A/N: banter.

Getting two killer robots to move somewhere peacefully is not an easy task, the GUN soldier soon found out.

"Shut up," The soldier behind Silver ordered and jabbed him in the back with the rifle, "and keep walking."

"You're not much of a conversationalist, are you?" Silver muttered. "And I can walk and talk at the same time just fine."

Neo was quick to turn on the soldier with blazing optics. "Touch him again and I will rip your face off."

Silver snickered to himself. "He probably said somethin' like, you're very accommodating."

"Be quiet."

"... What's your sign? I'm a Sagittarius. Metal here is a Libra."

"Tell him to shut up." The soldier ordered Neo with a groan. "Please."

"He's mute, asshole." Silver told him matter-of-factly.

"Well, you tell him in your robot language to shut up! I got a goddamn headache."

Silver shot a look over his shoulder at the human guiding him along. "We don't speak the same "robot" language. That's really presumptuous of you, actually. Do you speak the same language as every other human there is? No, because there's not enough space in your tiny flesh brain for all that data, is there?"

"And I could cure your headache by ripping your head off if you like." Neo muttered to himself and rolled his optics.

"Out of all the fucked up and evil machines we've dragged in here, you two are the most intolerable. Seeing you get taken apart is going to be satisfying."

"Thank you!" Silver beamed at them with pride. "I'm finally the best at something. Incredible. Do we get a medal for that? Oh, oh, what about a sticker?"

The soldier pushed the pair to a side hall, away from the main floor where demolished units were dismantled into scrap. All of the robots that Silver and Sonic had destroyed filled the floor, and Silver gave the smallest of grimaces as he walked by. The pair then entered the small, dark room, and Silver took a moment to look around. This time, the soldier behind him hesitated before nudging him along - casting the quickest of glances to the robot's older brother first. Neo noticed this and would have smirked if he could. Good. Good! He wanted them to be afraid of him. It reduced the risk of harm to his sibling.

"Lovin' the dark scary basement vibes you've got going on here. Really, this kind of design takes time!" Silver barely noticed the gun in his back now. "The light is even flickering! Did you like, plan that? It's impressive. Either that or you're just a bunch'a slobs... Not judging, though."

It was an interrogation room. How convenient that it was right beside the demolition site! This wasn't meant to be a questioning, it was a sentencing. That much was clear. The metal door closed behind them, and Neo straightened. He immediately scanned his surroundings and found that there were no weapons in the room, nothing electronic, just a couple of chairs and a table, a notebook, and an empty plastic bag in the corner that presumably once held food. Neo took note of the book and nudged Silver, pointing with his elbow to it. Silver nodded in understanding.

The soldier sat down on one of the seats and kicked their feet up on the table. They pinched their temples with a hand and sighed. "Are you always this talkative?"

Silver leaned back against a wall and smirked. "No, sometimes I'm extremely violent. Sometimes a bit of both. It varies from day to day."

Neo was about to join his brother against the wall when the door swung open to their right. Just the man they didn't want to see - the commander. This was where the plan for them would all come out, he figured. Not that it wasn't already obvious to him...

"Boy, am I indifferent to see you." Silver mumbled to himself. He then stood up and gave a fake smile. "Gooood morning, kidnapper! How are you today? How was work? How was- oh shit, you look angry. Something I said?"

"So bold, for a machine that I almost destroyed. You're pathetic."

Silver and the commander stared each other down for a long moment. It was then that Silver reluctantly recalled his fight with the Egg Pawn under GUN's control. He frowned but tried not to seem fazed beyond that, and leaned back against the wall. He realized he was frowning after a moment and made himself give a confident smirk and a scoff.

"Says you, using a 'bot's body like that. It's fucked up. Too scared to throw hands with me in person or what?" Silver prodded him, tilting his head to one side innocently. "I thought I was pathetic to you? What was it you said... just a tiny little fuck up?"

"Again with this useless posturing. Grow up."

"If it pisses you off I'm gonna keep doing it." Silver dismissed him with a shrug of his shoulder. "You can put in another request in, uh... five? Five, working days. Oh, and send it in PDF format."

The man moved on to Neo with a grumble and pointedly ignored Silver. He collected himself, remembering his position above the killer robot. He smirked down at him. "You're broken. Functionally and aesthetically. Perhaps that's why you gave yourself up so easily?" He asked mockingly.

Neo glared back with brightening optics. The commander's hand moved to brush over the robot's painted white arrow, and Neo tilted his head down with a growl of his engine. Oh, how he wished his hands were free right now. He could list at least ten ways to kill this human right now and rank them in order of violence.

Silver looked over at Neo with a gasp, offended for him. "You look cool bro! This asshole wouldn't know a cool robot if he kidnapped one."

"You came willingly." The commander coolly responded. He turned on Silver and bent down to loom over him. "What was it you said? Take me, and leave Mecha out of it?"

Silver snorted. "It's hardly willingly if you have an entire arsenal of weapons pointed at your forehead. Oh and, to you, he's Mecha Sonic. Never call him Mecha. Got that? We've been over this already, remember?"

The commander chuckled and cupped a hand under Silver's chin to lift his head up. "You're not in a position to give me orders, little robot. Know your place."

Silver smirked up at him, unafraid. "Be careful touching the material, friend. He's gonna kill you really slowly instead of just slowly if you're not careful."

To his side, Neo was glaring with all of his fury and revving his engine. He wanted to break free then and there, and he would, if any harm came to his brother. But for now, no harm was done. He continued to restrain himself. Being complacent might get them somewhere, give them the information they wanted, or give them some opening to go about this with more subtlety. They were here to destroy data, not to kill everyone in their path. For once. As satisfying as it would be.

