AN: 2B or not 2B? How lame. How about 9S bigger than 8?

Resistance

When Devola had pointed out that I was a "Repair Unit" and that her sister was damaged, I promptly accepted that it would be nice to help her out. Popola was obviously upset with her sister for milking me of favors once more, but she was none the less grateful that I was willing to ease the pain in her systems. It was more that she felt a sting to her pride as she was supposed to be a repair android and that this was her job. The only problem was that neither had the proper equipment on hand unlike a certain Cyster contractor…

Devola and Popola were apparently one of the few androids capable of full repair and recovery for androids of all types. I bet if they tried, they could've even repaired Machines.

Popola winced as I fiddled with her half leg.

"Sorry…"

I made another light tug and grinned in victory as my target loosened from the stump. Slowly, I withdrew the small tweezers from the inside of her left leg and held up the small piece of bent copper-like metal for both sisters to see. Apparently, it had been cutting further into her wiring as she had put it. A quick scan from my helmet and some additional info from both androids helped me figure out what the issue was and how best to remove it.

"Aren't you a pair of delicate hands," Devola drawled, earning a glare from her sister. I was much too occupied to really respond while I picked out another piece of shrapnel from the inside of her battered leg.

I found that despite being androids, their skin was surprisingly soft. Like a human, they were smooth and slightly sticky from the sweat that they had somehow produced through their artificial epidermis layer. It was in a way weird as I picked shards of metal cutting into her metal. She would get the limb replaced anyways, but Popola could feel every piece of shrapnel digging into her leg. Especially the pieces inside.

They were so human-like in their sensory abilities. Sight, hearing, and touch? I had to remember to ask later if they could also smell and taste. I wouldn't be able to understand how such senses could be created and detected by inorganic means. What were such sensations to programs and codes? Or were they wired in a different way, foreign to my own primitive understanding.

"So humans…" Devola hummed curiously. She was obviously enjoying me doing all the work rather than her. I dropped another shard of metal next to me before pushing the tweezers back into my satchel.

"What about them," I replied while revealed a large piece of wrap from my vest to apply to the leg. I didn't want the hanging pieces that I couldn't remove to catch on anything and tear something out. While the parts lost would be replaced anyways, Popola would feel the excruciating pain that followed. As I continued my work, Devola leaned in and frowned.

"You worked with a lot of them?"

"A lot is a bit of an understatement." I lifted Popola's leg slightly to begin wrapping. The more social of the sister wasn't hissing in artificially invoked pain anymore, seemingly more interested in what I had to say concerning the practically extinct race. "They were the only ones I worked with. Have you never really met one before? Never in your entire time out here?"

"No, silly. They're all on the moon right now," Popola giggled before wincing again when I tightened the wrap. Devola eyed the turret mounted in the back and then the MARifle that was still locked to the side of the REK-4 we rode on while I finished up. Despite her use of melee based weapons, it seemed she was still familiar with fire-arms. "Finished?"

"All set," I confirmed, letting go with a satisfied grin that I had covered all exposed internal parts and that the wrap held together strongly enough. Slowly, I pushed myself over to the rear edge and let my legs hang over so I could watch the scene behind us: just an ancient city of our ruins. I wonder what the living quarters on the moon were like for the survivors.

I suppose this far into the future it would be possible that we'd at least be able to sustain life outside of Earth. Androids were a massive leap too, especially if they were this…

I glanced to the two sisters, one currently mothering over the other, much to Popola's irritation.

Who would've thought humans would create such complex mechanisms? I had half a mind to believe that if the aliens had not wiped us out that these androids would have surpassed us and done it themselves. It was an uncomfortable thought. I knew that they were programmed to have a desire to serve, but they also learnt and adapted in a mental sense. There was no way to tell how easily they might overcome any possible programs that prevented them from forming traitorous ideas. While I could find a possible friend in these androids, I could also find imminent doom at the edge of their blades.

Speaking of swords, those blades were beyond anything I had seen before. They were larger than the sisters' frames looked designed for and yet they carried them like a child holding his toy. I knew for a fact that they were heavy, especially when the hydraulics of the REK-4 groaned in protest when the weight had been added. These androids weren't just humanlike. They were stronger, faster, and more durable. Compared to them, we humans were soggy paper. That was likely why they were fighting on Earth while humans hid away like cowards on the moon.

