Silver awoke to the quiet humming of Neo's engine next to him.

"Ah, shit. I didn't mean to doze off..." He whispered, suddenly panicking about his brothers. Were they both still there? Very carefully, he sat up to look over at Mecha, then at Neo who was still right beside him. They were both safe. Relieved, he sighed and relaxed back into his original position, only to find some kind of fabric falling over his head. Puzzled, he tilted his head back and pulled it away with one hand.

A blanket with the Eggman Empire logo on it? That could only mean one thing. Silver looked over to the door and smiled to himself. Eggman must have come back to put it around him when he fell asleep... how thoughtful.

Now, alone with his thoughts, Silver went back to watching the screen in front of him rows of text and numbers slowly changed and moved about. He got lost in thought about it, how strangely morbid it was. This was practically his brother's entire processor spilled out in front of him. Should he even be looking? Was this private? Not that he understood any of it anyway, but...

That was when something changed. After watching the screen for so long, Silver picked up right away that the movements had become much slower. He sat up again and looked to Neo, wondering if he should prod him out of low-power mode now. He hesitated, not wanting to disturb his older brother just yet, but a string of bright red text across the middle jolted him into doing it.

"Uh, hey, wake up..." Silver whispered, gently nudging Neo with his shoulder and slowly unwrapping his arm from around him.

Neo booted himself back into standard operating mode and his working optic flashed back to life, spilling a red glow across the desk in front of him. He lifted his head, at first defensive, then mildly irritated. He looked at Silver and signed, "why?"

Silver pointed at the red text and frowned. "That looks bad. Is it?"

Neo gave him a long look.

It was just a report of how many fragmented files were left to repair. But Silver didn't know that.

"Okay okay, don't be sarcastic with me, asshole... I was just worried." Silver sat back in his chair and sighed, finally letting his arms flop at his sides. "I thought the virus was back or something."

The blanket that had been covering his head fell off onto the floor, and Neo watched it fall with a questioning look. Where had that even come from? Silver leaned down to pick it up, but instead of putting it back around himself, he swept it over Neo's shoulders and tied it like a cape. Neo let him but looked unimpressed by it. Silver nudged him and grinned, trying to get him to see the funny side of it.

"But ah, the great Lord Neo Metal Sonic wouldn't let a puny little virus come back, would he?"

Neo rolled his working optic at his little brother and rested his chin on his hand.

"Aw, come on... lighten up a little. Things are gonna be okay now." Silver went to undo the knot he had made in the blanket, but Neo slapped his hand away. "Wh- Hey! I thought you didn't want it. Jeez."

Neo glared at his little brother and signed, "I would sell you for a sandwich."

"Same." Silver retorted whilst rubbing his hand, pretending that it hurt. "Wait, we don't eat sandwiches."

Neo gave him a look. "That is the point."

"You're so rude."

"No, I'm Metal Sonic."

Silver gasped at the comeback and grinned. "The great Lord Asshole has a sense of humour! Who would have thought?"

Neo shoved the younger robot by his shoulder, playfully - but disguising it as annoyance. The force pushed Silver's chair to the side, where the wheels carried it across the room. Much to Neo's dismay, Silver enjoyed the free ride and gave a beep of glee. Neo rolled his optic at him and went back to looking at the screen again.

"You'll permanently damage your motherboard if you keep frowning like that!" Silver prodded at him again from a distance. "I'm afraid our pops can't just buff out ugliness with tools."

Neo didn't even look at him as he signed, "you are a disaster."

"No, I'm a Sagittarius."

The sound of chair wheels rolling across the floor told Neo that Silver was coming back over to him. He gave a huff through his fans and finally looked at him again, only to find that Silver hadn't angled the push correctly and was drifting off in the wrong direction. Neo watched, amused. He folded his arms.

"You could help and not just, you know, stand there!" Silver called out to him, apparently forgetting that he could just stop the chair from moving at any time.

Neo shook his head, unfolding his arms to sign, "Natural selection."

"Libras and Sagittarians are meant to be ultra-compatible. I think astrology is a lie."

