Once they acquired the items needed, the duo returned to the camp. They didn't think they had been away for too long, but apparently it had been a few hours.
Enough so A2 found a surprise when she came back.
"Number 21!" in a flash, she almost tackled the red haired woman to the ground, thankfully the Scanner was ready to catch her, probably expecting the reaction.
"I missed you…" the rogue buried her head in the taller android's shoulder.
"Us too, Number 2." the Scanner placed her hands on A2's cheeks, forcing her to look at her in the face. "You feel as rough as you looked when we saw you again."
"Things haven't been too kind to me, as you've been told." she replied. Being a fugitive wasn't easy, especially without help for most of the time, until Robin came along.
"Looks like you need a bit of maintenance."
"If you are able to convince her." Anemone's voice joined in. "No matter how many times we've tried, Number 2 refuses any kind of major fixes, no one has been able to make her desist, not even her girlfriend."
"That is true." Robin nodded. "After a while I just stopped asking."
If A2 felt okay in her body then she stopped nagging her about it, but something told Robin she kept herself this way for some kind of punishment. But it was no longer necessary now, no?
She imagined that her friends didn't want guilt to eat her away now that they could all be together again.
"Will you let me have a look after we are done here? Please?" Number 21's words were as gentle as her eyes were, so much that A2 had to look away in shame.
"I'll consider it…" she whispered. "Only because it's you."
She could trust Number 21 not to impose any major changes upon her body, she knew she could, because she was too diligent and respectful of others to do so.
In reality she knew she could trust the others too, even 9S, despite what their past had been, he'd gotten better, they had gotten better since that time they understood that their similar experiences in losing what was dear to them made them grow closer.
That he had no reason to hate her anymore, and that she wouldn't accept him apologizing for experiencing grief the same way she had done for years and years.
She'd just grown cold with time, but the anger never truly faded away, dulled out maybe, but never gone, for what had been taken away, and for her own failures as well. That was why she refused her body returning back to normal, with proper skin applied to the areas that were missing it.
The missing pieces had to be a reminder of mistakes she never meant to repeat ever again.
Especially not now that she could have the chance to have her friends at her side, never she would dare lose them another time.
No more young and naive captain Number 2.
Meanwhile, two people that heard and felt everything, reached out to Number 21, since luckily she was still touching their host.
"Number 21, hurry up and finish our bodies too." though Number 16's voice seemed impatient because she couldn't wait to return, there was another kind of urgency in it too, for what she just felt in Number 2's mind, and she knew the other companion present felt the same.
Only the Gunner wasn't too great with dealing with feelings, aggression being her primary response.
"Could you at least say please?" thankfully Number 4 didn't address the true reason, but she knew as much as Number 16 that no matter what, Number 2 wasn't responsible for what happened to them.
And it would be time to speak about it in person soon.
All four of them.
"I'll get to work then, if Number 2 would be willing to let go of me." the Attacker hadn't noticed that her arms were still around her waist.
"Oh, sorry." immediately she lifted herself from the body of the Scanner. She'd be lying if the time spent with Robin didn't make her more used to physical contact than she'd ever been before.
And A2 knew Number 21 wasn't too used to that, recalling just how shocked she was when Lily wrapped her arms around her the first time, actually, they all were, but she was literally panicking with her eyes.
Though right now she didn't seem to mind, and neither did she when they met in the server, plus there was what Anemone told her too.
Which reminded her to ask why she was singing too.
Not that she didn't like it, her voice was very nice actually, but didn't look like something Number 21 would do, as serious as she was.
Perhaps she was starting to open up more, since A2 was well aware that, also thanks to 21O's presence, that androids with their personality types had emotions, even if they struggled to express them.
And then there were people who actively hid feelings, like 2B and the most blatant example was Robin. It was scary how she could seem to still be able to switch them off entirely, even despite the time she passed with her.
Some things were never destined to change, she supposed.
But she refused to talk to her about it, so much so she knew how the human hated that part of her, and how hard she fought to not let her see it.
At least she wasn't running away from her again, it was an improvement.
Besides, she rather enjoyed seeing Adam be so helpless after what he had done to them both, and after all the denigrating words he had said in both encounters.
The humans called it karma, she believed Robin told her so.
He got what he deserved at least, and she got the data of her friends instead. Finally things were taking a brighter turn for once in their lives, she was sure.
And speaking of bright things, here came someone that just woke up that had a loud mouth and too much of a sunshine personality. Not that it was a bad thing.
"Anemone!" she was a little too excited too, but who could blame her, as she threw herself at her old friend, wrapping an arm around her shoulders with a bright smile.
"Good to see you awake too, Gerbera." how she had missed her old companions and their voices.
Even if for now there was still only one, technically two, but Number 21 was more Number 2's companion than hers. Actually, she wasn't quite sure where she stood in terms of feelings, especially after years had passed.
