When 9S woke up again, everything was gone. The resource unit, 21O, A2… 26E was nowhere in sight either. Only his ever faithful Pod remained, who gently gave him back his sword, Cruel Oath, and informed him they got all the keys needed to access the Tower.
He wasn't sure of what he was doing still, but if he knew something was that he wanted machines dead, all of them, as much as he desired A2 dead too.
That structure was of machine origin, and he wanted it buried back wherever it had been before it showed up.
Or to pieces, whatever worked, he didn't care how.
Getting back to his feet, he decided to head back to the City Ruins through Pascal's village. Been a long time since he saw the machine, and for how he hated them, at least he had his uses.
The trek took him longer than necessary, his mind constantly reminding him of the first time he and 2B followed Pascal's messenger to the village walking on this very same bridge as he was now.
2B…
What the hell was that A2 had told him?
That she wanted him to be a good person? Bullshit, A2 was just playing tricks on him, pretending to know better, pretending to know about them, and pretending to know what it meant to be good.
She was none of these things!
He hated her for what she'd done, he hated her for looking like 2B, he despised her for existing…
And he loathed the fact he had someone protecting her too. Why did she deserve it and he didn't?
The stupid witch must have brainwashed 26E into siding with her. No way such a loyal unit would join someone so evil willingly.
But again the Executioner had no emotions, what did she know about caring for her fellow comrades? Absolutely nothing, given for how easily she left them all for a traitor.
As soon as 9S entered the village, he noticed something was wrong, everything was burned and charred, no chatter, no villagers…
Just a pile of dead machines and Pascal, alone.
He didn't ask what happened, couldn't care less, but, a red glow in a corner caught his eyes.
He knew that kind of glow… 26E's unique sword…
But of her no trace.
Or rather… he had to get close to confirm it, but there was a broken and charred skeleton of an android near where the sword lay, the point stuck in the ground.
If he hadn't known the weapon he would have never believed that android could have been the Executioner. She wore nothing anymore, most skin had been burned to ashes, and there was a sizable hole in her chest that went through her back, it could match the blade of her own weapon.
He recognized her only because, for some miracle, part of her face was still intact, and so were her black hair, but little else remained.
However her purple Pod companion was also nowhere to be seen right now. Probably it abandoned her too, he thought with a shrug.
"She was infected with a logic virus, took her own life and let the flames burn her body, so she'd spare her companion." he heard Pascal's voice behind him.
Whatever… he didn't give a damn as to why she died, one less enemy to face.
"She chose the wrong side to be with." he spoke with such venom that Pascal was more than surprised to hear him.
But the two female androids had warned him 9S may not have been in his right mind.
Thankfully he just decided to leave him alone it seemed, as he watched him rush on the other side towards the city.
Pascal only had to hope he wouldn't be up to no good.
He hadn't seen A2 again either, and he could pray that she was okay too, he'd left her to mourn, just like he did.
It was their duty to remember, it hurt, but slowly he was understanding why A2 told him so.
And all he had left was to hope.
When A2 woke up, she heard the sound of running water, and one of hands was feeling oddly cold. Opening her eyes, she realized it slipped into the water itself while she was sleeping.
Right, she was still in the sewers.
At least she could move her body again, it was something.
And oddly enough, no nightmares, no dreams at all actually. She slept for almost two days uninterrupted and with no foul thoughts plaguing her.
"That was my doing." 2B spoke up. "You needed to rest easy, so for this time I temporarily disabled your ability to create dreams."
"You didn't corrupt anything, I hope." A2 sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Your memories are all intact, if this is what you're worried about." and 2B was positive she was, memories were important, for them all.
Without them how could they remember the fallen people that had loved them?
2B had made sure to be extra careful to avoid deleting anything, she was no Scanner, though she very much felt like one in A2's brain, but her mission was to look after her, wasn't it?
Robin had asked her to, didn't she?
Perhaps it had been a good thing that she left her with A2 from the start, perhaps she knew that the rogue needed someone she could count on if she were ever to be gone.
She too had wanted her to never be alone again, despite everything.
"Thanks…" she heard A2 mutter.
"Don't mention it." 2B gave a small smile.
It had been the last thing said before A2 decided she had enough to sit in the sewers like a rat, and actually get out of them, going back towards the city.
Just as 2B was about to ask what she would do, they both heard the announcement loud and clear from the speakers of the Tower, and much like for the recovery unit, they could only assume it had been 9S' doing, again.
And like that, the path was set, as A2 rushed towards the tower herself.
"Do you still want to try and get through him?" even if subtle, she had appreciated the effort she'd made to try and talk to him, instead of fighting.
