Ch. 10 All together now!

Saturday…

The energy in the elevator is tense, CYBER, Scuff, Sinister, Dextral. All stand completely silent, hardly daring to move their fingers. All seven eyes are turned up to look at the elevator display, watching the number tick up until it switches from "DECK 5" to "COMMAND DECK". The elevator stops with a jolt, shaking everyone out of their silent haze as they prepare to step off the elevator. This is the command deck, and CYBER first notices that the hallways here are significantly wider in all dimensions. The elevator door closes behind the team, with CYBER and Scuff standing shoulder to shoulder in front of Dextral and Sinister. The first thing that alerts CYBER to the arrival of the other security team, is the soft crackling of rocket jets. Silver Sonic wheels slowly around the corner, propelled by the minimum thrust his rockets can put out. Mecha Knuckles walks next to Silver Sonic, appearing more realistic, but its eyes are characteristically empty. CYBER's eyes narrow as she scans them, but the Shadow Androids don't react much. As CYBER examines the next two robots coming around the corner, she is temporarily shocked. It's Sonic? How is he here? What is he… then CYBER's scanners kick in, and she identifies it as Metal Sonic. She notices that her mouth is hanging open, so she quickly closes it. CYBER shakes off her temporary confusion and stands up straight. The groups now stand face to face, and CYBER's scan of Metal Sonic is interrupted when her view of him is blocked by Silver Sonic, so she turns her eyes slightly to scan Mecha Sonic, who is diagonal to her.

Suddenly Dr. Robotnik's voice comes over the intercom "Play nice," followed by a laugh and the intercom crackling off.

At that, the robots all break formation, Dextral and Sinister walk over to a corner next to the elevator and wait for the other pairs to be selected. CYBER glances at Scuff, but then turns away, she doesn't want to talk to him.

Mecha Sonic turns towards Metal Sonic "Metal Sonic, I-" but he stops when he sees that Metal Sonic is already walking away from him.

Metal Sonic walks over to CYBER, arms swinging stiffly as he walks. CYBER soon finishes her scan and finds that Metal Sonic's design is incredibly similar to hers. CYBER stares in shock for a moment as Metal Sonic stops a foot from her, definitely way too close.

"You're going on patrol with me," Metal Sonic says, very matter-of-factly.

"Um, sure," CYBER says politely, but she's pretty sure he wasn't asking.

Metal Sonic walks and then turns shoulder to shoulder with CYBER, and the two walk down the hallway to the left, leaving the four other bots behind. Everything is silent for a moment, before walks towards Mecha Sonic, partially to get further from Dextral and Sinister, and partially because he doesn't have any other choice.

Mecha Sonic looks down at him "Hello".

"Hi…" Scuff says, glancing down the hallway where CYBER went.

"We shall work together," Mecha Sonic says, extending a hand for a handshake.

Scuff takes the handshake, and as Mecha Sonic turns to stand next to him, Scuff glances back at Dextral and Sinister, who are starting to walk out of their corner. Mecha Sonic and Scuff begin walking, taking the opposite path to CYBER and Metal Sonic.

"I shall only converse with you if you wish to," Mecha Sonic says quite politely.

"I would like that…" Scuff is intrigued, he's never interacted with someone so polite.

Scuff glances behind him, and a chill runs down his metal spines as he sees that Dextral and Sinister are tailing them.

Elsewhere

Metal Sonic and CYBER walk with an identical gait. Side by side, equal height. They walk for a moment before CYBER looks over at Metal Sonic. They walk silently for a long time, seemingly sizing each other up.

"Hi, I'm CYBER," She says in a friendly manner.

"I know," Metal Sonic responds.

"Ok…" CYBER is a bit put off by this. "What's your name?" She already knows, but she's just being polite.

Metal Sonic pauses for a moment "I am Metal Sonic". It's been so long since he's conversed with someone who is concerned with formalities.

"So what's it like? Working on the command deck by the boss?" CYBER says, mostly to keep the conversation going.

"It's… fine," Metal Sonic says, if he had a jaw, he would clench it.

Then something flashes to CYBER's mind. "You have met Sonic the Hedgehog before, correct?" She asks, her eyes almost glowing as she looks over at him.

"I have," Metal Sonic has heard what Dr. Eggman's plan for CYBER is, and he wants to stop it.

"You should not-" Metal Sonic tries to say something, but his obedience programming, it seems, is programmed to stop him from letting CYBER know that she's being manipulated.

"I don't like him," Metal Sonic has to settle for that.

"Why not?" CYBER tilts her head curiously, she knows from her extensive research into Sonic, that Metal Sonic has squared off with him several times.

"He is simply inferior," Metal Sonic states like it's the absolute, unarguable truth.

CYBER frowns "In what way?" she says defensively.

"His organic flaws of course," Metal Sonic speaks quickly, red pupils dilating ever so slightly "and he's just so… smug all the time" Metal Sonic glances over to gauge CYBER's reaction, he never gets to discuss this kind of thing with anyone.

"Huh" CYBER scoffs, "It's not smug, he's just confident!"

Metal Sonic growls a bit, but decides that this line of conversation is going nowhere.

"I'm sure you noticed, but we happen to be very similar in make"

"That I did," CYBER says, her curiosity stopping her from chasing the topic of Sonic further.

"Do you know why?" Metal Sonic asks, pushing up against the edge of his obedience programming.

"I… don't," CYBER never really thought about it before now.

"It's because-" Metal Sonic's voice completely locks up, his speakers going dead.

"Because?" CYBER is extraordinarily confused as he's been paused way too long for it to just be for dramatic effect.

Metal Sonic starts to panic a little bit, he can't say what he wants to say. He looks back and forth as if there was somewhere to escape to other than more hallway. But suddenly, the sound of a loud scuffle down the hallway behind them interrupts the awkward moment. They both look down the hallway towards the noise and then back at each other, before wordlessly turning and activating their chest engines, taking off down the hallway.

A few minutes ago

Scuff, trying to avoid being rude, turned away from Dextral and Sinister, trying to look at his patrol partner, Mecha Sonic.

Mecha Sonic turns his orange visor to look at Scuff "We both only have one eye". Mecha Sonic doesn't seem to notice the two robots tailing them.

"Huh, I guess we do," Scuff forces a smile.

Scuff's hand involuntarily goes up to tap at his broken eye. An unsettling feeling hangs over him like a haze settled just behind his head.

"I am Mecha Sonic," Mecha Sonic introduces himself succinctly, much like one would expect from a robot.

"Scuff," Scuff responds, trying to focus on the conversation.

"It is nice to talk to you…" Mecha Sonic's voice trails off at the end of the sentence, seemingly lost in a thought or a memory.

Scuff was a bit confused, was this robot being vulnerable, or just weird? "I guess, it's nice talking to you too," Scuff stops tapping on his broken eye.

"Do you enjoy talking? Are there other activities you enjoy?" Mecha Sonic rattles off questions like he's been saving them up.

"I guess," Scuff rubs the back of his head, he feels like he can talk to Mecha Sonic. "I don't really do a lot of talking, I mostly just spend most of my time researching the boss' enemies," Scuff says, admitting most of the truth but not all of it.

"I already have most of the information I need on Sonic, Knuckles, and their allies," Mecha Sonic says, keeping his gaze straight ahead. "Right now I'm attempting to teach my friend, Silver Sonic, how to speak" Mecha Sonic glances at Scuff. "I haven't been very successful as of now".

Scuff considers this for a second "Do you have many friends on your security team?". Scuff has never had the chance to talk to one of the command deck's robots, he has always done his patrol alone.

"Yes". Mecha Sonic pauses, looking toward the floor "At least I think so".

Scuff feels a pang of sadness for his new… "Hey, would you like to be my friend?" Scuff offers with a small smile.

Mecha Sonic perks up "I would like that", he says, his flat robotic tone unable to really convey any emotion.

"I would like to know more about you, friend," Mecha Sonic says, turning his head slightly to look at Scuff. "I know you said you spent most of your time researching our enemies, but what do you enjoy doing?"

"Well," Scuff decides to be honest, "I want to be a hero".

Mecha Sonic processes this for a moment "Are 'heroes' not usually the people that we're fighting?"

"Yeah, but I just… feel inspired to want to save others," Scuff says, taking a superfluous breath through his mechanical nose.

"I do not think that is possible to do while you are working in this facility" Mecha Sonic states, turning to look forward as they take a corner in the hallway.

"But I can be better than my teammates at least," Scuff says, resisting the temptation to look back to see how close said teammates are.

"How so?" inquiries Mecha Sonic.

"Well…" Scuff considers how to word it. "They kind of push me around a lot, but I don't really push back. If I fought back I would just be making their lives harder," Scuff says, hoping Mecha Sonic would agree with him.

"Getting pushed around doesn't seem very heroic," Mecha Sonic states.

Scuff opens his mouth, then closes it, trying to think of a response, when suddenly, he feels a hand on his shoulder. Scuff freezes in place, completely stopping for a moment before slowly turning to see Dextral's hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think there is anything heroic about him at all," Sinister says, standing behind Dextral with his arms crossed.

Dextral's grip tightens on Scuff's shoulder "Your little purple friend isn't here to defend you this time". Dextral's face cracks into a cruel smile.

Dextral shoves Scuff into the wall, not very hard, because his programming won't let him harm Scuff. But he can still skirt the edges of actual harm and just inflict humiliation.

Sinister snickers behind Dextral and steps closer, invariably working up another insult, when suddenly his face shifts to one of panic. Sinister is lifted clean off his feet and into the air. Mecha Sonic has Sinister by the scruff of his neck and raised to eye level.

"What are you doing?" Mecha Sonic asks in a flat, almost menacing tone as he stares at Sinister in the eyes.

Sinister is silent, his mouth hanging open, he shakes slightly, producing a dull rattle as he stares back at Mecha Sonic.

"Hey! This isn't any of your business!" Dextral yells, putting his hand on Scuff's face and shoving him into the wall again.

"Let him go," Mecha Sonic commands, with a flat energy that only a robot could produce in this situation.

"Mecha Sonic, don't-" Scuff begins, but Dextral puts his hand over Scuff's mouth.

Without another word, Mecha Sonic steps forward, reaching for Dextral, but at that moment, Sinister begins flailing wildly. Sinister's wild flailing forces Mecha Sonic to use both hands to restrain him, which allows Dextral to drag Scuff away from Mecha Sonic. Mecha Sonic sees Dextral dragging Scuff, so he drops Sinister to give chase. Mecha Sonic gets two steps before he stops, as Sinister has grabbed Mecha Sonic's wrist and is trying to drag him backward. Mecha Sonic is much stronger than Sinister, but can't shake him off, only very slowly drag him. Dextral, still holding Scuff, is pulling him down the hallway faster than Mecha Sonic can pull the struggling Sinister. This scene is interrupted as a sound like a two-engine jet taking off fills the hallway, as Metal Sonic and CYBER come speeding around the corner. Metal Sonic sets down near Sinister where he is struggling against Mecha Sonic, watching the scene with something like amusement. CYBER goes a bit further, flying past Scuff and Dextral and landing right in Dextral's path.

"Let him go Dextral!" CYBER commands, widening her stance.

"What are you going to do if I don't?" Dextral says smugly, wrapping one arm firmly around Scuff's neck, and a hand over Scuff's mouth.

Scuff looks at CYBER, his eyebrows up high, his working eye opened wide, his broken eyelid hanging limply, only adding to the display of helplessness.

CYBER clenches her fist, her sharp teeth bared in a furious frown. The small turbine on her left-hand shrieks to life, but Dextral keeps a smug look on his face until the fist doesn't stop. CYBER throws a high-speed, jet-powered punch, gliding right past Scuff's shocked face and straight into Dextral's nose. Dextral's face crunches inward with a satisfying creak and then a pop. Dextral flies backward, releasing Scuff, and he slams into the wall behind him, denting the wall, and sending at least three of his metal spines careening off his head. Dextral can do nothing but blink as he tries to make noise, he just sputters oil from his mouth. Everyone else freezes, Sinister stops struggling, Mecha Sonic stops dead in his tracks, Scuff's mouth hangs open, and Metal Sonic observes in the background. But CYBER isn't done, her main chest thruster blasts on, propelling her clean across the hallway in a fraction of a second as she begins her onslaught. She stops her momentum using Dextral's body, slamming her knee into his chest and collapsing it inward. Hovering in front of him, CYBER begins wailing on Dextral, her jet-powered punches denting into him repeatedly. CYBER unleashes a terrible war cry that mixes with the roaring of her engines, a gleam in her eye. While Scuff and Sinister are trapped in shock, Mecha Sonic reacts calmly, and as CYBER tears back for another punch, Mecha Sonic catches her elbow. CYBER finally stops, almost whipping around to attack Mecha Sonic, but he holds her shoulders and gives her a moment to think. CYBER looks at the carnage, scrap, and synthetic fur scattered on the ground, as a bent and broken, oil-stained frame that is Dextral is trapped upright in a dent in the wall. CYBER shoves Mecha Sonic's hands off of her, and she lands on the floor. She glances at a confused Scuff and an equally bemused Sinister. CYBER walks over to Scuff.

"He won't bother you anymore," CYBER reaches out to grab Scuff's shoulder.

But Scuff takes a step back, his face contorted in horror.

"What did you do to him?" Scuff says, voice quivering.

"He was going to hurt you," CYBER says, clenching her hand as she withdraws it.

"He couldn't have, he was programmed not to," Scuff says, his eye flicking between CYBER's face and the desiccated Dextral.

"You should be thanking me!" CYBER says, crossing her arms. "I saved your chassis!"

"But you didn't need to do… this," Scuff gestures at Dextral, shrinking away from CYBER.

CYBER casts a glare at Sinister, who is cowering behind Mecha Sonic.

CYBER glances at Dextral for a fraction of a second before turning back to Scuff, shaking with rage. "You ungrateful… ungrateful… defective, broken splotch of rust!" She screams at Scuff.

Scuff shrinks into himself, looking down, turning his good eye away from CYBER. "You're a monster," Scuff says quietly before falling silent.

CYBER looks up, examining everyone around her in the hallway, Sinister is shaking enough to rattle his bolts, Mecha Sonic is staring at her with his judgemental orange eye, and Metal Sonic stands with his chin up, she can almost imagine a smile on his face. CYBER unleashes an exclamation of frustration before taking off and walking down the hallway. As she walks past Mecha Sonic, Sinister shuffles to keep CYBER on the far side of him. As CYBER storms down the hallway, Metal Sonic begins to clap.

"Magnificent!" Metal Sonic yells, a harsh, echoing laugh emanating from him. "Magnificent!"

CYBER ignores Metal Sonic's voice as she stomps down the hall with her feet clanking loudly, and her shoulders tensed.

One elevator ride later

CYBER marches into the security office, muttering in frustration. She marches to the wall opposite the door.

"Rah!" With a noise of frustration, she slams her fist into the wall, denting the wall.

She leaves her hand there as her face slowly comes down to rest her forehead on the metal wall. She emits a hissing, sigh-like noise as she attempts to calm down. She removes her forehead from the wall, pulling her hand from the dent as she looks up, her eyes drawn to the computer monitor. An idea springs to her mind as she looks at it.

"He understands helping people…" she mumbles to herself.

She walks over to the computer monitor, rapidly tapping buttons to turn it on.

"I'll find Sonic… he'll actually appreciate it when I do good things for him," she says as a smile breaks across her face.

After a quick social media search, she finds an image of a Sonic sighting. It seems that he's at a restaurant with his friends Tails and Amy. CYBER giggles, almost giddily, as she turns towards the door.

"Goodbye, scrap-holes!" CYBER yells down an empty hallway.

She was going to find Sonic, and she doubted that the front door would stop her.