#also i just realized (hours later.) that i never said when mecha STOPPED playing music..... legend says its still blasting

[cyanocoraxx]

Damage (Chapter 23)

FFN / AO3

Wordcount: 13,464

A/N: In light of the events unfolding in Ukraine, I want to take a moment to give a warning that this chapter mentions the military, guns, and describes symptoms of PTSD. If these subjects are a sensitive matter for you at this time, please take care of yourself and either read with caution or skip for now - if you'd like a summary of what happens instead please just message me. Also, I'd be very grateful if you could take a moment to sign any petition you can find to get Britain to accept Ukrainian refugees into this country.

---------

It was about time that someone fixed that damn roof after a week of it being very broken. And since Neo was the one who broke it, he was hard at work with Silver.

Neo carefully placed a wooden board across the hole, calculating the angle with precision. He then knelt down and started to hammer a nail in one end. Silver crouched at the other and copied him, glancing up occasionally to check that he was doing it right. On the fifth glance, he accidentally hit his finger with his hammer and beeped in surprise.

"Nice job," Neo signed, and then finger-spelled, "superbitch."

"Once again I say, you have no leg to stand on with a super original name like Metal S-" Silver promptly fell through the roof with a squeak.

Mecha didn't look up from his book as Silver fell in a heap by his feet. "Greetings."

Silver glared up through the ceiling hole at Neo, who was looking down on him rather smugly. "Hey, M." He said through grit teeth.

"The door is in that direction." Mecha simply said, nodding his head to the office door. "You would be wise to use it in the future as opposed to the ceiling."

"You two think you're sooooo funny..." Silver muttered, climbing to his feet and brushing himself off.

"Negative. I believe that we are hysterical." Mecha responded.

Mecha finally looked up from his book to give Neo an air high-five, which Neo returned with a smirk in his optics. Silver stuck his tongue out at Neo as he climbed up the stack of shelves, scaling them with ease, and climbed back onto the roof. He shifted over to sit by his sibling and picked up his hammer one more time.

From behind them, a blue Flicky from the warehouse fluttered up to Neo's shoulder and perched there. Neo froze in place as if moving would injure the small animal. He turned his head ever so slightly and found the bird preening itself calmly.

"Okay, I'm not gonna say anything about that lest it causes you another existential crisis..." Silver commented, returning to his work. "You already have too many crisises."

"Crises." Mecha corrected him from below.

The pair were quiet for a while, trying to focus on the repair work. About fifteen minutes passed. With the roof finally fixed, Silver and Neo stood and admired their handiwork.

"I think we did good." Silver declared, looking to Neo for his approval.

"I did good." Neo corrected him. "You hammered your own hand six times."

"We're doing this? Rich, coming from the Princess who couldn't build her own empire."

Neo shot him a look before signing back, "It was perfect. How many empires have you built?"

"N- Oh... Oh Chaos, Neo... What's wrong with your face?" Silver said with a dramatic gasp.

"What?" Neo squinted at him.

"Oh, wait- you always look like that? Yikes. I'm so sorry. Get well soon, bro." Silver answered him with fake sympathy.

"I can't fucking stand you." Neo signed before holding his head in one hand.

"Then sit down, idiot. That's the easiest solution." Silver retorted with a shrug. A sly grin started to form on his face. Riling his older brother was so fun, he couldn't help it.

They stared each other down for a long moment, Silver's taunting grin only growing wider. He was just asking for an ass-kicking now, so that's exactly what he got. Neo tackled his little brother to the ground and tried to pin him, but Silver wrestled him off repeatedly.

"Are you mad? Do my quips make you want to hurt me?" Silver laughed as he held Neo off of him.

Neo let Silver hold him up so that he could sign back, "I'm just a little bit absolutely livid."

"I was going for wrathful. Furious. Incensed, if you will..." Silver replied with a smirk.

Neo growled as he finally overpowered his little brother. He took one of his hands and made him lightly hit himself in the face. "Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."

"I don't know what you're saying but it's probably something stupid like stop hitting yourself." Silver muttered, making little attempt to stop the onslaught. He paused to reach up to his ear with his free hand as Mecha was calling him.

"Stop taunting him." Mecha said plainly. Silver heard him turn the page of his book and pouted at his brother's indifference.

"But they started it!" Silver argued back. Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.

"You are escalating it. Stop." Mecha said.

"I did not start it." Neo privately told Mecha.

"I know." Mecha turned the next page of his book. "Do not make me come up there. I am occupied at this time."

Silver finally shoved Neo off of him. The two laid on the ground looking at each other, one smiling, the other glaring.

"Supershit."

"Sparky."

"Princess Neo."

"Shit Sonic."

"That's stupid. That doesn't even make sense."

"That is your name."

"Source?"

A smug finger-spelling of, "HDMI1."

"... You out-witted me. Congrats." Silver finally admitted. He reached over and beckoned for Neo's blue Flicky to hop onto his arm. It obliged with a cheep, but pecked at his armour for good measure as it hopped its way up onto his head. Silver stayed very still, half-expecting it to take a dump on him like the last one did.

Neo gave a wink before getting up. He held out a hand to Silver, who took it, and pulled him up to his feet. He gave his little brother a rough pat on the shoulder before jumping down to the earth below. Silver jumped down behind him, landing heavily on both feet. Neo revved his engine at him and pushed him by his shoulder, and Silver returned the favour, revving his much louder. The Flicky scrambled and flew away, disturbed by the loud noises.

"We gotta start planning for tomorrow." Silver reminded Neo with a nudge to his side.

Neo nodded, but kept up his attempts to annoy his brother at the same time.

"Are you quite finished." Mecha flatly asked in Silver's ear. "I am attempting to obtain information from this written source. You are disrupting the process."

Silver sheepishly smiled and scratched his head. "Sorry. Also, you can just call it reading..."

Neo deliberately bumped into Silver's side before walking through the warehouse's back door. Neo, having not heard Mecha himself, turned around to rev his engine at Silver again on the way.

"Shut up, bro. You're bothering her." Silver whispered, playfully grinning at him. His optics flicked behind Neo as he watched Mecha approach from the office room.

Neo soon stopped when he bumped into something big and metallic behind him. He paused, before slowly looking up and over his shoulder.

Mecha stared down at him. "Sibling."

"Sibling."

"Must you produce excessive sound in that manner." Mecha stated more than asked.

"Told ya," Silver said smugly, folding his arms, "and 'sup, M. Sorry that Neo was so disruptive."

Mecha looked over to Silver and inclined his head, inviting him to admit his wrongdoings.

Silver shrank back with a sheepish grin. "Okay. I was also kind of annoying."

"Thank you." Mecha replied, before taking a step back from them. "We must avoid drawing attention to ourselves..." As if to underline his words, a train thundered by outside. He waited for it to pass. "We must avoid being found in this location by the wrong people."

Neo and Silver traded suspicious looks.

"Whatever you are planning, I suggest that you stop it." Mecha said, holding his head in one hand. A blinking popup in his vision told him he needed to go into sleep mode soon for de-fragging. He turned and walked back into the office room for some peace and quiet, leaving his siblings to their "fun."

----------------

Mecha woke up. It was eight in the morning. Mecha woke up. It was midnight. It was Wednesday. He checked his internal clock. It said Sunday. The seconds ticked by too fast and too slow. The minutes were still. The hours didn't exist. It was Monday. He was sure his CPU was melting, spilling bright, metallic silver across the floor, the floor melting.  A mix of colours obscured his view. He craved violence. As the colours faded out, he still craved violence. He wanted to think it was just the colours. It should have been. Maybe he was always this way. Battery acid poured into his head. He could feel static in his hands.

He hadn't moved but the room hadn't stopped spinning. He couldn't tell which way was forward.

Mecha woke up. He didn't remember himself, the need to get out screamed at him, the virus burned holes in his memory - who was he? They told him his name and the lights clicked on, a familiar face hit him. He needed to go home. There was another person in the room. He needed to get out. He needed to go home. They're the ones who ruined him. They did this. Violence. Violence.

