Brother
A short one-shot by Kie, aka kie-san013 at DA or kiesan013 at FFN. Finished June 1st, 2006.
Metal, RK, Robotnik, Sonic, Tails all (c) SEGA/Sonic Team
The fluorescent lights on the ceiling far above bathed the indoor stadium floor in instant, sterile white light. The sleek, blue robot's battle-ready stance was reflected off the polished linoleum as he prepared for the tests he would endure for the next twenty minutes without a pause. One of the monitors on the wall began the countdown: 3 - 2 - 1 -
Ignition. Armed worker-bots poured out of the garages to either side of him, and he used his jet-engine to fly right up to each swarm and wipe them all out with a barrage of deadly steel punches, or maybe a sweep of his laser. The worker-bots were lying in smoking heaps within twenty seconds, their hulls mangled and punctured. He hadn't a scratch on him, though, and flew into a mob of even more robots, this time small patrol SWATbots.
From a control room above, Dr. Robotnik watched Metal Sonic's progress through the training session. The mecha was performing excellently, and Robotnik's eyes gleamed in evil excitement. Metal had cut his first three rounds' records down by five seconds over the course of the last week, and Robotnik was nearly ready to give him and his brother another mission.
Behind the evil doctor, a red echidna robot was sitting cross-legged on the floor wiping oil off of himself with a rag. Robo Knux had just completed a training session similar to his brother, Metal's. But unlike Metal, RK didn't mind getting himself a bit…dirty. Dirty of course equalling being bathed in robot blood from head to toe.
Robotnik shifted his gaze from the monitor screen to RK. "I wish you wouldn't do that inside," he growled. "Isn't it about time you went and shut yourself down for the night? I have something for you both to do tomorrow, and I would hate for your battery to die."
RK made a noise that was something like a digital 'tch'. 'Right,' the mecha thought. 'You're so concerned. You just don't want me getting your floor all dirty.' A mischevious thought occured to RK then, and he grinned inwardly as he threw himself on the floor and started rolling around, spreading the grease on him all over the place as he made squalling noises.
"BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO TO BED, I'M NOT TIRED YEEEEEET," he bawled, throwing a digital tantrum and slamming his heavy, metal fists on the floor over and over, resulting in an ear-splitting racket. "I WANT TO STAY UUUUUP WITH MEEETAAAAAL, JUST COS' HE'S OLDER YOU TREAT HIM SPECIAAAAAAL, IT ISN'T FAAAAAAIIIIIRRR--" He ended this sentence with a new storm of sobs which sounded rediculous in his digital voice. Robotnik plugged his ears and snarled, but niether action helped.
"I WANNA, I WANNA, I WANNA, I WANNA, I WANNA--"
"STOP!"
"--I WANNA, I WANNA, I WANNA, I WANNA, I WANNA--"
"ROBO KNUX! SHUT UP!"
"--I WANNA, I WANNA, I WANNA--"
RK's tantrum ended as Metal opened the door and stepped in. RK gasped in pretend glee and glomped his brother.
"Big brother, you're back! I missed you, I missed you, I missed you!" he exclaimed, trapping Metal in a bear-hug. "Nii-san, won't you help me convince Ro-Butt-Head into letting me stay--"
Metal wriggled out of RK's grip and shoved him off with a low growl. The blue robot then turned to Robotnik.
"Sir, I have finished my routine, and have--"
"C'mon Metaaaal, we can stay uuuup--"
"--and have cut my time down by one se--"
"--watch some moooviiiies--"
"--by one second since yester--"
"--PLAY SOME SCRABBLE--"
"RK, WILL YOU SHUT UP!"
RK pulled off the closest thing to puppy dog eyes a robot could manage, then yelled in a hurt voice, "NO ONE LIKES MEEEE-EEE…" and flew out of the room and down the hall at Mach 1.
Robotnik snarled to himself. "I HATE that robot." He inhaled several times, then said to Metal, "Yes, I saw your statistics on-screen. You're free to go, Metal, tell that moron to be in control room B-47 at 500 hours sharp in the morning, and you do the same." The evil genius sighed. "Good night, good riddance..."
