~Agent~
The two robots reached another tree stump. Sniper looked highly confused.
"Here we are!" Shard announced.
"…We're by another tree stump," Sniper corrected. "What's so secret about this?"
"You'll see," Shard grinned, jumping down the hatch.
Sniper looked baffled for a moment before jumping down with him. He found himself in what looked like some kind of headquarters as he left the glass tube.
Shard sealed the secret hatch. "Figured I might as well keep you here. Besides, there's nobody else here at the moment. When the rest of my bosses come back, I'll have to explain a lot to them," he planned. "Just promise me that you won't leave, okay?"
"I promise," Sniper promised.
The older robot smiled at his brother. "I'll be back to check on you tomorrow," he assured, leaving.
"Bye," Sniper waved. After Shard had left, Sniper decided to fall asleep.
…
"So you're saying he was still inside the capsule after you left?" Rotor recapped.
"I'm positively sure, Rotor," Nicole confirmed.
Rotor scratched his head. "He must've gotten out somehow… We're gonna have to go after him just in case he does return to cause more trouble. Even worse – if he tells Eggman anything he may have found out."
Nicole knew she couldn't respond to disagree with him, so simply replied with: "Right…"
"Luckily I planted a tracking device in his system when he got here." Rotor held up a handheld device. "I could give this radar to Sonic so he can track him down." He then got up to his feet. "In the meantime, Nicole, you can just keep a sharp eye for any danger." The walrus then left the lab.
Immediately, Nicole appeared in another room of Rotor's lab, where Shard was recharging himself. "Shard, I've got some bad news!" she informed, sounding like she was… worried.
Shard instantly reactivated himself, jumping up as if he had woken up from a nightmare. "Huh! What happened?" he questioned, also sounding worried.
"Sniper is in the Secret HQ and Sonic will have a tracking radar to find him!" the holographic lynx explained. "He may find out about the Secret Freedom Fighters!"
"Don't tell me that Rotor planted a tracking device inside Sniper…" Shard sighed.
"…Yes, he did," Nicole answered. That's when she realised it. "Of course, we can remove the tracking device!"
Shard face-palmed. "That wasn't so hard to figure out…"
"I'm sorry…" Nicole apologised.
"Don't worry, I forgive you," Shard assured. "It's not something that needs a major apology. I'm gonna go to the HQ and get that device outta Sniper." With that, he began heading to the Secret Freedom HQ.
…
Unknown to Shard and Nicole, Sniper had actually awakened himself shortly after he tried to recharge. He wasn't tired and was also bored, so decided to just take a night's walk. This, however, would be dangerous to him…
As Sniper walked, he was oblivious to the fact that Sonic was tracking him down, having him on his radar. He ran towards the blinking red dot until dead ahead he saw his target. Sniper turned his head and saw him, gasping, but could not react as Sonic performed a Homing Attack, knocking Sniper down.
Since Sniper was caught off guard, he was not ready to fight back, and before he could try anything, Sonic kicked Sniper across the ground and then grabbed him by his arms. He pinned him on his front. Sniper desperately tried to get away.
"Sorry, lil' robot, but you've gotta go," Sonic stated, charging a spin-dash to cut through Sniper's armour.
The silver hedgebot struggled violently, feeling pain in his own way, until he threw Sonic off him. He staggered back up to his feet.
Sonic stood up again after he had been thrown off. "I hate to do this to ya, but in the end, you're just another of Eggman's robots – you don't have hopes or dreams."
Sniper backed off slowly, until suddenly…
ZAP!
A laser went directly through him from his back engine to his chest. The kid-bot gasped, stumbling a little, until Sonic finally performed a final Homing Attack to knock him down. He saw who had fired the laser – it was Rotor.
"I'm not too keen on guns, but it was right to use one just then," he stated.
"Nice one, Rote," Sonic complimented, giving him a 'thumbs-up' and his usual grin.
Sniper lay on the floor twitching, unable to get up. He felt his chest to feel if his main chip was broken. Luckily it wasn't, but he suddenly just deactivated.
Shard flew to the scene, seeing that he was too late. He didn't want to be seen by the other two, so stayed behind a tree until they left. Once they had left the area, he immediately ran to Sniper.
The black and yellow hedgebot scanned his brother, seeing that his damage was highly critical. As an instant reaction, Shard lifted Sniper up and headed back into the Secret HQ.
When entering, Shard saw Harvey Who inside, talking with Sonic's Uncle Chuck. The wise owl, upon seeing Shard with Sniper, had a concerned and confused expression. "What brings you here at this time, Shard?" he asked.
"Boss, please forgive me, but I was using this place to hide my younger brother," Shard admitted. "But he just got himself seriously damaged! Please, I have to help him!"
