Disrepair House

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[disrepairhouse]

DISREPAIR ERROR_422: Episode 5

Betrayal & Consequences: Chapter 3

“Itara eat your breakfast.”

A sigh drifted around the dining room but the pancakes remained untouched on their plate. Once RK finished packing the lunch and a separate container full of snacks, he turned back to the table, watching the despondent hedgehog poke at her food. She’d been like this since they returned home and nothing he did seemed to help. It only got worse once they realized Metal hadn’t returned yet, despite RK messaging him multiple times. Not that he didn’t understand – in both Itara and Metal’s cases – he wasn’t pleased with the outcome or the plan, either, but he didn’t want her moping the entire time. Even Zero’s taunts were going ignored.

“Itara.”

“He still hasn’t come back,” she finally muttered, her gaze distant.

RK remained silent a moment, reaching out to Metal via comms once again, but all he got was the ‘Message Delivered’ confirmation and nothing more. Metal was intentionally ignoring him. Sighing, he looked back to the hedgehog girl still poking holes in her food. “You know how Metal gets, he’s just running it off. I’ll go hunt him down and talk to him once I take you to school.”

She finally looked up, eyes wide and brows furrowed, pouting up at him, “I didn’t mean to upset him so much but if I don’t see him before the end of school, I don’t know when I’ll get to see him again! RK you have to go find him and tell him I’m sorry!”

“I know, I will. Just eat your breakfast, you’re going to be late,” he nodded, reaching down to pat her head, “I promise, as soon as I drop you off, I will go find him and make sure he comes to see you before the school day ends, alright?”

Itara stared up at him, hesitating, uncertain, but eventually sighed and nodded, looking back at her plate. Not that she was particularly hungry and school sounded even more dreadful than usual. She hoped Shadow confirmed she wasn’t lying quickly so she could at least see both of them during the weekends. Then again, RK was right, she doubted even Shadow could tell Metal what to do. If he wanted to come see her, he would. She just worried Shadow would get mad at her for it.

Once RK finally convinced her to eat her mostly destroyed breakfast, the rest of the morning went by much quicker. Quieter, as neither of them wanted to talk about the situation, but that meant less grumbling and arguing. X, Zero, and Axl were out early looking into Sigma and how best to deal with him, so it was just the two of them for the first time in years. Itara couldn’t help but glance around the uncomfortably empty house on their way out, “This house has never been this empty.”

RK looked back over the living room and connecting dining room. Even when they first moved in, Metal had been with them – broken and stored in a box, but present – and Kipper was still around. The ghost doll hardly ever showed up anymore, preferring to wreck havoc elsewhere most days.

“The last time it was just the two of us was the original timeline. When I first reactivated you.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

She looked up at him again, the melancholy switching to determination, “I don’t want it to be this empty ever again. Metal belongs here with us. And Kipper and Infinite now, too. Tell Metal I’m sorry,” she looked down in thought before looking up again, “And that I’ll let him beat me in video games for a year if he comes back and I promise not to complain.”

RK couldn’t help the snort at the final comment. Always with the video games with these two. Not that Metal needed help beating her in them, demi-god as she was, Metal Sonic was still a complex learning robot. She’d never beat him in any of their games and he knew well enough that the only reason their matches lasted as long as they did was because Metal just didn’t want to beat her too quickly. Not that he would tell her that. Instead, he just made a dramatic show of rolling his eyes and picking her and her backpack up, scolding, “You two somehow still play too many video games. You both have a problem. I’ll pass the other message along, though.”

Itara huffed as they headed out of the house but eventually agreed and got comfortable for the run to the school. The run was otherwise silent and once Itara was dropped off, RK went to inform Mira of the situation, explaining the conversation with Blaze as well as Metal’s current unknown whereabouts. He needed to go find him but wanted to let Mira know he’d be back as soon as he did.

Mira only nodded but Kelly, who was rarely more than a handful of steps away from her husband at any given point, gave a thoughtful hum and looked over at the bot with a not-so-subtle amount of pity. “You really can’t catch a break, can you?” RK gave a sarcastic laugh and a shrug but Kelly looked up in thought, her brows furrowing. “It’s like you’re in a never-ending custody battle for that girl. First the Sun God, then us, now the new Royals of Soleanna,” she clicked her tongue and looked down again, Mira eyeing her suspiciously but RK could only stare in confusion. “I have to hand it to you, always fighting so hard to keep your family together. I respect that. You’re not so bad for a badnik.”

