An hour after Surge had told Starline that she was fine with everything, Kitsunami told her in her room, " I'm still a little hungry. I'm gonna warm up one of my cookies. " Surge said, " You should use more chocolate chips next time. " He remembered the first time Starline taught him how he baked cookies, how he smiled at him while saying, " I'm so glad I've got someone to pass down my skills to! Almost makes me wish I adopted a kid years ago. " Kit replied, " Sure. I-I need to go to the bathroom first. "
She gave him a confused look and sarcastically said, " Thanks for sharing, " and he used his pack to dart down the hall as fast as he could until he got to Starline, who was just finished brushing his teeth and was wondering why he rushed up to him. Kit nervously forced himself to smile and ask, " Just as a little reward could you show me the stuff that made our cybernetics, if you've got any more? I won't be up close to it, I could admire it from a distance! "
He looked confused in response since he never asked him that, having always assumed he didn't have any more, and got told by Kit, " You told us before you passed out that they made us able to heal really fast, so I think it'd be reassuring to see that you're smart enough to have an emergency supply of the stuff that you told us makes someone heal really fast, 'cause you ARE gonna go on a dangerous mission, after all! So, PLEASE, can I see where it is, as fast as possible? I won't be able to sleep tonight! "
He said nervously, " Alright, alright, you can! " " Yes! " Kit whispered and fist-pumped, which even he found a little adorable. He said with a nervous smile, " Why not? You've already proven your loyalty, so uh, what do I have to worry about? "
He switched to the Speed mode of his glove saying politely, " Try to keep up. I'll go slower for you, " and as Kit started following him with his pack, still with the constant fear that Surge could suspect him of ratting her out and run over to him, Starline reminded himself in his thoughts, " And if he does try to destroy it, I could always hypnotize him to go back to bed and change his mind. There's nothing to be scared of, I could do it in a second! Either he's nervous because he's afraid I won't lead him to it so he could destroy it, or he's actually worried about me! He's never acted so worried about me before! "
" So this is just, a test of his loyalty, because apparently nothing's going to get rid of my trust issues. I still feel like she could've lied to me that she was fine with everything, even though if she wasn't, she'd have killed me, unless she wanted to humor Kit, like she did when she said she got reckless to keep him from crying. So she could've only kept me around to keep him from crying, and that wouldn't stop her from planning to get back at me in a less extreme way, and while I don't doubt Kit's loyalty, Surge could get him to go along with anything. So it's not crazy to be a little skeptical! But of course it'd be too dangerous to confront her on it. "
Finally they reached one of the rooms in the base with the large green tubes, and there was a control panel in front of them, and with a press of a button, a panel opened up revealing two vials of gray goo, with post-it notes on them. They could see that one had on it, " With a way to turn on amnesia, " and the one on the right said, " No amnesia option. " He said, " The right one's for me just in case I was injured before all of your training was done. The left one's meant for Dr. Eggman in case he gets injured or ends up with a disease it can cure, or even something worse from the sheer stress that was always a possibility with his lifestyle. It was always the plan to use the left one on him eventually to prevent that . I also have copies of the things in these vials in a different base just in case this one gets destroyed. "
Kit patiently listened to him while trying to work up the nerve to confront him on what he had wanted to. Starline said unhappily, " As for the amnesia part, well, if he ever turns on me again, it's my back-up plan, because at least he'd still want me around. It's, a shame it came to this, but with how he treats the people who work for him, the only way to be safe is to have a way to safely delete any memory of his I need to. I know it's creepy, but with him it's common sense. Having the greatest engineer in the world working with me as an amnesiac is still better than nothing. Please don't tell anyone I said that. "
" I-I-I won't tell anyone if you do one thing for me, " Kit jumped at the excuse to say. He looked shocked that he had the audacity to request that until Kit dropped to his knees with his hands clasped together and begged him, " Please let me upgrade you! You're the only dad I've got! I don't want you to die! " Starline looked shocked, and Kit tearfully explained, " No one else would be as affectionate as you! Who else would hug me? And who would keep up your cooking lessons?! "
After a second of staring at him sadly, he told Kit, " You'll see your parents again!... " Kit looked at him through tears, shocked that he said that, and he couldn't believe it either. " You must have been reported missing by now. It'd be illegal for them not to do that, so people must have been looking for you. You'd have your photo where people could see it, it's inevitable that you'd find your real parents. And then you won't need me for any of that. Come here, " Starline finally explained.