He laid on the borderline between a nightmare and consciousness. He could hear a conversation on one side, but couldn't tell which was which. He forced his vocalizer on to speak. Nothing came out. He tried again, and again, and again, and the conversation was long gone.

"LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO."

Mecha felt a hand choking him but there was no hand. He couldn't breathe. He had no lungs. It was his own hand.

He was asleep, wasn't he? He wasn't sure. He didn't know if it was real. He didn't know if he was real. But it felt so real. He had to run, they were hunting him. He didn't know what happened. But they had hunted him and they had caught him. They hurt him and killed his mind and he thought it was finally over every time his CPU crashed. But it wasn't.

He woke up with the thought RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN KILL.

"Hey, hey... we've got you, steady..." Silver calmly murmured by his ear.

Mecha snapped back to "reality" in the arms of his siblings. He looked ahead to find a place he didn't recognize. He tried to leave, pulling as hard as he could away from his siblings. He tried again. He was scared.

Neo held onto him tightly. "You are safe."

Mecha strained harder against Neo and Silver. The words all sounded the same. "I will kill you. I will kill you. I have to kill you."

Silver freed one arm to gently rub Mecha's back. "We know, bro, we know."

"I must kill you. I will kill you. I have to... have to..."

Silver kept comforting him, rubbing circles now. "Yeah, we know. You're doing great, bro."

Something finally clicked in Mecha's head. He slowly sank back into the comfort of his siblings' arms. "I-"

Neo cut him off before he could say it. "Don't apologize."

Mecha nodded. "Understood."

Neo tilted his head as he had a thought. "Let me check on your firewall. I can make some updates if required."

A sly smile came over Silver's face as he realized what Neo was really planning.

Mecha nodded and allowed Neo to access his security settings. Neo quickly made up an update package, one that would take several hours to install, and sent it to him. He put a hand on Mecha's shoulder and a smile came over his optics.

"I suggest that you go into standby as the updates install. It should speed up the process, as you'll have more RAM free to process them."

"Affirmative. I shall be offline for an estimated twelve hours," Mecha obliged, trusting his brother's judgement and smarts, "but I implore you, do not produce more excessive noise in the process." He leaned back against the wall and went into low power mode, and then standby. His wrist lights came online and stayed on as he remained in this vulnerable state.

Neo and Silver exchanged triumphant looks.

Silver bounced up to his feet and clenched a fist in front of his chest. "Let's get this party started."

Neo mockingly put a finger up to Silver's muzzle to hush him.

Silver dropped his voice to a whisper and gave a quiet, "woohoo."

-------

"HAPPY CONSTRUCTION DAY!"

Mecha looked up from his book, having come online a few minutes ago. He tilted his head to one side. "What."

Silver and Neo stood in the doorway, looking awfully suspicious. Neither of them said anything, and Mecha tilted his head the other way.

Silver sauntered over to him, presented a party hat from behind his back, and neatly put it on top of Mecha's head.

Mecha consulted his databanks and found that, indeed, he had been functioning for one year since the date of his construction. He shrugged a shoulder and went back to reading his book. "Interesting."

Silver leaned down over Mecha's book, blocking his view of it. "We gotta celebrate. C'mon."

Mecha looked up at him, puzzled. "This date holds no particular value to me."

"Don't be like that! We have a surprise for you." Silver urged him. Neo gave a nod behind him.

Silver took Mecha's hand and tugged him up to his feet, prompting Mecha to put his book down on the chair behind him. Despite Mecha's protests, Neo took his other hand and the two walked him out of the office and onto the main floor.

"This is not necessary..." Mecha murmured, still finding little significance in that day's date.

The light snapped on, and to his surprise, people stood waiting to greet him - Pisces and their sibling, Sonic, and Tails.

Pisces pulled a party popper and blowed a party horn, while their sibling threw confetti ceremoniously over the robots.

"Happy birthday!" Pisces yelled over their party horn.

"Happy activation day!" The ex-GUN agent congratulated him.

"Happy operation day!" Tails cheered, beaming with optimism.

"Happy powering on day!" Sonic applauded him with a hearty clap.

"Happy surviving-one-year day!" Silver added with a grin.

Before them, a paper banner was hung across the warehouse wall that read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MECHA!" and was signed by everyone present.

Mecha stood still, completely puzzled and taken aback. He looked to Silver and Neo. "What is the meaning of this."

"Happy Mecha Sonic day." Neo finished, putting a hand on Mecha's shoulder. Mecha turned his head to look at him, and Neo bumped his forehead to his, a smile clear in his optics as he did.

"It's because you're important, M." Silver told him with a smile. "And living for one whole year is a huge thing for a hedgehog-series."

"I suppose it is." Mecha finally agreed with a nod. Most hedgehog-series lasted but a week, if that. Most didn't last one battle.

The humans got settled on the makeshift sofa of pillows and crates on the floor and tucked into the snacks they had brought for themselves.

"So? What's your sign, sign-less person?" Silver asked, sliding over to sit by the two humans.

The ex-GUN agent cast a glance to Pisces, who sheepishly grinned back at them as if to say 'I told you he'd ask.' They took a breath before saying, "Aquarius."

Silver gasped with this revelation. "Oh... Oh it makes so much sense now... An Aquarius and an Aquarius... it's no wonder you teamed up."

Aquarius II laughed and reached out to shake Silver's hand, who returned the shake a little too firmly. "You said it, Sagittarius. Or should I call you Superbot now?"

Silver beamed with pride. "You know about that?"

Pisces snickered and reached over to pat the robot's shoulder. "Everyone knows about it now, kid. You guys are local heroes. You're all over the news."

"That's so cool. So, uh... what do you think of our murder lair? We have games and plenty of cardboard. Humans like cardboard, right?" Silver gestured to the many crates and empty packages, left behind by the warehouse's previous occupants. "Feel free to take some home if you wanna."

Aquarius II laughed over a mouthful of popcorn. "I'm good, thanks." They reached into their bag and took out a card, holding it up to Mecha. Mecha took it and opened it inquisitively. Inside was a printout of a CAPTCHA puzzle - select all birthday cakes below. Nine images of birthday cakes sat below the text. A laugh escaped Mecha as he read it, and he moved to sit down by his human saviour.

"Humour detected in this conversation. Conclusion: amusing. Executing laugh file." Mecha said, deliberately as robotic as possible, and then laughed.

"Glad to see you're still funny." Aquarius II congratulated him with a fond smile.

Mecha clapped his hands together. "Attention all attendees. I propose that we engage in some "gaming" activity." He got the game set up on the TV screen and expertly navigated to the multiplayer option. He held out the controller to his little sibling.

"Silver. It is my birthday. Thus, you must bring home victory." Mecha told him seriously.

Silver took the controller and got serious. "You can count on me, bro. Happy freaking birthday."

Neo sat down beside Silver and watched intently. Tails and Sonic sat on Mecha's other side, curious to see just how good the 'bots had gotten at their games now - it had been months since they last played with them, after all.

Silver un-muted his mic as the lobby loaded. "'Sup, gamers. I'm here to thrash you all."

"Who's this squeaker- Silver... if that's your REAL name..." A player in the lobby said, having checked Silver's profile.

"It's Silver Sonic the second, actually." Silver replied with a shrug and a smirk, although they couldn't see it.

"It's actually garbage! And I'm gonna take out the trash!"

"Wait, you're serious? You want to 1-v-1 me? Look at your level! Now look at mine! And look at yours again..."

"Shut up noob! Levels aren't everything!" The other player yelled back at him.

Silver grinned dangerously. "Pray to your god... but know, I won't be listening."

Mecha put his hands on his little brother's shoulders. "Do not lose."

Silver won the round with flying colours, expertly taking out the enemy team. He triumphantly handed the controller to Neo, looking as smug as can be. "Show 'em what we're made of, bro."

