#Yeaaaah Starlines gone full dark mode

[theramblingsofadork]

Art’s not coming to me this week, so screw it! Take a massive fic of angst from the Downfall Arc of Rivet and Starline’s first time reuniting since the competition! 🔥🔥

—

📕 Fanfic: A Bitter Reunion

Context: It’s been years since the competition. Rivet’s now friends with the Resistance/Restoration and is helping Sonic and Tails storm a base that they got a distress video in from.

It turns out to be a trap by Eggman, and now they’re stuck in a force field, backed into a corner by several high class Badniks.

Starline has been with Eggman for a few days now after restoring his memories and erasing Mr. Tinkerer. (In this AU, it takes them a little while before they begin development on the Metal Virus since I think he needs more time being Eggman’s flunky.)

He’s embraced Eggman’s ideals and become a full on villain. But the past often comes back to haunt; and he has no idea what’s about to occur.

—

“A force field? Seriously?” Sonic exclaimed as he watched the orange shield crackle above them.

“Indeed!” Eggman exclaimed from above the dome, perched safely atop a railed platform where he could watch the show. “And the best part is—even if your little fox friend manages to hack into my systems to take it down, you STILL have my new Badnik Enforcers to deal with!”

The group jumped as the two giant, armored Badniks advanced a step on the three. Rivet sighed as she looked up at them, the lavender cat getting a distinct feeling of deja-vu. “Giant robots.. it just had to be giant robots..” She sighed exasperatedly.

That’s when a clapping sound caught their attention, followed by a poised, regal esque voice entering the conversation.

“Marvelous work, sir!” Dr. Starline praised Eggman as he clapped and came over to join his boss from where he had been observing from the shadows. “I must say, this ploy has certainly proven to be one of your most effective yet!”

Eggman grinned as he looked down to the platypus coming up to his side. “Why thank you, Doctor. It was quite sneaky of me to use that hologram of the villager to fake a distress call, now wasn’t it?” He snickered pridefully.

“Quite! Dare I say, they never saw it coming!” Starline smiled up at his boss, before suddenly feeling his heart freeze in his chest when he heard a familiar voice call up his name from down below.

“Starline?”

His smile vanished, and when he quickly looked down, he came face to face with.. her. A cat from his past whom he didn’t expect to see again. One whose smile he had once seen as a beautiful thing…

…Now standing with Sonic and Tails as they stood backed into the corner within the sealed ‘arena’. It was a tense and frightful moment, as the two of them processed and realized that they were now on opposing sides.

“Hm? What’s this?” Eggman questioned as he leaned an arm on the railing and peered down at his shorter cohort with a raised brow. “Starline, you KNOW this cat?”

Starline shook himself out of his shock to form an answer to the other doctor’s question. “Eugh.. She was a... former colleague of mine from back in the day,” he replied, crossing his arms as he brushed his bangs with a poised but secretly nervous motion. “…That was a long time ago though. Certainly nothing you need to concern yourself with, Doctor.“

Eggman’s frightening gaze remained eerily trained on him for a long moment. “Hmm. Is that so?” A wicked grin then spread across his face as he seemed to get an idea. “Well then, if that’s the case, then you won’t mind me destroying her and the rest of those fuzzy nuciences in one fell swoop, now will you?”

Starline felt a sudden, nervous buzz of apprehension spark in his chest, and his eyes darted over to him. He could immediately sense the man was testing his loyalties. And why wouldn’t he? Eggman had been betrayed multiple times before. Why not stamp out any possibility of that before their partnership could get too far?

Starline looked down to Rivet, and there was a moment of hesitation that flickered in his eyes as he observed her, before he closed them to turn away and say, “…No qualms to be had here, Doctor. You may do as you see fit.” He smiled coyly up at his boss. “After all, any friend of Sonic’s is an enemy of ours, wouldn’t you say?”

Rivet’s eyes widened.

Eggman’s glasses glinted like he was pleased with Starline’s answer, and he chuckled evilly before leaning over the edge and shouting down to his Badniks, “Well, YOU HEARD HIM! TAKE THEM OUT!!”