Robotnik and Metal went their separate ways: Robotnik went into a side door leading into his personal chambers, and Metal went the same way RK exited a few minutes ago. He noted the information Robotnik had just gave him, and headed into the recharging room where he and RK 'slept'.
RK was seated in front of the television, green eyes transfixed on a video game he was playing.
"Robotnik said to meet him in control room B-47 at the usual time tomorrow," Metal told him.
"A'righ, a'righ, whatever."
Metal looked at him dully for a moment, then sighed and plugged himself into a wall unit. He heard RK yell something that sounded distinctly like 'WOO, LIMIT BREAK!', and then he was offline for the night.
The room faded into Metal's view at 430 hours the next day. He lifted his head and turned to unplug the wall unit cord from his side, and glanced over at RK. The echidnabot was still 'asleep', as he liked to procrastinate until the last minute on everything, particularly on days when he actually had something to do.
Metal Sonic growled and kicked RK's shin, and pressed the 'manual override' button on RK's wall unit's console. He stepped away, crossed his arms and glared as his brother came online in a much slower fashion than Metal had. The mecha finally lifted his head and looked at his mentally scowling brother.
RK cocked his head. "Mornin', sunshine. I suppose you made me bacon?"
"Just come on so we can get this over with," Metal said, walking towards the door.
"A'ight, a'ight. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the extension cord," RK replied, walking beside him.
"I hope you plugged yourself in early enough last night to be of some use on this mission."
"Yes, mom, I did."
"Right. What is your current battery charge percentage?"
"...I'm thinking of a number between 0 and 100."
"RK."
The echidnabot sighed. "Alright. It's 63."
"Hmph. You'd better hope this mission is quicker than the one we did in the Ice Caps a few months ago."
"...that wasn't my fault. I still say that map was ri--"
"We're here." Metal pushed open the door to the control room and stepped in in front of his brother. He approached Robotnik, who was sitting in a chair in front of the main computer screen, laying waste to a one-pound bag of Doritos in record time.
"Sir? We've come for our orders," Metal said to his master.
"Mmf? Oh, you two...you're to go monitor Knothole village for exactly two hours, without being seen, without cloaking devices, and without killing anything," he said, the last part being aimed at Metal, whose eyes had lit up at the sound of his nemesis's home. "I wouldn't want you nincompoops getting trashed on your first mission after two months. You may both be morons, but you were damn expensive ones." Robotnik stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth and waved a cheese powder-covered hand at them. They turned and left, and headed straight for the sector B exit.
"Well, looks like today ain't gonna be too eventful," RK said, examining a Dorito he had stolen from the doctor's bag. "Ya know, we really need to get some sensory upgrades. The fat man sure eats enough of these these things, they must not be horrible..." He shrugged and threw it over his shoulder, and it was immediately picked up by a miniature cleaner-bot.
Metal heaved a digital sigh and shoved the exit door open. "You know, we really aren't necessary to him anymore. We haven't recieved upgrades in a year, he's been too busy with those stupid E-series prototypes."
"I know, man, those E-things are almost as ugly as he is. ...maybe that's the point, to scare everybody to death."
"They don't seem to be too useful for anything else, that's for sure...let's go," Metal said as he powered up his jet and hovered a few feet in the air. RK did the same, and they flew towards Knothole with engine silencers on. They arrived just outside the village within a quarter of an hour, and Metal laid behind a large, rotting log to record the Freedom Fighters' activities for the next two hours. RK landed beside him, and glanced at the nearest tree.
"I'm gonna climb up in here to watch from above," he said, flying up to the most densely-leaved part of the tree and crawling in to sit on a branch, completely concealed.
Miles "Tails" Prower's two tails twitched in a frightened manner as he gazed out of the window in the hut he shared with Sonic. His sensitive ears had heard a very faint jet noise, which he recognized immediately as belonging to Robotnik's best jet engine models, the ones he only invested in his most powerful robots. He had jumped out of bed and to the window, only to see two small, red-glowing dots in the forest edge.
'Somehow, I think those aren't abandoned Christmas lights,' Tails thought nervously as he tried to determine what to do. After a moment's hesitation, he darted to Sonic's hammock and shook the blue hedgehog.