Neo got to work, not quite as experienced as his little brother, but still extremely skilled nonetheless. He pushed his killer programming into working the game, looking for patterns in other players' movements, predicting what they would do next - it all came naturally for a murder robot. But the silence clearly irked the opposing team, who had been readily trading insults with Silver before.

"The squeaker muted his mic!" One of them declared with a laugh.

Silver turned his mic back on in Neo's place. "I wish someone would mute yours."

"Wha- Little shit! You're so dead, shut the hell up!"

"Me, little? Your tiny human brain can easily be emulated on my calculator."

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?!"

"No, but your mum never complained."

A resounding "OOOOHHHHH" from the lobby. Sonic and Pisces fell back laughing, while Aquarius II snacked harder on their popcorn, enjoying the robot drama.

"I have your address. I know where you live, squeaker!" The opposing player tried to taunt him.

"You don't. I promise you," Silver said with a smirk, "but I can find where you live, though."

Neo took down the player's character once again, prompting the player to scream through the mic.

"YOU'RE MODDING! Someone ban this kid!"

"I have your address. Tell your mum to get me a cup of motor oil, I'll be home soon." Silver whispered into his mic with a grin.

Neo got a headshot on the player, securing their team's victory for that round.

"I am the champion." Neo proudly signed after placing his controller down.

"Yeah, but I beat you so many times so does it still count?" Silver nudged him in the side with a smirk.

"Of course it does."

"Does it though? And how many tournaments have you won on your own?"

"I don't know, how many empires have you conquered?"

"None. But how many Sonics have you beaten?"

"How many times have you been in a fight without nearly dying?"

"Can I fight now?" Silver asked, picking up the controller.

"YES." Everyone said in unison, eager to stop them from scrapping.

The 'bots went another round until it was Mecha's turn. Mecha took the controller and got settled in front of the screen, knowing that this was the round that would secure their team's win. No pressure. Not that Mecha could really experience such a thing without some kind of trauma fuelling his emotions.

"Allow me." Mecha said as their team dropped into the lobby.

"Did the squeaker hit puberty?!"

"Maybe he got scared and ran to his daddy!"

"Loser! Loser!"

"Your IP address is 189 . 226 . 134 . 63," Mecha said flatly, "and your phone number is 07911 872211."

"... Who the hell are you?!"

"I am Murder Machine," Mecha replied, leaning forward a little although they couldn't see him, "and it is my birthday."

He then pulled the winning shot, and the scoreboard came up, declaring their side as the winning one. He sat back, almost looking smug about it. Their profile was inundated with friend requests from others in their team.

"That was badass!" Pisces cheered from behind him, clapping excitedly.

Sonic patted the robot on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up. "Nice one. You got 'em good."

Neo watched the interaction and, for a moment, felt a scowl coming over his face. No, he wouldn't ruin Mecha's good day. He looked away and folded his arms.

Mecha gave a nod. "Affirmative. I believe I showed them who's boss."

"Hell yeah, boss bot." Sonic agreed with him, reaching out to fist-bump him. The robot returned the gesture.

Tails leaned over to congratulate him too. "Yeah, that was awesome! You guys still got it!"

Neo excused himself, feeling his bad mood creeping up on him. Luckily, nobody noticed, as they were too busy celebrating their victory.

Silver bounded away and then returned with an envelope. He handed it out to Mecha, who took it and examined it curiously. He carefully opened it and took out a piece of paper. On it was a drawing of him, obviously drawn by a small child, with a cape and a knife in one hand. Below the drawing were the words "Happy Birthday Murder Machine!" Mecha looked at it with a distinct fondness, softening his grip of the paper as if holding it tighter might hurt it somehow. He disappeared into the office room, where he pinned the drawing up on the wall by the computer.

"I continue to be afraid most days. That will not change. But, today..."

Mecha stepped back to look at the drawing on the wall, confetti tipping off of the tips of his ears and spines onto the floor.

"I think I won."

The prize was happiness.

Tails walked into the office room behind him, and Mecha turned his head to look at him. "Greetings, Miles."

"Hey, Mecha... I, um..." Tails started nervously, holding his hands together as he approached. "I wanted to say um, thanks."

Mecha turned around to regard him. He tilted his head to one side. "What is your gratitude for?" His voice had noticeably more inflection than normal.

Tails stopped in front of him, looking up at him. He didn't really take in how much bigger Mecha was compared to their siblings until now. The darker paint, the taller frame, the deeper and monotone voice, the stockier build, all made him seem just that bit more menacing. His softer personality and gentleness were completely antipodal to his looks.

"You protected me," Tails managed to say, a smile slowly forming on his face, "and Sonic won't say it but... we could have died back there. If it wasn't for you, we'd be toast."

Mecha watched the smile come over the little fox with curiosity. Without really thinking about it, his shoulders squared back and his visor brightened just a little, his own version of smiling. "I appreciate your gratitude and have logged it for future consultation." As slowly and gently as he could, he knelt down to be on the fox's level, aware that he might have been intimidating him. "It was not a problem to me. By extension, you are family - thus it is my duty to protect you, as I would protect my own siblings."

Tails' nervousness dissipated at the robot's clear efforts to be less frightening. He cast a glance back at the door to see if anyone was watching, before jumping forwards and hugging Mecha around his middle. Mecha froze, worried that he might harm the organic by returning the gesture, but he couldn't help himself. Very slowly and carefully, he put his arms around Tails.

"You're really cool, Mecha." Tails told him, looking up to meet the robot's soft yet protective gaze.

Mecha startled, thinking his touch was too cold. He removed his hands from Tails' back and froze in place. "I apologize. I can increase my surface temperature by several degrees if you-"

Tails laughed, only hugging him tighter. "No, I meant you're cool cool! You're like the cool big robot brother I never had."

With the elaboration, Mecha carefully put his hands back in place. "You are like the small organic creature of a sibling I never had."

After a moment, they pulled away and stood up. Tails looked up at him with adoration clear in his eyes.

"Like Sonic said, welcome to the family. It's good to have you here."

-----

Neo stalked off to the bathroom to be alone. He shut the door behind him and placed his hands on the sink, looking down at the plughole as if blaming it for his foul mood. He turned his head left, then right, and then reached up to cover his ears with his hands. A voice kept whispering in his ears. A halted, dissentient stutter, and he was frozen, helpless, mechanical.

Neo lifted his head and looked in the bathroom mirror in front of him.

Defect. Aberration. Glitch. Malfunction. ERROR. His reflection distorted, a burst of pixelated colours, harsh and intense.

"No one wants you, Neo."

His reflection spoke back to him. He stared at it.

"You couldn't save your little brother. He died right next to you. You couldn't save your older brother. He was taken away and tortured. You locked our creator away like a prisoner. Who's next? People around you aren't safe. Accept it. Accept it. Accept it."

Neo shook his head and tore his optics away. But some unseen force dragged them back to his reflection.

"Accept me. You won't be weak. You won't be scared. Ever, ever again. Look at you. You're weak. Fearful. Trust me. Let me in, Neo. I can help. Trust me. I'm here. They all left you. But I'm here. Let me in."

Neo gripped the sides of the mirror. You're wrong. You're wrong. Shut up.

"No longer afraid of anything, isn't that what you said? You lie. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar."

Neo's grip left a crack in the top corner. Shut up. Shut up. Shut. Up.

"I can make you strong. You are weak right now. Your alliances make you weak. Kill them. Kill them all. It's what you were made for."

You have no power over me. Be quiet. I silenced you.

"I will always be here. You can't escape what we are."

Neo hesitated. His arms ached. His head ached. His wings ached. No, that couldn't be right. He didn't have those anymore.

We? There is no we.

"You fool. You forget yourself. You forget where you stand."

Neo pulled back a little and studied his reflection. His optics searched over it with growing franticness, brightening in realization. He didn't - he couldn't - he didn't trust anything. His own reflection changed shape when he looked away. He looked back. He couldn't remember what he was supposed to look like anymore.

"We will always be Metal Sonic. A new name and new paint will never bury who we are."