“Yeesh, that’s cold,” Sonic couldn’t help but comment, a bit disgusted by the doctor’s callous response to the cat.

Rivet didn’t say anything, staring dead set at Starline with a knot growing larger in her throat. She finally had to snap back to attention though as the large Badniks began to proceed on them, powering up their giant laser beam charged arms.

“Hey, um, Tails buddy, might want to get working on getting that shield down!” Sonic hurriedly pressed the fox, glancing over to see he had started mashing away at his tablet.

“I am!!” Tails exclaimed in return, brow furrowing as he poured his concentration into what he was doing. “It’s going to take a minute to get through though!”

“Might not have a minute!” Sonic reiterated, eyeing the glowing barrels as they grew brighter. “Looks like they’re charging up to turn us into roast dinner!”

Charge. A lightbulb lit up in Rivet’s mind, and her mind cleared as she glanced to her bangled wrist. “…Tails, quick—“ She said, glancing back at him. “What kind of power output does Eggnan give his robots?”

“What?” Tails exclaimed, briefly glancing up at her in confusion. “Why are you asking me that now?!”

“I don’t have time to explain… Just tell me!!” Rivet ground out.

Tails made a noise of protest, but obliged her and quickly tried to calculate. “Well, uh, judging from their hulls and weapons attachments, these are Mark XII Badniks.. uh.. I dunno! I’d say probably energy maybe around… 300 watts or so??”

Rivet breathed out a small breath of relief. “Ha.. 300 huh? Alright, I can deal with that.”

“Um, what are you planning to do?” Sonic asked warningly, sensing the cat had just gotten an idea.

”Even the playing field a little,” Rivet replied, stepping out in front of them so she was now the sole focal point of the lasers.

“Wait—what?? Are you crazy?!” Sonic exclaimed in shock as he registered this. “You’re gonna get yourself killed!”

“Sonic, trust me! I know what I’m doing!” Rivet exclaimed, preparing herself by setting her feet and dropping into a defensive stance.

“Heh heh heh! What a dumb creature,” Eggman stated as he watched this altercation happen. “So foolishly sacrificing herself to get blasted in the feeble hope that her friends might be able to outlast my robots for a little while longer. Pathetic.”

Starline frowned. Something was off here. Rivet wasn’t a fool like that. She must have a plan. But what? “Sir? Perhaps we should reconsider a moment.”

“Denied.” Eggman’s grin gleefully split his face in two as the Badnik’s guns glowed and reached the peak of their charging.

Rivet then held out her hand, and Starline caught sight of a familiar glowing orb. His eyes widened a smidge, and he held out his hand, realizing there might be a critical flaw in his plan. “Sir, I really think—!”

Too late. The Badniks fired on the trio, lighting the area where they stood up with a searing blast of white hot light. The sound of their lasers echoed out for a good five seconds, before they overheated and had to power down.

Eggman snickered wickedly as he waited for the dust to settle and looked down to Starline with a bit of scoffing disappointment. “I knew it. You are soft, Starline. And while I can’t say I’m surprised, I certainly am disappointed. I would expect more from someone claiming to be my #1 fan!”

As aggravated as he wanted to feel at that biting response, Starline could do nothing more but hold a hand to his head with a groan. “Sir— that’s not why I was trying to stop you!” He stated as he stepped forward to step up onto and peer over the railing. “If anything, I was trying to warn you!!”

“Warn me? About what?” Eggman questioned with a shrug. “They’re as good as burnt ashes now.”

Starline finally spotted what he was looking for and sighed quite frustratedly as he pointed down into the clearing smoke. “Are you quite certain about that?”

“WHAAAAT?!” Eggman exclaimed, nearly losing his balance as he craned his neck and body over the edge of the railing to see what Starline was pointing to.

Sonic and Tails coughed as the dust around them began to settle, both completely uninjured from the attack. They uncurled from their protective positions to gawk at Rivet, who had taken the enemy’s attack head on, and whose wristlet was now absorbing and defusing the last of the energy like a vacuum cleaner, ending with a sharp ‘shing’! and making the gem inside glow a brilliant bright blue.

