A/N: hi hello welcome back to robot hell. thank you for tuning back in to the drama and the edge that i let fall out of my brain and onto your screen. also, the hampter i describe in this is just an insert of my real life hamster who is very aptly named metal sonic LOL
Two regular customers walked in and took their usual places at the counter. The building was quieter than usual, the early hours of the day only attracting the most reclusive of people with their caramel lattes and laptops.
"Hello lads! Good to see you again." The owner greeted the two familiar faces with a smile.
"Pleasure's all ours, my Piscean pal." Silver said with a wave, sitting down beside Mecha on a bar stool.
Pisces closed their chequebook and placed it on the counter, putting it aside to talk to the robots. Briefly, they noted the subtle irony of their basic handwritten notes compared to the marvels of technology in front of them. An emissary of letters in a new world of zeroes and ones.
"Business goin' good?" Silver asked, resting his chin on one hand with a smile.
"It's not bad. I've just been adding up the numbers. Took me hours..." Pisces replied, briefly flicking through their book to show him.
"You know, you can always ask one of us to do that. We're basically oversized calculators." Silver offered, but not without a smug smile.
"Hey, if you want to keep me in business, I'm not about to be replaced by a robot," Pisces responded with an equally smug smirk, "and my maths is fine."
"We can do it faster, though. It'd save you time." Silver argued, stretching his arms out in front of him.
The robots and the human shared a brief look, considering the same thing. What if robots did take over one day? A great many professions would become redundant, their expensive labour rendered unnecessary by smarter computers. A future of mechanisms that would forever change the human way of life, in which cars would automatically fine their drivers for criminal offenses: a future with no need for such things as drivers or factory workers, given that machines could cleanly sail through the most monotonous tasks with far more precision than a person.
"Well. One reassuring aspect of my job is that I'm probably not gonna be replaced by a machine. I might not make a lot of money here, but I'm not in any immediate danger of being replaced by a gadget-" Pisces paused, studying the look on Silver's face, before apologizing with, "sorry. No offense."
Silver sat back, putting an arm around the back of his stool. "None taken."
"It's true, though. I don't think a robot could do this job..." Pisces trailed off, meeting Silver's optics again with the sudden realization that, yes, a robot could. Such a robot was sitting right in front of him. They slowly closed their mouth, silenced. They reached for a pistachio from the bowl on the counter instead.
Mecha tilted his head from one way to the other, as if considering whether to permit the human their limited self-consolation. But, as usual, he had something to say on the matter.
"Indeed," Mecha conceded, "certain tasks are unlikely to be replaced by artificial intelligence. Opinion writing, for example, requires human input. It is unlikely that a person would like to read opinions generated by a mechanical being that lacks personality."
"So hot takes are under no immediate threat." Silver added, waving a hand.
Pisces considered asking Mecha if he thought that computers might even replace speakers and writers one day, whether opinions themselves might fit into the palms of a machine. Instead, they reached for a dropped pistachio from inside their shirt, a small act of rebuttal against the concept of the professional dignity of an automated writing AI.
"It's interesting to think about," Pisces instead continued, brushing off their shirt, "it's like how we already have hundreds of robot soldiers at GUN's headquarters. It practically halved the need for infantry soldiers. Maybe one day everyone from my squadron will be replaced by them. What do you think?"
Mecha leaned forward on the counter, showing interest. "A machine is not infallible. Consider my situation. I showed weakness and was thus able to be controlled by another party. People feared me and what I am - a machine, a dangerous one at that. Even so, they could not break me. They cannot break every machine into bending to their well. Thus, there will always be some requirement for human intervention, regardless of how advanced military units become."
"So... Do you think that robots will overthrow our kind one day? Like in the movies?" Pisces asked, genuinely interested. They took a swig of their hot drink and set it down on the counter with a soft clink. "Does the thought of it scare even you, as a robot?"
Mecha paused as he thought about it. "Nothing is stranger to humankind than its own image, and, yet, it holds a fascination with its own destruction by consequence of its own ingenuity. Artificial intelligence is a dangerous prospect when it is immune to the human condition, unable to experience anger and hatred, as well as empathy. Perhaps," he paused again, considering something deeper, "perhaps this fear of what might be done to mankind by its own technology is a reflection of history. A type of horror at what you have already done to yourselves and to your world. Perhaps it is a reflection of existential shame. Machines are much akin to mirrors in that regard."
"Mirrors, you say? So don't you feel bad when you break other robots? Aren't they just like you?" Pisces asked, taking another sip, "and do you think mechanical life is just as precious as human life?"
Mecha sat back and folded his arms. "Consider this. What is the value of a star? Alone, it is a remarkable thing. However, there are trillions of them and they are all fairly alike in nature. There is very little structural difference. But, life," he said, casting a small but noticeable look at his little brother, who was indeed alive, "the life of an individual being, is highly contingent, unpredictable. A living being carries its experiences, its life story, over time. If one was to re-run the history of this universe, you and he would be different people. Your uniqueness is a quality that you accumulate. That is why the loss of a living being is something that is so undesirable. Tragic, perhaps. This, too, applies to machines with a conscience such as ourselves. We too share these qualities with beings like yourself. This brings an ethical dilemma to the discussion."
Silver gave a small nod as he absent-mindedly recalled the stars. What they meant to him now. The Egg Pawn, falling. His older brother, falling, falling. The irony of it coming up into the conversation earned a small, dry smile from him as he pushed down his discomfort. He rested his chin on his arms and set his feet square on the bar stool's step as if doing so would stop him from falling down some invisible hole.
"We're just as different as all of you. Some of us are, well, like us two. Some of us are mindless zombies who don't give a shit about anything or anyone. But it's not their fault that they don't," Silver quietened, reaching out with one hand to mess with an empty shot glass, "but they have the potential to be like us two. That's what makes it hard for me, personally. Do you disregard every organic that doesn't act like everyone else? No. That's cruelty."
Silver's predecessor, Silver Sonic MK I, came to mind - the so-called mindless, thoughtless war machine, discarded like trash at the end of its life, if anyone could call it that. Was that life? There was a potential for it, sure, and that blurred the lines for him. He kept messing with the shot glass, the conversation making him restless.
Mecha reached out and placed his hand on top of Silver's, stopping him from fidgeting. He watched how the joints moved in his hand, how the cogs and wires effortlessly flexed and shifted to afford him movement. How much bigger his hand was compared to his little brother's. Without really thinking about it, Mecha took his sibling's hand in his and held it protectively, interlacing his cold, steely fingers between theirs. An odd contrast between mechanical coolness and person-like fondness.
"Interesting. So, would you... ever want to be exactly like us?" Pisces ventured as they picked up their empty mug to clean it.
"Like, organic?" Silver asked, tilting his head one way.
"Yeah. Would you, if you could?" Pisces elaborated.
"Negative." Mecha answered simply.
"... Maybe." Silver replied, tilting his head the other way.
Silver and Mecha looked at each other. The quiet, gentle clicks of the cool metal in their hands with the slight shift were poignantly audible.
"I do not seek to change my form," Mecha elaborated, closing his hand just a little tighter around his brother's, "for what I am does not cause me distress. I am a machine. It is acceptable to me to be so. While the human condition indeed fascinates me, it is not what I seek to incorporate into my own experiences. What I experience already is enough for me. It would be redundant to place these experiences into another body, for I already have them as my own."
Silver watched Mecha's hand take his in a firmer grip and gave a small smile. "I dunno for myself. Being a 'bot is confusing for me. Like... my mind is definitely more than just zeroes and ones. It wants me to do things that you'd consider alive." His other hand raised to rub his cheek, self-soothing against another invisible hand. "I get scared. I get angry. I can feel happy. I eat things that I probably shouldn't put in my trash can of a body. I was scared to die."
Mecha and Pisces shared a brief look. With a soft sigh, the human put their hand on top of the robot brothers' and smiled at him.
Silver slowly looked up, a small frown on his face. "But I don't think I'm scared of it anymore, and I don't know what that means. Living things are afraid to die."
Mecha leaned forward to be closer to his sibling before venturing, "is Neo alive?"
Silver paused, the frown fading into a blank expression. "Yeah."
