#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. The one whom he had once briefly considered calling his other half…

…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 that 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 seemingly 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 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 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 in Rivet’s mind, and her mind cleared as she glanced to her bangled wrists, then back to the fox. “…Tails, quick— what do you think the output power of their laser fire is?”

“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 output power is probably around 300 watts??”

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

“Um, what are you planning to do?” Sonic asked warningly, sensing the freedom fighter just got an idea.

”Buy you guys some time,” 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.

“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. She must have a plan.

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

Rivet held out her hands, and the chambers around her wrists began to glow. Starline’s eyes widened a fraction as he registered what she was planning, and he held out his hand, seeing the critical flaw in his plan. “Wait, sir—!”

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 overheating and having 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 leapt atop the railing and pointed down into the clearing smoke. “I was TRYING to stop you so I could warn you about THAT!!”

“WHAAAAT?!” Eggman exclaimed, about losing his balance as he craned his neck and body over the edge of the railing as he registered what Starline was pointing at. The glowing figure amidst the clearing dust.

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, the wristlets now absorbing and defusing the energy into them, making them glow.

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

Rivet relaxed as the last of it dispersed into her gauntlets, and took a moment to observe them before perking up and laughing in jubilation. “Hahaha, YES! It worked!”

“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 these are new.” Rivet stated, looking over her shoulder at them with glowing eyes. “I wanted to be able to stand a better chance in fights, so I made these bracer gauntlets! The gems in them can absorb and store up energy!”

Her eyes sparked as she faced the robots again. “That counts for blaster fire too.” She tightened her fist and grinned. “Which means, thanks to the good doctor up there, I can now level the playing field a bit!”

“Grrr…!” Eggman’s brow furrowed against his forehead, and he turned on Starline, grabbing him by his coat and shaking the poor Doctor about furiously. “DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?? WHY DIDN’T YOU WARN ME 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-I swear! It’s been years since I last saw her, Doctor, and back then they were only a concept! It completely slipped my mind until now!”

“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 summoned up all that energy, channeling all of it into her fist. Rushing forwards a few steps with powered up shout, she stopped and drove it into the ground in front of them, cracking it.

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.. Sure..” Rivet grunted and pitched forward, landing on her knee and panting from the effort. “But first.. You gotta get that shield down. I bought you some time, but it won’t stop them for long. Huff.. huff..”

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 neat trick.”

In a flash, the hedgehog took off, launching himself straight for the struggling-to-recover Badnik Enforcers and managing to knock one back into the earth, cracking it’s exterior hull and damaging 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 into the system!” Tails told her, pressing harder on his tablet’s buttons before sending her a glance. “Can you keep them off my back for a bit longer?”

“Yeah, sure thing..” Rivet blew out her breath as she wiped her nose and prepped to fight again. “I’ll do what I can... You work your magic, genius child.”

Together, her and Sonic fought the newcomers, with the hedgehog ping ponging his way around the room like a speeding bullet, decimating the Badniks while Rivet battled away any strays coming for Tails as he hacked the security grid.

The two fighters eventually even teamed up and used 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, looking around for something to boost herself with, and dug her fist into the fallen Badnik’s broken hull, absorbing the small amount of power it still had.

She then used it to speed up her body to ‘flash’ forward a few feet through space to make a dash for the ladder. “I’ll catch them!”

“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.

“You up and disappear for years with no goodbye—no explanation as to where you’ve gone to. You ghost Hex and the rest of our calls; basically drop off the face of the planet despite seeming like you wanted to take us up on our offer.. And NOW I find you here all this time later, alongside HIM? Ready to let us die to his Badniks?”

She let out a small, frustrated scoff of hurt. “I can’t believe it. Are you really 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 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 all just 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!”

Tears were beginning to pool up in the corners of Rivet’s eyes as years of built-up strain and confusion broke forth as she pressed him. “Did that all mean nothing to you? Did the team..” Her voice faltered for a moment, before she gestured between the two of them. “..Did we mean nothing to you..?”

Starline felt his heart suddenly squeeze painfully at the reminder of his and the team’s moments together, before his deep hidden fears of being close and vulnerable with others caused him to lose his nerve. To put them all out of his mind and leave them behind in pursuit of his goal. Not that he would ever admit this to himself.

He finally stopped as well to look down. Letting the reminder of times long passed flood back into his mind briefly.

“..As lovely as it could have been... The fact of the matter is, we were always destined to be on opposite sides.” His tone had grown cold, almost like he was upset she was bringing it up. “Whatever we had back then was but a distant dream.. one that was meant to be awoken from eventually.”

He put a hand to his chest. “This is the reality that was always meant to happen. And I am meant for bigger things.”

Rivet pulled up short, ears rearing back in shock, before a clouded hurt hazed over her eyes. A wall had been put up that hadn’t been there before, and she laughed, even though it was hollow. “…I can’t believe this.“

She shook her head as her voice then raised a bit more. “You know, I didn’t want to believe them—Hex and Lug—when they told me you had changed. They told me you sold your soul and became a monster. I had hoped that they were wrong. That.. you had a good reason for doing what you did to them.” She dipped her head and a few tears finally fell. “I guess I was wrong though, huh?”

“I did what needed to be done,” Starline declared firmly. “It’s not my fault the two of them just so happened to be convenient to my goals.”

He grit his teeth. Although some small part of him argued against his next words, he spoke them anyways. “At the end of the day, this was always how things were going to go. And now I’m finally where I rightfully belong...”

Starline’s eyes darted to the control board next to him. New plan.

Just as he anticipated, this answer caused Rivet’s anger to stir, and she shouted as she launched forward at him. But Starline hit a button on the panel and unlocked a steam value, which then blasted out and hit her, knocking her right over the edge of the catwalk.

His heart thudded for a moment as he realized how far of a fall that was, but as he glanced over, he saw she had caught herself on the one of the pipes above one of 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 he 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 called up a portal and made himself scarce, hoping through it and it 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.