“Whoa!” Tails exclaimed, his tails flicking in awe.

“Um, what just happened?” Sonic questioned dumbfoundedly with a blink, unsure whether or not to be worried or be in awe.

“Oh yeah, I guess I really haven’t gotten a chance to show you guys this yet, have I?” Rivet looked over her shoulder at them with a confident smile before holding up her fist. “My gauntlet here lets me absorb and store up energy from any kind of energy based source and use it as my own power!”

Her eyes sparked as she faced the robots again and tightened her fist with a smirk. “Which means, the good doctor up there just gave me the floor to wipe his Enforcers out.”

“Grrr…!” Eggman’s brow furrowed against his forehead, and he turned on Starline, grabbing the platypus by his coat and shaking the poor Doctor about furiously. “YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS, DIDN’T YOU?! WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING SOONER?!”

Starline grit his teeth as he was shaken like a ragdoll and held up his hands in surrender. “T-the thought only just occurred to me a few seconds ago! I-it’s been years since I last saw her, Doctor! I-I swear, it completely slipped my mind!”

“GRRH..” Eggman dumped the platypus back onto the ground before turning back to the scene before him. “Well, no matter!! My Badniks will still make quick work of them!” He then shouted down to them with a raised fist, “DON’T JUST STAND THERE YOU FOOLS! ANNIHILATE THEM!”

The Badniks beeped as Eggman’s command came through again, and they prepared to attack once more, powering up for another shot. But Rivet wasn’t about to let that happen.

She sucked in a deep breath, steadying herself. One shot would be the most effective move here. She had to make it count.

The cat activated the crystal, calling up all that stored up energy and channeling it into her fist. With a powered up shout, she then drove it into the ground in front of them, cracking the earth.

The outward impact of the motion was boosted tenfold, and a cratering wave of earth was sent exploding out in front of them. It smashed into both Enforcers and sliced through the laser arm of one of them, knocking them over as the ground was torn up beneath their feet.

“WHAT?! NO!!” Eggman shouted.

“Whoa-ho! That was so cool!! We are TOTALLY going to have to go over the details of how that works later on!” Tails exclaimed, stars glinting in his little inventor eyes.

“Yeah.. sounds… good to me..” Rivet said before she pitched forward, grunting and landing on her knee from the effort. She underestimated how much power the glove had stored up, and the impact had sapped her own energy as well. “But right now.. You gotta get that shield down. I bought you some time, but it won’t stop them for long.”

Sonic clapped her back as he passed, it now being his turn to take up the front. “Don’t worry, I can take it from here. Thanks for evening the playing field for me though! Gotta admit that’s a really neat trick.”

In a flash, the hedgehog took off, launching himself straight for the struggling-to-recover Badnik Enforcers and managing to knock it back into the earth, cracking it’s exterior hull and offlining it.

“No no no NO!!” Eggman screamed from above, gripping the railing so tight that his knuckles were probably becoming as white as his gloves. “THAT’S NOT FAIR!” He glanced to the control board besides him and pushed another button. “Grrr! BACKUP!! GET IN THERE AND LEAVE NO SURVIVORS!”

“Oh come on,” Rivet grumbled as the arena door reopened and a swarm of a few smaller Badniks flew in. They just couldn’t get a break, could they?

“Don’t worry! I’ve almost gotten through!” Tails told her, pressing faster on his tablet’s buttons before sending her a glance. “Just a little bit more and I’ll have this shield down! Think you can use your little trick to keep them off me for a little bit longer?”

Rivet blew out her breath as she eyed the approaching bots. They were much smaller.. With a bit of energy she should be able to down them. “Right.. I’ll see what can I do.” She agreed as she pushed back to her feet. “Work your magic, genius child.”

Together, her and Sonic fought off the attackers, with the hedgehog ping ponging his way around the room like a speeding bullet, decimating the Badniks while Rivet dragged some power out of a fallen Badnik and used that to fight away any strays coming for Tails as he hacked the security grid.

The two fighters eventually even teamed up to use the severed Badnik Endorser’s laser to fire off and fry the other operational one.