She knew that for her own self she was not entirely indifferent towards the Scanner, all the opposite in fact, but had no guarantee of the opposite.
For now.
But she didn't mean to drag Number 21 in a personal discussion about all of this in front of everyone. There would be time for it, she wasn't going anywhere anymore.
At least Anemone hoped so, but something told her that Number 2 wouldn't let anyone out of her sight again.
The hand that was ruffling her hair so hard that the cape she wore fell off from it brought her back to reality.
"You made us wait quite a while." despite the words, Gerbera was grinning from ear to ear.
Number 21 turned towards them too, smiling at their antics.
"We shouldn't let the others wait much longer then." they still had a lot of work to do, since most of the repairs were focused on them two first, in order to get the back up and running faster so they could aid the medical team.
Which could use two pairs of extra hands and also a well deserved break too.
"Well, if there isn't anything more, I will put myself to work too." Robin gestured to the black cloths Pod 007 was carrying for her. "I have a lot of dresses to create."
Including thinking of a new one for A2, she had promised Number 4 she would have, thankfully through their mental link before she gave her a few ideas already, so she knew where to start at least.
One thing for sure, the cape Anemone gifted her had to stay, and that was final.
Good thing it was already black, so they didn't have to dye it, probably knowing the Resistance Leader she did it on purpose.
"I'd have a question." 9S' tired voice made itself heard. "What are those papers you're holding?"
He knew that it must have been something interesting, since he already saw that Robin collected any kind of old world data and items, she let him see them before.
"I am not too sure, but I already have a record of these papers labeled as Project Gestalt, so I want to see if I can understand more of it."
That got the attention of more than a few of the people present, but two of them stood out the most, the twins.
"Project Gestalt?" they asked, almost in unison.
"You know something about it?" Robin sat down beside them, papers still in hand.
"Oh we wish we did." from the way Devola spoke she seemed pissed at the word, as if it had done them something wrong.
"I'm sorry, what Devola means is that we do know this label, but we can't remember what it is exactly. It feels important, yet we hate it at the same time, and we don't know why." Popola explained with a frown, probably feeling as clueless as her sister about it.
"Didn't you two have your memories manipulated or something to constantly feel guilt?" 9S asked, knowing that this topic touched him more personally than he'd like to admit.
As someone that too had his own self canceled too many times, he could very well imagine how it felt for the twins to feel things and not remember why. He couldn't stand to see anyone suffer for something they didn't remember.
"Well as we said before, we don't know the reason but another pair of twins went berserk and did something very bad, so our model was erased from existence except us, who were being used as a means to channel anger towards what they did." Popola took her sister's hand.
"We spent centuries of our life moving from place to place, and everywhere we went there was nothing else than hatred towards us. You YoRHas are the first androids that treated us kindly, and Anemone has been the only camp leader that allowed us to stay with no question, even if other people didn't agree with her, we are forever in debt with you for it."
Perhaps they did it out of ignorance, just like they had done the same to her, Robin thought, as their story resonated too much with her own. She knew how it was to be hated and shunned for who you were, and for things you have not caused yourself, she lived like that for twenty years, but in comparison they were nothing towards ten thousands of them.
An eternity.
So for that reason…
"I will find out what happened." Robin declared, slamming a fist on a nearby table, not hard enough to break anything.
She'd be damned if she let them suffer any longer, because this had been going on for so long it was just absurd. And again, why let them be hurt for something they didn't commit?
Why did people have to be so cruel with them all?
"You don't…"
"Don't finish that sentence." she cut in before Popola could tell her it wasn't necessary.
"There is too much hatred in the world." this and hers both.
"I just want to help a couple of friends out, I too know what it feels to be hated for the simple fact of existing, but if I didn't deserve it then why should you?" she got up, eyes surveying the work they were doing right now for them all, without asking for a thing in return.
After all, most of them including herself were still here because Devola and Popola reconstructed and fixed the bodies. They still lived because of them, brought back from the dead out of pure compassion.
"You've done so much for us, allow me to do something in return for this once." she would beg if she had to.
It wasn't right to keep things the way they were, at all.
Also she was still an archeologist, it was her duty to study the past, if she wasn't allowed to do so on her home planet anymore, at least she could do it here, now that there wasn't anyone holding her back from doing so.
Not her, not anyone else if they wanted to help.
At least it would give them a goal, something to solve, something they could do that didn't involve fighting or worse, dying.
"There isn't anything we could say that will convince you otherwise, right?" from the resigned tone, Devola already knew the answer to the question.
Robin could have asked why they insisted on not wanting help, feeling unworthy of it, but there wasn't any need for it, because she spent all the time she'd known A2 feeling the same thing, and being proven wrong every single time, first from her, and then from everyone else.
There really wasn't any need.
Though sometimes it still baffled her how her own story resonated with many aspects of the ones of the people around her, similar experiences, similar feelings, allowed them all to understand each other to a deeper level.
