not the children she had wished to protect.
These were the machines that took the people she loved away from her, and as such, they would be treated.
So with a movement of her arm, the white sword slashed through them, as they didn't even try to fight back. Pitiful… but the anger over having been stolen happiness won over pity.
She hadn't spent years hating machines only to falter now.
With the goliath machine now dead, the place fell apart around her, and, as sorry as she was for 2B, she seized the opportunity to get away from 9S' sight as quickly as she could. She would have to understand.
As she hovered above the falling structure with the help of Pod 042, she could see the Scanner's unconscious form right outside the park, with his own Pod hovering close to him. She spared another glance at them, before rushing away into the sewers nearby.
She didn't manage to get too far in, as her legs finally gave out to the pressure and she collapsed face first into the water for exhaustion. All the running, fighting and emotional damage catching up to her.
Picking herself up with what little strength she had left in her arms, she crawled out of the water and settled herself to lie against the walls on her right side.
"You've got to rest." 2B urged, knowing full well in what state A2's body was in, and not only her body alone.
She couldn't ask more out of her, she'd done what she could, that was enough.
"I can't…" A2 replied, but it wasn't that she couldn't force herself into sleep mode, she didn't want to.
She knew full well what would come out of it, a bunch of foul dreams made by past memories and wishful thinking. She didn't want the nightmares to return.
They had gone away, for the most part, thanks to Robin's calming presence, and now that she was no longer there, she didn't want to know what kind of terrible images her mind would torture her in her sleep because of it.
She would have rather been thinking of something else. "Say… who was that woman?"
If 2B named her she must have known who she was to some degree. Also A2 couldn't quite shake off that she heard the name before.
"She was… their Operator." she didn't need to specify who she was talking about, the blonde android mentioned both 9S and Robin so A2 already knew it was them.
"And what was she like?"
"Are you asking to distract me from reminding you to rest or what?" because 2B had the feeling A2 was doing that on purpose.
"I know that, I just…" so much for not wanting to bring up memories, she was curious though, even if she had already heard Robin's version. "There was a Scanner in my old group that had the number 21 in her name. I want to know how much there's left of her."
"The red-haired one with the hood?"
A2 frowned "How do you know that? I thought you didn't look in my memories." did she lie?
"I didn't want to, some filtered through my consciousness anyways earlier… while you were mourning."
"I see." A2 sighed, her own head was betraying her now too.
"I didn't know 21O extremely well, but with 9S as partner and Robin as teacher, I had occasion to observe her a lot. She was very serious and always extremely diligent, she was often nominated best Operator in front of everyone from the Commander."
Probably why she was nominated to be Robin's assistant in the first place, now that she thought about it, who else could keep such a big secret like Robin' humanity better than her?
As much as 2B loved 6O, certainly she wasn't the best at that. And she was just a little too much into gossip too.
Taking A2's silence as a sign that she was listening, she continued talking.
"However even if she didn't show emotions often, she cared about them, always reminding 9S to pay attention and not get in trouble, and she was always at Robin's side whenever it was time for training, fussing over her state of being whenever we finished." 2B allowed herself a small smile at the memories.
"She was secretly passionate about human culture, she once sent 9S and I on a fetch quest, she wouldn't admit but she loved gathering data."
"That sounds very much like Number 21." it had been A2's reply.
"She knew everything and anything, always guiding us to the right path, and patching us up whenever we got hurt, or she did. For a Scanner with no combat abilities, her will to protect us was strong." perhaps even too strong, given where it brought her after she'd saved Lily.
Only to condemn her own self.
"Her cool demeanor and personality helped us keep calm, at least she was good at not being emotional and being reasonable instead." most of the time that was true.
"It was said that the Number 21 personality couldn't feel emotions as strongly as everyone else. I don't believe that was true, a bit like you, 2B, you're so serious, but you do feel." she'd been with A2 enough for her to tell.
"And the others?"
"Look who's getting curious now." A2 grinned a little, but indulged anyway.
"Number 16 was a wildfire, always getting mad and worked up over everything, and getting in fights with everyone, she hadn't been built with strong analytical capacity, and said from the Commander to be not one of the best units, which brought a bit of conflict between her and Number 21, who was the opposite, but despite all that, when it came to protecting her she was always the first one to do so. In the end she acted that way because she only wanted to be helpful."
Whenever help was needed, she'd always offer it to prove herself, but in the end she didn't want to show that she was as useless as White claimed. A feeling A2 understood maybe too well, but unlike her comrade, she'd never been able to prove the opposite.
"Also she was a damn good shot, don't think I've seen her miss a thing."
"And that last one? Number 4? Right?" 2B felt A2's breath itch, perhaps she shouldn't have asked. She knew a little something from conversations she had with Anemone, and now it was too far not to try and know more.
"Number 4 was… she was special… She was bright and bubbly, always had a smile on her, and very receptive to people's negative emotions. I don't know if I could have found the strength to continue our mission if it hadn't been for her supporting me."
She'd always been there.
"I was a mediocre unit, much like Number 16, or perhaps even worse, and yet, even before our mission began, she was there helping me out, cheering me up and making me feel better about myself. It only grew stronger once we landed on Earth, whenever I'd feel sad, doubtful, incapable, useless… she was always there at my side."
2B had no idea that, upon seeing A2 being so confident and strong now, that she could have been such a fearful person in her abilities. Perhaps the whole tragedy of losing her comrades brought that strength out of her, or maybe it had just been the need to survive.
Or both.
"You loved her too, didn't you?"
A2 nodded. "It is because of her that I somewhat know what love and affection are, but she was always the one to come to me with it, because I was too shy to ask, or to show the rest of the group I was that weak, even if I feel that they knew, at least I know Anemone did."
"You know… I think not all of her is gone either."
"What do you mean?" A2 hadn't met another YoRHa with 4 in their name with the same personality.
"I think her personality, or at least part of it, was put into creating my Operator 6O. She'd always cheer me up too whenever… well you know…"
"Fate does have a weird way to link people together, doesn't it?" A2 gave a small chuckle.
What were the chances that two of her comrades' old personalities ended up being the companions and caretakers of the woman she grew to love, and of the woman that was pretty much a younger sister by human standards?
She felt 2B nod too.
"Yes, but now as your friend I say you need sleep, or I'll personally use your own voice box to order my Pod to put you into rest mode." it didn't sit right to see A2 this way, also did she just call her friend out of instinct?
It didn't feel wrong, if she had to be honest, and it seemed that A2 didn't mind either, or perhaps she was too tired to argue, or to point it out, or even to notice.
"Fine, fine, you win." with a small sigh A2 finally allowed her tired eyes to close, and her body to relax.
"Don't leave me too… okay?" it was the last thing that slipped from her lips before sleep took over.
So that was the reason… A2 was afraid to return to being all alone again.
"I won't, I promise."