"Hmm. Quite." The commander released Silver and moved back to Neo. He deliberately stomped down harder in front of him, trying to intimidate him, but he didn't move an inch. He narrowed his optics threateningly and lifted his head. The commander leaned down to be in his face again and smiled. "Your judgement is coming. I think you know what your sentence is going to be."

"Oh, good, please don't forgive our crimes. We worked hard on those." Silver sarcastically quipped to his side. "Oh, and your crimes suck compared to ours. The execution? Terrible. The torture? Bland. You need to step it up a lil' if you wanna talk to us about breaking the law."

"You will submit to law and order." The commander snapped back at him. "You will answer to justice."

"Yeah yeah, justice smushtice. You ever heard of a thesaurus? You use that word wayyy too much." Silver brushed him off with a shrug. "Oh, you know, I always thought if I were kidnapped it would be some creepy stalker situation, but no. We get you instead. That's better, right? So thanks? I think. Ah, that's a virus."

The commander revealed a small chip from his pocket and held it up in front of the two brothers. "Now. Care to repeat what you just said about the torture being bland, machine?"

Silver tried his best to look unfazed. "Meh. That thing is pretty lame. Metal here cracked it so fast I couldn't even see what they were doing."

"Humans learn, adapt... This version is very much improved." The commander responded as he slipped it back into his pocket. "And it's all thanks to Mecha's data. Isn't it funny how that works, little robot? You underestimate humankind and we only get stronger. Smarter."

"You don't get any prettier." Silver dismissed him with a limp wave of his hand. "I feel sick just looking at you."

Fingers suddenly dug into Silver's jaw and yanked him forward abruptly. "I'd watch that attitude if I were you." The commander hissed, anger sparking. "Don't forget who proposed this agreement. You threw yourself at my men and sold yourself away. I'm more than happy to call it off and destroy you both right now. Then, I'll go after your beloved waste of parts you call Mecha."

Silver's "heart" clenched beneath his cocky exterior, and the commander yanked him closer.

"Or, perhaps I should make you watch me bring it to justice first. Would you prefer that?" The commander added in a low voice.

Silver hesitated. "Don't. You said you wouldn't."

"Don't what?" The commander snapped, pushing Silver back violently. "Is that all you're good for, robot? Saying "don't?" With your attitude, I think you're all mouth. Perhaps your beloved Mecha should be dealt with after all."

Neo snapped. He lunged for the commander and elbowed him as hard as he could. Taken by surprise, the commander actually staggered back with a gasp and released Silver. Neo stood in front of his little brother and revved his engine with a low growl. He was livid. How dare they touch his sibling. They were not worthy to even speak to him, let alone lay a single finger on him!

The reaction was not entirely unexpected. But still, the commander had hoped to cow the robots more by now. Privately humbled by the robot's power, the commander made a point of straightening and chuckling to hide his surprise. He looked down on Neo with that infuriating smirk. "Some machines need a firmer hand than others." He bent down to make the height difference clearer. "You will learn. You will submit." He then turned and looked at the soldier. "Keep an eye on them, soldier. I have business to attend to."

"Of course, sir."

With that, the commander left for his apparent "business".

The soldier gulped. It suddenly dawned on them that they were alone with two murder robots - one who could talk to them to death, and one who could shred them into tiny unidentifiable pieces if it so desired.

As soon as the door clicked shut, the pair moved, and fast. Silver used his wrist laser to break Neo free from his cuffs, and Neo easily snapped the comparatively weak metal of Silver's pair with one hand.

They turned on the soldier.

Neo instantly went for the plastic bag, and Silver fired his grappling cable so that it wrapped around the soldier sitting on the chair. Neo handed the bag to Silver, who held it up threateningly.

"You gonna be quiet or do I have to apply minimal force?" Silver asked quietly, with a bright smile.

"Fuck! Shit, dude. You know humans need to breathe, right? I can't just go forever with a bag on my head over your bad mood. You didn't even take science class, you can't even-"

Silver smirked and dropped it. "Wasn't going to anyway. What do you think I am, a sadist?"

Neo flipped through the notebook pages for anything useful. There were a couple of doodles from presumably bored workers, which he ignored for the most part - and then he found a mention of his brother's name. A spark of something resembling adrenaline shot through him once he found the reference number for Mecha's file written down.

He gave Silver a thumbs-up and untied the soldier.

"You two were going to try to kill me! Again!"

"We weren't trying to kill you." Silver retorted with a nonchalant shrug. "There was at least one air hole in that thing if I was actually gonna use it."

"Speak for yourself. I was trying to kill them." Neo muttered to himself.

"... Oh, I dunno bro... We are super evil murder machines after all..." Silver added sarcastically. "We got a reputation to uphold here, you know?"

"Don't kill me, please." The soldier begged them. "I'll do anything."

Silver patted them on the back and smiled, taking the soldier's rifle for good measure. "Just let us leave and we're good."

"You got it. Just don't kill me."

Neo rolled his optics and walked out the door, motioning for Silver to follow suit. Silver gave the soldier one last pat and then turned to follow. He paused in the doorway and looked back.

"Hey. You never told me your sign."

"I-it's Pisces. I'm a Pisces."

Silver nodded. "Huh. Makes sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Silver turned away to follow Neo with a smirk. "Your offense only proves my point. Later!"

"What... What does that mean..."

The brothers took off away from the main floor. Silver paused to look back, grimacing at the many hundreds of scrapped robot parts, but Neo grabbed his hand and made him run. They made a sharp turn down a long corridor and, thanks to their speed, they outran the heavy metal doors as they attempted to shut them out. An alarm started to go off, but Silver shot it down as soon as he heard it. Another turn brought them down a hallway, and Neo slowed down, no longer detecting electronics around them. He released Silver's hand and came to a stop.

Silver brushed off his gun and casually held it over his shoulders. "That was fun. What's the plan now?"