"They wanted to die. Does that mean that they are not alive?"
"No," Silver replied as he slowly looked up again, "he was afraid of losing control of himself again."
"Indeed. Thus, your change in attitude towards the subject does not reflect an unworthiness of your living status." Mecha concluded for him.
"Yeah, you're right about that." Silver conceded. He sat back and sighed.
"How did you describe it before? Robot PTSD?" Pisces asked with a wink. "You're good, kid. You're just a little fucked in the head, that's all."
Silver scoffed. "Only a little? No, the universe took out my CPU, shook it around like a snowglobe, and then put it back in upside-down."
Mecha chuckled. "That is a creative description. Perhaps you should take up writing."
Silver laughed, the irony of Mecha's words not lost on him. "Two things wrong with that statement. One, I thought we said robots aren't good enough to be writers. Two, I'm not a writer, I'm a gamer."
Mecha patted Silver's head. "Every time you speak I fight the urge to diagnose you with more conditions."
"It's too late, Mecha. You've already succumbed to gamer disease." Silver argued with a smirk.
"Indeed. Your case appears to be terminal, however. Your efficiency decreases rapidly when you have not engaged with a video game for one day. I fear that it will drop to zero percent if you go for one week without one of your games."
Silver pretended to fall over and die on the counter. "I'm wasting away, M. I haven't played a game in like, an hour."
Mecha and Pisces exchanged amused looks. After a moment of Silver's dramatics, Mecha stood up and picked his little brother up, slinging him over his shoulder with ease. "Then let us proceed home. You have not entered sleep mode for several days."
"That's because the grind never stops." Silver mumbled over his shoulder.
Mecha gave a nod to Pisces before turning and walking out with his brother over his shoulder. "No video games. You require sleep mode to keep your cache clear."
"Fine. But tomorrow we're playing that shooter."
"That is acceptable."
The warehouse was dark and quiet. Flickies nested peacefully in the roof, most of them keeping a respectable distance from the two robots. One blue Flicky was sitting on Silver's head, partly waiting for him to wake up to torment him, partly making the most of the warmth emitting from his systems.
Mecha murmured something in his sleep and shifted in place, and the Flicky looked over to him with a small cheep. It pecked at Silver's face several times, urging him to wake up.
Silver rolled over onto his other side with a groan, meeting Mecha's blank face. The Flicky fluttered off of his head to stand between him and the other robot, tilting its head in concern. Silver pushed himself up onto one elbow with a quiet "huh" before realizing something.
"Shit, shit..."
He scooped the little bird up in one hand in one swift motion and quickly set it down out of Mecha's way, right before Mecha murmured something again and slammed a fist into the spot where the bird had once stood.
Silver sat bolt upright and reached out for Mecha. "Hey, Mecha. Hey, wake up."
All at once Mecha woke up, went to sit up with his arm up defensively, and almost smacked Silver away - but Silver quickly scooted back and avoided the blow, having expected it. This had happened so many times before that he was used to it. Mecha's wrist lights flashed on in a bright red.
"YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO... To... To..."
"It's me, it's me, you're alright..." Silver said as softly as he could, staying back for a moment. As Mecha slowly put his arm down, staring right at Silver now, Silver edged forward again to sit in front of him "You're safe. I promise."
Mecha just kept staring at him. His systems weren't fully loaded yet, and that was very clear to his brother, who looked on with sympathy.
"Nobody is going to hurt you... You're okay." Silver continued gently, staying loyally by his frantic brother's side. "You had a nightmare. I know it feels real, but it was just a simulation, I promise." He gently placed both hands on either side of his brother's face, trying to ground him.
"Is he safe. Is he safe."
Silver took a short, sharp inhale through his intake and rubbed his brother's cheek bolts between his hands, and when he looked into his brother's face, he saw all the hurt, the confusion, the exhaustion.
"Yeah, he's safe. It's okay, you're okay..." Silver murmured, still rubbing his thumbs over the bolts of his brother's cheeks. "Can you tell me what time it is?"
Mecha paused, the colour returning to his visor slowly as his brother tricked him into thinking anything that made sense. "It is... five AM."
"Let's count to five, okay?" Silver said, still soothing his brother as best as he could. "One..."
"Two."
"Three..."
"Four."
"Five... And again, Mecha."
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five..."
"Backwards, now."
"Five... Four... Three... Two... One..."
On one, Silver leaned down and pressed his forehead to his sibling's. "Perfect. You're doing great. Can you tell me how you're feeling?"
"Scared. I am scared."
"What else? Is there a name for it?"
"Hurt."
"I bet. How do you spell my first name?"
"S... i... l... v... e... r."
Silver smiled at him, gently nuzzling his forehead to his brother's. "Yeah. That's me. And you know I'm here for you, right? I'll scare the bad guys away any time."
Mecha gave a small nod, but despite himself, his voice synthesizer shut off and he went nonverbal. In reply, he signed "love" and then "you", to which Silver signed back "I love you too."
Silver pulled away just enough that Mecha would see his hands more clearly, and signed, "do you want space now?"
"Yes, but stay close." Mecha responded in sign, to which Silver nodded and smiled.
Silver left Mecha to calm down as he requested, now walking over to a towering stack of shelves on the other side of the office space. He sat down in front of them, looking at the bottom shelf with his chin on his knees. Before him was a seemingly random assortment of tools and other objects that, to an unknowing person, might just look like junk. But to him, each one had a special meaning. Each object represented a fallen robot from the hedgehog-series family. He had arranged this memorial weeks ago and attended it often.
Robo Sonic. An empty silver soda can with a black arrow painted down it. A little-known robot who could disguise itself as organic with extreme ease, but in its true form, it was formidable in combat and known for the black arrow pointing down its face. Destroyed by Sonic.
Badnik Sonic. An old blue TV remote. Killed by Eggman. He had used a remote to destroy all of the Badniks in the area, including Badnik Sonic, to escape Sonic. Destroyed by its creator.
Bionic Sonic. A claw from an arcade machine. Also known as Silver Sonic, ironically. It was the small silver, yellow, and sky blue robot with a permanent smile on its face, powered by the sixth Chaos Emerald. It served in Scrambled Egg Zone. Destroyed by Sonic. Silver thought, for a moment, how fun it would have been to have the smiley robot as a brother.
Pseudo Sonic. A pack of smiley-face stickers. One of the few hedgehog-series with no free will at all, requiring piloting from within to work. Even so, it was strong and fast, able to keep up with Sonic himself despite it being an old model. Destroyed twice by different teams of heroes.
Guardian. A blue bouncy ball he had found in a crate the other day. A mass-produced blue and cyan copy of Sonic. Labelled obsolete and discontinued, all units deactivated and scrapped by Eggman.
Mecha Sonic Model No.29. A tin of aircraft blue spray paint. Constructed to race and capable of flying through space. Once its task was complete, it was deactivated, rendered obsolete.
The "other" Mecha Sonic. A broken knife with a black handle. Served aboard the Death Egg and in the Aerobase Zone. A formidable fighting machine with heavy armour and razor-sharp spines to match its drive to kill. Destroyed by Sonic twice and then scrapped, never to come back again.
A heavy steel bar, aptly unfeeling and strong like a certain robot who came before him - Silver Sonic MK I. A towering machine that stood above all other hedgehog-series and most importantly to it, Sonic. After it was destroyed, its remains were dumped from a garbage chute, lost to the wind.
Silver gave a small sigh, dimming his optics as he honoured each one of them in turn. Even if they weren't all conscious or capable of feeling like he was, he still saw them as worthy of respect. Worthy of remembering, because nobody besides he and Mecha would, because they still existed even if it wasn't to the standards of an organic creature.
He lit the LED candle in the center of the shelf and watched it gently flicker. It would need new batteries soon.
Feeling calmer now, Mecha moved to sit beside his brother's right side, joining him in his vigil.
"Are you alright?" Mecha asked after some time, still signing his words like before.
Silver nodded and forced a smile, signing back, "Yes. Are you?"
"Yes. Thank you."
They were quiet a little longer, just appreciating each other's company.
"Is talking too loud for you right now?" Silver asked, hand movements slow and gentle.
Mecha gave a nod and tapped his ear with one hand. "Yes. Sorry."
