MT-1 watched 274 leave and waited for him to get to his post. He was long out of normal sight but the unexpected powers he received made it so he could sense the location of everyone and everything. Every Brother, every room, every part and piece, and thing, he could see where they all were.
And he used it to intensely watch the fight that was currently playing out at Robotnik's citadel.
So when everything undoubtedly went wrong, MT-1 had a few seconds' head-ups to put up a sort of shield. In reality, he had displaced himself into a bubble that could see into the physical realm, but he wasn't actually there and was therefore unaffected by the self-destruct. The first thing he did was to assess the situation and figure out how bad it was. Concentrating, he focused all his powers on locating every downed brother from the Emperor himself to the very last body on the production line.
A notable few were absent.
Some had… already been logged as missing so he focused on the ones that had been accounted for before the self-destruct went off but were now surprisingly absent. He couldn't actually track a couple of them considering they had used the Main-Viewer. He knew it left a trail but it wasn't one his systems could follow. He could only hope that the five it took made it out alive.
Besides… 274's disappearance was far more interesting. As far as MT-1 knew, 274 had no remarkable means of getting away from the self-destruct, and yet there just wasn't a trace of him at all.
Last he'd sense of him he was in one of the testing rooms with a newly made brother ID'd as 10-961 and then… nothing.
Moving slowly, but with haste, MT-1 made his way down to testing room Gamma; he had to be careful, his makeshift shield could do any number of unpredictable things if he wasn't on top of it constantly, but he also had a time limit on how long he could use it. Once the energy was used up it would be the end of him and that was that. Whatever stunt 274 had pulled was just about the only thing that could possibly save him too since he couldn't be sure that the pirated omni-viewer would come back in time, if at all.
He made it, of course, and was greeted by the sight of a giant ring sluggishly rotating near the left wall. Curious, MT-1 plugged himself into the surveillance system to playback the events from an hour prior as he had been focusing on the battle with Sonic at the time.
Such a shame that victory had been in their grasp only for it to be quite literally yanked away at the last second.
But he saw what he needed to see, here and there, and moved onto the next highly impractical move.
The giant ring had all but been used up – not enough energy left in it to warp him to 274's location on its own but enough that it's link to the other end was still intact. Normally, this would've been a death sentence for any other brother as most wouldn't have the means to track that link. But not for him, not for MT-1.
Concentrating, MT-1 followed the ring's trail to the other side; it was difficult, he never managed to quite get to the other side of rings that went a tremendously long distance before– his concentration had always snapped one way or the other – but he had to, if he didn't he'd end up as nothing but scrap for Robotnik. It ended up being far more exhausting than he previously predicted it would be; he concluded after hours of following the golden trail that wherever the other end was it was not of any place in this universe.
Which made it the perfect getaway from the self-destruct signal; he just had to make it to the other side, had to stay completely concentrated.
He was starting to get a foggy view of the other end; it was organic in nature he noted, probably a forest of some kind. He was almost there when he was yanked off-course by something strong. It was basically the same location, off by a mile or so, and that suited MT-1 just fine as he noted how little time he had left. No time to attempt to correct the sudden change only time to go.
So he prepared to warp in.
He didn't like warping, not after the accident, and would only agree to do so in the most controlled settings. The smudged and smeared image of the place he would be warping to set off all sorts of alarms – blurs of green and blue, grass and sky most likely, set him on edge. Nature was unpredictable, trees could fall at a moment's notice, a storm could shift everything, and any number of creatures could come barreling through.
He braced himself and took a leap of foolish faith. He knew for a fact that the place he was wrapping to would surely be annihilated upon arrival, but he lied and reassured himself everything would be alright; it was illogical and would've been frown upon, from his brothers and from he himself, but desperation waited for no careful calculations.
And so he leapt.
It took days and –surprisingly- it seemed like his lie may have been true after all; nothing had stirred within the clearing, nothing at all, not even a bird had dared to land there. The only thing he had to compensate for was the swaying of the grass; it caused a little instability but nothing that could ultimately trigger off the disaster.