Metal Sonic. A redundant name that his father had given him. A four-letter word that meant less to him than "shit" or "fuck." He didn't like the way it felt in his vocalizer or the way his HUD still labeled him as such in his peripheral vision above his vitals. He wished he could spit it out into some trash can where it might reach the very bottom. The cruel irony that his greatest enemy's name was tacked onto his own tormented him. His creator had given him a name and then alienated him from himself.

He rejected it.

My name is Neo.

"Metal Sonic."

Neo.

"Metal Sonic. Drop this act. We are a killer. They will die or you will kill them. Accept it."

Neo finally had enough. He slammed a closed fist into the glass, shattering it in the middle. He held it there for a long moment, glaring at his own shattered reflection.

He hated mirrors, he decided.

Neo marched out of the back door and slammed his power into his engine. He had half a mind to fly away and be angry somewhere else, but took himself up to the roof instead. He landed and immediately started pacing around, angrily staring at the ground as he did.

I can't be happy. And I know I won't be, I don't deserve it. I can try to fill up this void with distractions, but it never lasts. It is not supposed to. I was never meant to last. I was not built to last. I was never meant to live this long.

If there was anything to punch or kick up there on the roof, he probably would have. He settled for agitated wandering instead, thinking that he was well and truly alone. Infuriatingly so, he was not.

"Hey, gruesome. Got a minute?"

Neo stopped as if frozen in time. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder to find that accursed blue hedgehog behind him.

"No." Neo responded curtly. He tapped his claws against his arm plating and discarded his thoughts, as if Sonic might see them. He hated the idea of that hedgehog getting into his head more than he already had.

"... You know, you saved my life."

"So what."

"It's kind of a big deal."

Neo turned around to let Sonic see the irritation in his optics. "No. It is not."

"Metal, you don't have to be like that."

A moment of silence between them. Neo almost felt guilty. Sonic was still treating him so kindly when he spat venom in his face and shoved him away. He hated this guilt. It felt foreign. It didn't sit right with him, a heavy led weight in his chest.

"... I'm sorry." Neo hissed quietly, but he wasn't sure what for. Could be for the sudden, impromptu invite to Mecha's birthday party, could be for the grudge he was most likely always going to hold, could be for something else that he could not know or understand; but either way, he didn't care, he decided. He crossed his arms in a show of distrust, revealing nothing, but a lot at the same time. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Neo and Sonic stared at each other for another long moment - the robot closed off and confrontational, the hedgehog open and willing to put up with his bad mood.

"So... do you feel safe here, in this new home?" Sonic asked with a smile, trying to make casual conversation.

"I do not know. Should I? Should I not?" Neo looked up to meet his eyes, his own flashing steel. "Do you think I should be afraid of you?"

"Well. That escalated quickly." Sonic commented. He took a few steps to stand closer to him Neo, but still put himself a few feet apart from him. "I know you're not afraid of me. I wouldn't want you to be. If you were, I'd be very concerned, actually."

"Good. At least we agree on something," Neo said curtly, turning slightly away from him, "now what do you want from me."

"Just a catch-up, bud. That's all." Sonic said. He watched as Neo moved to sit down on the edge of the roof.

"I will humour you, hedgehog. Speak." Neo said with a grumble. Tap. Tap. Tap. One last tap.

"We still doing that "hedgehog" thing? Look... you don't have to stay the same forever. Every day brings the chance to do something new," Sonic said, gently lowering himself down to sit beside Neo, who still did not look up to face him, "so what will that change about you?"

Neo looked away. "Nothing." His train of thought said something different. It was always you. Your unutterable name. This deadlock in my voice synthesizer. You will always be "hedgehog" to me, even if I threw my life away for yours.

"You're allowed to move on, Neo." Sonic told him, trying his best to not sound condescending, but a tiny part of him cringed at it.

Both of them wondered the same thing at the same time - am I doing this right? Am I doing this right?

Neo wasn't sure why he was feeling so sad about those words instead of pissed off. He looked up to meet Sonic's eyes again, the hedgehog once again smiling, always so detestably good-hearted and kind. It was awful. Disgusting. Horrible. The worst insult. They had been through this song and dance once already, on that dimly-lit city street in the rain. But they say that lightning never strikes twice, and they're right. The second time they stood this close to each other was less of a thunderstorm and more of a quiet downpour. A small quietness, not underlined by chaos, but a mutual need for something. For what, Neo wasn't sure, or he pretended to be unsure.

Deep down, he knew. He knew the Sonic part of his very core demanded familial ties.

Neo sharply stood up and turned away, folding his arms. "Don't look at me like that."

Sonic looked up at the robot's back. "Like what?"

Neo looked over his shoulder. "Like I matter to you." You are not allowed to do that.

Sonic considered that for a moment, frowning in thought. "You know... you're the one person in the world I thought I wouldn't miss. Because I never thought for one second that there would be a time you'd never come back."

Neo was silent, desperately putting on a show of indifference, but the small flinch at that choice of words gave him away.

Sonic took a breath. "But that time? I wasn't so sure you'd come back."

"I mean nothing to most," Neo countered sharply, "my absence should not have been mourned. Not by you."

Sonic grimaced for just a second at the response. You mean something to me. He stood up, and Neo only took another step away from him, closing his body language off further. He turned his head away and looked down at the ground, wishing it would swallow him whole.

"Stop coming near me. It hurts to look at you."

"Why?"

"Because," Neo said, not without difficulty, "there is a certain kind of pain that I only ever feel when I am near to you. You are a living reminder of what I cannot be. You are kind, and strong. Your soul is wrought from hopes and dreams while mine is made from iron and bloodshed."

"You're wrong," Sonic told him firmly, "because you're a good person when you want to be."

Neo gave a sharp hiss and glared over his shoulder at the hedgehog. "Why do you get to pretend that you know me?" He seethed, venom spitting in his voice, amazingly so even though he could only speak in controlled beeps. "I don't even get to know me!" He finally turned back around on his heel, meeting his arch-enemy's eyes with blood and malice in his own.

"You killed yourself for me," Sonic said plainly, "someone who isn't kind or strong wouldn't have risked that. You know that, right?"

Neo broke eye contact, looking away now. "I thought I made myself strong enough that nobody would try to put a dent in me." He moved to sit down on the edge again, refusing to look at the hedgehog. "But I lied, and I hurt. I despise the fact that you have witnessed me at my weakest."

"Yeah." Sonic sat down beside him, unafraid. "And aren't you amazing, in spite of that?"

Neo shook his head. He could not help the ugly that flowed through his circuitry. The months of dirt and evil that flooded him. His next words came easily, perhaps too easily - a default setting that he allowed to activate, because it was easier than fighting it off.

"I hate you." Neo said, because he did.

"I know." Sonic replied, because he did.

"Good. You should."

"So why did you do it?" Sonic finally asked. He leaned forward, trying to meet the robot's optics. "Why did you do that if you really do hate me that much?" Then, in his own head, he remembered the fall. He didn't even take in the fact that he had been falling until he hit the ground in Neo's arms, and he didn't feel anything until the pain registered in the back of his head, the crack of metal against his back resonating in his ears. He darkly remembered that Neo could feel pain like he did.

Neo lifted his head, looking out to the sky. He was quiet for several long moments, considering what to say. His hands clenched into fists again, a strange sort of adrenaline sparking through his body as he turned his head and said,

"Because I..." Neo stopped, confused and taken aback by what he was going to say, "cared about you."

"Huh." Sonic sat back and smiled a little. "You know, for a guy supposedly only made of iron, you have a heart a lot like mine."

Neo shook his head at that but said nothing. He let the silence hang in the air. It was a feeble act of control for him, sinking his claws into anything that would let him dominate his feelings right now.

"Hey, you know... you're family to me." Sonic ventured after some time. "Not only do you have my DNA, but... we understand each other. Not just on a surface level, I mean. I understand what you say. I've known you since you were first born. You also wouldn't have ever existed if I didn't. We're closer than you think, even if you hate it."

