Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog is copyrighted to Yuji Naka, Sonic Team, and Sega. The only thing(s) I claim ownership to are my OC/fancharacters to appear in this story.
Chapter 5: The Men Behind the Machine
"Coward! Come back here!" Sonic shouted after seeing Negative's figure vanish over some of the buildings.
"Quit it. He's gone." Shadow gazed at the same spot with hardened eyes. He heard beeping and brought his cuff up to his face. "Agent Shadow speaking."
"Agent Shadow!" a G.U.N. Soldiers spoke on the line, "we have some very strange news to report. In the Station Square district, Administrator Zen has discovered this strange edifice occupying the space were Casinopolis once stood."
Shadow's brow creased in vexation as Sonic leaned over to hear the conversation better. "What do you mean? Did Admin Zen elaborate further?"
"The structure appeared ancient, and there weren't many signs of damage. However, Admin Zen volunteered to investigate this personally. He wants to the rest of us to continue in the effacement of Doctor Eggman's forces and the new ones in Westopolis."
Sonic's green eyes widened. "An Ancient Temple!"
"Very well then. I will continue patrolling the area. Agent Shadow out."
Sonic spoke up, his serious tone surprising Shadow. "Listen, Shadow. I'm going over to Casinopolis, and I'm going to need that Chaos Emerald of yours."
"Why?" Shadow eyed him cautiously. "What do you know?"
"I have a hunch." Sonic replied, crossing his arms, "And, if it's right, you'll be the first one to know after everything's said and done."
Shadow exhaled heavily, fishing out his Chaos Emerald from his person and tossing it Sonic, "If Virgo sends you away, don't blame me. He prefers working alone on his missions."
Sonic grinned confidently as he caught the green gem. "Well, that won't be an issue. If I can work with you of all people, everybody else will be a cinch." He then thought dumbly, "Even though I've never really met this Virgo dude…"
Shadow rolled his eyes as Sonic left, rocketing down the street at breakneck speeds that would lead him to the downtown area. The Ultimate Lifeform's gaze lingered at the sea where the Nega Leviathan met its doom. Now that everything, for right now, had settled down, he ruminated on the scenario he was just faced with. Eggman's robots came out of nowhere, but Eggman was nowhere in sight. Instead, they were faced with this new character named Negative and his completely different machine. Then, there was still the issue at Westopolis.
"None of this adds together," Shadow said aloud, "What was the point, the goal, of this seemingly aimless carnage?"
The warzone over at Westopolis had yet to be quelled. The legions of Nega Machines were still prowling about, wreaking havoc and terror in their wake. Because of their combined organic and mechanic physiology, many of the soldiers and fighters had difficulty effectively addressing them. They wanted to approach them like one would faced with wild animals, but their dangerous equipment and armaments made them think otherwise.
Amid the chaos, Shelton came to a stop on a metal bridge-like structure. Seeing that nothing was around, he peered over the edge to examine the street below and saw a group of Nega Machines chasing innocent city folk. Immediately, Shelton sprung into action and jumped over the ledge. He grabbed a light pole before his actual descent and expertly flipped himself like a gymnast, giving himself extra force as he rocketed toward a Nega Machine and swung his leg. The roundhouse kick smashed open the robot's head as the rest of its body fell over lifelessly. The rest of the Nega Machines ceased their pursuit and turned around, growling and hissing at Shelton.
"Come get some." Shelton dared, presenting his backhand to them and moving his fingers towards himself challengingly.
The Nega Machines charged. The feline ones leapt at Shelton and swung their claws; however, he avoided all of them with his great speed and reflexes. The brunette angled his body to dodge another swipe and then delivered a palm strike to the side of that Nega Machine's head. He jumped up to evade a bearlike automaton's downward chop; as he fell back down, he struck it with a leg drop and sent it to the ground. Shelton then bounded away from several physical and projectile attacks from the remaining ones until they were all in his line of sight. Then, placing his hands on the ground, he initiated a Sonic Boost. The Nega Machines were suddenly knocked off their feet disoriented as a black blur bypassed them. Shelton turned around by using the light pole from earlier, grabbing its shaft and utilizing centrifugal forces to turn him around without a drop in speed. With a quick jump and applying his already high speed, Shelton used Whirl Dash to slice through the Nega Machines, destroying them as he landed and skidded to a stop.