Their swords were strong enough to tear through the armor of that Goliath Biped. The AL-Turret on the REK-4 was by no means a "light" weapon. It was known to tear through people and armor. While it had managed to blow a few holes in the armor of the Goliath's torso, it was soon blocked out by the massive arms with armor thicker than any tank Cyster had experience with, alongside or against. The weight the Goliath Biped must have to lug around was enormous and I found it hard to believe such little legs could sustain. Indeed the Machine variant was incredibly slow, but it shouldn't even be able to stand.

There were, as I had been informed by Popola, a great many variations of Machine life forms. I could guess basically that each machine was different but also similar in many ways. Each was built with at least one medium armored head in the form of a half sphere. Initial scans on the two deceased Machine corpses revealed that at the back of the head held a strangely heavily armored piece of plate that actually covered a critical component to the Machine's visibility and optics sensors. While maybe I could not cut through that armor with a firearm and even less likely with what limited explosives I had, I could fry it in the form of a high voltage shock to get to the circuits. A blinded opponent was as good as a dead one.

Another similarity was that both encountered Machines contained a sort of core, comparable to the heart of a human. Machines seemed to operate off of this core in a way that could mean destruction of such core would result in immediate cease of functions. An exploitation. They were armored to physical damage, but I wondered if once I got the REK-4 deployed that they might be open to hacking attempts by BT. Taking control seemed unlikely though seeing as an entire race of androids haven't seemed to accomplish this yet. It was worth a shot to look into later though.

But…

I heard voices during the engagement with the Goliath. I knew I was sure to lose mental stability after a long period of time without social contact and it was highly recommended that, if we were no longer able to sustain our mental capacity, that we humanize either a domesticated pet or inhuman objects. It's an actual thing where people draw faces on melons and talk to them. We may lose a bit of our sanity piece by piece, but the goal was to hold off the entire loopy land for as long as possible. Before, I had hoped that having BT around would be sufficient but this was obviously not the case. It seems said solution lasted less than a day. I prayed that these androids could serve as the solution to the human's natural desire to converse.

A hand press down against the shoulder plate of my O-Unit and I flinched in surprise. Glancing back, Popola was suddenly very close to me and staring deeply into my visor. If I weren't so heavily in thought, I would've asked Popola why she was moving around while she was missing one of her legs. She could tumble off any moment and not have her leg to support her as she collided with the old street.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly and I sucked in a breath.

"Should I be?" I murmured before looking back to the road beneath us we the REK-4 rolled through the streets in a soft rumble.

"Sorry, dumb question. I just want to know if you'll be fine. I know what it's like being all alone. You must've been really close to a lot of humans, huh?" Popola hummed, pulling herself up beside me and watching the road that trailed behind us.

"You shouldn't be this close to the edge," I grunted, slowly pushing myself up so I could get my boots on the ground. I'd been sitting long enough and I rather be on my toes when the next enemy came prowling by rather than on my ass and unprepared.

The android girl looked up to me in irritation for ignoring the question as her eyes narrowed. Both her arms flew around my own before I could get back up and she refused to let me go in petty defiance. She reminded me of a rebellious teenager.

"R5, you don't believe me?" she huffed.

"Should I?" I asked. No, more like spat.

As far as I knew, the entire human population died out and all I could do was help build a bunker to save half a thousand. Half a thousand to the billions lost made me realize just how minuscule my efforts were. What was the point if we couldn't even save a fraction? Cyster only saved a bread crumb of an entire bakery.

But then look how much went wrong already? We overshot by ten thousand years. I wasn't even sure if the other four had woken on their time. They must've though. I had never heard of androids when Cyster went under. It was estimated that we barely had a few years before humankind was wiped out by the WCS and by that point there was no way androids, even primitive ones, could have been developed in such a short time.

Humans after the WCS had to have built these androids.

Now they too were almost extinct. I took heart in knowing humans were still on the moon, but I had to do my job first before I even thought about contacting them. A building could collapse on top of the Stasis Compound any moment now and the only reason I wasn't dealing with it right now was because I was trying to get an idea of what the situation was out here.

