Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This was not where they were supposed to be. 

That was their first thought as they awoke, though, they supposed, no one normally awoke inside a tube of ambiguous green fluid.

But then, what did they know? They were just….

Wait, who were they?

Eyes struggled to open, and struggled even more to see, the fluid thick and irritating to their eyes.

They could make out blurry shapes outside the tube. They couldn’t be sure, but it looked like…a lab? Yes, that seemed about right. The shapes seemed like machines of some sort. A couple of said machines appeared to be mobile, rushing around holding boxes and other things they couldn’t make out.

There was a lone, non-machine figure standing off to the side, and they sluggishly moved their head to see what they were looking at. It was another tube, someone else inside, though they could make out even less than they could of the rest of the room. Not to mention it was hard to even comprehend the situation.

It felt like their brain was covered in fog. Individual thoughts were hard to hold. There was one that kept repeating, however.

Who am I?

They felt as if they should be panicking right now, but the fog in their brain seemed to dull their emotions. They knew what they should be feeling, but they just…couldn’t.

The figure looking at the other tank was moving now, looking at some displays, before doing…something to a keyboard, and then, several deep, machine-like rumbles shook their tube, as machinery inside their tank came down around them. 

They had a very bad feeling about this.

The figure was now talking as they walked around the room, words indistinct, and the machinery reached out. 

Pain. White hot pain lanced through them. The machinery was cutting them open, or at least that's what it felt like. Their eyes had squeezed shut involuntarily as soon as whatever torturous process this was had started, so they couldn't see what was being done.

They could barely hear the words being spoken outside their tube as the machine set to work.

“Dr. Eggman…all this time…into his robots…when the solution…the other way around.”

There was a dull thud against their tube, but they couldn’t concentrate on that.  They could barely even think about what they had just heard, teeth grit so hard they thought they might crack.  

They were almost grateful when darkness claimed them, and they passed out.

They had no idea how much time had passed when they next woke. Hours? Days? However long it was, the stupid machines seemed to have finished their work. The figure was there too, a little easier to make out with the fog mostly gone,  white, grey, and red the most prominent colors on the…bird person? They thought that was likely what they were looking at. A prominent bill made them look like a duck, but they stood on two legs, arms folded behind their back, limbs arranged like a person. 

Then again, “bird” wasn’t the best descriptor. The figure didn’t look feathered, the white covering them looking more like fur than feathers. A platypus? That was the only animal they could think of that described a duck crossed with furred animals.

How did they know what a platypus was? 

That pondering brought them back to their central question.

Who am I?

This time they dug deep, thinking hard on it.

Who am I?

They did not find any answers. 

Nothing. Nothing at all. They had information, but no context. They knew what a platypus was, but when they thought about how they knew, they came up with nothing. 

They clenched their…very sharp teeth in frustration.

That brought them to a second question.

What am I?

A look down revealed a green furred body, though perhaps the muzzle taking up part of their vision should have clued them in that they were an animal like being.

So not human. Why was I expecting a human body?

It was also that glance that revealed she was a girl (there was a strange sort of joy at that, though she couldn’t pinpoint why), so at least there were those two pieces of information. She was a girl and she was some sort of animal person.

Not much to go off of, but it was something.

It seemed the platypus had noticed she was awake. What she thought was surprise flickered across his face before it settled back into the confident look it had been in before.

“Ah, awake, are you?”

It was much easier to hear him now as well, though the tube muffled his voice.

“Unexpected, though not unwelcome. But unfortunately, my dear subject, you do not need to be conscious for now.”

He placed a gloved hand on the tank and said a single word.

“Sleep”

Just like that, the fog was back, and her eyelids felt heavy, beginning to close, though she fought it, the fog settling back into her brain feeling wrong, but eventually, she lost that fight.

And sleep claimed her.

The next time she awoke, she wasn’t in the tube anymore. She was laying on a metal cot, one clearly not designed for comfort, but for function.

She got up slowly, rubbing her head as she looked around.

The room itself was sterile and cold, almost entirely metal. Not much furniture or anything aside from two cots, one of which was empty, and the other being the one she was sitting on now, and a mirror.

She looked down, noting she was wearing some sort of hospital gown and slippers, and nothing else.

She supposed she would get more answers about her appearance from the mirror, so she hopped down from the cot, and immediately fell on her face.

It was like she had forgotten how to walk, and her limbs felt like jelly.

Eventually, after a humiliating amount of time, she got to her feet, and took several shaky steps toward the mirror.

Said mirror was simply laying against the wall, no care taken at all. It felt out of place. Didn’t matter too much though, if it let her get a look at herself.

What she got as she looked into the mirror was a shock. She felt like that wording was ironic for some reason but she couldn’t pinpoint how. 

The mirror showed a green furred tenrec (how did she know what that was?) with blue eyes looking back at her. She raised a hand and the tenrec did the same. She tilted her head and so did the tenrec. So, she supposed, that tenrec was her. No big revelations, no memories flooding back from that realization. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. Not even a name.

She made her way to the door of the room. Or at least, she thought it was the door.

Her thoughts were confirmed when it slid open with a slight whir, and she made her way into the hallway.

Almost immediately after getting into the hallway, she found herself confronted with a large, egg shaped robot. The appearance nagged at her, like she had seen it before, but like with her appearance, she couldn’t pinpoint where. 

“Subject ‘Surge’, you are to follow.”

Was that her name? 

There was that niggling feeling again, like she knew that name, and this time, she tried to hold that feeling, dig into it, parse it, but it was like trying to hold onto water. It drained from her mind rapidly, and then it was gone. 

‘Surge’ huffed in frustration and followed the robot as it made its way through the corridor, before it stopped at another door. 

“Enter.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Hopefully whatever was behind this door would have at least a few answers as to what was going on.

The door slid open and revealed a slightly nicer room to the one she’d woken up in. Still cold, sterile metal, but there was more furniture, like a table, a few chairs, and several machines she couldn’t parse the function of.

The room was also already occupied.

Sitting in one of the chairs, sipping from an oversized mug, was the platypus she had seen from inside the tube. It was easier to tell he was a platypus now, not obscured at all by fluid and brain fog.

Now that she was giving him a good look, the guy oozed pompousness. Three tufts of hair combed to the side like a fancy combover, satin shirt and red vest, little glasses sitting perched on his bill, and…were his boots pointed?

He looked up as she entered, trying to conceal her confusion, his gaze assessing her, though he said nothing as she got closer. 

It was as she got closer that she noticed a second occupant to the room. A small, teal furred fennec fox, also clad in a hospital gown, looking swallowed up by the larger chair he was in. He was gazing nervously at her, eyes flicking between her and the platypus frequently.

The platypus finally put his mug down on the table.

“Ah, good, you’re awake. Your companion has been here for an hour. We were both beginning to worry.”

“Uh…sorry.”

She wasn’t sure what else to say.

The platypus waved his hand, the one not covered by a large, bulky looking glove, dismissively.

“Quite alright.”

He gestured for her to sit, and she did, not sure what else to do. The platypus nodded as if to confirm she made the right choice, before he went on.

“Now, for the subject of discussion. How much do you remember?”

She grimaced. Was this guy a doctor or something? He had been watching her and, if she had to guess, the fennec in those tubes, so he clearly had something to do with them being in there.

“Not much? What am I supposed to remember?”

“Your name? Age? Current occupation? Current events?”

‘Surge’ shook her head at all of those. She wasn’t even sure “Surge” was her name. It was just what that robot had called her.  The platypus just hummed in apparent consideration at her answer. His face took on a grim expression.

“Hmm. It is as bad as I thought. My condolences.”

“Condolences, what the heck are you talking about?”

It was then that the fennec spoke for the first time, startling her. To be honest, she wasn’t sure he could speak, the way he hadn’t made a sound the whole time she was in here. His voice was small, and wavered heavily, but it was clear he was just as distressed by the platypus’s words.

“W-were we hurt or something?”

The platypus nodded, expression grave.

“I’m afraid so. Both of you were gravely injured in a terrible accident. I was in the area, and recovered you, but normal medicine wasn’t effective, so I…resorted to more unorthodox methods. Unfortunately, it seems your memories were greatly affected.”

“I-s that w-why I can’t remember my name?”

The fennec seemed even more nervous now, actively shaking in his seat. The poor kid. She was barely keeping it together as it was, if she was his age (she was at least sure she was older than him), she would probably be bawling right now.

The platypus nodded.

“Unfortunately. I have little doubt that your memories are irrecoverable.”

“Why? If we were injured, can’t you just fix our brains?”

‘Surge’ crossed her arms, frowning. 

“Oh, I’m afraid ‘fixing your brain’ is a little out of the question.”

The platypus grinned, and ‘Surge’ shivered.

“After all, I wouldn't want to undo my hard work, would I?”

‘Surge’ shot up from her seat, and the fennec, looking on the verge of a panic attack, went to say something, but the doctor put his gloved hand out and uttered a single word.

“Sleep”

Immediately the fennec slumped over, unconscious. ‘Surge’ backed up as the platypus turned to her.

“What did you do to him?”

The platypus shrugged.

“A simple use of my hypno-glove. Rather brute force, but effective enough to calm down panicking subjects.”

‘Surge’ backed up further, but the platypus was walking toward her now, stride confident and unbothered.

“Wh-who the heck are you?”

The platypus smiled.

“Not that it matters, since your memory is about to be wiped, but I am Doctor Starline, one of the most brilliant minds of this time, if I do say so myself. And you,”

He held up his gloved hand, and she could see spirals coming from his hand, making her feel dizzy.

“Are a subject who needs her rest. Sleep, and then, we may begin the real tests.”

Surge awoke with a start, before noticing she was upright. Her head rapidly spun around the room, trying to scan it for threats, though the speed she was moving meant she only really got dizzy and saw some blurry shapes.

“Huh? Where am-”

“You are safe, Surge.” 

Immediately, her head snapped to where the voice had come from, to see a platypus- no, to see Doctor Starline, sitting in front of her, rather comfortable in his chair. There was a clipboard held in his hands, though she couldn’t see what was on the paper it was holding. 

He was looking rather smug, though for the life of her, she couldn’t see why. Or maybe it was better to say she didn’t remember why. Hadn’t she been…somewhere else? She tried to remember, but came up with static. How was she here? Who was this guy, and why did she know his name?

That part came easily enough, almost instantly after she thought of it. 

Doctor Starline had saved her life after her accident.

Instinctively, the guard she had put up fell and she smiled at him.

“Oh, yeah. Of course, Doctor. Sorry.”

Starline waved his hand dismissively, features melting from smugness to something more kind.

“Quite alright, my dear. I was a little concerned that you fell asleep in your chair like that, though.”

She had, hadn’t she? 

“Ah, yeah. I must be tired. What were we doing again?”

Starline smiled kindly and placed his hands on the table.

“We were about to begin a psychological evaluation. I need to make sure your mental state is sufficiently recovered from your accident.”

“O-oh. Right.”

“Right then. Let us begin.”

With that, the doctor began asking a series of questions that she assumed were routine for this kind of thing. Things like her name (Surge, easy), the current date (that one she didn’t know), facts about her life (again, she couldn’t recall). 

It was after this that the questions became…more bizarre. Or at least, she didn’t think these were standard for psychological assessment. Though, strangely, it was easier to answer these than the previous questions.

Things like her opinion on various influential figures like Eggman (not fond, though she thought she saw a flicker of something angry in Starline’s eyes when she said that), organizations like The Resistance (She liked them quite a bit,  at least she was pretty sure).

The last question seemed like it held extra weight for the doctor.

“And what of the world renowned hero, Sonic?”

She paused and thought for a second.

“Uh, he’s the guy who beats Eggman all the time, right? Then he’s good in my book.”

Starline nodded, writing something down, before he placed the clipboard down onto a robot that had rolled up in the time Surge’s assessment had taken.

“Well, I do have to say, there is plenty to work with here.”

She looked confusedly at Starline.

“Work with, what do you mean, Doctor?”

He held up his gloved hand, and spirals came from it. Staring at them made Surge’s head fuzzy.

“No need to worry about that, dear Surge, just relax, look into the spirals.”

The spirals were strangely relaxing to look at, so Surge kept doing just that. 

“Now, repeat what I say.”

“Repeat…what you say.”

“Yes, just like that.”

Surge couldn’t process what was happening. It was like her thoughts were mud, wet and thick, struggling to move through her head. 

She couldn’t think of anything but looking into the spirals.

“You hate Sonic. You want to destroy Sonic.”

“I-I h-hate Sonic. I w-want to d-destroy Ss-onic.”

Even with her head full of mud, Surge knew what was being said right now was wrong. She had never met Sonic, why would she want to destroy him?

And yet, there she was, repeating the words the doctor said back to him, albeit, in a stuttering, jerky fashion as she pushed back against the thought being implanted in her head.

This process went on for several minutes, or maybe it was just seconds? She couldn’t tell, the mud clogging up even her perception of time.

By the time the Doctor stopped repeating the phrase she was so opposed to, she felt like it had been hours. Starline looked down, writing something on his clipboard, before looking off to the side and speaking, though to what she couldn’t tell.

“Hm. Subject ‘Surge’ seems to be resisting mental programming more than Subject ‘Kitsunami’. It is still too early to say if this will be a problem in the future.”

He leaned in close to Surge.

“You’re still aware, aren’t you? I can only imagine the difficulty of fighting back against your own mind. It must have felt like such a long time.”

A sadistic smile spread across his face.

“If you simply let me do my work, I assure you it will be very painless.”

She shook her head slowly, her body finally responding, albeit delayed.

“P-piss o-off.”

Irritation flashed in Starline’s eyes, though it was overtaken by calm before long. He leaned back into his chair again.

“Fine. Just know that it was your choice to drag this out. You can end this at any time.”

He raised his glove again.

“Now then, let’s resume, shall we?”

Surge wasn’t sure how many sessions this had been now. 

Every one of them began the same, with the same battery of questions, before the memories of previous sessions came back, and she was inevitably put under for the same phrases, repeated over and over. Each time, she pushed back, the words coming out stuttering and jerky. 

She wasn’t sure if her memories returning was on purpose or not. Starline never mentioned it, but maybe it was a way to ensure her ‘programming’ took?

With each time Starline seemed to grow more and more frustrated, though he hid it well. Or maybe she was just crappy at seeing through his mask.

But each repetition, it was getting more and more difficult. Even as she was painfully aware these were not her thoughts, they wormed their way in all the same. Each time, she could feel anger beginning to burn hotter and hotter inside her at the mention of Sonic. It was slow going, and she was trying her best to stymie it, but it was growing.

This time, as she tried to focus, she realized she was clenching her hands into fists unconsciously. 

Even if her mind was still aware this wasn’t right, her subconscious was taking it all in.

And with no sign of rescue from anyone, the Resistance or Sonic, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before she broke. 

“You hate Sonic. You want to destroy Sonic”

“I hate Sonic. I want to destroy Sonic.”

How many had it been? Surge had lost count. She just knew it had been a lot. Her words were no longer coming out stuttered, her resistance dwindled to a small flicker that told her this wasn’t right. But…why wouldn’t it be right? 

She did hate Sonic didn’t she? Just thinking the name made a toxic kind of anger swell up in her stomach, and she found the next repetition of Starline’s words reflected that, coming out in a growl.

There was a glimmer in Starline’s eyes as she said that, and the voice again cried out that this was wrong. 

Why did she hate Sonic?

Yet the anger that came roaring back when she thought the hero’s name drowned the question out. It was so hard to think beyond the anger, the bile. 