Neo took a moment to scan his surroundings again. He detected that the server room he was looking for was a way up ahead. He motioned for Silver to follow and started walking, but Silver grabbed his shoulder and made him turn back.

"Let's have some fun whilst we tear this place up."

Neo gave him a long look.

"C'mon, you don't have to be super serious all the time, you know? Unwind a bit."

Neo sighed and turned around to keep going - there was no time for fun, this was a serious mission. But Silver took this as a cue to jump up onto Neo's back, who caught him with a beep of surprise. Silver grinned and aimed his new rifle over Neo's shoulder.

"Onward, my noble steed!"

Was there time for fun? Maybe just a little.

Neo stood there for a moment, considered if anyone was watching - which they weren't, thank Chaos - and took off down the hallway despite his inhibitions. He may have tried to seem unwilling, but in reality, the smile in his optics gave him away the further he ran. Silver's laughter was infectious, and Neo let a small snicker escape him as he ran. He skidded around the corner and kept going, whilst Silver shot down cameras with glee.

Neo privately found satisfaction from the interaction, recalling his breakdown about lacking childhood the night before. Little things like this were a step in the right direction, he thought.

"This is the best target practice ever. Taking down a corrupt organization and playing around with deadly weapons at the same time is my idea of a party!"

Neo slid to a stop at the end of the hall and motioned for Silver to dismount. As Silver obliged with a pout, Neo turned and gave him a quick pat on the head. Silver playfully batted his hand away and ducked under his arm to walk ahead of him.

"You're fun when you loosen up." Silver commented from up ahead. He glanced back at Neo and smiled at him. "You should do it more often."

Neo nudged his little brother in the side once he caught up with him. Silver head-butted him in the shoulder, so Neo obviously punched him in the arm. Silver growled at him and shoved him into the wall - Neo retaliated by shoving him back and then wrestling him to the ground. Silver squirmed, but Neo was stronger and held him down with one hand and a beep of victory.

Silver gave up and went limp on the floor. "Okay, okay, jeez. You win."

Neo released the pressure on Silver's back for just a moment - a grave mistake, as Silver managed to flip over onto his back, where he aimed his rifle in Neo's face.

"Gotcha. Hands where I can see 'em, Mx. Fugitive."

Neo lightly pushed the weapon out of his face and butted his head against Silver's. Silver finally pushed Neo onto his backside and jumped up to his feet, where he stood holding his rifle in both hands.

"We don't all have time to sit around like you." Silver teased him and gestured to where he was sitting on the floor with the end of the gun. "C'mon, we've got shit to infiltrate or whatever."

Neo rolled his optics and clambered up to his feet. He caught up to his little brother and walked by his side. The pair made it to the door they were looking for, and Silver did the honours of shooting the lock off. He then pushed the door open with one hand and bowed. "Ladies first!"

Neo gave him an unimpressed look before going first anyway. Silver snickered and followed behind him.

Before them was the military data center. As far as the eye could see, racks filled with servers stood in rows, and the assortment of lights cast a blue and red glow throughout the entire room. Some lights would periodically blink when the corresponding server was in use. At the far end of the room was a tall metal bookcase that housed documents. Without exchanging a word, the two brothers honed in on it - the reference number on the front told them all they needed to know. The locks were no problem - Neo easily ripped the metal cage door off with one hand.

They looked around at the folders of paperwork inside, and Neo spotted a folder that stuck out to him. He took it and flipped it over to look at the cover - just as he thought, it was labelled "Robotnik Virus Project." How apt. He opened it up and handed half of the papers inside to Silver, who propped his rifle against the wall and leaned back next to it.

"You know..." Silver began, flipping through the many sheets of paper, "I think he envies us."

Neo lifted his head to look at him and waited for him to continue.

Silver shrugged a shoulder. "Well, just think about it. This guy is so insane about making us suffer for being machines. I think..." He looked down at Mecha's name on the paper on top of his pile and frowned. "I think he's envious that we can't die when he's lost people he loves, or something melodramatic like that."

Neo gave a nod in reply, and a brief silence hung between them - they were both thinking the same thing.

"But the thing is... we can die." Silver concluded for both of them. He brushed a hand over the notes about Mecha's reactions to the virus. "We're alive. We feel things, we have our own likes and dislikes, we make bonds. Something that isn't alive can't do that." He looked at Neo and frowned. "Right?"

Neo nodded again, meeting his gaze with an understanding look. He felt what his brother was going through as if it were his own revelation. That, and he felt nauseous and angry reading what they had done to him. The fact that they even recorded that he refused to hurt people made him want to go insane then and there. Mecha was too good for them. Too kind. More human, even.

"It's not justified. Any of it. We're just as conscious as that obsessive weirdo is." Silver said with a darkening expression. "Even if we did something wrong, it doesn't justify mind control or torture. It's sick. I don't care what beef he has with our pops, or you."

The robots looked down at the papers, and then shared a look. Silver handed the papers to Neo, who took them in his hands and glared at them. Then he let himself get angrier. His brother was more than just the military's test subject. He was more than scrawlings about his internal components. He was more. He would always be more.

He didn't deserve this.

Neo shredded the papers like they were nothing. A few quick swipes of his claws did the job, and Silver burnt out the remains with his wrist laser. Satisfied, the brothers turned to look at the servers that lined the room. Neo walked down one of the many aisles. He brushed his hand against the many servers, several of which undoubtedly held data on all of them, but most importantly, his brother. He stopped halfway down the aisle and looked back at Silver.

The two brothers were highlighted red and blue by the lights around them and the amber glow of Silver's optics promised fire.

Silver grinned behind his brother.

"Burn this place to the ground, bro."