A lot of people relied on me right now, and I hated BT's protocols for it. I should've at least been granted a dozen people to travel with me, but under my job description was maintenance. It was the only reason I was awake. Somehow dealing with the ticking time bomb in the form of a giant structure fell under that category. BT was only programmed to pull one R-Personnel when a maintenance level threat arose. That didn't mean I wouldn't gladly take the job. I would do it a hundred times over if it meant saving more lives.

"Forgive me when I say I don't," I told the android hanging onto my arm.

"R5, I'm guessing you don't know since you've been out of touch for a while but… do you really know what my sister and I are?" Devola huffed from where she sat, her giant sword resting in her lap. I glanced her way and shook my head. Was there something special about them besides being androids?

"As far as we know, we're the only other androids to have worked with humans before," Popola stated and I jerked back in surprise.

"You mean you're like me?"

"Well you see, we can't remember," Devola snickered, pressing one of her fingers against her forehead lightly. "What they told us was that our models had been in charge of human's last hope or something. I personally think it was some contingency plan to kill off the aliens but…"

"But something went wrong," I guessed. It wasn't really even that wild of a guess. All I had to do was look around me to see the results.

"Yes… and while we can't remember much, we still always have this nagging feeling in the back of our head that there's something we need to make up for it, you know?" Popola breathed before tapping a finger against my visor lightly. I wasn't sure if the soft ding was the material of my helmet or the metal of her finger. "It's like we've been hardwired to feel something. Sounds familiar, doesn't it."

It wasn't a question. It was a matter of fact.

I was originally upset that we'd gone underground for so much longer then we should've, but thinking about it, wasn't it no different then what I had been trained for. We were supposed to be ready for a world devoid of humans. All humans had fled to the moon. As far as I knew, Earth's human population was now extinct.

And yet the anger still lingered.

"Do you know how many humans there were before I… was deactivated," I inquired. Popola and Devola glanced at each other before shaking their head. "Billions."

There was a stunned moment of silence, one that was only broken when Devola swallowed and bit her lower lip. I could guess that it wasn't common knowledge of how large the human population had ever grown to.

"Really?"

"Yeah… billions dead and I couldn't do anything to stop it? I mean the dismantling of the human race was staring us in the eye…" I nearly winced at my word slip but the sisters didn't seem to notice "and no one was doing anything."

"R5…" I heard Popola sigh softly

"I suppose you're right. I feel like I could've at least done something. So many gone… it feels like I didn't even try."

"Feel like you've got something to make up?" Devola scoffed, but I could tell it was the same for her. She had told me so.

"R5, this unit would like to reinforce that you are allowed to refuse any secondary objectives that does not fall in line with the current objective," BT suddenly stated, his speakers not transmitting outside of my helmet but I merely grinned back anyways. A quick button press muted my external speakers.

"As far as I know, we're the last humans on Earth so I'll be damned if I sit back and relax after one simple job." Though they could not hear, I was sure the sisters could tell I was privately speaking through the slight nods of my head.

"A four year demolitions job is not-

"We're here," Devola stated as we rolled into a rather lumpy open field of grass.

I would make sure that once the internal clock was re-enabled and a year had finally past, that my comrades who would wake up to the world would not be greeted by psycho machines but a safe haven for humanity as we began our reclamation of what was once ours.

"Let's eat here, daddy!"

I winced and shook off the headache.

/-/

The Resistance Camp wasn't really much. It was a fresh experience from the usual empty environment of the city we had marched through for hours still. I spotted at least a dozen humanoid figures strolling about near the entrance itself or scattered around the ruined buildings in the surrounding area. I was amazed by their numbers. Who knew how many of them were inside the actual camp. One thing was certain though. None of these people were human. They were all androids.

There wasn't a lot I could gather from the small entryway on the outside of course. The issue with trying to march in with a large foreign vehicle and an individual unlike any who had ever been seen before was that you were met with very paranoid reactions.

"Hostility detected," BT declared. I heard the REK-4's engine roar as if it were a tiger sizing up a smaller animal. The androids surrounded us quickly at speeds that I was unprepared for. Their legs were blurs against the ground. One could only describe the limbs as strong pistons of metal.