She grinned and tossed him a thumbs up but RK wasn’t sure how to respond. He could only stare as Mira sighed at her final pun, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “First off, your jokes are terrible as always. Second off, what do you mean us?” He looked up at his wife again as she shrugged. “There was no ‘custody battle’ with us. We offered to let him stay with us.”

“Ah, I suppose that’s true,” Kelly laughed, putting a hand to her chin as a realization suddenly struck her and she turned back to RK, wide-eyed, gasping, “The reason you turned us down was Metal Sonic, wasn’t it?!”

Once again, Mira could only sigh in exasperation, burying his hands in his face. As if it were obvious.

Finally, RK found his voice again and nodded, “It was. He wasn’t functional yet, I was still trying to get him back online, but I didn’t want to leave him alone for so long, either. And obviously I wasn’t going to bring him with me.” Not only would that have been awkward, just being Metal Sonic, but there was also the fact that Metal had been responsible for their daughter going missing in the first place. They still didn’t much like him being around now.

“In any case,” Mira growled, waving the conversation away, “that bot’s whereabouts is obviously important to you and… Mara. So. Feel free to go search for him. I’ll just have Kelly take over security until you’re back.” He turned back towards the building and continued inside, throwing out a final, “I’d say I hope you find him, but that would be lying so I’ll simply wish you luck, instead. Let Kelly know when you’re back.”

RK and Kelly both watched him, Kelly snorting at the blatant disregard while RK’s mouth pulled to the side. She turned back to him and grinned again, “Don’t mind him. But really, our issues with Metal Sonic aside, I know he’s important to you guys so I do hope you find him soon. Don’t worry about the kids, I’ll keep an eye out until you’re back.” RK nodded, looking out at the school once more before taking off to track Metal down. He had his last known location before he went out of the comm’s range. He hoped to pick Metal’s signal back up when he reached it.

On the run, he had time to process and consider not only what Kelly said but also what Lynda said the other day and many times before that. Not to mention what Metal and even Kipper and Zero accused him of constantly. He’d gotten so used to being called Mama Bear, it barely registered anymore but now that he was considering it more thoroughly, he had to wonder: Just what did Itara mean to him? And more importantly, how? He knew their AI was advanced, even for Robotnik, but had it advanced so much that he was capable of viewing Itara and Metal as actual family? Or was it just a weird bit of programming that made him so protective of them? He’d always assumed it was a side effect of glitched programming.

Metal had Sonic’s sass somehow.

He figured Knuckles’ status as a Guardian of the Master Emerald played into his own defensiveness, just… a bit different due to his glitched systems. Or maybe that was how it was meant to function. Having a warbot with a protective streak would likely benefit its creator. If the creator had kept control. He figured when his systems were damaged and Itara was the one to repair them, that protectiveness just attached to her. He would never know for sure, though.

Then again, there was also Itara’s comment yesterday about their loyalty programming. She’d never mentioned changes to their AI from the direct interaction with the timelines before, that was news to everyone but her apparently, but he had to wonder just how extensive that was. He meant to ask her about it when they got home last night but she was so distraught, he didn’t have a good opportunity to bring it up. Clearly that was something to look into when they got home. Maybe Metal would have a better understanding of it, considering how advanced his AI had become even before the timeline resets.

But the ultimate question returned to his mind: Did he actually see himself as a parent to Itara? Did he view her as a child, like everyone insinuated? What did that even mean to a robot?

What about Itara? Did she view him as a parent, despite her relationship with Mephiles? He knew he was more than just a robot to her. Him, Metal, Kipper, she’d said on more than one occasion she views them as family. But to what degree? He’d never brought it up because of what she went through with Mephiles but the conversation with Kelly had him questioning it again. She obviously considered Mephiles her ‘real’ father. But what if this was just a weird, complicated custody battle with a God?

In a way, Mephiles and Metal were her ‘real’ parents, by that logic. She came from a piece of Mephiles’ power but technically Metal was the one who actually created her. As he liked to remind them whenever the Sun God got brought up. So where did that put him? A step-dad? Is that what he was? Or trying to be?

He didn’t hate the title.

But a blip on his radar pulled him from the mental rabbit hole as he finally picked Metal’s signal up again and audibly sighed in relief.

‘Where have you been?’

‘Don’t Mother Hen me.’

RK’s irritation skyrocketed as he finally pinned Metal’s location down. He was far from Soleanna or any known town at this point, halfway through the Spagonia desert. But at least he remained in place to allow him to catch up and the blur of blue finally appeared over the waving dunes. Metal made no acknowledgment of his presence, only continued to stare out at the endless sand and sun. RK briefly considered decking him for the trouble but only mentally sighed and stood beside him. The silence drifted for several minutes, both watching the wind dance over the distant hills, dragging sand along its path, glittering and glistening in the hot desert sun.