For the first time in her life she could say that she belonged somewhere, that they did, and it was together, right here and right now.
She felt A2 wrap an arm around her waist.
"Besides, you have the aid of the best archeologist there is." she smiled. "I'm the only archeologist you know."
"You're still the best one."
A2's unwavering faith in her was rather adorable.
"If I may ask, is there any way to remove that program causing guilt?" Number 21 asked, she too was sitting there with the rest of them, and had heard everything. "It is a cruel and useless thing."
She too understood that it hadn't been these two models that caused whatever happened, even if she just met them a while ago, so why should they have had that programming still?
Pretty much all of them understood that fact, actually.
"We do not know, but we can't remove it ourselves." Popola shook her head. Obviously they couldn't, if they did, it would defeat the purpose of it existing in the first place.
"Well then an examination is in order." Gerbera nodded, and so did the others. "We could consider looking into this whole thing after we are done with the whole ordeal. We do owe it to you for bringing us back, at the very least."
"As medical androids you know more than us, so your aid is crucial. And being as old as you are, you have more knowledge than all of us combined." other than being older than all of them combined too.
They couldn't reach ten thousands of years even with adding the age of Rose's whole group, and the YoRHas were all too young to even compare, including Robin herself.
"Even if it's not removable we could attempt altering it with our hacking abilities, try to not let it bother you so much." if at least they could not allow it to be as prominent as it was, it would be an improvement, 9S thought.
And he knew a lot about strong emotions to tell how hard it was to ignore or hold them back. At times impossible even.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up too much." yet he shook his head at Devola. "Nonsense, you have two top of the line Scanner types here." he made sure to mention Number 21 as well before she could be offended.
Besides, she had impressed him with her ability in that server, and pretty much kept her friend's data alive through her hacking for years, and even got Adam back for being too confident.
9S had to admit that watching the machine fall apart so easily at the hands of someone unarmed had been quite funny.
Number 21 knew her own, even if she pretty much was the first Scanner prototype created. A predecessor, and a bit like a mother of the boy models made afterwards, how ironic.
Now he knew where 21O's motherly feelings came from too, not that he minded them.
Besides he saw no reason to doubt her when everyone else trusted her.
They could help Devola and Popola, he was sure.
"We should finish up the rest of the work here first." the redhead pointed out, she had screens in front of her the whole time they had been here.
"You can take a break for a bit, Number 21 and I will take over for a bit." Gerbera knew that they all must have been tired, even if they didn't say anything.
In the corner they could spot 6O napping away, right where she previously looked over at 21O, that right now was nowhere to be seen. Though one of them knew what she could have been up to, another issue to solve.
She just hoped she wouldn't cause any more issues to her body. It wouldn't help if she did, and could raise more questions before they had a chance to explain things.
Her successor demanded to keep it a secret between the two of them, and asked solely for her aid and no one else's, so that was what Number 21 did. But if the blonde woman wouldn't be reasonable with the others then she may have to break the promise.
It would be for her own good, but still she hoped nothing would force her hand. For now she could focus on the others, and pray nothing would go wrong, again.
"In the meantime I have my own work to do, these papers will have to wait." Robin said, taking the items with her to place them in her and A2's room, together with the rest, to calmly look at them later on.
After all, there was no rush anymore.
"And what do I do?" A2 asked. "Not to be annoying, but I feel a little useless here."
True, combat models didn't know much else but fight, she was an exception still, but sometimes she forgot about the difference so much the others treated her like their equal.
"We could research." Anemone offered, she too didn't have much on her mind now that the materials had been recovered, and there was little to do in general for those who had no extra talents.
"I mean we know the area well enough, maybe we could find more hints on this mysterious project our archeologist could use."
"That'd be helpful." Robin nodded, and it would give A2 something to do, a wanderer like she was, she'd have no issues with it.
"I had found one of these papers in my old hideout at the commercial facility, it was lying in a dirty corner, and I have reason to assume that Emil found these somewhere in his travels too." she assumed.
"Since this project is so secret that no one recalls the name besides Devola and Popola, I have reason to assume that whoever created it meant it to be a total secret, so the documents were scattered around." it would be enough just to find a few more, enough so she could make a sense out of them and try to connect the dots.
At least to have data to make up the first hypothesis, and possibly try to recreate a simple timeline of events between whatever that thing was, and the subsequent erasure of memories and shunning that Devola and Popola went through.
Her instinct told her that the events were connected, just for the fact that the twins were the only ones that knew the name of the project, it meant someone canceled their memories of it, or involvement even.
Anything could be for now, until she had actual information.
"You could drag 2B along too, I'm sure she's bored too." 9S offered. "That would be a good idea." A2 nodded.
Robin waited enough so that A2 gathered her friends and left the camp, before approaching a person that had been observing from a distance all along without saying a thing.
"Commander White, I'd have something I'd like to speak about."