And then, just hours prior to landing, his luck ran out.
Suddenly MANY THINGS were in the clearing moving about, moving equipment, moving their limbs, movement everywhere.
He couldn't see who they were or know what they knew and so MT-1 desperately tried to rein in control of his slippery grip on the chaotic warp. But he was exhausted; his systems already strained from the prolonged warp, and he was losing the fight fast.
He almost lost it entirely for a moment but regained a few precious seconds back when he spotted a figure frantically running through the mass of people and hollering for them to either stop or run away.
His vision locked on that person for a mere moment, enough to know with certainty that it was 274 alive and well, before he was overwhelmed from the onslaught of the rapidly deteriorating stability of his own warp. He tried, just a little longer he told himself, he was almost there. He poured the last of his stores of ring energy and coolant in as a last-ditch effort to stabilize himself enough for a safe landing.
But then came the bullet.
The bullet was the final straw.
He could hear and see and feel the surrounding area now but he wasn't quite there yet and could do nothing more than watch as 274 took action and tried to stall for time. He couldn't look away as 274 screamed in agony and could only resolve to fight harder for control or to at least warp a little swifter.
He would not, could not, see another brother die because he couldn't do this right.
It wasn't until he hit the ground that he realized that it had all stopped.
He tried getting to his feet but they wouldn't cooperate enough to support his weight and so he started crawling, determined to the very end. It was a slow crawl as his worn out systems struggled to do the bare minimum - but guilt drove him onward. He had to be sure he didn't get another brother killed.
"I'm sorry, stay here," MT-1 automatically said as he inched forwards. "I'm sorry, stay here, I'm sorry, stay here, –" He repeated again and again with the same seemingly emotionless tone but would've read as heartfelt to anyone who knew him well enough. He was trying to will 274 to be alive and to know that he'd try to help as soon as he got there. However, halfway there his arms started to give and he had to stop and let his struggling systems cool down.
That was when someone ran up to him– someone with a high concentration of chaos energy.
MT-1 tensed, he knew of only one person like that and it was Sonic and while the energy was far more passive it still sent the metallix on edge. So when Sonic helped him to his feet and slung him onto his shoulders it was a pleasant surprise to say the least.
"It's okay, we got this!" Sonic reassured, but MT-1 knew better; Sonic's chaos signature was buzzing with nervousness.
"274?" MT-1 whispered the question. While surprised and very wary that Sonic was helping, he wasn't going to do anything hasty that might make things worse.
"Down and out, but Tails is working on getting him back online," Sonic answered. "Also call him MS-1 for now." MT-1 didn't respond to the information, simply accepted it; the time for such questions on why was for later.
For now, he surveyed the immediate area. The field was a mess, left with a gaping hole in the ground and the surrounding trees ripped from their sturdy roots – and yet the Master Emerald shone unaffected and untouched despite its proximity to the center of destruction. MT-1 gave it a nasty look.
The trench itself was mostly intact; a few seconds longer, however, would've been a much different story – bits of the trench had started to be pulled inwards or had collapsed.
And the nerve-wracked people in it were still coming down from the adrenaline high it seemed, most still trying to process the quick turn of events from mere moments ago, too dazed to even really register the new robot.
But Tails, MT-1 noted, was clearly used to it and instead focused hard on the task at hand; getting 274 back online. It didn't matter that he had lost his tools as he just continued on anyway, managing to close the ports on his hands with nothing but a skimpy bit of wire. It was somewhat bizarre seeing Tails doing mechanic's work rather than Porker but he took the difference in stride.
Tails, however, did not take well to the differences of MT-1. As far as he knew, MT-1 was a far more intimidating metallix than 274. Where 274 ran on chaos energy but ultimately couldn't use it for much else, MT-1 could and already demonstrated a taste on how destructive his abilities were. The other reason was size; 274 himself was a good few inches shorter than Sonic himself but MT-1, on the other hand, was at least a head taller and also so much more broader to boot. Where 274 was clearly built for speed, MT-1 was clearly built to be a dense wall of power that could bear the brunt of even Knuckles' strongest punches. And if he were as aggressive as 274 then some severe problems were bound to arise.
Also… the Cycloptic eye creeped him out. The way it slid fluidly across the black visor sent shivers down his spine.
"Report?" MT-1 said flatly, snapping Tails back to reality.
"Well… I –hmmm…" Tails fought to get the words out. "H-he was already was topped off with rings and coolant so… he should be stabilizing."
"Hear any crackling?" MT-1 inquired. Tails noted his one single eye seemed to be dimming.
Tails put an ear to the side of 274's chest, but only heard typical sounds of idling systems hmming faintly. "No, no crackling."
"Good, he should reboot in 15 minutes then," MT-1 nodded ever so slightly before pointing to 10-961. "And the other?"
"Just low on fuel, otherwise he's fine." Tails answered.
MT-1 didn't say anything else, he just gently pulled himself off of sonic and sat down in the trench. He sagged and let his head roll to the side; a plume of steam erupted from the vents on his back as he forced his body to relax. A few moments passed before the metallix spoke again.
"Any chance that there's any coolant and/or rings left?"
"Nope." Sonic said with a pop on the 'p' as he checked on everyone else in the trench. Satisfied that there wasn't anything more major than minor scuffs and bruises, he spoke just a bit more. "Wouldn't be hard at all to get more for you, though."
"Care to tell the rest of us, what in the What just happened here?" The commander interrupted the group with his shouting. He had gotten his wits together and glared accusingly at the new metallix. The various news crews, scrambling to scrounge together enough intact equipment to record, also wanted to know what had happened. They eagerly waited for what the robot had to say for himself.
"Bad warp." MT-1 stated painfully plainly.
"And why can you so happen to be able to warp, robot?" The commander probed.
"Why experimental technology sir," MT-1 answered – no one could be sure if he was being sarcastic or not. "But you know how experimental stuff can go wrong." He shrugged nonchalantly at the furious human.
"Young Fox," The commander swiveled to Tails."Why can the robot warp?! Dangerously at that!"
"Why sir? Well I don't know." MT-1 replied before Tails could say anything. "We wanted something else entirely but got teleportation instead."
"How would – Why – what-?!" The frazzled commander grasped at straws looking for the right words for his confusion.
"If it's any comfort to you, I typically never warp." MT-1 inputted. "And even when I do it's typically only in a tightly controlled scenario but an emergency is an emergency."
The commander only pinched his nose in agitation, but let it go with only a slight growl.
And that would've been that until MT-1 got up and grabbed the commander's arm and dragged him down until their faces were a mere inch apart.
"One last thing sir," The metallix said as flatly as ever but a tone deeper this time. "Don't ever let one of your soldiers fire at either of my brothers ever again." With that said and done, the metallix let go of the flabbergasted human and sat right back down in his previous spot. The commander's face formed a twisted scowl as he straightened out and dusted off his sleeve.
"Don't let them have a reason to." He threatened.
"Then don't give us a reason to either, deal?" MT-1 stared down the commander. "It was your soldier who fired when MS-1 was trying to warn everyone. Keep them in check."
Everyone was tense as they watched the two glare at each other for several long moments before MT-1 stuck out an arm stiffly causing the commander to jerk back.
"Deal?" MT-1 repeated. The commander eyed the robot's hand, contemplating, before grasping it firmly and giving a single hard shake.
"Deal." The commander grounded out.
With that, the two left each other alone and Sonic and Tails could at last breathe a sigh of relief as the two stopped sizing each other up. But then came the reporters, back on their feet and rolling the film.