Neo finally relented and unplugged the USB cable from himself. He stalked over to the chair and its user. He stopped it with one hand, turned it around, and pushed it back over to the computer he had been working at. Right before it hit the desk, Neo stopped it again and leaned over the back. He folded his arms on top of Silver's head.

"Classic two-faced Libra behaviour." Silver said with a snicker. "One minute you hate me and the next you're all mushy. Make up your mind."

"Just an older brother thing." Neo gently rolled the chair aside to sign to him. "Also, it's not as mushy as your processor."

"Wow. If I had known that was the best you've got, I woulda said something genuinely offensive."

Silver went back to watching the numbers switch and change on the screen, as the movement caught his attention. A thought crossed his mind, and he looked to Neo with a slight frown. "Hey... it's crazy to think about how everything that we are comes down to these little numbers, and you can just... see them on a computer screen." He paused, his eyes sweeping over the numbers incredulously. "How much of us isn't just made up of numbers?"

The thought sent Silver down a whole other rabbit hole of thoughts. How much wasn't just programming? Before, he had complained that the 'bots had no directive. That every time they tried to kill Sonic, they were called away. But he had the opportunity, that choice, right in his hands mere hours ago. He chose not to fight his sworn enemy. The paradoxical nature of it all baffled him more. If that choice wasn't programmed into him, where did it come from?

Neo hesitated, unsure of how to explain it concisely in sign. He pulled up a notepad document and typed out his reply: I have changed my own coding several times in the past. How do you think I rebelled? We are not limited to simple binary. We are more. My mere drive to change my very own coding shows that there are parts of us that exist outside of simple programming. You too most likely possess these capabilities.

Silver read his sibling's reply quickly, finding himself oddly engrossed in the topic now. "So you're saying our consciousness and free will comes from somewhere else? Almost like... a soul? Yes, I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about the notion of mental or spiritual peace - and religion-wise I don't so much lack faith as actively hate whatever god rules this universe... But I've gotta say... maybe it's something to think about."

Neo looked at him with a look that said are you serious.

"I'm kidding! Well, uh... mostly..." Silver dismissed the idea but seemed embarrassed. "Don't you ever think about that, though? Like, what happens when we die? Nothing? Or is there some kind of robot heaven? Oh chaos, robot Satan is gonna love me."

Neo held his gaze for a while. Then, he looked over to Mecha. And back at Silver. He gave a deadpan expression and plugged the USB cable back in to his arm.

"Oh, yeah... I gotta learn to read the room more often." Silver sighed and sat back in his chair, feeling a pang of guilt. "Sorry, bro. So uh... When's he gonna wake up? Any idea? He'll be completely okay now, right?"

Neo looked thoughtfully at the screen. As he read through his older brother's registry he tapped his claws against his cheek plating. It wouldn't be too much longer now, just a few hours at most. With this realization fuelling him, Neo gave higher priority to the programs he was using on Mecha and watched intently. He then realized he hadn't answered his sibling yet, and a finger hovered over the "N" key for a second... but then he typed "yes" with one hand.

Silver watched his older brother subtly shrink away after typing the reply. He sighed and reached out to touch his brother's arm. "It's okay to be unsure, bro. You don't have to know everything all the time." He then stood up and went to leave, but as he got to the door, he stopped and offered his sibling a smile over his shoulder. "But things will work out. They always do, especially when you're around."

Neo didn't know how to respond to that. His sibling's sincerity had caught him off guard.

"I'll be back! Oh, and just for the record... I'd sell you for half a sandwich." Silver poked at him with a taunting grin before softening. "Now just relax, okay? Just relax and, like... think positive thoughts. And don't overdo your computer-ey brain stuff."

Neo signed back to him sarcastically, "sounds like you just advised me to commit suicide three times over."

Silver laughed. "Keep up the optimism, bro. It's your best trait."

The door closed behind him, and Neo finally let himself laugh too. He tightened the knot of the blanket and looked at himself in the reflection of the monitor.

Silver was right. Things would be okay now... because Neo refused to let it be any other way.

