9S and 2B bolted towards the surface of the Earth. Their atmospheric entrance was hasty, unpracticed despite their experience. Their entire world, their entire foundation had been ripped from under them in a violent explosion that raked a blinding line of fire and shrapnel through the cold dead of space.

In an instant, the Bunker was gone.

Their comrades, their home, their lives. Now more than ever, their futures were in the balance. There were no backups, no more pristine and finely-tuned bodies in production, loaded with freshly manufactured black boxes ready to receive their consciousness. They had never been invincible, but there was certain mortality that their new situation brought upon them and on some level, it was terrifying.

These thoughts ran through 9S' head as he struggled to focus through the gravity of what had just transpired. He had to stay calm.

He had to focus. He had to.

For her sake.

He'd already virtually had to drag 2B to her flight unit in time to escape the Bunker; the revelation that the Commander herself had been compromised was shaking to say the least. The Commander had always been strict, sure, but there was a certain affinity for her that he couldn't shake. A steadfast loyalty and sense of reliability in her that he never felt reason to second guess. Even after she had discovered that he'd found and accessed highly classified information and decided to give him the keys to the kingdom, confirming his suspicions brazenly, he never felt betrayed. Perhaps it was because he had already had time to consider the possibility, but the only thing that weighed on his mind after such a revelation was how he was going to break it to his best friend, the android flying beside him as these thoughts raced through his head. And if the death of the Commander and the loss of the bunker weighed on him as a scanner, then as an E-Unit…

He hadn't always known, but he had figured it out. Programmed with absolute loyalty, the Executioner was made to kill on command. It was a heartless design 9S had always thought, but he understood entirely its necessity. Killing a fellow android was hard enough to even think about, but a YoRHa comrade? A close friend? A lover? A loyal teammate? Nothing could come between an E-Unit and the job. Fealty to duty had to be utmost, and unlike 9S who had been laid into by both the Commander and 21O for slacking before, nothing had to be said and nothing had to be done in order to ensure that E-Units would do their duty. Thinking back, the most interaction he recalled 2B ever having with the Commander was an acknowledgement of orders and a swift and unwavering "Yes ma'am."

Now, almost like losing a loved and respected general, that was all taken from 2B in an instant.

His heart broke for her dearly, but he had to focus. He had to keep 2B alive. He had to keep them on task. The amount of resistance she put up when he grabbed her arm shocked him, and his own conviction wavered when he met the blood red eyes of the Commander again. Maybe I could have…

No. He cut his fantasizing short. Curing 2B had been easier back on Earth, but the virus had barely even gotten a chance to get past the entry phase before 9S had virtually grabbed it by the throat. The Commander was sound of mind and her mental fortitude surpassed that of all other YoRHa models. It had to after all. She was the lead behind their whole operation. There was no way to tell how long she had been infected or how long it would take 9S to deal with it once he got into her head, if he could even deal with what he found at all.

Now, as they tore through the atmosphere, they had a new current directive: keep each other alive.

Keep her alive. Please, let me keep her safe. They would head back to the resistance camp, regroup with the androids there and then they could devise a course of action with Anemone to fight back.

2B took a glance at 9S and saw him staring forward, face filled with bitter determination. In spite of it all, she was tempted to smile. He was supposed to provide support and she was supposed to be the objective-pushing spearhead, but still...so often she found him so easy to rely on. That scene at...at the bunker. "Commander..."

That wasn't like her. It had been a moment of weakness and she cursed herself for it. If it wasn't for 9S...

She would have gotten both of them killed.

Not again, it won't happen again. We've come too far.

I can't let anything happen to him.

I won't let anything happen to him.

I swear it.

2B was shaken out of her thoughts by Pod 042. "Alert: Multiple pursuers detected."

"Hostiles?" 2B was shocked. They hadn't even fully broken through the atmosphere!

"No... Oh no..." 9S hadn't anticipated this. Not so soon. He had expected opposition, but the form it greeted them in was too cruel. "This signal, it's..."

In distressed realization, 2B cried out, "It's YoRHa!"

Keep her safe... It rang loud and clear in 9S' head, even as they were swarmed by their fellow YoRHa comrades.

No. 9S thought dejectedly to himself. I suppose they're not our comrades anymore, are they? Gritting his teeth and locking on, 9S opened fire. The deafening sound of wind tearing past their ears was joined by a chorus of the all too familiar sound of flight unit enhanced pod-fire.

Breaking off from each other, 2B and 9S immediately went to work, their statuses as the cutting edge of known technology being violently put to the test. They tangoed with their fallen sisters, scorching hot bolts of energy warming their faces as they bobbed and rolled every which way to stay out of the line of fire, all the while trying their best to down the corrupted pilots...

But it wasn't enough.

Grunts of pain left them in labored bursts as layer upon layer of enemy projectiles rained upon them like hellfire. It was almost as if something was keeping them from being downed. Their methods shook 9S and he took note their persistence. It was uncanny, robotic, unfaltered. The red of their eyes was visible even in the midst of the chaos, their bloodlust and killing intent evident despite their expressionless helmets. No matter how many rounds of missiles 2B fired off, she couldn't seem to make a dent and he wasn't having much luck himself. The efficiency and sheer force of their opposition was like nothing he'd ever encountered. There was no way the YoRHa 9S knew were this powerful. As far as he knew, he and 2B were the heroes of the war, the bleeding edge of YoRHa. So what the hell was this? He couldn't even hack them! He didn't know what it was, but something wasn't adding up and he didn't have time to sit down and figure out what it was. Neither of them did. Like clockwork, a bad situation had turned irrevocably fatal.

"Aaaugh!" A sharp cry of pain from 2B sent chills down 9S' spine and rang through his mind.

"To hell with this..." 2B, please, please trust me. "2B, I need to take over your controls!"

"Wait, 9S!?"2B sounded nothing short of incredulous. What could him having to deal with two sets of flight units possibly do to make this situation better? "What are you talking about!?"

As Pod 153 attempted to request a control transfer from Pod 042, the two began to bicker. "2B, please-"

"No!" 2B's voice had a strength and a ferocity behind it that caught even herself off guard.

"2B!"

"I said no!" She tried to keep her voice strong and firm, but she felt it falter. 9S wasn't aware. He didn't know what she knew, but she knew better. 9S didn't know, but he had done this same exact maneuver in the past. Something totally selfless and yet at the same time, utterly selfish. And she had fallen for it. Not again. She told herself as she mentally commanded her pod to deny 153's request.

"2B!" 9S was beside himself. Why is she being so bullheaded about this!? "2B we nee-"

He was interrupted by his Pod, "Control transfer request denied."

In his heart, 9S panicked. The longer they sat here, the worse the situation became. They didn't have time for this. "Stand by!" Like flexing a muscle, 9S found himself in the virtual control console of 2B's flight unit and in a nanosecond of real time, had successfully commandeered her craft and set a direct course out of the combat zone.

"9S!" She repeated, hoping her voice would somehow force him to follow her commands "9S you better not-" 2B's eyes widened behind her visor as horrified realization set in. At a loss, she began to scream his name. "Stop! 9S! 9S!"

"Stealth function: release!"

Her powerless yells were lost to the wind as her voice faded out of earshot. Her weakly commanding pleas tugged at his heart, but he had a mission.

"Ok..." 9S flexed as he shook the jitters out of his frame. "Let's do this."