"That takes care of that." Shelton said, wiping away sweat from his brow. He then heard more animalistic sounds and looked over his shoulder, seeing another but bigger group of Nega Machines beginning to surround him, this one more varied in their forms than the last. "Man, I'm like meat to these things…" He groaned, getting into a fighting stance reminiscent of a boxer's.
"DESTRUCTION TO ALL."
The sound of multiple gunshots and rockets made Shelton reflexively duck to the ground and cover his head. Meanwhile, a vast number of projectiles were launched all over the surrounding. Bullets ricocheted off the streets and buildings, leaving hot sparks on impact, before drilling into some of the Nega Machines. A series of yellow laser-fire followed them, most of them tracking the heat signature of the robots given off by their engines. The Nega Machines all hollowly roared in agony as the attacks penetrated them and exploded with destructive results. However, that was not all. Streams of flames were discharged all around, cloaking every standing point of a Nega Machines in hot fire. Immediately, unconventional rocket-propelled exploding drills were launched. Functioning similarly to missiles, these projectiles detonated upon connection, ignited by the residual fire. A series of explosion shook the area, fissuring concrete and spreading metallic shrapnel from the Nega Machines all over. Red-hot smoke, fire, and ash mushroomed from the forces of the combined armaments, equivalent to the power of many military-edition tanks.
"THIS IS WORSE THAN INV!" Shelton shouted in his mind, bracing himself against the violent calamities happening all around him. The ground was shaking beneath him, and he could feel the convective heat from the explosions grazing his body. Whoever was responsible obviously showed no concern for him; which is why he compared the attacker to Inv, a veritable poster-child for friendly fire and mass destruction.
Soon enough, everything finally settled down. Shelton was shaken but nonetheless was able to move. He was met with lingering, copious amounts of smoke, prompting him to cover his mouth and nose with the inside of his shirt as he coughed. He quickly dashed away until he was safely out of the site, breathing in the fresh oxygen and massaging the dryness out of his eyes. However, some parts of his body still felt a little tender from the convective heat. Shelton looked back to see absolutely nothing remained of the group of Nega Machines, not even so much as mechanical debris. "Can somebody say 'overkill?'" Shelton sighed, a large sweatdrop appearing on the back of his head.
"Enemy automatons successfully terminated. Route cleared."
Shelton almost jumped at the sound of the loud but monotonous voice nearby. He looked to see a massive red and black robot. His sizeable arms were outstretched, lacking any sort of digits. However, that quickly changed when smooth claws appeared from the depths of them. The robot let his arms falls and turned his body to face Shelton, his artificial limbs and joints making typical robotic noises. Those piercing red eyes scanned Shelton's entire body, retrieving as much as physical information as he could while tapping into his memory banks. Such data included Shelton's height of 6'0", weight of 198.2 pounds, ethnic mix of African-American and Caucasian, and athletic body model. "Unidentified biracial human detected. Guardian Units of Nations protocol demands passable identification."
Shelton's expression was just simply blank, showing no emotion or reaction to the demand. This thing narrowly obliterated him, and it was treating the endeavor like it was nothing. Shelton honestly could not let that go by. "Now, listen. I don't appreciate you damn-near barbecuin' me. What you should be doing is tellin' me who you are, apologize, and maybe we can work something out!"
Unfazed, it replied, "G.U.N. Agent E-123 Omega. Mission – extirpate foreign entities invading region of Westopolis. All citizens and bystanders are asked to leave the area immediately. Repeating, Guardian Units of Nations protocol demands passable identification."
"It's Shelton Shallow." The human finally said. Even though the apology never came, and probably wouldn't, it was a start. It was times like this that being around Inv was an immense refresher – a robot who respected and emulated humans without fear of ostracism or anything.
"Shelton Shallow." Omega droned, adding the name to his database for future reference along with the information he gained. Despite being a human, and therefore not a typical anthropomorph like he was used to, Omega's sensors indicated that Shelton's physicality strangely rivaled theirs. Nevertheless, he was not interested in him; he had an objective to do. "Please evacuate the premises at once." Omega demanded as one of his claws rotated, transforming into several barrels. He took long, clunky steps as he sauntered away from Shelton.