The flicker screamed out again, and again she nearly fought her way out of the sea, gasping as she tried desperately to keep her head above it all, but it was no use.

With a final gasp, the flicker was snuffed out, and Surge was pulled under.

She leaned forward, clenching her fists as she angrily repeated Starline’s words.

“I hate Sonic! I want to destroy Sonic!”

She barely paid attention to the smile on the Doctor’s face.

Surge was bored of this shit.

Every time, these tests were the same. 

The Doc called her in, asked her the same stupid questions, and she gave the same stupid answers.

Eggman? Eh, he caused chaos, so Surge guessed he was alright. The Resistance? A bunch of pansies she’d run circles around.

“And what of the world renowned hero, Sonic?”

A spike of irritation. Surge scoffed.

“Pshht. I hate that Jerk.I’ll wipe my shoes on his grave after I put him in it.”

That was always the last question. This time, though, Starline seemed pleased. 

“Excellent. I believe you are ready then, Surge.”

Surge groaned in relief.

“Finally!”

She didn’t even know what was different this time. She always gave him those answers after all.

Starline led the way infuriatingly slowly. Surge wanted him to just get there. She could barely contain her groan, knowing what Doc would say. Some shit about good things coming to those who wait, she’d guess.

She knew what they were going to do. She was going to meet her ‘support unit’, as Starline called him, so Surge figured he was gonna be her sidekick. Something in Surge objected to that label, ‘support unit’. Maybe it was a need to say she didn’t need support.  

Whatever it was, it meant she’d be out in the field soon. Ready to destroy that jerk Sonic and his pansy friends.

It was an agonizing walk through Egg Base Sugma or whatever weird name Starline called it, but they did reach the door, and inside, Surge laid eyes on a small, teal furred fennec fox. He gazed at her with reverence, as if she was the best thing since sliced bread. Surge felt her own confidence swell at that. At least he had the good sense to recognize a great thing when he saw it.

“Surge, meet Kitsunami the Fennec. He will be your support unit.”

“It’s so good to see you, Ma’am! I promise I won’t let you down!”

He was so excited at her presence, voice almost cracking from it. Surge smiled. 

“Yeah. You’d better not. Don’t ya go crampin my style.”

Kitsunami-that was way too long, she’d just call him Kit, saluted, unfazed by her threat.

“I’ll do my best ma’am!”

“Good. Now let’s go destroy that poser!”

“Hold, Surge.”

She turned to Starline, growling.

“What?”

He was unmoved by her anger as he took out a remote and pressed a button, the door behind them she hadn’t even noticed sliding open, revealing an obstacle course.

“The mental tests are over, yes, but you are still untrained in your physical capabilities. Thus, I have devised several courses for you to run. This way you can adjust to your abilities, and to working with your support unit.”

Surge’s anger cooled. She guessed that made sense. It would be humiliating if she fought Sonic and couldn’t even touch him.

“Yeah, fine.”

“Good. Wait here as I get things ready.”

Starline walked out of the room, leaving Surge and Kit alone. 

That feeling can back, a twinge, like there was something wrong. It was like a string just dancing in front of her, and she was tired of it. 

This time, in frustration, Surge grabbed that string and pulled. Hard.

Pain lanced through her head as memories came flooding in. 

Tube pain fennec Starline glove mirror robot sessions you hate sonic make it stop stop stop stop stop stop stop-

“Gah!”

“Ma’am! Are you okay?”

The first wave of pain had almost finished cresting over her before a second wave crashed over her, though this one felt less like memories and more like predictions.

Saws spikes water robots crushing lightning fire trauma city caught eggman healing who were we burn it all sonic falling dynamo cage wolf wisps Starline no you’re dead-

Surge clutched her head, feeling like it was breaking apart as it fought to absorb all of that. With that second wave came a realization.

You were not always Surge. This was not always your body. You’ve seen this before. 

She let out a shaky gasp.

Kit was at her side, worriedly yelling.

You’ve seen this before because you’ve read it. You saw this in a comic.

 Electricity was sparking off her, forcing Kit to keep his distance.

Who are you?

Finally, it died down. She could think again. She gave an answer to the question that had plagued her. Maybe she had been someone else, but right now?

I’m Surge the Tenrec. 

Kit was looking at her, worried. She just smiled.

“I’m fine, Kit. Just had a bit of a headache. Already passed. See?”

She tapped her head with a finger, and Kit seemed to calm down.

“I-if you say so, ma’m.”

She nodded then turned back as the sound of machinery sparking to life caught her attention.

The test was ready.

Either that whole thing was shorter than she thought or Starline had taken a long time to turn everything on.

She shook her head, getting ready, Kit by her side, water tails shooting out from his hydropack. 

First things first, she was gonna destroy these stupid tests.

Then, she was gonna make a plan.

Finally, she was gonna make sure Starline’s scheme came crashing down on him.

Making Surge was gonna be his greatest mistake.

With a streak of electricity, she was off.

At the very least, this might be fun.

Chapter Text

Saws? Really?

Starline really was unoriginal.

Or considering this was an egg base, was Eggman unoriginal?

Not like it mattered that much.

Surge took to her speed quickly. It was exhilarating to go so fast, and she found herself letting out a laugh as she easily dodged between the saws coming at her, before she jumped up and in a move that felt just as natural, spin dashed an incoming robot to pieces. 

She stopped to catch her breath, however. Despite how thrilling that was, it was quickly evident she didn’t have the experience to do it for long.

A cry from behind her caused her to spin around, only to see Kit just barely leap away from one of the saws. He was only a little behind her, impressively enough, but it was evident he wasn’t expecting how dangerous this was gonna be.

“Drippy, Cmon! Ya gotta be quick or else those saws are gonna slice ya!”

She winced a little. That had come out more impatient and demanding than she had intended. Goddamn Starline programming. Even if she was aware of it, it didn’t mean her brain magically wasn’t screwed up anymore. 

The fennec just nodded shakily, raising himself up on his water tails, easily making his way to her, and setting himself down.

“Sorry ma’am. I’ll try not to slow you down.”

“Don’t apologize. Not like either of us’ve done this shit before.”

“Sorry ma’m.”

Surge sighed. Gaia below, if Starline had fucked her up, she could only imagine what Drippy’s brain looked like. 

“Whatever. Let’s just get this done.”

“Right ma’am!”

Immediately after he said that, a water tail shot out toward her. At first she was surprised, thinking he was attacking her and instinctively closed her eyes, before the sound of metal being ripped apart met her ears.

She opened her eyes to see Kit had impaled a robot that had been coming up behind her. She gave him a smile..

“Thanks, Drippy.”

He nodded, a small smile on his face.

“It’s no problem ma’am.”

Surge turned back to the course. 

“Now let’s blitz this thing. Bet I’ll be so fast Starline’ll get his sock knocked off.”

Starline did not in fact, have his socks knocked off. In fact, when Surge bolted through the doors at the end of the test, Kit close behind her, he was distinctly unimpressed.

“Four minutes. Impressive, if you were someone who was not cybernetically enhanced to match Sonic"

Surge grit her teeth. Gaia, that name still made her mad.

“I had to make sure Drippy didn’t get left behind!”

“Sorry for slowing you down, ma’am.”

She felt a sting of guilt for that. She had just instinctively fallen back on blaming Kit. Yeah, she had made sure he didn’t get left behind, but she had slowed down twice after talking with Kit because she had tired herself out. It really wasn’t his fault.

Starline didn’t seem to accept that either.

“Even if you were doing so, a time like that is nowhere near good enough to catch Sonic. More data, more training, is needed, I suppose.”

Starline sighed, like all this wasn’t his idea, like this was some bothersome task he had been assigned. Surge grit her teeth even harder, holding back what she really wanted to say. She was not a match for The Doctor right now. Much as she seemed to get her abilities naturally, same with Kit, natural talent (or maybe implanted talent, she wasn’t sure) could only get her so far. A fight right now would only end with her mind wiped and manipulated.

“For now, go to your quarters and rest. From now on you will be sharing, so behave. Meet me back here in a few hours for your second test.”

And with that, Starline walked away, allowing an eggpawn to lead them back to their quarters.

Not like there was much in there. Just two beds and a mirror, plus a storage place for their outfits, including some night clothes for her, which were plain and utilitarian.

Surge groaned and flopped down onto her bed, which to be honest was more of a cot. It hurt her back, but she stayed put as she complained.

“Gaia below, what a dick.”

“Ma’am!”

“You know I’m right, Drippy. It was our first fuckin’ time and Doc goes and acts like we failed!”

“He just has high standards, maybe?”

“Nah, he’s just a dick.”

“Whatever you say ma’am.”

Surge sat up and grimaced. Most of the time, someone saying that would be sarcastic, but Kit was one hundred percent serious. 

“ The hell is with you, Drippy? I haven’t heard a single opinion from ya that wasn’t just what the Doc or I told you.”

“I want whatever you want, Ma’am.”

“But why?”

“I-I…”

He trailed off for a second, like he was searching for something. His face fell.

“I-I…don’t know.”

Surge got up from the cot and walked to Kit, leaning down to look him in the eyes. The poor kid looked utterly confused as he seemed like he was questioning his programming.

“Why do I want what you want?”

“Drippy, you think there are any hidden cameras in this room?”

He snapped to attention at that. 

“Maybe, ma’am. Do you want me to search?”

She just nodded. 

Drippy’s hydro pack shot out a shit ton of thin hydro coils, which began to snake around the room, searching.

It was a few minutes of silence before either of them spoke, Drippy breaking the silence.

“There were a few, but they have been temporarily disabled. We likely have an hour or so before the Doctor notices.”

Surge nodded.

“Good.”

She sat down cross-legged on the floor.

“Let’s talk.”

“Ok ma’am”

Kit mirrored her pose, opposite of her. Surge sighed.

“That little light show before the test? That was me rememberin’ things.”

“What things ma’am?”

“Lotta stuff. Stuff that tells me Starline ain’t our friend.”

Kit seemed a bit apprehensive at that.

“B-but the Doctor saved us from our accidents! He gave us all these enhancements!”

Surge didn’t blame him for clinging to that. She guessed Starline found that bit of backstory too convenient to dump.

“Nah. I don’t know how we got here, Drippy, but Starline didn’t save us from some accident. He kidnapped us.”

“From?”

Surge shrugged.

“Wish I could tell ya.”

Surge tapped her head as she continued.

“Earliest memory for me was wakin’ up in a tube with Doc monologuing outside.”

And from there, she explained as much as she could. The first meeting with Starline, where he revealed his tampering with their memories, the brainwashing sessions, which she presumed Kit had also been through, all the way to now.

When she was done, Kit was silent. It was presumably a lot for the poor kid to handle. Or was he a kid? She had no idea how old the fennec actually was, though to be fair, she didn’t know how old she was, even in her past life. 

She shook her head and refocused. She needed to stay on topic. 

Drippy was still silent. It had been almost a full minute and he hadn’t made a sound. She was about to speak when he beat her to it.

“I…what do we do?”

Surge scratched the back of her head.

“I was thinking of making a plan, but I’m no good at that stuff. That’s kinda why I let ya in on this. You’re supposed to be the brainy one, so I thought you’d have better ideas than me.”

Kit smiled a little at that, though he still looked a bit downtrodden.

“I…I’ll do my best, ma’am.”

“We may not know each other well, Drippy, but I think I can trust ya.”

So their first plan was relatively simple. Get the hell out of there, and hope that they could find the Resistance for help, even if Surge still felt anger flare up at the mere thought of Sonic. 

To do so, they waited for night to fall.

It was agonizing doing so, especially since Starline had them run the same gauntlet again. This round, they cut the previous time in half, though the Doctor’s disapproving tsk’s indicated they still didn’t meet his standards.

That led to another run, and then another, and another.

By the time they were done, Surge was actually tired. Sure, she was getting a better grip on her powers, but she found she still wasn’t used to them, which meant she was burning out faster than she guessed Starline expected.

He had even sent them back to their quarters early, something about the results being ‘deeply interesting.’

Night had fallen, and Surge felt a lot better than she had earlier. She guessed despite her burning out quickly, she recovered just as quickly. Convenient.

She found herself thankful that Drippy was versatile. Her? She was supposed to be good at smashing robots and being an all around powerhouse, but Kit was more varied. He was meant to be good at all the things she wasn’t. That meant when it came to stealth, he was far better. She was more likely to blow something up than really accomplish the mission.

Kit had slipped out of their room with a nod, and now, Surge lay on her cot, waiting. He was supposed to scout out the base, and find out if Starline had gone to sleep..

The chance of that was fifty-fifty, she’d guess. Eggheads like him had a tendency to work late into the night. Then, he also came off as a rather prissy guy. And those types needed their beauty sleep.

The door opened, and Surge sat up to see Kit come in, seeming rather confident compared to his normal resting face. He quickly extended his web of smaller tentacles to take care of hidden cameras, and after a moment, he spoke.

 “The Doctor is asleep. Now is the time, ma’am.”

Surge grinned.

“Drippy, if this works, you’ve got the right to call me just Surge.”

Kit nodded.

“Right ma’-”

He cut himself off.

“S-Surge.”

She patted him on the back. 

“That’s the spirit.”

She walked toward the open door.

“Now let’s get the-”

“Hell out of- wait what the-?”

Surge found herself sitting up in her cot, confused. One moment she was walking out the door to her room, the next she was back in her cot. She rubbed her head, trying to recall what had just fucking happened. 

She had a vague recollection that they had tried to escape, however, since they were still here, she guessed they had failed.

Son of a bitch.

“Drippy?”

She got up from her cot and nudged the teal fennec.

“Huh, wuh? Ma’am?”

“The hell happened, Drippy?”

“What do you mean, Ma’am?”

Surge growled in frustration. 

“The Escape! The one we were planning!”

Kit tilted his head as if in thought before responding.

“I thought we were just done with training? Weren’t we going to do that when Starline was asleep?”

It clicked then. 

Gaia damn it. He had erased their memories.

At the very least she remembered they had attempted the escape, though the rest was blank.

That was cold comfort, however. Surge slumped onto Kit’s cot and groaned.

“We did try it! Starlame must’ve wiped our memories!”

“Then how do you remember, ma’am?”

“Surge.”

“Huh?”

“Call. Me. Surge.”

“A-alright, Ma- Surge. How do you remember?”

She sighed and dragged a hand across her face.

“I dunno. Just like I don’t know how I know a lot of things.”

“What-”

“Like how Starlame’s gonna put us through hell. Then he’s gonna try and take over Egghead’s base with some computer code, and get crushed by rubble.”

Once she started she couldn’t stop. It was like a dam had burst and now all the words were flooding out at once.

“Ma’am?”

Surge was only vaguely aware of words being directed at her, too caught up in her head as she recounted the things she knew. It was like she was there, experiencing them as she talked it over. 

“Or how I end up frying my brain with one of Eggheads invention and start hallucinating Starlame,”

The fight with Whisper, the dynamo cage, the wisps, being depowered, Kit- 

“Ma’am?!”

“Or how-”

“SURGE!”

She was snapped out of her rambling by Kit, and her head snapped around to see him looking at her wide eyed and panicked. He seemed scared beyond belief, though it looked like it was more for her than for what she just said.

“What? Did I scare ya, Drippy?”

Kit nodded and scooted closer. Surge let him lean against her, the fluffy weight feeling…comforting. They stayed in silence for a moment before Kit spoke again.

“What did you mean by all that?”

Surge hummed to herself as she thought of a way to explain this to Drippy without giving away the whole ‘I lived another life where these were all comics’ thing. 

“I dunno exactly. Just after that little freak out, I just…knew this stuff. It was like I saw our future, Drippy.”

