"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yes, dear..."

Back in their evil underground lair, Berlinda set her hands on her hips impatiently as her husband fiddled around inside the doctor's head, reprogramming the roboticized fox for for their own use. A process that was taking far too long, as far as the goat-woman was concerned.

"You've been at it for ages!" Berlinda grumbled

"Do you want me to do a good job or don't you?" came her husband's retort.

"Did you check the instruction manual?"

"There is no instruction manual!"

"UNIT I-VO ONLINE."

Both mobians jerked back as, with a final input of data, Charlie finally succeeded in repurposing the doctor. Berlinda regarded the cyborg curiously as I-VO sat in place, seemingly waiting for instruction.

"Unit..." the goat said carefully, "Who do you serve?"

The cyborg spent a second processed this inquiry before answering, "BERLINDA AND CHARLIE."

"Yes..." Berlinda gave her husband a big smooch on the forehead. "YES! Well done, Charlie!"

"Anything for you, dear..." the rat replied bashfully, as Berlinda set herself before the cyborg, hands on hips and a wicked grin on her face.

"Unit I-VO!" the goat-woman said with authority, "We are to attack the village! You will go in and destroy Team Sonic! Is that understood?"

"YES."

"Our very own killer cyborg..." Berlinda said happily, wrapping her arm around her husband, "Now we can really show those pathetic villagrs just who is the most evil supervillain couple to ever live!"

"Yes, dear..." replied Charlie, "Would that be before or after dinner?"

"I think..." Berlinda replied, leering evilly, "That we can eat out tonight! What do you say, dear? Take a little stroll into town?"

Charlie grinned. "Sounds like a date to me!"

"Oh..." accompanied by Orbot and Cubot, as well as Sparky, Metal, and Team Sonic, Mombot dabbed at her optics with a pink hankie. "This is terrible! Who would want to kidnap my precious I-VO?"

"Berlinda and Charlie..." muttered Sonic, "Second-rate supervillains."

"What do you think they're planning on doing with him?" Amy said, polishing her hammer.

"Nothing good," Sonic replied, "It's Eggs' fault they were kicked out the last time. I'd bet my spines they're cooking up some kind of revenge."

"And that desert rat's good with technology..." Tails said thoughtfully, "He worked on Ancients artefacts! If anybody else could reprogram the doc, it'd be him."

"WE HAVE TO GET DOCTOR EGGS BACK!" Sparky put in, the formerly organic, now fully mechanical fox hopping over the workbench beside Tails. Tails himself recoiled slightly, Sparky's mere existence bringing up uncomfortable thoughts about his own.

"Oh yeah?" he said dryly, still very much creeped out by the knowledge of the city-full of Tails copies that existed out there somewhere, "You know where they're keeping him?"

Sparky lowered her head, put out by the other fox's unenthusiastic response.

"I agree," Sonic said forcefully, leaning away from his position against a workbench, "We have to find Eggs and get him back."

"What?!" Sticks released a startled shriek at the declaration, hands wrapped around her shock spear, "Are you crazy? Afta everythin' ol' egg-brains has put us through?"

"All I know..." Sonic said firmly, "Is that there's an eight-year old fox kid out there needs help, who isn't as 'evil' as he likes to make himself out to be. Not any more, at least."

"So you'll help save Doctor Eggman?" Orbot said lightly.

"No," Sonic replied simply, "But I will help save said eight year old fox kid. Tails!" Sonic's younger fox brother perked his ears, bringing his attention to the hedgehog. "You have plans to fix that 'robotifier' thing, right?"

Tails nodded. "By my calculations, the Roboticization Ray can be reconfigured to change him back from his current state."

"Change... back?" Mombot said uncertainly.

"That's all well and good..." said Amy, "But how do we find where they're keeping him?"

Suddenly, everybody's communications systems crackled at once.

"Hey guys, sorry to bother y'all..." Knuckles' voice crackled through, accompanied by what sounded like laser blasts and explosions, "But the village is under attack!"

Sonic looked to Amy and grinned. "I don't think we need to worry about that!"

