"I-VO! Here comes the hypercharged fusion reactor input!"

I-VO, the utterly roboticized and seemingly mindless doctor, leaned forward with his forearms on his knees as Mombot inserted a power cable into his open workings, his back panel open. Mombot, the eternally maternal mechanoid, continued to baby-talk the infant machine as the rest of the family sat around the dinner table.

"Confirmed, charging sequence initiating." I-VO said blankly, while Mombot moved around to his side.

"Ooh, yes! Who's a hungry little mechanoid? Who's Mombot's hungry little mechanoid?"

"What have we done?" whispered Orbot, while he and Cubot tucked in to perfectly pressed aluminium steaks.

"I dunno..." replied Cubot, "but the boss definitely isn't all there!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Morpho, still in his Metal Sonic mimicking form, leaned over and grinned with the mouth he'd grown for himself.

"Oh, uh..." Orbot stammered, "Nothing!"

"Everything is fine!" Cubot added.

"ARE YOU OKAY, DOCTOR EGGS?" Sparky, plugged into the same generator as the doctor, enquired of the recently mechanized fox. "YOU HAVEN'T SAID MUCH!"

The doctor cocked his head with a whirr and his glowing blue eyes flickered. "Unit functioning at one-hundred percent capacity. Awaiting directives."

"HE'S NOT GETTING ANY SMARTER," Metal Sonic, again sharing the generator, folded his arms like a moody teen and sulked.

"He just needs some time for his personality systems to align!" Mombot said, leaning forward and pinching her robot son's cheek, "Isn't that right, I-VO?"

The roboticized doctor looked to his Mombot with the slight whirr of mechanics, and his eyes appeared to flicker. "M... Mombot..."

Mombot released a sound of such high pitch all robots in the vicinity clamped their hands to their audio receptors. "Oh, I-VO! You recognised me!"

The roboticized doctor looked around the table, glowing blue eyes regarding each member of his family. "Mor... pho..."

"That's right!" Mombot cooed, hugging her son tight, "This is your family! Remember?"

"Me... tal..."

"UH... HI?"

"Good, I-VO! You're remembering!"

The roboticized Robotnik continued to absorb the faces of his robot family, blue eyes flickering. "Spar... ky?"

"HI, DOCTOR EGGS!"

The glowing blue eyes of the golden mech came to land on the cowering forms of Orbot and Cubot, who each nervously played with their hands. The mechanoid released a stuttering noise as the eyes flickered.

"Oh, I-VO... do you remember your favourite minions?" Mombot said gently.

"I... id... iots..."

"Heh, sounds like he remembers them well enough!" Chuckled Morpho.

"Oh, well done I-VO!" Mombot squealed, wrapping her son in a hug, "You're remembering! Oh, it does a Mombot's heart so much good to see her boy growing into a smart young robot!"

I-VO didn't respond, simply staring into space. His apparent attempt to reach his two clumsy assistants seemed to have taken a lot out of his systems.

"What do we do?" Cubot said quietly, the two robots having departed after the family meal, "Mombot seems real into it!"

"Of course she is..." replied Orbot, peeping around the corner to find Mombot and the family around the roboticized doctor, the tv flickering before them. "Now she has a whole robot family to raise! It's her dream!"

"Maybe..." Cubot hummed, "We should... leave him like this?"

Orbot considered for a moment, before shaking his domelike head. "No, it wasn't his choice. We at least need to bring his personality and memories back so we can figure out what to do!"

"So what now?" said CUbot.

"Hmm... we need to get the doctor to Tails, first thing in the morning! Along with the Roboticizer! Tails will be able to fix this, I'm sure of it!"

Miles Prower was not in a good mood.

Quite apart from the existential terror he had been thrown into with the knowledge that there was an entire city of his copies living out there somewhere in the jungle, and that he might very well simply be an incomplete copy of the original Miles Prower himself... he just couldn't get any work done.

"Damn inventor's block!" He grumbled, screwing up a sheet of paper and tossing into a nearby trashcan, filled to the brim with similarly discarded scribbles - next to several other trashcans in much the same state, "Why can't I think?! "

He removed his gloves, tossing them aside before leaning back and clasping his bare padded hands over his tired eyes. He released a dejected sigh.

"A break..." he muttered to himself, his twin tails flicking lightly behind him, "A break is what I need... get away... from all the adventures, all the shenanigans... all the distractions... "

Knock knock knock.