Kit looked curious.

“Are we alright?”

Surge shrugged.

“Kinda. We’re not here at least. But it's not great either. We’re both still…how he made us, even if he’s dead.”

Kit was silent for a while after that. Surge let him think. The silence was still tinged with some uncomfortability, but it was less tense than before. 

“What do we do now, Ma’a- Surge?”

She sighed.

“I don’t know, Drippy. We tried to escape, but Starlame might have counted on it.”

Much as it pained her to admit, she was untrained. A lot of raw power but raw power with no direction was useless. 

“We’re still not ready.”

“Then we train.”

Surge looked down at Kit. He had a determined look on his face.

“I don’t care if it’s programming. I’ll become stronger for you Surge. That way we can both escape together. Then no one can control us.”

Surge found herself smiling. 

Even if it was small, that was a step towards independence.

“Right. Good thinking Drippy. Let’s both be strong together.”

Surge held out her gloved hand, and after a moment, Kit grasped it in his.

Despite the short time, it felt like a bond was forged.

Maybe for now, it was a bond built on their programming and mutual hatred of Starlame, but someday, Surge pondered, it might be something more. That was enough for her.

Chapter Text

It was keeping her up. 

She tried to ignore the urge, but eventually, she had to give in.

It was an issue she could easily solve, at least.

Through the few days she could recall being conscious, she had never actually gotten a good look at herself.

Kit was asleep as she got up and walked up to the mirror that was the only real piece of furniture in their room. To be honest she was confused as to why Starlame even put it in here. Out of curiosity, she walked around to the back, and saw some machinery attached to it. 

She had no idea what this stuff was doing, but if she had to guess, it was a camera.

She growled to herself, and instinctively, she reached toward it, a small bolt of electricity flying from her finger into said machinery, which sparked and sputtered, before a few lights simply…blinked out.

Huh. Surge smiled to herself. That could be useful. Why hadn't she thought of that earlier?

She shrugged and walked back to the front, where the mirror’s reflective surface seemed unchanged. Slowly, Surge removed her gloves, and took a look at her hands.

She found herself wincing.

Metal covered parts of her hand, notably the fingertips, as well as her knuckles, and the joints of her fingers. She could see wires snaking under her skin, too, and as she watched, tiny volts of electricity crackled between the metal of her hands. It wasn’t as if it was covering her hands, more accurately it jutted out of her skin, looking horrendously out of place. It was like the skin had tried to grow around the metal but had failed.

Surge put her gloves back on and then pulled her shirt up, turning around and struggling to look behind her at the mirror.

As she had suspected, the rest of her didn’t look much better.

Her back was lined by small metal ridges sticking out from her skin, likely from her spine.

Gaia, did he rip out her whole skeleton?

Turning around to the front brought attention to the fact that there was also metal partially covering her ribs, as well as a larger plate below said ribs that vanished into the skin of her sternum. Surge placed a hand above where her heart should be, and rather than the steady beat she expected, there was instead a rhythmic…pulse.

She breathed in, and felt her chest rise and fall. But were those her lungs or some replacement?

She shoved her shirt back on quickly.

Last place to check for now.

She sat down to get a good look at her feet.

Mostly the same situation as her hands. Metal sticking from joints, and wires barely visible, running like nerves under her skin.

Metal covered the soles of her feet, she guessed to help facilitate her powers.

She sighed and got back up. 

Her examination had sated her curiosity, but at a cost. She felt even less like a person than she had before. 

Just how much of her was flesh, and how much was the Doc’s perfect weapon? 

Surge was pretty sure there was a whole thought experiment about that. Something about a ship?

Whatever, it doesn’t matter that much anyways. 

She glanced over Kit, sleeping peacefully on his cot, though a frown did mar his face.

Poor guy. He doesn't deserve this.

She found herself wondering if Kit was similarly marred by Starlame’s surgeries. It didn’t seem so on the surface, though maybe his thicker fur hid the metal better than her comparatively short coat.

Or maybe his enhancements didn’t need to be as invasive. She hoped it was the latter. Maybe it was the programming, but she was already attached to the fennec.

She hoped tomorrow’s test wouldn’t be too hard on him.

Test 4  

The course was about the same as last time, though maybe she shouldn’t have insulted Starline’s tastes. 

There were about three hundred more buzzsaws than last time.

It was a bit frustrating.

No, scratch that. It was infuriating.

Kit was alright, his water tails allowing him to maneuver easier than her, though she could hear him let out a scared yip every time a buzzsaw just barely missed him.

She was not so lucky, having to navigate this Gaia forsaken track on foot, significantly slowing her down.

It felt so against her nature to not book it, but she’d rather not get sliced in half, thank you very fuckin’ much.

She looked behind her as she dodged yet another set of buzzsaws.

“You alright Drippy?”

“Doing just-”

He was cut off as he dodged away from a swinging saw with a small yelp. After making sure he was clear, he continued talking.

“Just fine, Ma’am.”

She nodded as she turned her head back to the path in front of them, and growled in frustration as she saw there was still a big chunk left.

Ah fuck it.

She got ready to run, though she could see Kit looking concerned at her from the corner of her eye.

“Ma’am?”

“Just keep doing what you’re doing, Drippy. I’mma go fast.”

Sure, it was risky, but if she could get the rhythm down, she would be through this in seconds. Besides, she had it up to here with going slow.

“Wait, are-”

She didn’t hear the rest as in seconds she was off, jumping over one buzzsaw before sliding under one that swung from the ceiling.

Just keep moving. 

She slid under another saw before she jumped another one coming at her.

Damn, why didn’t I do this before? Could have wrapped this up before Starlame sneezed.

Spindash an eggbot to bits before ducking another buzzsaw, and jumping a pit of them, one that looked more like a meat grinder than a real trap.

How the shit does he come up with this stuff?

Hit another eggbot with a homing attack, dodge a spinning buzzsaw shot from the wall.

Man, Starlame needs to upgrade his-

Gshhktt

Pain.

First in her front, as she realised she’d run torso first into a buzzsaw, then on her back, as a second buzzsaw swung down and shredded her from behind.

“SURGE!”

She barely heard Kit’s voice as her vision faded. She knew she would come back but that really, really sucked.

Test 15

This time Starline seemed really fond of wall and floor traps.

Buzzsaws (god she hated buzzsaws), lasers, fire, bombs, all of it had been shot from the walls or floors at her and Kit, and it was less than fun.

She just managed to stop herself as a laser wall shot up in front of her.

“Gaia damned shitty lasers!”

She looked back at Kit, who had just managed to catch up to her. The poor Fennec’s fur was singed in places, and she could see he was straight up missing patches of it, though the injuries were quickly healing.

She had been hit a couple times too, though she doubted she looked it. The one good thing about these tests was as that long as it wasn’t a fatal injury they could likely push through it.

He was shaking slightly, though that was normal for when they were tested.

Gaia, she hated that that was normal.

She just gave him a nod and a sympathetic look as they both looked ahead.

Aside from the laser wall that had nearly got her, it looked like there were some badniks patrolling, as well as a large corridor with timed fire shooting from the floor and ceiling.

Surge just sighed.

Test 30

 Okay, this one was just lazy.

Apparently Starline had given up on designing courses, and now he was just throwing badniks at them.

Then again, Surge enjoyed smashing bots, so she supposed this one was okay by her.

She laughed as she took down a motobug with a homing attack, before spinning around and shooting a blast of electricity at an approaching egg pawn, frying it.

“Yeah, that’s ten!”

She turned to see Kit spear three eggpawns at one with his hydro tails.

“How's it going Drippy?”

Kit smiled at her, eyes purple, seeming to enjoy the battle as much as she did.

“Just fine, Ma’am.”

She nodded before she spin-dashed through another approaching group of badniks, stopping only to dodge a blast from a buzz bomber, which she took out with a well placed homing attack. Surge felt invincible, like nothing could stop her.

She turned to call out to Kit again, only for the words to die on her tongue as she saw an Egg Pawn sneaking up on him with unusually careful steps. Kit was too distracted with some Motobugs and Buzz Bombers to notice it.

“DRIPPY!”

She was already moving as she called out, but it felt like everything was moving in slow motion, even herself.

Kit turned to look at her, confused, before he saw the Egg Pawn. Then his eyes widened and he reached out with a hydro tail.

The Egg Pawn was speared, but unfortunately, the Buzz Bombers Kit had been fighting weren’t, and shot him.

Thunk

The Motobugs took advantage of him getting knocked down, and Surge could only cry out as she rocketed into them, smashing them to scrap, but she was too late.

Test 45

She barely stopped herself from dropping into a spike pit that opened under her feet.

“Phew. Glad I knew Starlame would-”

Another spike pit opened up right where she’d backed up.

“GAIA damn-”

Splukt

Test 60

“Keep up Drippy! We’re almost there!”

“Sorry Ma’am! Yes, Ma’am!”

This one was easy. Barely any traps, and easily smashed bots. Maybe Starlame was giving them a bre-

zzzz-Thunk

She turned at that sound, only to see Kit with some sort of metal arrow in his chest.

“DRIPPY!”

She barely even registered the machine firing another arrow.

zzzz-Thunk

Test 106

come on come on come on

This stupid water maze was testing her patience and her breath.

Granted she could hold her breath longer than most, but Surge was reaching her limit. Drippy had actually gotten ahead of her this time, his hydrokinesis meaning he could just part the water.

He’d offer to do it for her as well, but Starlame had insisted over a speaker that she make her own way.

Yeah, put the electric tenrec in water. Great idea Starlame.

Even she had her limits, and Surge could feel her lungs (or whatever Starlame had replaced them with) start to burn.

She could practically hear some familiar drowning music in her head as she neared an air bubble.

Come one just a little more-

She couldn’t hold it, and water rushed in as she gasped.

Then she touched the bubble, and the rush stopped. She wanted to curse out Starlame but she didn’t want to drown even more.

When she got out of the water (Kit running up to her side, looking worried) and Starlame suggested they run the course again, she swung for his head.

Test 338

This one was filled with walls that would pulp them by smashing together.

Several near misses later, and they were almost at the end.

Then Surge made the mistake of rushing ahead. Maybe with her speed she could-

She fucking tripped.

I deserve this one

The walls slammed-

Into hands made of water, Kit having rushed up to stop them.

She got up and managed to stumble out of the way, turning to shout to Kit just in time to see the arms fail, and the walls come together.

Splat

Test 460

Kit gets shocked while she can’t do anything but watch.

Zap

Test 530

She and Kit both get stuck in the middle of some jets of fire, Surge having stopped to help him up.

Fwoosh

Test 600

Kit can’t even bring himself to follow her, and a bot gets her as she looks back to see Starline berating him.

Thunk 

Test 657

Run over by a motobug

Test 701

Kit drops out of the sky

Test 730

Sliced by a Badnik

Test 771

Smushed by a hammer while gloating

Test 800

Kit crushed by a trap

Test 801

She wants to move, but she locks up as she starts to. Her limbs don’t respond as she stares down the course.

Burned crushed sliced zapped falling spikes

She falls to her knees and clutches her head with both hands.

Too much

Not just her deaths, but Kit’s. Over and over and over. They replay in her mind.

Surge is sinking. She clutches her hands even tighter around her skull, not registering Starline’s voice berating her, or Kit’s crying.

Eventually, everything went black.

When Surge woke up, it was back in her and Kit’s ‘room’. Her head hurt, and how she had gotten there was a bit of a blur. She recalled having some sort of episode and then passing out. Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. 

It hit her as she looked around, trying to grasp some measure of sanity. 

Kit wasn’t there.

Did Starlame make Drippy do the test without me?

She grit her teeth at the idea of Kit alone in one of those death traps, several blurred memories of their ‘individual assessments’ flashing through her mind. At least those were made with one person in mind. If that gaia damned smug prick made Kit take on a course made for two-

Her head snapped to the door as it opened and Kit walked in, looking worried. He immediately ran up to her cot, relief clear on his face.

“Ma’am- I mean, Surge! Are you okay?”

She rubbed her head as she pushed the blur of feelings and images away. Kit needed her to be strong.

“I’m okay Drippy. Just a little malfunction I guess.”

Surge tried to smile, but she guessed it looked forced, since her answer only seemed to make Kit look more concerned.

“ma’am…”

She sighed. Partially at his insistence and partially because he’d called her ma’am again.

“Look, it’s complicated, Drippy.”

Kit jumped up onto her cot and leaned his head against her side.

“You can tell me. It’s okay.”

Surge went to protest, after all, he was younger, and her sideki- partner. She was supposed to be the strong one. But nothing came out when she opened her mouth.

“Is it the tests?”

She couldn’t speak for now, so Surge simply nodded.

Kit gave her a sad look. If it was anyone else, she would sneer, but Kit was different.

They sat in silence for a while before she finally spoke..

“I don’t remember all the details, Drippy. But I still got all the important parts. It’s like a blurry video or something. Anything recent’s clearer. But I still have all the feelings.”

She paused and looked away.

“We heal really fast, Drippy. From almost anything. I know that because-”

She stopped for a second, her breath hitching in her throat before she continued.

“Because I remember both of us dying. A lot.”

Kit’s eyes were wide as he took in her words, though he didn’t seem that surprised.

“That explains a lot, Surge.”

He stared down at the ground as he began to speak.

“I-I don’t remember all of that. But I think maybe my subconscious does. Part of me that Starline can’t erase. I find myself getting scared at random times. Jumping at sudden noises. Scared of fire, or sometimes your lightning.”

Surge frowned, feeling ashamed she;’d scared Kit without even knowing it. How many times had she caused him to shy away without even knowing?

She felt Kit’s arms on her side and she looked to see he was hugging her. Nothing about it was said, but the message was clear to Surge. Kirt kept speaking even during this.

“Starline can erase my memories, but he can’t get rid of everything.”

Surge chuckled bitterly.

“I’m not sure you’d want these memories, Drippy. They…they hurt. A lot.”

Silence reigned for some time after that, Kit burying his muzzle in Surge’s side, and her simply staring down at the floor.

Kit moved suddenly, and Surge turned her head to see his eyes gazing at her with a determination that was rare for the fennec.

“I need to see them.”

Surge opened her mouth to say that no, he definitely didn’t, but she was cut off before a single word got out. 

“It’s not fair, ma’a- Surge. Not to you.”

Surge cocked her head in confusion. What did he mean by that?

Kit continued, sensing her confusion.

“You shouldn’t carry this burden alone. I’m your support. I can’t support you if we don’t share burdens like this.”

Surge went to protest, but the steel in Kit’s eyes stopped her dead. She sensed if she fought him on this, he’d dig his heels in.

She was a little proud to be honest.

So, she nodded. Kit smiled, hopped off her cot, then began to pace as he explained the details.

“I can’t access your memories, but Starline records our tests. If we access his archives we could not only find footage, but also other valuable information.”

She nodded. As far as she knew, it wasn’t hard to access his archives considering how easily canon Surge and Kit had.

“Sounds good, Drippy? Any other details?”

Kit nodded.

“A few. We’ll need to try and access them at a time when the doctor is busy and won’t notice an access attempt. Likely when he sleeps.”

Surge nodded. Kit continued.

“I think it’s best if we try this soon. Tonight. It’s likely the Doctor will notice something off if we wait.”

Surge smiled.

“Look at you, Drippy. Making plans.”

She pat him on the back.

“Proud of ya.”

Kit sent a small smile her way.

“Thanks, Surge.”

It was foolproof. At least she thought so. What were the odds Starline would notice they were out and about at night again?