Neo looked down at his hand, then at the server in front of him. The reality of the situation dawned on him. Here and now, he would destroy everything they had on all of them. Good. Yes, he and Mecha had done terrible things in the past, but it did not justify the atrocities done to them.

Neo was a storm in the room. He could rip this brewing scream from his voice synthesizer and shove it into Mecha's torturers, if he could. How dare they. How fucking dare they. How could this happen to him? How could this happen to him, how could this happen to him. And they had the gall to think that any of them would just come quietly after everything? It was honestly laughable.

It would end here.

Neo charged a bolt of electricity in his hand. It cast a bright white light before him, and for a brief moment, he recalled standing atop the Final Fortress before blowing himself up into pieces - and the hate he felt now was worse than that. It was worse than destroying himself. It was worse than hating Sonic. With all of his spite, Neo slammed his hand into the server in front of him and ran as many volts into it as he could. Within seconds, every server around him shorted out, destroyed beyond repair. Smoke and sparks fizzled out into the room, setting off the fire alarms instantly.

Bright blue and red shut off to black, red and amber. The robots quickly adjusted to the dark, and the fire alarms above them cast flashes of red across them now.

Silver grabbed his gun, bounced over to Neo and put his arms over his shoulders. "That was so cool. You're awesome, you know that?"

Neo flinched away at first, still overcome by anger - but he quickly realized that it was just Silver, and slowly forced himself to relax. He prized Silver's arms from over his shoulders, took his free hand, and led him through the dark back to the door. Now they just needed to get their hands on that chip... Neo became too absorbed in thoughts about how to do that to notice the organic lifeform that showed up in his scans.

They were unexpectedly met by a lone soldier in the doorway. The brothers stopped and looked on.

"Don't move." The soldier warned the two, taking a few steps forward with a pistol in their hand. "I'll shoot."

"Steady on, Pisces." Silver aimed his stolen rifle at the soldier's hand - a bluff, of course. "You said you'd let us go."

"I-I can't do that. I'll lose my job." They replied stiffly. "You're killers. I can't let you go."

"Just because we're killer robots, it doesn't mean we've actually killed anyone." Silver retorted with a shrug of his shoulder. "Bit presumptuous of you. Sure, the attempted murders aren't great, but-"

The soldier aimed at Silver, then at Neo, then Silver again. "Don't make me call for backup. Back away, now."

Silver sighed. "It's a shame, Pisces. We could be kinda compatible if you weren't pointing a weapon in my face."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" They took another step forward, trying to back the pair into the server room, but they didn't budge. "You're not getting away again."

"I respect your opinion." Silver said with a shrug. "It's just... Factually incorrect, as my oldest bro would probably say."

"You got an answer for everything, don't you smartass?"

"Pretty much. I learned from the best, though." Silver nudged Neo in the side with his elbow and grinned. "This one's King Smartass."

"I fuckin' figured." They replied with another pinch of their temples. "You said it's a Libra. Sarcastic assholes..."

"Aha! Now we're getting somewhere." Silver took a step forward and slung his rifle over his shoulders. "See, the thing is, Pisces, we're all very compatible here. I think this could work out."

Neo kept his optics fixed on the soldier's hands, watching for any movement towards their radio or any other weapons. A scan told him that there were metal objects in their pockets - likely keys or small weapons. He edged forward just a little.

"My ex was a Libra." They admitted. "We didn't work out."

"What was their Venus sign?"

"Their what?"

"You know, Venus? Like the planet?"

"Yeah, I fuckin' know what a planet is-"

Neo grabbed a set of keys from the soldier's pocket and took off.

"Hey! Get back here! HEY!"

"It's his Aries moon. No impulse control. Sorry!" Silver grinned sheepishly and ran after him. "Later, Pisces!"

"My name isn't Pisces, moron!"

"It is now! See ya!"

The pair disappeared once again, and the soldier groaned. "I don't get paid enough for this. I actually hope I get fired." They leaned against the wall and took out their phone. "What the fuck is a Venus sign..."

Mecha wasn't sure how long he had spent sitting up there in his tree.

He felt nothing, and he wasn't sure if he liked that. Was it better than feeling anxious? He couldn't tell. So, he tuned his auditory sensors this way and that, listening to the din of city traffic and looking out to the many hundreds of lights that dotted the background of blue.

Without his brothers beside him, he felt... lost. Although the city was alive all around him, it felt empty and dead. It felt like nothing. None of it really mattered, he decided. There was only one thing that mattered, and that was his brothers. He missed them, with all of his being. He hoped they were okay.

What if they were gone already? Broken like he was? No, he couldn't accept that. That nothingness turned into raging waves of fear, then a wailing downpour, then a whispering fog, until everything flattened into calm waters again. Settle, he told himself, settle, let it move through you. He tried to focus on something else - the lights, maybe those - no, the sound of traffic - wait, the fear came back again all at once. He couldn't run from it. He was sick to his core with worry and twice as tired.

His brothers were with the very men who "traumatized" him - yes, he tried to use that word, to make it less dirty. This was the cost of cheating death, this pull-apart feeling running through him, the him who lived under his armour. He couldn't shake this terror, it was all-consuming, and-

"Hey."

Mecha straightened, brought out of the fog instantly. Slowly, he looked down to find Sonic standing below, looking up at him.

"You can't just stay up there all day, bud."

"Why."

Sonic expertly scaled the tree to join him, but stopped a few branches away from the robot - Mecha flinched away and his visor brightened. Sonic put up a hand and ducked his head a little.

"Easy. I won't come any closer." Sonic reassured him. "I was just worried about you."

"Why. Why did you allow them to be taken." Mecha asked flatly. "You are supposed to be a hero, are you not."

Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated, and closed it again.

"Why."

"It was what Metal wanted."

"Irrelevant. They are now in danger and you prevented me from acting to save them."