"Don't apologize." Silver told him in sign, finally reaching over to switch off the LED candle. As his arm moved, Mecha looked down and noticed the "SUPERBOT" written across it. He pointed to it and cocked his head to one side.
Silver sheepishly grinned and lifted it up so that Mecha could get a better look, before signing, "I have fans."
Mecha tapped the vents in Silver's ears, silently making a terrible joke about his internal fans.
"Very funny." Silver signed back with a sarcastic tilt of his head. "Want to go shooting?"
"Yes. Call Sonic." Was all Mecha had to say.
Metal wandered the base halls, seeming lost and confused. He avoided his reflection in the windows, avoided locking optics with any other units. Their mutterings and musings only drove him to shut himself off harder. There were only two things that mattered - his mission, and his creator. His loyalty laid squarely with them. So, he found himself walking to his creator's office, hoping for some relief from his mess of emotions. Once he was at the door, he lifted his hand and knocked.
"Get out."
Another knock on the door and Eggman considered throwing the heaviest book he had at it to get the message across.
"I said get-"
The door slowly opened, and a pair of bright red optics peered through the gap at him.
"Oh. It's you."
Metal stepped in and stood in the doorway. They tilted their head to one side.
"What is it?" Eggman finally asked, leaning back in his desk chair. He rubbed a hand across his forehead as if suffering a headache already.
Metal strode over to him and stood in front of him, looking up at him with an oddly unreadable expression. Eggman regarded him with a puzzled scratch of his head.
"What do you need?" Eggman asked, a little gentler this time. He leaned down slightly into the glow of the robot's optics.
Metal looked down for a moment, then back up again, seeming hesitant. After a long moment, he stepped forward and put his arms around his creator, at first gently, and then tightly.
"Oh... What am I going to do with you..." Eggman muttered, gathering the robot into his arms with a sigh.
Metal hid his face against his father's coat. He was afraid and confused all over again. All that mattered was his objective, right? So why did his programming demand him to seek familial ties like this? His grip grew tighter and tighter until Eggman had to prize the robot's claws out from his clothing.
"Careful, my boy." Eggman muttered, brushing off his coat. He sighed again and placed a hand atop the robot's head. "What's gotten into you? You don't normally act like this."
Metal looked down, a scowl gradually forming over his optics. It was only pissing him off more that he couldn't communicate what was wrong. It didn't even cross his mind to use sign. He held his hands up and glared at his claws, watching how they glinted in the artificial light of the room.
"Oh, Metal, you're doing fine. You'll get him soon." Eggman reassured him, thinking that the robot was angry about his mission. "You just need to stay focused. You can do it, I'm very proud of you."
Focused. Of course. The mission. These emotions didn't matter. A glitch. Of course.
New resolve flashed over his face as he looked up again. He gave a nod, turned on his heel, and walked back out again. Eggman watched him go, just as puzzled and exasperated as before. With the robot gone, he held his head in his hands. This cycle seemed destined to repeat. It didn't matter what he did.
"I don't know what to do with you, Metal. You're just as messed up as before."
Metal didn't hear him. He walked himself back down the hallway, head held high and shoulders squared back. To his annoyance, an Egg Pawn stepped out from a room and got in his way. He stood still, looking down at them in a mixture of irritation and questioning.
"I-I just wanted to thank you. You saved me." The Egg Pawn ventured, looking up at him hopefully.
Metal only stared back.
The Pawn was taken aback by his reaction, but carried on anyway. "Who knows what they would have done to us. You really have changed, to help us like that."
Metal's optics slowly narrowed into a hateful glare.
OUT OF MY WAY.
"I'm sorry that we ran away. It was a bad idea."
Metal's glare only grew harsher. He slowly moved forward so that he was deliberately towering over the other robot, asserting himself. It took a few confused and worried steps back.
"I, uh... Commander Neo? Are you okay?"
ENOUGH.
"... You don't remember, do you?"
NO.
Metal roughly shoved the Pawn out of his way and stormed off.
I DO NOT REMEMBER.
"You saved us all! You and your brothers did!"
Metal stopped and looked back at the far end of the hallway. In the shade of the unlit side of it, the red and blue cut through the dark like a promise. The mention, yet another mention, of having siblings, stabbed him somewhere deep. He glared at them with all of his malice. The Pawn cringed into themselves and quickly took themselves back into the room they had come from. Metal stayed there for a second before striding on, head lowered and hands balled into fists at his sides.
I DO NOT HAVE BROTHERS.
I HAVE NOTHING BUT MY MISSION.
YOU ARE WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.
EVERYTHING IS WRONG.
IT HURTS.
"BROTHERS" HURT ME. ELIMINATE THEM.
Metal shut himself away in the training room and locked the door for another long day.
Silver leaned against the brick wall with his arms folded and one foot against it. Mecha stood by his side, waiting. The quiet between them felt odd to Mecha, and he turned his head to look at him. A quiet Silver was always either a bad thing, or it meant he was doing something very strange that Mecha couldn't make sense of. This time it was the latter.
"Silver, what are you doing." Mecha finally asked.
Silver turned his head slightly. "Listening to explosion sound effects in my head."
"Why?" Mecha leaned forward slightly.
"ASMR."
"You are seeking an autonomous sensory meridian response from violent sounds. May I ask why."
Silver shrugged a shoulder. "It's calming."
"How."
"Just trust me! I'll send it over."
Silver sent the audio file to Mecha and relaxed further against the wall as he waited for his brother to load it. Mecha copied Silver, folding his arms and leaning back as he listened. His long spines awkwardly bonked against the wall, but he didn't seem to mind or notice.
"So? What do you think?" Silver asked after a moment, excitedly awaiting his brother's reply.
Mecha gave him a long look. "It is simply activating my threat-seeking mechanisms."
Silver threw his head back and huffed. "So no tingles? None at all? You're kidding me."
"Negative." Mecha replied with a shake of his head. "I cannot experience parathesia."
"Figures..." Silver put on an audio of gunfire instead and gave a contented sigh. "Damn. I love this song."
Mecha gave him a puzzled look. "Are you certain that your cache is clear?"
Silver snorted. "Positive. I just have issues, bro. Not of the cache kind."
"That is obvious." Mecha replied, idly listening to the explosions in his ears that underlined his words.
"Hey! Rude. I'm a totally balanced and sane individual."
Mecha took a long pause. "You are... an individual."
"You're so- oh, look what the cat dragged in."
Finally, a familiar blue hedgehog darted around the corner in front of them, and they both pushed themselves off of the wall to meet him.
"Took ya long enough, slowpoke." Silver taunted Sonic as he skidded to a stop in front of the shooting range building.
"I'm fashionably late, robo-hog." Sonic retorted with a hand on his hip.
Mecha regarded Sonic with a dip of his head and shut off the audio file, having forgotten that it was still playing in his head. Sonic smiled kindly at him.
"He's having a trauma day, just so you know." Silver told the flesh-hog with a small smile that grew into a smirk. "So you better keep it down or I'll put you down."
Sonic elbowed him in the side and poked his tongue out. Silver growled playfully at him and shoved him back, earning himself an equally as harsh shove back.
"Why are you always so aggressive with me? I haven't even upset you yet!" Silver protested, putting his hands on his hips defiantly.
"Physical stimuli is the best way of communicating with you." Sonic said with a shrug.
Silver frowned at him. "What?"
Sonic smirked. "Lemme put it in layman's terms for you - Your ears no work no good after being exploded, buddy."
Silver gasped in feigned offense. "Hey, fuck you!"
Sonic just laughed at him. "And you got hit in the face with construction equipment a bunch of times which probably doesn't help that much."
"Okay refresh my memory 'cause it's a little hazy after being literally exploded. Who asked you?"
"Pre-tenderized Silver Sonic could hear better."
"I'm gonna smack you in your fleshy-me-looking face."
"Bold of you to assume you could catch me to do it."
"Is that before or after I turn you into a hedgehog kebab?"
"Hang on, I'm gonna go to the hardware store to buy a grenade to explode you."
"That's IT you fleshy little shit come HERE-"
Mecha dutifully picked Silver up off the ground and held him to his chest. "Your observation is correct, hedgehog. His auditory sensors do indeed require calibration."