Admittedly she didn’t remember what had happened the first time. But this time wasn’t an escape. Just accessing some files. So less likely to be harsh.

She nodded to Kit and he nodded back. They opened the door and stepped out-

-right as she shot up from her cot.

Gais damn it.

She shook Kit awake and he blinked at her, before realization flashed in his eyes.

“We failed, didn’t we?”

She nodded and hopped up onto his cot to sit, scowling. As she tried to remember what had happened, her head began to hurt.

Kit. Archives. Blueprints. Starline. Threats.

It was even worse than usual. Just a few images flashing by, accompanied by a migraine. It was like Starlame had added some extra effort to this one. Enough that just thinking about it hurt.

She groaned and rubbed her head, before laying back against the wall. Kit just looked at her silently. Eventually, she found the effort to speak.

“Starlame must have caught us. I got a few images but it makes my head hurt.”

Kit just leaned against her like he usually did. She smiled gratefully. He spoke soon after.

“I’m sure we’ll find answers soon, ma’a- I mean Surge.”

She shook her head and turned to look at Kit.

“You’re really fighting that urge, huh Drippy?”

Kit just nodded and looked down, shame written across his face.

“I know you told me to call you Surge, but part of me just,”

He sighed.

“Insists on calling you Ma’am. That I don’t deserve to say your name.”

He smiled sadly at her.

“I’m just the support unit after all.”

Surge had to admit, it made sense. She didn’t feel as restricted by her program as Kit seemed to be, but it was still there, nagging at her. Parts of it were worse than others, like if she thought of Sonic. Any mention of him, even just thinking of that Smug Bastard's name made her chest burn with irritation. Even if she knew it was programmed, she couldn’t help it.

She drew Kit in closer. Not quite a hug, but a close embrace.

“You might have been made to just be the support unit, but you’re my partner, Drippy.”

She smiled wide.

“Who else is gonna help me smash stuff up as good as you? Or come up with plans? Not me, that’s for gaia damned sure.”

Kit’s lips lifted a little, into a small smile. She continued.

“Screw your programming. You’re you, Drippy. Not what Starlame tells you you are. No one, not even me, tells you who you are, got it?”

Kit nodded. Surge wasn’t sure if it was because of his programming or because he understood, but she supposed small steps were still steps.

She sighed.

“Guess we gotta wait for an opportunity if we wanna access those files.”

She smiled.

“Luckily I know we’ll get one soon.”

“Alright, Surge. I’ll follow your lead.”

She gave him a look and he added a tepid “For now.”

Surge shrugged. That was probably the best she would get for now.

Now to wait.

That would probably be the hardest part.

Chapter Text

Too easy.

Either she was getting better or Starlame was running out of ideas.

Maybe both.

She bounced from wall to wall in a zig zag pattern, easily dodging the blasts from a turret, keeping its attention. Just a few seconds and…

A spear made of water quickly pierced it, and Kit emerged from behind it, using a blast of water to join her as they crossed the finish line of the first leg. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up, but didn’t say anything as they continued.

Thankfully for everyone (she wasn’t sure her psyche could handle anymore of watching Kit die or feeling it herself), the two of them had improved immensely. It felt like they could handle whatever Starlame threw at them.

The next leg was simple as a group of badniks blocked their path. Surge couldn’t help a feral grin forming. 

This was always the fun part.

She nodded to Kit as she sped forward, and spindashed several egg pawns into scrap. She couldn’t resist the urge to taunt one as she latched onto it, and blasted it with electricity.

“Thought you could touch me? Pathetic!”

She kept her smile as she heard several splashes behind her, and turned quickly, drilling through the torso of the bot who thought it could take her by surprise, held in place by several hydro-tails.

“Ha! Really thought you could surprise me?”

She emerged from the other side and sent a mock salute to Kit, who returned it and turned to look toward the finish line. She landed beside him and narrowed her eyes to see the door was closing. Slowly yes, but it was shutting. 

“We have less than a minute, Ma’am.”

She didn’t say more than a simple “Pfft.”

She gestured to Kit, and he followed her lead, hopping up and using his hydro tails to secure himself to her back.

Then she was off, a green blur that wrecked the few motobugs standing between them and the exit.

Another two hydro tails shot out and held the closing exit doors, before Surge and Kit emerged, seeing Starline waiting for them. For once, he was smiling.

“Record time, Surge. And you emerged along with your support unit. Well done.”

She hid her glare at the term ‘Support Unit’ well enough he must not have noticed, since he continued speaking.

“You have proven yourself in a controlled environment. The next step is a test of your skills in the field, in a way that conceals you until we are ready to make our grand reveal.”

He led them to a control room where he tapped at a large monitor, showing aerial footage of a bustling campground, various mobians milling about, looking to be doing your typical camp activities, a large brown furred bear overseeing the whole thing. 

Surge wasn’t exactly sure where he was going with this, until the camera zoomed in on a pink furred hedgehog setting up camp along with a beetle, lemur, and wooden marionette. Starlame gestured to them as he spoke. 

Oh, this part. 

“First, if we’re to remove Sonic from play, we must weaken his support base.”

“So we go there and take those guys out?”

“Not directly, dear Surge. Assasination would not lend itself to a weaker Sonic. A hero driven by revenge is driven, dedicated, and morally righteous.”

Starline grinned. Surge could feel the smugness radiating off of him in waves.

“...But a hero suffering loss from a horrible accident? That one is broken and morose.”

Surge resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Starline. Gaia below the man was so dramatic.

“Yeah, yeah I get it. So what, set the place on fire?”

Starline nodded, malicious grin still splitting his bill.

“Exactly.”

 It was night by the time they’d gotten to the campground, and gathered the dry leaves they figured they’d need.

If she was honest Surge didn’t feel too good about this, but in the grand scheme of things, it was necessary to keep things on track for now, if she wanted to make sure Starlame got what was coming to him.

At least I know no one’s gonna die from this.

The pile of leaves, twigs and branches they’d set down looked about ready, and she looked to see that Kit seemed unsure. Probably not feeling great about this, just like her.

She sighed, and snapped her finger, sending a spark out that caught on the pile of branches, sending up a small fire, before a spin dash turned the thing into a whirl of fire.

She landed back and away from it, feeling a few burns on her skin already healing, and just looked into what she had created.

For all the destruction it was going to cause, this thing was strangely pretty. Almost mesmerizing.

She looked away from the blaze when she heard a small yelp to her right, only to see a kid, a fuzzy brown bear, looking directly at them.

Shit. Right. I forgot that a kid spotted us in the original.

She sighed, and the kid turned to run, which was when she rushed up from behind and zapped him with a small shock, sending him slumping to the ground. She turned to Kit and gestured to the kid. 

“Drippy, think you can get this kid to a place where Pinky and her friends can find him?”

Kit nodded, and picked him up gently with a hydro tail.

“Yes, Surge.”

She nodded.

“Then do that. Also, try and make sure those Restoration dorks don’t die. We might need ‘em for later.”

Kit’s eyes flared with a determined energy, and he set out quickly, kid in tow, as Surge turned around and started to stroll away, toward their evacuation point.

She whistled a tune as she walked, some little piece that had stayed in her head from when she was human.

It took some time, and the whole place was up in flames at that point. She dodged some flaming branches as she walked, since while she would be okay if she was set aflame, her outfit wouldn’t, and she preferred to keep it intact.

That was when she came across the prone form of the wooden marionette. Belle, Surge reminded herself.

She stopped and approached, curiosity getting the best of her. 

She was just laying there, a cap on her finger open, appearing to be a lighter. Completely knocked out. 

She stared for a moment, before a detail she’d forgotten came to the forefront of her mind.

Starlame used her code to create our personalities.

She chuckled to herself. Surge wasn’t sure why, but she found herself speaking out loud. Even if the badnik couldn’t hear it.

“You have no idea what he used you to do, do you?”

She leaned down, tapped her on the head. She didn’t stir.

“He grabbed your code. Used it to make me…me.”

She huffed, and sat down near her

“In a way, you're responsible for me.”

Surge shook her head.

“But that’s not your fault, is it?. Not like you wanted to have your code stolen. You’d probably feel pretty bad about it if you knew.”

She got back to her feet.

“ ‘Course, it’s not like imma tell you. ‘Cause you don’t deserve that on your conscience.”

She picked the downed puppet up and hoisted her over her shoulder before racing off to find a safe area and make sure her friends found her. 

The puppet started to stir, but she paid her no heed, as she seemed groggy, saying something about it being nice to meet her.

It wasn’t long before she heard Tangle calling for Belle, so she set her down by an unburned tree and looked over at the motobug that had followed her.

“Keep her safe, alright?”

There was a click and whir Surge interpreted as an affirmation, and then she began to walk off.

“Wait! Who are you?”

Surge turned to see Belle having shaken off her stupor. She was staring at her with wide eyes.

She just shrugged.

“Just a passerby. Stay safe, puppet girl.”

She raced off despite a few questions shouted her way by Belle. She had already been seen by one person. She definitely didn’t want to be seen by two. Especially if that second person was Tangle.   

If Starline knew about their deviations from his plan, it didn’t show. He simply briefed them on the second leg of their mission: “Sow chaos, and don’t get caught.”

This one should’ve been easy enough.

Surge watched the people mill about the streets of Central City from the alleyway she and Kit were waiting in. She couldn’t help but feel a little resentful. All these people, just living their lives, while she was stuck as a cyborg with no memory of her past. 

Gaia below, she didn’t even really have much memory of her human life either. Just the knowledge of this world’s future.

She let out a sigh and shook her head. It wasn’t really their fault. Still, she couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that everyone had managed to get back to normal after a near apocalypse.

“Wasn’t there a whole zombot outbreak here not long ago? How the heck is everyone just…getting back to it?”

Kit shrugged.

“The Restoration helped them rebuild. I think they just want to be happy. Move on.”

Surge sighed again. 

“And we gotta ruin that for them.”

Despite the sad tone, she couldn’t help the part of her that grinned at the idea of wreaking havoc. She supposed that was always going to be there, though she was trying to point it towards things that deserved it.

This would unfortunately not be one of those times, as Starline asked for chaos, and chaos he would get. Surge hummed in thought, trying to figure out a way to do that without too many people getting hurt too badly.

Kit tapped her shoulder and she looked at him, before waving her hand to proceed.

“I could reach underground with my hydro coils and access the wiring. Mess with power grids, throw things into disarray. If we do it right, it's unlikely anyone will die.”

She shrugged. She hadn’t really had many ideas, though that did give her one. She couldn’t help but grin at it as she snapped her fingers and pointed to Kit.

“Sounds good, but Drippy? I’ve got a fun addition. Think Livewire could work?”

Kit seemed to process the idea for a few moments before nodding.

“With some deft planning, we could theoretically cause a short near complete blackout in a small radius. If we move periodically as we make our way to the Doctor’s rendezvous point it could be exactly what he needs.”

Surge let out a groan at knowing she was playing into Starlame’s plan, but for now, she was gonna have to play along.

And so, she watched as Kit extended his hydro-tails into the ground, a look of concentration on his face before it seemed he found what he was looking for. He nodded to her, and Surge nodded back before she stepped forward, and stuck a finger directly into both hydro-tails, and with some concentration, shot a pulse of electricity through them.

Surge found herself thankful that she’d practiced controlling the direction of her electricity. It was harder, but making sure Kit wasn’t shocked was worth it when they did Livewire.

She simply turned and watched as the area around them descended into chaos. 

She did wince, seeing the crash at the intersection they caused, but was relieved no one was killed. 

She nodded to Kit, and they went forward, using the chaos they had sown in each new location they had done their little trick in to make it to their next stop, and so on, and so on, until they reached the limits of Central City and transitioned to the peaceful, more natural Emeraldville, where Starlame stood, seeming stumped by Tails’ unsubtle base. That or he was frustrated by the door. Probably the latter.

“Boom! Chaos sown, and not a cop called!” Surge couldn’t help but call out. Sure, people had gotten hurt but she and Kit had accomplished their mission with flying colors. 

That sentiment did give her a bit of pause.

Damn, my morals must be more screwed up than I realized.

Starlame didn’t respond to her exclamation, merely turning to Kit and pointing to the reinforced door to Tails’ lab

“Kitsunami, see if you can feed your hydro-coil under the door and unlock it from the other side.”

Kit did his best, but it was obvious it wasn’t working.

“No, sir, it’s airtight.”

Surge rolled her eyes and walked toward the door, cracking her knuckles.

“I got a way in.”

“No, Surge! The objective of this-”

She huffed and held out a hand to stop him.

“Keep your shirt on Doc. You want stealthy, we’ll do stealthy.”

Surge held out a finger, and with a small zap, a miniscule arc of electricity leapt from her into the door.

Moments later, it opened.

She crossed her arms and grinned at Starlame’s bewildered, almost proud face. Admittedly, his pride did diminish her own joy at pulling that trick off.

Starlame quickly regained his normal face and walked in, arms folded behind his back.

“Well done, Surge”

She huffed and followed the doctor in, looking around at the high tech base Sonic's The Hedgehog's little friend had set up. It was impressive, even if she didn’t get what half the stuff in there was.

She nodded to Kit, who promptly began a survey of the place as Starlame tapped away at a computer in the main lab area. He hummed to himself about how interesting it all was, though he seemed to be keeping quiet. Likely to make sure she didn’t hear him muse about Belle’s code and what he’d done to them.

Not that it did him any good, since she already knew, thanks to whatever cosmic accident smashed two brains together and made her.

It wasn’t long before Kit came back and held up a small spare hard drive, giving her a rare smile. She returned it with a signature shark grin.

Good. That was one part of the plan made easier.

It was also around that time that Starlame’s voice echoed throughout the small space.

“Our time is up. Return to base, everyone.”

Surge just shrugged and followed Starline as he activated his speed core and raced off, both her and kit trailing behind and giving each other a look of determination.

Just a few more steps.

Egg Base Alpha was impressive, Surge had to admit. 

Despite being in the middle of nowhere (like most eggman bases, a fact Starlame dispensed along with a truly staggering amount of other Eggman trivia), it was near completely self-sufficient, though Surge guessed robots didn’t need much to do that.

She could see a lot from the outcropping the three of them were crouched at. It overlooked the whole base.

Of course, Starlame was posed like he was contemplating something as he looked it over, though to Surge…

“Ya look like you’re about to pop a blood vessel, Doc.”

He just glared as they made their way closer, settling down a short distance from the south wall. Starlame pointed to Kit and commanded “Kitsunami, map.”

“Yes, sir.” Was Kit’s response as his hydro tails quickly formed into a rough map of the facility, which Starline used to visualize their relatively simple plan.

“We will enter on the south end, and I will make my way to the Western control tower to upload the command program. Surge, you will be escorting Kitsunami to the eastern comms tower to ensure no alerts are broadcast to the eggnet.”

Surge rolled her eyes, a spike of irritation flaring up at essentially being a babysitter. Anyone other than Kit, and she would’ve complained.

“Ugh. Guess that all makes sense.”

“What about the north tower?”

Kit pointed to the third of the towers Egg Base Alpha held. 

“A wi-fi tower, separate from the rest. It is exclusively for gaming. The Doctor’s ping is immaculate.”

Surge had to wonder what games Egghead could even play that needed ping. Any online game would likely ban a literal terrorist. Then, maybe he had a really good alt account.

Regardless, Starlame adjusted his glove, a yellow glow surrounding him.

“Now, then. To work.”

They flew up the wall together- Kit carrying her up, to Surge’s slight embarrassment, then dropped quickly, separating quickly, Surge giving a thumbs up to Starlame to show she was on her part of things.

