If this were anything but a memory, it would be so fucking dumb. It is a memory, and in Trench, even if they die, they come back. It wants more— it needs more for its friend than murder. ART could squash it like a bug anytime it chooses. In all likelihood, in a straight out fight, 2B would win. (That wouldn't stop Murderbot from doing what it could to win, to live, but it acknowledges that its slim record against CombatBots doesn't make it better than them).

It stands there, close to 2B and equally stubborn. "Shutdowns, not deaths," it insists, "or I'm taking you back and locking your ComfortUnit ass into a cubicle." Because in this memory, it has the upper hand. It stands there amid the chaos glaring 2B down because it will not let this go. Not today.