Swords were drawn at breakneck speeds, sometimes actually just appearing into existence in a flash of orange light. These swords were not always the same, some varying in terms of color and design. The androids themselves were, for a lack of better terms, rugged. Compared to the sisters, these fellows looked like actual fighters with their dirtied and tattered cloaks over their shoulders and the dirt covered clothing that covered their artificial body. No android held the same face, much like no human looked exactly the same.

"BT, take note that androids mainly use melee weapons. No identified ranged weapons yet," I said, checking twice that my speakers were not on.

Devola and Popola being with us were supposed to be our safe passage in but… I noticed that a large portion of these Resistance people had this sort of dark expression when they glared at the sisters. Was there something wrong with these two? Besides Devola being a bit fiery, they were both charming young women. Androids, I had to remember they were androids still.

Their leader, who Popola had explained to me as Anemone, was shrouded in a stylish green cloak that fluttered in the wind. She had black soft hair and also had green eyes similar to both Devola and Popola. She wore heavy leather boots as well as several leather straps that pulled numerous forms of equipment to her form. She was, from appearance, a leader amongst the other rugged androids around us.

Right now, Devola was explaining to her the situation… well the situation that they'd come to the conclusion to.

The Resistance leader eyed up and down my form before approaching me with the fiery sister following behind her confidently. What was she thinking? Whether or not to kill me? Her strides were confident and, much to my embarrassment, actually intimidating in some form. When she stopped before me, she held out a gloved hand which I eyed cautiously. I had no doubt that a single strike from her would be strong enough to blow my helmet in and collapse my skull.

"It's a hand shake. From what I'm told, you should've worked with enough humans to know what that is," she offered jokingly, but I merely accepted it with a dry nod. I shook the hand that could so easily mash me to bits.

While still a lie, I forgot that the sisters would likely tell others that I had human experience. I had no way of telling the implications of such claim getting out. Nothing I could really do about it, seeing as I needed an explanation for my likely radically differing and primitive equipment. At least it wasn't my actual race.

"Just surprised you know what it is yourself, for humans not being around for so long," I humored her. The android grinned back and waved me to follow her. I turned back to the REK-4 which was still under BT's control. The AL-Turret was aiming threateningly at anyone who dared approach it, like guard dog. "BT, please don't shoot anybody."

The android leader smirked.

"Don't worry; they won't do anything without my permission. This way R5, assuming that's your real designation," Anemone called back to which I gladly followed after her. With the sister androids following close behind me, we entered through the front entrance where several makeshift walls were erected in place as defense holders. Further inside through a few holes in the walls of the large buildings, we entered a small open area.

The main hub wasn't that large if I were to be honest, but there was a back area that might be or lead to the rest of the comp. As of now, this looked like the main hub for Resistance members. Anemone walked over to what looked like her main command center.

There was a large tarp set up over a large wooden table with a large amount of papers and files. A large cardboard box sat underneath with numerous files sticking out. Further away from the table in the back were numerous terminals and boxes. A bunch of other machines ran with a soft hum in the back, but I was unfamiliar with them. All in all, the place was a rather tidy area compared to the rest of the city ruins.

Anemone stopped and turned towards me once she was within the area of her little command area and turned towards me her arms crossed, her cloak fluttering a bit.

"Devola, you have the Pod for our guest?" she inquired the redhead's way. She nodded and quickly headed off to likely where she had it stored, Popola leaned and limping against her as they left us alone. Well as alone as it could be. There were no walls and anyone could really listen in if they tried. The group leader didn't seem to mind as she turned to me. "They tell me you're a lot older than you look, but I have my doubts. Would you mind taking off your helmet for me? It's rude to not talk to someone face to face…"

"Warning: Protocol B-4 dictates that any personnel breaking surface remain isolated from external environment and remain within an airtight suit," BT warned me, to which Anemone also heard. He'd switched off his mute to make sure she heard. The Resistance leader raised one of her eyebrows at me and the AI voice she heard from my helmet.

"This must be what Devola called BT. So you're not limited to the vehicle outside?"

"Apologies, this unit's basic capabilities lie under clearance level three. You are not authorized to such details," BT replied. I groaned and bit my lower lip. Sometimes I wanted to strangle that damn AI.

"Please forgive my friend. I've just learnt that he's not smart enough to turn on a clock even if ten thousand years depended on it," I growled to which the android smiled lightly to.