"Aaaand there it is..." the fox mumbled, resignedly leaving his workstation to answer the call to whatever mischief Sonic or the others had in store for him today.

"Sonic, please..." the depressed fox cub sighed as he opened his door, "I'm not in the-"

"Tails!" wailed a cuboid yellow robot, a golden figure wobbling limply in his arms as he flailed, "You gotta help us!"

"So..." Tails said, gesturing to the unresponsive form of Robotnik as the roboticized fox stood idly in the centre of his workshop, "Old egg-for-brains did this to himself by accident?" He chuckled dryly to himself. "Figures..."

"Yes! Entirely by accident! A terrible malfunction!" Orbot said, a little too defensively.

"Absolutely nothing to do with his favourite assistants!" said Cubot.

"What was that?" Tails perked an ear.

"Nothing"

"Hmm..." Tails ignored the babbling mechanoid and wandered over to Robotnik himself, staring curiously into the visor. A pair of glowing blue eyes stared back. "Weird, huh?" Tails said mildly, "Almost like looking into a mirror..."

"Can't imagine why that might be, Mecha-t... I mean, Tails!"

"I swear he said something to me before..." Tails muttered, "hey!" Tails waved a hand in front of Robotnik's face. "Hey, egg-breath! You in there?"

The cyborg cocked his head slightly. "Designation not recognised. Unit designation: I-VO."

"Huh..." Tails folded one arm and stroked his muzzle with the other, "I guess you really are far gone... well then, I-VO... I don't suppose you could help me take a look at this thing?" the fox gestured over to the Roboticizer, which had been clumsily gutted by an unidentified pair of mechanical minions.

I-VO's head snapped to the machine, and then he steadily marched over to inspect the device. Tails followed closely, and peered over I-VO's shoulder as the cyborg investigated the innards.

"This device is non-operational," announced I-VO, turning to regard his fleshy counterpart, "Recommend total refit of internal components."

"Yeah, I see..." mused Tails. "Can you access your old memory files? Can you remember how to put this thing back together?"

I-VO appeared to consider for a moment before answering. "Yes. Reconstruction should take no longer than twenty-four hours, considering the parts we have available in this workspace."

"Great!" Tails chirruped, clapping I-VO on the shoulder pauldron. "Man, maybe we should keep you like this! You make a pretty good assistant, I-VO!"

"Thank you."

"Hmm..." Cubot hummed, "Y'know, it never occurred to us to actually ask him if he could remember how to repair it himself!"

"Oh really?" Tails replied with a desert tone, "something didn't occur to you two geniuses? "

Orbot and Cubot recoiled slightly, flinching as though fearing a tantrum, and Tails narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What?"

"Oh, nothing..." replied Orbot, "It's just... when you speak like that, you look so much like the doctor it's uncanny!"

Tails' mouth flopped open in outrage. "What?! How dare you! I'm nothing like that idiot canine, you bucket of bolts!"

There was a moment of silence before Tails slumped and turned away. "I'm... gonna go fetch some tools..." the fox said sheepishly, trudging over to his storage room.

Orbot and Cubot shared a glance. "Are we sure it was the boss we accidentally roboticized?" said Cubot.

Charlie the desert rat carefully inserted his tools into the open back panel of his power suit, tongue sticking from the side of his mouth. "Careful... carefuuuulll..."

BANG. "CHARLIE!"

Charlie yelped with a start, his tools flipping up and over in his hands as he juggled them, the red-clad form of his wife storming into the secret lair's lab. "Yes, dear?" The long-suffering blue rat sighed.

"Oh, Charlie..." the goat-woman in Robotnik's stolen uniform jacket and goggles grinned, "You're going to LOVE this interesting new development!"

"The mortgage for this secret underground lair has been paid off?"

"No, you fool!" the goat gave her husband a slap, eliciting an alarmed squeak from the rat. "Old egg-for-brains... has turned himself into a mindless robot! Complete with flight systems and lasers!"

Charlie ceased rubbing his cheek, a slow smile forming on his face. "Really?"

"Yes!" the woman smiled maliciously, "And I think, after the little freak ruined our plans the last time... that he could be very useful to us in his current condition... don't you agree, dear husband?"

The rat nodded, still grinning as he began checking his power suit. "Just let me get suited up... and then we can go shopping for killer robots!"

"Pass me the electro-wrench, please."

"Happy to!"