"I don't know what will happen, all I want is that Tower gone. If it is a key to weaken the machines then I have to be there." she had to, she owed it to her fallen comrades to try and finish this madness if she could.
She'd regret it forever if she didn't try.
9S or not it didn't matter his presence, if she'd have to fight, she would, if he'd listen to her, even better.
Though she was more than doubtful about it, given how their last encounter went.
As she arrived at the Tower, before her, she saw nothing more than corpses, machine corpses, too many to count. Has this been all 9S' doing?
She knew the Scanner was capable but… it seemed a little too much, even for him, and for herself too as a combat model.
The answer didn't come too late, as she walked towards the Tower's entrance, she spotted another couple of androids lying against the white walls. She knew these two, a little, they were the red haired twins Robin talked with sometimes.
The one with wavy hair raised her head at her, she looked… tired, exhausted even, like someone that was only waiting for the end of it all. And judging by the way the other twin lied against her completely unmoving, she could guess why.
A2 had been too familiar with these feelings too many times and for too many years.
Were they that caused the devastation outside? Probably trying to aid 9S?
She knew from 2B's memories she encountered these two before, so she only assumed that he must have been familiar with them too.
Perhaps the people of YoRHa in general were, given Robin knew them too.
"A2, right?" the red haired woman asked, though her green eyes appeared to be searching for something… they were looking for Robin. They had been seen together multiple times after all.
"She didn't make it either, hasn't she?" as she said so, A2 watched her hand tighten around her twin's, confirming her earlier hypothesis that unfortunately, she was dead.
A2's own hand came to clutch Robin's blindfold, shaking her head at the other android, who only looked back in understanding.
"Say… did we do good?"
The white haired woman had no idea what she was talking about, and from the total silence in her head, neither did 2B it seemed. But…these two were Robin's friends so, for the sake of easing their minds…
"Yes."
She just hoped the answer would have been what they'd been looking for.
She hadn't known the twins much, whenever she was at the Resistance camp, she tended to keep around only Anemone, and Robin of course. No one else, she'd never been the social one, not even before she'd always been rather awkward.
Some things never changed.
But Robin knew them, but rarely spoke of them, only knew she'd saved them during the time the Goliaths attacked the city, and made that giant hole afterwards. She'd been caught in the explosion, and as a thank you, they had repaired her in exchange.
That was about all that came to her mind.
They didn't seem like bad people though, even if she did hear how the other Resistance people talked on their backs. Probably that was why Robin was able to bond with them, having gone through similar times.
She'd told her of the many nicknames the humans called her by, none of them good.
Androids were made in the human image, so their cruelty was just the same.
She'd know.
More death lay ahead of her, as she walked up in the eerie white landscape, it unnerved her as much as when they had stepped in the server room of Mt. Ka'ala. Must have been something related to machine buildings that had that effect.
Androids were scattered around the place, dead, killed by 9S with no doubts.
She came across a room with a sizable hole in the floor, signs of yet another fight, whoever was in here was giving the Scanner boy a hard time, and probably it would do the same with her once it noticed her presence in the structure.
She could feel 2B's worry about him, but for now she had to keep moving, while there were no obstacles in her way.
If she could find the main server, she could attempt to destroy it.
A2 didn't love how this all reminded of her first mission. Too many similarities.
Continuing moving up, she came across a big room that Pod 042 described her as a library, or well a reproduction of one, complete with document data.
Was this the kind of place Robin so much loved?
"Over there, look." she felt 2B literally use her own eyes to get her to look where she wanted, but it seemed she spotted something interesting.
Once she got closer, she could see why it was that important…
They were documents… of the creation of the YoRHa Unit Number 26 Type E, E for Executioner…
So the machines had managed to get that far in the Bunker's server then… just like Adam claimed they did when he came after Robin.
With trembling hands, A2 braced herself to read the first one. She had to know why YoRHa would ever involve a human of another world in a war that didn't belong to her.
"The Council of Humanity has assigned to me, YoRHa Commander White, to take part and supervise a project of creation of a new android, based entirely on a human. The data sent were to search and find this human going by the name of Nico Robin, criminal and assassin of the blue planet from a young age, her purpose? Use her talents as an assassin to hunt and kill any stragglers that should ever find the truth about humanity's extinction on Earth.
This information however shall never be disclosed to the human."
White… of course that bitch would have been involved in this all…
So Robin was meant to be a prototype of sorts too?
"The Council sent a specially formed team to investigate on the blue planet, after weeks of research, they finally managed to locate the elusive woman on a pirate ship, therefore I, YoRHa Commander White, will have to personally take part of the mission to make sure we can capture the woman successfully, and that she won't receive too much damage for her memory to not be able to be salvaged.
Should the operation be successful, the memory of her subsequent death shall be erased and manipulated to look like us YoRHa saved her life, giving her a new one."
