Wires by The Neighbourhood.
~~~

He couldn't believe it. He'd had a year of brutal training to improve. He should've been faster. Smarter. Stronger. Better. He kept telling himself he was just as important, just as needed and just as great as his original- but Sonic kept making him pay for it everyday.

At the very least, he fled by choice this time. Sort of. Sure, he was missing an ear, his engine was overheating and his leg may as well become completely detached- but he was still alive. As alive as a machine could be anyway.

What would his creator think?

He'd been entrusted to "retrieve" a stupid little Chao- something so simple yet he failed anyway. He'd been told that Sonic was more than likely with the target too, and bringing him to his creator would definitely reap brilliant rewards.

All he had to show he even made it to Angel Island was unnatural, olive green and flecked gold blood.

Hmm.

Now that, might work.

All he could do was hope as he made a clumsy landing on a glistening, slick balcony. White steel greeted him and red streaks marking a narrow runway ran up to towering, metal and blue tinted glass doors. With just a few floors above, waves crashed against the rocky landscape far below. The balcony was built atop many jutted out floors, extending from the main structure of the base. It was a slender building, but made up for it in height, security and isolating location.

Blue ear twisted towards the door when an argument bounced from the walls beyond. When the glass parted, the voices seized and a large man threw on a terrific grin and outstretched his arms. Two little robots waited beside the entrance, both apprehensively wringing their hands.

"Metal! Do tell me you come home with good ne-."

The blue machine shrunk under the man's false joyous mood melting into his truer, raging one. "No blue buffoon? No Chao? How stupidly simple of a task do I have to give you?! And here you are, demanding more repairs! Well, I can tell you, you've had the last-!"

Metal hurriedly stuck his claw out where drying blood glistened under the sunlight. In a cartoonish manner, the round man clapped his hands together, grinned and grabbed his wrist before yanking him inside.

"You never fail to amaze me, my boy."

Something about Doctor Eggman's walk concerned him. Even though he was evidently excited, he moved slowly, sluggishly, and not of a powerful man with great terror.

If only he had the ability to ask if Eggman was alright (his wheeze and following coughs clearly stated otherwise).

"Time is of the essence my dearest creation. Everyday that passes continues to teach me so. We may not have that blasted rat, but you might have just brought me something far better."

Rounding a sharp corner, they passed a colossal archway and stepped into a rather luxurious space. A cream, large L-shaped sofa first met them, but Metal became far more focused on the staggering glass tube in the centre of the room. It was empty, silent, but it unnerved him all the same.

Still, Eggman released his wrist to near his extensive system of computers. Plopping down on his ruby cushioned chair with a tired sigh he tapped his fingers together.

"Shadow's blood has qualities in it even he doesn't know about. At the least, he doesn't remember. Towers refuses to admit his part in what happened about fifty years ago, and it's only a matter of time until he betrays us too. Sonic's an enemy of the world, as planned and thanks to Breezie, but that will only last so long. He'll find a way on top- he always does." He pouted.

"I have eyes everywhere, my boy. Nowhere on Mobius is safe- nowhere. But until we've crossed this hurdle, there's not much else I can do."

When Metal's head tilted, Eggman sighed. "Before the worlds eyes turn to me- I need to be ready. Thanks to Cheese still being...around, my secret of kidnapping mobians once again will be blasted across the planet. Sonic and his pesky friends will come after me, so, I need to be ready."

He held out a hand and nastily grinned when Metal slowly rested his claw on top.

"Thanks to you, I now have everything I need."

—————

The first thing she heard were yelling. Then buzzing and beeping and stampeding footsteps beyond pristine snowy walls. She groaned and hissed at the blurring light sparkling overhead, but a low sigh snapped her attention sharp. Turning her head, a moment passed and she silently observed the more ragged man sitting hunched in a neighbouring chair. Lips to his hands, his coat adorned him unbuttoned and a few stitches lay loose, but his army boot drummed against shiny tiles all the same.

"C...Commander?" She hissed, a strange undertone lacing beneath.

"Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega broke in. Destroyed all footage from the fox's home and the disaster that occurred there. They saw the...Doctor visit my office. Then, they escaped." Finally, his eyes met hers, but there was a deeper wariness in them.

"No doubt you knew it would happen?"

"Pardon?"

Abraham's focus dropped back to the floor. "That happened hours ago. You hear that yelling? That's occurred ever since. The people, humans and mobians alike, have had enough it seems. Breezie's reports made sure to get tensions high. You probably knew that too."

"Sir, I don't understand."

The Commander stood and smoothed his hair. "When Eggman told me we'd make Sonic the enemy, he ensured me Breezie would take care of it. He forgot to mention all of mobian kind would go down too."

"Shame." Doctor Harris replied, notably dryly.

"I was scared my...past would come back to swallow me whole. So much so I decided to work with Eggman on the belief I was doing it for Mobius." The man towered over the doctor, fear clutching her heart.

"But really, I was doing it for myself. For my legacy. That's what it's really about though, isn't it? What kind of legacy we want to leave behind." He leaned close enough to whisper.