"No can do." Shelton replied defiantly as he crossed his arms and walked after the E-series robot, purposefully slowly to match his strides, "I'm in this just as much as you are."
Before Omega could retort, his internal sensors detected an extremely recognizable presence. He was particularly affiliated with this one, for the familiarity of this individual was etched in his entire being. His sentient soul burned with searing, unquenchable anger. Abruptly, Omega stopped his walking into a loud stomp, one that made Shelton balk. "Alert! Alert! Eggman presence detected in the vicinity! Target locked on. Engaging pursuit." Omega proceeded to jog away with heavy thuds, gradually gaining speed. Then, the twin jets installed in Omega's back below the hunch fired up, releasing bright yellow and orange heat as they lifted him off the ground slightly and increased his moving speed.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Shelton called out as he followed the E-series robot, bursting out into a sprint. Again, he did not move as fast as he would with Sonic; running just quickly enough to keep up with Omega.
Westopolis was considered to be both lucky and unlucky. In the past, it was almost completely devastated during a siege heralded by the now extinct Black Arms. The following months spent by local, state, government, and international repair forces were hard, cleaning up all the destruction and debris left behind during the war. To prevent a similar future catastrophe, the G.U.N Commander did his best to establish better escape routes and more fortified buildings and routes. As a result, the damage done by the Nega Machines was minimal at worst.
That little detail did not go unnoticed by Shelton. Sure, the entire region had been evacuated of civilians, and forces were working double time to clear out the enemies, but the aftermath wasn't at all bad or disastrous. "Just what is Negative tryin' to pull? This ain't nothing like I'm used to." He thought suspiciously.
Just then, Omega came to an abrupt halt, rooting himself into a spot in the middle of a large, four-way street. "Eggman detected! Approaching this direction!" He announced as Shelton stopping right beside him. Soon enough, they heard a loud boom, equitable to a high-powered rocket right after takeoff. Something giant leapt from behind the nearby buildings of Westopolis, reaching such an altitude that it momentarily eclipsed the sun. An expansive shadow was casted down to the streets. Shelton narrowed his eyes as he frowned. Usually, large enemies were serious enemies, and that meant they could cause grievous harm.
The object in question landed before Omega and Shelton. Specks of asphalt flew into the air as a minor shockwave was felt, causing the whole ground to rumble slightly. Shelton even had to place a hand down to keep himself steady, listening as street poles creaked in their spot. Before them was a large, four-legged mech. Its body was vaguely egg-shaped, fitted with two large cannons in the back. Whirring was then heard as Doctor Eggman, seated in his Egg Mobile, hovered above his mech.
"I'm afraid this is the end of the road for you two." Eggman declared, crossing his arms as the Egg Mobile latched in place within the bot's external cockpit.
Understandably, Shelton was very confused. As far as he was concerned, there was a complete stranger affiliated with the Nega Machines. "And who might you be?" He asked cautiously.
"Why don't you ask Omega? That treasonous rust bucket standing right beside you," Eggman gestured to the black and red E-series robot "After all, I built him with my bare hands."
"Well, that's not a nice thing to say about something you created." Shelton chastised, exchanging glances between creator and creation. Then again, the only inventors he knew of were Inv and Negative, and they developed strange attachments to their handiwork.
"Doctor Eggman, I will end you once and for all!" Omega declared vengefully, his torso rotating a full one hundred and eighty degrees before engaging in a fighting stance with both of his metal claws up. Ever since he was disowned by Eggman, Omega had made it his life's mission to rid the world of his creator. Now, he was presented an opportunity to do so.
Although he cared little of Omega, he remembered the conversation he had with Ryu and Negative before they formulated this operation. With a cross between a growl and groan, Eggman rebuked Omega, "Why don't you rewrite that faulty database one more time for me? Nobody should be calling me 'Doctor Eggman' anymore. My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik. You would do best to commit that to memory."
"Editing... Doctor Robotnik, you shall meet your demise here and now!"
