Even as they drew near Angel Island, 274 continued to be dumbfounded at Sonic the Hedgehog, number one enemy of the Metallix, selfish and uncaring of those around him, stubborn with an ego the size of the planet, was freely, willingly, and without any strings attached, taking him and his brother to THE MASTER EMERALD to refuel.
It HAD to be a trap.
What else could it be?
But there wasn't much else to do besides figuring out if 10-961 should go first or himself.
On one hand, his brother needed it the most and having two rather than one was better odds against Sonic and his allies, but on the other hand if something went wrong well… 274 himself was at less than 10%.
The Emerald might not even be there.
And if it was there then Sonic would also have easy access to Super Sonic.
Worse was that upon remembering that this place was different – likely an alternate dimension – 274 realized some of his own data was almost certain to be incorrect here.
Another layer of the worse cake was that this place had absolutely squat nothing when it came to loose chaos energy. He knew this because no matter where he looked or how close he zoomed in – there were no golden rings. No golden rings equals no chaos energy. This meant that they HAD to rely on at least one emerald just to stay active.
Sonic had them trapped and he knew it. Even one misstep and all Sonic had to do was essentially let them starve.
Easy pickings really.
The absolute worst of it was there was no back-up plan; no brothers at the ready to rescue them, no readily available advantage, and no place to retreat to with ample supplies. 274's guilt was overbearing, of what he could've prevented if he was just a little bit better, a little bit stronger, and a little bit faster.
He clutched onto his brother tighter as Tails' Plane circled the island in search of a place to land, all readings and senses alert and ready to spring given the slightest threat. He checked the other two occupants of the Plane – Tails himself in the pilot's seat and Sonic whose love of standing on top of the plane hadn't changed. 274 glared hard into his back.
"Oh come on!" Sonic exclaimed suddenly jolting 274 from his thoughts. "Those buffoons are trying to interview Knuckles too?"
"I'm surprised he hasn't chucked them off the island yet." Tails remarked as he stared dumbfounded at the scene below them. 274 leaned over to get a better view at the swarm of newscast reporters surrounding an obviously furious Echidna. Something that threw him was just how many humans there were – in fact, it was only humans around the Echidna. Where were the Mobians?
"Looks like there's a spot over there Tails. Let's try to break this up for poor old Knuckles!" Sonic said. Tails quickly adjusted and soon the wheels of the X Tornado were on the ground.
274 had ducked down as much as he could while also peering over the edge the Plane. The group of various interviewers had immediately turned towards them as they landed and almost just as quickly had started to sprint towards them. Sonic eyed him with uncertainty as he watched the Metallix became tense – one arm tight around 10-961 and another curled into a fist.
"Ey, you don't have to get out. Chill there and we'll deal with the cameras." Sonic tried as he hopped off. He could only hope the paparazzi hadn't seen the two. They really could've used Lucky again but the curious robot had wandered off somewhere.
And at first it seemed like they didn't need Lucky as the reporters had immediately swarmed Sonic and Tails. Unfortunately, no matter how much 274 curled up, ducked down, or flattened himself, the X Tornado simply didn't have enough room to hide in and eventually someone spotted him.
A few of them doubled their interrogations on Sonic and Tails but the others were practically tripping over themselves to get to the two metallix.
Of course 274 didn't like this one bit.
"Back off." He grounded out in his monotone voice.
"MS-1! Or MS-2..?" One of them began despite the obvious. 274's eyes flickered back and forth at the handful of cameras and their operators. 274 recalled Sonic saying they made a fake back story for them after he was called MS-1/2 by these humans.
Shame they never filled him in.
"MS-1, and if you come any closer I'm taking out your kneecaps." 274 answered and then threatened as he yanked out a wrench from Tails' toolbox. It wasn't a threat on the humans' life as 274 would've preferred, but he'd have to reign back a bit if he had any chances of making out of this alive.
Most of the humans had glanced nervously between one and another, but the oblivious and rather bold human had taken a step forward and continued to talk.
"MS-1! Care to tell us why exactly you attacked Sonic yesterday and what happened in the ensuing fight with MS-2?" He asked without fear much to 274's annoyance.
"How would you feel after nearly dying and then suddenly waking up in a strange place far from home?" 274 quietly spat at the offending flesh creature.
"But why attack Sonic? You deliberately went after him when we reviewed the footage from yesterday before MS-2 stepped in." He pointed out. The metallix internally swore. It was easy to lie about facts when no one was looking, but being recorded sent him further on edge.