Tails sorted through his tools and happily handed the correct one to the kneeling form of I-VO, who was busily reconstructing the Roboticizer Ray. The cyborg reached behind himself with one of his tail-claws and retrieved the tool from Tails. "Thank you."

Tails set his hands on his hips and watched as the cyborg worked. He had to admit, I-VO was a hell of a lot more useful than he had been as the doctor. He leaned down next to his 'assistant' and handed the cyborg a sheaf of papers. "I knocked up some calculations..." the fox said, as the papers were clutched in a steel hand, "For modifying the ray..."

I-VO's glowing optics regarded the information, running the calculations through his data banks. Eventually, the optics flicked to Tails' eyes. "What is the function?" the cyborg enquired.

Tails looked at his companion like he'd asked what colour blue was. "Uh... so we can change you back to organic? I thought that was the whole point of this?"

The cyborg simply looked at him blankly.

"You... do remember who you are, right?"

Again, nothing but a blank stare.

"How much of his memories does he have?" This question was directed at Orbot and Cubot, who hovered nearby.

"He seems to remember some things..." Orbot said, "But not others... it's quite upsetting, really, seeing him like this."

"Yeah!" Added Cubot, "And it was totally nobody's fault!"

"Jeez, doc..." Tails turned back to the cyborg, who seemed to have phased out. "There's gotta be some of your marbles in there! You said something to me, remember?"

I-VO didn't respond, staring blankly through Tails' papers.

"If only I could take a look inside you..." Tails said thoughtfully, "See if there's anything I can do about your memories... if that wasn't so risky, I mean-"

The fox trailed off as a steel hand reached out, and grabbed hold of his arm. Tails yelped, though the grip wasn't too tight.

"M... Miles..." I-VO's vocal synthesizer's crackled, seemingly under strain, "Li... sten..."

"Doctor?" Orbot said hopefully, gliding over the workshop floor. "Are you back with us?"

"Uh... doc?" Tails said carefully, the glowing eyes locked firmly on his, "You in there?"

"Miles..." I-VO seemed to be under incredible strain, the cyborg shaking with the effort of defying his own re-programmed mind, "Hard to maintain... these brief... periods... of lucidity..."

"What's happening to you?" Tails said, attempting to keep the doctor's focus.

"Programming... taking over..." I-VO said slowly, "Need you to... get inside..."

"You want me to open you up and alter your programming?" Tails said, his inquiry met with a shaky nod. "Doc, are you sure that won't... screw your noggin up even more?"

"Just... DO it, Tails!" The cyborg's voice raised as Robotnik gained more control, gripping Tails' arm tighter. "I... DON'T Intend on being a mindless... drone..." Tails watched as the cyborg slowly let go of his arm, the lights in his eyes dimming as he slumped in place, his internal battle finally taking its toll.

"Doctor?" Orbot said carefully, "Doctor, are you alright?"

"He seems to have shut down..." Tails said, nudging the now inert cyborg.

"So what're you gonna do?" Cubot said, rapping his knuckles on I-VO's forehead.

Tails shrugged. "I'm gonna take a look inside..." the fox said, standing from his position and regarding the cyborg thoughtfully, "If he's being consumed by the machine side of his mind, we need to get him lucid again before-"

SMASH.

Tails squeaked in alarm, Orbot and Cubot wailing in kind, as the wall to his workshop exploded inward. The fox threw himself behind a workbench as a tall, chunky powered robot stormed into the building.

A blue desert rat sat in the cockpit, accompanied by a red-clad goat with a jetpack.

"Well, mister Tails!" Berlinda the goat-woman grinned beneath a pair of Robotnik's stolen goggles, "It's been a while!"

"Ah, jeez!" Tails grimaced, "Not you two!"

"Yes, us two!" the goat continued, "And you appear to have something we want! Charlie?"

"Yes dear?"

A gloved finger pointed directly at Robotnik's slumped form. "Get that robot!"

"Right away, dear!"

"Wait, what?!" Tails had no time to react as the armoured rat reached down and swiftly took the doctor in one huge hand. Tails hopped from his cover, shrieking as a beam of energy forced him back. Berlinda cackled as she aimed a laser pistol in Tails' direction, putting another shot into his workbench for good measure.

"Doctor!" Orbot cried, he and Cubot ineffectually hovering in pursuit of the fleeing supervillain couple.

"Ah, jeez..." Tails watched the pair depart, too quickly for him to do anything about it, and raised his communications device. "Sonic? Guys?" the fox spoke into his wrist-communicator, "We have a problem..."