She and Kit headed east, with Surge grinning to herself. As much as she knew she needed to be cautious, she wasn’t gonna say no to an opportunity to smash some bots. 

The second a badnik patrol came into sight, before Kit could even finish saying they should detour, Surge had sped forward and either smashed them to bits or fried them with a bolt of electricity. 

“We aren’t supposed to raise any alarms…”

She chuckled and shrugged.

“You see any of these guys running to warn the others, Drippy?”

 Kit looked around and sighed.

“I suppose not, though the noise could alert other badniks. And if any of them find these remains, it may raise suspicion.”

That…was a fair point. Surge sighed and kicked a piece of scrap metal left over from one of the badniks.

“Guess you’re right, Drippy.”

“Thank you, Surge.”

With speed and efficiency, she and Kit cleaned up the scrapped badniks and hid them somewhere they wouldn’t be found until it was too late. 

They continued on from there, more cautious than before, though it was more boring. 

The comm tower was, predictably, decorated with a massive decal of Egghead’s face.

This guy really does not do things small.

Kit moved forward, a determined look on his face.

“I can have their communication down within a few a minutes.”

Surge nodded, though she had a feeling that it wouldn’t go as planned.

Kit got to work pulling wires, but he soon looked up from it as several loud thuds rang out, something big making its way to them. Surge felt a drop of sweat roll down her forehead as she remembered what was guarding this thing.

An Egg Breaker looked down on them, its metal face contorted into a snarl. Surge didn’t waste time as she looked back to Kit.

“Keep doing what you’re doing, Drippy! I’ll keep this thing busy!”

She barely heard a confirmation from Kit before she was off. 

“Hey, chunky! Bet ya can’t keep up!”

She took off in the opposite direction of the tower, a taunting laugh echoing from her as she did so, hoping this thing would follow her and not crush Kit.

She of course did not let out a small startled yelp as the Egg Breaker landed directly in front of her, nearly crushing her flat. No, that would ruin her image. Not a single yelp.

She immediately spin dashed under the big lumbering badnik, managing to avoid it as it swung around and smashed its massive mace hand into the ground, shattering the ground around it.

Surge could feel the force of that blow even as she avoided it, and it made her nervous.

Even if she couldn’t die from it, that thing would hurt.

She kept running, bouncing from wall to wall, making herself as hard to hit as possible. The Egg Breaker was dogged in its pursuit, though it was also ponderous in said chase. 

Its attacks were just as slow, and Surge saw an opportunity. She leapt up as the mace crashed down again, and landed on top of the thing, before she pushed herself off, electricity sparking off of her as she then bounced from the Breaker’s other arm and struck it square across what counted as its face, several bits of metal flying off and leaving the thing looking like it had lost a fight with a bigger, meaner version of itself and had its lunch money taken.

Taking advantage of the Breaker’s stunned state, She proceeded to pinball against its middle, bouncing from chestplate to the ground and back again repeatedly, slowly denting the dense plating inward. To be honest it did start making her a bit dizzy, but hey, if it worked, it worked.

The Egg Breaker, recovering from Surge’s blow to its face, raised its normal hand to block her, only for her to simply continue doing the same thing, only now to its hand.

She barely heard Kit’s approach above the sound of metal being dented, before, the Egg Breaker’s hand gave in and exploded with a final smash from Surge. She rocketed straight through and smashed it straight in its already dented chestplate, knocking it back, before she flipped into a landing, Kit coming up beside her.

She couldn’t help the grin on her face, and the taunt too.

“Maybe lay off the iron next time, huh, big guy?”

Kit looked relieved she wasn’t hurt, and several tails were already extended.

“I finished disabling their communications. I’m here to help.”

She smirked and turned to address him.

“Thanks, Drippy, but I’m not sure I need it. This things halfway to the scrap-”

SMASH!

She forgot it could fire its mace. Gaia damn it.

It hurt a lot to have all of your bones broken at once, not to mention one of the spikes had faced at just the right angle to pierce her stomach. 

Surge thought it was probably a bad sign that all she felt about being smashed to a near pulp was annoyance. 

It was dark for maybe a few seconds, and she couldn’t hear very well, on account of one of her ears likely being mangled, but she could at least tell the screaming was Kit.

Of course, then she felt something wet slide by her, and the weight on her lifted, light shining in as her eyes rapidly healed, allowing her to see the gloriously badass image of her sidekick tossing the Egg Breaker’s mace back at it.

She was already healing, and she grabbed the side of the hole she was left in to hoist herself out of it as she heard Kit calling her.

“Surge!”

She was already up when Kit approached, seeming panicked.

“Surge, don’t move, you’re…fine?”

She dusted herself off, and looking down, it seemed her regeneration had already finished. Aside from the hole in her shirt where the spike had gone through, she was fine.

She held out a hand to stop Kit’s questions. 

“Hold that thought. Giant robot, remember?”

She raced off, and using the now stationary fallen mace, launched herself into the massive hole in the Egg Breaker’s chest.

She bounced around rapidly inside the thing’s innerworking, frying and smashing parts in equal measure, before she shot out the top, fully taking off its head. 

Surge landed with a smile and a thumbs up to Kit, who seemed to sag in relief at the confirmation she was alright.

Then she turned around and began kicking the empty, smoking husk of the Egg Breaker in a fit of spiteful glee.

“THATS. WHAT. YOU. GET! Don’t mess with the best!”

  It was only Kit’s tap to her shoulder that caused her to snap out of it, and turn to see the gathering horde of badniks around them. 

She tensed for a moment, before they began to clap. All of the tension drained immediately as she remembered.

Right. Gaia damned drama queen.

Starlame’s voice echoed from one of the badniks.

“Excellent work! Mission accomplished! This base now serves me.”

Surge’s mood fell at the reminder she had been following Starlame’s plan the whole time. Sure, they needed to let him get enough rope to hang himself, but gaia it took patience not to just do it herself.

Still, Surge grit her teeth and made her way to the control room with Kit in tow, knowing she was going to have to endure more smug Starlame.

Egg Pawns bowed as they entered, another indication Starlme should have just taken up acting instead of being a mad scientist. 

The platypus himself was seated on what she guessed was Eggman’s seat when he visited this base. He rose from it as they approached, seemingly in the best mood Surge had ever seen him in.

“Top marks for everyone! My override program is a success! No alarms were triggered! My plan went flawlessly!”

Surge had to stop herself from laughing as he twirled like a ballet dancer. She nudged Kit, who just seemed embarrassed at the doctor’s joyful antics.

“We may now begin my master plan…after a wardrobe change. What happened to you?”

She shrugged as she looked over her ruffled clothes. She was surprised just how sturdy they were, to be honest. Crushed by a giant spiked mace and aside from the hole in the stomach, they were just a bit dirty and had a few smaller tears. 

“Just got a bit reckless. Drippy was a big help, though, so things went fine, Doc.”

“Are you sure?”

Starline looked a bit suspicious, but she smacked him on the back hard, causing him to double over.

“Don’t worry so much, ya killjoy! Savor the victory!”

To his credit, Starlame recovered quickly, and simply glared at her as he dismissed them, saying he’d take care of cleanup. 

Surge just kept smiling until the elevator doors closed, when she let the smile drop, replaced with a scowl.

“Gaia below that prick is smug right now. Can’t wait to bring his plan crashing down on his head.”

She turned to Kit.

“Now’s the time, Drippy. You said you wanted to see everything, right?”

Kit nodded.

Surge shrugged.

“Well now’s the best time we’re gonna get. Starlame’s distracted with cleaning up and his guard is down. Let’s find those records.”

“Right, Surge.”

She gave Kit a serious look.

“You’re sure you wanna see it all?”

Kit didn’t hesitate to nod, a fierce look in his eyes. Surge just nodded back. No more words needed said.

It was almost embarrassing how much easier accessing Starlame’s records were than last time (then again, Surge didn’t remember what had happened last time aside from vague flashes that hurt to think about).

They hadn’t even had to hide themselves much, as most of the badniks were out cleaning up messes, not assigned as patrols, and the camera’s? Surge blinked them out for a few seconds as they passed.

Soon enough Kit was tapping away, accessing all sorts of files, from old, scrapped projects to rants Starlame had recorded in the aftermath of Egghead kicking him to the curb.

Still, what they had found so far was enlightening, though a bit disturbing.

Surge wasn’t sure they really needed to see several of the surgeries Starlame had done to augment them. 

She shivered a little watching him pull what looked like her heart out, replacing it with an energy core.

That did give her an idea, though one that would have to wait.

There were too many files to go through, so Kit began offloading them to the hard drive he’d snagged in Tails’s lab. They could go through all of them over time. For now, the greatest hits were to be watched.

Hearing Starline talking about Project Remaster so cool and composed, like he wasn’t talking about overwriting a person made her blood boil.

Seeing the hypnosis sessions turned that boiling blood to lava.

Especially how they made Kit’s face fall, seeing how few sessions it took to fully condition him.

She placed a hand on his shoulder as comfort as he forced himself to move on to the next set of files.

Surge couldn’t help but cringe as they started up.

It was the videos taken of their training courses.

It was hard to watch, but she forced herself to look just as Kit was doing.

His face fell with every failure, every seeming death or near fatal injury. But he never looked away. Not even as tears began to coalesce in his eyes. They grew as time went on, but didn’t spill over.

Not until the end, when they finally rolled down his face.

Surge patted him on the back, the chair he was in making it nearly impossible to hug him like she wanted to.

He wiped his eyes, the water disappearing into his hydropack. He silently began downloading the rest of the files.

Surge just let him. After a moment, her eyes wandered, and a folder caught her eye.

Rebellious Actions

She grabbed Kit’s shoulder.

“Look at that one.”

He just nodded.

Opening it up as the files downloaded in the background, they were met with…

Twelve files.

“What the-!”

She only remembered one escape attempt and one attempt to access the archives.

How hard had Starlame gone to erase all the others?

Kit seemed shocked too.

“Most of these files are rather long videos.”

She pointed to the first one.

“Start with-”

“May I ask what, exactly, you are doing, Surge?”

Surge spun around to see Starline, dressed in his night robes, pulling on his hypno glove. His expression was one of annoyance.

“It’s past your bed time, children.”

Gaia damn it.

Chapter Text

Surge found herself stepping in front of Kit as Starline continued staring unworriedly at them.

We stayed here too long. He must have wondered where we were and came looking.

Starline took a step forward.

“I won’t ask again, Surge. What were you doing?”

She put on a big fake smile.

“You aren’t gonna buy that we did this by accident, are you?”

Starlame was distinctly unimpressed.

“That you accidentally hacked into my personal files, and are currently downloading them to a hard drive you likely stole from Dr. Prower’s lab? No, I suppose I won’t.”

Surge sighed.

“Yeah, figured.”

He sighed, seeming annoyed.

“And I thought I’d purged you of these flights of fancy when I stopped your tenth escape attempt.”

Starline raised his glove.

“I think some more intensive readjustment is in order.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

She was spindashing across the room towards him within a few seconds, though he easily dodged her strike, and subsequently saw himself harassed by a Kit whose eyes were glowing purple with rage.

Surge landed on her feet and turned to continue the fight, only to see a sight that made her livid.

Starline had evidently built some shock tech into his boots, the spurs jammed into one of Kit’s hydro-coils, frying the poor fennec.

Surge growled and launched herself at Starline again, the fucker blocking her spindash as he glowed red, though she bounced off his arms and used the ceiling to ricochet over his head and behind him. 

“Heh. You may pack a  punch when you’ve got red, doc, but you’re also,”

She hit him in the back with an electrically charged jab.

“SLOW! Can’t have speed if ya got power. Too bad you built me for both!”

So sue her for stealing some lines from canon. They were cool. Plus, it wasn’t like anyone could call her out.

Surge kept her sense of smugness as Starline dodged her second back attack, flipping over her and attempting to strike her just like she had done to him. She jumped away easily, spinning to face him as she did. The look on his face was priceless.

“What, surprised? Thought you wanted me to be more aware of my environment, Doc.”

 Rage was building on Starline’s face.

“I’m going to need to be very thorough with you this time, Surge. I’ve invested too much to destroy you, but rest assured, you will be punished for this little rebellion.”

Surge mimed his talking with her hand.

“Blah blah blah. Put you money where your mouth is, nerd”

She spindashed toward him, and he responded with a red glowing punch, throwing her to the floor. Starline approached, raising his glove.

“Now, I think it is about time this ends.”

The spirals formed, and Surge began to feel her head getting heavy.

But that was all. Aside from a bit of brain fog, she felt fine, for now at least. Surge laughed. Starline gritted his teeth in apparent anger.

“What is so funny?”

She grinned as she saw Kit creeping up behind the doctor.

“First, your little toy must be broken, doc. Don’t think I’m supposed to still be awake. Second, you forgot that you built me with a partner.”

Kit chose that second to grab Starlame by his legs and hoist him into the air, hypno-glove falling off. Surge grabbed it off the ground and slipped it on.

“Hold him still, Kit.”

Starlame began to babble as she approached.

“Don’t do this! I’m the only one who knows your pasts, how to maintain your cybernetics! You were built for a greater purpose! Without me you will-”

Surge cut him off as she gripped his face and activated the hypno glove.

“Shut up.”

Kit dropped Starlame to the floor unceremoniously. 

“What now, Surge?"

Surge sighed.

“Ya know, at this point before, I woulda said some crap about burning it all down. That if we don’t get a past, no one gets a future.”

Kit nodded, and she went on.

“But now, I don’t know. None of that stuff feels right now. ‘Cept maybe smashing Egghead.”

Surge shook her head.

“Whatever. Let’s just get Starlame dressed up and get the backdoor in place.”

She grinned at Kit.

“It’s showtime.”

Starlame was shockingly easy to lie to.

He bought their story hook, line, and sinker, and went on to detail the plan to take over Egghead’s capital.

Now, as they looked over the place, Surge felt giddy, barely able to contain her excitement.

Not only would she get to run wild, but if things went well, they’d be free by day’s end.

The three of them smashed their way into Egghead’s base in style. Surge had to begrudgingly admit that Starlame did work well with them, though she preferred just Kit.

As soon as he rushed off to upload the override, Surge cracked her neck and did a few stretches. Kit looked just as eager as she did. She grinned at him and he returned it.

“Grab on, Drippy.”

She assumed a running pose as she felt the tendrils of water snake around her shoulders.

“Time to wreak some havoc.”

She took off in a streak of electricity, a boom accompanying her as she broke the sound barrier.

“It is alright that we’re using Dr. Starline’s plan against him…right?”

She laughed.

“Every bit of destruction today is justified, Drippy. Only people we can depend on right now…”

She spun around as a large tank like badnik turned the corner, grabbing Kit by his arms, and tossing him, turning him into a spinning water saw that cut the thing in half.

“Are each other!”

They rampaged for a good few minutes, smashing bots left and right, making as big a racket as they could.

Evidently it was effective, as soon enough Surge heard the telltale sound of a jet engine. 

She smiled.

Right on time, Metalhead.

She wound up a punch, and met Metal Sonic’s charge head on, forcing him to jump back to avoid her fist totally cratering his chest, only coming away with a dent. The robot glared at her with his stock standard disdain. Surge kept smiling, even as pain shot through her arm. It was definitely broken, but it quickly healed. She didn’t let that show.

“Been waiting to fight ya, you scrapheap.”

Surge got into a runner’s stance.

“Think you can beat me? You can’t even beat Sonic.”

Metalhead’s glare somehow looked even more angry as he charged, aiming a slash at her chest, which she dodged, though barely. 

Geez, he is as fast as Sonic.

