~Brothers~
Neo sat on the table still with his head down, having been repaired of his damages. He was not in any mood to talk to anybody, which seemed to be his permanent state.
"Neo, I'm going to talk to Harvey now, okay?" Charles informed.
"He'll sentence me to deactivation…" Neo growled. "Nobody cares about robots – we are only tools."
"Don't say that, Neo, not all robots were built to be seen as nothing but a tool," Charles argued softly. "You were built to be much more than that."
"What of my brothers, then?" Neo questioned, sharply looking at Charles with anger in his fiery red irises.
Charles let out a quiet sigh through his nose. "If all of you had freewill you may not have focused on the job we needed you to do," he answered.
"We were meant to protect the city, but we didn't," Neo reminded. "Even without freewill the others still rebelled!"
"Neo, this is all in the past. Just leave it be," Charles commanded. "Me and Rotor tried our best. Just be thankful that you survived. The others didn't have a mind of their own, so feeling sad for them would be different to feeling sad for a robot like you."
Neo just growled, looking down again.
Charles shook his head as he sighed again, leaving the room.
Shard and Sniper were both still in the room, looking at each other for a brief moment in confusion. After that Shard looked back at Metallix, seeing him still sat in the corner facing the wall. Sniper also looked over at the blue version of his older brother.
"Is he okay?" Sniper asked quietly.
The black hedgebot almost didn't hear Sniper, once again walking over to the robot. Metallix looked away from him when he stopped by his side.
"Leave me alone…" Metallix hissed.
"Are you ever going to change, Mex?" Shard questioned.
"My name is not Mex," the blue hedgebot snarled. "My name is Metallix."
"Aw, can't we shorten it~?" Shard requested innocently.
"No," Metallix responded. "Now go away."
"Why are you so grumpy, anyway?" Shard queried.
"I said GO AWAY!" Metallix barked at him angrily.
"Alright…" Shard sighed, walking back to Sniper.
"Just leave him alone," Sniper finalized. "Come on, I need to go and find Cheryl."
"You're not going to tell her about Neo, are you?" Shard asked his little brother, suspicious.
Sniper chuckled nervously.
Shard frowned at the younger robot. "Sniper, if you told Cheryl anything she won't be made to feel better."
"Fine…" Sniper grunted. "But can't we find her anyway? I'm bored down here…"
"Okay then," Shard gave in. "Let's go." He and Sniper then both left.
…
In the other room, Harvey and Charles were talking.
"Charles, I'm not so sure if Neo is a particularly safe robot," Harvey admitted. "You just told me that he, even with freewill, killed a family and tried to kill a little girl."
"He was under pressure," Charles countered. "What would you do if you saw ninety nine other versions of you? Would you fight them all on your own?"
"…I suppose not," Harvey sighed. "I suggest you keep him in the HQ for a few days just so we can find out if he really is good."
"What if he picks a fight with Metallix?" Charles questioned.
"…Let's just hope he doesn't do that," Harvey responded.
"Neo is very defensive," Charles described. "If Metallix provokes him, he will threaten him harshly. I don't want him to kill Metallix."
"Tell him that, then," Harvey concluded. "Though I agree with you; I have a little idea I'd like to put forward."
"You mean the Robots' Squad?" Charles guessed.
Harvey nodded.
…
Neo was sitting quietly, as usual. He hadn't paid much attention to Metallix, nor did he intend to. However, the other hedgebot probably had a different thought going through his mind.
"So, they even keep a 'bot like you down here," Metallix noticed, still sat facing the wall as he smirked briefly. "One of their own."
The Metal Sonic Trooper glanced over his shoulder to look at the other machine. "At least they don't refer to me as their prisoner," he countered. "I still have all my abilities, but they disabled yours, didn't they?"
"Hmph," Metallix sneered. "Because they're afraid of me. If they were afraid of you they'd disable your powers and chain you by the ankle, too."
"Unlike you I want to have a decent reputation," Neo shot back.
"And what will you be fighting for, Neo?" Metallix asked. "The ones you love? Fat chance that's gonna turn out well."
"Like you would know anything about caring for people," Neo growled.
"Hah. I know more than you know," Metallix competed. "At least I didn't, oh I don't know, kill the family of a little girl."