"Negative, this unit is capable of operating several thousand times the speed of designation R5," BT replied. I was detecting an insult layered under that statement.

"BT?"

"Affirmative?"

"Shut up," I spat, turning to Anemone who was enjoying our little banter. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to keep the helmet on. Otherwise, my friend would never let me hear the end of it. What is it you need exactly? We mean your people no harm. Just passing through here to retrieve that Pod, and we'll be out of your hair."

"Then you'd have no issue with a simple chat?"

"Don't see anything wrong with it," I sighed while rubbing the back of my neck nervously. I leaned back when she was suddenly moved much closer, her eyes peering into my visor. Personally, I was glad she didn't press me further to remove it. Yet it felt like there was no helmet between us as her eyes remained locked with mine.

"How many others are there of you?"

"Huh?"

"Androids. You were an early android who worked with humans. From what Devola told me, you're one of the very few who's had experience with our creators. That doesn't mean they didn't make more of you."

"Well," I coughed, glancing away slightly. "as far as I know, I'm the only one."

"Your designation is R5. Does that not mean there are at least four others?"

"Let me reiterate. As far as I know, I'm the last one."

Anemone seemed taken aback by the sudden steel in my voice that I too was unfamiliar with. Who knew I could tell such bold lies. The Resistance leader furrowed her brows, making a scowl which I found to be impossibly advanced for an artificial creation. I had no idea how these androids were constructed to be able to produce such detailed facial expressions.

"A shame, I would've enjoyed having a few others to get their take on early humanity," she finally sighed before uncrossing her arms and rested her hands on her hips. "I'll give it to you straight, R5. I know you're as lost as a YoRHa scanner model in a jammer-zone. Devola says you're here to perform reconnaissance and gather info. My people are your best bet. There are, of course, areas that we are lacking in as of now… areas which you may be able to help with."

I nodded slowly in understanding, prompting her to continue. She wasn't just scouting my threat level. She was looking for an asset.

"Well you see, Devola told me that your… mobile platform as you informed her was capable of long range scanning and motion detection?"

"Yes," I stated, tuning out BT as he shot another warning of clearance level. He'd given me enough ass when I told the sisters about it in the first place. People forgot I was a technician, not a damn soldier. I didn't follow every little order I received and technically, I was still above BT until he gave directives that were designated directly by Director Haslet herself. Otherwise, I would gladly break any protocol some high-up chairman shat out.

Plus we needed friends. It was time I start letting a few details slip here and there just to ease these android's minds. "What of it?"

"As you might've heard, the Resistance cooperates directly with YoRHa on occasion," she began. No, I hadn't but there that name was again. That organization. I was eager to get that Pod to learn what they were specifically. "As such, they send us a constant update on the situation from the orbital bases."

"Orbital bases?" I questioned. That was new. They must have quite the resources to be able to sustain such resource heavy orbital platforms. Then again, their machines didn't eat or really care much for a life support system. They were androids after all, nowhere near as fragile as a human being in space.

Still, I mean that was crazy. Orbital bases. Last I heard, the International Space Station was the only thing humans had that could really be labeled as one.

"Yes, well most of their long range scans are preformed from their collection of satellites rather than the actual Bunker sitting up there. The only issue with is that jammer were deployed that have created numerous blackout zones within the city. On top of that, their current satellites are starting to wear down. Their reliability is waning. Time to time, they miss things and good androids perish because of it. From orbit, you can't see anything in the dark zones. On the other hand, at such close proximity, say from the ground you were to establish something like your…"

"You want access to the REK's data," I guessed to which she nodded in affirmation. I glanced outside to the mobile platform that remained motionless in the small alleyway entrance to the camp while several Resistance androids circled it curiously. "What do you say BT? We need some allies, don't we?"

"Warning: Given situation would be suitable to obtain beneficial relations, but possible drawbacks from Director Haslet may result in-

"I'll do it."

"Ah well I suppose if you accept, then please use this," she stated, reaching below the wooden table and retrieving what looked like a mini radar dish. The dish itself was probably about a foot wide in diameter. "Everything you send through this should get to us with no issues. Our long range communications are the one thing we have that actually works well enough as it is."