Unfortunately, Metalhead was just as quick to take advantage of her openings, grabbing her leg as she leapt back from his claws, then slamming her face first into the concrete. 

Yeah, something just broke. Can’t tell what, though.

Surge countered by spindashing right at him, though it was deflected by an energy barrier. Metalhead looked unimpressed. Surge just growled as she looked at Kit, and nodded to him. He nodded back, and ran off. 

Surge turned back to Metalhead, running in place as she readied to charge.

“You wanna be the real Sonic, huh?”

Metalhead just revved his jet engine. They both were off like a shot, clashing in the middle, hands clasped against each other, each pushing with all their might.

“Gimme a break! You don’t got the heart to be Sonic!”

Surge pushed harder, causing Metalhead to skid back slightly. He redoubled his efforts as she glared directly into his optics.

“You don’t got enough soul to be Sonic!”

She smirked as her gaze wandered slightly, seeing Kit in position. Metalhead took advantage of her momentary wavering, and in a few swift motions, had buried his clawed fist in her gut. Surge was pretty sure he’d pierced something.

She fell to the ground, sure Metalhead was readying to finish her off, and managed to huff out “Most importantly…”

A splash rang out, and she turned, big grin on her face as she saw Kit’s hydro-coil wrapped around one of Metalhead’s arms.

“You don’t got the backup.”

Of course, that wasn’t the end.

Metal swung his arm around, spinning Kit along with him and slamming her partner into the ground. 

Surge took advantage, and landed a homing attack to Metalhead’s face, knocking him off balance, and giving Kit enough time to recover.

Metalhead refocused on her, charging. Surge just stayed still, smirking. 

He never reached her, Kit’s hydrocoils grabbing Metalhead and lifting him into the air. With a nod from Surge, the robot was fully engulfed by water.

Surge charged her electricity up quickly, and couldn’t help the glee on her face as she snapped her fingers, frying Sonic’s robot double.

She walked up to Metalhead, smile still splitting her face.

“You’re never gonna be Sonic.”

She brought her fingers to what counted as the robot’s forehead.

“You’re not even good enough to replace me”

She flicked him, causing him to fall to the ground with a clank.

Surge huffed a sigh of relief and walked up to Kit, who was rubbing his head.

“You alright, Drippy?”

“F-fine Surge.”

“Good.”

She slapped Kit on the back.

“Great job.”

He just smiled back at her, seeming to glow. Surge turned to look and see the rest of the badniks' optics glowing purple. 

Part one: done. 

She grinned at the badniks, watching as Starlame was paraded along towards the central building of Eggman’s capital. 

She couldn’t help but pipe up as he neared them.

“Everything you hoped for, Doc?”

Starlame wiped a tear from his eyes melodramatically.

“It’s…bittersweet. But we have only begun! Show me to my new seat of power!”

He turned his head back to shout orders to her and Kit.

“Surge, Kitsunami, take your places!”

She nodded, and she and Kit wandered to the entrance of the capital. There they sat, watching Badniks flood in.

“That’s an astronomical number of badniks.”

Surge shrugged.

“Meh. We smashed a ton of them. They aren’t that impressive.”

She turned to Kit.

“Our little surprise ready?”

Kit pulled out a small remote and a rare, full smile graced his face.

“Ready when you say the word, Surge.”

She nodded, and looked back to the front.

“You know the plan, Drippy. You keep the fox distracted. Talk to him, restrain him, whatever works. I’ll keep Big Blue’s attention.”

‘Course, Belle’ll also be there, but she should be fine. Metalhead ain’t gonna let anything happen to his little sis.

Kit nodded. She looked back to the scenery, and saw a blur rapidly approaching.

“Looks like it's showtime.”

Hiding wasn’t too hard, and soon she and Kit were out of sight.

Soon after that, a series of explosions alerted Surge to the fact that Starlame and Egghead had started their confrontation.

Good. Much as taking out Starlame myself would be great, his plan falling apart around him? That's peak karma.

She turned to see Sonic arriving, Tails and Belle in tow. She watched them look around, waited as Belle jumped down to cradle Metalhead.

Then, as Sonic was talking with Tails, she struck. 

In a blur of electricity, she rushed forward, and grabbed the hedgehog by his face, speeding off. Kit could handle Tails.

She heard Sonic grunt out a simple “Who?!”, before they entered one of the capital’s already ruined buildings, a small balcony overlooking a sea of rubble.

She let go and let him clang against the railing at the end of the balcony.

Even if she knew that it was programmed, that felt pretty damn satisfying.

Sonic struggled to get to his feet, and coughed a few times before he found his voice.

“I’m sorry, have we met? I’m-”

She cut him off.

“Sonic the Hedgehog. I know you, but you don’t know me. Weird ain’t it?”

He had gotten to his feet, and gave her a half hearted smile.

“Eh, it comes with saving the world all the time. I have fans all over.”

Surge laughed bitterly.

“Fan. Heh, that’s one way to put it. My whole existence has been about you.”

Sonic The Hedgehog seemed to not know how to take that, face betraying confusion, though he shook it off, and gestured to her.

“And you are…?”

She chuckled.

“Surge the Tenrec. I was made to kill you.”

The Hedgehog's stance became more guarded, though his cocky smirk remained.

“Gotta warn ya, a lot of people have tried that.”

Surge shrugged.

“I know. That’s why I ain’t gonna try.”

It took a lot of her own self control to say that. Her programming screamed at her to kill. She shook her head to shut it up.

Sonic seemed confused.

“So if you’re not gonna kill me, then why are we…”

Surge cracked her neck and stretched.

“I gotta keep ya busy for a bit. Can’t have ya getting our plan off track.”

She grinned.

"Think of this as a sudden, spontaneous, real dangerous sparring match.”

And with that she was on him, swinging a punch that he dodged easily, jumping backwards off the observation deck. Surge followed him, and they clashed repeatedly in the air. 

The Hedgehog landed on the ground then bounced off it, smashing into her, throwing into a wall that she pushed off, aiming a kick at him he sidestepped. 

He threw a punch that connected with her jaw, which she didn’t bother to block, and returned right back at him, throwing him back and causing him to skid across the floor.

Both of them charged up a spindash that clashed in midair, the both of them bouncing away and landing on their feet.

They both panted, trying to catch their breath. Surge found her pulse singing, and she smiled.

“Been a while since I’ve had a fight like this! Hope you're having as much fun as I am.” Sonic huffed out. Surge let out a breath.

“Heh. Got me there, Hedgehog. Closest I’ve had to a good match was that copy of yours. Doesn’t compare to the real thing.”

“So you trashed Metal? Can’t say I blame ya, but you really did a number on him.”

Surge shrugged.

“He attacked me. And electricity is a bad match for robots.”

Sonic stretched in place as he responded.

“Got me there. Mind telling me what your whole scheme is? It’s always easier when you guys say it up front. Saves time.”

Surge just charged him, her speed creating after images as she aimed several dozen punches and kicks at Sonic.

“What, and spoil the surprise?”

Sonic hadn’t moved at all, and yet none of her blows landed.

“I appreciate the sense of drama, really.”

All of sudden, Surge found herself face to face with him.

Then, in a blink, she was off her feet, spinning around and falling down the rubble they had just been standing on, tumbling at least ten feet down.

She rubbed her head as she tried to reorient herself.

“But whatever your plan is, I can’t let it hurt anyone.”

She chuckled bitterly.

“People’ve already been hurt, Hedgehog. This is revenge.”

The Hedgehog cocked an eyebrow, seeming unimpressed.

“I’ve heard that one a couple times. Hurting people won’t do anything to help you if you’re hurting.”

Surge laughed outright at that as she got to her feet.

“Heh. Maybe. But it’s already in motion.”

She tilted her head as she listened to the commotion outside. Still going on. She needed to buy a few more minutes. She cracked her knuckles and surrounded herself in electricity.

“And I won’t have to hurt anyone. Just a few more minutes and he’ll do himself in.”

“What-”

The Hedgehog was cut off as he was forced to duck a lightning fast roundhouse.

“Less chat, more fight, Hedgehog!”

The hedgehog jumped back,trying to put distance between them, but Surge sent an arc of electricity his way, which he barely dodged, before she followed up by closing the distance and sending a hook into his side.

The Hedgehog grunted in pain as he was sent flying back, managing to rebound and hit her right back with a spindash that smashed her through a pile of rubble.

They continued clashing for…well Surge wasn’t sure, the frenetic pace meaning it was hard to keep track of time.

Eventually, as they both landed from a midair clash, a larger than normal explosion shook the ground. Surge smiled. That was likely the Tricore blast.

“Just a little more time…”

She turned away from The Hedgehog.

“Hey, Hedgehog! Keep up!“

She raced off through the city, sensing the hedgehog hot on her heels.

Not gonna keep a lead for long.

Sure enough, within seconds, she heard him.

“Ya know, if you wanted a race, you could have just said so.”

“Not a race. I just need to find my partner. Should be done distracting your sidekick.”

She didn’t give him a chance to respond as she spotted Tails and Kit, sat down and with little indication of a fight.

She managed to briefly push ahead of the Hedgehog and skidded to a stop moments before he did. She smiled at Kit, who returned it.

“Looks like you made a friend, Drippy. Good on ya.”

Kit looked over at Tails, who just smiled at him, before he looked back at her.

“I-i guess you could call him that, Surge.”

Surge shrugged.

“Eh, whatever works. Glad both our sides went alright.”

Sonic spoke up from behind her.

“Hello? Guy you were fighting like thirty seconds ago?”

She turned and smirked.

“What, you wanna continue getting your ass whooped?”

Sonic shook his head.

“Nah, I’d rather talk things out. Though, thanks for the challenge.”

She laughed.

“Any time, Hedgehog.”

Sonic walked past her and checked over Tails.

“You alright, buddy?”

Tails nodded.

“Fine, Sonic. Kitsunami here didn’t hurt me.”

The Hedgehog sighed in relief.

“I’m glad. Now where’s Belle?”

At that point, said marionette came charging in on a fullboar. She seemed relieved that her friends were alright.

“I’m glad you both are safe.”

Her eyes traced over to Kit.

“Who is…”

Her eyes widened in shock as they landed on Surge.

“You! You’re the lady who saved me during the forest fire!”

Surge chuckled.

“Yeah. Nice to really meet ya. Surge the Tenrec.”

Tails interrupted before they could go on.

“Where’s Metal Sonic? I thought you were fixing him up.”

She looked down.

“I got him up and running, but he went back to Eggman, and…they left.”

Tails just gave her a sad look, but she waved him off and gestured to the badnik under her.

“I modified him to not attack, though he seemed weirdly friendly…”

Tails nodded at that, though he seemed deep in thought as he turned to her and Kit.

“Kit was rather forthcoming that this whole thing was Dr. Starline’s plan. Is that true, Surge?”

She just nodded.

“Yeah. Take over the capital, send an override signal to all of Egghead’s badniks, rule the world. Me and Kit were supposed to take you guys out and replace ya.”

Tails frowned.

“Since we’re still standing here, I assume you aren’t going to follow through?”

She nodded.

“Long story, but Drippy and me figured out the whole thing and decided we weren’t about to let Starlame tell us what to do.”

The Hedgehog chuckled.

“Starlame? How did I not come up with that one?”

Surge continued.

“We rerouted a few things, prepped some surprises, and let Doc do himself in.”

Sonic made to speak, but was interrupted as Egghead’s voice rang across the distance.

“Attention Sonic, Tails, and other assorted nuisances! I’m afraid you’ve caught me at an awkward time! My Eggperial City wasn’t ready for visitors, and then the late Dr. Starline had to make a mess of the place.”

Surge muttered a “good riddance” under her breath at the confirmation that Starline was truly gone. 

“Nevertheless, you all are guests in my home, and I am a gracious host, so allow me and my ludicrously massive swarm of badniks to show you a proper welcome!”

They were quickly surrounded on all sides. Buzz Bombers, Egg Pawns, Motobugs, it seemed like every kind of basic badnik was in the swarm, even a few rather special ones too.

Surge just smirked.

“Yeah, no thanks Egghead.”

She turned to Belle.

“Hey, you’re still protected from the override signal, right?”

Belle seemed confused, but nodded. Surge smiled.

“Good.”

She turned to Kit, who had already taken the remote out.

“Kit, now.”

He nodded, and pressed the button. In an instant, a pulse swept out from the broadcast tower, sweeping across the city quickly.

The army of badniks stopped, and then…

Their eyes turned green. Surge’s cackle rang out from every robot that had a speaker.

“Get wrecked, suckers!”

 The Hedgehog looked at her, confused. Surge smiled at him.

“Me and Kit planted a little surprise in Starline’s override program.”

She started running.

“Get moving, Hedgehog!”

KIt followed close behind her, and soon they were joined by Sonic and Tails, who was carrying Belle as he flew.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the headstart, but ya know Eggy’s just gonna take them back over, right?”

Surge smirked and called over her shoulder to Kit.

“Kit, Blow it.”

“Yes, Surge!”

She heard the click of a button, and then, several explosions followed as the army of badniks began exploding.

Surge whooped as they ran, occasionally dodging a detonating badnik.

“Yeah! Try chasing us when most of your army is scrap, Egghead!”

She turned to The Hedgehog as they’re paths began to split.

“This is where we split, Hedgehog. Hopefully you should be able to make it to the wall before Metalhead catches up. I’ll see ya again, I’m sure of it.”

With that she was off before The Hedgehog could say a word, Kit right behind her as they approached the city limits.

They kept running past the city limits, until they reached a cliff overlooking the place.

Surge stopped, huffing as Kit landed behind her. They were both silent for a moment, before Kit’s voice, sounding timid, yet containing so much hope, broke it.

“I-is he really gone?”

Surge smiled widely at Kit.

“Yeah, Kit. He is.”

“Then we’re free?”

Surge nodded.

“Yeah, Kit. We are.”

She nearly toppled over as Kit launched himself at her, grabbing her waist in a tight hug. After a moment she wrapped her arms around him. They stayed like that for a while, the two of them just basking in their newfound freedom..

Eventually, they separated. Kit smiled as he asked “What happens now?”

Surge looked back at the Eggperial City, then towards the forest, and beyond that, to the bustling cities and villages beyond. 

“I got a few ideas, Drippy. But in short?”

She put her hand on his shoulder.

“Whatever we want.”

Chapter Text

Even if Starline was gone, walking around this base kept her on guard, like he would pop out from behind every corner. At least, that’s how Surge felt.

After they had left the Eggperial City, and The Hedgehog’s group, behind, they had circled back to Starline Base Sigma. It was mostly out of practicality. They had no other place to go at the moment, and despite all the bad memories, it gave them a place to regroup and plan. Plus, they could ransack any useful tech or supplies and use it to help them in their future plans. Whatever those were.

Surge had to admit, while her other self’s ‘burn it all down’ idea was stupid, at least it gave her direction. She had been running on spite against Starline for most of the last few months, weeks, however long they had been trained.

Now that he was gone, Surge had little idea of what to do next. Sure, she knew about a lot of future events, and she could help prevent a lot of people from getting hurt, but how do you explain that? She doubted anyone would believe her, even despite all the crazy things The Hedgehog and his friends had seen.

At leasts he had time to think things over, since the next big fight would have been her fault in the normal time.

Kit was busy reviewing the base’s schematics and cataloguing the tech they could potentially use. She hadn’t seen his eyes shine like that…ever before.

Regardless, he was occupied, so Surge was left alone for now, to walk the halls and see if she could find anything useful that wasn’t tech.