"What sort of legacy do you want, Harris?" He stepped back, hearing her breathing freeze, and turned away.

"Sonic's a hazard, but his legacy will be one of a legend. Eggman's an even more dangerous bomb and his legacy will be that of Mobius' greatest villain. Tell me, Harris. Was your interview really just convenient timing? Did you really just want to help Mobius become a safer place?"

Green and brown eyes met a piercing, shiny viridescent.

"Or do you have something more sinister in mind?"

The doctor sat upright with eery ease. "What do you think, Commander?"

"You once said the Robotisizer had a record of any prisoner once kept and theorised those same people were vanishing again. A coincidence, at best, but we both know it's something- or someone- more sinister. I'm curious as to why you'd tell me something like that, especially when your loyalties align elsewhere."

"You sound paranoid."

"Perhaps. Doesn't explain how your eyes went red though, does it?" Towers marched over and squeezed Harris nearer by beneath the chin.

"I've seen that more times than I'm willing to count. I should've seen it coming, shouldn't I? Your unique, almost expert, amount of knowledge on not only Eggman technology, but his and Sonic's history was profound. At first I found it more than impressive. Now I see it's just a trick. Isn't that right, Badnik?"

Harris stalled and her eyes flickered between green and ruby before settling on the latter. With surprising strength she gripped his arm and craned it away, allowing herself to freely (unnaturally) grin.

"Eggman needed eyes on the inside. I'm the first human experiment- voluntarily mind you. I wouldn't look so...real otherwise."

"Then-." Towers hissed. "When you told me of the Robotisizer, why did you warn me about the Doctor after?"

"Call it human instinct." Harris shrugged and a buzz drummed from beneath the Commander's coat.

The curly red head freed him and, somehow, stretched her grin wider. "I'd answer that."

So he did. "Just so you know. I have a meeting with-."

"Doctor Robotnik. At his base later today, yes?"

Abraham paled.

"Rouge and Omega aren't the only ones watching what's really going on here."

He shook his head and turned his attention to the call. "Hello?"

"Commander. I do apologise you had to find out this way."

"Eggman? You can see-?"

"I always can with her around. I do hope you don't take it personally. It's just business."

"Yeah maybe we have a different definition."

"Ho ho ho! I do hope you're still willing to visit?"

"Why in the world would I?"

"You wanted to know why I came back now, yes? I'd like to show you."

"Well, you can consider my interest quashed."

"The worlds erupting into chaos. The people are at war with each other and I didn't even have to do anything. They need a ruler. You can either stand with me or crumble alongside them."

"I've listened to you long-." With a click the call was over and Towers felt the strongest of chills.

"It isn't optional, Sir."

The man turned, but he desperately wished he hadn't. Frizzy hair was glistening, bendy and jutted out at awkward, sharp points. Red optics bore practically straight through him and a grin so terrible crept up almost to her eyes, filled with jagged steel triangles. Claws slipped from greying fingers to match and skin appeared like it was dying (maybe it was).

"You know, mobians may be more resilient, courageous and ready to fight- but humans? Humans are desperate. It's in our nature to be stubborn and defensive. Do you know what happens to either when backed into a corner? They'll both push back, but humans run on pure adrenaline. Mobians already have an increased tolerance to pain, but adrenaline and fear will always overpower foolish bravery."

"You speak as if you're the same as I."

Harris gave a mechanical chuckle. "I'm not. I'm superior."

"Then tell me-." Towers glared. "If you're so much better. When you informed me about the Robotisizer, what else did you want to say?"

"It was the ring, Sir. Charles Hedgehog knew the golden rings found all over Mobius had an untapped power. The way they jumped around, taking each other's places when taken by the few who actually could. It was almost like they were teleporting. They could duplicate and vanish. Charles wanted to push the limits of science, see if he could remedy his mistake of creating the Robotisizer."

"What did he build?"

"He never did. He didn't get the chance. Swooped up by Eggman and turned into a machine. He saw the horrors of his invention firsthand. Apart from Ivo and Snively Robotnik, Charles was the only other person to lay eyes on the mobians lost. The mismatched. The mangled. The broken."

Abraham, almost as pale as the walls behind, stumbled back. "That's who Eggman was on about."

"I destroyed them."

"My creation of the Robians didn't begin without it's...failures."

"They were the missing names on that list, at least those related to the factory."

"Only two saw them."

"He's much closer to someone we both know."

Green and brown eyes met burning red optics. "Does Sonic know? Did he ever find out?"

"He knew his uncle created the Robotisizer, but the pair never discussed it. Sonic doesn't know what else his uncle saw."

"And this blueprint with the ring-?"

"They were at his and the fox's home. I'm sure, with what he's like, he hasn't payed it much mind. Not that he'd understand it."

"Neither did I. That's why I got you to look at it."

"Bet you're regretting that now. And I did, for the record. Built it too. What was it you said? It could be revolutionary in saving the world."

"And you said it could destroy it."

Harris slung on her lab coat and dusted the sleeves, smiling. "Well, a teleportation device with the possibility of reaching other worlds would do that, wouldn't it Towers?"