“She thinks you’re mad at her,” RK stated, breaking the silence.

“Perhaps she’s right.”

RK’s mouth tightened into a line as he faced the other bot, “Come on, Metal-”

“No. No ‘come on’,” Metal snapped, the fury seemed to reignite all over again as he scowled back, “In fact, maybe you’re the one who needs the ‘come on’ this time, Metal Knuckles.” RK’s eye narrowed at the full name. Metal never used that anymore. “Not only am I pissed, but you should be as well. She lied to you and yet you just let it go. As you always have.” He scoffed and looked out towards the desert again.

“Would you have done anything different in her situation? It’s not like it would have changed anything, either way.”

Metal went silent. After several seconds of consideration, he loosened his shoulders and hissed a quiet, furious, “’Wouldn’t have changed anything’. Sure. Just like freeing you changed nothing, either. Instead of going back to Robotnik, you just ended up in the hands of a child.” RK barely had time to react before Metal took off again, gone in seconds and leaving behind nothing but a whirlwind of sand, the force of his speed shifting even the heavy warbot back a few inches in the unsecured footing of the dunes. By the time RK recovered and brushed the sand off, Metal Sonic was once again outside the range of his comms.

His brow furrowed, the final comment sparking his own fury. That was a dirty, low blow and if there were any heavy objects nearby, they would have been tossed after the speedster out of pure rage. Metal was lucky they were in an empty desert. Strategic asshole. The hell did he even mean by that? He wasn’t in the hands of anyone. He never had been. Just because he wasn’t determined to push everyone away like Metal didn’t mean he was in the hands of anyone. He huffed and scowled out in the direction Metal went, knowing he was well and gone by this point but yelled out after him anyway, “Go run your bullshit off and come back when you’re done being an asshole! Sparking pile of bolts.” He turned the opposite direction and headed back towards Soleanna, deciding to make a slight stop at some ruins to punch a pillar or two on the way through.

By the time he was within a few miles of the school again, having maybe spent a bit longer than he intended decimating some ruins on the outskirts of the city, it was nearly the end of the school day. Some parents were already waiting near the gate to pick their kids up by the time he reached it, missing the looks of horror on their faces as he passed by, one glowing green eye set on the door. When someone tapped him on the back of the shoulder, he immediately swung around, claws up, ready to fight.

“Whoa! Chill!” the startled burgundy hedgehog woman jumped back, her own fists going up in response, “Not that I’m not always up for a spare but you look like shit.”

It took RK several seconds to finally process Kelly’s presence, shaking his head and putting his claws back down immediately, “Sorry. Sorry. Just-”

Kelly watched him a moment before relaxing, herself, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head, her brows knitting together as she questioned, concerned, “Did you not find him?”

“No, I found him,” RK growled, looking down and finally noticing the shredded jacket, giving himself a quick look-over. His jacket and tank top were beyond repair and there were a couple rips in the bottom of his pants but they looked fixable. He apparently also still had sand everywhere. Sighing, he pulled what remained of the jacket off and threw it over his shoulder before going about dusting himself off as he explained, “He’s still being an angry asshole. Took off on me again. Sorry I’m late getting back.”

“Looks like you got into it a bit,” she mused, placing a hand on her chin and holding her elbow, shifting her weight to one side.

“Not with Metal. We got into an argument. I may have taken it out on some destroyed buildings outside the city.” Once he was satisfied, he stood back up and sighed again, crossing his arms, “Itara’s not going to be happy he didn’t come see her. I don’t know when she’ll next get the chance to.”

Kelly’s hand went up before she realized and put it back down, “Right. Your Itara. Yes.”

RK snorted a bit as the bell rang out from the building behind him. The immediate thunder of feet echoed out as both of them moved away from the doors to not get slammed as the children escaped to freedom. They stood off to the side, watching quietly as kids poured out the door, Mira exiting with them. When he caught sight of the two of them, he gave RK an odd look before crossing over, eyeing the robot as he approached.

“What happened?”

“Got into a bit of a spat.”

“It’s okay,” Kelly shrugged, “Every married couple has their arguments,” she grinned and Mira eyed her suspiciously in anticipation, “That’s what make-up se-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Mira jumped, throwing his hand over her mouth, scowling, “There are children!”

RK looked off in any other direction away from them. It was not the first time. It would not be the last. Yet it never failed to take him by surprise. Every single time. Somehow, even after spending eight years in close proximity and hearing many a fight between her and Lynda over it, Kelly’s complete lack of verbal filter was frankly something to be studied.

