I'm back after Christmas with a new chapter! Enjoy

Ch. 7: Meter of worth

Finally, the end of their shift.

"So our schedule repeats every 6 days?" CYBER says, glancing over at Scuff.

CYBER is standing next to Scuff, and the two of them are standing behind Dextral and Sinister, all crammed into the elevator, going down.

"Yes, each day we patrol a different floor, starting with the odds, then doing the evens, and finishing with the command deck," Scuff says, looking up slightly and speaking like he was reciting a well-rehearsed speech.

The elevator rumbles to a stop back on the command deck. Dextral and Sinister quickly exit the elevator side by side walking briskly, clearly annoyed by the sound of Scuff's voice. Scuff and CYBER simultaneously speed up to catch up to the advanced pace of their teammates.

"What about that other security team, what's their schedule?" CYBER turns her head slightly toward Scuff but keeps her eyes forward to keep her balance.

"Oh, the other security team never leaves their office, unless, of course, there is a security breach or mission that the boss needs them to deal with," Scuff says, stumbling a bit when his good eye is distracted glancing at CYBER.

They both go quiet for a second, as Dextral and Sinister go into the security station. CYBER grabs Scuff's arm before he goes through the door.

"I was wondering about something you said," CYBER says, turning him with her hand so that he is facing her.

The door to the security station closes off to their side.

"You said that you like to emulate kindness" She grips both of Scuff's shoulders. "Why?"

"Because the real Shadow does…" Scuff looks off to the side.

"But why does he do it?" CYBER lets go of his shoulders, putting one hand on her hip, and lets the other hang out to the side. "Clearly, being bad makes you more successful" she gestures toward the door, referring to Dextral and Sinister.

"Um…" Scuff pauses. "Because it makes you a hero" He nods, thinking that proves his point.

"And why would anyone want to be a hero?" CYBER wonders.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Scuff looks up at her. "And it makes people like you…" he pauses "...supposedly".

CYBER looks down, seemingly thinking to herself, before she very suddenly walks off to the side into the security office. Scuff is surprised by her sudden and very rude exit, but he supposes that she has a lot to think about, so he just follows her in. Dextral and Sinister are already by the computer monitor, it seems that they spend most of their time staring at the computer monitors and whispering to each other. CYBER stands in the middle of the room, lost in thought. Scuff walks to the far side of the room and leans his head back against the wall. Scuff looks up at the wall, glancing at the clock, he shakes his head when he sees the time. As CYBER stares off into space, Scuff pushes himself off the wall and walks over to tap CYBER's shoulder.

"CYBER, at about this time every other day we have some training," he says, looking somewhat nervously at the clock.

CYBER snaps out of her trance, looking over at him.

"The computer selects two of us, and then we fight to keep our skills sharp," Scuff says, looking over at Dextral and Sinister.

"Oh," CYBER says, looking down. "I've never fought anyone before".

"But you have the base programming," Scuff says, trying to boost her spirits.

Scuff takes CYBER's shoulder and leads her to the computers, slightly behind Dextral and Sinister. All seven eyes turn up to the computer monitors to see who will fight that day. Suddenly the monitors switch from hallway views to a blank white screen. The Eggman logo appears on the white background, split between the four screens.

Some text comes up across the screen. "Today's training session will be Scuff vs. Dextral".

Scuff closes his good eye and lowers his head. Dextral and Sinister are both grinning as they glance at each other.

"C'mon faker" Dextral leaves Sinister's side, grabbing Scuff's arm and dragging him towards the center of the room. Scuff stumbles as Dextral drags him quite roughly. CYBER is about to step forward, when Sinister suddenly steps in front of her, half obscuring the view.

"Just enjoy the show," Sinister says, smirking evilly.

As CYBER and Sinister turn their eyes to look to the center of the room, a red forcefield cuts the room in half. Scuff is dragged, and put against the wall. Dextral lets go of him and walks back over to the forcefield in the middle of the room. Scuff looks at CYBER from across the room and mouths the words: "It'll be ok". CYBER looks back as the computer begins its countdown.

"3, 2, 1, FIGHT"

As soon as the word rings out, Dextral takes off to the right, blasting rocket jets from his feet, attempting to move to the right into Scuff's blind spot. But Scuff moves fast, turning his head to the left and jumping forward and to the right, pulling his arms into a defensive stance. They begin to circle each other, Dextral spiraling closer, and Scuff staying close to the wall. Then Dextral kicks out his right foot, changing his trajectory to put him on a crash course with Scuff. Scuff is slow to react, his bad eye happened to be the main one facing Dextral on the current turn. Scuff only has time to bring his arms up to his face before Dextral's shoulder slams into his exposed stomach with a creaking metal crunch. The sound makes CYBER flinch, the sound of crushing metal is sickening to a robot, but Sinister just smiles. Dextral points his rocket shoes straight back, pressing Scuff into the forcefield with his shoulder. But Scuff does not fight back, he just curls up, defending his face and pulling in his legs below Dextral's shoulder. CYBER presses her hands against the red forcefield, watching the scene unfold. Dextral pulls back, letting Scuff slide down the forcefield a bit, before Dextral swings his right leg up, right under Scuff's arms to kick him right in the chin. Scuff's head flies back with another crunch, leaving a dent in his chin. Scuff throws his legs out to the right, throwing himself off balance in a last-ditch effort to escape. Right as Scuff lights up his rocket shoes to make his escape, Dextral jumps up, curling into a ball. As Scuff begins to move, Dextral surges forward in a spin dash. The blow hits Scuff diagonally, sending him skidding across the forcefield and into the corner of the room. Scuff cries out as he slams into the corner. Scuff barely has time to refocus as he sees Dextral tucking into an attack position. Scuff curls up into the fetal position, shielding his body with his arms and legs. Dextral streaks across the floor in a spin attack, slamming into Scuff. The red-black ball that is Dextral whirls against Scuff's arms and legs, sending synthetic fur flying from his limbs. By the time Dextral pulls back, Scuff's shins and lower arms are reduced to their metal skeletons. Dextral stands up from his attack, towering over Scuff. Scuff just sits there in the corner, trembling and not fighting back. Dextral glances at the metal and exposed wires on Scuff's arms and legs.