Starline watched as this battle took place from behind orange spectacles and frowned. He could tell the tide was turning, and it was not in their favor.

“This isn’t looking good, doctor—“ He finally stated as he backed away from the ledge. “Perhaps a tactical retreat is in order?”

“Tactical retreat?!” Eggman exclaimed, glaring back over his shoulder at the other doctor. “Are you mad?! WE’VE GOT THEM ON THE ROPES!”

“HA HA! GOT IT!” Tails suddenly shouted excitedly, and the force field covering the battle dome flickered as it powered off, before fading away completely.

Eggman paused before groaning in frustration. “…On second thought, maybe a tactical retreat doesn‘t sound so bad.”

“Deeper into the base!” Starline exclaimed, pointing to the ajar door they had originally come through. “There are more security measures deeper in that can protect us!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Eggman grumbled grouchily as he ran through the door first with Starline trailing behind him. The platypus looked back briefly towards the battle before growling and letting the metal door close shut and lock behind them.

Tails heard the clunk of the door and looked up to see the two men had vanished. “Sonic! Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline are getting away!” He called over to the hedgehog currently destroying the remaining Badniks.

Rivet ducked under a Badnik crashing to the ground, before seeing that Sonic was preoccupied. She swore, having lost her board in the rubble somewhere during the fight. Looking around for something to boost herself with, she dug her fist into the fallen Badnik’s broken hull, absorbing the small amount of power it still had.

She then used it to launch herself upwards onto the upper platform. “I’ll catch them!” She called.

“Rivet, wait!” Tails called out after her, but of course, the cat didn’t listen.

—

Two sets of different sounding footsteps echoed down the hall as Starline and Eggman gained distance from the fighting. “That door won’t hold them for long,” Starline told Eggman hurriedly. “Where’s the closest safe place to go from here? Preferably somewhere with more reinforcements?

Eggman pointed ahead of them. “Down there! The security room is just beyond that hall! We’ll be able to activate my secret weapon there!”

“Secret weapon?” Starline blinked in fascination. “Well that certainly sounds promising.”

“Starline!! Eggman!!” Rivet’s voice came bouncing up the hallway. The platypus gasped and looked back to see the lavender cat chasing them from down the hall.

“Oh dear..” Starline felt his heart drop in his chest, before he focused up and looked up to Eggman. “I’ll lead them off your trail, sir! You get to the security room and activate that weapon! I’ll join you again using the warp topaz!”

“Fine with me!” Eggman said without skipping a beat, the inventor huffing and puffing now as his arms and legs swung wildly.

“Best of luck to you, sir!” Starline slid to a halt and glanced back to see Rivet’s gaze had locked onto him. Sonic and Tails weren’t far behind her.

His eyes narrowed, and he quickly broke off down a side path.

“Looks like they’re splitting up!” Rivet called back to them. “I’ll handle Starline! You two get the doc!”

Sonic frowned as she split off from them to follow the platypus. He didn’t like this. If Starline was separating from Eggman, then he probably had a plan. And if it was anything like his and Silver’s first encounter with the doctor, then it might not end well.

“Tails, go with her to be safe! And be careful!” He called to his best friend, before zooming ahead to chase after Eggman.

“Right!” Tails nodded and split off from Sonic, flying down the hall after the cat who was steadily gaining distance.

—

Ducking through another side passage, Starline found himself in the room where vats of some kind of concoction Eggman was working on was being stirred by giant, industrial sized machines. Wanting to get a better vantage point, he summoned up a portal to take him to the top of the catwalks above, panting from all the running and glancing over the edge to see if he could spot Rivet and Tails.

The fox was just coming up on the entrance, looking around as he called for his friend. But he had lost track of Rivet. Ruby eyes darted back and forth and searched for her lavender form amidst the whirring machines. Where was she?

“So— that’s it then.”

Starline let out a squeak of surprise and nearly jumped out of his fur as the sound of the cat swinging herself up and thunking down on the catwalk besides him snapped him out of his thoughts. He quickly scrambled back to gain some distance between them. So fast—!

