"Please confirm... Nuts?
Yeah. I think it suits him.
The Slayer launched himself from the edge of a cliff, combat shotgun in hand, stomping an egg-shaped flesh-wrapped robot into scrap and gore. He turned and activated the weapon's rotary-barrelled automatic mode, pouring heavy shells into an entire squad of what Vega had dubbed 'Flesh-Eggs'. The corrupted bots flew apart in fountains of giblets and circuitry, the Slayer mowing them down like wheat.
"Please explain your logic behind this... interesting moniker." Vega, unconvinced, sounded in the human's ear.
'cos his tails are like a squirrels... the Slayer thought back, grunting as he tore away an arm, spun its previous owner around, and shoved the arm up where the bot's ass would be. The thing sputtered and whined as it died. Also... the Slayer went on, reloading his weapon, he likes fixing stuff. So like, nuts and bolts, you know?
"I do not believe this is an appropriate title for our charge..." The sentient intelligence replied .
The Slayer shrugged, racking his shotgun. I like Nuts.
If Vega had possessed a head, he would have shaken it resignedly. "Perhaps we should discuss this after our present objective has been accomplished..."
The Slayer shrugged again, before happily charging headlong into a flock of gargoyles that foolishly fluttered to the ground before him.
...
"Nuts?" The fox replied quizzically, in much the same way his Sentient Intelligence guardian had down on the planet. The human before him nodded, grinning.
"an alternative designation for your person..." The SI said, sounding oddly unenthusiastic, "to compensate for the lack of divulgence of your identity."
The fox pricked his ears. "So you mean a nickname?"
"Affirmative," Vega replied, while the Slayer nodded.
"I already have a-" the fox began to say, but the words caught in his throat. He hadn't spoken anything about his past, his identity, his life, to the two strangers that were now his caretakers. He couldn't. The fox actively forced the memories of his life and world from his conscious, unable to cope with the pain they brought him.
Besides, he... after everything he had survived, he wasn't even the same person he had been before... before. Didn't even look the same, fur tattered and tinged with grey hanging from a skinny form, broken eyes that periodically focused on non-existent threats, buried in a lined face that barely knew how to smile any more.
Miles 'Tails' Prower had died along with his world, and the husk that remained had one purpose - destroy the monsters that had taken everything from him.
A new life needed a new name.
The fox fidgeted with his mechanical arm brace as the Slayer flashed a quick thumbs-up and thumbs-down, eyebrow raised in question.
So?
The fox forced out the image of a smiling blue face wearing the same expression as the human, when it had coined his old nickname, in another life.
"Nuts..." The fox huffed, flexing his gauntleted hand. " I like it. "
...
By Vega's calculations, they had determined that the child was roughly twelve earth years old. Twelve. the Slayer briefly wondered what he had been doing at twelve years old. Watching cartoons and eating candy probably, doing homework, maybe listening to grandpa Bill tell one of his old war stories... He definitely hadn't been inside a Sentinel weapons range, staring down the sights of an assault rifle that was almost as large as he was.
The fox-kid glanced up at the Slayer, grinning excitedly behind green goggles.
"Like this?" Nuts said, clutching the comically large weapon in his hands.
The Slayer, kneeling behind the fox with one palm supporting his back, leaned forward and made Damn sure the rifle butt was securely braced against the kid's armoured right shoulder. Nuts had proven himself proficient with the Slayer's energy pistol... but the huge, excessively powerful ballistic rifle was another game entirely. The recoil might break the kid's arm if it wasn't for the modified armoured brace that still enveloped the damaged limb.
The Slayer gently altered Nuts' stance, making sure he held the cut-down rifle properly, then grunted. Nuts bared his teeth in anticipation.
Vega?
"Affirmative. Live fire exercise beginning in three... two... one...
...
"That was fuckin' wicked!"
Nuts briefly hovered above the deck with his twin tails, fists pumping, before setting down in his favourite position on the Slayer's shoulders. He happily patted at the human's head and kicked his booted feet as they walked down the deck of the ship away from the firing range. The fox-kid, ecstatic from the thrill of the exercise, happily glanced around at the ceiling.
"How'd I do, Vega?"
The Sentient Intelligence's voice emanated smoothly from the ship's internal communications in reply.
"You achieved an accuracy rating of eighty-seven point five percent, Nuts. Impressive performance for an individual of your age, experience, and stature. "
"Shit yeah!" The fox happily scratched at the human's strawberry blond hair. "That's what I'm fuckin' talking about!"