“Nothing changes with you, does it?”

Speak of the devil.

All three of them turned as the utterly disgusted strawberry blonde approached, eyeing the hedgehog woman with her usual distaste. Unfortunately, Mira made the mistake of removing his hand as Kelly only grinned back at her. “You’re just jealous you never get any.”

“Kelly! Time and place!”

Lynda gasped, standing on the other side of RK, who wanted nothing more than to exit the conversation immediately. Navigating the tense air between Lynda and Susan was always a minefield back in the day, one he’d eventually grown accustomed to. But the pure static electricity between Lynda and Kelly felt like a nuclear bomb in comparison. Lynda and Susan kept their arguments cordial, often speaking with hidden meanings. It was hard to parse at the beginning, but he learned. Kelly threw all that out the window. She was blunt and shameless, she said exactly what she meant and gave no second thought to perceived reputation. She was always a wildcard, never malicious but didn’t take being talked down to, either. A complete contrast to the other women and even Mira.

In a way, he respected her bluntness, though. He never had to guess what she was saying. Or thinking. She’d just say it. It made talking with her easy, there was no invisible trap to walk through with her. Even if she did sometimes make conversations extremely awkward for everyone involved because of it.

“Wait,” he suddenly interrupted, processing what she’d even said, stopping the argument in its tracks and pulling all eyes to him as he eyed the hedgehog woman back, his eyebrow rose, “Did you say married couple?”

Kelly stared up at him before laughing, her hands going back to her hips, “Well yeah, obviously. The fuck else you call it?”

“Language,” both Mira and Lynda hissed, though she only laughed and ignored them.

“Metal and I?”

“Duh,” Kelly waved, “look, I know you’re a robot and all but you’ve been living amongst us mortals long enough at this point you can’t be completely oblivious to this at this point. You two are the most old married couple I have ever seen. The only people who argue as much as you do are Mira and I.”

“Just because people argue doesn’t mean they’re married,” Lynda countered, looking between RK and Kelly, “they’re just coworkers. RK’s said as much.”

“Sure. And they were just roommates,” Kelly rolled her eyes, pointing at Lynda and leaning forward, grinning, “you’re just mad ‘cuz you just wanna fuck the robot-”

“EXCUSE YOU!” Lynda choked, her entire face burning.

“Oh look, Itara’s here and I need to go. Goodbye,” RK interrupted, now staunchly ignoring the escalating argument behind him as he power-walked over to the time traveler finally exiting the building. She barely had time to notice him before he was scooping her up and onto his shoulders to make their escape, startling her.

“A-! RK! Wha-!”

“Running late, gotta go,” he snapped, wasting not a single moment making for the gates as he heard Mira having to physically restrain Kelly behind them.

Itara looked back at the noise, watching before looking down at RK again, “What… was that all about?”

“Lynda and Kelly again. Don’t worry about it.”

“Ah.”

Once they were a decent enough distance away, RK finally slowed his pace and came to a stop to sigh and relax a bit. Nevermind. He did not appreciate Kelly’s bluntness sometimes. After a moment to breath, he started walking again, but at a more comfortable pace and broke the awkward silence, “How was school?”

“Ugh,” Itara whined, leaning against his head, “Awful. Camilla was impossible to avoid and she refuses to listen. As soon as she sees me, she’s trying to pummel me.”

“Did you ever figure out why?”

“No, she won’t talk to me. I may have to get Sceira and Simon to get it out of her. Not that I really care, mind you.” RK hummed and the conversation tapered off again until Itara broke it, “So… is… is Metal still mad?”

RK stopped again. He’d gotten so distracted by Kelly’s nonsense, he’d completely forgotten about the argument with Metal. Sighing, he started walking again, explaining, “Unfortunately,” he heard her whine and continued, “I finally managed to track him down out by Spagonia, but we argued and he took off again.”

“Is that why your clothes are all torn?”

“Mm,” he nodded, “We didn’t fight, but he pissed me off so I had to deal with that before I came back to the school.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“If I could go back that far, I would have told the truth.”

“What happened, happened, Itara. There’s no point dwelling on it. I know that’s a foreign concept to a time traveler but sometimes you just have to let things be and move on. I know I’ve told you this dozens of times now. Metal needs to realize that, too. He’s hung up on a past that doesn’t even exist anymore.”

“But our memories of it still do.”

“Barely.” Itara took a deep breath and melted into him, going silent again. RK looked up in thought, huffing a bit dramatically and raising his fist, “Next time I catch him, I’m punching him, though.”