"I get it. I do." Sonic responded with a sigh. "You can hate me all you want-"

"I do not hate you." Mecha cut him off. "I just fail to understand your choice. It was illogical." He looked down. "I cannot accept it."

"Didn't you say that you can make a mistake and still win?"

Mecha looked at him. He nodded.

"They'll come back." Sonic told him. He held out a hand to Mecha and smiled. "Now come on. You can't just sit there all day."

Mecha eyed his hand nervously.

"Sitting there won't bring them back any faster." Sonic insisted.

Mecha met his eyes again. "Nor will moving from this location."

"Come on. Please?" Sonic asked him and held his hand just a little further out. "They wouldn't want you to sit there and rust."

Mecha hesitantly reached out and took the hedgehog's hand. How strange it was - two once-enemies holding hands like this. Mecha paused for a second, checking that he wasn't squeezing too hard like he had done to Eggman's arm, before holding on just a little tighter. He climbed down to Sonic's level and perched next to him.

"It is highly unlikely that my parts will rust." Mecha remarked. He folded his arms like he had seen Neo do before. "I am designed in such a way that reduces the risk."

"I know, just messing with you."

"I would prefer it if you did not attempt to do that."

"Gotcha, gotcha." Sonic rubbed a finger under his nose and leaned back. "You know, I don't think we've talked just one-on-one before."

"Your observation is correct." Mecha replied, watching Sonic's actions curiously. "It appears we have not had many opportunities to do so."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah."

There was a silence between them, which Sonic didn't mind. He relaxed and sighed.

"Thank you."

Sonic looked at him. "For what?"

Mecha met his eyes and leaned forward a little. "Are you requesting a list? Would you like it alphabetized or randomized?"

Sonic let a laugh slip. "Whatever's easier for you works."

Mecha sat back again. "You assisted in rescuing me. That alone warrants my gratitude." He looked out to the city, watching the many organic creatures go about their business. Interesting, he thought, that the life around him seemed less unimportant now. "You risked your safety to do that and we were not even allies."

"Aw, it was nothing!" Sonic told him with a wink. "Hedgehog's gotta do what a hedgehog's gotta do, am I right?"

Mecha stared at him. "I do not understand. So I shall respond with... Affirmative." He looked away again, briefly noting that a light rain was returning now. "The other act that I must show my gratitude for is your interaction with my youngest brother." He watched as a couple of organics took shelter under an umbrella together. "You showed him kindness. You listened to him. You gave him things that I cannot. For that, I am most thankful."

Sonic smiled at him. "It's nothing, really. He's a good kid."

"Thank you for treating him like a person." Mecha added. He watched the two organics scurry away to shelter. "I am accepting of being a machine, for what I am does not cause me distress. But my brothers feel differently, and I struggle to comprehend it at times. They have been dehumanized enough."

"You said it." Sonic looked Mecha up and down for a moment and noticed his new wrist lights. "New parts, huh?"

Mecha followed Sonic's gaze and looked down at his wrists. "Affirmative." He turned them over and booted the LEDs up. "Silver Sonic installed these."

"He did a good job!" Sonic complimented Silver's handiwork with a smile. "I assumed he couldn't sit still long enough to do something like that."

"Assumptions make an ass out of you and me." Mecha stated flatly, then jumped down from the tree.

Sonic almost couldn't believe he heard the robot say that. He covered his mouth with a hand and bit back a laugh. "What did you say?!"

Mecha looked up at him. "Assumptions make an ass out of you and me."

"Okay, just checking. Dear Chaos..." Sonic jumped down to join him, but looking at him again only made it funnier. He doubled over and turned away.

Mecha straightened. "Are you injured? I apologize. Allow me to assist-"

Sonic turned back around and took a deep breath. "N-No, I'm fine! I just- You come out with the sharpest things sometimes. I never expect it 'cause you're always so serious."

Mecha stared at him. "I suppose that would warrant a humorous response." He folded his arms. "I have been researching organic sayings and I am attempting to use them in conversation. How did I do."

Sonic wiped his eyes and took another deep breath. "You did great, buddy. Real good."

Mecha's shoulders squared back. He was clearly satisfied with his performance. "Thank you."

Sonic smiled at him, glad that Mecha was calmer now. "Come with. You're not exactly subtle just standing there." He started to walk away and beckoned for the robot to follow him.

Mecha looked himself up and down. "What do you mean."

Sonic stopped and turned back to look at him. "Killer robots don't tend to stand around in public like that. Come on." He winked and continued onward. "Stick with me and we'll come up with a plan to meet your bros. Sound good?"

Mecha nodded and started to follow behind him. "Affirmative. However, I ask that you reaffirm to yourself that I do not take orders from you."

"Yeah, gotcha. You're Egghead's boy, I know." Sonic quipped over his shoulder to him. "Anyway, let's go meet my lil' bro. He's smart, he'll know what to do."

Curious, Mecha tilted his head. "You and Miles Prower are entirely different species. Are you somehow related genetically?"

"Family isn't just about blood." Sonic explained with a smile. "It's about who sticks by your side, and he's always been my number one."

Mecha gave a nod, but didn't say anything. His thoughts wandered back to his own brothers. He hoped, again, that they were safe. And, privately, he wondered if their father would ever come for them.

That lack of data, for whatever reason, hurt him.

Neo locked the door behind them. Now, their pursuer would need to break down the door - or get a new set of keys - to follow them in here. It might just buy them a little bit longer than Neo had originally planned.

The brothers continued, with Neo leading the way. He recalled where to go, and periodically consulted his internal map for directions.

Silver and Neo came to a stop in a dark, abandoned hallway. Something had clearly happened here, what with the debris and rubble all over the floor, reminiscent of some kind of fight. Neo recognized it all too well, and his body language shifted. His optics dimmed ever so slightly, head lowered, and shoulders forward just a little. Silver noticed right away and looked at him with concern.