Sonic pointed a triumphant finger in the robot's face. "HA!"
"You're the worst, Mecha. You're supposed to back me up, not sell me out to this blue devil." Silver said with a pout, before secretly flipping Sonic off just out of Mecha's sight.
Mecha snapped his fingers on Silver's left side, and then his right, earning a confused look from his younger brother. "Which side was louder."
Silver huffed. "The right, obviously."
"Incorrect. I used the exact same level of force on both."
Silver threw his head back in annoyance. "Okay, I get it! Being exploded isn't good for me and now I'm deaf as shit."
"Just on one side, though! It could be worse." Sonic spoke up with a satisfied smirk.
Silver looked at him with an evil grin. "I'm about to make your entire life WORSE-"
Mecha finally put Silver down onto his feet, rubbing his head with one hand as if he had a headache. "Please refrain."
Sonic squared up to his silver double with a cocky grin. "Hey Silver, how much do you weigh? I just wanna know so that next time I work out I can tell if I can punt you."
Silver got in his face, nose-to-nose with him. "Classified info, also, if you throw a grenade at me it'll bounce right off 'cause I'm stronger than you."
"Yeah? Is that why you got bench-pressed by a human wearing stripy tracksuit bottoms?" Sonic asked with a smirk.
Silver was quiet for a moment, and Mecha behind him instantly knew that was a bad thing - Silver grabbed Sonic by his arm and threw him with frightening ease through the shooting range doors. Sonic just laughed as he crashed through them, rolled over onto his back, and said to the person at the till, "session for three please!"
The three got set up at their stations. Sonic fumbled with his handgun, Mecha set his up easily, and Silver was done before everyone else of course. They took turns to aim at targets set up several feet away, ranging in difficulty over time. As Sonic missed a shot quite catastrophically, Silver smirked by his side.
"You know there's a way to use a gun less lethally than by missing all the time, right?" Silver asked tauntingly, patting him on the shoulder.
Sonic gave him a deadpan look. "Silv, one more quip outta you and I'm testing the exploding theory-"
Silver moved to stand behind Sonic, looking over his shoulder and examining his strategy. "Put your left foot slightly forward, right slightly backwards. Stand with your feet about a shoulder-width apart, shoulders straight and back..." He reached around to maneuver Sonic's hand. "Your grip should be high and tight. No spaces between your hand and the gun, or it'll move when it recoils." He lifted Sonic's hands up just a little, correcting his aim. "Don't tighten your grip when you pull the trigger and don't let your wrist break up. Be steady, and take it slow."
Sonic pulled the trigger. It hit dead on the target. Impressed, he looked down at his hands and grinned. "Woah. You weren't kidding."
Silver gave a satisfied nod. "You're welcome, hog."
Sonic took another accurate shot and pumped his fist in celebration. "Never thought I'd enjoy using one'a these things, but this is pretty cool." In actuality, Sonic hated using weapons. He had never been the type to take up anything other than his own fists or quills in a fight. But for his robot family, he would give it a go. At least it wasn't the same as picking up one of these contraptions in the field.
"So... you've seen him lately, right?" Silver finally asked, trying to sound casual about it.
"Yeah, you could say that," Sonic replied, taking aim at his target, "Egghead keeps sending him after me."
Silver gave him a concerned look and Sonic knew what it meant.
The hedgehog sighed and gave a kind smile. "Don't worry. I go easy on him."
Silver gave a half-smile at that. "Bet. Has he said anything to you?"
"He doesn't talk anymore," Sonic said, a little quieter.
"Not even in sign?" Silver asked, unable to hide the slight waver in his voice as he did.
Sonic sighed. "No. Not really."
"Figures." Silver took the handgun to take their turn and took aim. He privately wondered if his father had disabled his brother's voice synthesizer for more control over him. The thought made him angry. All of this made him angry. It was unfair. And the more he dwelled on it, the more it hurt again. It bubbled up too fast for him to deal with.
Bang. Bullseye. Silver pretended half-heartedly that the center was GUN.
Bang. Bullseye. He pretended that the center was the Egg Emperor.
Bang. Bullseye. The center was everyone who had ever hurt his brothers.
Bang. Bullseye. He pretended that the center was his dad's hand striking his face.
Bang. Bullseye. The center was himself. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
Mecha reached over and placed his hand on top of Silver's handgun. "That is enough."
Silver slowly lowered it. It was only then that he realized that his hands were violently shaking. He hung his head and listened to his engine as it whirred to cool down. Mecha put his arm around his little brother's shoulders and pulled him close to his side. Gently and supportively, Mecha rubbed his brother's arm as the younger robot stared at the floor below him.
"Everything okay over here?" An employee asked, wandering over to the group with concern. She was a Mobian hamster with lilac fur and bright red eyes, and she smiled kindly at them.
"Got a place we can sit for a minute? This one needs a time out." Sonic asked.
The employee nodded and helpfully pointed to a set of chairs at the other end of the room. "Take as long as you need! You still have ten minutes."
Sonic led Silver by his hand over to a comfy chair and sat him down. He knelt down in front of him and put a hand on his knee, avoiding the metal spike in it by parting his fingers around it.
"I don't know what's wrong with me, Sonic. I can't even enjoy my favourite things like I used to." Silver said softly, not willing himself to look his organic double in the eye. "It sucks. I feel so stupid."
Mecha sat down beside Silver and put his arm around him again, gently rubbing his shoulder in support. "This is not your fault, nor does this suggest a lack of intelligence."
"When does it get better, guys?" Silver asked, quieter now. He looked at his arm, with "superbot" still written across it, and saw his face reflected against the metallic sheen of his armour. The black arrows seemed darker than ever. A strange contrast in meanings. "Am I just permanently fucked up now?"
Sonic shook his head and leaned his weight against Silver's knee a little. "Nah, you're not, big guy. You'll be okay."
Silver finally looked up at him, expression somehow both pained and blank. "Please don't lie to me."
Sonic took a breath. "I've not been through what you've been through, kiddo, but I can tell you one thing. I've had my fair share of close calls. Seen my best friends hurt. Do those things cross my mind? Yeah, of course. But you learn to live with it, and one day you'll realize it doesn't suck as bad as it used to. So if you have time to worry, run - or, in your case, keep doing what makes you happy."
The younger robot slowly nodded. "Guess so. I'm just scared."
Mecha moved his hand a little too close to Silver's face by accident and the younger robot violently flinched away. He stared at Mecha for a long moment before choking up with shame. He quickly got up and walked out of the shooting range, pushing the doors open with one hand and the other clenched into a fist.
Fuck this. Fuck this. Fuck this, I'm scared and angry and hurt and I just want a fucking hug without flinching.
The silver and black robot sat down on the pavement outside and buried his face into his arms.
Why did he have to die. Why did Mecha have to be tortured. Why did dad have to hit me in the fucking face. Why? Why do I ruin everything?
He smacked his fist onto the concrete with a strangled sob. The force cracked it under his hand. He did it again, and again, making the cracks worse. When it no longer satisfied his anger, he brought his hands up to his head and curled in on himself, hyperventilating into his knees.
As always, Mecha soon came to be by his side. He sat down beside his little brother, looking at him with concern and fondness all at once.
"Brother."
Silver grit his teeth and kept his face hidden.
"You are permitted to feel emotion. Do not be ashamed."
That's right. It'll take what you owe it. Fuck me. Fuck my stupid words. I can't take my own advice.
Silver slowly turned his head to look at his sibling, his face still dark with emotion.
"I have learned that this process is not linear. This does not erase your progress. It is merely a vital part of it." Mecha continued, unfazed by his sibling's anger. "You shall emerge stronger than before."
Silver met his brother's kind gaze and almost felt guilty. Why did he have to be so kind, so unwavering, when he too was hurting? He looked away again, a twisted kind of shame overwriting everything else now.
Mecha sat back on his hands and surveyed the city around them. "...It is a pleasant day."
Sonic approached them from behind and moved to sit by Silver's other side. "It sure is."
Silver looked up. It was, actually. The sun was out, Flickies bounced from tree to tree, the streets were quiet. He looked around for a moment, searching for anything to take his mind off of his mess of feelings. "... That puddle over there is pretty moist."
