Archive of Our Own ^beta

“So, you think you can fix him?”

Belle blinked out of her blank and shocked stupor as Tails’s words came to mind. It was a long time ago, she hardly remembers agreeing to it, but still; “If I’m unavailable, or the work is too… uhm… Eggman-y to work out. I figured it’d be nice to see if you’re able to make fixes to Omega! Given Eggman and Mr Tinker’s craftsmanship are fundamentally very similar!” Tails’s scratchy voice rewinded back in her mind. 

Whatever he had said next was lost in the white noise of her confliction. Of course their work was the same. She saw it first hand the day she first peaked past Motorbud’s exterior. She’d expected it to be there. Repairs and check ups were, a methodical and scheduled thing, but she couldn’t help but freeze when her eyes met with the distinguishable marksmanship of her dad, of, of her dad.

She sighed, rubbing over the wooden shell of her face. Right. The present. Team Dark standing in front of her with a busted E-123 Omega.

“I can give it a go,” She mumbled. It’d be rude not to, given they had to find her in the middle of buckwild nowhere, “I’ve helped Tails do it before. I can do it again. I’m just surprised you didn’t go to him first!”

“Contextual information; the tiny feeble fox was not in his usual workshop.” Omega steamed with, frustration? It was hard to tell. He motioned with his smoking, wire exposed arms, “Unreliable! Unreliable and deceitful! He claimed to always be available to fix me! He was incorrect!”

Oh yeah no he was seethin’. A light cough for attention turned her head, as Rouge splayed herself over her traveling cart. 

“You can’t blame him for being busy, big guy. And besides, we’ve got our lovely sweetheart here volunteering to help!” Rouge batted her eyelashes, “Who knows! Maybe she’ll do a better job than the kid!”

“Low amount of data to infer this. Assuming is inefficient.” Omega’s optics constricted. He let out a low sputtering sound from his chest, making the other two members flinch. Omega let out a low rumble of displeasure, glancing over at Motorbud where he slept, and then back, “You keep a motorbug. You have repainted it.”

“Uh yeah, his name is Motorbud, he’s my friend,” Belle began lightly, smiling as much as she could. Omega stared at her for a long moment, then at her friend, and then back.

“Then you will have a difficult time fixing me, for I am a superior, more complicated robot,” Omega boasted. His joints let out another creak and worrying squeak as he pointed upwards. “Rouge, Shadow, I suggest we leave the inferior badnik and take to Tails’s lab once more. We will hide in his base, and wait until he returns, feasting on what remains in his measly fridge and–”

An explosion of smoke billowed from his shoulder joint, making Belle shriek. 

“GEARS AND STARTERS!” His heavy arm dropped to the ground and Shadow knelt with Omega, as he keeled over into the grass with a loud thud. Belle sat down in front of him, her eyes wide with worry and then- judgement towards the dark hedgehog beside him. “What were you three doing to get him like this!?”

“Tch, it’s not your business.” Shadow snapped back, bracing Omega’s front with his arm. A brief flurry of flaps, and Rouge was at Belle’s side.

“Really, it isn’t, if we told you, G.U.N would come for your cute little head and make you into lumber,” The bat remarked, tossing a lock of hair past her shoulder. “Now, I think you’ve got a place to start with now, don’t you!”

“No- I don’t think I ought to start his arm,” Belle shook her head, making Rouge tilt her head. Belle flicked her hand, letting her fingertips unlock and reveal her tool kit, waiting to be used, “Whatever damage he got from his inner frame would be better to fix up first, I don’t want his important bits shutting down over something less important.”

“INCORRECT.” Omega fumed as she began to open his front panel up, “My arm is incredibly important. It is where my impressive arsenal of robot-destroying weaponry is!”

“Tch,” Shadow turned, and started walking off. Rouge followed him with her eyes and placed a sassy hand on her hip.

“And where are you going, handsome?”

“Away,” Shadow remarked stiffly, only adding a secondary explanation when Rouge followed quickly behind, “I detest the sound of this whole process. Omega will be fine.”