He wasn't built to accept failure. Especially not when it came to things he cared about.

A loud crash sounded from the room behind him, followed by a quiet "uh oh." Eggman held in a sigh, and for a moment he wondered how much one could get for selling a teenage robot. He turned around and pushed the door open.

Silver popped his head out of the mound of trash on the floor. "Don't be mad."

"What did you do?"

"I was, uh..." Silver freed himself from the debris and brushed himself off with an awkward smile. "... helping?"

Eggman raised a brow at him and folded his arms. "Aaaaand?"

Silver picked up a graphics card in his hand and turned it over thoughtfully. He gave it a look as if concentrating hard. It clearly wasn't what he was looking for though when he tossed back down into the pile. "Okay, I give. I have no idea what I'm doing. I just... wanted to help them." He kicked a circuit board aside aimlessly. "But I'm not as smart as they are, so I dunno what to do. Mecha still needs repairs, and Metal's still half blind. I'm the only one who's holdin' up just fine right now."

"Well. You can start helping by cleaning up this mess." Eggman stated. He pointed at the mess all over the floor sternly.

Silver obliged but not without a sigh first. He started placing the materials back into the shelving units they had come from. The doctor approached to help, reaching above Silver to put back the items he couldn't reach. They got to the last piece of equipment - a blowtorch, which had fallen from right at the top. Neither the human nor the robot could reach it.

Silver looked up at Eggman and bounced up and down a little. "Gimme a boost!"

Eggman lowered a brow at him. "You can just fly up there, can't you?"

"Yeah, but it's not as fun if I just do it." Silver replied, sounding disappointed as he picked up the blowtorch. "Fine..."

That was when Eggman picked him up under his arms and tossed him up, not very high with his weight, but it was enough. Silver grinned and kicked all of his power into his jet booster. Once he was at the right height, he hovered by the open drawer and placed the tool inside. He looked down at the doctor and gave a thumbs-up. "Thanks, pops!"

"Yes yes, now get back here before you break something!"

Silver wanted to slam his jet engine with power again, but he also didn't want to hurt his creator by accident. With a sigh, he slowly descended back down to the floor and landed neatly on his feet.

There was an awkward silence between them. That was until Eggman motioned for them to sit at the table in the middle of the room. Silver, although confused, did as he was told and hopped onto the seat on one side.

Eggman sat awkwardly opposite him. "Soooo..." He pressed his glasses back up. "What are the kids into these days?"

Silver cocked his head. "Come again?"

"Well... what do you like? What don't you like?" Eggman rephrased the question. His face flushed a little in embarrassment. This whole father-son thing was hard when he had to consciously think about what to say.

Silver smirked and shook his head. "What is this, an interview? Sheesh, pops. Just give me the job, I'm qualified."

"I'm trying to have a father-son bonding moment here, you know." Eggman clarified, sounding disgruntled. "Just... tell me about yourself. Anything at all."

Silver seemed to light up at this. "I like... being fast and getting shot at." As he spoke, he fidgeted with his hands and cracked the wiring in his knuckles unconsciously. It was hard for him to keep still, it seemed.

Eggman held his head in his hands and chuckled. "Okay... so you're insane! I guess can work with that. But I mean more along the lines of... what do you like? Hobbies? Interests?"

"Hey, insane is a bad word. I prefer... moderately unhinged." Silver paused in his fidgeting. "Also, I like funny things! And also..." he laughed and nonchalantly pulled a pistol out from under the table. "Weapons!"

Eggman startled and batted the pistol down onto the table so that it faced away from him. "Where did you get that?!"

Silver smiled innocently. "What? You never seen a gun before? I'm practically a walking, talking machine gun myself."

"Exactly, so you don't need one of those! Just... get rid of it, please?"

Silver shrugged a shoulder and tossed the weapon over his shoulder into the trash without even looking. "You can say you don't trust me, it's okay. It wasn't even loaded. Good thing it wasn't with the way you smacked it like that."

"Silver..."