"Shut up!" Neo commanded.
Metallix decided to continue with his mockery. "Of course, I don't actually care about anybody. I merely know about caring for people. All I'm going to do is wait for the perfect time to escape and then kill everybody in Mobotropolis!"
Without warning, Neo jumped at Metallix, wrestling him as he pinned him to the ground. The two rolled around for a short while as they fought each other, switching positions commonly as sometimes Metallix was the one wrestling Neo down while at other times Neo was wrestling Metallix down. After that short while of who would be the successful fighter, Neo held Metallix against the wall and scraped his claws on the power gem embedded in the other robot's chest.
"Stop! What do you think you're doing!" Metallix asked worriedly, grabbing Neo's wrist to pull his hand away.
"Taking you offline!" Neo responded, throwing Metallix onto the table with the restraints, holding him onto it. Metallix, since he had already been restrained to that table, knew what Neo was planning, so became much more violent.
"No! Never!" the blue Shard hollered as he kicked and thrashed. "I won't let you!"
"Too bad; you brought this upon yourself!" Neo snapped back, first restraining him by the ankles. Metallix continued to resist and scream, moving his arms so that they'd be harder to grab.
"No! NO!" Metallix screamed. From his arm cannon he fired several razorblades, but soon he was once again completely restrained. As he screamed he almost seemed to be… crying.
Neo examined the hedgebot before him mercilessly, looking emotionless as noticed his distress. "It's not nice to be at the mercy of another robot, is it?" he asked, being intimidating towards the other machine. "It's not nice to think that…" He placed his hand over Metallix's yellow power gem, his eyes still looking into the metallic hedgehog's eyes, hand practically grabbing the gem shard as he continued. "…your little power gem could be crushed like merely shattering fragile ice."
"No… Get away…" Metallix seemed to breathe out heavily in fear, shivering as he could hopelessly watch as Neo left him in suspense. "…Please…"
"Why should I?" Neo questioned. "You threatened the city and you continue to have that thought in mind. You don't even deserve to be a life-long prisoner!" The trooper's grip tightened around Metallix's power gem, ready to crush it.
"Don't! I'm begging you!" Metallix pleaded.
Before anything could be continued, Charles, having heard the rowel outside, rushed inside in a suttle manner, trying to be calm. "Neo, let him go," he commanded.
Neo looked to his organic father, then down as he switched off his eyes shamefully. "I'm sorry, father…" he apologised, releasing Metallic from the straps but keeping the chain on him. Metallix didn't bother getting up, instead lying down traumatized.
Charles approached Metallix and gently lifted him off the table and onto his feet. He then turned to Neo. "Harvey and I need to speak with you," he announced.
Neo just walked outside guiltily, Charles following him into the next room.
…
"So, Neo, you got into a bit of an argument with Metallix already, did you?" Harvey questioned.
"He antagonized me but… I think I may have gone too far by threatening him…" Neo admitted.
"Yes, you did," Harvey agreed. "I think you two should keep your distance from each other. You could stay in this part of the HQ, Neo. However, I do need you to somehow learn to get along with Metallix."
"Why?" Neo queried.
"Because I'm planning something," Harvey responded. "You, Metallix, Shard and Sniper are all like brothers – you're all connected in some way. I want to get you all together to form another side team for the Secret Freedom Fighters, and we may need more members."
"Why should we recruit Metallix?" Neo asked. "You know he's untrustworthy; he could betray us at any minute."
"If we don't give him some kind of chance, the only option we have is to destroy him," Harvey answered. "Charles and I have agreed that Metallix is smart enough to realise what goes on around him, like you and many others such as Shard and Sniper. He would be too frightened to be destroyed."
"He seems to have an issue with restraints, too," Neo remarked.
"Charles already told me that," Harvey assured. "We will find out what causes him to freak out, and Charles will try and talk him into being good. Does that sound like a plan?"
"…Yes," Neo agreed. "But what is this team you are planning on forming?"
"The Secret Freedom Robot's Squad," Harvey winked.
…
FINALLY getting somewhere! Sniper and Shard didn't do much in this chapter, but that's just the way it is. They'll be in the next chapter, though, and hopefully things will really start to kick off. Well, I'll see you later, alligators!