Sonic gave him a look. "Don't say that."
"What? Puddle?"
"No... moist."
Silver slowly looked up at him, a small smirk forming. "I can't call something but what it is."
Sonic cringed. "Literally say anything else."
"Anything else? Okay. What is love... baby don't hurt me... don't hurt me..."
"No more." Mecha finished for him proudly.
Sonic looked at both of them in disbelief. "How do you two even know that song?"
"It's iconic." Silver argued, giving a half-hearted shrug.
Mecha tilted his head one way. "Indeed. It proposes an intricate query. Indeed, what is love? Does it simply encompass a range of strong and positive emotional states? Or can it only be defined as a deep interpersonal affection?"
"Love is a new, shiny, polished, fully-loaded rifle. That's what I think." Silver proposed, resting his chin on his arms.
"Love is... a freshly-made chilli dog." Sonic added, stretching one arm above his head casually.
"I'll get Pisces to add those to the menu." Silver said, inflection returning to his voice now. He curled over so that he was laying on his side and stared ahead at the road in front of him. "I'm okay. So okay."
Sonic put a hand on the robot's side. "You're on the floor."
Silver looked up at him and shrugged his free shoulder. "I'm okay on the floor."
Mecha tilted his head. "I suggest rebooting your stabilizer programs if you are feeling physically unstable."
Silver gave a huff and complied. "Roses are red, debugging isn't fun... Unexpected error on line 31."
Mecha reached over and placed a hand on his brother's head. "You must set a value for the variable for the script to function correctly."
"Right, right... robot brain things. On it." Silver muttered.
Sonic snickered by his side. "Guess I could call you a son of a glitch right now."
Silver rolled over, looked at him for a moment, and then tackled him onto the floor with a dangerous grin. "Lemme just give you a nice friendly hedgehug..."
Sonic grinned back up at him as he wrestled the robot hog off. "Not a chance, robutt!"
Mecha sat back and rubbed his forehead as the two fought each other on the sidewalk. "It is going to be a prolonged day."
After some time, Silver and Sonic eventually stopped play fighting. Sonic gave Silver one final shove and bounced to his feet, rubbing a finger under his nose. Silver followed suit, tauntingly copying his organic double in reply.
"Are you ever serious? Ever?" Sonic asked him rhetorically.
"Woah, hey, my humour is a loadbearing coping mechanism." Silver replied with a jab of his elbow.
"Welp. I'm gonna head home to see my lil' bro. Smell ya later, bolt-brains." Sonic excused himself before disappearing back from where he had come from.
Mecha and Silver watched him go.
"He does not stay in one place for long." Mecha commented, folding his arms.
"It's the hedgehog ADHD." Silver replied with a shrug.
"Are you alright." Mecha finally asked, turning to Silver with concern.
Silver paused, thinking about it this time. "I'm better, yeah, but... I got some things to work out in my head, I think."
"What do you require from me?" Mecha asked him.
"I think I... Hey, I'll see you back home, M. I'll keep you posted on where I am." Silver told him, before darting off on his own. Mecha let him go, trusting that Silver would keep him filled in.
Silver disappeared out of the city in a flash, returning to the forest where his "cinematic breakdown" had taken place. The forest was much calmer now without the raging storm, and this time he could appreciate the nature around him. He slowed down as he entered it, keeping in mind that his speed might destroy plants or scare wild animals. Now at a slow walk, Silver followed the bank of a river, which flowed slowly and gently down bends and over rocks. He sat down on the bank in the center of the forest, where nobody else would disturb him, and just took time to be quiet.
Silver wasn't the best at introspection. That much was obvious. Like Sonic, he was the type to run from his feelings when they caught up to him. But, he would try to take his own advice this time. By not doing that, he had made a scene in front of his family. If he could prevent that from happening again, he would.
In the quiet of the forest, Silver thought of himself when he was first created. He was small, innocent. Just a kid. He pictured himself sitting opposite that version of himself, the invisible version on the other side of the river. The little robot who woke up in that strange bright room who just wanted a hug. He tried to find it in himself to tell that kid that they were worthless, a mistake, a waste of space. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Realizing this, Silver hung his head and sighed. He stayed quiet for a long moment, listening to the forest around him, the quiet hum of his engine as it worked to give him life.
The robot lifted his head to meet the hypothetical child sitting opposite him, and smiled.
"Hey. I'm proud of you."
His smile grew warmer despite the bittersweet ache in his chest.
"You went through a lot. You didn't deserve it... You were just a baby."
He hung his head again and gave a small, quiet laugh.
"You were pretty amazing, actually. Even with everything, you were still kind, and good."
Silver moved to wrap his arms around himself, feeling the warmth of his engine heating up his body.
"You did all you could do. It was never your fault. And I'm sorry that you were hurt like that... it's okay to be lonely. I'm here for you."
"There was nothing wrong with you. You just needed someone to love you."
Silver beamed at his reflection in the water and it smiled back at him.
Standing in front of the window, Metal and its reflection were like rival animals, just moments away from tearing each other limb from limb. He pressed his glare harder into the reflection as if doing so would punch it out. It did not. He was hunted, haunted, by it. Who could fill his empty shell, he thought. Who could love him with a sickness like this? A stain like this? No one, he thought. He loathed what looked back at him, the distorted reflection in blood-red optics. Was this where he belonged? In the indifferent arms of the programming that cruelly reared him to kill?
Angry and confused, he scowled and strode away, heavily pushing the base door open with both hands and stepping outside into the hot sun.
DEFEAT SONIC BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
INFERIOR UNITS ARE INTERFERING WITH OBJECTIVES.
ELIMINATE INFERIOR UNITS AT ANY COST.
The navy blue robot took a deliberately heavy step forward into the light. He scanned the horizon as his claws flexed and glinted in the sun. He was a weapon, a killer, and he would not forget that. You can use a knife to carve something beautiful, but that will not change its nature - it is still a knife. It is still violence. And he was a special kind of violence. His father loved violence. He loved like the slash rip tear and the blood spill of violence. He loved his father and he would not fail. At any cost. At any cost. At any cost.
Metal was not just malicious. Metal was a result. The result of what, he wasn't sure, but misguided love was definitely part of it.
Love. What a disgusting, inefficient thing.
He fired up his jet engine and powered off into the sky with one thing set in his mind. He would win. He would make his creator proud of him. The trip to the city was a short one at the high speeds he moved at, and he soon found himself hovering over it. His red optics scanned for his targets at once, seeking their signals like some crazed predator. His search took him above an abandoned warehouse, where he stayed fixated above it like a hawk. They were here. They had to be. Fools hadn't terminated their signals.
Metal touched down on the roof. He took a moment to take in his surroundings, noting every exit, entrance, obstacle, like a good assassin would. But in his pride, he failed to notice that one of his targets was already closer than he predicted. Unknown to him, the alarm systems had already notified them of a fast-approaching enemy, and Silver was very fast.
A familiar voice called out behind him, both filled with inflection like an organic, yet robotic with a mechanical filter over it.
"Hey, big bro."
Metal whirled around, startled, meeting the familiar face of his so-called brother. He hissed in surprise and anger and took a step back, placing one foot squarely behind the other.
Silver twirled a pistol around his trigger finger, took a step towards him, and smirked. That act would have pissed his sibling off a few months ago.
"Guessin' you're not here for a brotherly catch-up?"
Metal took a step forward to meet him. The two stared each other down, one angry, and one confident, but both masking hidden emotions under the surface.
If Metal Sonic attacks this city, what will you do?
Silver closed the gap between them and stood nose-to-nose with his brother, smiling. He tossed his pistol aside and it clacked on the floor.
Then I'll kick his ass.
"Then let's fight like the monsters they want us to be."
I'll be strong.
Behind him, Mecha touched down on the roof and joined his little sibling's side. He gave a small nod in greeting to Metal, who disregarded it completely. Instead, the robot's optics darted from one robot to the other, deciding who to attack first. Mecha was the strongest and most calculated, his specs clearly showed that. Silver was the fastest, lightest on his feet, all by design. Deciding who to take out first took up precious seconds of processing time and made him frustrated.