“Wa-Wait you two are leaving us alone!?” Belle squeaked, but the two didn’t respond, consumed by banter as they wandered away. Omega’s optics squinted at her with a dangerous red glow- making a chill run up her exoskeleton.

“They do not usually leave me alone with my engineers unless they know I could destroy them in an instant.” Omega stated with a matter-of-a-fact tone when she finally popped the lid of his front open. His eyes narrowed. “Your body is frail and pathetic. Your creator made you out of feeble wood. You are incredibly easy to break.”

“Well-!” Belle’s face heated with frustration. She was doing this all to help, maybe she could turn his attitude off with a flick of a switch- since her hands were all up in his system. Maybe she could give him a piece of her mind for being so rude. “Your creator is my creator so maybe be a bit nicer!”

“Unnecessary social construct! I am the same to all inferior models created by Doctor Eggman!”

“Well I wasn’t made by him!” Belle snapped, busying her hands past wires and smoking cogs- plucking out stray bullets that had wedged themselves in between now torn systems and mechanics that now wheezed for mercy. Replacements were needed. She knew she had some on hand. “Motorbud! Can you get the kit?”

She’d been so focused on the loud ear grinding sounds of her work- she’d hardly processed the long silence that had taken the space between them. Belle’s eyes flicked up with concern at the silent machine. 

“Omega? Are you alright?”

“Processing and calculating; contextual information.” Omega beeped in response. That explained the low incessant fans going off in his chest. Omega shifted. “I was unaware badniks were being produced by a different maker.”

“No-no- I– I mean I don’t think so,” Belle pulled a bit away. He seemed more compliant with being fixed now. She might as well make things more comfortable. She flattened out a picnic blanket and pulled him over to lay on- fanning away any smoke that arose in the process. “My... dad is Mr Tinker, not Eggman.”

“Contradiction; They are the same person,” Omega replied with a harsh grunt. Belle opened her mouth to argue- did she even bother? She’d been through this song and dance before. He is. He isn’t. He is. He isn’t. What did it matter? 

“They, sure are,” She mumbled, as Motorbud rolled up to her side. It nudged its head beneath her hand and she patted over its metal shell. Omega’s insides let out another puff of smoke, reminding her of her task- and she set herself back to work much to the larger robot’s displeasure.

“You are not fixing me!”

“I’m trying to take away all the bad bits in you first!” Belle said, looking over with worry, “Are you in pain?”

“I do not feel pain,” Omega insisted. “I simply urge you to fix me before my power sources run out. Rewriting thought process; Where is your charger?”

“I don’t have one, I run on solar, but I bet I could hook you up to Motorbud’s power!” Belle blinked. Omega seemed to grumble at that.

“That is why your energy levels are operating at only 50%. You are not nocturnal. That charger will work, despite the vast gap between our models.” Omega beeped. Belle scurried around, reaching into her cart and pulling out the familiar chunky wire. She turned around to the small bot and bent down to its eye height.

“Are you okay with this, buddy?” She asked quietly, seeing Motorbud’s LED eyes light up in a friendly squint. It nodded, and popped open its green shell- allowing her to plug one end in. Turning to Omega, she saw red eyes tracking her.

“You are lucky I had expended most of my ammo tonight, otherwise I may have blasted your measly badnik companion to smithereens.” Omega stated simply. His head creaked as she walked over, jutting the charger into his back. “What makes this one passive in comparison to others?”

“Mr Tinker,” Belle softly replied, bending down in front of him. She could feel Omega’s jolt of discomfort and frustration as she dug inside him- readjusting screws, replacing damaged plating and inner mechanics. Her fingers twitched. She- she was over it, she told herself, “His last, goodbye, to me. Before he became Eggman again.”

Before he stopped being my dad. Before I stopped being his daughter.

“There is nothing that stops its passiveness from being artificial,” Omega’s eyes narrowed with something akin to fury, “You read it like it is genuine affection when it is ingrained in its code to act that way. But it is still an Eggman Badnik.”

“That’s not it at all!” Belle exclaimed, closing his front with a click and screwing the bolts back on. She growled with frustration, “Doh! Tell Tails he needs to take a look inside whenever he comes back! You sustained a lot more damage than I can just... fix!”