"Visual input system malfunctioned – He looked like a high-level threat to me at that time." 274 half-lied, half told the truth. A bit of him ached at having to use 144's own downfall to cover for himself now. He loathed it and burned with an intense desire to do something about it.
"And what nearly destroyed you here on Angel Island?" The human probed further.
'That insufferable blue hedgehog known as Sonic.' 274 wanted to say, but he knew it wouldn't fly over well.
"Bunch of Thieves showed up on the island packing heavy artillery. We barely managed to chase them off before we went offline." He completely lied, hoping that he was somehow sticking true to the false backstory. When the human didn't bat an eye or pulled a contorted face, 274 knew he had hit the mark dead center.
But as the questions continued to fly out of the first human's mouth, the others started joining in. The loud chorus of repeated questions and insistence for more information agitated the Metallix more and more as time wore on. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles couldn't even politely get to him as the humans blocked their path.
But what really threw 274 over the edge was when one of Sonic's interrogators made her way over to 274 and made a particular comment – not to 274 directly, but to the other news reporters who had crowded around the Metallix.
"Why did you guys decide to interview the walking talking machine? Aren't his replies just scripted by Tails or whatever?" Her tone was nonchalant and genuinely curious. But her choice of words had 274 seeing red.
"Machine?!" 274 screeched – monotone voice clicking off in his rage. In a flash, the forgotten wrench was suddenly on a crash course towards the news reporter head. If not for a quicker flash of Sonic snatching it out of the air it surely would've hit its mark.
"Whoa, hey! Easy!" Sonic grunted as he grabbed ahold of the furious bot just as he lunged forward with claws outstretched. The claws managed to nick the hem of the news reporter's sleeve but otherwise she was unharmed.
"Let go of me!" 274 spat, too much into a frenzy to hold on to his guise of civility. The reporter and the others around them leapt back as the metallix writhed and struggled to get out of Sonic's iron grip, but he just didn't have the strength. All he could do was blow hot air out from his vents threateningly.
"Is he malfunctioning?"
"Is he dangerous?"
"Maybe he should be turned off for a bit."
"I don't feel safe around this thing."
The chorus of comments and questions was doing little to let 274 think of anything BUT maiming everyone.
"Will ALL of you STOP?" Sonic barked at the reporters, all of whom blinked at him in surprise and in unison. "Thank you. Okay now… MS-1… why did you try to hurt the lady over there?"
"None of your business!" 274 spat at Sonic.
"It IS my business. I protect people and I need to know what set you off." Sonic now barked at 274 who looked none too pleased. For a while, he remained silent and held his gaze unblinking at Sonic's. Sonic didn't dare look away, but his expression did soften after some time.
"Listen, something's bothering you and I need to know what – not only for them but for you too. Something's hurting you." Sonic explained, ever so slightly loosening his grip. 274 held his glare for a little while longer before looking to the ground away from Sonic.
"I'm not a machine…" 274 grumbled near silently, not even loud enough for sonic to hear.
"What was that?" One of the reporters cautiously asked before Sonic could – the one that 274 had thrown the wrench at.
"I'M NOT A MACHINE." 274 shouted explosively –shoving Sonic off him in the process. He had daggers in his eyes as he stared the particular reporter down. Everyone winced and backed up some more. The reporter who had accidentally started it all scrunched her brows and her eyes darted to 274 then to the others then back to 274 unsure and frightened.
274 hated it, surely an act to have the others pity her and take her side when she was the one who insulted him.
" sigh.. National or local?" Sonic deadpanned.
"Excuse me?" The reporter asked, baffled.
"Are you national news or local news?" Sonic clarified.
"National? Why?"
"I'm guessing you haven't had any up close and personals with our world's robots, right? Just hearsay?" The reporter stared and then turned to the other reporters – specifically those who were local.
"Umm… is there something we weren't told?" She asked with all the innocence of a child. Other National reporters joined the wave of confusion and started to repeat the question as well.
"Well, you see.. Eggman's – and I guess Tails' and whoever else builds robots from Sonic's world, their pretty advance by our standard, WAY advance, we have trouble –" One local reporter rambled before Sonic cut him off.
"He's got feelings." Sonic pointedly said. "He's got thoughts, a personality and is sentient, sapient, take your pick of word choice but in the end he's a person."
274's stared blankly at Sonic. Was he defending him?