Silver leaned over to Mecha and whispered, "let the Princess go first."
Mecha gave him a look. "What."
"He gets all prideful about it. We have to play to his emotions." Silver murmured.
Mecha nodded slowly. "Understood."
True to Silver's word, Metal moved first. He aimed a calculated slash at Silver - taking out the faster one would give him the upper hand with speed - but was intercepted by a defiant Mecha, who raised an arm to block him. The other robot's sharp claws cut through his paint, but did little to damage anything underneath. Mecha used Metal's momentum to grab his own arm and throw him aside. Metal rolled onto his feet and went again, but Mecha quickly put him back down with a kick square to the chest. With Metal down for a moment, Mecha stood over him and pinned him down with a foot to his middle.
"You are outnumbered. Yield." Mecha told him plainly.
NO.
"Yield. You cannot win."
LIAR.
Metal hissed up at him and tried to wriggle free, but Mecha was stronger. Curse him. Curse this inferior unit. He would prove that he was the better one. Without warning, he lifted a fist and slammed it as hard as he could into the rooftop. The sheer force of the blow cracked the hard concrete, so he did it again, and the second time it broke a hole in the roof. Mecha gave a beep of surprise as they both fell down into the office room. Mecha caught himself on a stack of shelves and held on, while Metal fell less gracefully into a heap on the floor. He gave an angry beep and scrambled up to his feet, glowering up at his opponent.
Silver expertly scaled the shelves beside Mecha and slid down to the floor, where he moved to meet Metal again.
"You got a lil' something on your face." Silver said nonchalantly, reaching over to brush crumbled brick and dust from his brother's head.
Metal grabbed his arm, paused to squint his optics in the other robot's face, and then threw him into the wall with a bang. Silver quickly remembered the same thing happening in his fight with the Egg Pawn, and maneuvered so that he landed feet-first rather than head-first. He sprung back off of the wall and tackled Metal back down to the floor, but Metal was quick to flip Silver off of him with a well-aimed kick to his middle. Silver flipped in the air and landed in a crouch.
Silver knew they had to change strategy in this smaller space. He glanced over to the hedgehog-series memorial and an idea pinged in his head.
"Insert some witty quip about keeping it in the family here."
He grabbed the blue bouncy ball, Guardian, and lobbed it across the room, momentarily distracting Metal who was very confused by it. As he looked back to Silver to attack him again, he was met by a heavy steel bar, Silver Sonic MK I, to the face. Surprised and angry, he staggered backwards into Mecha, who made to grab him but missed, as Metal was faster and ducked away.
Silver picked up the broken knife, the "other" Mecha Sonic, and flipped it expertly around his fingers before pointing it at Metal. "Your move."
Metal raised a hand and let his claws glint in the light of the room. It was one knife against five, and he wanted Silver to know it.
But Silver just smirked a little. Bingo. He let Metal think he had the upper hand. Let his pride blind him. As Metal made to slash at him, Silver revealed the can of blue spray paint, Rocket Metal, from behind his back and aimed a quick spray in his face. Metal stumbled back, partly blinded by the paint over his optics. No matter. He adapted. Tuning into his scans, he pinpointed where Silver was - but in that moment of processing time, Mecha grabbed him from behind and held him as tightly as he could.
"Yield. You are outmatched." Mecha politely reminded him, tightening his grip more as Metal struggled.
Metal reacted quickly. He booted his jet engine as quickly as he could and roughly blasted up through the hole in the ceiling, bringing Mecha with him.
Silver looked back apologetically at the memorial with a small grimace. "Sorry guys. I'll tidy that up later." He then took off after them.
Metal focused on freeing himself from Mecha's iron grip now. He set his course for the nearest city, and judging by the way Mecha's engine started to work harder, he figured out that doing so was a weakness for them. How curious. Was it because precious organics lived there? In a bluff move, he made to charge his V. Maximum Overdrive attack to shake Mecha off. Mecha detected the spike in energy at once and let go, leaving Metal to charge off towards the city at breakneck speed. He quickly shut off the program for the Maximum Overdrive attack to avoid gutting himself on the way.
He would lead them to their weakness. As he did, he angrily wiped the paint from his face as best as he could.
Silver soon caught up to him and deliberately flew above him, looking down on him. "Hey, idiot. I didn't say we could change fight scenes."
Metal glanced up at him with a particularly hateful glare before breaking into a sonic boom.
"Showoff. I can do that, too." Silver muttered against the crack of the air, before matching his brother's speed. A second sonic boom broke the sky.
Metal easily made it to the city's outskirts, where he had to take a moment to assess the situation. To pose the most risk to organic life possible, he would have to get close to a building. But that would make him more of a target to others... then again, they couldn't beat him. He was unbeatable. Opting for a showy place to land, he tore through the air until he reached a skyscraper. With his engine screeching to a halt, he landed in a crouch atop the building and turned to face the two robots pursuing him.
Silver landed first, and Mecha followed a few seconds later, a little slower than his little brother.
"Are you okay?" Silver asked Mecha, taking a second to check on him.
"Affirmative. Are you functioning adequately, brother?" Mecha replied, keeping his vision fixed on his amnesiac brother.
Silver gave a nod, matching his older brother's gaze as he turned to rest it on Metal. "I'm fine. He didn't get me that bad."
Metal studied his opponents meticulously. His optics fixed on them with dangerous intent.
BROTHER.
WEAKNESS DETECTED: FAMILY.
Something evil in Metal sat down and took the reins. He let it. The navy blue robot deliberately dimmed his optics, making himself look softer, and took a few steps towards the two robots, deliberately gentler. He tilted his head to one side, pretending to act confused by the situation.
Silver's optimism got the better of him, and he gave a quiet, small gasp of hope, finding himself walking towards Metal with a look of disbelief and happiness all at once.
"N-Neo? Is that you?" Silver asked quietly, stopping mid-step with a hand held out to him.
Metal gave a nod. He held his arms out and waited. He forced a smile into his optics, so falsely loving and welcoming.
Silver didn't hesitate. He threw himself into his brother's arms and let him hug him tightly. He nestled his face into his older sibling's chest and let out a shaky sob, hardly believing this was real.
It wasn't.
Mecha saw through it.
"Silver, wait-"
All at once, Silver realized what was happening. Slowly, he looked down to see Metal's claws digging into his arms and cracking the plating there. He looked up to meet Metal's blazing optics and saw the smug but silent, "I tricked you."
Metal violently slammed Silver into the ground, charged the energy in his compression chamber, and fired a powerful energy blast from his chest engine. Mecha took him down just one second too late with a punch to the face.
Silver tried not to let it faze him. He rolled over onto his other side and staggered up to his feet, fighting the urge to hold his new wound with his hand. He didn't dare to look down, as the readouts on his HUD told him the damage was extensive. He wouldn't have time to anyway, as Metal was quick to throw Mecha off of him to come at him again.
"Well that wasn't nice of you, Princess." Silver said through a cocky smirk, wiping his face off instead.
Metal mustered up all of his rage and tore into a spin dash, coming at Silver at terrifying speed. Mecha sidestepped and put himself in front of his little brother, raising an arm to take the blow in his place. Metal struck Mecha's arm, tearing into it with a screech of breaking armour, feet skidding as he was pushed back. Mecha grabbed Silver with his free arm, gathered all of his strength, and moved quickly. Metal's momentum sent him packing onto the roof, where he rolled to a stop and spun around to hiss at them.
"Mecha..." Silver whispered, staring at him in shock. "You didn't have to do that! Shit!"
Mecha looked down at him. "This plan is not working."
"Yeah, no shit." Silver murmured, grimacing as he studied the gash across his older brother's arm.
Metal changed tactics. The stronger one would keep defending the quicker one. The stronger one had to go first. He set his sights on Mecha and, before either of the two could move, he jumped at them and landed a powerful kick to Mecha's forehead. Mecha dropped to the floor instantly, CPU crashing and restarting. He would recover in a few minutes, but it was enough time for Metal to take both of them out.
Metal's sheer power stunned Silver into silence for a moment.
Metal turned to Silver.
Silver stared at him.