"Sonic. Sonic. Wake up."
"Mmgh...Tails...? Wha'izzit?"
"Sonic, Metal's out there. He's right outside the village."
"Ugh...Tails, it was probably just a nightmare..."
"SON-IC."
"Fine, fine, I'll go check," Sonic growled as he stretched and rose out of bed. "You just stay here and watch from the window, a'ight? I be right back..." He pulled his shoes on, and cracked the door open. He glanced outside, then slipped out and eased the door shut. Tails bounced over and locked it, then scuttled back to the window.
Metal Sonic drummed his claws on the log as he stared at nothing in particular. They had been sitting here for about fifteen minutes, and already he was bored. From what he could tell, RK was as well, and was absently tearing up leaves in his tree.
Metal suddenly lifted his head up as he sensed motion in the village. A certain blue hedgehog had just left his hut, and was creeping around, studying the edges of the village. Metal's nonexistent heart raced as he thought that they had been seen, and gently kicked the base of the tree his brother was in. Leaf particles stopped raining from the top, so he was sure he'd gotten RK's attention.
Sonic's eyes swept over near where they were. Metal tried to dim his eye-lights as fast as he could, but to no avail; his face was illuminated in the darkness. His nemesis' eyes neared their hiding spot faster and faster and Metal ducked down--
--and made a loud 'clunk'-ing sound on the ground.
Sonic's head snapped up and he sped right over to where Metal lay.
"YOU," hissed the hedgehog. "What are YOU doing HERE? Is it BURN THE VILLAGE DAY AGAIN?"
Metal swore and jetted backwards, farther into the woods. Sonic followed him, weaving around trees and not missing a beat. They went this way until Metal reached an opening and a creek out of hearing range of the village, then he stopped and glared at the hedgehog.
"We are not looking for a fight tonight, hedgehog. Let us go and we shall depart."
"RIGHT," Sonic snarled, spitting onto the ground. "And come right back with about ten thousand badniks and SWATbots? I don't think I'll allow you that opportunity, bolthead." The hedgehog darted forward and swung at Metal; the robot dodged easily, maneuvered to Sonic's backside and dealt him a punch to the head. Sonic staggered and faced him again, then spindashed right into Metal. The robot fell, but grabbed Sonic's forearms in both Metal's hands. He jetted back into standing position, then swung Sonic around and right into the stream.
The hedgehog landed with a splash in the shallow water. He hit his head hard on the rocks lining the bottom, but spun upright and knelt in the water. He rubbed his head, and picked up one of the larger rocks. Metal advanced towards him, readying his laser.
Sonic chucked the rock right into Metal's jet intake. It jammed, and Metal's rocket shorted out. Electricity crackled all over him, and his laser backfired, blowing his right hand to bits and taking a chunk of his forearm with it. He sank to his knees, twitching, as his system errored twenty different ways. Sonic spindashed into him again, and Metal collided with a tree. His nemesis was running up to finish him off when Metal heard a jet noise and saw a red figure swoop down and tackle Sonic. RK then swung around and put Metal's arms around RK's shoulders, and flew away from the battle.
"RK...what...our mission! Do you know what he's going to do to us, knowing we screwed even this up? He's going to take us apart and use our parts for those THINGS..."
"We aren't going back."
"What?"
"We. Aren't. Going. Back. He don't need us, he don't want us. He's got better toys to play with now. So. I say we ain't goin' back, and right now, you can't exactly do anything about it."
"Who's going to get us parts and fuel and upgrades, RK?"
"Ever heard of a robotics store? You right near downtown Acorn over there. Fly a few miles, steal a coupla wallets, forget Fatman."
"...this is sudden."
"I've been thinking about this for the last year."
"...you think? That's news to me..."
"You MADE A JOKE. Musta got hit pretty hard, there..."
"I still don't think this is a good idea..." Metal mumbled untruthfully as he deleted all his restraint files and every single file with the words 'master' and 'Robotnik' in it.
"RK?"
"What?"
"I just hope we can find some money before that sixty-something percent of a battery you have runs out."
RK winced internally. "Oh...crap...yeah..."
"Moron."
END