"The point is, he wants to be treated like a person – not like a 'walking talking machine'" Sonic quoted the reporter's own words back.
It took a second for it to click in the mind of the said reporter.
"Oh? Oh! Oh, goodness me! I'm so sorry!" The reporter blurted at first to Sonic but soon corrected herself. "I'm sorry MS-1, I hadn't – our own robots we have are – I mean, um I haven't had any experiences with robots like you. Ones that are people too I mean."
"Noted." The Metallix bluntly said while trying to hold back the brewing anger still at the surface.
" MS-1 aren't you going to apologize as well?" Sonic gently nudged the metallix.
"For what?" 274 huffed equally baffled and appalled.
Sonic just gave him a look as he pulled out the wrench and let it lazily swing. 274 looked at the wrench then side-eyed the reporter, who was looking between the two of them in turn, before glancing back to Sonic silently. Sonic hitched his brows higher as he let the wrench do a 360 before catching it and waggling it for emphasize.
"No." 274 adamantly grounded out just loud enough for Sonic's ears.
"Come on mister anger issues." Sonic wasn't going to let up.
"I said No." 274 stomped, refusing to let up either.
This went on for a few frustratingly long couple of minutes as the two stubbornly grumbled and muttered at each other. Just when 274 was about to explode into what would've turned into a shouting match, Sonic pulled him to the side further out of earshot – well at least he gave the reporters a pouted look of 'don't you Dare follow us' and hoped they wouldn't eavesdrop. Who knows how good that would work but it was all Sonic could do. Hopefully, Tails and Knuckles would provide a sufficient distraction for the time being.
"I'm NOT apologizing to that wrenched thing!" 274 fumed, still holding onto his ground.
"At least promise not to do it again?" Sonic shot back before taking in a deep breath, losing his cool now wasn't going to help either of them.
"No! Do you think me a fool?" 274 snapped, claws flexing dangerously.
"I don't! But you can't go into full-on attack mode every time over some little comment." Sonic stressed. "That lady wasn't even trying to be mean! She just didn't know better!"
Sonic waited for an answer but the metallix had crossed his arms and pointedly turned his back to Sonic.
"She said she was sorry 274. Why can't-"
"Because in the end there's always going to be another! Another person 'who doesn't know better' another person 'who didn't mean it'. Eventually, they're going to decide as a whole that we're not enough of a person, too different compared to them, nothing but a threat to their little status quo. Why bother?!" 274 erupted with a resounding boom of his engine firing off only for it to stall and for 274's vision to blackout for a fraction of a second. When his vision came to he was greeted by Sonic's hands outstretched ready to catch him in case he fell. 274 whacked his hand away violently like it was some offending bug that needed to be crushed before turning and storming off.
Sonic waivered where he stood; should he follow after the metallix or should he let him be? He took a step forward and opened his mouth to say something, closed it, but then opened it again.
"People change, it's true some turn out nastier but others turn out better than before. But you got to give them a chance." Sonic tried, pleaded, but the only response he got was 274 slashing his claws into a tree before he headed further into the forest.
Sonic sighed and turned away. He'd give the metallix some space for now, but he would have to go find him eventually.
For now, he walked back out from the edge of the forest and back into the thralls of the crowd, a little less enthusiastic than before.
He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't notice a certain reporter slipping away into the forest behind him.
It may have been foolish if not downright dangerous and life-threatening to go after the fuming robot alone, but dangit she was a reporter and she craved answers!
It wasn't hard to follow the trail the metallix left behind – he had continuously scratched and scarred many plants and rocks on his way to who knows where. The reporter gulped nervously as she got closer to the sound of claws slashing through various materials, glancing at her sleeve and hoping it wouldn't be her.
She eventually made her way to the edge of a clearing where the metallix had decided to pace around, kick at rocks, and mar every surface he could get his claws into. She hesitated at the edge of the clearing wondering if she should just turn back now and leave it be. She flinched and covered her ears when an absolutely awful noise screeched from within the clearing.
MS-1 had popped open a panel from behind his head and dug his claws into that. He continued to do so as he leaned onto a tree and slowly ease himself into sitting. Soon the blazing crimson eyes dimmed and fizzled out but the claws still methodically raked across the panel.
The reporter pulled out her portable camera, curious, and zoomed in all the way to get a peek. She hummed as she adjusted the lens, it was still a little blurry –whatever the red and black splotch she was trying to focus on was- and even after the image became crystal clear it was a little hard to decipher what she was looking at.