"You don't have to do this." Silver tried, taking a slow step towards him with his hands up. "Please. I know you don't know who we are, I know it's all scary and confusing, but please... Don't hurt him any more."
Metal was ruthless. He landed a punch square in Silver's face, putting him down to the ground beside Mecha. Red battered around his processor like an angry sea, rage blindsiding him. A voice floated to his ear, hissing and spitting like a wild animal. Kill him, it said. It would be a favour to put him out of his misery, it said. Metal took a slow, dragged-out step and stood over his "brother", feet on either side of his body. He looked down at him with disgust and hatred, leaning down ever so slightly to get a better look at him. Victory was sweet, but vengeance was sweeter. He would get revenge on these two for making him hurt. For distracting him from his mission. His one and only purpose.
INFERIOR UNIT.
I WILL BE THE ONE TO KILL SONIC.
YOU ARE A FALSE SONIC. I AM THE REAL ONE.
DIE. DIE. DIE.
Metal kicked Silver in the side, sending him skidding across the roof a few feet away from Mecha. He followed. Red flared hot and bright in his vision. The brat under him gave a strangled cry as he kicked him again, but Metal didn't give him any time to recover. He stood over him again, placing a foot on the other robot's side to pin him in place.
Despite himself, Silver yelped and for just a moment, fear and hurt was clear on his face. He wasn't scared to die, no, but it scared him to see his older brother so violent and angry.
There was that delicious terror that Metal's killer programming was looking for. It purred in satisfaction. Metal pressed further into the younger robot's space, his engine snarling lowly, optics glowing an awful, predatory crimson. Silver's face was tight with pain as he met his brother's optics, and he could see the assassin programming reflected in them. Metal expected begging, bargaining, perhaps some of that trademarked sass that Eggman seemed to program into all of his machines, but...
"Who did this to you, Neo?"
Metal jerked back as if he had been slapped. His engine sputtered and he hissed, getting right back into the other robot's space to stare him down.
Silver snarled back now, his own anger regaining its footing. "You died, Neo! You died in front of me and he brought you back, so tell me, what did he do to you? Did he even try for you?!" At his words, Metal only leaned down closer, pressing down harder, now nose-to-nose with him and seething. "You have to remember. We've both waited for you."
LIE DETECTED.
LIE DETECTED.
LIE DETECTED.
THE INSTRUCTION AT 0X0000000025C2342B NEO SUPER FX DSP CHIP REFERENCED MEMORY AT 0X0000028384F4. THE MEMORY COULD NOT BE READ.
Metal hissed at him and drew a fist back, and Silver raised an arm to protect himself - but a flash of black liquid on Metal's hands caught his attention, and he looked down at them for a second, staying his hand.
"You're better than this." Silver whispered up at him.
Those words were a cup of ice water dumped down his intake, and Metal flinched back, releasing the other robot as if it burned him. Metal looked down at his hands. Stared at them like they were a puzzle that might suddenly put itself together. He looked back down at the other robot, the inferior model apparently refusing to do any real damage to him... It would be so easy to terminate him here and now.
So, why, then, was it so painful?
Silver clambered up to his feet, hunched over with his hands on his knees now.
Metal stared at him. For a split second, the word "ERROR" flashed over his screen, and Silver caught it.
"You're so much more than this. But even as you are now, I love you." Silver told him quietly, looking up to meet his optics. "I love you. It's not... it's not an error to have loved you."
Metal's head was fuzzy and exhausted. He stared hazily at nothing, stepping away from Silver. He shuddered as if someone had dropped him into an ice-cold bath. There was no red left in his sight, but there was far too much black. His memory banks scrambled and glitched, making him confused and emotional.
"You said to be strong. So this is me, being strong."
Silver took his chance and ran straight at him, seeing the train coming at him in his head, and meeting it with open arms one more time. He threw all of his weight into Metal, sending them both over the edge of the building and plummeting to the ground below. He held onto Metal tightly, forcing him to look him in the optics as he did.
"We used to fly together," Silver told him over the rushing wind, "then, I watched you fall. Since that day, I've tried to catch everyone. Now I know I can do more... More than catching them when they're just falling."
What have I done. Dear Chaos, what have I done?
Metal remembered it all at once. The fall. The impossibly fast descent, holding his greatest enemy close to him, sacrificing his own life. But there was something else, he was sure, and it didn't make sense yet. A glint of something recognizable came over his face, and Silver saw it clearly. That spark was all he needed. It said,
Don't let me go.
Silver kicked his jet engine into gear at the last moment and swept them both back into the air, tearing back up to the rooftop. Once he was high enough, he threw the blue robot with all of his strength back onto the roof, where he landed on his side and had to roll over onto one knee to regain his footing.
Mecha groggily stood up just in time to see it happen, and tried his best to recalibrate his stabilizers to join them. One, two, three, four, five... Five, four, three, two, one... It would be okay. It would.
Silver clumsily landed a few feet away from Metal and slowly advanced on him.
"Here's the thing. You won't fall again. I'll hold you before you do." Silver told him as he approached. "Because I'm strong enough to do that."
Mecha walked up behind Metal, standing over him. Metal looked over his shoulder and up at him, confusion clear on his face, as Mecha played back an audio file through his speakers. It was the last hope he had.
"I am always proud of you and Silver."
LIE DETECTED.
THE INSTRUCTION AT 0X0000000025C2342B NEO SUPER FX DSP CHIP REFERENCED MEMORY AT 0X0000028384F4. THE MEMORY COULD NOT BE READ.
"I am always proud of you and Silver."
LIAR... LIAR...
THE INSTRUCTION AT 0X0000000025C2342B NEO SUPER FX DSP CHIP REFERENCED MEMORY AT 0X0000028384F4. THE MEMORY COULD NOT BE READ.
"I am always proud of you and Silver."
THAT IS MY VOICE.
THE INSTRUCTION AT 0X0000000025C2342B NEO SUPER FX DSP CHIP REFERENCED MEMORY AT 0X0000028384F4. THE MEMORY COULD NOT BE READ.
"You may recall this as often as you need."
THE INSTRUCTION AT 0X0000000025C2342B NEO SUPER FX DSP CHIP REFERENCED MEMORY AT 0X0000028384F4. MEMORY RETRIEVED.
RESTARTING NEO SUPER FX DSP CHIP.
Something in Metal's head shifted. Suddenly it was as though a filter had been lifted from his vision. Everything became brighter, clearer, and made more sense. As Mecha knelt down in front of him, he slowly lifted his head to look up at him. Silver crouched down beside him and offered a smile.
"This better not be another fast trick you're pulling, bro. That wasn't very-"
Neo threw himself at Silver and pulled him into the tightest hug he could manage.
"I- Neo?"
Neo nodded over Silver's shoulder and nestled his face into it, shaking in his fear and shame.
It was real.
This time, Silver let himself cry and sob with everything he had. He clutched his sibling tightly.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Chaos, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. How could you ever forgive me.
Neo crushed his little brother in the type of hug that only a protective sibling could give. Silver returned it with shaking hands, and after a few moments, Neo pulled back and held his sibling by his shoulders, searching his face, meeting the black arrows painted in his honour. Silver looked so strong, but broken, and that destroyed him. His baby brother, who should never had gone through any of this, forced to grow up beyond his years already, with guns strapped to his back. It broke his heart.
He released Silver's shoulders and signed, "when did you get so tall?"
Silver smiled at him and gave a quiet, choked laugh. "When did you get so soft? Those punches barely left a dent."
Neo turned to Mecha and looked up at him, meeting the kind but strong gaze that rested on him. Without a word, Mecha brought Neo into a hug himself, holding him tightly. He hid his face in Neo's armour for a moment before pulling back to press his forehead to his brother's.
"Welcome home, brother."
Neo leaned into Mecha's touch and held a hand to his broken arm.
I did this to you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
Mecha gently removed Neo's hand from his arm and placed his own hand on top of his. "Come home. Please. You are forgiven."
"Home is wherever you two are." Neo signed back, looking at him softly.
"Home is also... wherever a toolkit is..." Silver murmured, the extent of his injuries finally catching up to him. He looked down to find the plating over his chest torn apart, wires exposed from the blast to it. "That's so gross. I don't want any part of what's going on in there. Not my business."