So that was why Robin was never able to recall her death as a human clearly, her memories had been manipulated…
How low was White willing to go for her own gain?
"The plan was set, the team of YoRHas set fire to the ship, no survivors remained. I've successfully picked up Nico Robin's body in time and stored it into a supportive unit that will serve to keep brain activity active and in stasis even shortly after death, to prevent the loss of memories. Said memories and knowledge will be digitalized and transferred into the human's new android body once she will be safely transported to the Bunker, where the maintenance team will begin construction."
Of course that plan must have been successful, A2 didn't know why she expected otherwise.
The maintenance's team began construction of the body, while the human's memories were successfully stored and digitalized and ready to be transferred, they've also been successfully manipulated so she may never remember her death scenario and where YoRHa had a part in it, though she will remember dying. We have also added extra knowledge of this world and its technology, as we believe her own planet is lacking in thereof, and also data knowledge on combat styles and weapons like all other YoRHas, to speed up the process of learning the new role and environment.
She did recall Robin mentioning she never wielded a sword before.
The creation of the new body took longer than a common YoRHa, due to the features the woman possesses, such as a really impressive height of nearly two meters, and different colored eye irises, but we want to make sure the new body will be as close as the original as possible, to hopefully make it easier for the human to accept it. The android body has been made with top quality components and specs taken from all the best YoRHa soldiers had to offer, to make sure she can perform at the best quality.
YoRHa had spared no expenses here, unlike when A2's own squadron had been created. Though she couldn't say she felt jealous about it.
We've managed to integrate her former memories fully with no problems, we have installed them with the same system on how YoRHa did with false memories placed in older test models, though they shall act like proper memories, and the former human will be able to recall all of them any time with full clarity, with the exception of the single one omitted discussed in the prior documents, to reduce, and possibly prevent chances of rebellion.
A2 could allow herself a small smile, since Robin did betray them anyways in the end.
After some research, I have found a proper number to assign to the human, together with the classification as an Executioner type. I have found an ancient language humans spoke, whose numbers "2" and "6" sound similar to the first syllabus of the human's original name. As such, her official new name and designation assigned will be YoRHa Number 26 Type E, 26E for short.
She shall be referred as nothing else but either of said names and none other by no one, not even herself.
She didn't care less, Robin was her name and as such it should have stayed. Stripping a human of their own birth name was too much, even for White.
I have personally tested each Operator of the Bunker, to determine which one would be best to help and lead the human in the new environment, and most importantly, the one who shall know her former identity in order for the mission to succeed. I have deemed only one Operator worthy of this role, there is a single one with a personality too loyal and serious to ever disclose any information such as Unit 26E's former humanity, this Unit has also proven very remarkable in being able to handle copious amounts of stress, that being Operator Number 21. I shall hope her other assigned partner, YoRHa Unit Number 9 Type S, will not throw complaints when his Operator won't be available to aid him, especially in the first months of activation of the new unit.
"He didn't really love that new addiction, well the him of that time." 2B clarified.
We have created a new Pod to accompany Unit 26E in her journey, to serve as a further help and as a guide. This Pod has been made to follow orders from none other than unit 26E, it has also been programmed to be less intrusive in her decisions and with its own suggestions on courses of action, to not have the former human feel like she is being watched and/or controlled by YoRHa too much.
How did that make any sense? Since she was being manipulated over everything in the first place?
February 6 11942, today we have activated unit 26E for the first time. The former human didn't show any apparent hostility or negative behavior upon hearing the explanation as to how she was still alive, where she was, and what we wanted from her. She didn't ask many questions, and appeared rather tame. I have introduced her to her partner Operator, hoping she will be able to clarify any other further questions.
And how terrifying it must have been to wake up in a place like the Bunker, and with androids demanding she'd answer orders. How did Robin even handle all that?
The day after her activation we immediately started testing to get the former human adapted to the potential of her new and advanced body. She picked up quickly how it works and also has shown to be very perceptive, as she noticed the extra data added to her artificial brain immediately. Though again little questions were asked, the human is certainly a smart individual, quiet, and seemingly inclined to answer orders without complaining.
If only White had known anything of Robin's past she'd know why she answered orders so easily. It had been all for survival.
We have assigned a partner and teacher to Unit 26E, YoRHa Unit Number 2 Type E. Her duty is to help and teach the human the ways of fighting with numerous weapons, and lend her expertise in executing other soldiers. Despite being the first fight Unit 26E handled herself well, she is learning at much faster rate than expected, and soon enough she may be ready for her first assignment.
"I… I do not recall such a thing. She's always been the teacher for me, not the other way around." 2B's voice invaded her head once more, prompting her to frown.