He put his arms out, and was hugged before he knew it, smiling for just a second from the warm soft embrace. He had to let him hug him so many times before and he had told himself he just wanted to humor him, whatever it took to make him stop crying faster. But he couldn't hide from the truth that he loved the affection he had wanted since he was a child. He was embarrassed every time, but not nearly enough that it wasn't worth it, but with how upset Kit was, he still couldn't help but feel bad for him, and he hated it.
To try to distract himself from that emotional turmoil, he started explaining, " Your parents will do this for you any time you ask, and they'd follow a recipe book with you, too. All I did was follow my recipe book in front of you, anyone could replace me in that role. " Kit exclaimed, " I'd still miss you! I'd still care about you! " The hug ended and he asked, " Why didn't you upgrade yourself already?! If ANYONE else could make himself able to heal really fast and be immune to nearly every disease, he'd jump at the chance! And you said there's nothing WRONG with the cybernetics! "
Starline was taken aback, since Kit already asked him why he didn't upgrade himself a while ago and he already explained it away for him. He stammered the same old excuse, " I-It'd hurt. It'd hurt for a while until it was done. And of course I don't have painkillers because they're addictive. Why else do you think I didn't give you two them? "
Kit said, " But you said being bullied got you used to pain. I wouldn't expect someone brave enough to take over this base with the scariest people in the world to not do something because he was scared. And couldn't you hypnotize yourself into not being in pain, or go to sleep with it? And then I could give you a snorkel or oxygen mask, so you wouldn't drown in the tube. " There was a stunned silence for a second before he replied nervously, " True. I do have an oxygen mask in the medical bay. You put a lot of thought into this. " The last sentence annoyed Kit for just changing the subject. He couldn't bring himself not to again admit that he was right, since the kid's self-esteem issues were always depressing.
Kit admitted nervously, " Ever since you first told me that you didn't have cybernetics, I had a bad feeling about why that might have been. So when you told me how depressed your old school bullies used to make you, it made me more worried than ever that I was right. No offense, I-I've just been SCARED that if your plan fails, you'll get more depressed than ever, and not care what happens to you anymore, and you always knew that and that's why you didn't upgrade yourself, because it'd make it harder for you to give up. " He was rehearsing a speech he'd planned in his head to make sure he'd say it all fast and articulately enough.
" N-No, of course not, you have nothing to worry about. I won't ever be like that again. The plan wil work as long as I have my glove, " Starline replied nervously in a reassuring tone, and that combined with the forced smile that he was lying, caring more about humoring him and saving face than admitting he had a problem he needed to fix. He pet Kit's head and ruffled his hair, one of the many affectionate gestures he never had to do, when he could've hypnotized him into thinking he cared. But he went out of his way to do regardless, so Kit wished he could fully appreciate it here.
He started walking away, and heard Kit say ominously, " Aw, I TRIED asking nicely! " His mouth was covered by ice as more ice grabbed him from behind in the shape of a frozen hydro-coil that pinned his arms to his side, his Tricore was pulled off his hand and then he was lifted a little so his boots could be removed.