"You're brother… Sniper, if I recall, correct?" Harvey asked.
"Yes," Shard replied.
Harvey sighed. "You may as well keep him hidden once he gets repaired," he stated. "But I suppose if that's going to be the case, there'll be no utter horror in recruiting him as part of the Secret Freedom Fighters."
"What? No, he can't join us – he's too young and inexperienced," Shard disagreed.
"I know a lot about his unique behaviour, Shard," Harvey confirmed. "He may be considered as a defective machine by the doctor, but his flaws have led him to be more advanced. I know he does not lack in confidence – he could be useful. It also gives him something to do rather than sitting in the HQ all the time. I promise you, he can get involved with us, and if he starts to show signs of being too clumsy, I can send him on minor missions separate to you and a couple of training courses until he is ready."
"I suppose it does sound like the best offer for him in this current situation…" Shard acknowledged, thinking for a moment before making up his mind. "…Alright. It's the best option to keep him hidden and alive."
Harvey then turned to Uncle Chuck, or in other words, Sir Charles. "Charles, remember the second body you built in case Shard became damaged beyond repair?" he asked.
"Yes," Charles recalled.
"Wait, what?" Shard questioned, unaware of the said object.
"I need you to acquire some data from that body to upgrade Sniper so that he's up-to-date with the current situations," Harvey commanded. "He needs to withstand more damage than what he has just taken."
"I'll see if my newest upgrading machine will work," Charles stated.
"Let me guess, another thing intended for me?" Shard asked, frowning almost.
"…I suppose it was intended for you, but not entirely," Charles answered.
"I'm the only robot on the team," Shard reminded.
"Just in case any other robot I built in the future needed an upgrade, and of course, if you needed one," Charles admitted. "It works for repairs, too. Thing is, it doesn't quite repair vital areas such as the power source. I'm still working on that."
"Well it's lucky that Sniper's computer chip didn't get damaged, isn't it?" Shard finalized. "But his life data is fading fast despite the fact that his chip is still intact."
Charles then carefully took Sniper out of Shard's arms. "I'll just see if I can successfully help him," he clarified, walking through to his area where he did most of his work. He placed Sniper inside a glass cylindrical chamber linked up to a complex looking machine. Once he had done that, he retrieved Shard's second body which he had created.
Shard just folded his arms. "Thank you for assuming I'd get myself destroyed so easily," he thanked sarcastically.
Charles simply ignored him as he linked the body up to the machine with some wires. Once it was hooked up, the data transferring began as a red scanner scanned up and down Sniper's body before calculating the repairs and upgrades needed.
(Cue music: watch?v=C1y8bq_2X2g)
The electricity, which began to flow through Sniper softly, caused his body to slowly rise up to his feet while remaining deactive. The electric energy then began picking up power and speed as it continued to flow through him, his hands beginning to twitch as if he was awakening. The surge of energy made his hand twitch more vigorously and his blank facial expression pull a look as if feeling that something was happening. That was when Sniper started to glow, until a bright white light shone like a supernova, almost blinding Harvey and Charles while damaging Shard's optic sensors for a moment.
Sniper's body tensed during this occurrence, all of his damaged areas sealing up while his body, besides his head, turned black. His belt was black, too, but his shoulder pads turned yellow with a dark grey rim. His hand-plating turned yellow and half of his fingers turned black as his shoes gained black stripes while remaining their chrome colour, yellow rings painted near his wrists and a yellow pattern on the inside of his lower legs. His orange irises began to flicker to life as the light brightened even more for a millisecond, until Sniper remained standing in the capsule with his head down. He looked up and clenched his fists, smiling in his usual arrogant way.
Charles allowed the capsule to open, letting Sniper step out of the chamber. He stretched out, feeling refreshed and awake as he looked to the others who stood in front of him.
"How do you feel, Sniper?" Shard asked.
"I feel more… useful," Sniper described as an answer.
"You should do," Harvey stated, getting Sniper's attention. "I'm recruiting you as part of the Secret Freedom Fighters, Sniper. Or should I say, Secret Agent Tarot."
"Sounds like a cool call-sign," Sniper agreed.
"Suits you," Shard pinioned, grinning a little.
Harvey chuckled a little. "Welcome to the team, Agent Tarot."
…
Sorry I keep taking time to update my stories, but here's the second chapter at last! I'm going to link to other music besides Sonic music, by the way, but that does NOT mean you have to immediately think: 'Oh, she's going to link to music that I've never heard' because I'll link to famous games, not-so-famous games, retro games, new games, and even movies! Plus, I do take time to try and make the timing roughly accurate when I ask you to play it while reading. Keep reading until the music ends! That's how I roll XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please remember to review so far!