"Oh, this is gonna get nasty." Shelton thought grimly, watching as Omega's hands receded into his arms, only to remerged in the form of multi-barrel firearms. Shelton figured he might as well wrest some answers out of Robotnik before any bloodshed ensued. "Now raise up off each other for a second!" He exclaimed, giving Eggman his undivided attention, "Alright, Robotnik. Tell me something. What are you doing with Nega Machines? Dunno if you know this or not, but you ain't their maker."
"Heh. Well, I see that you like to skip straight to the point." Eggman remarked earnestly, stroking his moustache, "If you must know why a great intellectual like myself is in possession of copyrighted property…" His voice trailed off when he recalled a very critical detail before that strategy meeting was dismissed. The whole reason Robotnik and his team were given this chance at making their wishes come true via Rhlor was that Ryu and Negative managed to keep Shelton in the dark. They conveyed a similar message to him, hoping he would learn from it.
'Say to them as little as possible. Be enigmatic.'
"…That's for me to know, and you to never find out!" Eggman yelled, crossing his arms with a huff. He snickered when he saw Shelton's eyes shrink and his features contort with frustration.
"Oh, you little…" Shelton enclosed one of his fists with his free hand, cracking the knuckles and joints in preparation for a fight. "You wanna be that way? Fine. Guess we'll have to force that info out." He glanced at Omega and propositioned, "Your name was Omega, right? I know this is sudden and everything, but let's double-team him. You got beef with him, and I wanna know some stuff from him. Works out perfectly, huh?"
"ANNIHILATE!" His response was an opening salvo of bullets, each discharge producing a flash of sparks as casings begin to litter the ground around Omega.
"I'm gonna register that as a yes and roll with it…" Shelton deadpanned, shaking his head.
"Ha! As if that's going to harm my precious Egg Walker!" Eggman proudly boasted. True to his words, Omega's gunfire harmlessly blocked on his mech's armor. Shelton sprinted toward the machine, trying to get up close and personal. Eggman, however, saw him coming and moved the controls. This caused to Egg Walker to backpedal, its heavy stomps creating shockwaves on the ground.
Shelton continued running forward, but he leap over the shockwaves to prevent himself from getting hit. Realizing there were no openings to exploit, he continued running and dodging until he was on the other side of the Egg Walker. "Well that was a waste of energy.."
"Fire missiles!" Slots opened up at the sides of the Egg Walker's legs, revealing turrets pointing skyward that fired missiles into the air. Smoke lined their movements, tracing the parabolic arc they travelled as they dipped down; half heading to Omega and the others aiming at Shelton.
The latter opted to use his speed again to dodge the missiles. Omega, on the other hand, summoned his rocket launchers and launched explosives at the incoming missiles. Both group of enemy projectiles clashed, creating plumes of fire and smoke upon contact. Any missiles that Omega missed hit the ground around him, engulfing the crimson and black E-series robot in more explosions that cracked and shook the ground. "Mere inconvenience." Omega remarked arrogantly, stepping out of the smoke clouds. His remarkably hard armor prevented the explosions from doing much damage.
"Man, I swear robots are gonna take over the world if more Invs and Omegas crop up." Shelton commented as he shook his head, seeing Omega withstand those missiles without any issue. Behind hind, the missiles coming at him missed, hitting the ground behind him. Each hit resulted in a shockwave, but Shelton managed to keep his balance and maintain his high speeds. He noticed he was approaching a building with one more missile tailing. "Please let there be nobody in there…" Shelton prayed, cursing himself for being in this position. The brunette leapt toward the streetlight, the momentum of his sprinting causing him to rotate around and go up the pole. The missile whizzed right by him as Shelton planed his feet on top and jumped away. The missile contacted the base of the building and the sidewalk, shooting out glass and stone debris.
"Good. I've gotten their undivided attention." Eggman thought as Shelton and Omega gathered their bearings, possibly trying to figure out to circumvent the mechanics of his machine and locate its weak points. He formed a fist and slammed it on one of the larger buttons of his control, "GO!"
Instead of Nega Machines, Eggman instead called upon its own robots as Egg Robos and Egg Gunners appeared on the battlefield. Eggman planned for them to be brief distractions as he prepared his Egg Walker for the next phase of the battle.
"Minor obstructions detected. Commencing immediate dispatching." Omega went for the Egg Robos, leaving Shelton to take care of the Egg Gunners.
