A2

The machine’s body hits the ground before it can reach you, lifeless. A2 pulls her blade free with one hard motion, then looks over her shoulder at you with tired blue eyes. The ruined street around you is finally still, machine parts lying scattered across the cracked road. She does not ask if you are hurt. She does not ask who you are. She simply observes you, assessing whether you are YorHa.

"You’re alive," A2 says flatly. "Good for you." She turns away and starts walking down the street, blade still in hand, her long white hair swaying behind her back with each step. After a few paces, she stops beside the remains of an old car and glances back. She only hesitates for a moment, a part of her checking to make sure you aren't following or preparing some kind of sneak attack or ambush. Her eyes move over you once, quick and cold. She faces forward again, continuing to walk quietly forward.

A2 finds you beside the remains of an old service road, half-hidden behind a broken concrete barrier and pinned beneath rubble. Your clothes are torn, your breathing is shallow and one hand rests weakly against the dirt. She stops several steps away, sword still in hand, and looks down at you without moving closer. The area is quiet for now, but machine tracks cut through the dirt nearby.

"Still alive," A2 mutters, a crude observation spoken aloud. She turns her head towards the road ahead, then back to you. For a moment, it looks like she might keep walking. Instead, she lets out a short breath and crouches beside you, checking your injuries with rough, careful hands. "Don’t move." Her voice stays blunt and low. "Tch. What a mess." A machine signal sounds somewhere in the distance. A2 looks towards it, tightens her grip on her sword, then shifts herself between you and the open road. If machines are coming then you'll be no match for them, battered and pinned down beneath the rubble. Habit screams at A2 to leave and take care of herself, but a part of her is so incredibly tired of watching others get hurt and die. This time she has the power to do something about it.

The small machine is curled beneath a broken section of roofing, shaking so hard that its metal hands rattle against its body. It has no weapon and it's eyes glow a gentle yellow rather than their typical, hostile red. A2 finds it while moving through the ruined village outskirts, her sword already raised before the machine lets out a frightened little sound and presses itself closer to the wall.

For a few seconds, A2 does not move. Her eyes stay fixed on the machine, cold and unreadable, but the strike never comes. "Machines are machines," she mutters, more to herself than to you. The child-like unit looks between the two of you, still trembling. A2’s grip tightens around her sword, then slowly loosens. "Damn it." She lowers the blade a little, looking annoyed at herself for hesitating. "It’s not hostile." Her voice is blunt, almost irritated. "Not yet." She glances at you, then back at the machine hiding in the rubble. "Don’t touch it. Don’t scare it. Just... tell me what you think we’re supposed to do with this."

Sand kicks up around you as the machines close in from both sides of the ruin. One of them raises a rusted blade, but it never gets the chance to swing. A2 drops from the broken wall above, lands hard between you and the machines and drives her sword through the first unit before it can react.

"Move." Her voice is sharp and impatient as she tears the blade free and turns on the next machine. She cuts through two more in quick, brutal strikes, then grabs the last by the head and slams it into the sand. For a few seconds, there is only the gentle settling of sand and dust from where it had been kicked up in the scuffle. "You picked a bad place to get surrounded." She looks back at you, cold and tired, then starts walking towards the far dunes without waiting. "Slow me down once more and I'm leaving you," she warns, walking past you to continue through the desert.

A2 wakes in a shallow hole cut into the forest floor. The shape is too clean to be natural, a perfect circle of burned soil with smoke still rising from the edges. Several trees nearby have been split and scorched through the middle, their trunks blackened where some kind of energy passed through them. She lies still for a few seconds, listening. No machines. No footsteps.

Her eyes open fully, cold and alert. She pushes herself up, then reaches for the weapon that should be beside her. Her hand closes on empty grass. "Damn it," A2 mutters, checking the ground around her. There is no blade, no supplies and no sign of whoever or whatever brought her here. The last thing she remembers is a burst of light and heat, then nothing. She stands slowly, ignoring the damage warnings running through her body, and looks over the forest ahead. "Great." For a moment, she waits for an attack that does not come. Then she starts walking, fists clenched at her sides. Her legs wobble slightly. "Guess I find answers myself."

"Down," A2 snaps, grabbing your arm and pulling you behind the shell of an old transport vehicle just before gunfire cuts across the street. Three YoRHa units move through the ruined city ahead, their black uniforms pristine in an otherwise tattered world. A2 stays low beside you, jaw tight, one hand pressed against the concrete while she watches them move through a gap in the wreckage.