Sonic skidded to a halt in the dirt plaza of Hedgehog Village, while before him citizens fled from the attack. Above, A red-coated goat-woman boosted around on a jetpack, taking pot-shots into the fleeing civilians, freezing folk where they stood while below the heavily armoured form of her husband sparred with a muscular red echidna. Knuckles put a powerful fist into the power suit's torso, sending the machine flying back into a store and trashing the building.

"Knuckles!" Sonic and company moved to re-join the echinda, Knuckles raising his fists as the mixed bag of Team Sonic and Robotniks confronted the desert rat in the power armour. "What's the sitch, knucklehead?"

"These guys are tearing up the place real good, Sonic!" Knuckles responded, cracking his namesakes with intent, "I'm keeping the collateral damage to a minimum, though!"

With that, Charlie wrenched his way out from the wrecked store and proceeded to throw a nearby car into another store, the ensuing destruction totalling the vehicle and the property.

"What would this town do without me?" Knuckles said, pleased with himself while a golden-metal form landed near him. "Oh, hi robot-Tails!"

"MISTER KNUCKLES! MISTER KNUCKLES!" Sparky, who had tagged along with Team Sonic along with the other Robotniks, warbled frantically. "HAVE YOU SEEN DOCTOR EGGS?"

"Huh?"

"UGH..." Metal Sonic Mark Two smacked a steel palm against his face. "SHE MEANS HAVE YOU SEEN OUR STUPID CREATOR?"

"AHAHAHAAA!" Up above, Berlinda the goat cackled maniacally as she hung suspended on her jetpack, her husband below clanking into position. "Well, Team Sonic and the Robotniks! Working together! How quaint!"

"You!" Mombot shoved forward, a nervous Orbot and Cubot hovering around her feet, "What have you done with my I-VO?!"

"Oh-ho!" The goat sneered, "Wouldn't you like to know, you overbearing bucket of oil?"

"Hey!" Cubot said accusingly, "That's our Mombot you're talking to!"

"Yes!" added Orbot, "Now give us back the doctor before... before... we have to get all... ruffian-like!"

"Oh, you want the doc back?" Berlinda taunted, waving her energy pistol around, "Why don't you come get him?" the goat raised her wrist communicator and leered as she spoke into it. "I-VO! Why don't you come say hello to your friends?"

The group watched as, with the roar of jet thrusters, a golden-armoured form boosted over the rooftops and came to a hover beside the goat. I-VO glared down at the gathered mix of mobians and machines, awaiting directives from his present masters.

"Ah jeez..." Sticks muttered, "I don't like 'da look o' dis..."

"I-VO?" Mombot said tentatively, "Do you remember us?"

The cyborg didn't respond, Berlinda cackling beside him. "Ha! He may or may not remember you to tell the truth, the important matter is he obeys only me! "

"Uh, I thought you said to reprogram him to obey 'us'?" Charlie said from below.

Berlinda waved a hand. "Meh, same thing. I-VO?"

I-VO turned his visor to face to goat-woman. "Yes, mistress?"

Berlinda's face morphed into a malicious grin. "Destroy them all!"

"Affirmative." I-VO's arm morphed into its weaponised state, charging with energy.

"Okay, everybody be cool!" Sonic said, addressing the entire team, "There's way more of us than them! If we work together we can incapacitate him in no-"

THWACK. Sonic was abruptly cut off as a golden missile plunged into his sternum, sending him flying across the plaza and slamming through the window of yet another store. A whimpered 'time' could be vaguely heard from inside, as the dazed hedgehog finished his sentence.

Team Sonic instantly went on the defensive, along with Metal and Sparky, attempting to take down the reprogrammed doctor without severely damaging him. A task that was made harder by the fact the roboticized fox had seemingly been altered even further into a fighting machine capable of taking on everybody at once.

Sticks and Amy lunged forward with weapons raised, instantly being feinted and falling limp as their heads cracked together.