Neo picked his little brother up and held him close to his chest. He gave a nod to Mecha, who nodded back, and they took off home together.
In the dark of an alleyway, three men thought they were free to continue their barrage of insults towards their victim.
"You're the military commander's brat, aren't you?"
"We just want a quick chat with your grandpa for the dishonorable discharge..."
"Hey, let's send that asshole a message."
"I-I just want to go home, let me go! I got lost!"
From the other end of the alleyway, metallic footsteps drew nearer. One of the men looked over their shoulder and saw the moment the black and silver robot stepped into view, silhouetted against the street lights. He pulled his fake rifle from over his shoulder and cocked it with an audible click.
"Hey. I just want a quick chat with you pricks for ganging up on a kid."
All three of them spun around to gawk at him.
"Oh shit, it's that robot."
"Hey, where's the other one?! They're always together!"
"Look up, look up!"
The group looked around, staggering about as they shielded their eyes from the moonlight. After a few moments of searching, they turned back to Silver, regaining their confidence.
"Little robot's alllll alone..." One of them jeered, swinging their baseball bat around with intent.
Silver just smirked at that. "Oh yeah? Way I see it, it's three against a pro gamer."
Silver shifted his weight so that his feet were shoulder-width apart and beckoned for the assailants to come at him. As the first man moved, Silver fired his grappling hook at a bin and swung it at him, knocking him down onto the ground. He turned to the others and met them with a confident grin. As another swung their bat at him, he expertly ducked, turned, and kicked their legs out from under them. Keeping his rhythm going, Silver jumped back up to his feet and headbutted the last human in the stomach. It was flesh versus cold hard steel, and he would always win. The first two scrambled to their feet and ran for their lives as he pointed the rifle at them, thinking better of fighting with a killer robot.
Silver stood over the last man and placed a foot square on his chest. He slowly leaned down, his glare hard against the black and amber of his face as he leaned on the butt of his rifle for support.
On cue, Mecha and Neo jumped down from the rooftops above and landed a few feet behind him. The bright red of their optics glowed menacingly through the dark of the alleyway, lighting up the brick on either side of them. Neo's freshly-painted arrows were a bright white in the light of the moon.
"Oh God... You're all here!" The man cried, fear rightfully put right back into him.
As Silver took the lead, Mecha and Neo walked up behind him and stood on either side of him, arms folded to their chests. They looked down on the human with palpable disgust.
"Stop. Please. I-I'll do anything." The man begged, face twisted in terror and cowardice.
Silver scoffed and pushed his foot down. "Why should I? You sure as hell didn't."
The man clenched his jaw. "I'm sorry, okay? You'll never see me again! I'm on the next train outta here, I swear!"
Silver leaned down close, nose-to-nose with the man. "If you ever touch that kid again, I'll find you."
"Got it. Just let me go, please. I got a wife and kids." The man begged, his voice pitching up into a pathetic squeak.
Silver smirked as he finally relented, stepping off of him. "And I've got two badass brothers to back me up if I ever see your face around here again. Get out of here."
As the man stumbled away, defeated, Mecha followed slowly after him, playing royalty-free clown music from his speakers. He kept his arms folded as he watched the man flee, only stopping once he was at the end of the street. Satisfied, Mecha turned back to regroup with his brothers.
Neo turned to Silver and signed, "being the edgy one is my thing. So I'm going to need you to stop now."
Silver laughed and slung his gun back over his shoulder. "You were gone for a hot minute. Someone had to take that role."
Mecha wandered into the alleyway, finding a human child hiding rather obviously behind a lamppost. He knelt down and held out a hand.
"You are no longer in danger," Mecha said softly, holding his hand out a little further, "and we shall return you to your residence at once."
The child took his hand, unafraid of him, and let Mecha lead them towards Silver and Neo, who both looked on kindly.
"SUPERBOT!"
The child released Mecha's hand and ran for Silver, tackling him in a hug. Silver laughed as he hoisted them up onto one arm, their weight nothing compared to his own.
"Hey, buddy! Are you alright? Those scary guys are gone now, and you won't be seeing them again, I promise." Silver reassured them with a kind smile.
"I knew you'd save me! You always save people!" The child cried with glee, beaming at the silver and black machine with adoration. "I-I got lost. Granddad doesn't know I went outside..."
Silver grinned sheepishly as he placed the kid back down. "Let's get you home, your old man will be worried about you."
Silver took their left hand, whilst Neo took their right, and Mecha led the way protectively. The trio walked them down the street as they stared up at the robots with fascination.
Mecha held up a hand as they reached the end of the street, prompting them all to stop. He looked both ways for a long moment, before gesturing for them to follow across the road.
"Superbots always look both ways before crossing the road." Silver told the kid with a smile. "It's very important."
"Okay! Oh, but now there's three superbots! What should I call them two?"
Silver considered it, tilting his head one way and then the other in thought. "Hmm... Neo here has lightning superpowers. Maybe something to do with that?"
The child stared up at Neo, amazed. "Wow! You really mean it?! You can do that, mister robot?"
A subtle flush came over Neo's screen as he looked down at them. He gave a nod and charged a small amount of electricity in his free hand to show them.
"I'm gonna call you... Sparky Superhero."
Silver chuckled, catching the embarrassment on Neo's face. "That's cool. Superhero's a big word, too! Anyway, Mecha over there, he's really strong and smart. And kinda purple-ish. But mostly really strong."
Mecha stopped at another crossing to look both ways.
"Murder Machine!"
A hand flew over Silver's mouth as he coughed a laugh back down. "I- Yeah! That's great! Hey M, what do you think?"
Mecha looked back over his shoulder as he walked them across the road. "It is... acceptable."
The light on the porch was like a star leading the way. Silver and Neo released the kid's hands, who went barreling into the arms of their grandfather. Neo, Silver and Mecha looked on with pride for a moment, as the GUN commander whisked their grandchild away into their home. The light went out after that.
Silver elbowed Neo in the side. "Hey, Sparky."
Neo rolled his optics at him and signed, "shut up, Superbot."
The brothers turned walked home side by side, the quiet of the night a comfort to them.
Silver stretched an arm over his head casually. "Hey, you think robots will ever take over the world? Hypothetically, like."
"It would be a disaster," Neo signed, "look at us."
"What if every robot in the world got lots and lots of therapy first?" Silver argued, stretching his other arm.
"I believe that therapeutic approaches would be insufficient." Mecha countered, reaching over to fix the rifles strapped to Silver's back.
"We're all kinds of fucked up," Silver conceded, "but you know what's good about that?"
Neo tilted his head quizzically.
"Character development." Silver finished smugly.
"Our existence is not a video game. We have conversed about this." Mecha said plainly.
"I disagree. I think therapy is gonna be the final boss." Silver answered with a shrug.
"I doubt there's a therapist for robots." Neo signed to his side.
"Nah, I know a guy." Silver said with a smile. He opened the compartment in his arm and took out the phone he had been stashing in there for the past few months. He carefully dialled a number and held it up to his right ear. "You still open? Sweet. I've got company, make sure there's space for three. Yeah! I said three! Yeah, it's Libra. He's home." He looked to Neo and smiled warmly. "Let's just say I got a lot to talk about tonight. See you soon. Adiós!"
"Pisces?" Mecha asked, internally changing his map's destination to the cafe.
"Yeah. We can get a snack whilst we're at it." Silver answered with a grin.
"We cannot consume food." Mecha plainly reminded him.
"Did you know that four bits is called a nibble? Because a nibble is half a byte? It's funny 'cause... 'cause... you know. Food. "
"Terrible job," Neo signed, and then finger-spelled, "supershit."
"I thought it was a good pun on my part." Silver argued. He held the phone in his hand for a moment longer and smiled down at the screen. Mecha and Neo looked down at it with interest. The picture of their family was his home screen. "Wait, hold up, we need an updated pic."
Silver held up the phone and turned on the front-facing camera. Mecha leaned an arm over Silver's shoulder and pointed his free fingers in a gun shape at the camera, Neo wagged his finger in his classic taunting pose, and Silver gave a peace sign with a grin on his face. He set it as his new lock screen.
"Superbot, Sparky and Murder Machine. Has a nice ring to it."