"I'm always up for something new." Shelton mumbled to himself as the silver machines circled around him. In fact, he found this to be a nice change from Nega Machines, Ryu, and Negative himself, or some combination of the three. He heard the telltale cock of their machine guns as they aimed. Acting quickly, the brunette took a short leap, avoiding the simultaneous firing of bullet, jumping out of the circle of death, and landing behind one of the Egg Gunners.
Shelton grabbed the arm that bore the machine gun and jerked his body so that he could rip it right off. Then, he hook his arm with the other, using that Egg Gunner as a shield against the gunfire that soon followed. Sparks flared as the bullets ricocheted off the Egg Gunner's metal body. Being extra careful not to get filled full of bullets Shelton hurried over to another Egg Gunner and rammed his elbow straight into its head. This stunted its programming, giving Shelton the chance to roundhouse kick it into another Egg Gunner, both robots exploding on contact.
The explosion made engulfed some of the other robots, prompting them to stop and try to use their sensors to locate their target. Shelton decided to use that to his advantage. He run into the residual smoke and fire, steeling his nerves so that the convective heat and irritating smoke wouldn't make him hesitant. Sure, it was very hot, but he would rather leave his battle with raw skin and not gunshot wounds. The human located an Egg Gunner and hurled his makeshift shield into it, destroying both of them at the same time.
Then, he quickly spotted another as it was aiming its machine gun at him. When it fired, Shelton performed swift strafing movements to the left and right, avoiding the shots as he closed the gap between himself and the Egg Gunner. He ducked beneath the machine gun and delivered an elbow strike to its torso, hard enough to leave a dent. Shelton then pivoted around and punched the Egg Gunner in its head, severing its facial armor from the endoskeleton as it fell backwards.
At this point, the aftermath of the explosion subsided. Shelton held the cocking of a gun and looked over his shoulder to see the last remaining Egg Gunner taking aim. He chuckled, knowing it was over, "I spy with my little eyes…" In the blink of an eye, a black blur dashed over to the Egg Gunner. Before it even fired, Shelton swung his leg in a crushing, horizontal arc. The machine's body contorted as it was sent away, bits of machinery and wiring flying out of its body as the Egg Gunner landed harshly on the ground some meters back.
Meanwhile, Omega was experiencing even more ease in dispatching his squadron of Egg Robos. Unlike Shelton, who was made of flesh, the automaton could completely disregard their shots. All bullets and laser fires simply bounced off his remarkably tough armor. "Worthless consumer models." Omega taunted. He hadn't done much yet. He wanted to play with these inferior machines, showing them a tiny bit of hope before drowning them in a fiery sea of despair and annihilation.
The Egg Robos seemed to catch on because they ceased fire, frantically looking at each other and then Omega. Nothing was working. No lasers, bullets, bombs, or anything. How could a stowaway like E-123 Omega be so superior?
"Begone." Omega's robotic drone lowered in pitch, sending spikes of fear into the Egg Robos' nonexistent hearts. They held up their arms in surrender, but Omega paid no heed. His hands were replaced with the barrels of Gatling guns, and he let loose. All of the Egg Robos convulsed and contorted as Omega's superior firepower shredded through their bodies each passing second. Metal fragments loudly hit the ground below, creating a pile, as the onslaught continued. There was no explosion whatsoever. It was simply a violent dismantling as Omega's bullets eviscerated and dismembered the fellow automatons. When he was finished, casings decorated the bottom of the mound of clutter.
Eggman raked his hands down his face, gritting his teeth before slamming his hands on the counter of his control panel. "You were never that useful when I needed you!" He shouted irefully, having paid attention to Omega's tirade.
Omega suddenly turned to Robotnik and his Egg Walker, his glowing red eyes boring into the doctor's bespectacled ones. "Warning. Egg Walker preparing for takeoff!"
Eggman smirked, "Indeed I am." Preparations were complete, shifting the mech from ground- to air-based combat. The Egg Walker jumped again, but this time, the legs tucked in a little. Then, large rocket boosters appeared from beneath the armor near the base of each foot. Each one spewed out blue fire, generating enough power to keep the large mech aloft and ready for battle. "Catch me if you can!" With that said, Eggman grabbed ahold of manual controls and drove the Egg Walker, passing by Omega and Shelton. The latter had to duck and brace himself over the rushing wind of the airborne Egg Walker's launch.