So far all she’d found was the stock of ‘food’ she and Kit had been fed (tasteless bland nutrient bars she hated) and the food Starline kept for himself, which was a slightly more heartening find. Now that she thought of it, this life had never tasted real food.

Can’t wait to have a good chili do-

Surge cut her thought off. Damn Starline programming.

Why was that part necessary, Starlame?

She shook her head. Whatever, didn’t matter. Aside from food, there wasn’t much. Starline hadn’t kept many frivolous things where they could find them.

Then, she was approaching his living quarters, so maybe that would change.

The door opened, and Surge’s eyes widened as she took the place in.

Sure, the walls were still metal, but the place was decorated luxuriously. A nice silk rug, several dark wood furnishings, a bed with silk sheet, and a gaia damned artificial fireplace. With crackling noises.

Surge clenched her teeth in anger. 

The doc left us with the basics while he was living like this?!

She couldn’t help herself and kicked a chest of drawers as hard as she could, splintering it easily.

She did the same with a chair and a small table, as well as the bed, and the nightstand.

Eventually she was standing in a room full of splinters, and she calmed down, a shock of shame running through her. She’d lost control, and now this place was as good as useless.

Surge half heartedly looked through the splintered debris in case there was something, though she found little.

That was, until she noticed something…weird.

She picked it up and examined it, thinking there was little way this was what she thought it was. 

But it was. Clear as day.

A second Tricore. 

She guessed it made some sense he’d have a replacement. He was doubtless aware that the Tricore blast could exhaust it, so it was only smart of him to keep another in case it was needed.

Surge considered just smashing it. She didn’t have any tech that could use this thing, so it was useless and a reminder of Starline.    

But she paused.

Maybe she did have tech that could use it.

Inside her.

It was a little crazy as an idea, but if it worked…

She raced off to find Kit.

Kit was exactly where Surge had left him, tapping away at Starline’s main console. She made sure to broadcast her approach, purposely making her footfalls heavy and obvious. While he didn’t immediately acknowledge her, his ears twitched, and after a few seconds he spoke.

“Did you find anything, Surge?”

Surge nodded, before she realized he couldn’t see that, and spoke.

“Some stuff. Food, mostly. And somethin’ else I think you should see.”

Kit turned his chair around as she held out the Tricore, his eyes going wide.

“The Doctor kept a second Tricore?”

Surge shrugged.

“Guess so. It was in his room. Maybe it was a just in case sorta thing. Guy liked his backup plans.”

Kit nodded, examining the Tricore carefully, likely thinking of the possibilities.

“I could likely create a device to use it, but it may take some time…”

“About that, Drippy. I got an idea. I’m not sure you’ll like it, though.”

Kit tilted his head, seeming curious. She took that as a sign to continue.

“You got access to all the Doc’s blueprints, plus all the machines here. Think you can…”

Surge drew in a big breath.

“Install it in me?”

Kit’s eyes went wide.

“Y-you mean inside you? Are you sure?”

Surge nodded.

“Any machine you make could be smashed. If it's part of me, then there’s no chance of it gettin’ broken.”

“I-Im not sure…”

Surge put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s alright, Drippy. I trust ya.”

Kit didn’t respond for a while. It seemed like he was thinking. Surge didn’t speak. 

If he says no, he says no. Can’t force him

Eventually, he spoke.

“Alright.”

Surge gave him a serious look.

“You’re sure Drippy? This ain’t just because I want it, is it?”

He shook his head, though Surge wasn’t sure if he was being truthful. Ever since she had encouraged him to be more independent, to break from their programming, he had seemed to take that to heart, but she sometimes got the feeling it was all to make her happy.

“I-I’m sure. If you trust me, then I won’t let you down, Surge.”

Surge grinned and patted him on the back.

“I’m sure ya won’t, Drippy.”

It took some time for Kit to set up the necessary machines, and in the meantime, Surge had the first real meal of her current life.

It was gratifying to taste food again.

Though she did end up eating more than she thought she would. 

Damn metabolism.

Eventually, Kit was ready, and he lead her to the main lab, where several large apparatuses were set up in and around a tube.

To be honest, it did make Surge shiver as she recalled being stuck in there. But she pushed on.

Kit explained the basics as he walked her through everything. It made her appreciate even more how smart her partner was, even as she didn’t really get the more complex stuff. The best she got was that Kit was essentially replacing her artificial heart with the Tricore.

Eventually Kit finished, and when he asked if she had any questions, Surge just gave him a thumbs up.

Soon, she was in a hospital gown they had found from Starline’s supplies, and then she was stepping up to the tube. The front slid open soundlessly, and in she went.

The metal grating on the bottom was slightly uncomfortable to stand on, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.

Soon, Kit was at the control console, and the tube filled up. A breathing tube came down, and she grabbed it as it was inserted.

Then, her sight began to grow blurry.

Then, everything went black.

It wasn’t black for long, as soon enough Surge found herself…elsewhere.

The land around her was just….white, as far as she could see.

To be honest, she wasn’t even sure how she got here. One moment, She was in  that tube, the next, she was here.

Maybe I’m still knocked out and this is some weird dream thing.

If it was a dream, it was a boring one.

Her steps didn’t even echo at all as she just…wandered. It was dead silent, aside from her breathing. 

It felt like hours, and she couldn't even tell if she was making progress.

Then, she spotted something.

It looked like…a person.

Surge doubled her speed, and soon they came into focus.

The figure was taller than her, at least two feet taller. A human, a girl by the looks of it. She was fair skinned, with long black hair framing a face Surge would say was pretty, and she was wearing a simple green t-shirt and jeans, along with some pretty alright sneakers (Surge thought hers were cooler).

She was just sitting there, looking out at the white expanse, green eyes roaming about as if trying to find anything out there.

Surge sped up even more, and soon, she was right next to the girl, who turned to look at her, surprise evident, as she spoke.

“Surge?”

Surge grinned.

“The one and only.”

The girl seemed troubled.

“But I was just…”

She trailed off and looked lost in thought.

“Just what?” Surge asked, narrowing her eyes.

The girl seemed to puzzle over her answer, before she spoke again.

“I was just Surge.”

Surge’s head hurt. So she was Surge, but this girl said she was also Surge? She shook her head.

“The fuck is happening?”

The girl shrugged. Surge groaned and plopped down next to her.

“So, if you were Surge, and I’m Surge, then…”

The Girl spoke up, saying something that caught Surge off guard.

“You’re never gonna be Sonic.”

Surge perked up as she recognized the words, and finished for her.

“You’re not even good enough to replace me.”

The words she’d said to Metal Sonic when they’d fought in Egghead’s City.

It clicked. This girl was her. Or at the very least, they shared memories. 

They simply stared at one another for a while. 

Eventually, The Girl (or, Surge supposed, herself) broke the silence.

“Well, this is strange.”

Surge huffed out a small laugh.

“You’re tellin’ me.”

The Girl looked herself over, and smiled slightly.

“Perhaps I look like this because this is who we were in our last life.”

The smile grew slightly wistful.

“Or perhaps how we wished we looked, at any rate.”

Surge shrugged.

“Do either of us remember enough to say that?”

The Girl laughed.

“I guess not. Neither of us even remember what our name used to be.”

Surge tilted her head as she looked at her other self. Calling her The Girl felt…wrong.

“How about Ashura?”

Her other self grinned as recognition glinted in her eyes.

“Clever. I’ll take it for now.”

Surge grinned back at Ashura.

“Glad to hear. Great minds think alike.”

They both chuckled at that. Or maybe at the weirdness of this whole thing. It was admittedly, surreal, talking to herself. It made her wonder what this place was anyways.

“You’re wondering what this place is too, aren’t you?”

Surge nodded. Ashura seemed to think hard for a minute.

“Well, considering our last memory is starting surgery, the best explanation is…”

“We’re in our mind.” Surge finished for her other self. Ashura nodded. Surge let herself fall onto her back, spreading out her arms.

“Great. So we’re going crazy. Didn’t even need the dynamo cage to do it for us.”

She heard a thump next to her, and turned her head to see Ashur had followed her onto her back. Surge huffed and turned her gaze back to the white expanse that served as the sky.

“So, we just wait here?”

“Guess so.”

It was silent for some time as they lay there. There wasn’t a need for words.

Eventually, though, the silence got too much, and Surge couldn’t help but speak.

“Ya know, I figured our mind would look a little more…messed up. More Starline shit, more trauma, more…gross stuff. You get what I mean?”

Ashura took a few moments to respond.

“I guess. Maybe this isn’t really a representation of our mind as much as it is a…meeting space? A place to wait as our body recovers.”

“Guess you’re right.”

“We always are, aren’t we?”

Surge chuckled.

“Glad you think the same.”

They lapsed into silence again after that.

It was another uncountable amount of time before either of them spoke again.

This time, it was Ashura.

“Who are we?”

Surge sat up as she heard that.

“Pardon?”

Ashura gave her a troubled look.

“Who are we? Are we Surge? Are we a human with her memories?”

Ashura adopted a thoughtful look.

“What even caused this? Some sort of multiversal accident?”

Surge thought hard on that. When she had first regained her memories, she had pushed aside that thought. But now, she had time.

Who was she?

She wasn’t canon Surge, that was clear. She was not going to be going down that path if she could help it. Too much pain and and anger.

But that led to her main question. Was she Surge with memories from someone else? Or was she someone else in Surge’s body? Her continuity of memory began in that tube. Was she just an invader who took Surge’s body for herself after the previous host’s memories had been wiped?

She shivered at that thought.

Ultimately she dismissed that idea. The idea making her so sick was evidence that no matter her state, an idea like that was out of the question for the person she was.

Of course, maybe she had been desperate, but that possibility was highly unlikely.

Then, did the distinction matter? Up to a certain point, her memories were the same as canon Surge. Cyborg enhancement, brainwashing, the works.

She effectively was Surge, no matter what situation had brought her here before then. No matter how she got here, she supposed the answer was obvious.

She had been right the first time.

“Surge.”

Ashura looked at her as she said that. Surge just smiled.

“We are Surge the Tenrec. Doesn’t matter how we got here.”

Ashura seemed to think it over, before her eyes widened. Seemed like she had come to the same conclusion.

“Guess you’re right. Like there was any doubt.”

Surge shrugged.

“Think we might wanna stop stroking our ego. It’s big enough.”

“Never.”

They laughed, and at that moment, Surge woke up.

She shot up from her cot, so quickly it made her a little dizzy. She groaned, and as she did, she heard Kit’s voice as he rushed over to her.

“S-Surge! You're awake!”

She rubbed her eyes and finally, her vision cleared enough that she could see Kit looking at her with wide, concerned eyes. She smiled at him to try and console him a little, though it didn’t seem to do much.

“I’m fine, Drippy, just a little dizzy.”

Kit nodded.

“T-that’s good. I was worried I’d messed up, or there was a complication, or maybe starline had-”

Surge put a hand on his shoulder, silencing him.

“Ya did good, Kit.”

Kit nodded, a small smile forming on his face.

Surge hopped off the cot, and grabbed her clothes, which Kit had placed on a nearby table.

“Alright. You think Starline’s still got some badniks in this place?”

Kit thought for a moment.

“Probably. Why?”

She smiled.

“Well, I gotta see what I can do now.”

The room they were going to use for the testing was essentially just a big round arena. She had been here a few times during their tests, and Surge couldn’t recall any particularly unpleasant experiences during those, so it was good for the test.

To be honest, Surge wasn’t even sure how she was going to activate the Tricore.

Now that she had some time, as Kit messed with Starline’s computer to activate the badniks, she could try and focus.

As she did, she could feel a faint pulsing in her chest. One that felt…different in a way that she couldn’t quite describe. Before, her artificial heart had also pulsed, but it had a different…rhythm to it. That was the best way she could describe it.

She looked up as Kit’s voice came through a loudspeaker in the room.

“Everything is ready.”

He paused for a moment, then his voice came through again.

“Aa-re you sure you want to do this, Surge? It could be dangerous.”

She just grinned.

“Sure as I’ll ever be, Drippy. Now hit it!”

“O-okay. Initiating badniks.”

Several doors opened, and a large group of badniks entered, ready for combat.

Surge smirked, and charged.

The first one was obliterated with her normal speed, and then the next, then the next.

She leapt away from a Buzzbomber’s shot, and went almost to the ceiling, before pushing off, and turning it to scrap with a homing attack.

She looked down to see her body was surrounded by a yellow aura. She concentrated, and the aura switched to blue. Then red. Then back to yellow.

Surge smiled, and charged a spindash.

Speed

She shot forward faster than she ever had before, taking out any badniks in her path.

Power

She uncurled and grabbed a larger badnik, swinging it around before tossing it into the crowd, decimating a large portion.

Agility

Surge danced between shots and strikes, frying badniks as she went. 

Soon enough, the army that had confronted her had been reduced to debris on the floor, and Surge was left smiling on top of the scrap heap.

Sure, she was panting, sweat soaking through her fur, but she had won.

Maybe I’m not used to all that power flowing through me. Feel like I could sleep for a week.

She greeted Kit tiredly as she found him waiting in the control room. He fussed over her for a bit but she waved him off.

The next few hours were a bit of a blur, and soon enough she was crashing onto her cot to sleep.

Kit mentioned he was going to review some data from Starline’s logs, but she barely processed it before she was out like a light. 

Surge woke up to Kit shaking her.

“S-Surge! Wake up! You need to see this!”

She groaned and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Wuh? What’s goin’ on Drippy?”

Her eyes eventually focused, and she beheld a very frazzled Fennec. 

Kit looked absolutely panicked. His fur was matted from sweat and sticking out in places, and his eyes were red rimmed from a lack of sleep.

Surge gave him a concerned look.

“You okay, Drippy?”

Kit shook his head.

“Y-you need to see this Ma’am.”

Things must’ve been really bad if he was reverting to ma’am speak. She hopped off her cot and stretched before gesturing for him to continue. Kit began to lead her to a computer room not far from where they’d been sleeping.

The computer itself was on a paused video log from Starline, his smug face making Surge mad just from looking at it.

Kit didn’t say anything else as he rewound the video log, before playing it again.

Starline started the video log by leaning back into his chair, hands folded on his lap

“As to the subject of obedience, while I am fairly certain my mental programming, combined with reinforcement from my Hypno-Glove, will be enough to keep Subjects ‘Surge’ and ‘Kitsunami’ in line, one can never have too many back ups.”

Starline’s smug smile grew, before he leaned forward onto his desk, hands steepled.

“Thus, as a way to maintain dependence, even after they replace Sonic and his sidekick, I built a surprise into the cybernetics of my enforcers.”

A graphic was pulled up, blocking Starline entirely, but his voice continued. It was a blueprint of sorts. Of her and Kit, showing her cybernetics. Surge had to admit, it was creepy seeing the full picture of everything done to her and her partner.

“Surge and Kitsunami’s enhancements are designed to be state of the art, but due to intentional instability, they will need regular stabilization.”

Multiple red dots appeared on the blueprint of their cybernetics. Surge assumed these were points of failure. She felt a pit form in her gut as she saw one of the brightest over their artificial hearts.

“Without stabilization, their enhancements will, for lack of a better term, break down, likely damaging the soft tissues around them.”

The visual vanished, showing Starline at his desk, looking even more smug. Surge never regretted not killing him herself more than she did at that moment. The platypus continued to talk, showing not a hint of horror or even any pause at the thought of what he was doing.

“This will cause severe pain, though my modified metal virus should keep them alive at the first stages, giving them enough time to come crawling back and reconsider their decision to rebel.”

Starline seemed rather sure of that outcome. 