"What's up?" Silver asked him quietly. "I thought we were having fun?"

Neo didn't say anything. He motioned for Silver to follow him, and walked up to a broken door. Silver peered inside, confused at first - but he quickly noticed dried blood and oil on the floor. Slowly, he took a few steps inside and looked around. Neo let him, understanding that Silver might need this.

"Talk about a low-budget hotel." Silver murmured. "I hope Mecha put a complaint in to the manager."

Neo walked up behind him and brushed a hand on his shoulder. He rested it there and gave it a squeeze.

"You know... It's almost funny." Silver started, looking around at the walls. "But sad, too. How some organics can be so good, but others so vile. Why should we be treated like that? Just because we're made of metal and not skin?"

Neo shook his head despondently and signed, "Ignorance."

The two stood in silence for a long moment.

Alive in obsolete metal bodies, the two struggled in similar ways. Pounding their fists against the cage of their armour, begging to be let out, struggling, stifled and constrained in a culture that wished they would be quiet, quiet, obedient. Be good, don't make a fuss, obey, said in the stern condescension of organics who thought they knew better.

Neo gave Silver's shoulder another squeeze, silently telling him it was time to go. Silver looked around one last time, his gaze coming to rest on the chains on the floor. An ache speared his chest, and pain spasmed across his face for a moment. He walked over slowly and knelt down, putting his rifle down to pick up the links in his hands.

"Never again." Silver held the chains close to his chest and sighed.

Neo straightened and looked back out of the door with narrowed optics. When he tuned his auditory receptors, he could pick up the sound of someone coming their way. He moved quickly, turning back to Silver and grabbing his shoulder again. That was when their least favourite GUN representative showed up with his hands out to touch either side of the doorway to "block" their escape.

"For supposedly intelligent supercomputers, you are both very predictable. I knew you would come here."

Silver slowly lifted his head. He looked over his shoulder with a frown.

"I said, never again." Silver said in a low voice. "You have some nerve, friend."

Neo stood in front of his brother protectively. He eyed the human's stance, knowing that it was all for show - the two could easily get out of there if they wanted to. It was just the gesture itself that wound him up. Just who did this organic think he was? Was he really that intent on flaunting his supposed power?

"You destroy my servers. You destroy my documents. You have the gall to assault me..." The commander said harshly. "And you want to leave here in one piece? Both of you are less than nothing."

Silver stood up, still holding Mecha's chains in his hands. "You don't get it, do you?" He stepped forward to stand beside Neo. "Everything we've done? It's for our brother. But you could never understand that, could you? You don't think we're capable of love!" He took another step forward, ahead of Neo now. "Well listen up, organic. Our love for our brother is just as real as your hate for us. If you hadn't hurt him, we never would have done any of this!"

The commander stepped towards him, the heavy footfall echoing in the cell. His lip curled in disgust. "You..." He stared the younger robot down with more and more hate. "You know nothing about love."

"Bullshit!" Silver stepped forward once again, unafraid. "That's such bullshit! Do you live our lives? Do you feel how we feel? No! You only see it from your point of view. It's not fair. I've at least made efforts to understand where organics are coming from! No, I'm not exactly like you, but I'm trying!"

"You are a machine." The commander spitefully reminded him. "A filthy, worthless machine. All of you freaks kill our kind and feel no remorse. None."

Silver got closer, speaking with a snarl now. "So what? So what if I am? Huh? Does that change that I love my brother? Does that change that nearly losing him was traumatic? Do you even know what you've done to him? Do you care? Lemme guess, the answer is a big fat no. You're a sicko."

"I believe we have had this conversation already." The commander dismissed him with a cruel smirk.

"Yeah, and you're still not hearing me. So I'm gonna say it again." Silver said, in a lower voice. He stood tall and defiant and fully closed the gap between them. "I don't give a fuck what happened in your past. It doesn't excuse you doing this crap to us. Yes, my brothers have done bad things, but they've shown remorse, they've changed. I can't say the same for you. You've stayed sick."

"Grow up. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Is that all you have to say? Really?" Silver scoffed and took a step back. He shook his head in disbelief and looked over to Neo for a moment, as if to ask, are you hearing this? "Why can't you hold a conversation like an adult? I'm literally only days old and I'm managing just fine!"

"Listen to me, you worthless m-"

"No, you listen to me." Silver shot back. "You know what? I think you left us alone with that guy 'cause you thought we would kill them. You wanted some excuse to come hunt us down again. Well, guess what, we're not like that, and you're crazy for even putting that dude in the situation." He paused, looking back at Neo, who was obviously furious at this point. He looked up at the commander again and sighed, trying to let go of his anger. He didn't like being angry. "Listen... I'm sorry that you lost people you loved. I am. But your baggage doesn't give you a pass to go traumatize my family. Please, please understand that. This cycle can't go on. It has to end somewhere."

"Indeed, it must end. And it seems that you don't understand your position, robot. So let me make you understand, since you want to throw out slanderous accusations like that."

Silver barely had time to react before the commander grabbed him by the arm and pulled him close. He put a hand over Silver's mouth and tried to hold him still. Neo immediately went to attack, but the commander pulled the chip from before out of his pocket and waved it in front of him.

"I would re-think that if I were you, mechanical scum. I will use it."

Neo froze, his optics darting from the chip to Silver several times. He slowly backed up, but his optics burned with promise to spill blood.

"Now... Since you appear to understand..." The commander lowered his voice and smiled wickedly. "I demand all of your data, the passcodes to Doctor Ivo Robotnik's bases, and the names and addresses of each of your allies, since you so kindly destroyed the military's entire database."