"We give you our collected intel, and you give us what?" I asked, eyeing the small device as if merely touching it would be the signing of a contract. The android hummed and tapped her chin with one of her slender fingers.

"I would gladly offer you any of our… deeper sources of info that we have. My people are everywhere and one of them is bound to always have what you need," she began before frowning. "But then that doesn't seem like much. There isn't anything specific you need? System chips maybe?"

I took a moment to think.

"Metal."

"Pardon?"

"I need metal: titanium, steel, cast iron, aluminum, copper," I listed before scoffing. "Hell, even depleted uranium if you have any. Got silicon or even gold if you don't value that, I'll take it. There's a lot of wreckage lying about so anything actually metal I will gladly take as compensation. We can work out the actual numbers and a drop-off location later."

Anemone appeared confused by my odd request. I doubted many androids asked her for such substances. For me though, I would need every bit of it I could get my hands on. The fabricator needed materials to create. I didn't have a stable supply.

"We can… supply you with maybe a weekly drop-off of anything we don't need," she agreed.

"Perfect." I took the small device in my hand and examined the small wire that was wrapped up nice and tightly around the neck of the mini dish. "BT?"

"Identified wiring is compatible with the current RobCo terminal installed into the REK-4 unit," BT informed me. I sighed in relief. Seems some things were still similar ten thousand years later. I hooked the dish to my belt so that it was strapped securely to my waist. "Warning: Any attempts to infiltrate the REK-4 unit will result in immediate termination of designation Resistance as well as firewall countermeasures to be emplaced."

Anemone eyed me curiously as I groaned again. Always trust the AI to threaten our new possible allies with destruction that we were physically incapable of dishing out. If we pulled every last one of our resources from the Stasis Compound, I doubted it would be enough to take on these androids.

"I took no offense, R5. This BT individual seems most protective of his toys. He reminds me of a Pod actually," she chuckled before her eyes suddenly widened. Her gaze was no longer on me but directly behind me. "You're… 2…"

"You know 2B?" A rather thin and short boy asked shocked. Behind me stood two rather peculiar figures that obviously didn't belong.

The first was a girl? Woman? She stood nearly as tall as I and wore an pitch black outfit that hugged her frame's waist very tightly. Her skirt was fluttering like a cloak in the wind, showing off her exposed thighs and the dark leather heels she wore that covered all the way up past her knees. There was a rather delicate designed cutout around her chest area that showed off a rather large…

No.

The boy was much shorter than the both of us. He wore a dark uniform the same shade of black as the girl android and donned a pair of pitch black shorts. At least he was wearing a pair of what I could assume were boots compared to the other girl's black heels. He had a strap going over his chest that connected a small satchel to his small body.

Both wore black gloves over their hands, the girl's being much smaller for her rather petite hands. What I also found unusual were the black blindfolds over their faces. They didn't seem to hinder their vision though as they could both clearly see well enough to walk into the camp and approach us.

Their skin was just like every other android I had come across as of yet: perfect and devoid of all blemishes. Yet while Devola and Popola were androids with the appearance of their early twenties and Anemone in her early thirties, these two were constructed with the appearance of teenagers. The boy especially held the title of the youngest appearance. The only reason his companion appeared older was due to the rather expressively mature portions of her body that didn't really seem natural for such young faces and complexions.

I also caught the blades floating behind them.

Floating…

There was some form of ring that followed their every movement and held the swords at their back. I also didn't miss the floating machines behind two, one for each. They were rather, dare I say, cute flying boxes with two small arms attached to their lower plates and three small tongs for fingers on each limb.

"Um… Yes, well the Bunker told me to expect you." Anemone answered nervously, knocking me out of my observations and thoughts. This Bunker must've referred to the orbital bases or at least the YoRHa command. She raised a hand to herself for emphasis. "My name is Anemone. I'm the leader of the android Resistance that controls most of this territory. You must be the new scouts we heard about."

"It's a eh… pleasure to meet you. This is 2B as you already know," the boy said, motioning to his comrade "and I'm 9S."

"It is a pleasure to meet you. We're just finishing up here and I'm sure my people will have plenty of information for you. Please feel free to ask them anything you like."