“And if their rebellion leads to my demise or they persist in their stubborness…well then the following stages will lead to failure in far more…important places. Parts that the metal virus cannot save them from.”

He waved a hand dismissively.

“And if they die as a result, then I can always salvage their data and try again. It would be a disappointment, and a massive, disappointing waste, but they would have served their purpose. And if they die as a result of me perishing…”

Starline’s smile turned more malicious.

“Well, I believe that is what they would deserve. A piece is only useful as long as a chess master is using them.”

Once the log ended, Surge was silent.

Kit looked at her concerned.

Then, she freaked out.

Chapter Text

Surge was silent. Kit was silent.

There was not a sound in the room, aside from the humming of the computer Kit had played Starline’s log on.  

Of course, it was anything but silent in Surge’s head.

What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck

Starline’s voice bounced around her skull, each word pinging painfully off the edges, each smug declaration like a knife digging into her brain.

Even Egghead had lines he wouldn’t cross. Much as he often treated his badniks as disposable, his most useful creations, like Metal Sonic, were maintained, and repaired as many times as needed. 

Sure, it was likely not out of real care, but at least badniks weren’t designed to feel pain as they broke down

How the fuck did Starline manage to make Egghead look sane?

That brought her back to the real through line of all this.

They were on a ticking clock, and the only man who could reset it was dead.

Surge hoped he was rotting in whatever this world’s equivalent of hell was.

Eventually, she wound back her arm, and smashed it into the computer.

“GAIA DAMN IT!”

Kit jumped as she did it again. And again. And again. She kept smashing that terminal, kept smashing Starline’s stupid, smug, face, until there was little left. Just sparking metal and wires. Even after that, she didn’t stop, pounding the floor.

“WE JUST GOT FREE AND HE HAD TO SCREW US OVER ONE LAST TIME, DIDN’T HE!?”

“M-ma-am?”

“HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY STARLINE, BECAUSE I’M COMING DOWN TO THE AFTER LIFE TO FUCK YOU UP LIKE I SHOULD HAVE THE FIRST TIME!”

“Surge!”

She felt a watery tendril grab her wrist and pull it back as she tried to smash the floor again.

The contact snapped her out of her focus, and she turned her head to see Kit, restraining her arm with a hydro coil.

“P-please! C-calm down!”

Even not as heated as she was, Surge felt fire in her chest, and couldn’t help but growl and struggle against Kit’s grasp.

“Calm down? You expect me to be calm? We just got told we don’t have long to live Drippy! How am I supposed to be calm?”

“Because you’re scaring me!”

It was only then that she really got a good look at Kit’s face, and he was right. He looked absolutely terrified.

That was what she needed to finally snuff out the flames of anger, and Surge felt herself cool. The fight left her and she immediately plopped down onto the floor.

“I-I’m sorry, Drippy.”

Surge pulled her knees up to her chest.

“I-It’s just..hard to hear. That we don’t have much time.”

She heard a plop and turned to see Kit sitting next to her, before he leaned into her side. It helped a little, though it didn’t stop the dread that had been hanging over her.

They stayed there, in silence, for a long time.

Eventually, Surge spoke up.

“How much time?”

Kit’s head shot up from where it had been resting, and he gave her a slightly confused look.

“How much time do we have, Drippy?”, She clarified.

“Ah.”

He got up, and Surge followed him, arriving in another computer lab that was further away. He began to type away quickly, several files opening at once. His face grew thoughtful, as if he was taking in the data and running numbers.

“Starline messing with our memories makes it slightly ambiguous, but considering we have not had a stabilization since…”

He trailed off and tapped away for another moment, before finishing his statement. 

“One month ago, it appears we will both enter this ‘first stage’ in about five months' time. However…”

He began tapping away again, examining a few blueprints and then making some changes.

“You appear to have more time due to the Tricore replacing your heart. Adding it all up together, while I have about a year or so, you have about a year and six months.”

He said his own expiration date so casually that Surge almost missed it. Kit just continued on as if he hadn’t put a cap on his own life span a full half a year shorter than hers. He started to babble on about various bits of mechanical and biological factors, but Surge wasn’t really listening. Eventually she interrupted him.

“How in Gaia’s name can you move on so fucking easily from your own expiration date, Drippy!?”

Kit stopped, and looked at her with a rather blank expression.

“Because I’m less valuable than you, Surge.”

He smiled sadly.

“I’m just the support unit. You matter. I don’t.”

Surge grabbed him by his chest fluff and pulled him close.

“Gaia damn it, Drippy, we’ve been over this! Your life means just as much as mine! You. Are. My. Partner!”

Kit’s eyes were wide, scared. Surge’s anger calmed and she let him go. She had gone too far. She winced.

“Look, I’m sorry Drippy. Didn’t mean to go overboard.”

Even as she apologized, she still glared at him.

“Still mean what I said. You’re my partner. Your life means just as much as mine.”

Kit was silent. 

Surge let him process, and just sat there until he spoke.

“I-I’m sorry, Surge. I just… you mean so much. I guess I didn’t realize that…I mean the same thing to you.”

He spoke the words as if it was just occurring to him now. Surge smirked and shoved his shoulder playfully.

“Took that big brain of yours that long to realize it?”

She shook her head and laughed.

“Starlame fucked us both up, huh?”

Kit smiled sadly.

“I suppose that would be the succinct way to put it, Surge.”

They lapsed into a more comfortable silence for a time. Surge broke it this time.

“So, what do we do? I figured you’ve gotta be thinking something up, Drippy.”

Kit nodded.

“I can’t do the surgeries needed to stabilize our cybernetics by myself, but maybe the Restoration has the resources we need.”

Surge nodded.

“Guess that makes sense. The Hedgehog’s friend is a tech genius, right?”

Kit nodded.

“Yes. If he has the data from Starline’s computers, and my help, I believe he may be able to find a solution to our…expiration dates. At the very least he may be able to temporarily stabilize them while working to find that permanent solution.”

Surge nodded along. If anyone could, it would probably be Tails. The kid already rivaled Egghead and he was what, 12, 14? By the time he was an adult he’d likely surpass the madman. 

She figured that even without the data they would be giving over, he would find a way. With that data, plus Kit’s help, she figured it would be their best bet.

“Alright, Drippy. I guess we got a goal. Get to the Restoration.”

Surge scratched the back of her head.

“But, uh, where is the Restoration, exactly?”

Kit hopped back into the computer chair, and began typing away again, before he brought up a map. Three points, quite far away from each other, lit up in red.

“It looks like The Restoration’s former base was…here. However, they have since moved out, as it was overrun during the zombot crisis.”

Kit pointed to another of the dots.

“This is the new base, located in the Emeraldville ruins.”

He pointed to the final dot.

“This is…us. It looks like it may take some time.”

Surge shrugged.

“I could probably get there in a day if I ran nonstop. But I get what you mean, Drippy.”

Her just running straight to the Restoration would attract too much attention. That, plus their previous actions, might get them arrested.

Sure, she had explained to Sonic their motives and helped him escape the Eggperial City, but they were likely to have put together that while she had saved Belle and that kid from the fire, she and Kit had started it. That and the break into Tail’s lab and the chaos in the city? Even if it was under duress, they were not likely to face an initially friendly welcome. 

That meant they’d have to take it slower. Also probably change their clothes, just in case.

To be honest, she’d been wanting to do that for a bit now. She didn’t hate her style, but she wanted to branch out from the image that Starline had made her with.

With a short nod, they both set about gathering what they’d need to blow this place.

Surge had everything they needed gathered in several easy to carry bags in just a few minutes.

They were sadly limited by what they could carry,  since neither of them had a vehicle (one that wouldn’t be immediately clocked as Eggtech, anyways). Kit could carry more with his hydro-coils, but it wouldn’t be viable for a long journey. 

So Surge focused on the essentials. Some food, a few useful gadgets Kit had listed, and rings. Every ring she could find, which was fortunately, quite a few. 

Turned out that Starline was from some wealthy family, and had inherited a decent sum.

He had, it turns out, used most of it on his lab and on a collection of Eggman memorabilia (that Surge took great joy in smashing), but there was a sizable amount left. Enough that they would be okay to afford travel. When they got to the cities that was. The first trek would be through wilderness, as Starline’s base was in the middle of nowhere. That would be where Surge could flex her speed.

 Kit was putting some touches on a few things as she left. Mostly downloading a copy of Starline’s data to give Tails. Then, with the bags plus the data, they'd blow this place. Metaphorically, not literally, unfortunately.

Surge’s first instinct was to blow the place to hell, but Kit had pointed out that if they gave the Restoration the base’s location, they could salvage the tech, and use it for something good. It might be a good bargaining chip if the Restoration started hostile. Surge agreed. The base would stand. For now.

It was agonizing waiting as Kit downloaded the data, but eventually, he took the drive out and nodded to her that they were ready to go. She hopped up from her spot leaning against the wall, smile on her face.

They both made their way to the entrance, where Surge had stashed the other bags, and with a look to each other, they left the place that had served as the only real home either of them remembered. 

As they left, Surge thought she heard a sort of mechanical clanking, but it could have been her imagination. None of the badniks there had been active for a week. 

With Surge’s speed, it was trivial to get to the nearest city. 

Of course, Kit had to guide her using a makeshift gps, but with him pointing her in the right direction (and riding on her back), they made record time, and found themselves at…Surge thought it was called Seaside City? The name wasn’t hard to remember once she saw it was butting up on the ocean. 

Better than Central City, that was for sure. Sure, no one had seen them as far as she knew, but there was always the chance a stray pic of them got snapped.

The place was pretty crowded, and it seemed they were rebuilding as well as Central City was from the Metal Virus.

Surge felt out of place. Sure, no one batted an eye, but this was her first time in public like this as far as she could remember.

That did make her ponder. She hadn’t really been hung up on it before, too much was happening. But now that she thought about it, she found herself wondering what her life had been like before. What had pre-brainwashing Surge (or whatever her name had been) been like? What had she been doing? Did anyone miss her? 

Thoughts like those took up space in her head as she and Kit hurried along the streets of Seaside City, looking for a few specific things.

One: Transportation. Frustratingly, taking transit to a point near the Emeraldville ruins would be far more under the radar than walking or running.

Two: Food. The supplies Surge had gathered were the stuff that kept well. Not very appetizing, and not a lot of it, as they couldn't carry much.

Three: Clothes. Kit had agreed with their need to update their looks. Though, he had less to change, since he just had his gloves and boots. 

Their third goal was the easiest to fulfill, Surge spotting a thrift store and ducking inside, followed by Kit.

The counter was manned by a bored looking rabbit who acknowledged them with a short nod before he looked back to his phone. Surge just focused on the clothes.

Kit separated to look at boots, so she was on her own.

This place had a surprisingly good collection of clothes, probably a product of so many in the city donating clothes they didn’t need.

Surge briefly considered switching up her look entirely. She smiled thinking about Starline’s offense at her going for some sort of pastel look. But that was more a fleeting funny thought than a real idea. She flitted across a couple potential looks that were dismissed quickly

Lightning bolt dress? 

Nah.

Black and yellow stripes?

Too much like a bee.

Inverted colors?

Eh. Not feeling it.

Eventually, she decided she wanted to stay relatively close to her current look. A black short sleeved shirt was picked up. 

Now for the bottom half. 

Surge looked mournfully at her bright yellow pants. For all that they were an eyesore, she was rather fond of them, and thought she wore said pants well. But, needs must. She grabbed a pair of black pants that were less noticeable, though some metal studs helped preserve her image. 

That was technically all she needed, but Surge felt something was missing. It nagged at her, even as she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Then her eyes landed on the jacket. 

Yellow, with black accents. It felt familiar. 

Sure, this one was a little worn, clearly having been well loved, but it was close enough to the one she remembered wearing during the whole phantom rider debacle.

Surge wondered if the universe was laughing at her.

Even if it was an eerie coincidence, she found herself grabbing it, and walking to the changing room, where she swiftly made sure everything fit. It did, much to her delight and slight disbelief.

When Kit found her, he had picked out a new pair of yellow and white gloves, plus some more normal looking boots. He did a double take as he saw her jacket, but didn’t question it, and they paid for their new clothes without a fuss.

To complete their transformation, Surge let her quills down, and Kit combed his hair neatly. Looking in a mirror, they looked...not exactly normal, but more so than they had. Surge still looked like she would slug anyone who looked at her funny, but Kit? He even more resembled an innocent kid than he did before.

It would work well enough.

Objective two was checked off next, as they found a decent food cart, purchasing a modest amount of food for Kit and a practical pile of food for Surge. Her metabolism had been screaming at her for a while, and it was the first time in a long time she felt satisfied by a meal. 

The first objective was ironically the last to be fulfilled, as Surge had to sit for quite some time as Kit deciphered a route for them to take, and which methods they should use.

Eventually he settled on a plan, and they boarded a train that would take them to the next city over, where they would board a bus that would take them to a smaller village close to the Emeraldville ruins. They would then go the rest of the way on foot. 

The train ride was agonizing, and the bus was just barely less so. At the very least, the bus had some interesting scenery as it went by. 

The village they ended up at in the end was cozy. It looked like one of those places where everyone knew everyone, and there was a local bakery that made fresh bread, and there were children chasing each other around, carefree. 

This meant that Surge stuck out like a sore thumb. Kit didn’t as much as a result of his more innocent appearance, but by virtue of following her, he stuck out by proxy.

Surge could feel their eyes on her, though they didn’t seem to be overtly hostile. More curious and a little wary. 

The town was partially damaged, still rebuilding. Even places like this were still recovering from the Metal Virus.

Surge found herself wanting to sock Egghead. More than usual, anyway.

She tried her best to ignore the people’s eyes on her, and trekked onward to the local inn Kit had confirmed was here.

The plan was to stay the night here, and head out to the Emeraldville ruins in the morning.

Surge nodded as politely as she could to the weasel behind the counter, placing down a couple of ring notes. 

“One room.”

The weasel nodded, her eyes scanning over the two, before she turned to grab a room key.

“Ya’ll headed to join the Restoration? We get a lot of folk coming through here wanton’ ta do that.”

Surge huffed.

“Something like that. We got nowhere else to go, figured we’d help make a difference.”

The weasel handed her a key, sympathetic look on her face.

“Must be hard, takin’ care of a little brother alone. Ya must be strong.”

Surge didn’t even hesitate.

“Yeah. It can be. But I do my best.”

Then she did a double take.

“Wait, how did you-”

The weasel just smiled.

“Family’s more than blood sweetheart. I could tell.”

Surge didn’t know how to respond to that, though she did nod her thanks to the weasel before she led Kit away.

There was silence between them. Kit seemed like he was considering something.

Kit didn’t speak until they had entered their room, a rather nice little place that felt…safe.

“Is that how you think of me, Surge?”

She tilted her head, confused.

“Like what?”

“Like a brother.”

Oh. He had heard that. Then he wasn’t that far away, and he had big ears. She shrugged.

“If that’s okay with you, Drippy.”

Kit had a look of deep contemplation on his face for a good while after that. Surge just let him think.

“I think I’d like that.”

“Hmm?”

Kit’s answer had come an hour later, as they both were getting ready to sleep in a real bed for the first time. Kit looked at her sincerely.

“Being your brother.”

“Oh.”

Surge shrugged. 

“Okay.”

She reached pout and ruffled his head fur, wrecking his innocent look.

“Night…”

She paused before she added “....Bro.”

Kit smiled.

“Night….Sis.”

Tomorrow would be a long, stressful day. They still had their expiration dates hanging over them, after all, and the Restoration may not be friendly.

But for that moment, in that room?

The newly minted sister and her little brother were content.