“Are you finished?” Omega beeped.

“No,” Belle sighed through her teeth, walking over the grass and lugging his heavy dislodged arm from the dirt. The two looked at each other for a long moment and she huffed, “I’m making sure this gets back on you too, it’s what you deserve.”

Omega stared at her silently, before looking down.

“Proceed.”

Silence returned as Belle welded hunks of metal back over where they’d been violently pried off of Omega’s body. Belle’s eyes weighed with exhaustion, her inner systems quietly begging her for rest– but she wasn’t done with her work. She wiped a cloth over the soot covered metal, staring at the scratched out egg insignias that reflected back. She wasn’t sure if she ever would be.

“What was your purpose as Eggman’s creation?” She winced at the phrasing but she remained as steady as possible.

“To fix things he made,” She replied simply. Omega looked towards Motobud and then at his arm- still hanging limp and dysfunctional. 

“You still retain this purpose.”

“I’ve changed it,” Belle clicked her teeth together, and made another zap at his joint. Maybe it was the wiring that was the problem. She reached over for her soldering tools. “Now I fix bots that the doctor abandoned.”

She was expecting a harsh ‘I was not abandoned’ in response, but that never came. Only the quiet humming of fans in Omega’s dented chest.

“Because they are abandoned,” Omega began slowly as Belle’s hands pulled away, “You define them to no longer be of Eggman’s control.”

“Well– Motobud here has had a change of heart, a change of looks, and– Just a change of mind! It doesn’t feel like it’s an Eggman bot. So, it’s not an Eggman bot anymore. It’s… just a bot.” Belle began. It bumped its head against her cheek and she giggled, giving it a wide hug with her pathetic wooden arms, “More than a bot! My bud! Like how, you're not da– Eggman’s robot anymore.”

“Incorrect.” Omega’s camera lenses constricted at her, “I remain very much an Eggman made, owned, and licensed robot. I am the last of my series. I lose my purpose in destroying both him and every one of the inferior models I encounter if I lose my connection to him. My defiance empowers me. It defines me.” 

Defiance: proud and determined opposition against authority or against someone more powerful than you are. Defiance: The chosen rebellion against someone who, one way or another, means something More to you. Who shadows over your movements. Who creeps into your joints and puppets you until all you can do is thrash.

Belle wanted to scream into her hands. She’d already made her goodbye. She’d already come to terms with her dad’s death. That who he was fundamentally didn’t exist anymore. That- that meant who she was to Eggman was nothing. That their connection– was null. And yet– that didn’t stop her from seeing her as something else.

“...Do you see him as a father?” She hesitantly asked. It didn’t stop her from wanting him to see her as his daughter. Even if their bond was cut.

“Negatory.” Omega responded immediately. There was no offense in his voice, but intense assuredness, “I was not designed to feel compassion, familial warmth, nor kinship to either the inferior models of Eggman’s hand or the man himself. Warmth was not an efficient function for my system, so I lack it, and I am unable to develop one. However, I can experience a level of; Rage. And hatred. And the joys of battle. That is convenient for me. Because I want to destroy him and everything he has created.”

Efficient function? Belle toyed with that thought in her mind, dark, muddy feelings twisting in her chest. What made her feel all these things efficient in her creation? What part of fixing little kids' rides required emotions? What part of that required the incomprehensible sinking feeling of grief?

“I'm sorry,” She whispered, hands shaking, “I shouldn't have pushed you to understand all this, I just…”

“That’s my girl, Belle! Amazing job!”

“This is my darling daughter, Belle!”

“I am truly, deeply sorry. To you, and to the world. I love you Belle, I always will. Goodbye.”

“...I miss home.” She mumbled, letting her head fall to her shoulders.

A long silence filled the midnight field.

“...Counterpoint: I was programmed with loyalty.” Omega gripped his hand testingly. His heated red eyes deepened their edge into her chest, “I do not need high levels of flesh-bag emotion to understand I am at my most safest form when I am with Shadow and Rouge. All data from my time with Team Dark has proven that all other places I may go will not compare to the one I share with my comrades.”