The Slayer chuckled. In his weeks aboard the ship, Nuts had developed his own... colourful variant of the English language, which the human wholeheartedly endorsed.
His artificial companion was a little less enthusiastic, however.
" Nuts, I do not believe such vocabulary is suitable for an individual of your age... "
Nuts grimaced and rolled his eyes. "Jeez, sorry mom..."
The Slayer snorted at the nickname coined for the overprotective intelligence, and raised a balled fist into the air near his head. The fist was quickly bumped by its much smaller orange counterpart.
The human hummed grimly. Nuts was seemingly a natural with weapons, and was developing a hunger for battle. It felt wrong to be teaching such a young child to fight. Nuts should be going to school, playing baseball, getting up to the crap that normal twelve year-olds got themselves into.
But one day he'd want to fight. Get retribution of his own. The Slayer could see it, in the faded blue eyes that drifted off into nothing, and routinely snapped into focus on threats that weren't there.
The least the human could do was slowly train the kid to basic marine standards. For his own safety. And when he was old enough...
Maybe the ancient order of Night Sentinels wasn't so dead after all.
...
"I believe the child..." Vega began, a hint of disapproval in the intelligence's tone, "has nutritional requirements that exceed 'Gulamis' belly-bustin' extra stuffed crust cheese and pepperoni pizza."
The Slayer grimaced and shook his head, chewing on a piece of said pizza. Damn, Vega... you really would make a good mother...
"I simply wish to provide healthy diet and lifestyle for our charge."
The Slayer shrugged, chewing his food. what was the point of having food replicators aboard if you couldn't program them with the good stuff?
Nearby, booted feet dangling over the workbench, Nuts was happily munching a huge slice of pizza. The fox swallowed and then called over to the Slayer.
"I learned a new one today!"
The slayer turned in his chair and raised an eyebrow. The fox grinned.
"Asshole!" Nuts continued, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "Like 'You're fucking an asshole!' Right?"
The Slayer tried not to choke on his food, then made a motion with his hand, palm down and teetering side to side.
Not quite, kid...
Nuts shrugged, taking another bite of his pizza. "Eh, I'll get it eventually."
The human silently laughed to himself. Nuts had started cussing at first from lack of understanding of what the English words actually meant. Now he did it because he enjoyed the amusement it brought to his human guardian, and would occasionally show off new curses he had learned.
The Slayer loved it.
After so long of being alone aboard the Fortress, with just Vega for company... It was nice to have something that reminded the once-mortal human of a normal life.
The fox on the workbench furrowed his brow, appearing in thought for a moment. Then he looked toward the reclining human and open his mouth to speak.
"Uh... Green?"
The Slayer turned in his chair and looked to the fox, another slice of pizza quivering in his hand.
The fox fiddled with his brace as he thought of what he was going to say.
"I... I've been thinking..." The kid stammered, before locking his eyes with the human's. "I... want to come with you. On your next mission... I want to go down there and fight."
The Slayer sat paused, slice of pizza comically wobbling halfway to his mouth as he stared at the kid. Setting the food back on its plate, he sat straighter and wore his most serious expression, shaking his head.
No. Absolutely not.
The Fox's face fell as he understood.
"But... The training... I'm ready to fight!"
The Slayer maintained his stare, jaw fixed, ice blue eyes boring into the Fox's own. Nuts felt his chest begin to hike.
"It's my world!" He said, adrenalin begging to flow. "I have a right to go down there!"
"The Slayer's primary concern is your personal safety, " Vega's voice spoke from above.
"Then... what 's the point?!" The fox shouted, suddenly angry. "Of all the training?"
"We believe you are too young at this time to-"
"SHUT UP! " the fox threw his pizza to the ground and planted his boots to the deck suddenly furious. "You're just the same as everyone else! 'oh, poor little Tails, so delicate and innocent, good for nothing except fixing our shit'! What even am I to you?! Some hobby? A pet?! like that fucking thing?! " the fox jerked a finger to the portrait of the Slayer, holding his pet rabbit in one hand.
The Slayer remained silent, the expression of hurt unimaginable on that scarred face.
The fox didn't notice. His vision was too busy swimming with images of the horror that had taken his world, eyes darting madly over the floor.
"I hate you..." His voice hissed through gritted teeth, while his fists clenched and his limbs shook. Then he threw back his head and screamed at the study window, through which the burning planet of Mobius hung, dead. "I HATE YOU! "
Spittle flew as he screamed with such hate and rage, as though he could destroy the hordes below with his sheer will, tiny body shaking with anger and blue eyes filled with the need for vengeance.