"This is local station square news I'm sure all of you are wondering what happened just now, but rest assure that everyone is alright! Apparently there is a third 'Metal Sonic' that was trying to warp to the floating island when a malfunction happened –" MT-1 single eye flickered momentarily at 'malfunction' but otherwise didn't react. "-As you can see, it left a wake of destruction but thanks to the quick thinking of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and MS-1 everyone made it out safe and sound!"
The camera panned over the clearing, focusing on the hole as well as all the damaged equipment, before circling back to the trench and landing on the resting metallix.
"And this is the third metal sonic! As you can see he's much different from the previous two. Now, are you MS-3 or something?" The reporter asked.
"MT-1, short for Mark Two – One." MT-1 corrected.
"Oh? Mark two -one? Are there any more of you?" The reporter inquired.
"There were plans, but ultimately no." MT-1 said vaguely and turned his head away.
"Ah, care to elaborate on that? Why was Tails making, or planned to make, so many of you? Surely one would've been enough?" The reporter probed further as he stepped a little closer.
"I'm… terribly sorry, but can we do this tomorrow?" MT-1 turned to face the reporter again; his visor was almost totally dark now and fighting futilely to stay on. ", considering… I accidentally damaged or destroyed a lot of your vehicles, it might be best to focus on getting some help so you can get off the island before it gets too dark."
His comment caused a minute pause as several cameramen riffled through their pockets in search of their phones. But otherwise the camera kept rolling and remained focused on MT-1 and the destruction he caused.
"We'll stop by the Thorndyke's tomorrow then?" One of the reporters all but ordered as others rambled on. All MT-1 had left in him was to give a thumbs up before he ultimately passed out leaving the rest to figure out what to do.
It was much later in the day when he came to again, the sun dipping lower and the shadows stretching out longer. The reporters were gone and the only people left were the mobians and his two brothers. 274 was awake now and very much tense but could not yet pace back and forth like he so desired, instead he intensely watched as Tails worked to bring MT-1 back online. 10-961 had also woken up but was far more dazed and was trying, and failing, to register his surroundings.
"MT-1?" A voice asked. MT-1 flicked his vision on and off again as he tried to clear the static in order to see who was talking to him. It was either Tails or 274 but the two were so close together it was hard to decipher who was who.
"MT-1? Brother?" That was clearly 274 now.
"Yes?" MT-1 answered stiffly. He noted he was topped off on energy now and his systems had stabilized to a relatively good degree. He tested his limbs and found them responsive enough for MT-1 to feel confident in sitting upright. He glanced up once he was seated properly and observed those around him more thoroughly.
Sonic still had that achingly passive chaos energy flowing through him – less ready to go than it had been previously. Tails was fidgety and tried to make it seem like he wasn't sizing MT-1 up. Knuckles... Knuckles was staying as far away from them without breaking the line of sight. Before MT-1 could get a proper read on his two brothers, 274 spoke up again.
"-.-?" But whatever he said next went in one ear and out the other. MT-1 shook his head and tried to concentrate. "H-, You doing O-?" MT-1 quietly rumbled in displeasure at himself but at least he caught enough to fill in the blanks.
"Operational. Tired, but Operational." MT-1 stated as he slumped against the crumbling trench wall. All he wanted was to be offline for the next four miracle planet orbits but he had to stay steady because 274 was clearly not. 274 had always been easy to read for the Mark Two, he never had the best poker face after all. Especially now where he sat suppressing shivers on the ground with a hand half unfurled and half reaching out. MT-1 shifted closer until he was in arms reach knowing that 274 hadn't regained all mobility yet, opening up his arms minutely.
Only to almost be toppled over to the ground as 274 lurched forwards to hug him tight. The surprise lasted just a split second before MT-1 returned it. They may not have been the closest of brothers but the relief from knowing someone else survived was immense and the need for comfort even more so.
"How are your systems functioning?" MT-1 asked once they pulled apart, hardly paying the mobians' stares much mind.