His joints whirred as he twisted his hand, contemplating it, taking in and out to carefully- methodically- cycle between weapon forms before returning to his claws and once more, gripping tight at the air.

“I cannot feel warmth, I cannot generate it more than I am capable of. However: I can acknowledge their… care for me. I am aware of my place here, I will never need to doubt it, and I will not let harm come to it.” Omega sat up with a slow whine of his inner workings. “If that is what you define as: Home. Then you have managed to share the same views as I do. And thus, you will no doubt find; A new home, and become more than we were created to be.”

Belle’s eyes widening staring up at the large war machine- a beat passed, and Omega turned his head away with a click.

“Impressive, that you have found this conclusion, despite being an inferior creation.” He said with a stilted beep, spurring a laugh out of Belle. She tapped the side of his armor, much to his surprise.

“I can see why you three are such good friends! You ‘n Team Dark! I always wondered why you guys grouped up and, well, now I know!” Belle remarked, looking around at the moonlit landscape, “I wonder where they ran off to.”

“Wide range scan; lifeform biodata of Rouge and Shadow are traveling through nearby mountains.” Omega pointed at the wide range that cut up along the clouds and stars. “They will return for me in approximately one hour; 50% chance of it being longer if Rouge spots; A Shiny.”

“A shiny?” Belle tilted her head.

“A sparkling object that tempts her; possessive habits.” Omega’s eyes squinted with what Belle read as annoyance with underlined endearment. His head turned to her. “Your repairs were adequate. Below the level of success your collaboration with the fox was, but adequate.”

“Thank you, Omega.” Belle smiled. “Happy to help.”

“You will repair me again, if our paths cross.” Omega stated, less like a request and more like a fact. 

"I'll try my best, but, yeah, I will, whenever you need," Belle snorted, tugging the charger out from his back when she heard his levels beep with satisfaction. Motobud jumped awake with surprise, having powered down to save on its own energy. It whirled around happily as she unplugged the other end from his systems. Omega’s cameras clicked with acknowledgement.

“Your Motobug’s power sources are more self sufficient and power-saving than other models, explain.” Omega said.

“Oh! Well– I did that myself–” 

“You can upgrade,” Omega sat back down with a heavy thud. “UPGRADE ME BEFORE SHADOW AND ROUGE RETURN.”

“Wha–? I mean–” Belle looked around frantically. “I don’t really have anything to upgrade you with!? I mean I’ve got– I can show you what spare thingamajigs I got and you can get some ideas!?”

“PROCEED.”

“O-OKAY!”

“THAT ONE.”

“ARE- Why am I yelling? I- Are you sure?”

“It will be good for intimidation.”

“Oh– Nno, Omega. It’ll sound like this.”

“...Interest level decreasing. That is not what I was expecting.”

“Yeah. Could be annoying sorry–”

“Wait. Interest level rising. Attach it to me.”

…

“So Omega~!” Rouge chirped as the rocketed back to G.U.N headquarters. “How was her work? Quick? Comfortable? If she did anything to you while we were gone we can turn around and make short work of her.”

“Her work was adequate and I am now in stable condition.” Omega replied steadily. Shadow nodded firmly.

“That’s good, we’re glad Omega.” Shadow said, “I apologize for leaving.”

“Apology accepted. However; You both abandoned me, and I had to participate in a Flesh-Bag conversation about feelings,” Omega’s red eyes narrowed, rotating his hand out and replacing it with a cursed object that both Rouge and Shadow paled at. “This is your payment.”

“Is that-” Rouge’s ears twitched back, “Is that a car horn– AGH!”

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK—

“TURN IT OFF OMEGA!”

“NO.” Omega’s voice raised with malicious enjoyment, “MY NEW ENHANCEMENTS HAVE MADE ME AN EVEN MORE SUPERIOR BEING. COMEDY LEVELS HAVE INCREASED. AND MY POWER OVER BOTH OF YOU HAS SKYROCKETED IN POWER. SUFFER.”

“THAT SON OF A–!”

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK—