Sorry for the break, glad to be back! You know how the holidays get.

Ch. 21: Visiting Hours

CYBER dives behind an overturned metal workbench, chased closely by a hail of bullets, which pepper the walls where she once was.

"I must DESTROY all Eggman robots!" Omega, the imposing red and black robot yells, lifting his arms to stop firing as he searches for another angle.

CYBER curls up and puts her back against the workbench. Just then, she notices Sonic crouched next to her, peeking around the edge of the workbench. CYBER freezes and stares at the back of his head for a moment.

"OMEGA!" Rouge yells from the other side of the room, crouched behind a large computer column with Amy. "You said that you'd behave yourself!"

"I did, I was LYING!" Omega yells, his torso rotating around as he fires another barrage of bullets.

Sonic pulls his head back, sitting down, his quills fanning out as he puts his head against the table.

Sonic notices CYBER and looks over at her, his face forming into a sheepish smile, "Ok, so, this is not how I pictured this going."

Sonic sets his hand on the ground, looking up and away from CYBER as he waits for an opening. CYBER's eyes shift to look at Sonic's hand on the floor. She very slowly shifts her hand across the floor towards his. A hail of bullets overhead draws CYBER's gaze momentarily to the adjacent corner of the room. A bullet ricochets off of Broast's body as they sit folded up into a cube. Scuff is curled up behind Broast, covering his head as the bullet sparks off of Broast's chassis. Scuff's head lifts back up, and he clocks CYBER's hand inching towards Sonic's. Scuff's eyes meet CYBER's, and he glances between her gaze and her hand a few times before making firm eye contact with CYBER and shaking his head while frowning. CYBER's eyes narrow, and in defiance she moves her hand faster, her fingers hovering just next to Sonic's pinky. Just then after the bullets have passed, Sonic pops up, startling CYBER who withdrawals her hand. Sonic stands up and places an elbow on the overturned workbench, leaning on it halfway.

"Hey, Omega," Sonic says, waving as if to draw the robot's attention.

Omega immediately snaps around and reflexively fires a bullet in Sonic's direction. Sonic's free hand shoots out and catches the bullet between his index finger and thumb. Sonic tosses the bullet aside, blowing the smoke off of his fingers and shaking off the sting.

"Apologies," Omega says, lowering his gun arm.

"See what happens when you jump to conclusions?" Sonis says, putting his hand down and swinging his legs over the table with a little hop.

Sonic walks over to Omega and puts his hand on his shoulder. Omega looks around and nods slowly.

"So, you'll at least hear them out, right?" Sonic says gesturing to CYBER and Scuff as they peek around the corners of their respective hiding places.

"Yes," Omega says, with his flat, robotic affect.

The large, circular guns that sprout from his arms retract and are soon replaced by his long, knife-like fingers. After waiting for a beat, CYBER and Scuff step out from behind their respective hiding places, with Broast peeking their eyes out of the lid on their head. After the two robots take a few tentative steps forward, Omega's large hand swings and knocks Sonic to the floor.

"What the- Omega!" Sonic cries as he lands on his behind.

"I lied, AGAIN!" Omega shouts, his other hand retracting and turning once again into a circular gun.

He points his gun arm at Scuff and revs it up to full speed. Click, Click, Click. The gun tries to fire, but it is no longer spinning. Omega looks down and spots CYBER, she's straining as she grips the barrel of the gun with both hands, preventing it from spinning.

"We don't work for Eggman!" CYBER shouts, gritting her metal teeth as she holds the gun in place.

"That is IRRELEVANT," Omega says, his other hand retracting and popping out a gun with a curved ammo magazine instead of a rotating barrel.

Omega aims the gun right at CYBER's forehead, but moments before he fires, Amy lunges forward, wrapping her arms around Omega's arm and pulling backward. This causes Omega to fire a stream of bullets randomly, carving a path of bullet holes across the wall. Just then, the door to the vault slides open. Tails steps out with a cheery smile. Knuckles stands there, slightly hunched, the Master Emerald under one arm, and a mug of coffee in the opposite hand, he has large dark bags under his eyes.

"Hey guys, what's-" Tails begins, but is cut off by the stream of bullets coming his way.

Tails' eyes go wide and he hits the deck, covering his head with his hands, Knuckles, however, stays still. The stream of bullets passes by, going right over Tails' head, and shattering Knuckles' mug, but leaving him unharmed. Omega turns his head, his red eyes focusing on Amy, before Sonic, who has now recovered, homing attacks "lightly" into Omega's chest. Omega falls back, both Amy and CYBER releasing his arms as Omega hits the ground with a loud CLUNK. Omega lies quiet for a second, staring up at the ceiling as Rouge the bat slowly walks into his field of vision from above.

Rouge leans down, arms crossed and eyebrow raised, "You and I are gonna have to have a serious talk,"

"But I-" Omega starts.

"No buts!" Rouge says, standing up straight again.

Omega makes a sound like grumbling and sits up. Everyone takes a few steps back as Omega swings his large arms to propel himself back up to his feet. Omega gives everyone in front of him a glare, or at least, it feels like a glare, before turning 180 and walking towards the exit.

Rouge shakes her head as she lets Omega walk by, "You should know better, acting like a child…"

Rouge sighs, "Sorry about that everyone,". She turns to look at Knuckles, "Bye knucklehead," She says with a smile.

Knuckles perks up a bit at the sound of his name, "Bye Rouge…" He says, waiving tiredly as he sets the remaining handle of what was once his mug on a nearby workbench.

Tails dusts himself off and walks up to the group in the middle of the room by the time Rouge is gone. Broast pops their eyes out of the top of their head to make sure that everything is safe, before moving to stand next to Scuff, who is just outside the main circle.

After a long silence, Amy speaks up, "Well… That could've gone better…"

"Tell me about it," Sonic says, rubbing his sore tush.

CYBER is looking down at her hands, hardly acknowledging the exchange.

Tails notices and walks over, looking up to meet CYBER's eyes, "Hey, something wrong?"

CYBER sighs, dropping her arms to hang loosely at her sides, "Can you make me… not one of Eggman's robots?"

"What? How do you mean?" Tails asks, his tails twisting slightly as he internalizes her question.

"Like… modifications? My teeth? My spikes? No nose…" CYBER says, gesturing generally at the "problem areas".

"This logo…" She says, leaning her head sideways to display the orange Eggman logo, like a bow on her head.

"What the… why didn't anyone tell me you had this, I would've removed it ages ago!" Tails says, looking back and forth between Sonic and Amy.

Both hedgehogs just shrug.

"Stupid short legs…" Tails grumbles to himself, looking back up at CYBER.

"I can paint over the logo lickedy split, however, body modifications would be time-consuming and I'm not sure that I have the right parts…" Tails explains.

As Tails explains the complications to CYBER, Knuckles shambles his way over to Scuff, still slouched slightly.

"Oh my… did you sleep at all last night?" Scuff asks nervously.

"I'm 18, I can do what I want," Knuckles says, double-checking that the Master Emerald is tucked safely under his arm.

"Tell the group that I'm leaving, and tell em' thanks, Tails especially," With that, Knuckles turns, taking a path around the group and exiting into the main house.

By now, the group is in a full discussion.

"But I love the way you look!" Amy says reassuringly, patting CYBER's hand.

"Everyone thinks that I'm a freak…" CYBER says, avoiding making eye contact as Tails, hovering slightly above her, airbrushes purple paint over the logo on her head.

"What do you think Sonic?" Amy says, turning to Sonic while still clasping CYBER's hand.

Sonic, who was zoned out staring at a blank spot on the ceiling pops back into focus, "Oh, Um…"

"Hey guys!" Suddenly, the boisterous voice of Vector the crocodile fills the room.

Everyone looks over at the workshop door as all three members of Team Chaotix enter, Vector grins widely and waves at everyone with equal enthusiasm. Charmy Bee shoves his way past Espio the Chameleon and Vector, flying his way into the workshop while looking around in wonder. Espio's view is blocked by Vector, who is still standing halfway in the doorway.

"Heya guys! I hope you don't mind the intrusion, Knuckles let us in," Vector says, looking across the room.

All the robots look up as Charmy buzzes overhead, but the others hardly acknowledge it anymore. CYBER specifically stops for a moment to scan the newcomers.

"Yeah, Sonic, there's something urgent that we gotta discuss," Vector says, his expression becoming more serious momentarily.

Sonic pauses, glancing back at CYBER for a moment before he sighs, "Alright, but let's make it quick, Eggman's due to drop us a little present in about 20 minutes."

As Sonic starts walking towards the door, Charmy circles overhead. Charmy flies until he's right over CYBER's head.

"Wow, you're cool looking, what's your name? My name's Charmy, Charmy Bee! Also, do you like bagels?" Charmy grins, leaning forward with a curious finger on his chin.

CYBER looks up, her dour expression replaced with a saw-toothed smile, "Heya, I'm CYBER, CYBER the… Robot?" She hasn't considered what her full title was before now. "But you can call me Cy."

Charmy giggles, crossing his arms over his belly, "Neat! You wanna play a game, Cy?" Charmy says with an even wider grin.

CYBER considers for a second, she's only just met this kid, but he doesn't seem frightened of her at all.

After a moment of deliberation, CYBER leaps into the air, her chest turbine starting up on a dime, "You bet I do!" She says with a huge grin on her face.

The two begin flying around the workshop, circling around the center podium. Their antics disturb Vector as he's about to speak and cause Tails to look up.

"Hey! Not in the workshop please!" Tails says, pointing with one hand toward the door.

CYBER and Charmy do one last loop around the center platform before flying out the door, sending Vector and Espio jumping back to either side to avoid being sideswiped. Espio watches with a concerned expression as the two fly around the corner and out the door, knocking down paintings.

Vector places a hand on Espio's shoulder, "Don't worry, Espio, Sonic and I will keep an eye on them." Vector gestures for Sonic to follow him, holding the door open as the two walk out.

Amy chimes in for the first time in a while, "Well, there's a lot more guests than we've expected."

Amy turns to Tails, "Have you or Sonic stocked the pantry in a while?"

Tails just shrugs, "I haven't personally checked"

Amy sighs, "Just show me what you have left."

Amy takes Tails' wrist and drags him through the door, deeper into the house instead of outside.

Now left in the garage are three individuals: Espio, Scuff, and Broast. Espio seems a little confused by Scuff's presence, especially the half-closed broken eye. Espio raises a finger and opens his mouth but pauses, as he can't find what to say.

Broast takes a step forward, placing a hand on their chest, "I'm Broast, a robot, and no, this is not Shadow."

Espio lowers his hand and closes his mouth, turning toward Scuff. Scuff waves, but makes no introduction. Espio looks back at Broast, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm Espio, Espio the Chameleon, I assume that you're… friends of Sonic?" Espio steps a bit closer, surveying the two warily.

Broast looks to Scuff and he nods, "Yep, we live here," Scuff says gesturing to the house around them.

"Interesting," Espio says, putting a hand under his chin and surveying the two, his expression softening slightly.

None of the three says anything for quite a while. Espio watches the two, Broast glances between Espio and Scuff, and Scuff looks down and quietly grinds the heel of his shoe against the floor.

Broast finally looks up, breaking the tension, "We should all watch TV!"

Espio lets out an amused grunt, dropping his hands back down to his sides, "What's on?"

–

Outside

–

On the lawn, CYBER and Charmy fly circles around each other, a high-speed game of tag that would not be safe to play for the average person. Nearby, Sonic leans against the front of the house as Vector crosses his arms, standing straight, looking out over the lawn. The pair watch for a moment silently, viewing the antics of the two flying before them.

"So, what've you got Vector?" Sonic glances over, "Just the usual, or something… worse?"

"I'm just worried, Sonic," Vector taps one finger against his arm, "Eggman's been… quiet, but we've been getting a huge increase in activity lately."

"You mean Cy?" Sonic points up as CYBER goes into a dive to evade Charmy.

"I'm sure that's just a fluke. Just another of Egghead's experiments gone wrong," Sonic says, shrugging and putting his arm back down.

"I'm not sure about that," Vector shakes his head, "About a week ago, there were reports of a blue robot kidnapping a wanted criminal, a real bad scene down on the bad side of town."

"Not only that, but reports even as soon as yesterday place robots moving through the woods outside of town," Vector sighs, "That on top of what's been happening here…"

"I think Eggman's cooking something up, and it certainly ain't an omelet," Vector gazes at the city in the distance.

Sonic thinks for a moment, resting his head back against the house, his quills fanning across the wall, as he looks up at the sky.

"You're just a worrier," Sonic smiles and looks back down at Vector.

"But, what about-"

"Relax," Sonic comes off the wall, walking over and putting a hand on Vector's shoulder, "It's nothing we can't handle."

"A couple of Badniks going for a stroll is nothing new," Sonic smiles reassuringly, "Eggman's attention is all on Cy right now."

"Well… I dunno…" Vector sighs, scratching his head, "You think we should tell Tails and Amy?"

Sonic shakes his head, "No reason to stress em' out, Tails is such a worrier, and Amy's got enough on her plate with a new guest as is."

"Well… If you're sure," Vector glances at the ground.

Sonic gives Vector a pat on the shoulder before pulling his hand back, "When have I ever let you down?"

The two flying troublemakers have slowed down and are now hovering just above the lawn, right next to a giant metal cube that's still embedded in the ground. Charmy is teaching CYBER how to do a thumb war. Sonic and Vector stand quiet, each in quiet contemplation. Just then, the front door to the house opens and Tails steps onto the porch.

"Chili dogs are ready!" Tails yells.

Charmy immediately releases CYBER's hand and runs toward the door, leaving a very disappointed robot behind.

"Hey…" CYBER calls weakly but she is ignored.

Tails leans against the doorframe and cranes his head to look at Sonic on the other side of Vector.

"Hey Sonic, Amy was wondering if you had any ingredients OTHER than those to make Chili dogs?" Tails asks, but he already knows the answer.

"Um… you were in the kitchen, you tell me," Sonic rubs the back of his head, the answer is obvious to him as well.

"Didn't think so," Tails shakes his head and goes back inside, a small smile ever present on his face.

"Man, I don't know about you, but I could use a good chili dog," Vector stretches and steps up onto the porch, following Charmy inside.

As CYBER walks dejectedly towards the porch, Sonic unexpectedly puts his hand on her shoulder, stopping her for a moment. CYBER freezes, her joints locking up in a moment of surprise.

"Hey Cy," Sonic says, not looking at her, but past her, "you and I should have a chat sometime…"

CYBER is speechless, if she weren't a robot, she'd be blushing. CYBER just nods slowly, her eyes locked on his face. He couldn't possibly mean…

Sonic lets go of her shoulder and turns, "But right now, it's chili dog time."

With a thumbs up, Sonic walks up the porch and steps inside.

CYBER watches him disappear inside the door, her joints finally responding to her once again. Her hand goes up to her mouth and a small giggle reverberates in her metallic jaw.

"I can't even eat chili dogs," She pauses, "But I'm gonna try anyway!"

CYBER cracks into a big smile and skips up the porch, happily leaping into the house and leaving the door wide open behind her.