CHAPTER 15

9S wasn't sure he'd heard that correctly.

"Wait, what?"

"Our mission is to track down and detain a group of YoRHa deserters," 2B reiterated patiently. "Your name is on the mission too, you should have the missive in your inbox."

At her prompting he opened his inbox, and sure enough there it was. A new, unread message from Operator 60 titled "Confidential Mission Details."

"But… why?" He's trying to wrap his head around it, but he can't quite grasp it. They just... left YoRHa? Just like that? There's no future outside of YoRHa, not really. What would compel them to up and leave?

2B fixed him with a level look. "I thought we'd already discussed this - everyone has their own reasons for doing things. And in this case, the purpose of detaining them is to find out that reason. As for why we're getting this mission now…" Her eyes went out of focus briefly, presumably scanning the contents of the email again. "It seems that they've made the mistake of stealing from a Resistance base. Perhaps they ran out of supplies and got desperate."

"Jeez, that's..." he trailed off, not sure what he meant to say. He buried his head in his hands and cussed softly into his knees. "Shit."

"You realize that stealing from the Resistance camp means that these androids are criminals, in addition to deserters. The Resistance is barely getting by as it is. They need those supplies for their own members."

"Yeah, I know, I get it. It's just. Jeez. My prime objective is to fight machines, not other androids. Especially not other YoRHa androids. First that A2 unit, now this… It doesn't sit right with me."

2B leveled an assessing gaze at him. It was stern, but sympathetic. "I understand," she said finally, "This is well outside your specialty. If you wish, I can take this mission alone - although I value your support, I am fully capable of operating as a solo unit."

"What? No!" 9S immediately rejected the idea, turning to face 2B. "I told you, I want to do something - you don't need to leave me behind!"

There was something desperate clawing at his throat at the idea of being abandoned, of being unnecessary.

"Look, you're right, I don't like this mission," 9S admitted. "But I can handle it. I'm perfectly capable of setting my own feelings aside and getting my job done. You know I am."

Beseechingly, he searched her expression, desperate for some confirmation that yes, she trusted him. Whatever he was looking for, he couldn't quite make it out - her expression was walled off, even more than usual. As the silence stretched out, it was all he could do to maintain eye contact, because he couldn't back down here. He couldn't show hesitation.

Just as he was reaching his limit, 2B let out a sigh. "I know," she said. "I know you can do this. … I just wish you didn't have to," she added quietly, almost inaudibly.

"Yeah," agreed 9S with a wry laugh. "Me too."

Of course, they didn't depart right away. There was plenty of prep work to catch up on - first and foremost was a long overdue sync to the Bunker. 9S downloaded the latest security patches, and ensured 2B got her updates installed too, and only then were they permitted to sync with the system.

9S confided that it was something of a relief to have his data backed up after so long. 2B had to agree.

The next thing to catch up on was shopping, which 9S happily left to 2B. There wasn't much to do - they hadn't gotten a huge amount of loot recently, so they couldn't do any significant weapon upgrades. Instead, 2B bartered with the Supply Merchant, purchasing healing items in exchange for some of the duplicate chips they'd found.

When 2B returned, she saw 9S leaning over something intently.

"What's that you're working on?" asked 2B over 9S's shoulder.

9S jumped slightly in surprise, but didn't look up from what he was doing. "Oh, uh. I'm just doing some repairs on that one discarded pod we found, you know, in the desert? Figured it could be helpful." And indeed, that appeared to be exactly what he was doing. He was crouched over it's insides with a screwdriver and some other tool that 2B didn't recognize. "I mean, you can always use an extra pod, right?"

"Right. I'm sure it will prove useful," agreed 2B. "Would you like me to purchase a program for it?" she asked, nodding her head ever so slightly towards the merchants.

"Ah, no thanks," 9S declined. "It'll be easier to buy the stuff myself, since I know what I need. But I appreciate the offer." 9S offered her a warm smile. "So, what'd you get?"

And the matter was dropped, as 2B gave a basic rundown of the supplies she'd obtained.

With supplies and maintenance done, there wasn't anything left in the way of starting their mission. Except for the big question of how to start.

"So," 9S asked, trying for casual, "Have you done anything like this before? Tracking down androids on the lam."

"...Yes. I have some experience," 2B agreed after a brief pause.

"That's good," said 9S with forced cheer, "Then you must have some idea how we go about all this? What's our game plan here?"

9S's pod offered an answer in its usual crisp tone, "Proposal: Search the surrounding area for YoRHa signatures."

9S frowned at that. "That seems… inefficient. Our scanning tools only have a range of a couple hundred meters."

2B hummed consideringly. "It's not a bad strategy. According to the briefing intel, we believe that the deserters are hiding in the area local to the Resistance camp. If we can avoid tipping them off about what we know, we can prevent them from going to ground."

9S didn't appear convinced, "And running in circles around the city ruins is discrete?"

2B gave him a level look, but her expression held a hint of mirth. "It's not so different from our usual patterns of behavior, is it?"

… Touché. They did end up running back and forth a lot in the course of their jobs. He hadn't realized that earth deployment basically meant becoming an errand boy.

"Well, far be it from me to argue with our expert tracker. Let's get going shall we?" said 9S with a sigh. Sooner they were done, sooner they could put this behind them.

Ending O: Field [O]perations

# A/N: This quest was a total pain to trigger in the game. :T You just wander around in this very large target area and hope a cutscene starts? I feel like this doesn't reflect well on YoRHa's tracking skills.

(Or maybe either 2B or 9S was intentionally trying to avoid the confrontation… as a player, I certainly was)