He instinctively shouted no when he lost his Tricore and was muffled by the ice, and the frozen hydro-coils turned him to face him only for him to see Kit look sad and afraid while saying, " I'm not betraying you! " despite bringing the Tricore to his hand. But his obvious discomfort didn't stop him from scaring him by putting on the glove while saying to him, " I'm sorry I scared you. " He aimed the glove at him saying, " Just calm down and lemme upgrade you! "
He let go of his mouth and gently lowered him to the floor in a second and let his arms go free, and took off the glove full of shame so obvious that even Starline couldn't ignore it. He said calmly, " I'm not mad at you, I understand. It's just that, I can't believe you were brave enough to do that by yourself. You hypnotized me! " " To save your life! I'll never do it again! I'd be just as forceful if you were gonna get yourself killed or got addicted to something! That's what it's like to have someone who cares! Now come on, you've gotta take your shirt off and get upgraded. "
Kit picked up the vial he was already finding irresistible, and Starline walked towards it, again reassuring him, " Alright, alright, I understand. It was irrational of me not to upgrade myself in the first place. And I'm not just saying that because of what you did. I always knew that but I couldn't get the motivation to do it. And I can't really stay mad at YOU. In fact, I'm going to tell you something you'll need to know if you really don't want to lose me, and it could be helpful with Surge too, so I'm telling you this because I want you to be able to stay calm and know what to do in case of an emergency with her. It's not enough to make me or Surge able to heal really fast if we still need to be revived. "
Kit said, " Okay, tell me, " and looked at the Tricore in his hand reminding himself that he could hypnotize him again if the hypnosis wore off. Starline explained, " If someone who was upgraded gets killed, for example from being crushed, all you have to do is shock her chest a little to restart the cybernetic heart, and I have a device that can do that in the medical bay, and then get her breathing again by putting her in a bed in the medical bay in this base, or one of the many other bases in the world. That'll activate the nurse bot there and she'll know how to put someone on oxygen to make her breathe again. And NOW I'll let you upgrade me. " Kit replied, " Thank you. "
Starline uncomfortably followed his order to remove his shirt, reminding Kit of when he had to change his robe out for his original shirt to fool him when he was knocked out by him. He still wasn't used to that, seeing him so vulnerable. Starline pressed the button, picked up the vial, said, " I'll knock on the glass if I need air, " and let his frozen hydro-coil lift him and put him in the green tube, where he held his breath in the cold liquid as the nanobots rushed into him.
When it was finally done, with Kit getting him out just as he was passing out, he made sure to put his shirt back on, carry him while rushing him to his bed and planning to use the glove if he woke up. He put him in bed and threw the blankets on him, put his Tricore on his hand, ran the bath water for a bit and wet the towels to cover up how Starline was wet all over with a reasonable explanation.
Then he sat beside him until he woke up, after which he backed away and nervously said with a smile, " Hi, Dad, I mean, Dr. Starline. I hope you didn't have a nightmare, because you looked nervous. You aren't gonna get mad at me for being here for a hug, are you? " Starline was still groggy, but still just awake enough to smile softly and say, " No of course not… That's odd, I don't remember taking a bath. I'd say I slipped and hit my head, but I never stopped having that migraine earlier either, so I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. So what happened to me? " Starline commented drowsily.
Kit was too scared to tell him the truth in case he'd hold it against him and plan to get back at him, so he said, " You passed out, so I brought you here. " Lucky for him, he believed what he wanted to believe, and accepted his vague explanation that wasn't technically lying. And Kit reassured himself with the thought that if he really wanted to know the truth, there was always the camera footage. He knew that if he deleted it and he found empty space instead, his reaction would be a lot worse than if he at least saw him justify why he used up the vial, so he kept it around, knowing Surge would never bother to check.
Either way he was certain he'd hold it against him after finding out he could heal really fast because he'd immediately assume he did it to him without his permission and feel betrayed. He also realized that Surge could find out he could heal really fast and if she didn't assume he did it to him, she might still take advantage of his ability to heal that fast by beating him up just to revive him to beat him again, and his only hope was that she'd tire out and get bored of it surprisingly quickly because of how pointless it'd be.