Silver lifted a brow curiously. Then, he sighed and shook his head, leaning back in defeat. "I don't blame you, you know. But robots are easy. They say they wanna kill you, and then they kill you." He took one hand and pointed two fingers at the doctor, like a makeshift weapon. "Organics will pretend to be your friend first. And then they kill you, or leave you for dead."

Eggman held the robot's uncharacteristically defensive gaze. He felt a pit in his stomach at the implication he was making.

"Look. I know you're still upset about it."

Silver sat back up again and held the sides of his chair in his hands. "Upset? You think I'm just upset?" His usually cheerful expression contorted into one of irritation. He stiffened and leaned forward a little. "That doesn't even scratch the surface. You coulda just deactivated me in that cryotube, pops. Leaving me conscious was unfair." Now, pain overwrote his frustration, and his expression darkened. "Knowing that you had other 'bots you preferred whilst I was rusting away... it ate me up. I just wanted to prove myself. To be useful. To be anything at all." He folded his arms defensively and looked away. "And you just left me there. I could have..."

The robot hesitated for a moment, seeming to understand the gravity of his own realization. He slowly unfolded his arms.

"I could have died in that explosion... And it feels like nobody would have cared about me if I did."

Eggman reached across the space between them and put his hand on the young 'bot's shoulder. "I hear you. I'm sorry." When Silver still wouldn't look at him, he gently nudged Silver's shoulder to encourage him. "Now look at me."

Silver at first disobeyed. But the need for his father's approval won, and he finally relented, meeting his sympathetic gaze with sorrow.

"I've made mistakes with all of you boys. I can only apologize for that," Eggman started carefully, knowing that Silver would be taking his words to heart. "I'm sorry. I was selfish, too absorbed in my projects, and I didn't think about how advanced your AI had become in that time. If I could go back now, I would have freed you long ago. I promise you that. I care about you just as much as I care for your brothers."

The robot fell silent, clearly processing everything. He looked down, then away, and then made eye contact with Eggman again, looking unsure. It was so difficult to read organics at times.

"Silver, I care about you even if you don't believe it. If I can do anything to make up for it, I will." Eggman added with a sincere smile. "You're my son. I want the best for you... And I'm glad that you came home when you did. The timing was almost like fate."

Silver finally relaxed and a smile lit up his face. "So... to answer your question from before, I like joking around, being social, weapons, and having my freedom to go and do whatever I wanna do. And I'm interested in coding and programming and fixing stuff now too! I'd like to know more about it. And... I don't like dishonesty, having to sit still, being pushed around, or being insulted. Oh, and not being listened to!"

Eggman slowly nodded at the robot's explanation. What he got from this was that the robot was a hothead with an odd fascination for puns and... guns? It was a lot to take in. His 'bots could be, well... unusual, certainly, but most of them lacked this level of character.

And the firepower to go with it.

"So, uh... basically, I'm a Sagittarius!" Silver added with that grin he wore so well.

"I'm a Cancer."

Silver's hand flew over his mouth. He stifled his laughter.

Eggman frowned at him. "What's so funny?"

"N-nothing, pops. It's just, just- Ya don't stereotypically assume that a world-dominating evil scientist is going to be a Cancer." Silver managed to slip out his reply. "It's just ironic. So many things in this world don't make sense... I love it."

"I have a sensitive side!" Eggman countered him. "Is this not sensitive? I'm trying to bond with you."

"It would be a good bonding experience if you could tell me what tools I need." Silver proposed. He gestured to the shelving unit with a thumb over his shoulder. "And it would be an even better bonding experience if you could show me how it's done. When Mecha's back with us, of course."

"Splendid! Some father-son DIY projects sounds excellent-" Eggman rubbed his gloves hands together with excitement.

Silver lifted his head and tilted it to one side for a moment. He suddenly hopped down from his chair and zipped over to Eggman urgently. "Gotta go pops. Robot stuff. Thanks for the chat." With that, the robot was gone in a flash.

The two brothers, one silver and one blue, stood by the table. Mecha's registry repairs were all set. All that was left to do was to bring him back online.

It was just taking longer than they had hoped.