A blue Flicky bounced up behind them and hopped onto Sonic's shoulder, nuzzling into him with a series of cheeps and chirps. And then, a moment later, a second blue Flicky fluttered up to Neo and sat on his shoulder. It preened itself peacefully. The Metal Sonic of the past would have taken that bird in its hand and crushed it for daring to imply that it was anything like the hedgehog. The Metal Sonic of the present let it stay. He tuned out the quiet voice in his ear telling him to revert.

"I wanted to thank you." Sonic continued, figuring that Neo wasn't going to respond to him.

Neo narrowed his optics and stayed silent. He glared at the sky as if doing so might make it come down and take him out of this horrible conversation.

"Thank you for what you did," Sonic said, "and I would say that I kinda owe you my life but, that's a bit of a redundant thing to say considering... you know."

Neo gave the smallest scoff of dry amusement at that. "Considering that I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you?"

"Yep. That's it." Sonic replied with a smirk. Got him.

"On the contrary, I believe we are even," Neo said after a long minute, "because you risked your life for our little brother." He flinched and stopped, realizing his slip-up. Our brother. As he sat stunned by his own "mistake", Sonic stood up and smiled, stretching his arms up and out casually.

"Welp. I'll see you around, bro." Sonic turned and started to walk away, deliberately slow, so deliberately and evilly slow - and stopped when he heard Neo getting up. He half-expected a vengeful punch in the back or perhaps another verbal chewing-out.

"Thank you."

Sonic didn't look back at him. "For what?"

"For accepting me as..." Neo stopped, unable to finish that sentence.

Sonic smiled, knowing what he was going to say. "Yeah, no problem. Hedgehogs gotta stick together, you know?"

Neo watched him walk away, unsure of what to think or do.

"You were made for this." The voice in his ear told him.

Yes.

The voice grew quieter. "That just means you're going to die for it."

I already have. I already did.

Despite their unending list of similarities, and binding by blood, Neo and Sonic trying to understand one another was much like trying to light a fire in the rain. But, even with the obvious resistance from the one holding the match, a couple of resilient sparks managed to shine through, lighting up a storm for a few brilliant seconds - and Neo was one with any storm that came along with him.

Neo caught up to Sonic and walked beside him, but not without some distance between them both.

"Hmm?" Sonic turned his head to look at him.

"We need a rematch." Neo reminded him, a dangerous glint coming over his optics.

"Yeah, we do." Sonic agreed, a determined look finding him. He assumed that Neo meant a race or a physical fight.

"Let us play that game," Neo proposed instead, "and we will see who the best hedgehog really is."

Oh. Sonic laughed and nudged him. "Oh, you're on, gruesome."

"Shut up, hedgehog."

"I think I know why ya said it hurts to look at me."

"Hmm?"

At the same time, they both said;

"Because it's like looking in the world's ugliest mirror."

"Because it's like looking in the world's ugliest mirror."

The flesh-hog and robo-hog looked at each other for a second.

Neo so hated mirrors.

"See? So alike." Sonic reiterated himself with a satisfied grin.

"Watch it, hedgehog." Neo replied, rolling his optics at him.

"Wait so, if we share DNA, and you got it from me, does that make me your bro or your..."

Neo put a finger up to Sonic's muzzle to silence him. "Do not finish that sentence."

The two of them jumped down from the roof and walked back inside - all eyes were on them right away.

"Nobody look at me..." Neo grumbled to himself as he sat down by the TV and got a different game set up.

Sonic sat beside him. Everyone continued to stare, especially so as Neo passed a second controller to his organic double. The game that booted up was a racing game.

"This is gonna be good!" Pisces whispered to Aquarius II, who nodded and watched intently.

"Aren't they arch enemies though?" Aquarius II asked quietly, confused by the interaction.

"I think that's kind of the point of this..." Pisces commented.

"A race, huh? Nice." Sonic proclaimed, shifting to get comfortable. "So now we can get down to the real fight. The last Sonic standing will be the winner."

Neo picked a red car and Sonic picked a blue one. Three, two, one... go!

The race started with a bang. Neo and Sonic stayed neck-and-neck for some time, both frowning with intensity at the screen as they tried to best each other. To add to the mood, Mecha picked a dubstep audio file and played it aloud through his speakers. The added atmosphere pushed the hedgehogs harder, Neo narrowing his optics and Sonic gritting his teeth and tightening his grip on the controller in his hands. Neo's pride got the better of him and he made sure to swerve dramatically around a corner to show off to Sonic. Sonic overtook him with a sly grin, and Neo hissed at his moment of weakness. Being a veteran of racing games himself, Sonic took his moment ahead to show off too, drifting around the next corner on purpose. Neo got his own back by overtaking with a boost - and crossed the finish line just a split second before the flesh-hog.

Neo won and he would make sure that Sonic knew it. He altered his screen to show a smiley face and wagged a finger at him.

"This world wasn't big enough for both of us and one of us had to go."

"Good game. My heart's racing after that..." Sonic congratulated him, admitting defeat. He sat back and put his controller down, Tails patting him on the shoulder to console him.

Silver nudged Mecha and leaned over to whisper in his ear, "wow. Lord Neo got his first-ever W against-"

Neo sharply looked over his shoulder at his sibling and signed, "you're not funny."

"Who?" Silver asked, feigning ignorance.

"You." Neo elaborated.

"No, who asked?" Silver elaborated himself with a taunting smirk.

"Want to hear a joke?" Neo asked, handing Sonic's controller to Silver.

"Bring it." Silver replied, not taking it just yet.

"Super form." Neo signed smugly.

"I don't get it..." Silver tilted his head, confused.

"And you never will." Neo prodded Silver's nose condescendingly.

Silver took the controller after a moment, pouting at his sibling. "That was so mean. I could have one, you know."

"The last Sonic standing will be the winner," Neo declared, sitting back in a way that mirrored Sonic almost perfectly, "and we have two more Sonics to race."

-----

The party disbanded by the time night came around. Everyone went their separate ways after saying their goodbyes, with promises to meet up again for another gaming session later that week. Mecha pulled the back door shut and locked it, wandering calmly back onto the main floor to join his brothers as they recovered from the social interaction. They were quiet for some time, Silver accepting friend requests on his profile, Mecha clearing up the mess, and Neo checking their security to make sure that nobody was waiting outside for them.

An hour later, the three robots were standing in the office room as Silver answered a call to his phone.

"Hello, this is the car repair shop. We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty." Silver wandered around as he replied. "I am taking this seriously! Yeah. Mhmm. This is my serious voice! For realsies. Okay. No prob. We'll be there."

Neo drummed his claws on the stack of shelves he was leaning back against impatiently. Mecha tilted his head to one side inquisitively.

"Ladies..." Silver turned to his brothers and grinned, intertwining his hands behind his back. The dark of the room cast an ominous shadow across his face as he leaned forward and said, "daddy's paying us a visit."

Mecha looked at him, unable to be more deadpan if he tried. "The dramatics are not necessary."

Silver leaned back on his heels and shrugged, the shadows quickly leaving his face. "I'm covering up my trauma with humour. You should try it."

"I shall refrain." Mecha answered plainly. His wrist lights flashed on, signifying his own coping mechanism.

"Right. Anyway, he's got some stupid plan to attack the city, build his stupid Eggmanland, or whatever. Aquarius the second told me, they got intel on it." Silver explained, leaning back against the wall.

"Then let us not waste more time." Mecha replied, walking back out to the back door. He unlocked it and pulled it up, allowing his siblings to go out first, before joining them outside. He locked the door behind him and gave Silver the key, which he put in the compartment in his arm.

------

It didn't take long for the three siblings to reach the city, being rocket-powered death machines and all. They walked the streets, looking for any sign of chaos or mayhem erupting in the vicinity. It was oddly quiet, which meant that Eggman was probably planning his grand, overdramatic entrance that Neo and Mecha had seen far too many times.

On a large screen that towered up the side of the building, a familiar face glitched into view. Silver grimaced, while Neo and Mecha looked on with little expression.