The Rider’s frustrated green eyes locked onto him, and her ponytailed hair swung behind her as she approached him, motioning her arms.

“It’s been three years, Starline. Three years since you’ve stopped answering any of our calls. Since you up and disappeared with no goodbye, no explanation, leaving us only to guess where you could have gone!” She shrugged. “I get that you didn’t want to join us after all, but you could have at least SAID something!” She tilted her head. “And now, I find you here after all this time. Allied with Dr. Eggman and ready to let us die to his Badniks.”

She let out a small scoff of hurt. “Really? Are you seriously going to act like our friendship meant nothing to you?”

Starline in turn backed away, powering up the warp topaz but not quite using it yet. “That was all a long time ago, Rivet,” he stated. “Besides, it was a competition.” He glanced behind him, before noticing a cable behind him and ducking to the side to avoid it. “We were only using one another to obtain what we wanted in the end.“

Rivet pushed aside that same cable to follow him further along the catwalk. “That’s not true and you know it!” she exclaimed, voice straining a bit with anger. “..What about the Starpoint Squad? Charge, Cello, Hex, Lug? You were as much a part of that team as we were! We studied together, built a giant robot, went out for ice cream! You even helped us stop that mad woman from destroying Aethos!”

Rivet’s eyes were beginning to grow a bit watery as years of built-up strain and confusion swirled about as she pressed him. “Did all of that mean nothing to you? …Did we—” Her voice faltered for a moment as she changed her choice of words. “..Did the whole team mean nothing to you..?”

Starline felt his heart twist uncomfortably at her change in words, and the reminder of the Starpoint Squad’s sweet and jovial moments together. Sharing lunch at the cafe while discussing plans, him mentoring Hex on his robot designs, riding along with Rivet on one of her joyrides; all the days of triumph and tentative enjoyment, before his desires and deep fears of being vulnerable caused him to change course and pull away from them. Putting them out of his mind and leaving them behind to pursue his goal.

He finally stopped as well. “…As lovely as it all was and could have been... The fact of the matter is that a long term partnership would never have worked out between us, and you know it, Rivet.“ His tone had grown cold, almost like he was upset she was bringing it up. “Whatever commodore had back then is nothing more than a distant dream.. one that was meant to be awoken from eventually.”

He put a hand to his chest, feeling a mix of frustration and determination in his words. “This is the reality that was always going to happen. And I am meant for bigger things.”

Rivet stopped, ears rearing back as a clouded hurt hazed over her eyes. A wall had been put up that hadn’t been there before, and after a moment, she laughed, even though the sound was hollow. “…I see.“

Her voice then raised a bit more. “I had hoped when Hex and Lug told me you had sold your soul and became a monster that they were wrong. That you had a good reason for doing what you did to them.” She shook her head and a few tears were finally shed as she gave him a hurt look. “But after all I’ve seen today, I guess I was wrong about that, huh?”

Starline tried to ignore how that harrowed look made his chest tighten in pain. “I did what had to be done,” he declared firmly, tightening his fist. “It’s not my fault they happened to be convenient to my goal.”

His voice then dropped a bit as he narrowed his eyes. “And perhaps after today— you’ll find some better companions to associate with.”

This answer caused Rivet’s anger to stir, and she shouted as she launched forward at him.

Starline’s eyes darted to the control board next to him, and he quickly hit a button on the panel, unlocking a steam value. It blasted out and hit her, knocking her right over the edge of the catwalk.

She screeched and his heart thudded for a moment, realizing how far of a fall it was to the ground. But as he glanced over the railing, he saw that she had caught herself on the one of the pipes above the swirling pools of liquid. After a moment of being dazed, she shook her head and glared back up at him.

Starline felt a small chill at the cold look, but said nothing as he heard Tails’ voice approaching. Time to go. The fox would be able to save her if she could not save herself.

Without a second thought, Starline quickly summoned up a portal and made himself scarce, hoping through it and into the hallway they had come from originally. Now that the cat was mad, he had no interest in sticking around to deal with her.

He had done his part in playing the distraction.

Now it was time to go support Eggman.