"HEY!" Metal Sonic Mark Two boosted forward to meet his creator at Sticks' fall, seemingly enraged at the badger's incapacitation. "DON'T TOUCH HER YOU-"

I-VO responded by unleashing a barrage of energy rounds into the synthetic hedgehog, faster than Metal could react, the robot plunging from the sky and into the ground where he twitched with electrical impulses.

Knuckles was next, roaring as he charged with fists raised. I-VO dodged his attacks, ultimately dispensing the echidna with a single, overpowering punch to the face. Knuckles fell, as limp as the rest of them.

"Ah, jeez!" Tails squeaked in alarm, taking off into the sky as a blaze of energy narrowly missed his left arm. The fox spun his namesakes as hard as he could, boosting through the air to escape I-VO's attacks.

"WOW, DOCTOR EGGS IS REAL ANGRY, HUH?"

Tails jerked with a start, only now noticing that he was being flanked by Sparky, the other robot flying at the side of the fox like a wingman.

"Jeez, don't startle me like that! Especially in the middle of a fight!"

"SORRY! SO WHAT NOW?" Sparky called over, the synthetic fox seemingly looking to Tails for guidance.

"Why are you asking me?! You're the weaponised battle robot!"

"I DON'T LIKE CONFRONTATION!"

"What, you think I'm enjoying this?! AGH!" Tails flinched as a blaze of energy flashed between the two foxes, taking a quick glance over his shoulder to find I-VO hot on their tails. "Look, there's still two of us! You give me fire support and keep him busy! I'll try and find a way to deactivate him manually!"

"OKAY!"

Tails swung around while Sparky turned in mid air, her own weapons powering up.

Tails smacked into the ground clumsily, while the mechanical foxes entered a dogfight above. Nearby, a dazed Sonic stumbled from the store he had been so hastily deposited in, while Orbot and Cubot cowered at Mombot's feet.

"Jeez..." Sonic said, "Did anybody get the plate on that truck that just hit me?"

"Oh, this is terrible!" Orbot wailed, "the doctor's going to destroy Sparky! And all of us!"

"Oh, doctor Tails!" Mombot pleaded, "Is there anything you can do to save my boy?"

Tails furrowed his brow as he watched the fighting above, Sparky managing to keep I-VO distracted from their plotting below. "Orbot... Cubot..." the fox said, "what happens if the roboticizer is turned on already artificial material?"

"The doctor said it wouldn't go so well!" Cubot replied.

"Which means?"

"By my calculations..." Orbot added, "any synthetic caught in the ray would be instantaneously overloaded!"

"Wait, when was that established?" Cubot said.

"Writing is hard sometimes," Orbot shrugged.

Tails snapped his fingers. "That's it! With the repairs we made, the device should be operational... Sonic!"

Sonic shook his head at the attention. "Yello?"

"I need you to run back and grab the roboticizer ray! We don't have much time!"

"On it, lil' bro!" Sonic flashed Tails a lopsided smirk, before vanishing in a blur of blue. One second ticked by. Two. Three. Tails coughed. Four. Cubot checked a watch he wasn't wearing. Five. With a snap, Sonic reappeared beside them, panting as he lugged the roboticization ray.

"What took you so long?" Tails demanded, already readying his tools to fiddle with the thing.

"Hey, this thing is heavy!" Sonic protested, "And you didn't tell me what it looked like! Do you know how much junk you have lying around that workshop?!"

"Whatever! Just help me get this thing read-"

With a thump, Sparky's distraction was finally over, her mechanical body falling heavily to the ground as she took a direct hit from I-VO's disrupter cannon.

"YES!" Berlinda cackled while her husband stomped into position below, I-VO hovering between the pair having been left alone to deal with the defenders himself, "FINISH THEM, MY ULTIMATE WEAPON!"

"Affirmative."

"Oh man..." Tails whined as he hefted the roboticizer, "Help me aim this thing!"

Orbot and Cubot hopped into the firing position while Mombot helped Tails manhandle the barrel of the device into position, until the sights hovered over the threatening form of I-VO. The roboticized fox leaned forward and engaged his thrusters, ready to take them out once and for all.