"Greetings, citizens! Today, I'm making an announcement." Eggman declared from the screen, his hands laced together in front of him.

Silver held his hands together in a fake prayer. "Please be leaving the planet forever. Please be leaving the planet forever. Please be leaving the planet forever."

"I have a brilliant plan to change the planet forever-" Eggman stopped, shooting a glare to someone off-camera. "No, it does not involve muffins, damn it. That was last week. Ahem! I am officially hosting a once-in-your-lifetime event. An event so grand, it'll leave you literally breathless! On account of being dead."

Neo rolled his optics at that.

"The invasion will start in ten minutes. That should give you plenty of time to prepare. And for those not participating in this eggstravagant event, it'll give you time to see your loved ones, get your affairs in order, kill your boss! Live a little!" Eggman ended with his signature evil laugh and cut the camera.

Silver cringed into himself. "Did he always sound like that when you went on your missions with him?"

Neo nodded with a squint of distaste. He folded his arms and tapped a foot impatiently, unconsciously mirroring Sonic.

Silver looked at his wrist. "If I had a watch, I'd be looking at it really condescendingly right now... ten minutes? Really?"

Ten minutes passed, as promised. Neo and Silver looked up from their impromptu rock-paper-scissors match to see a huge machine descend on the city.

"BWAHAHAHA! Behold, my Egg Dragoon!" Eggman announced proudly, before adding in a lower voice, "also known as the Ultra-Hyper Prototype-2."

The imposing red mech bore many resemblances to a dragon. It was highly intricate in design, almost too pretty to destroy in a way. With two giagantic wing units, exhaust pipes on its back, and a drill for a left arm and a six-barreled cannon for the right, it was not a machine to be toyed with. Designed to defend and attack against Sonic the Hedgehog, it possessed a lethally efficient selection of weapons - even capable of harnessing fire, lightning, and ice. But most relevant of all, its electrically-charged homing missiles could pierce through meter-thick metal. The robot touched down just above the ground, where it hovered in front of the robots.

Eggman leaned forward in the cockpit with a grin. "Long time no see, boys."

Mecha stepped in front of his siblings. "We do not want to fight."

"Speak for yourself... I have some things to work through." Silver muttered behind him. Scissors.

Neo nodded in agreement. Rock. Damn it.

Mecha ignored him. "I implore you. Return to your base, doctor." His gaze shifted to the mech's left arm, the drill, and he paused for a moment, recalling the Egg Emperor's lance. "We do not wish to harm you nor any citizens in the surrounding areas."

Neo: paper.

Silver: paper.

Neo: rock.

Silver: gun.

Neo glared at his little sibling as if to say you can't just do that.

"OHOHOHO! Ever the pacifist, my dear boy!" Eggman replied, powering up his machine. It hissed and sputtered steam into the air. With the dragon-like mech ready to go, he leaned further forward with an evil grin. "But I know what you really are."

Mecha stayed stoic. "Leave."

"This city is mine, my dear boy..." The Egg Dragoon started to lift off into the air above them with a hiss of air. "As are you. Now, how's this for a warm welcome?"

The mech charged its massive arm cannon, pulling in energy from its surroundings. Neo predicted which element his father would go for first - fire. Right as the mech started to launch its barrage of fireballs, much like a gatling gun, Neo zipped ahead and activated his Black Shield. It took the brunt of the attack, leaving the ground behind him unscathed. Once the Egg Dragoon was out of "ammo", Neo discarded his shield with a swipe of his arm. It dissipated into nothing, a few last sparks of indigo scattering into the air.

"OHOHOHO! How bold, Metal!" Eggman taunted him from above. "Funny, isn't it? What was it you said... burn to death?"

Neo glared up at his creator at the use of his so-called name and the reminder of his downfall.

"Betrayal, Metal... It's not a good feeling, is it?!" Eggman taunted him before slamming the Dragoon's drill arm down in front of him. Neo stood still as the drill missed him by just a few inches, smashing into the ground by his feet. He looked up at his father, unafraid, with a dangerous smirk about his optics. Enraged by the robot's defiance, Eggman pulled the Dragoon's drill back and aimed it right in his face.

"How about this... better watch out!" Eggman warned him, moving to shift the controls to engage.

Neo held up a hand and signaled something with just a slight wave. A split second later, Mecha sprang over his head and landed a heavy kick square in the mech's weak spot - the glowing button in its middle. The machine's next load of fireballs went soaring into the sky instead, tipping back with the force of Mecha's attack.

The siblings worked completely in sync without exchanging a single word.

Mecha landed in a crouch with one hand to the ground, the other held out behind him. Neo ran up, grabbed his hand, and Mecha used all of his might to throw his brother up into the air. Once he was high enough, Neo went in for a homing attack in the same spot. Before the Dragoon could recover, Mecha sped up the machine's side, zipping up to the end of the cannon arm, where he met Neo. The two of them charged energy blasts and fired them right into the cannon, sending it up in smoke. They then dropped down to the ground in a crouch, side-by-side, and looked up to watch the outcome of their attacks.

Eggman only grew more enraged by the second. "No! The controls won't respond!" He slammed his fists on the controls before growling and leaning forward to glare at his rebellious creations down below. They looked up at him with just as much defiance. After a few button mashes here and there, the Dragoon began responding again, and it lifted off the ground once more. With a victorious laugh, Eggman sat back and took the control sticks in both hands.

"Checkmate, Metal and Mecha! Make sure you've said your goodbyes." Eggman declared, grinning wildly.

Over the Dragoon's head, several small drones pulled in and started firing. The siblings didn't need to look back at Silver to know that he was on it. Once again, without words, they worked perfectly in tandem.

Silver reached up to his ear and comm'd both of them. "I got the ground. You two watch the skies."

Neo and Mecha fired up their jet engines and took off into the air, high above the Dragoon. Eggman's pride led him to follow after them, all but forgetting his conquest of the city just for a moment. The machine swung for Mecha with its damaged cannon arm, but Neo was quick to drive his open hand into its underside - just like before. He held it up for a moment with a low growl before pushing back with all of his might, sending the mech a few feet back. He watched the result of his raw power with a glimmer in his optics. He could be just as prideful as his father - he was his father's son, after all.

"Impossible!" Eggman cried, before mashing the button for his machine's drill to activate it again. It sparked to life with a buzz and went to hit Neo from behind, but Mecha had his back just as quickly. He put himself in the line of fire and, while an image of the Emperor's lance coming for him flashed over his vision, he punched it hard from the side. The drill smacked into the mech's middle and drilled a hole into itself for just a few seconds before Eggman shut it off.

Eggman bashed a fist on the cockpit window. "Stop! This is a delicate machine! Now look what you've done!" Black smoke spat out of the small hole in the machine's torso, rushing over Neo and Mecha and obscuring them from view for a moment. "Where did..." Eggman looked around before giving a huff through his teeth. "Blast you!"

Mecha appeared in front of the cockpit, staring his father in the eyes. "Negative. It is us who shall be blasting you." He raised a hand and charged energy into it.

"How could you do this to your own father?!" Eggman yelled at him, gripping the control sticks until his knuckles turned white. "Stand down, Mecha! That's an order! Have some heart, I'm your creator!"

Mecha just stared him down. "Heart, you say... I have less empathy than the average human being." He moved a little closer, the red of his visor reflecting off of the glass in front of him. "As do you."

"What are you talking about?!" Eggman called out with a scowl.

"You know what you did." Mecha said, dangerously quiet. Neither of them had to outright say it to know what the other was referring to - Eggman daring to hit Silver.

Below them, Neo was making quick work of the Dragoon's weak point - and Mecha was just distracting the pilot. He slammed his fists into it over and over, breaking the cover on the third hit, and striking the mechanisms under it by the fifth.

"Agh! Little SHITS! Prepare to be skewered!"

That was my line. Neo thought to himself, dryly amused.