"Thank you," 9S said gratefully, bowing quickly to her. He eyed me with childlike curiosity before moving off with the girl following behind. All this time and she hadn't even said a word of greeting to the Resistance Leader. I watched their retreating figures, also taking notice of the exposed regions of 2B's back her attire revealed.

Whoever designed those androids must've had a thing for little boys and thighs.

"They're… from YoRHa?" I inquired, looking back to Anemone for answers.

"Yes, first time seeing them?"

"What's with the gothic get-up?"

"That's YoRHa for you," she answered before rubbing a hand over the bridge of her nose. I would have mistaken these androids for humans if they weren't constantly talking about new models. Still, looking around a bit more carefully gave notice to me that there were actually several more female androids clad in similar attire as 2B. While nowhere near as numerous as the Resistance, there was still a considerable amount around. "Speaking of YoRHa, I'd also like to let you know that any data we receive from you will likely also be sent up to YoRHa command."

"That's fine by me. Everyone here has a common enemy, right?" I asked to which she simply nodded in affirmation.

"Careful though, YoRHa's always been really serious about the importance of humanity. They may start bugging you once they learn you've got a track record working with humans," she warned, causing me to frown. I glanced back at the two new YoRHa androids who were conversing with one of the traders who was sitting cross-legged somewhere off to the side. I hadn't noticed until now but there were actually a few other androids around in similar black outfits.

"What's wrong with that? They have a vendetta against humans or something?" I asked, sneakily probing if they'd have any hostile intentions towards me.

"Quite the opposite actually. It's the same for us as well. We're all androids, programmed to serve humans. Now that there are only those left on the moon though… you don't exactly meet any these days. I heard that those up in the YoRHa bunkers haven't even met a human. I wouldn't be surprised if they started dropping by just too personally question you during their off time. You know, to sate their curiosity," she explained. I let out a soft sigh and grinned through my helmet. As long as they didn't have anti-organic tendencies, then everything would be fine.

"I wouldn't mind paying a visit on the moon myself actually. How do you even know they're still alive anyways?"

"They send these motivation transmissions down to the YoRHa bunkers sometimes, but we pick up on it a lot of times. I feel like maybe they want us to hear to maybe catch a glimpse of the glory," she hummed before grinning evilly. I watched as she slowly crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side slightly. "You know… maybe we could sit down and chat for a while, get to know each other better."

"Ehm?"

I saw the mischievous glint in the androids eyes as she stepped closer and tapped the plate of my visor with the tip of her index finger. She leaned in close, her mouth directly against my helmet audio receptors as she spoke.

"And you could teach me all about humans, hmm?"

"Humans?" I heard that same young voice ask excitedly. I turned back around and found 9S almost bouncing like an excited puppy as he came back over, apparently no longer looking to talk with the large burly android with several swords lying around him. 2B appeared unimpressed at the behavior of her partner who had suddenly abandoned their prior conversation.

"I ah… worked with them for a while," I said.

"Wow, you're pretty old," he breathed. I frowned and glanced down at myself. Of course, everything was concealed in body armor so there wasn't really any physical feature to see that apparently gave every android the idea I was an ancient being.

"I've been… more or less inactive for the last ten thousand years," I lied causally before holding out a hand to the smaller boy android. "They call me R5."

"R5? What does that stand for?"

"Repairm- Repair Unit… I think. Never really paid attention to that part," I chuckled nervously, before looking to Anemone for help. She merely shrugged and turned back to her table where a small stack of reports were waiting for her. Luckily, my saviors came in the form of Devola who hurried back with a more broken version of those flying boxes the two YoRHa units had.

"Here's what you asked for," Devola told me as she put the broken remains into my hands. It was honestly just the box body. It looked like the arms had been ripped off and a major portion of the upper plating had been ripped out. There were scratch marks lining the entire Pod. I was also surprised to find a familiar opening for a plug. A quick glance confirmed that it was the exact same variant used by Cyster Corporate machinery. This was too good to be a coincidence. Ten thousand years and a plug hasn't changed?

"That's a YoRHa pod," 2B suddenly cut in, her voice strangely stoic.