The Slayer remained as still as a statue, looking sadly upon this poor child who had seen his world devoured by hell.
Nuts briefly scanned over the human's face, before turning and storming from the room.
Deafening silence enveloped the study, before Vega intervened.
"You wish not to pursue?"
The Slayer shook his head. Kid needs space. Just monitor him.
"Affirmative."
...
The dark halls of the Fortress of Doom, decorated with murals and portraits and huge stone effigies of Sentinel Warriors, silently hummed with the power coursing throughout the ship. All was quiet in the deserted warship, save for a child's small weeping sounding from the among the ceiling's structural beams.
Stupid stupid stupid.
Miles clutched his hands to his chest as he struggled to breathe, his limbs tingling, stars dancing in his eyes as he felt himself slipping.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Memories were flashing through his skull, of his life before, and he desperately tried to shut them out. He couldn't afford to remember them, couldn't let himself feel that pain... that loss...
That guilt.
His heart rate continued to increase as he slipped even more. He banged his head against the hull behind him and screwed his eyes shut, focusing only on breathing and forcing his mind blank. He shouldn't have run away. Now there was nobody to help. No Green, no Vega, no Sonic...
Sonic...
Fat tears wept from his eyes as the name, accompanied by the face of the cocky blue hedgehog, flashed through his skull. He choked on his sobs as other names and faces came crashing back.
Amy. Knuckles. Sticks. Shadow. Rouge. Vector. Espio...
More names popped in his brain, and he felt himself sliding into an abyss that he would never emerge from. All of these people. His friends. His world. All dead. He'd seen it. Seen each hero succumb to the ravenous beasts that consumed the land beneath a sky of fire and blood.
He remembered his brother's voice, pained as the hedgehog desperately fought a huge flame-wreathed monster with blades for arms and molten pits for eyes, yelling at the fox to run.
He remembered a red echidna smashing the heads of spiky brown creatures into pulp, before there was a flash, and then nothing but charred bone and glass.
He remembered a shambling mass of flesh, that moments earlier had been a sweet pink hedgehog girl, gurgling with grotesque limbs outstretched, begging him to end her.
He remembered pulling the trigger. And running.
And he kept running. He ran, flew, scrambled, fought and survived with whatever he could find, days melding together in a blind panic, somehow the only one to live through the horror as the world was consumed and billions perished.
It all exploded around his brain as he rocked back and forth, choking on his screams, in the rafters of the ship.
Slowly, far, far too slowly, his terrors began to ease and he settled into a less volatile weeping of despair. Hands smashed into his face, leaking tears and moaning in pain.
He couldn't do this. He couldn't allow himself to be this person any more. Miles 'Tails' Prower, genius inventor, plucky sidekick... pitiful coward and traitor... had to be buried. With the rest of Mobius.
With every ounce of effort and concentration he could muster, the fox forced every memory of Miles Prower deep, deep into the dark recesses of his brain, where the wretch could be forgotten. He forced himself to sever every memory of that... other fox, and raised his new identity around him like a shield.
WHO AM I?!
Nuts. Resident engineer and weaponsmith aboard the Fortress of Doom, mighty warship of the Night Sentinels.
Who am I?
Nuts. Assistant to the DoomSlayer himself, long may he Rip and Tear.
who... am I...
Nuts. Night Sentinel initiate and survivor of Hell, whose sole purpose was to bring death to the legions of the Doomed.
"Who... am... I..."
...
The Slayer was finally drifting off to sleep in his usual chair beside the bookshelf, when he noticed a small weight clamber between his arms and settle on his lap. The human looked down, expecting to find a sullen little fox... but instead the kid was beaming, grinning up at the Slayer in a way he hadn't before. childlike and eager, ears perked, blue eyes staring up in wonder.
"Hi, Green!" The fox chirped happily, as though his earlier breakdown had never occurred, "want me to read to you again?"
The Slayer contemplated for a moment, before grinning and affectionately scratching the kid between the ears. The fox beamed and snuggled back into his guardian's torso as the human selected a book for them to read, and placed it in his hands.
"I learned a new one today!" The fox went on, flipping open the book, "Asshole! As in, 'You're a fucking asshole!' Right?"
The Slayer shook his head and smiled, offering the kid a big thumbs-up.
Nuts the Fox grinned absently as he turned his attention to the book in his hands and began to read aloud. Meanwhile, behind the blue eyes, Miles Prower tucked himself away into the dark recesses of his brain and tried to forget... everything.