Not only were MS-1's claws blocking a good portion of it but the image itself was obscured by the layers of claw marks. Soon, however, she got the view she was longing for as MS-1 lolled his head to the side and slowed his incisive scratching.
She let out a surprised gasp, audible enough for 274, and quickly covered her mouth. What she had seen was undoubtedly Doctor Eggman's face – his logo of all things – on a robot supposedly built by Tails.
She could smell that juicy tale in the newspaper already!
"Bugger off."
"Eh?" The reporter squeaked as she was brought back from fantasy land.
"Let me put it more politely. Piss off." 274 snipped, claws retreating from the panel and clicking it shut.
"I don't think I will. Too many questions, not enough answers."
"… Seems like."
The silence stretched out uncomfortably.
"Well?"
"Weeell? You're the one with the questions stupid." 274 mocked.
"You're very rude."
"That's not a question. Come on do something right. You might even impress me!"
The reporter pouted ever so slightly.
"Okay, okay… big whammy incoming. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you weren't built by Tails were you?" The reporter said with a knowing smirk, but the robot was unfazed.
"and?" 274 said with a bored drone.
"and you were instead built by Sonic's greatest enemy Dr. Eggman?" The reporter said with a 'gotcha!' face.
"So?"
"So?" The reporter faltered. "It's a rather big deal!"
"And yet here I am with Sonic and his friends, isn't that a big deal too?" 274 fired back with his own 'gotcha!'
The reporter tapped her chin for a moment as she thought about it – hmming and haaing as she did. 274 found it rather annoying.
"Why are you with Sonic and his friends if Eggman built you?" The reporter inquired after some long moments.
"ooh, an actually critical thought!" 274 golf-clapped. "Do you want a long or short version of the story? Maybe one with sugar on top?"
The reporter was only reaffirmed that this robot needed some better manners. But considering everything about him that wasn't a good idea.
"Both. No sugar. Give it to me as black as it gets." The reporter smiled politely – to cover up her nervousness but was there was also a shine in her interested eyes.
"Short: I HATE Eggman, moreso than anyone else." 274 stated like it was obvious, but the reporter was floored. "Long: I was built to Destroy and to Obey. I was not made to develop my own thoughts and feelings, I was not made to question his decisions, his plans, his failures, and I was not made to plan behind his back. Destroy and Obey, that's all he made me for. And my hate for him festered to a fever as I went out on more and more missions. Why was I made for that, why was any robot made for that, why, why, why? Eventually, the boiling water had to spill over and singe someone."
The reporter quietly listened to the increasingly intensifying metallix, the previous glint in her eyes disappearing as he continued.
"But where could a robot built by one of the world's largest threats go? If I tried making it out there on my own, I'd be chased by not only Eggman but by the general public too, who'd end up so wound up by their fears that they'd lash out. Who else to go to but Sonic, hero to all, opposite of Eggman? But I hate him too, not from my programming but from a burning question. For all his wins and triumphs, why is Eggman still running about and making trouble? Now THAT'S something to think about." The metallix finally concluded and awaited whatever nonsense the human had to say.
"I.. That definitely IS something to think about…" The reporter mumbled. She felt somewhat hollow as she imagined what this robot had to go through, to be hated by the world before you could even understand why.
"You got my answer, now, what are you going to do with it?" The metallix challenged.
"I'll need some time to think about it, but… I do hope, maybe, one day, life won't be so hard on you."
"I don't need pity, pity is useless."
"Maybe so, but at least the whole world won't be against you." The reporter winked and turned to leave but perked at a thought. "Here, take this."
The metallix looked baffled as he was handed a small card.
"In case you want to vent to anyone before things boil over." With that, she disappeared into the trees headed back to her crew.
274 stared at the space the human once occupied, waiting. When he was sure she wasn't coming back he flipped over the card with curiosity. It was a business card – NWN News Station – that had not only the station's number but her personal number as well as her name.
"Rebecca Hall." 274 muttered. "Just another fool."
274 flicked the card away and made to leave the clearing but stopped short. He eyed the card on the ground before begrudgingly turning back and snatching it off the ground with a huff.
As he was thinking about where to put it (as he had no pockets to hold it, but then again it was easy for him to memorize the numbers) a thought struck him.
He was alone.
No one was watching him.
No one to stop him.
No one to notice him making his way to the Master Emerald.