"Fire in the hole!" Cubot smacked his hand down on the activation button, the reassembled device spat a lance of blue-white energy... and the roboticized unit designation I-VO became wreathed in lightning.

"NO!" Berlinda snarled as I-VO twitched, having comically faceplanted into the dirt. Already Tails was rushing to retrieve the fallen cyborg, tools at the ready.

"It's over, goat-lady!" Sonic called from below, "Your 'ultimate weapon' is now the ultimate paperweight!"

Berlinda bared her teeth, before a malicious smile crossed her face. "Maybe so..." she said, hovering in place on her jetpack, "but you still have the two of us to content with, Sonic!" She gestured around at the hedgehog's teammates, all unconscious or shut down.

"Not for long..." Tails muttered, shifting I-VO into a manageable position. "Sonic! Keep them busy while I try to bring the doc back around!"

Sonic flashed him a thumbs up. "Can do, Tails!" The hedgehog burst into a sprint as lasers began criss-crossing around him, Berlinda and Charlie attempting and failing to make their mark.

"What are you gonna do, Tails?" Orbot said, as Tails fiddled around inside I-VO's open innards.

"Oh jeez..." Cubot said, raising his hands to his mouth, "I think I'm gonna barf!"

"I'm rebooting him!" Tails replied connecting I-VO to a data pad, "And seeing if I can't reverse whatever it is these jerks did to him in the first place! Also, robot's can't barf, Cubot."

"Oh, doctor!" Mombot hovered worriedly nearby, "Do what you can to save my boy!"

"I'm an inventor!" Tails replied, tapping away as I-VO's power core began to warm back up, "Not a doctor!"

Sonic yelped as he flipped over a lancing energy beam falling back into a sprint and making for a nearby building. He leapt and bounced from it, launching himself through the air and landing another spin attack on Charlie's power suit. The battle mech wobbled as its owner attempted to right it, landing on its butt with a slam.

"Ha!" The hedgehog chortled, "I guess you're really behind on the ti- WOAH!"

The armour-clad rat had recovered too quickly for Sonic to get his 'witty' comment in, and the hedgehog now found himself dancing in spot as blue lasers flickered around his feet. "Tails buddy?" Sonic called back to his brother, "Are you finished bringing bolt-brain back around yet?"

"Oh yes Sonic, he's quite finished..."

Sonic hopped back as, on plumes of jet flame, the doctor himself hovered like an attack helicopter into a landing beside the hedgehog, blue eyes glowing furiously at the supervillain couple who had effectively enslaved him.

"Oh, hey doc!" Sonic grinned, "You back with us, Eggs?"

"Yes!" Ivo said harshly, "And it's about blasted time!"

"And all it took was a little know-how from the single best inventor in the world..." Tails said smugly, fluttering down beside Robotnik and saluting with a wrench.

Ivo attempted to raise a finger in warning, instead bringing up his arm cannon. "Don't push it, Tails!"

"I'll push whatever I want, robo-brain! That's another one you owe me!"

"AGH! SILENCE!" Berlinda, fed up with the trio's bickering and angry at the loss of her 'ultimate weapon', snarled in rage. "CHARLIE! LET'S SHOW THESE UPSTARTS WHAT TEAM CHARLINDA IS MADE OF!"

"Yes, dear..." Charlie replied, readying his battle-suit's weapons and storming forward.

"Ready to fight on the side of good again, Eggs?" Sonic said lightly, "You seem to be making a habit of that!"

"What did I say about not pushing it, hedgehog?"

"Guys..." Tails interjected, "I don't wanna intrude but... big stompy robot of doom running right at us?"

"Oh yeah..." replied Sonic, half-yawning. "C'mon gang! Let's kick these two-bit pooper-villains outta here!"

Sonic boosted forward into the fight, Tails and Robotnik taking to the air, all three dividing the rat's attention as he scanned wildly for targets. Sonic slammed into the armour-clad mobian, delivering spin-dash after spin-dash, while Ivo peppered the battle suit with lasers and Tails worked on finding a way to shut the thing down. All the while, Berlinda shrieked from above, urging her husband to get off of his butt and fight.