Neo searched the commander's face intently. His mind worked through every scenario, and his brother died in all of them. He couldn't trust that if he handed anything over, his brother would go free. It could have been a bluff, too, but Neo wouldn't take that risk.

"Even if I could surrender that information to you, you would still kill him." Neo signed, his hand movements angry and tense.

"Robots are a dime a dozen, Metal Sonic." The commander taunted him. "If you want another one like this, you can just build one. You should know this, considering the fact that you destroyed more than half of my machines yourself. Now, do you want me to infect your precious "brother", or do you have a smarter response for me?"

Neo's claws tensed and his optics couldn't burn any brighter. He struggled and fought to hold himself back from outright murdering the person standing in front of him. He was better than that now, right? But the urge was so strong, and his little brother was in danger. One wrong move and he could be at the man's throat.

"Let him go." Neo demanded, taking one calculated step forwards. "Immediately."

"This world has become a cesspool. Murdering robots and innocent people, fraternizing. You parade your callous morals and mental deformities as if we should respect them. The world reeks of concession if this is what it's coming to." The commander sneered at him. "It's time to wipe the slate of the Eggman Empire clean. Tear down, so that we might rebuild a world where the so-called Empire no longer exists-"

Silver didn't want to hear another word. He glanced down to the chain in his hands, then up at the commander, and acted purely on impulse. He elbowed the human restraining him as hard as he could in the stomach, and then threw the chain around his neck and pulled back. The commander fell back, and before he hit the floor, Neo and Silver were gone. The chip skidded out of the cell and into the corridor, and Neo bent down quickly to snatch it up off the floor before carrying on.

"Give it here," Silver told him, "I can keep it inside this thingy."

Silver opened the compartment on his arm plating, took the chip from his brother, and tossed it inside before closing it again. He still hadn't quite processed what had just happened, and focused purely on getting away. Neo took a shortcut through the broken wall that Mecha had destroyed and Silver almost tripped over the pieces of metal and brick, but Neo was quick to grab his hand and pulled him to his feet.

They came to a stop on an open floor that towered above a hall below them. Silver looked around for an escape, but Neo had already found it. He grabbed Silver's arm, pulled him close, and took off towards the ceiling. They broke through the skylight and the glass shattered like it was nothing before them. Neo touched down on the roof moments later. He carefully released Silver and looked him over for any damage to his frame, but he was unscathed. Neo visibly relaxed, as did Silver.

They turned and looked at the sprawling fortress around them.

Smaller buildings, metal crates adorned with GUN logos, army vehicles, and what remained of the robotic forces patrolled the border aimlessly. Spotlights shone down from security cameras and helicopters above the fortress. Neo and Silver sat together on the roof, watching the oddly metallic world in front of them. Ironic, how the fortress the humans had created was so mechanical and cold, when they preached nothing but humanity.

"... Hate is a powerful thing, huh."

Neo turned his head to look at Silver.

"You used to be like that, you know. Endlessly bitter." Silver commented quietly. He looked down, messing with his hands. "Hate consumes people. It drives them mad, I think. I'm glad you got better with it. Or, well, you're getting better."

Neo nodded. A strange feeling arose in him. Guilt, perhaps? Yes, guilt - guilt that he had ever been so prideful and scornful. Yes, he still hated Sonic, and yes, part of him still wanted that hedgehog dead - but it wasn't the only thing he thought about anymore. He had made room for love, too, and that was a start.

"I feel sorry for people like that." Silver continued, quieter. "What sickness drives someone to be so angry? To hate the people who try to understand? It's loss, it's grief, it's sadness, insecurity... it's all a cover-up." He paused and smirked a little. "I don't feel sorry for you, though. You're just a dick." He nudged Neo in the side.

"You're worse." Neo signed back to him.

"Yeah, yeah." Silver brushed him off and leaned forward, still wringing his hands absent-mindedly. "You know, I worry about you."

Neo leaned forward a little too and tilted his head.

Silver sighed and met his optics. "I worry about something really bad happening to you. You get so pissed when you fight, and I..." He looked away for a second as he recalled the moment he let go of those "stars" on the ship. "I don't want to lose you. I couldn't... I don't know what I'd do if..."

Neo looked down to Silver's hands. He placed one of his own on top of them, and Silver stopped messing with them. Silver met his gaze again, but couldn't hold it for long without getting upset. He leaned into his brother's side and shakily sighed.

"I know we haven't always gotten on like you and Mecha do, but you're my big brother. I look up to you a lot. So the thought of you not coming home one day, it..."

As Silver trailed off, Neo wrapped an arm around him and brought him into his chest. He rested his chin on Silver's head and just held him for a few minutes. When Silver felt better, he gently pulled away and relaxed a little.

"I am not leaving you." Neo signed to him, then took his hands in his own. He pressed his forehead to Silver's, who returned the gesture with a smile.

"You promise?"

"I promise. You will never be alone again."

Silver brushed his hand up Neo's arm, where faint scratch marks remained - just barely visible under the newest coat of paint. Neo let him.

"Then... Please, keep getting better. For me." Silver asked of him, quieter now. "For me and Mecha. Because underneath that dickhead exterior, you're a good brother sometimes and a good 'bot."

"I will."

"Thank you." Silver let his arm go and smiled. He leaned forward on his knees and rested his chin on his hand.

"You did well." Neo told him, referring to the confrontation with their enemy.

"You did, too. You didn't rip that guy's head off in the first five seconds of looking at him." Silver said with a small laugh. He sighed and leaned into Neo. "Thank you for having my back."

"I would do anything for you." Neo signed to him.

The two looked at each other with an undeniable softness for a long moment. It was curious, Neo thought to themselves, how learning to accept himself had brought him closer to understanding his little brother, too - the heroic qualities of Sonic that once bothered Neo shone so brightly in Silver, and he found himself admiring them instead.