"Still as formal as ever…" 274 muttered fondly before soon becoming flustered as he remembered their current company and hardened up once more. "Some small systems need rebooting but I'll live."
"And 10-961?" MT-1 pointed over to the other metallix who had just now regained enough consciousness to realize there was another brother with them.
"I… Who?" 10-961 struggled to speak, too many questions vying to be asked first – that is until he saw the destruction. "What happened while I was asleep?" He squeaked out.
"A lot." 274 rubbed his forehead as he recalled the headache that was that day. "But first things first, this is another one of our brothers."
"Hello," MT-1 gave an aloof wave. "I'm MT-1."
"Uh… hi?" 10-961 managed to squeeze out from between his nerves and his scrambled thoughts.
"Everything is fine now." MT-1 monotonously stated as he tested his legs' ability to hold his weight.
"…You had a fuel leak, so we brought you here to the master emerald." 274 gestured towards the enormous gem, which 10-961 stared at with enormous eyes.
"What is that?" 10-961 asked in child-like wonder as he gazed at the brilliant gem.
"I just told you," 274 said in slight annoyance. He had more to say, but MT-1 swiftly interrupted him.
"That is the Master Emerald, which is an infinite source of Chaos energy much like its seven smaller counterparts known as the chaos emeralds. We run on chaos energy," MT-1 rambled robotically about, seemingly wanting nothing more than to spit out facts. He, however, held back as to give space for questions.
And 10-961 would've asked some more but the conversation was cut short by the engine of the Tornado X's roaring to life.
"We'll explain more when we get back to the flesh bags' stupid house." 274 shouted over the noise.
"Can you fly? Either of you?" MT-1 asked the two.
"I'm not getting in the Fox's Plane again." 274 aggressively said even as he wobbled to his feet, clearly not ready to fly.
"I'll carry you then." MT-1 offered, causing 274 to become flabbergasted.
"I can fly on my own! What do you think me, a day-er?" 274 sputtered out while 10-961 quietly shuffled away from the two and hopped into Tails' Plane.
"No, I'm simply helping you." MT-1 corrected. "You are injured."
"I don't need it, I'm fine!" 274 retorted as he started to warm up his engine for flight.
"No, you are being a fool, being stubborn." MT-1 stated as fact.
"I. AM. NOT." 274's rage surged to the surface blazing hot.
"Eldest's Law." MT-1 coolly said, the words enough to smother out any flames. 274 went wide-eyed and shrunk in on himself, cutting off his engines immediately. MT-1 mentally sighed. He knew 274's emotions were running rampant and while he wished he didn't have to pull that card, with 274 the way he was he didn't really have much choice but to enact it if he wanted his brother to cooperate and take the helping hand.
"Eldest's Law?" 10-961 quietly muttered from the seat he peered over. 274 simply grumbled and turned away from everyone, not bothering to answer. But MT-1 was more than willing.
"Eldest's Law is something we have in order to determine who leads, reserved for when the usual higher-ups are not present to give directions and orders. So whoever is the oldest is in charge and right now that's me." MT-1 explained, filing away that 10-961 didn't know such basic information.
"So you guys just obey whoever's the older brother?" Sonic verbally poked the metallix with his question.
"Obey is a strong word hedgehog." MT-1 caught the intent, could feel the shimmering of suspicion flowing off of Sonic. "It's used most often when a new team is put together and a clear leader is yet to have formed. It creates order until everyone figures out their strengths within that particular group. Scrabbling for power isn't exactly a good way to unify your people."
"Color me impressed then!" Sonic exclaimed in… genuine delight? It threw MT-1 off, but unlike 274 he didn't let anything show. There was no denying it, Sonic's hard-to-miss chaos signature hummed with sheer positive feedback to MT-1's explanation. He had expected at least a little suspicion to remain, something negative and snarky, but there was none of that.
This was certainly something he'd pry more into later.
But for now…
"How do you wish to be carried?"