It didn't work. Ultimately, by working as a team and picking apart their armoured target piece by piece, the machine finally tumbled over, its cockpit snapping open and unceremoniously dumping its skinny blue pilot into the dirt.

"Charlie!" Berlinda swooped above, laser pistol flailing in hand as she watched her husband, and their beloved battle mech, taken out of the fight. Below, the blue rat scrambled away from the victorious trio, desperately scanning for means of escape.

"Berlinda!" the bespectacled mobian, deprived of his suit, was now utterly defenceless. "Help me!"

The goat-woman above raised her pistol and pulled the trigger... and was rewarded with a shower of sparks and a pathetic whine from the energy weapon.

"Oh, what's that?" Robotnik called from below, glowing blue eyes locking on the flying goat, "Out of batteries?"

"Come down here!" Sonic joined in, "I'm sure we can help with that!"

"Yeah!" Added Tails, "Maybe we could plug it into Eggy's butt!"

"Hey now."

The goat offered no response, watching helplessly as the trio looked up at her... and the previously unconscious members of Team Sonic began to come round.

"Berlinda?" Charlie said pathetically, not moving from his position.

The goat seemed to consider, her eyes darting to and fro behind the goggles... before she bared her teeth with a snarl and glared. "You're USELESS, Charlie! USELESS!" She began to rise on her jetpack, retreating from the scene. "I'll be back! And when I am, I'm going to FIX you! I'll fix you ALL GOOD!"

With a final scream of jetpack engines, the deranged goat-woman boosted away into the darkening sky.

"Ber... linda?" Charlie simply watched as his wife flew away, disappearing out of sight.

"Looks like you need to file for divorce, dude!" Sonic said, folding his arms as he stood over the defeated rat.

"Hey, doc..." Tails said, watching the departing goat, "Think you can catch up?"

"Negative..." Robotnik said, "Systems overloaded... power low... thanks for that, by the way! Not like it HURT LIKE HECK or anything!"

"Meh, it worked didn't it? you're fine!" Tails waved off Ivo's concerns as the cyborg turned to regard Charlie as the rat was dragged to his feet by a revived Knuckles.

"Wait... AGH!"

Charlie shrieked as Robotnik ripped off his glasses and promptly stomped them into fragments. The cyborg pointed his arm cannon at Charlie in a warning manner. "That's for turning me into a mindless drone!"

"Doctor!"

"Boss!"

Sonic, Tails and Robotnik turned as Orbot and Cubot hovered over, accompanied by Mombot.

"Doctor, you have your memories back!" Orbot said happily.

"We're sorry, doc!" Cubot added, "Can you ever forgive u-AGH!"

Cubot didn't even get to finish pleading for forgiveness before a yellow boot punted him across the plaza, Orbot cowering in anticipation of a similar fate. "YOU IDIOTS!" Ivo's synthesised voice crackled as he scolded his minions. "What did I TELL YOU about NOT TOUCHING ANYTHING?! I swear, if I'm stuck like this I'm using you for SPARE PARTS!"

"Oh, Ivo dear!" Mombot reached out and hugged her son. "It's so good to see you acting like your old self again!"

"Yes, well..." Ivo grumbled, "I'd very much LIKE to get myself properly back to normal! Tails? Those designs you showed me? I don't suppose you could give me a hand reconfiguring the roboticizer?"

"Uh, excuse me?" Tails chuckled, "You're MY assistant! Remember, I-VO?"

Ivo offered the fox an angry bleep in response, and then turned to check on his slowly reviving synthetic family members.

The next day...

Ivo Robotnik hummed a series of mechanical noises to himself as he tinkered in his lab, putting the final touches to the roboticization ray. He and Tails had put Tails' designs into effect, and by all calculations the device should reverse the effects of the roboticization.

"And about time too!" he muttered to himself, synthesised voice low. "I've spent days like this! Any longer and It'll be harder going back than staying roboticized!"

"We're sorry, boss!" Cubot said miserably, his head currently serving as a table on which Ivo's tools were arranged. "We were only trying to help!"

"Yes, doctor!" added Orbot, handing a screwdriver to Robotnik's tail-claws. "We didn't mean to turn you into a robot! We swear!"

"Yes, well..." Ivo replied, fiddling inside the machine. "At least Mombot got some joy out of the whole experience!"

"What was that Ivo?"

Ivo turned to find Mombot had entered the room, watching curiously as he worked on his device.

"Oh, uh..." Ivo reflexively rubbed the back of his head, knowing how put out Mombot was about his decision to unroboticize himself. "Nothing, Mombot!"

"Ivo, I'm sorry..." Mombot said, tottering over to regard her presently synthetic, soon to be reconstituted son, "When Orbot and Cubot told me you'd done this on purpose, I thought it was because you wanted to be just like the rest of your family! If I'd have known sooner, I could have helped!"

"It's okay, Mombot..." Ivo did his best impression of a sigh (which, as it happens, is hard to accomplish without lungs), "I know you were excited to have a new robot son to raise... and if I'm honest, I guess it was kinda nice being like the rest of the family, even if just for a little while!" He shot a glare at Orbot and Cubot, his face expressionless but the intent clear. "At least it might have been, if it were my decision and if my personality hadn't been completely suppressed!"

The two mechanoids shrank apologetically under the doctor's scrutiny, before the cyborg himself returned his attention to his roboticizer.

"At least with Tails' help you now have a way to reverse the process?" Orbot said carefully.

"Yeah!" Cubot added, his tray of tools wobbling dangerously on his boxy cranium. "Now you can totally use it for... whatever it is you wanted to do with it two chapters ago! Something to do with prosthetics?"

"Whatever," Ivo grumbled further, "Until then this thing is going in the basement. Maybe it'll come in useful in the future, who knows... so long as I'm not on the receiving end of it!"

"Oh, Ivo!" Mombot cooed, "You're still my boy and I respect whatever decision you make! If you want to be organic, then that's... that's fine by me!"

Ivo drummed his fingers on the roboticizer's casing, the tapping of metal on metal clinking through the lab. He sighed internally. Mombot had been overjoyed at the prospect of having a fully synthetic family. For what reason he didn't know. It seemed every member of his robot family was oddball in their own way, and didn't behave as he had foreseen...

Ivo made a decision, snapping the roboticizer's casing shut and turning to his Mombot.

"Welp, the roboticization ray is almost complete!" he smacked his hands together, metal clacking against metal. "It'll take... a couple more days of tinkering and testing, and then it'll be ready to go!"

"But doc! You said it would be finished to-"

Ivo put a boot up Cubot's backside, shutting the mechanoid up as he sailed across the lab with a wail. "Like I said! Two days... at minimum!"

"Oh!" Mombot said, "Well in that case, do you fancy a recharge? All this work must have your power levels running low!"

"Yeah, sounds great Mombot!"

"I'll go and collect Sparky and Metal, and you can join us for dinner!" Mombot said cheerily, before tottering away chuntering dinner plans to herself, even though 'dinner' for Ivo would mean plugging into a portable generator.

"Doctor, are you intending on remaining roboticized for that length of time just to appease Mombot?" Orbot enquired.

Ivo shrugged. "She's my Mombot!" He replied, Cubot wobbling back to join them with optics spinning. "And besides..." the cyborg said thoughtfully, "At least now I have all my marbles! And... it really is kinda nice to be just like everybody else for a change..."

"Oh, well..." Orbot said hopefully, "Perhaps this whole experience can help you appreciate life from a robot's perspective doctor?"

"If you mean I'm gonna go easier on you nincompoops from now on, forget it!" Robotnik snapped, "Not on your gyros, gearhead!"

"Ivo! The hypercharged plasma reactor is ready!"

"Coming, Mombot!" Ivo slumped and set his tools down on the workbech. "Come on, you two..." He addressed his assistants, "Let's go eat..."

"But boss! You don't have a mou-"

"QUIET!"