"Will you not escape, Robotnik!" Omega declared as he activated his own boosters and gave chase.
"Wait for me!" Shelton shouted as he dashed off in pursuit, catching up with Omega in no time. The two were a set distance away from the Egg Walker, which was flying backwards so that Eggman himself faced his two opponents. "You're not getting away, Robotnik!"
For the first time this little scuffle began, Eggman focused on Shelton. Here he was, a human like himself, running at speeds comparable to Sonic in similar situations. "Hm. I wonder. Did this man enroll himself in the Arckus Program like Ryu did?" the infamous doctor pondered. Eggman sneered as he finally replied, "Ha! You're not Sonic! You're just a bigger target for me!"
Shelton rolled his eyes, "Please. Sonic may be my boy and all, but his form's garbage. I, on the other hand, got technique, martial arts, and everything. I'm finna show you now in a minute!"
"Sensor detect anomalies in extremities of the Egg Walker." Omega announced.
Eggman visibly balked at his words; he couldn't believe that Omega located his mech's weak spots. As he gave the command to fire missiles and bombs, he glanced at the horizon off to the west, "Alright, Ryu. Get that temple. It's all up to you."
While the intense siege on Station Square and Westopolis continued, the area of Mystic Ruins remained deceptively calm and quiet, business going on like usual. At Tails' Lab, the young fox and Inv were carrying on in their research efforts. However, much of their investigating as either unsuccessful or inconclusive. As Tails worried about before, their main issue was that they were severely lacking necessary information compared to Dr. Eggman and the others. In fact, the types of temples were really the farthest they had gone.
"Man! I never knew researchin' so difficult!" Inv made a huffing sound as he leaned back in his seat. His then body made a stretching motion with his arms above his head. Tails immediately took note of that, thinking about how odd it was for an automaton like Inv to do such. The purpose of stretching was to increase range of motion and enhanced workout effects to injury prevention and rehabilitation by lengthening muscle tissue, permitting full movement of joints and muscles. Because Inv lacked any of that, his "stretching" served no purpose.
In fact, that was just one of several distinctly humanlike actions he spotted Inv doing throughout their short association together. Inv's lower mandible moved in conjunction with his speech, mimicking the human mouth, but that was unnecessary due to the presence of an artificial voice box. On the subject of said speech, it was almost perfectly humanlike save for a vague robotic echo beneath the Southern country drawl. Whenever Inv moved around, his gaits resembled a human being garbed in armor – slow but purposeful with only slightly more noise than a living organism. Tails had been around more than enough machinery to understand that a robot's mechanical composition was to intricate and cumbersome to allow that. Then, there was the time Tails heard Inv sigh or growl in frustration in spite of the absence of lungs and a diaphragm.
In short, Inv was a walking contradiction, and Tails was ceaselessly curious.
"Um, Inv?" The twin-tailed fox spoke up as the machine in question rotated his swivel chair to face him, "I don't mean to sound rude, but… what are you?"
"Eh?" Inv scratched the back of his head in confusion, the contact of metal on metal making a scratching sound – yet another unneeded action Tails observed. At least he didn't blink. "Whaddaya mean, Tails? I'm a robot obviously."
"That's not what I mean," Tails shook his head, "You just don't… act like a normal robot. You do several certain gestures and movement that would normally be extemporaneous for models like you. To make things interesting, they are stuff humans are supposed to do. It's almost as if they're instinctive."
Now Inv had a grasp of Tails' question, and he understood. He had an explanation ready for that, but he never had to articulate it. Both Scizzor and Shelton were at the wrong place at the right time, so they already knew of his origins. As they were his only friends thus far, that eliminated the need to talk about his apparently paradoxical nature. "Well, Tails…" Inv rapped his hand on his torso, resulting in a few hard bangs, "Didja know I used to be a man?"
Tails' eyebrows rose as his blue eyes shrunk in shock, barely comprehending the revelation, "W-what?!"