Neo anxiously drummed his claws on the table. Silver watched him, a little concerned.

"It's okay bro. Just give him some more time."

Neo didn't outwardly respond, but the slight dimming of his working optic said all it needed to. He wanted to trust his younger brother's optimism even if it was hard.

Right as if on cue, Mecha's engine whirred back to life. Neo startled and jolted forward, reaching out to his brother with a shaky hand - but he stayed it. He had to let Mecha come to on his own. He didn't want Mecha's booting systems to see him or Silver as a threat.

Several painfully slow moments passed. Then, the gentle glow of Mecha's visor lit up his face. He took a second to process his change in location, the changes in his systems, and...

The fact that he wasn't alone.

He turned his head to look at his brothers. And when he looked at them, the glow he emitted became so much warmer.

"Hello."

Neo and Silver both gave a sigh of relief through their fans.

"Welcome back, big bro." Silver said, just above a whisper. His tail was wagging profusely and his systems were full of energy. He desperately wanted to leap over and crush his older sibling in a hug but held himself back.

Mecha carefully sat up with Neo's supportive hand on his back. Once his systems were more stable, he slid off of the table and stood up.

Neo searched Mecha's face anxiously and gently took hold of his upper arms. "How are you feeling?"

Mecha stared blankly at him. "I am a machine. I cannot feel, for I lack the programs to do so."

Neo's grip slackened for a moment. He let go of Mecha and took a step back.

That was his brother, alright.

He felt his "heart" shatter into a million pieces.

Without consciously thinking about it, Neo signed "bastard" before pulling his older brother into a tight hug. "You bastard." He buried his face into Mecha's shoulder plating and held him tighter. "You fucking bastard. I was so worried."

Mecha slowly returned the hug after hesitating for some time. "I apologize."

Neo's optic flashed a bright red and he pulled back, grabbing Mecha's face and forcing him to make eye contact with him. "Don't you dare apologize." His glare softened, and he rested his head against Mecha's. "Don't you dare."

Mecha leaned into his brother's touch. Even if he couldn't feel it, he appreciated the gesture. "I apologize for apologizing."

Neo slowly drew his head away and looked down. He finally got a good, close look at Mecha's injuries. His gaze swept over his brother's entire form, and his processor put together the horrific story for him. He almost regretted not getting his brother's repairs done yet, but it hadn't been safe to work on him with the virus in his system, or during the registry repairs. Neo felt sick to his tanks thinking about anyone hurting his sibling, let alone this badly. He reached down and picked up Mecha's hand in his, only to find that it was... shaking?

He looked back up to meet Mecha's gaze.

Mecha was scared.

With a gentleness that betrayed his killer design, Neo took both of Mecha's hands in his and gently rubbed his thumbs across them, leaning his head against Mecha's again. Mecha couldn't stop his hands from shaking no matter how hard he tried to shut down the coding responsible for it. Showing fear against his will was... regrettable. Was this how Neo had felt after everyone witnessed his breakdown? He didn't like it.

"What did they do to you?"

Mecha stiffened, at first defensive. But his trust in his younger brother overrode everything else and he leaned into him for security.

"I was captured by the humans whilst my systems were in critical error," Mecha began to explain, "and they took me to a cell. I do not recall what exactly transpired for some time. But when I managed some self-repair of my CPU, I..." He paused, sounding unsure. "I found a human soldier attacking me. They mocked me, or, attempted to. I suppose my questions did not help my situation, for they then tampered with my hardware and uploaded the infection. I told them to stop. I told them." Mecha started to pull away, agitated, but Neo gently brought him back with a gentle hand to his cheek.

"I defended myself." Mecha then explained matter-of-factly. His hands curled into fists, and Neo let them - but he rested his hands on top of them supportively. "They left me no choice. I did not want to." He looked down. "Then, they took control of my body. I could not stop myself... Nor could they stop me."

Neo listened intently. He swallowed down his anger and grief so that he could give Mecha his full attention. Silver added a supportive hand on Mecha's back as he spoke.

"I was punished. I do not feel pain, so conventional methods would not be effective, I believe they concluded. They tampered with my sensory input systems in order to overwhelm me. They took away my motor control without warning. I also assume that their words were intended to be punishing, however, I know better than to dwell on the words of humans for too long. They fear and chastise what they do not understand."

The stiffness in Mecha's body dissipated with his next words. "They attempted to make me shoot a friend against my will. And... Then, they threatened to have me destroy you and Silver Sonic."

Neo met Mecha's gaze with an awful realization.

"I lost all control of myself." Mecha said, holding Neo's eye contact. "And I was afraid that I would destroy you." His fists uncurled against his will. Not from some rogue code this time, though. Their shaking wouldn't stop. He looked down at his hands, then at Neo, silently asking why this was happening. He couldn't understand it. He was no longer in that situation. Why did it still stir these uncontrollable feelings in him? He shouldn't be able to feel fear in the first place.

"Does talking about what happened to you scare you?" Neo asked carefully. "You did not feel fear like this before."

"No. It does not scare me." Mecha answered him, sounding almost puzzled. "Recounting memory files is not a concern to me. What is done is done, I cannot change the past with any amount of fear." He paused, seeming to consider something. "But..."

Something clicked in that moment. He straightened, meeting Neo's concerned gaze with realization. He recalled what Neo had said to him just minutes before, the phrase, the exact wording. "You bastard, you fucking bastard." It was so similar to when... and now he was right in front of Neo, where he could potentially hurt him...

His engine hitched as if he was holding his breath. For a moment, Mecha felt nothing. Then, it was as though all the power had been sucked out of his frame at once. He muted his voice synthesizer before the impending scream could come out, and he turned away from Neo in a panic, scrambling to get away. In his head, he was pulling fruitlessly against his restraints which bound him to the floor. He was being made to think about killing his little brothers again. Fear and confusion, searing like a knife on fire, crashed down in heavy waves on his CPU. He stumbled into the nearest wall and pressed himself flat against it.

He stared at Neo in white-hot terror. Neo met his frightened look with a sympathetic one.

Mecha was deathly afraid of hurting Neo again. His tunnelled vision focused on the broken glass of Neo's optics with sick dread.

He had done that.

As difficult as it was, Neo let Mecha have his space. He knew that approaching him when he was in self-defense mode wasn't a good idea. But he wished so desperately that he could just reach inside his sibling's processor and shield him from the bad thoughts attacking him. To make himself less of a threat, he sat down on the floor. Silver followed suit.

But in that moment it was happening again. Thoughts of dismantling his siblings piece by piece flooded back into his processor. His body moving against its will with the intent to destroy and kill. No thought being private. Punching his brother in the face, throwing him through a wall, wanting to kill him. Not just to kill him, but to make him feel pain. The vertigo, the confusion, the fear, the loss of self and sanity... all of it. All at once.

The flash of fear passed as quickly as it came. Mecha slowly relaxed and shut off his self-defense programs once they allowed administrator access.

He relaxed and looked down.

"Forgive me."

"You ask for my forgiveness without realizing it is already yours. It has always been yours."

"... Affirmative. I will cease my apologies in the future."

Neo watched as Mecha slowly came back over to him. The older robot carefully sat down beside Neo and looked at the floor with his knees drawn into himself. He had so many questions. Was the virus really gone? Was this a memory glitch? It didn't make any sense to him. He wanted to fix this at once. It was most inefficient to waste this time processing things that no longer mattered. And he wanted this "fear" file, or whatever it was, gone too.

"It's trauma, Mecha." Silver offered Mecha a sympathetic smile. "They probably gave you some kind of robo-PTSD."

Mecha sat up a little and looked at his hands. "What."

Neo nodded in agreement, slowly. He knew all too well what Silver was talking about, except his wasn't from imprisonment or a virus... so he couldn't pretend to understand exactly what Mecha was experiencing.

Mecha seemed to realize something. He looked at Silver and put his hands back down. "You are telling me that the humans have irreparably damaged my core functions." He looked away, then down. "What do I do with this information now that I possess it? Now, I am most inefficient. What do I do now?"

Neo got Mecha's attention on him before signing, "You survive."

Mecha shook his head. "Negative. I am a machine built for a purpose. I cannot fulfill that purpose like I was once able to." He stopped, recalling something privately. "I do not hate the humans. It is a waste of processing time and would be illogical. However..." He curled his hands back into fists and lowered his head. "I... dislike what they did to me. I dislike that they have made me inefficient. I am less able to fulfill my purpose."

Silver gently put his hand on Mecha's knee and smiled at him. "Hey, bro?"

Mecha looked at him.

"Sometimes, murder is okay."

Neo reached over and hit him on the head. He gave his little brother a reprimanding look. This was a serious conversation.

"Hey. Don't act like we're above murdering and killing!" Silver shot back at his brother, placing a hand on his knee and leaning forward challengingly. "Thanks for the morality lesson, Mr. Assassin, I'll be sure to come to you next time I have homicidal impulses for some wholesome advice."

Neo took a moment before signing back to him, "Silver. Do you internalize any of your thoughts?"

Silver smirked at him. "You can do that? Gosh, I didn't know. Maybe you could demonstrate?"

"I demonstrate punching you in the face," Neo retorted and went to give a middle finger back at him.

"Hey Metal? Shut your mouth."

"I do not have a mouth."

Mecha shoved both of them aside a little too hard. He shot them both looks and stood up, earning a surprised beep from the pair.

"I must be alone. Excuse me."

Their bickering was too much.

Without saying another word, Mecha walked away. To where, he didn't know. He just kept walking, then running, as fast as he could. Heavy footsteps echoed through the metallic walls and floors of the base. He didn't know how to process any of this. And it didn't help that his siblings were overwhelming him, too. He ignored Silver yelling apologies after him. He didn't want to hurt either of them. Or anyone else. Or himself. He couldn't bear risking it.

So he kept going.

Running was the only thing that felt right. He could control that, at least.

But he couldn't run forever.

Eventually, he found himself in a spare room in the depths of the base. It was dark and almost devoid of furniture, apart from a storage unit to one side, and a window. Perfect. A place to be alone with no risk of overstimulation. He closed the door behind himself, depriving the room of light. It was eerily similar to his cell. He hesitated, almost turning back to open the door to let the light in. But he stubbornly refused to give in to the fear. No matter how hard his hands shook as he stayed them. No matter how his body wanted to move on its own to protect itself.

Mecha clambered up onto the windowsill and sat with his legs crossed. He gazed out of the window in silence.

A storm was rolling in on the horizon.

The thunder came as if to ask an eternal question - to ask if any had gratitude for the calm. Mecha held himself tightly. He wanted to feel anything but this fear. But the virus had violated him in mind and body. And that hurt. He couldn't get angry or vengeful about it like Neo could. He couldn't feel joy or happiness to cover it up with like Silver might. It was just him alone with his anxiety.

And, just like before, he didn't know what to do. Emotions were foreign to him. He didn't want them. Not when they did not serve him.

The second rumble of thunder resonated deep in his systems. He focused on the way it subtly rattled his armour plating under his hands. Then came the lightning, which brought molten white light into the room. It was comforting to have that brief moment of illumination, even if it died as quickly as it was born.

He could see why Neo liked storms so much. The sensory experience of the light, the sound, and the display in the sky. The raw power it beheld. The electricity, something so intrinsic to a robot. Not only that, but the storm reminded him of his younger brother, and that was enough of a comfort in itself.

He regretted pushing his siblings aside like that. He would apologize when he next saw them, he decided.

With the white glow of lightning keeping him safe, Mecha found himself slipping into low-power mode. He was safe here. And his brothers would surely look out for him if he needed it. Slowly, he folded his arms on top of his knees and rested his head on them. Cold, hard logic won him over once again.

But just before he drifted into sleep mode, something startled him awake. He sat bolt upright and shot a frightened stare over his shoulder. The door slowly opened.

It was happening again. They were coming to make him kill his brothers and his human friend.

His memory banks scrambled in their attempts to find a memory that might be useful to him in the moment. If he could remember how it happened before, maybe he could figure out how to protect himself this time, and-

"Son?"

Mecha crumbled. His shaking started again and his voice synthesizer betrayed him. He let out a quiet whine of fear against his will and leaned forward against the window. He pressed his forehead into it and shook.

Familiar arms wrapped themselves around the violet robot.

"You're okay, son. You're okay."

Mecha leaned into Eggman's embrace and shut off his voice synthesizer. Making such useless sounds was illogical. It wouldn't gain him anything. So, then, why...

"Why. Why. Why."

As quietly as they could, two silver and blue brothers entered behind Eggman and joined him in holding their sibling by sitting on either side of him on the windowsill.

"Why..."

"Because we love you." Silver gently told him, nuzzling his head into the crook of Mecha's neck. "That's why. We don't think any differently of you, Mecha. It doesn't make you less strong or "efficient" at all. In fact... You're the toughest 'bot of them all."

White lightning in the sky underlined Silver's words. Mecha hesitantly let himself relax as he listened.

"We are our processors. We're subject to these blobs of circuitry for years of fighting and conflict and then we're surprised when it has to find new ways to cope with the stress." Silver quietly explained, smiling reassuringly at his brother, "We're all a little, uh, damaged in some way. Does that make us any less good at our jobs? Does it mean we're worthless models? Nah, it just means we gotta function a bit differently. That's all."

Mecha slowly nodded along. Although his brother's argument was more emotional than logical, he did his best to understand and process it. He owed his brother that much at the very least.

"Think about it, bro. You're traumatized by a hardcore virus that nearly turned you into a mindless murder machine. Metal is the pinnacle of identity issues, psychotic episodes, and... whatever else they have going on. And I'm the epitome of abandonment issues and rejection sensitive dysphoria." Silver further added with a shrug. "Basically what I'm sayin' is... you're part of the mentally fucked up AI club, and that's okay. We don't have t-shirts or badges yet though, I'm afraid." He finished with a gentle pat to Mecha's shoulder.

Eggman listened to the 'bots talk whilst continuing to be a supportive presence. Silver's maturity, when it came out, impressed him a lot.

But it was bittersweet, in a way.

They were just kids.

Having only existed for a year or less, the three of them shouldn't have needed to hold these conversations. Mecha had only been operating for a year. Metal had been re-built so many times he lost track. And Silver had barely experienced the world yet. The harsh realization of this was painful enough to make his chest hurt. He held his boys tighter.

Neo untied his blanket-cape and tied it around Mecha instead. He signed, "We have blankets instead."

A quiet laugh escaped Mecha's voice synthesizer. He leaned into Neo as his sibling went back to holding him with the others again. Neo let him, but not without observing Mecha's reaction to the lightning outside. He felt Mecha relax with every little slash of light that bolted across the sky.

The bolts outside were cloud-to-ground lightning. Neo could do better. He fixed his attention on the clouds through the window and slowly closed a fist. It took a few moments to work, but as he had hoped, a distinct anvil crawler discharge lit up the sky. He watched proudly as the tree-like, horizontally-moving lightning spread across the underside of the clouds. The sky was lit with silver and white for a good few seconds.

It was then that Mecha truly realized he was safe. His fear dissipated into nothing.

They had all helped him out of there. It wasn't going to happen again.

His brothers simply would not allow it.

Finally free from the flashbacks, Mecha seemed to come back to life. "Thank you. I owe each of you my entire existence."

"How about you let go of my arm and we call it even, my boy?" Eggman finally spoke up to his side, slipping a smile through his discomfort.

Mecha looked down and realized his hand had been gripping onto his creator's arm the whole time. "I-I apologize."

"Not to worry. Let's get you boys fixed up... Again."

"Affirmative. But I implore you to allow me to assist you." Mecha said urgently.

"Don't worry, your brother is already volunteering to help." Eggman reassured him. He patted Mecha's back before turning to leave. "Let's go."

With his brothers at his sides like smaller bodyguards, Mecha followed after him.