Sometimes, anyway.

"So... what do we do with this?" Silver turned his arm over and opened the compartment, revealing the small chip he had placed inside.

"Destroy it."

Silver held it up and looked at it thoughtfully. Neo thought he was going to crush it, or maybe shoot it with a laser, but Silver did none of those things. Instead, he tossed it into his mouth and crunched it without hesitation.

"Silver..."

Silver turned his head to look at him and swallowed. He saw Neo's bewildered expression and snickered. "What? It's effective."

"You don't have a digestive system."

Silver shrugged. "So?"

"I will not help to remove its remains from you."

Silver snickered. "I'm sure I'll live."

Neo squinted an optic at him in disbelief.

"What? It was tasty, actually. Wait, am I gonna rattle when I stand up now? Oh, shit..."

"I take back every nice thing I said about you." Neo signed, rolled his optics, and then stood up.

"You so don't! You loooove me." Silver teased him and jabbed him a few times in the arm.

Neo held out a hand to Silver, looking away on purpose. Silver took it and Neo pulled him to his feet. But as soon as Silver was up, Neo forcefully pushed him off of the roof with an evil snicker. Silver gave a high-pitched scream before thinking to activate his jet engine, and he fell into a steady hover. Slowly, he came back up to glare at Neo.

"I'm so gonna get you back for that. Just you wait, asshole!" Silver yelled at him with a clenched fist.

"You scream like a girl." Neo signed, and then folded his arms.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with feminine traits!" Silver pointed an accusing finger at him. "You should know, Princess. Nice white make-up, by the way. It suits you."

Neo flipped him off, and Silver returned the gesture with a laugh.

"You have such a way with words, bro. Wait, would you prefer sis? Sibling?"

Neo gave him a look, folding his arms again. He took a small jump off of the roof to join his sibling in the air.

"Silence doesn't count as a pronoun." Silver pressed him.

Neo unfolded his arms to sign back, "die."

Silver just laughed. "Die pronouns it is! I like that, it's very you."

The two were about to go for each other again when a laser beam shot past them, missing them by just an inch. Right, they were in a military base, an easy thing to forget of course. They looked at each other and then looked down to find several GUN mechs and soldiers training their weapons on them. Neo and Silver exchanged looks again for just a moment, asking without words what to do - fight or flee? They still had to search for other pieces of Eggman's technology around the area, so their escapade wasn't over just yet - but was it better to leave whilst they had the chance?

Before Neo could come to a decision, Silver slammed all of his power into his jet engine and shot down to the ground. He landed in a kneel with a loud thud and left a crater with his weight. Then, in a flash, he was gone.

Neo shuttered his optics in surprise.

"What..."

He searched the crowd of robots and humans urgently, optics darting this way and that - but he couldn't pick out his brother. Panic arose in him just as quickly as anger did. He was frustrated at Silver for disappearing on him, but worried that he was going to get himself in trouble. But before he could get too worked up, he spotted Silver tackling a robot over by the metal fence that surrounded the building. His engine almost stopped for a split second and his "heart" dropped.

His brother was pinning down an Egg Pawn and yelling something unintelligible from his distance.

Oh, scrap...

Silver slammed all of his weight into the robot in front of him. He didn't think, he just moved - and then both he and the other robot were on the ground, Silver on top pinning the other by their shoulders. He pressed his weight into them and refused to let them up.

"What are you doing?!" Silver yelled at them, practically hysterical. "What do you think you're doing here?"

The Egg Pawn stared up at him incredulously, lost for words and in shock.

Silver hardly waited for a response before yelling again. "You can't stay here! You don't know what they'll do to you. Please, please tell me you're not going to stay here with the military. Please."

The Pawn recognized Silver from back on the ship, but barely knew him beyond that. They fumbled for words. "Who even are you?"

Silver shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I'm telling you, don't stay here. They'll dismantle you for scrap or use you as an experiment."

"You're crazy!" The Pawn stuttered out, trying to wriggle away from the other robot. "Nothing's happened to me! In fact, I like it here! It's better than that rabble of a base I stayed at before with that crazy Metal Sonic in charge."

Silver got right in their face. "Look. I don't care if you hate my brother right now. You're family too and I want to give you a chance to get out alive. Please, listen to me."

"You're talking nonsense. I like it here and I'm staying- Wait, did you say brother?"

Silver slowly pulled back with a darkening frown. "Yeah, damn right I did."

The Pawn was hit by a surge of fear, thinking that Silver had come to recruit them back into the ranks. "Y-You're insane. I'm not going back to him."

Silver shook his head. "It's not like that. Ironically enough, I don't see you as just a pawn to be used." He shakily sighed and went to stand up. "If you stay here you'll die. They're using you right now. You and any others who are here with you. They don't care about you. They really don't."

"Well- Well neither did Metal Sonic! Or Eggman! So what does it matter?"

"I'm not here to argue about the fact that my brother can be a prick at times, or that we have an absent father." Silver stated bluntly. "But listen, even if you go free and don't go back home, it's better than this place. Just... think about it. But think fast, 'cause time's running out for you." With that said, he turned and started to walk away. "It's too bad... I woulda thought a 'bot from our family would be smarter than this. I'm leaving, you can stay and get hacked or whatever. Nice knowin' ya."

"Wait-"

Silver stopped and smirked to himself. Got 'em. He looked over his shoulder and cocked his head.

"C-Can you tell me what happened?"

Silver turned back around and inclined his head with a triumphant smile. "I'll tell you everything."

A/N: Contrary to the dialogue in this I'm not actually a Pisces hater just to be clear I just find it funny to rip on them (my best friend/brother is a Pisces) and this shit is coming from a Gemini so take from that what you will