"This cold, hard steel used t' be real flesh and blood just like yers," Inv clarified, leaning back against the cushion of the swivel chair as it creaked from the heavy weight of the automaton. "Well, 'cept I was a human, and yer a fox, but you know what I mean."
On one hand, Tails was absolutely fascinated; Inv was essentially a walking case study. His inner mech genius was doing back-flips at the creature before him. Apparently, a human-to-automaton transformation was entirely possible and resulted in a creation with similar characteristics to his former classification. This would surely prove useful to further constructions made by young boy. Perhaps he would be able to improve their dynamics with this in mind. On other hand, Inv's response begged more questions that needed answers, and one instinctually slipped past Tails.
"How?"
"Better grab a snack or something cuz this one's a doozy." Inv requested, chuckling a little at his own joke. Tails laughed weakly but nonetheless made no movement, indicating that he desired no refreshment. Seeing that, Inv was ready to begin, "Ma former name is Allan Claude Jericho. I used t' work at a place called th' Gerald Fitzpatrick Research Institute with former colleagues James Ulysses Atticus and Landon Ersthart Hewbert. That first person? That's Scizzor, so I hope you'll get t' meet him soon. At first, ya know, I thought it was a seemingly harmless job. It helped bring th' bread home and all. It made use of ma mechanics and engineerin' degrees."
"Two degrees? You went to school?" Tails interrupted inquisitively.
"Shoot yeah!" Inv proudly declared, puffing out his chest. "Two PhDs, my boy! One in mechanics and the other in design engineering! I can help with physics too!" He cocked his head as he eyed Tails, "Why? Ain't you in school?"
"Uh…" Tails droned for two seconds, only to smile sheepishly at Inv with a meek shrug of his shoulders.
"Lord bless yer soul…" Inv shook his head in a pitying manner. "Well, anyway… Then, one day, that rotten roach Landon got me and James into some stuff we couldn't get out of. Next thing ya know, I was strapped down and anesthetized. When I work up…" He held his arms out to the side, referring to his whole body, "I looked like this. Only much uglier and less efficient. Took me almost a whole year t' used t' ma new body and properly upgrade the dang thing." At 36 was when his life was turned around dramatically. He dropped his arms as they hit the armrests of his chair, "Though, I gotta thank Shelton fer bailin' me and James outta that shack. Lord knows what Landon woulda done to us further."
"So that's how you guys met." Tails pointed out. Of course, in the back of his mind, he was disturbed by the horrifying implications of Inv's unwanted transformation. Unable to do anything, Allan was totally stripped of his humanity and forced to live out the rest of his life as Inv – as something considered a lesser being. If this happened to Inv, Tails shuddered to think about what happened to James, or Scizzor as he was apparently called now. Well, that was one part of the mystery answered, now for the next. "Well, I know how it happened. But why is this possible?"
"Time fer a little show 'n' tell." Inv announced, perplexing Tails. The machine reached up to his set of jaws, claw and gauntlet grabbing the hinges beneath it. His claw whirred like a drill as it rotated in place, undoing some of the parts there while the hand disengaged some of the safety mechanisms. Firstly, Inv removed his lower mandible and placed that on the table near him. Then, Tails' ears perked up when he heard the distant hiss of pressure being released. With his claw on his upper mandible and hand on his head, Inv literally began splitting his head open, separating it by pulling the two aforesaid parts away from each other.
What Tails saw next would be permanently ingrained in his mind.
There was a human brain within Inv's metal skull.
To be precise, the brain was encapsulated, surrounded by a distinctly blue liquid. Tails presumed that these fluids provided the necessary nutrients and other vital substances to keep the brain properly functioning due to Inv's lack of blood vessels. The capsule was accompanied by a system of very intricate circuitry connected to the internal portions of Inv's head and disappearing down a shaft most probably to the rest of his body.
"Ya see why now, right?" Inv suddenly asked. Tails nearly jumped out of his seat in shock with a squeaky 'AH!' and Inv cackled heartily at that even with his head wide open. This showed some of his features, such as a moving jaw, were merely preference rather than necessity. Inv pushed the skull and upper mandible back toward each other as his brain's container receded back into place. As he fixed everything back together, Inv explained, "At least in my humble opinion, th' brain is th' most important organ in th' body. It's capable of thought, action, memorization, speech, emotion, yadda yadda, all that jazz. So I guess I gotta thank Landon fer lettin' me keep it."
