Eve walked purposefully through the camp, stopping whenever she came across a robot. She was getting mixed reactions; some wanted to help out and resist Auto, but most wanted to obey orders and follow him. Just as she had suspected, all the rogue robots she came across were all for helping them out, but the rest mostly were obedient and reluctant to listen to her. Finally she called all the robots in the camp to come and listen to her, much as Auto had done earlier.

"I have spoken with most of you already, but for the rest of you, listen up! Auto wants to separate us for some reason… I don't know what that reason is yet, but I will figure it out—I promise. But you all need to stay with me, and with the humans. You loyalty should lie with them—it's how we were designed. Please stay!" The robots glanced at one another, and several lenses flashed and spun, but no one seemed will to step up and walk to where she was standing, or raise their hand, or say yes… or anything. After a few moments of silence she hung her head and started to walk away. But as she turned, she saw three lumpy… things coming towards the group from the direction of the ship. She squinted, flipping her visors over her eyes and brushing her white hair out of her face. Without thinking, her feet activated and she was rising in the air. With a rush of confusion she recognized Wall-E's awkward wave and Mo's small form zipping towards them. She flew to meet them, and as she drew nearer, she realized what they held…the Sapien300! She added an extra burst of speed to her feet, her eyes narrowing behind her visor. Yes! This would help her! She reached them, and added her strength to theirs. They reached the group of staring robots quickly, and she stopped, panting. Well, being a human was pretty exhausting.

She stepped forward, taking a deep breath. "This," she pointed, "is what your reward shall be if you stay. Any who agree to stay with us will be turned human! Any who go with Auto will remain robots, even though he is human. Stay, and help us protect the humans from whatever he's planning. Have you all forgotten what he tried to do to them? Stay, I beg you!" the robots remained silent, but they exchanged glances, and in that moment, Eve knew that they would join her. Or at least, some of them would. By midday, Auto stood, as expressionless as ever, in the center of the village. The gophers gathered behind him, along with the soldier robots. But almost all the rest of them stayed behind. The humans were a different story. Many of them seemed to understand that Auto was the same as the evil robot who tried to keep the truth from them for so many years. But many of them also seemed to think that life was hard outside the ship, and the appeal of life with Auto was overwhelming. So about half the humans stood with him, but most of the robots stood with the Captain. Without a word, once the people had chosen, Auto spun and walked away, to the North. The people reluctantly followed him, leaving behind the loyal followers of the Captain.

Later that night, Eve stood in front of the Captain's pod with the Sapien300. A line of robots stood in front of her. First in that line was Mo. He stood quavering and waiting for her to strike. "Stand back," she ordered, and the robots scrambled to get out of the way. Mo shook so hard that he could hardly remain in the same place. "Calm down. It's going to be all right." She didn't actually know this of course, but it helped to pretend that she was calm as well. After all, the machine had worked on Wall-E, herself and Auto with nothing bad happening. She took a deep breath, and punched the button on the front of the machine, jumping out of the way before she could be in its range. Who knew what would happen if someone were to be struck twice? In a blast of light, Eve had the sense to cover her ears before the cannon blasted. Smoke filled the area, making sight impossible. A few of the humans cried out, but Eve couldn't do anything until the smoke cleared. She stood at the ready for a few moments as the smoke drifted away and dissipated, to see a cowering Mo in front of her. She smiled and set a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, and then shared much the same reaction that Eve had when she and Wall-E had been transformed. He clenched and unclenched his left hand, but held on to his cleaning tool in his right. Lifting his head, he reached up to feel the helmet, and grinned. His body slowly uncurled and he stood on wobbly feet. Eve reached out to help him, and was met with a brusque "No" as he held up his hands. Slowly—so slowly—he took his first steps to stand by Eva and Wall-E.

"I'm… human" he said. Eva smiled, looking out at the robots. They stayed immobile, taking in this new information.

"Yes, Mo, you are. Now, anyone else?" she glanced around the group, and smiled as they began to inch their way into a line. Sighing with relief, she reached out and squeezed Wall-E's hand. He looked rather startled, but smiled back at her. She noticed, as she gazed upon him, that there was something growing on his face…stubble? Holding back a giggle, her eyes traced the path of stubble to where it ended by his Adam's apple. Her ice blue eyes continued, roaming down past his neck and over his clothes and to the bottoms of his feet, and back up. When they came to rest looking at his face, she saw that he was looking at her with a seriousness that she had never seen before, and she found a sudden warmth flooding her cheeks. Blinking furiously, she turned away from him and back to the robots.

. . .

Hours later, Eve plopped herself down on her new bed, groaning. It had been a long, long day, and she was so excited for sleep. She felt the bed indent slightly and knew that Wall-E had lain down beside her. Opening her eyes and shifting so she was on her side, she found him on his back, staring at the ceiling of their home.

"What are you thinking?" she asked. She could see that there was more going on behind his placid stare.

"Nothing," he said. Glancing over to meet her raised eyebrow, he sighed. "Oh alright. I just, I just realized something recently." He paused, but she had a feeling she didn't need to give him an affirmation in order for him to continue. "I realized, that I am completely, without any doubt, one hundred percent helpless." His voice drifted down into a whisper as he spoke, and Eve made little noises of protest.

"No! No, Wall-E, you are certainly not helpless! You followed me everywhere, didn't you? Across the whole galaxy! And you have helped me every step of the way! You helped me feel things! You are many things, Wall-E, but helpless is not one of them."

He gave her a grateful smile, but his dark eyes slid back to the ceiling once more, and he pushed his sandy hair out of his face. "Thank you. But either way, I want to learn to fight."

"What?" Eve blinked. Of all the things he could have said, she hadn't expected that.

"I want to learn to fight! It's really important to me! I know I'll never be able to protect you, and that's ok—you can protect yourself. But I would at least like to be able to do something in a battle, aside from run away."

"Never underestimate the power of running away," Eve said gravely, and was relieved to see him smile a bit.

"Will you teach me, Eva?" he asked, a little breathless from nerves.

She leaned over until she was hovering directly above him. "Of course I will," she muttered, before lowering her lips to his. It was a gentle kiss—a chaste kiss—and she broke it after a moment to get ready for bed. She didn't have any change of clothes—she didn't need one, since her outfit never got dirty, but she did need to remove a few key items. She took off her helmet and its attached visor, her boots, and her arm weapons, along with unbuckling her gun belt. She watched as Wall-E removed his goggles, coat, belt, and boots. Underneath his coat he wore a plain white shirt with short sleeves, which had several splotches of dust covering it. Eve noted with some surprise that his arms actually had some muscle to them, though they still retained his lean quality. She supposed that it made sense for him to be strong, since his job as a robot had been physical, and she reflected on what kind of a fighter he would be. Not guns. The thought of Wall-E pointing a gun at someone made her want to laugh. No, he would probably be a sword fighter, along with some boxing thrown in as well. She didn't know how to box; in fact she only knew what it was from the crazed ramblings of the Captain. But she wanted to help Wall-E, and she was determined to help him succeed. As Wall-E finished up, she crawled into bed, pulling the covers over herself. She held them up for Wall-E, and snuggled close to him once he joined her. She turned so she wasn't facing him, and curled into his body. He instinctively draped an arm over her waist, and she rested her head on the pillow of his other arm.

He sighed contentedly. "You know, I really like being human."