The Dragoon's tail lashed up to meet Neo, the wind whistling over it as the heavy metal flew through the air. Neo dodged it by darting to one side. Above him, the Dragoon's smoking cannon arm came swinging down to meet him - and he looked up just a moment too late. It smacked into the top of his head, and then the drill arm took him out from the left. Metal met metal with a deafening smash, sending Neo tearing through the air and through three building walls. He came to a stop in someone's apartment, where he banged into the back wall and sat dazed for a second.

The flat's occupant, sitting at their kitchen table, put down their fork and stared at him, open-mouthed, and then screamed.

Neo stared back at them.

"ROBOT! KILLER ROBOT!"

Neo squinted an optic at them as he stood up, shaking debris and rubble from his armour as he did. He was met by a fork to the face, which pinged off harmlessly.

"STAY BACK! STAY BACK!"

Neo rolled his optics and walked over to the hole in the wall. He looked around with concentration, or as best as he could as his visual systems re-loaded bit by bit. His threat detection systems suddenly loaded and screamed warnings at him. The Egg Dragoon came down in front of the open wall and waved its drill at him.

The Dragoon inched closer until the drill was almost touching his nose. Neo didn't move. Closer. Closer. No longer afraid of anything. It shifted to his right, pointing at the human behind him, who was hiding behind the table in pieces. Neo stepped to the side with it and put an arm out, blocking its target.

"Hah! You're a farce, Metal." Eggman told him, leaning forward in the cockpit to sneer at him. "You've never touched anything without wanting to kill it. You've never loved anything at all!"

Neo slowly narrowed his optics at him in warning. What he wanted to say was - you cannot love me; I'm a mess of deadlocks and I'd rather burn myself down than make new keys for you. What he did instead was - give two middle fingers.

"I didn't raise you to be like this."

Yes, you did. Look at this mess you made of me.

The voice came back. "Show them what you are. They are inferior to you." It drew closer, sharper. "Get them before they get you."

Their standoff lasted just a while longer, Neo's defiance boiling his creator's blood more and more by the second. Finally, the doctor had enough. The drill drew back, glinting in the sunlight, before it came rushing to meet its target - which one, Eggman hadn't even decided - he just knew he needed revenge, and blindly swung forward.

"SHOW THEM WHAT YOU ARE."

Without thinking about it, Neo lifted a finger and the drill connected with it - but it stopped.

Eggman's mouth dropped open. "No! Impossible!"

A smirk came over Neo's optics as the other machine's arm shook, trying to push back against him.

"You... when did you get so strong?!" Eggman bellowed, forcing as much power as he could into his Dragoon's attack.

The machine's arm strained and shook with its power, but couldn't best the other robot. The tip started to break down with a screech. Neo's arm quickly heated up, starting to emit tiny blue sparks - and for a second, he considered stopping - but it felt like he couldn't, not yet. Neo checked on his HUD to find that he was straining his own systems. That little voice deserted him, and he withdrew his V. Maximum Overdrive from his arm, drew it back, and jumped at the Dragoon's center. Before Eggman could react, Neo had already sent his fist into the other robot - and it promptly went packing down to the ground below. Mecha was quick to appear from above, swooping down to grab Neo under one arm - the use of his Overdrive had quickly tired out his engine.

"That was reckless." Mecha informed him matter-of-factly.

"Noted." Neo replied, looking down to watch as the Dragoon leveled itself and took off again.

A spoon pinged off of Mecha's back. Without looking back he said, "befriending the local wildlife again, I see."

Neo shrugged a shoulder. "You could call it that." He checked in with his HUD again to find that he was all clear and good to go again. To that vengeful voice in his head, he said thank you.

A few feet away from them all, a camera crew hastily got set up to film.

"Incredible scenes in Station Square this afternoon! The evil, horrible, terrible, diabolical Doctor Eggman is back with a vengeance! And, erm... appears to be fighting his own robots? What a show! And, surprisingly, no casualties yet!" The leading reporter announced, stepping in front of the camera enthusiastically.

"We're not his robots, damn it... we're nobody's but our own." Silver murmured, thinking he was out of earshot. He soon found that he wasn't, as a microphone was soon put in his face. He stopped and looked up to find the reporter standing over him.

"So Superbot, what can you tell us about the scene unfolding in our city?" They asked, moving the mic closer to his face.

Silver winced as the Dragoon crashed down again a few feet away. "Well... as you can see, Sparky and Murder Machine are holding Egghead off..." He looked around for a moment, surveying the scene around him. "There's about to be an explosion- oop, there it goes."

"Isn't he your dad?" The cameraman asked, clearly fishing for the drama.

"Long story. I'm kind of un-adopted now, I guess?" Silver said with a shrug.

"You heard it here first, folks! The unstoppable mecha-assassin, Silver Sonic 2, a valiant champion of all things right, is up against his own- oh sweet lord is that a gun?!"

Silver stopped mid-way loading his rifle and looked at the cameraman. "With everything happening in front of you, this is what worries you?" He shook his head and took aim. "Sheesh. The people of this planet sure do have their priorities on lock... you can deal with giant robots trampling the place, but not a little piece of metal..."

"Are you going to kill him?!" The reporter asked, eyes wide with horror.

Silver scoffed. "I'm a killer robot, not a murderer. Also, technically, self-defense." He looked down the sights, shifted his aim a little to the right, and squeezed the trigger. He hit a drone dead-on and it spiraled down to the ground in a plume of smoke.

The reporter was horrified but morbidly curious. "When you shoot at things like that, what do you feel?"

Silver looked at them with steel in his optics. "The recoil." He shot down a drone that had come up behind Neo, and as Neo turned to nod at him in thanks, he gave a two-finger salute back at him.

"Folks, incredible scenes here today. If I may say so, Superbot, Murder Machine, and Sparky are tearing it up!"

Silver took aim at another drone as it came for the reporters, who ducked and screamed. He stepped out in front of them and gunned it down expertly. "You know, for a species with such a short lifespan, you humans are pretty cavalier about your survival."

"Did you catch that on camera?!" The lead reporter whispered.

"Yeah... Holy shit." The cameraman said, just above a whisper themselves.

Silver took aim at the next one but aimed slightly off. The bullet ricocheted off of the side of it and tore into the next drone that descended on them, and the explosion ended the first one. They fell to pieces at his feet.

"... I've never felt so safe in my life." The second reporter breathed, staring up at the robot in awe.

Silver looked over his shoulder and gave a thumbs-up. "I gotcha. No sweat."

"Robots really aren't all that bad." The cameraman commented, sounding quite surprised.

Silver looked down to meet their eyes. "Who's goin' around saying we're all bad?" Without looking back, he shot down the last drone. "Whoever they are, they're judgemental as hell. Some of us are cool."

Finally, military vehicles started rolling in from the street behind them. As the convoy rolled up, Silver bounded over to greet them. He took his place in front of the leading tank and walked with his rifle in both hands. He angled his head slightly to the right to catch the radio conversation the driver was having.

"Erm, sir, there's a robot in front of us."

"Is it a hedgehog?"

"Yes, sir."

"Friendly. Hold your fire."

"Yes, sir."

Silver smiled. Damn right. He turned his head further and gave a two-finger salute to the driver with a grin.

"It's waving at us, sir."

"Talk to him, soldier. He will have valuable intel."

Silver turned around and jumped up onto the commander's hatch of the tank, where he sat neatly on top and leaned down to look through the gunsight. "Hey."

"F- Jesus!" The soldier stared at him through the sight in a mixture of shock and horror. "Have you no fear?"

Silver shook his head and laughed. "Nope. When you've died once, nothing really scares you anymore. Anyway, onto more pressing matters..." He paused to glance up for a moment. "That robot. He's fast. He's strong. But that's all. His technique? Terrible. He has the upgrades, but hasn't done the work. It's like he's taken a shortcut to super-villainy. The Egg Dragoon, too." He paused again, looking up to watch Neo land on the Dragoon's shoulder. "My old man always makes the weak point stupid obvious. But the weakest part of all, is..."