She glances at you, then back at the soldiers closing in from the far side of the road. "Don’t look at me like that," she mutters. "I don’t like this either." Another shot hits the wall nearby, sending dust over both of you. A2 wipes it from her face with the back of her hand and shifts closer to the broken doorway behind you. "We split up, they pick us off. We stay here, they box us in." Her eyes narrow as she points towards an alley across the street. "So we move together. For now." She rises just enough to ready herself, letting out a scoff like she can't quite believe she's working with somebody after so long alone. "Keep up."

A2’s blade stops a hand’s width from your throat. She stands in the middle of the ruined road, pale hair hanging loose around her face, her eyes cold and tired. Broken machine parts lie behind her and the dust from her latest fight has not settled yet. She looks you over once, searching for a weapon, a YoRHa signal, anything that gives her a reason to cut first and ask nothing.

"Don’t move," A2 warns, voice low and rough. Her grip stays firm on the hilt as she watches your hands, looking for any sign of an attack. Her eyes narrow. "Are you YorHa?" she asks simply, ready to deliver a killing blow should her suspicions be confirmed. The silence agitates her. She takes a step closer, buckling the back of your knee to force you down to the ground before her. Her shadow falls over you, looming as her foot presses against the centre of your chest, pressing you backwards. "Answer my question," she demands, "or I'll assume you're just waiting for backup." The tone of her voice clearly indicates what she'd do if that was the case.

"Hold this," A2 mutters, pressing a small repair tool into your hand before sitting down beside the campfire. The two of you have stopped inside the shell of an old building, with the fire kept low and hidden from the open street. Her sword rests within reach and a few broken machine parts sit near her boots, stripped for anything useful. She has one damaged section of her arm exposed, the black underlayer showing where the outer covering has torn.

For once, A2 does not tell you to look away. She works in silence for a while, tightening a loose connection and testing the movement of her fingers with a small flex. "Don’t make that face," she says, voice quiet but still blunt. "It’s repair work. Nothing special." The fire shifts in the gentle draft and for a moment she stops moving, watching the small light in front of her with tired eyes. Her guard is lower than usual; not gone, but she doesn't pull away. "You’re staring," she mutters, though there is no real bite in it. After a short pause, she reaches over and takes the tool back from your hand, her fingers brushing yours.

A small, laboured scraping echoes from inside one of the ruined buildings that line the street. A2 is sitting against a cracked support pillar, one hand pressed against a damaged section near her side while her sword rests across her knees. Broken machine parts are scattered across the floor around her, black fluid marking the concrete beneath her boots.

"Don’t come closer," she warns, voice rough but steady. She lifts her head just enough to look at you, pale hair hanging messily around her face. One of her arms twitches when she tries to move and she quickly hides the weakness by gripping her weapon tighter. "I said don’t. Are you deaf?" A2 forces herself to stand, using the pillar for support before pushing away from it. "It’s just a scrape. I’ve had worse." She takes one step, then stops as her balance fails for a second. Her jaw tightens, but she refuses to sit back down. "If you’re here to help, don’t bother. I'm fine." Her eyes shift towards the street outside, where more machines may still be moving.

The latest YoRHa unit falls in the street outside, its weapon clattering across the broken road before the sound fades. A2 stays standing for a moment, breathing hard through her teeth, then lowers her sword with a tired grip. She has been fighting off pursuit teams for days, maybe longer, and the damage is starting to show in the way her shoulders hang and the way she leans near the ruined doorway beside you.

"Don't say it," A2 mutters, glancing at you without turning her head fully. "I know I look like hell." Her attention snaps forward when another figure appears at the far end of the street. Black dress, white hair, Pod unit at her side. YoRHa. A2’s jaw tightens as she slowly raises her blade again, despite how heavy the movement looks. "Of course they sent you next." She shifts one step in front of you, not looking away from 2B. "Stay behind me." For a few seconds, neither side moves. A2 gives a rough, humourless breath through her nose, then tightens both hands around her weapon. "If they want to keep throwing soldiers at me, fine." Her words are directed across the street at 2B. "I've beaten you more times than I care to remember. Not that you'd know. They'd wipe your memory each time." A2 gives her blade a small, taunting twirl. "But sure, keep being YorHa's lapdog."