Tails' Workshop: No Rest for the Wicked

[Topazia]

Oh, right. Metal, or should he say the organic shell the metallix had dubbed 'Merce', was hypersensitive. The robian kit snorted, still being led by his twisted anger (and not overwhelming sadness as one might have believed) but finally starting to calm down to a rational level.

Well, as rational as one could be in this situation. After being reminded of Metal's special little at will ability, the young fox found himself with a bitter jealousy.

"I'm not justifying it." Tails growled, implying that the two would have to figure it out on their own. A facial spasm crossed the kit's face as he, once again, began to recall the last sensation before the roboticization process overtook him completely. And the humiliation afterwards at being ordered around, and for brief moments, not even being able to control his own body. He could barely think about it without having an overwhelming urge to punch the metallix again rise up inside him.

[Jammerlee]

... Riiiiight. The metallix groaned, covering part of his face with his talon, before bringing it over to resume holding his face plate. Clearly this wasn't going to be easy. Instead of immediately responding to the robian kit, Metal glanced next to them at a certain eavesdropping hedgehog.

Yeah. There wasn't going to be any of that. He looked back at Tails, making a series of audible clicks and chirps.

"01000001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110101 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00111111"

((Binary translator))

[Topazia]

Tails saw the glance and scowled as the robot beeped binary at him.

"01100001 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01110100 01100101 01110010 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01110010 01100001 01101001 01100101 01100100 01101110 01100111 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01101000 01100001 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101000 01101110 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00101110" He chirped back. As a programmer, Tails could understand binary well enough... in its written form. He never really had practice speaking it before. He probably also sounded really slow in comparison.

[Jammerlee]

The metallix blinked, unable to make heads or tails of just what the kit had just apparently said. He glanced up.

"... Alright, that is... not going to work..."

Time for Plan B. Metal began to cue in on the unique signal that Tails was emitting.

<

SPOILER: Click to show

Do you know how to communicate through transmission?

>

[Topazia]

The scowl deepened as Tails essentially began hearing Metal's voice inside his head.

<

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... Yeah.

> The kit responded, this time much more competently. It was a good thing he had practice in the other world... else he might have freaked out a little.

[Jammerlee]

Good, Metal thought. Now the two could discuss things more openly. ... At least, he hoped they could. Judging by the way Tails was behaving the metallix had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be a struggle no matter what. Meanwhile, as far as Sonic would have been able to tell, the two were basically having a staring contest.

<

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Alright...

> he started, trying to compose his thoughts. <

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... Regardless of what happened in the other world with the... other me... you do understand that I do not want to be your enemy, correct?

>

[Tony]

Normally, Sonic would be wondering why the two were just staring at each other. Honestly, this would beg several questions that would need to be answered in a hurry.

But given the situation, he had a vague idea what was going on. He crossed his arms, and gave Metal a mildly annoyed expression. He ... wasn't taking too well that he was being completely cut out of the conversation.

How rude.

[Topazia]

Tails' ears folded back. <

SPOILER: Click to show

... Yeah. Yeah I know.

> But this? This was beyond such a simple concept as friends vs. not-friends. And hiding it from your best friend.

[Jammerlee]

Metal continued to keep eye contact with the robo kit. And boy, doing so was proving to be a challenge, as he kept picturing Tails' old organic eyes laid over onto his new digital optics. Weird weird weird. Adding to the problem was the fact that the metallix found himself at a loss for how to proceed at this point. This really, really wasn't his sort of thing. He wasn't really used to actually trying to console someone.

He let go of his face plate, which was now slowly beginning to mend itself back around the bolt that attached to his cheek. The damage around his face was, slowly but surely, beginning to reverse itself in a way that seemed oddly organic.

Finally breaking the stare-off, he glanced down at his talons, trying to think of something - anything - that would be worth saying. His functional eye then visibly dimmed.

<

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I... do not.... auuugh,

> he shook his head. <

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Will you allow me to try to help you?

>

[Topazia]

Tails knew that Metal was honestly trying to help in anyway he could, and on some level, he appreciated it. But what the hell could he do? The only thing that could possibly satisfy the kit was to be normal again. As normal as a super-intelligent two-tailed freak who used them to fly could be.

The fox's mood quite visibly darkened, namesakes lashing behind him. <

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... Like what? ... I know you- ... I want... What is there that I don't already know about this?

> He responded with a great amount of difficulty, burying his face into his hand.

[Jammerlee]

Hrm. Good point. The kit was a mechanical prodigy. At best all Metal could possibly do was... perhaps... offer him moral support? ... Yeah, that wasn't going to cut it.

Sigh. What a mess. Metal folded his arms as he thought about it.

<

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... You and I could hunt down that counterpart of mine and put a crater in his head to match this one.

> he offered while gesturing at his own face.

[Topazia]

... Ah. So this is what it felt like to be Shadow.

While the dark mood still emanated from the kit, his swishing tails became slow and methodical. That sounded like the best idea he heard in a long time. He removed his hand and presented Metal with a smirk, quickly glancing at Sonic before the organic hedgehog could notice.

<

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As long as it's not that counterpart, I am so in.

>

It was strange how a goal, even if it was just out of revenge and spite, seemed to cheer him up. It was something to look forward to. To plan. To keep his mind off of his unpleasant situation.

...

<

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Thanks.

>

[Jammerlee]

Hearing Tails' gratitude filled the metallix with an unexpected and foreign sort of feeling. Were he able to, he would have returned the smirk. As it were, he found himself resisting a rather bizarre urge he suddenly had to... pat the kit on the head? Where was that coming from? In addition to that, unbeknownst to him, his one functional eye had turned a bright glowing shade of green.