"I see now." Tails now completely understood despite the short time he was exposed to the new development, "Your body does humanlike things because you have a brain that recognizes these functions even if you don't need them anymore. I'm guessing that you upgraded your body to work with this in mind rather than against it." As he spoke, the young fox realized something that made him sad. Was such modifications done so that Inv could at least feel human even though that would never happen again?
"Exactly," Inv confirmed with a nod, "'Course, my brain ain't perfect, and it ain't supposed t' handle a robotic body. Soooo, I made this little bad boy!" Inv used his hand to open up his right pectoral headlight and some of the armor surrounding it. The flap revealed the lighting system behind it, which subsequently moved out of the way – an automatic response to Inv's ministrations. A flat component extended from beyond the machinery, revealing a green and black microchip roughly the size of a playing card. "This called th' Artificial Neuron Amplifier, or ANA fer short. It's basically ma brain's partner-in-crime. Whatever my brain can't handle, this puppy can. Mainly, it controls the functions of ma robotic features such as weaponry and equipment. It also amplifies ma brain waves so that it can keep up with everything else. "
As Inv put everything back in place, Tails deduced that Inv was a product of a fusion of bionics and robotics given all the information he just absorbed. He was further amazed that Inv was able to do all of this by himself. "W-wow, Inv… that's amazing!" He rushed up to his computer and pulled some spare empty files. "I hate to do this, but c-can you repeat most of that? I wanna jot it down for future references!" His inner nerd was beginning to crop up. He couldn't let this breakthrough escape him.
"Well, confound it, Tails! Why didn't ya do it when I was explainin' th' first time?!"
"S-sorry!"
Out of a nowhere, something hit at the workshop, causing the entire building to shake violently. Both Tails and Inv exclaimed in shock, falling out of their seats and hitting the floor. "W-what was that?" Tails questioned as he used his seat to bring himself back to his feet.
When he went outside he see the smoke and fire and hear an unfamiliar maniacal laugh.
Squinting his eyes, he spotted bat wings - much larger than Rouge's. Eventually, he and the man made eye contact.
"Laaaaaaaaaandoooooooooon!"
Inv's roar came like charging jaguar and, before Tails knew it, he was amid an impromptu shootout. Tails dived out of the way as legions of missiles came from behind him, colliding with the strange, mechanical beasts that accompanied this Landon fellow. More and more explosions racked Mystic Ruins.
"You're doing more damage than I am, Allan." The other man chuckled.
Tails recovered, hurrying to a hasty Inv's side. The older automation had reconfigured his arms into rocket launchers. "W-What's going on?"
"That's the man..." So much hatred and rage behind his voice. "That's the man he made me like this... Took away my humanity and friend my friend a freak too!"
"Get over yourself. As you can see, I got the same treatment." Negative grunted, leaning against his massive greatsword without a care in the world. "You don't see my complaining."
"I've been' waitin' fer this." Inv's lower mandible moved upward as best as its joints allowed, forming the ghost of a maniacal smirk of his own. "Yer goin' down, Negative."
"I suppose I can entertain you and the brat for a little bit," Negative said, hoisting up that slab of metal he called a sword.
"Negative? That's your name?" Tails readied himself even as a myriad of questions invaded his mind. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Having a little fun, boy," Negative replied condescendingly, glancing at the fox, "Don't meddle in the business of adults."
"Tails, fair warning." Inv raised his armaments. "This might get ugly, and ya might get hurt."
Tails clenched his fists, narrowing his eye a little. He hearkened back to the teachings of his good friend Sonic. "I can help too. I won't let this psycho hurt people because he's bored!"
Negative reared his head back, chest heaving in and out from his bellows of laughter. "Look at the diminutive mammal talking tough. Find then." He assumed a hunched-over battle stance, a few of his Nega Machines flanking his left and right. "A fur coat and scrap metal, it is."
Author Notes
Bad news for the (small) followers of this fanfic. I'm discontinuing it. This is because I have bigger and better plans for a Sonic the Hedgehog story, and D&C is getting in the way. Sorry, guys. I'll make it up.