"We're done here," Dexral says, turning to face the forcefield.

The forcefield vanishes, and CYBER rushes over to Scuff's side, kneeling next to him.

"Are you ok?" CYBER says, staring at Scuff's shredded synthetic fur and the bent metal frames.

Scuff looks away from her but raises a hand. "Just.. help me to the repair machine," he says, his voice glitchy and metallic.

CYBER somewhat clumsily hoists Scuff onto his feet, supporting him with her arm. Dextral takes his spot next to Sinister, and the two share a grin. CYBER half drags Scuff over to the repair machine, placing him inside. As the mechanical arms of the machine come up to repair him, Scuff places his left hand over his eye.

"I'll be ok," Scuff says, attempting to reassure CYBER as heated metal arms and strips of synthetic fur wind around him.

CYBER turns away from the scene and glares at Dextral and Sinister, who are ignoring her and grinning at each other. CYBER looks away from them and off to the side, staring at the computer monitors which now flash the message.

"Training complete"

That night

From the previous night's data, CYBER calculated the exact time that she would need to plug in to wake up at the same time as everyone else. She charges significantly faster than everyone else does, she doesn't know why, but it gives her plenty of time to be alone. Scuff's repairs went fine, though the synthetic fur around his left hand is a little patchy because he was holding it over his eye the entire time. Dextral and Sinister plug in first, powering down. Scuff steps out of the repair machine, tearing his hand away from his still-broken eye.

CYBER walks over to him. "Scuff… I'm so-"

"It's ok CYBER, there's nothing you could have done," Scuff says, pulling patches of stitched synthetic fur off of his white glove.

"But why would you let him beat you up like that?" CYBER says, trying to get him to make eye contact with her.

"A hero does things for others," Scuff says, making his way slowly across the room toward the charging chords.

"But he beat the scrap out of you!" CYBER insists, following close behind him.

"One of us was going in that repair machine, It might as well have been me," Scuff says, setting his back into the indent of the charging port.

"Being a hero sounds like it sucks" CYBER insists.

Scuff presses the button on the wall, ejecting the charging chord. "Well… it's not all bad, I promise" he plugs the chord into his head, promptly shutting down.

CYBER stands silently for a second, looking at where Scuff's inactive body sits in the port.

"No benefits I've seen" CYBER mutters.

She turns over to look at the computer, glancing at her empty charging port. She knows that she has an extra thirty minutes before she needs to shut down for the night. She sets a mental timer and strolls across the room to the computer monitor. She looks down at the controls, slowly deciphering what each does. She presses a sequence of buttons, pulling up a webpage. She takes one last glance at her inactive teammates before she begins typing. She searches "What is a hero?".

After reading for some time, she talks to herself "Someone who is admired… someone extraordinary…"

It doesn't take long for her searches to shift to Sonic. She finds something about him extremely interesting. At first, she finds images of him receiving praise, getting rewards, and being chased by paparazzi. But soon she comes upon images of Sonic with his friends, smiling, and laughing. She stares at an image of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy all squished together, smiling for a silly photo.

"I get it," CYBER says excitedly to herself. "Being a hero makes people like you!" a small smile creeps across her sharp teeth.

Suddenly the mental timer she had set goes off in the back of her mechanical mind. She quickly shuts off the computer, the engine in her chest whirring. She activates the turbines on her hands and feet, turning on a dime, and then she blasts across the room, landing in front of her charging chord, quickly accessing it and laying back. She plugs it in and shuts herself down.

Eggman's office

Sitting in his dark room, leaning over his computer, Dr. Robotnik smiles. "My plan is coming along nicely" The screen in front of him is reflected off of his round blue glasses. It shows an interior view of the security office. He watches as CYBER shuts off her computer screen and zooms over to her charging station. He's smirking at the computer screen in front of him until a crash rings out behind him. His face curls into a sneer as he turns to see Cubot lying on the floor, and Orbot standing over him.

"What are you two fools doing?" Dr. Robotnik demands.

"I got tired of his stupid old voice" Orbot shrugs.

Cubot gets up, hovering back into the air, and taking a dignified posture. "Hmm, quite a nice new voice, wouldn't you agree chaps?" He says in a British accent.

"This voice is even worse than the old one!" Orbot says in distress.

"Would you two just shut up?" Eggman yells at them.

The two robots pause, going silent. They both stand still for a moment and then begin quietly fighting, Orbot reaching for the voice chip, and Cubot avoiding him. But they are quiet enough that Dr. Robotnik can turn back to his computer.

"Soon enough, my hypothesis will be tested," he says with a devious smile.

He cackles loudly into the air, looking up and spreading his arms. His devious laugh echos about the room as Orbot and Cubot fight as quietly as they can in the background.