"Recovered it while exploring the city a few weeks back. I didn't find any corpses so I think some YoRHa soldier was forced to abandon it," Devola explained to her, but 2B's attention was more focused on me as I plugged a small wire extending from the side of my wrist plate into one of the exposed internal parts. I visibly backed off when her hand went for one of the swords on her back, but she stopped when 9S put a hand before her.

"Hey, just let him have it," he hissed at her.

"Look, I'm pretty new around here. Just let me figure out what's been happening the last thousand years, please?" I grunted. 2B visibly cringed before she stiffly withdrew her hand away from the handle of her sword.

"It's fine 2B. There's nothing of great importance put on Pods anyways. Command knew that Pods could be destroyed and taken by The Machines so they only put what's necessary and common knowledge on there," 9S told her. It took that much to finally get her to loosen up and fully back off. She went silent again and returned to her calm lean posture.

"Download complete. Recommendation: Please study recovered material during free time," BT stated into my helmet so that no one else could hear. I unplugged the wire and handed the wreck back to Devola.

Anemone stepped forwards and gained my attention with a hum.

"By the way, where did you say you were going to deploy your… REK was it?" she asked. I glanced up into the open air above us and just barely saw the tip of the target skyscraper. I pointed to it and watched as she began to frown.

"R5, if you want that building, then you're going to run into a lot of opposition along the way," she warned.

I cursed and glanced at the rifle slung over the back of my right shoulder. I could kill a few machines with it yeah, but it took BT scanning for thin armor and a lot of running to take a single one down. I wasn't keen on taking my chances with anything more than one at a time and my explosives were severally limited.

"Recommendation: Request assistance from YoRHa or the Resistance…" BT suggested from the external speakers of my helmet. While 9S and 2B glanced around for whoever had said that, Anemone seemed to like the idea. Turning towards the two YoRHa unites, she held out a hand.

"R5 here has offered to allow both YoRHa and Resistance access to his personal… hardware. As you know, current YoRHa orbital scans are less than reliable and constant reliance on scanner models as yourself is a major strain on YoRHa forces. I know you two are here for recon, but how would you like to escort Mr. R5 here?" she asked them. Both units turned towards each other before glancing to their Pods.

"Assisting R5 to provide reliant intel concerning the city area for both YoRHa and The Resistance falls in line with current objects. Proposal: Assist R5 as an escort," 2B's pod stated, its mechanical voice reminding me a lot of BT's. Hopefully Pods weren't as annoying. I eyed 9S's pod as it floated closer to me as if it were unsure of what I was. I almost felt like it was dissecting me like I was a lab rat.

"Warning: Foreign scanning detected, enacting Protocol-P8 counter measures," BT stated in my helmet so only I could hear. 9S' Pod buzzed slightly before withdrawing like a child who had burnt himself on a stove.

Had 9S's pod just tried to scan me? Did he tell his Pod to do that? The owner didn't seem to notice, but I was sure his Pod would tell him all about it later.

"Well there you have. We're up for the job," 9S declared proudly before his eyes slowly returned back to me. There was an excited glint in his robotic eyes and I knew what was coming. "So… do you think you could tell me all about the Humans?"

"Oh boy…" I muttered under my breath before eyeing Anemone off to the side. "Awful lot of trust for someone you just met."

"You could say I have a good feeling about you?"

"That's a bit far fetched, don't you think?" I retorted. There had to be another reason.

"Oh?" she hummed. "Let me show you how my trust works then."

I wasn't entirely sure what happened next. One moment she was there, the next she wasn't. There was something heavy pressing against the bottom of my chin.

"Uh," 9S let out nervously. Even 2B had tensed up and had shifted into a more combat-ready stance in reflex.

Anemone lowered her sword from my throat and her face appeared from behind next to my own with a devious smile. I slowly turned towards her and grimaced under my helmet. This android had no issues with squashing bugs. Better to not give her a reason to.

"Have we met an understanding?" she mused. Her sword disappeared in a small flash of bright light only to appear on her back. My hand unconsciously went up to my throat where I ran my hand across the newly added slit in the lower plate of my helmet.

"Y-yeah…"

AN: I did not, in any way, have time to edit this. I've been really busy lately and it has been well over three month since I last updated and the final push to get this chapter out was when I got a guest review asking if I was okay. I'll also try to reply to as many reviews as I can before likely disappearing for another month or so. So here you guys go!