"Which means that must have been another you."
Today we've assigned Unit 26E her first execution, she will be accompanying Unit 2E and Unit 9S down on Earth to aid them in a task and then execute them both. Unit 9S has hacked into the Bunker's server upon finding Unit 26E's old belongings, and has let Unit 2E know about 26E's former humanity, such information must not be let free. As for Unit 26E's old belongings she's been asked to either dispatch them or take them somewhere else.
That explained 2B's confusion on the ordeal. As for the belongings, A2 could assume that it must have been the bag where she kept the two wanted posters she found long ago by now.
Unit 26E has returned victorious from her first assignment, once again no questions were asked from her, confirming the theory that this individual is used to receiving orders as she is with killing. Her tame personality and willingness to collaborate has proven very helpful, I am hoping she will remain this way for as long as possible. As for Units 2E and 9S, they shall be reconstructed and reformatted to never remember Unit 26E's true identity, nor that they ever met her, on top of this decision, Unit 2E's status as mentor for Unit 26E is revoked and deemed no longer necessary.
Robin's first mission had to be slaying the person that taught her, and that she might have formed a bond with? Shattering all there had been entirely right at the start?
But given how White had assigned 2B to keep 9S in check, despite the feelings she clearly felt for him, A2 guessed that she shouldn't be all that surprised.
She should probably stop assuming White was any better than the worst of the worst. She should know that by now, even without reading these damn documents.
A year has passed since Unit 26E was created and activated, the human's capabilities and intelligence have surpassed any predictions, as it is her ability to complete missions with and without a supportive team, so far, she holds a spotless record. As such we have rewarded her with the possibility to pursue her archeology interests under supervision of her assigned Operator.
Right, all the relics she's found. Well, at least she had gotten something good out of her service.
Three years later, Unit 26E comes back to the Bunker with her first ever failed mission. I had assigned her to execute a Unit no one has been able to so far, YoRHa Unit Attacker Number 2, though she has failed to complete the task. Unit 26E reports that Unit A2 was stronger than her, though A2 has proven a remarkable will to live and Unit 26E has always been loyal, I can't help but wonder if there is more she isn't telling. Reason why we sought out and created Unit 26E was to fix Unit A2's problem once and for all, and she failed too. I wonder… Number 2, will you one day finally come to claim my head?
A loud growl escaped her. "Too bad I was too late…"
White deserved to die by her sword after this! She, they, YoRHa had created Robin with the sole purpose of killing her!?
Why go that far for just one person? Why ruin the life of a human even more than how it had already been?
Why make her suffer through all these trials to kill one damn person!?
"Too cruel, even for them."
Unit 26E has started to become suspicious, though she is still accomplishing missions as always, she has started to hide her signal more and more frequently from YoRHa, and I have reason to believe it must have something to do with Unit A2. Perhaps the human's dangerous curiosity has allowed her to dig into things she was not supposed to, or if Unit A2 has convinced her of her innocence. Either way, I must not tolerate this behavior.
"As long as it got her away from your greedy hands…" White didn't deserve all the loyalty Robin had given her.
She deserved the loyalty of no one at all!
I should have known better than to keep trusting Unit 26E, as of today she willingly interrupted an execution attempt towards Unit A2 of Unit 2E and 9S, and allowed her to escape. She has offended myself, YoRHa Commander White, and expressed will to desert from YoRHa. I have had to grant said wish, having to deem her a traitor and deserter. I did not want to come to this, but should she ever be captured, she will have to be reset.
"Good thing she was better than you. Always believing you were the smartest, right White?"
Even so, she would have protected her, with her own life if she had to.
A2 only wished that White was still alive so she could plant her sword in her skull and throw it away like the trash she was, just like she did with the forest king baby.
No, she deserved it a hundred times more.
A massive thud told her that something landed from the top of the library behind her. Good, something to take her anger on.
She'd treat it exactly like she would treat White, because neither her nor these machines deserved any respect. They had lived for far too much time too.
She still had a mission to accomplish, and succeed or perish trying.
Save the world. Robin's voice rang in her head, she'd told her before dying.
The same world that wasn't her own, but that she fought her hardest to protect, and the people that lived in it too, even though she had no ties with anything or anyone.
A2 pointed Virtuous Contract to the round machine, ironically it was a fitting name now, to what she was trying to accomplish.
For Robin, for her companions, for all the people who suffered died without deserving it.
The faith was on the shoulders of this traitor that never betrayed anyone, and as such, she'd never betray the dying wishes of the woman she loved.
Because Robin believed in her.
She wouldn't stop until either her or all the machines were dead.
Not now that she was so close to accomplishing the purpose of her lifetime…
"This ends here and today."