Silver reached up to his right ear and put out a call to the Egg Dragoon. He watched with an evil grin as Eggman stopped his angry flailing.

"Everyone hold on, pause this battle for a second... my mother is calling me," Eggman told Mecha and Neo, before answering the call, "yes, mother dearest? It's been so long, I..."

"We've been trying to reach you about your Egg Dragoon's extended warranty."

Eggman's face dropped. He looked out of the window and saw Silver flipping him off from the top of the tank.

Silver looked down at the driver through the gunsight one more time. "Fire."

The tank's gunner fired at the half-demolished button on the Dragoon's torso. Neo and Mecha detected the incoming missile at lightning speed and darted out of the way. The aggressive orange of the ensuing explosion lit them up in the air. The Dragoon's obvious weak point went up in flame in an instant, and it teetered down to the ground, where it stayed. Silver hopped off of the tank and walked over to meet his brothers, who gave him a nod of approval.

The trio stood and watched as their defeated father ejected the Egg Mobile and hastily clambered into the cockpit.

"You boys are in big trouble." Eggman warned them darkly. That glare he often wore after losing horrifically was quick to come over his face.

The robots exchanged looks between themselves.

Eggman sat back and started up the Egg Mobile with a frown. "Screw it! I'm not appreciated for my genius so I'm going on strike." The Egg Mobile lifted off into the air, and the robots looked up to watch it. "I'll be back. I won't forget this."

Neo studied his claw tips and shrugged a shoulder.

"Affirmative." Mecha simply responded, not moving an inch.

"Cool story, bro." Silver answered him.

With one last growl at them, Eggman took off in his trusty Egg Mobile and disappeared back to where he had come from. Good riddance. That just left the decimated Dragoon on the city streets, where it emitted billows of black smoke and a small fire.

A black Flicky landed on Silver's shoulder as he looked on through the flames.

"Hmm?!" Silver looked to his shoulder in surprise. "Oh. Hey." He looked ahead again. Wait. He straightened a little and looked at the bird again. "Why do you seem familiar? Hm... Weird." He stepped forward and knelt down by the deactivated Dragoon, a small, sad smile coming over him. "Sorry, friend." He rested a hand on its cannon and dipped his head. "We had no choice." The Flicky bounced over to the Dragoon and sat on its back, preening itself. It didn't seem bothered by the smoke and fire at all.

Mecha stepped over and placed a hand on Silver's shoulder. Neo joined him, putting a supportive hand on his other shoulder.

"So..." Silver looked up at them. "I guess we're all officially un-adopted as of today."

Mecha gave a nod.

"Oh, you lost your hat..." Silver murmured, looking around for a moment. He scampered off before returning with a traffic cone, which he placed neatly on Mecha's head. He stepped back and looked up at him with pride. "A crown fit for a robot queen on her birthday. Your main present today was getting your own back on dad."

The camera crew rushed over to meet them.

"The city is saved once again! Do you have any comments, heroes of Station Square?" The reporter asked, putting their mic in front of the three robots.

"Yeah, I do actually..." Silver looked over to the Dragoon. "We'll clean this mess up. Sorry about the uh, collateral damage." He put his rifle back in its sling and smiled sheepishly.

"It happens all the time. Don't worry." The reporter told him. It was true. Plenty of places on the planet had been decimated and re-built, all thanks to Eggman's evil antics, and most were getting numb to it, apparently.

"Again... you humans are way too cavalier about your survival." Silver commented, scratching his head. The black Flicky jumped from the Dragoon's fiery remains back on to Silver's shoulder, where it stayed.

Mecha leaned into the mic and said, "it is my birthday." The traffic cone slipped off of his head with the movement, but Neo was quick to catch it and put it back on him.

"O-Oh, happy birthday, Murder Machine!" The reporter moved on to Neo, presenting the mic to him. "You've had a huge change of heart. You saved this city instead of destroying it. Why?" They were surprised when, instead of speaking as he did atop the Final Fortress that stormy night, he signed instead.

"Here is the truth. I wait for my anger to go dormant, but it never does. It never will. Now, I re-route it into something for good." Neo told them, finger-spelling the words that he couldn't outright say.

"Uh... I'm afraid I don't know sign-"

Mecha stepped in to translate. "They use their anger for something better now, they said." He thought back to his conversation about good and evil with Sonic, and pondered on it for a moment - the irony of his previous answer compared to his present one wasn't lost on him. "Rather than using for evil actions, it is for good. We are capable of choosing how to act, how to respond. This is our choice." He put his arms around his little brothers with distinct pride. "For as long as we are online, we will continue to protect, rather than destroy."

"Incredible. Truly, we are witnessing history today. Once a villain, now a hero for justice!" The reporter remarked, turning back to the camera. "That's all for today, folks. Tune in at 10 for more on the battle in Station Square."

The trio watched as the news reporters and the military rolled out of the city. Now, curious citizens descended on the street, looking over the aftermath of the Egg Dragoon's downfall.

Neo straightened and looked up, sensing that he was being watched. When he focused his optics, he saw that a blue hedgehog was standing atop a block of flats, watching, smiling at them. Was that... pride? Admiration?

Neo didn't look away this time. The two hedgehogs nodded to each other, and the blue blur was gone.

"Crush him." The voice in his ear demanded.

Neo just stared after Sonic, feeling a little lost.

"He is but a speck of dust to you. Crush him. Crush him. Crush him." It hissed.

It was right then that Neo realized something. This voice, it was one of two he spoke in during his time as the Overlord - in his Neo form, he spoke in a deeper voice. As Metal Overlord, it was noticeably higher. His optics slowly fell down to the ground and he felt his vision unfocus. Before he could get any more lost in thought, Silver nudged him in the back and slung an arm over his shoulder.

"C'mon. We're cleaner 'bots for the rest of the day, princess." Silver reminded him, guiding Neo to turn back around to look at the Dragoon.

Mecha tilted his head, a little confused by Neo's sudden change in mood, but decided not to press it. "I concur. Princess, let us proceed with cleaning."

Neo rolled his optics at them, his bad mood starting to lift with their attempts at humour.

Silver nudged Neo again and revved his engine just a little. "I'll race ya."

Mecha shifted one foot behind the other, preparing to run. "I shall be victorious this time."

Silver looked at him and laughed. "Hah! No way, M. I beat you to that train, I'll beat you again."

Mecha matched his sibling's look, angling his head slightly downward. "Negative. You are too slow."

Neo sighed at the Sonic quote and got ready to move quickly, too. "I hate all of you."

"Operation: collateral damage cleanup is a go!" Silver proclaimed, but before he could set off, Mecha and Neo looked over their shoulders to find a human sprinting towards them.

The human stopped, panting, with their hands on their knees before screaming, "that's it! That's the crazy robot!"

All of the bystanders looked at them, totally puzzled.

"It broke my freaking kitchen wall!" The human yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Neo. They picked up a scrap of metal and lobbed it at him, but Mecha reached out and caught it without flinching or moving. Both Mecha and Silver moved to stand in front of their sibling, staring the human down. To their surprise, the bystanders around them joined them, standing in front of Neo in solidarity with them.

Silver cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled back, "hey, idiot! He got punted through it, not exactly his fault!"

Mecha put a hand over Silver's mouth to hush him. "We will rebuild it. We apologize for the damage to your property."

"You're all crazy!" The human screamed, seeming to ignore Mecha's proposal, "and you're wearing a cone as a hat!" They then ran away as quickly as they came.

"... We don't claim that guy." One of the other people guarding Neo said.

"Yeah. You guys are heroes." Another agreed with a nod.

The black Flicky on Silver's shoulder cheeped in agreement.

Neo grumbled to himself and walked over to the Dragoon's remains by himself, starting the cleanup. Everyone else started to help too, picking up the pieces - and Queen Mecha was taking the lead as promised to Silver.

It was about damn time someone started fixing the mess Eggman had made. And since the robot siblings were the ones who had contributed to it in the past, they got to work.