But it only lasted for a moment before it flickered back to red. Since Sonic was still sitting there next to them, Metal simply opted to shrug. <

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In any event...

>, he began, before finally switching back to verbal speech, "... Sonic has agreed to a truce with Eggman and I. We are cooperating with Sonic's Mobian counterpart and intend to attack Eggman's Mobian counterpart before he has a chance to invade our world. I assume you would be willing to assist?"

[Tony]

Ah, okay. They were done playing the secrecy game now.

Metal pretty much posed the question that had been hovering about on his mind for a while. He slowly walked closer to the two before crossing his arms, waiting for his little buddy to answer. Given the circumstances, he was pretty sure he knew what the answer was going to be.

[Topazia]

Tails blinked, noticing the odd flicker in Metal's eyes. He'd seen it happen before, although he always declined to draw attention to it. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure why it happened.

Either way, he was just told as to why Sonic and Metal were here together and not fighting like they usually did. Before Julian could inva-

... Oh. Right.

The kit gave a nervous, sheepish laugh as he pushed himself off the ground, feeling well enough to try standing again. He wobbled a bit before stabilizing himself, and had started rubbing his arm, clearly uncomfortable about something.

"Like I wouldn't be." Tails responded, "... But I have to tell you... he's already attempted an invasion." DUN DUN DUN.

[Jammerlee]

((Sonic written with permission))

Pausing in silence at this revelation, both Sonic and Metal turned and looked at each other, before turning and looking back at Tails with blank expressions.

"... What." they both uttered in unison.

[Topazia]

The kit glanced away in shame, the memories eating at his insides. Tails wasn't quite sure where to start, since it would sound like he had been cooperating. And just saying that he had been forced to do all those things didn't do justice to what had happened to him.

He whimpered.

[Tony]

Alright, so... he already tried to invade! That was ... pretty crappy news, to be perfectly honest. But, y'know, what else was to be expected by this point? This Julian guy really meant business, and with this new tidbit of information, time was of the essence. They had to get to work real soon.

Well... at the very least, it would appear that there had been no real success yet, so... they did still have time to work up a counterattack. But this was something that Eggman and the others definitely needed to hear about.

Speaking of the others...

"Hey, Tails." The hedgehog turned to face his buddy, a curious expression on his face. "One of the things we were sent here to find out was the possible whereabouts of a certain Snively character - Egghead's planning some strategy, and he kinda needs to know about that before any real plans come together. You know of this guy? Maybe, know where he might be, given all of this ... dimensional hopping that's been going on? ... Namely, if he's not in this, uh... Robotropolis location, that's all the better for us."

[Jammerlee]

"Snively and the other Metal Sonic," Metal corrected. "We need to find out whether or not they are still on Mobius or if they are now on Gaia or Terra. Both of them have the capability of destroying the plans we are intending to use," he eyed Tails. "Sonic claims that you record several news sources that may be able to provide information."

He paused for a moment, thinking something over.

"I am also curious about something. How is it that you have your voluntary mobility?"

[Topazia]

Blatantly ignoring Metal's final comment, Tails began walking back to his wrecked workshop.

"I haven't heard of anyone called Snively." Tails answered, "And the last I saw of... the other one... he was still in Robotropolis. But we can definitely check the recordings just to be on the safe side." Focusing his eyes only on his computer instead of the destruction he himself had created, Tails made his way inside.

[Tony]

Sonic, too, was curious about the robot kit's, uh... lack-of-being-controlled-ness, but... given how outright he ignored Metal, it was apparent that that was still a touch subject to mess with, so, for the time being, the hedgehog decided to let it go. Glancing to Metal with a bit of a defeated shrug, Sonic followed Tails into the workshop to see what they could uncover.

[Jammerlee]

Maybe Sonic was content to let things go for the moment, but Metal certainly wasn't. Getting up and following after, he caught himself up with Tails, looking rather cross at how blatantly the kit had avoided his question.

"Tails, answer me," he insisted. "We are preparing to go to war with Robotropolis. Knowing how you overcame your programming is extremely important!"

[Topazia]

Tails had just reached the desk where his computer sat when Metal decided to railroad him back onto the question of his free will.

With a demand that sounded far too much like the orders he was forced to follow. Such as revealing his knowledge about Chaos Energy.

"Do you want help!?" Tails barked, slamming his hands down on the desk and turning to glare at Metal. A niggling thought told him he should be saving his anger for the other doppelganger. Now that he was more calm, he had the presence of mind to agree, and dropped his gaze back to the computer. Typing in the password (while ignoring the new dent in his desk) to his network, it took time before the kit could pluck up the nerve to say anything.

"I didn't do it on my own," he began, "I... there were special conditions. They wanted us to do something, but couldn't without... without us being us but still under control."

The kit gulped, taking his time with the memory. And if Metal prodded him one more time he'd punch him again. Especially for what exactly he was forced to do, and with whom. By now the computer was showing news paraphernalia, starting at seven days prior.

[Jammerlee]

Startled by the kit's sudden and intense outburst, Metal groaned, rolling his eyes into his head. Clearly there was a lot more Tails was neglecting to mention, though given his apparent mental state at that moment, he wisely refrained from pressing any further... for now. Instead, he focused on the computer while Tails worked. Pointing at the screen, he glanced at the dual-tailed kit.

"We can search the database faster if you allow me to hook myself up. That is why I came with Sonic."

[Topazia]

Tails looked particularly glum, though was internally relieved that Metal had stopped pestering him. It meant he didn't need to think about it.

"Yeah. Yeah go ahead." the kit replied distantly, gesturing to the ports on the computer.