“What?”

“He deserves it. And if he’s so desperately looking for a fight, I’ll give it to him.” He put his arm back down again, “and he’s clearly looking for a fight right now.”

“What in the world was the argument about?”

“A past that no longer exists.”

The rest of the walk to Soleanna was relatively quiet and by the time they reached the castle, RK had fully calmed back down. At least as much as he was going to, given the situation. One of the outside guards went to inform Blaze they were there, leaving them to wait by the door again. “Did you manage to get a hold of that jackal to let him know?” RK questioned, glancing up at Itara.

“Yeah, he knows,” she sighed, “I don’t know when or if he’ll actually show up, but he knows where I’ll be and about the training.”

RK nodded as the guard returned, ushering them to follow, and leading them down to the office again where Blaze was already waiting on the couch. Unfortunately, Shadow was also already there, leaning up against the wall, arms crossed and watching. Itara sighed loudly and dramatically at his presence while RK reached up to pull her off his shoulders but kept her locked tight in his arms, moving her backpack to the nook of his arm.

“Thank you for agreeing to this,” Blaze welcomed, motioning to the other couch again, “I’m sure we’d all like to put this entire situation behind us for good.”

“It’s behind us already,” RK snapped. Maybe he was still a bit testy after all.

“And you were the ones responsible for it all to begin with,” Shadow countered.

“Enough,” Blaze commanded, “we’re not here to argue again, we’re here to solve a problem. Itara, thank you for agreeing to do this.” Itara just hummed quietly and nodded, not wanting to say much else. Blaze then turned her attention to RK, “then let’s discuss the specifics so we can get this taken care of.” RK nodded and sat back for the conversation.

It wasn’t a long one, it wasn’t necessary. They agreed on a schedule, Itara would stay at the castle during the week and go back home to the base during the weekends until both Blaze and Silver were confident she would no longer be a threat. She would then be free to go back home and the past would be forgotten between them. Shadow reluctantly agreed to the plan but once again reiterated his rules regarding Metal, which caused Itara’s mood to drop again. But with the discussions done with, Blaze stood to show Itara the room they’d prepared for her, leading the group back down the main hall.

“You said Infinite would be joining you, correct?”

“I told him about it, I don’t know if he’ll show up,” Itara sighed, “He kinda does what he wants for the most part, but we usually meet on specific days of the week so I can train his powers.”

“Well, we prepared a room for both of you just in case then,” Blaze explained, opening the first door down the left hallway, revealing a moderately sized and conservatively furnished bedroom. Much like Blaze’s office, it had the essentials: a bed, nightstand, desk, chairs, wardrobe, even a small round table. But sparsely decorated. “Feel free to make the bedroom your own and let us know if there’s anything else you need.”

“I don’t need much,” Itara shrugged, walking into the room to inspect it, dropping her backpack near the door.

While she explored, however, RK turned to Blaze and Silver with a much more stern expression, “If she’s going to be staying here the full school week then you should probably know a few things.” They turned to him, curious, but nodded. “She’ll try anything to get out of homework, I’m sure you’re both aware of how clever and conniving she can be, don’t let her. Also, I brought an extra container of her favorite snacks,” he walked over to the backpack and opened it up, pulling the container out but stopped and shook it a bit before standing back up and glaring over his shoulder. “Itara.”

The hedgehog glanced back at him, noticed the snack container, and immediately turned back around, looking out the window, “WOW! Look at this window! It sure goes outside!”

“Don’t ignore me, young lady!” RK snapped, turning around fully, holding the container out at her while Blaze and Silver just watched on in baffled confusion. “What did I tell you about this container specifically?”

“I sure do love windows and outside and the sun,” Itara continued, her ears pinned tight against her head as she kept her back to them, “And not knowing anything about any snacks other than the ones in my lunch!”

RK breathed in, held it for several seconds, before sighing heavily and reaching up to pinch his nose. Dropping his arm again, he turned back towards the other two and grumbled, “Well, I WAS going to say I packed a few extra snacks but don’t let her have more than one a night, no matter what she tries. But apparently she already got into them.” Opening the container, he counted the remaining brownies and cookies before closing it tight again and handing it to Blaze, “One every other night now.”

“AW! RK!” Itara immediately whined, turning back around and suddenly remembering they were there again.

“No ‘aw RK’ from you,” RK scolded, facing her, “I told you those were for while you were here. I packed just enough so now you only get them every other night.” He watched, fighting to keep the smirk off his face as she pouted and whined, before turning back to study Silver, sizing him up before turning to Blaze, “You should probably keep track of them. She’ll swindle him into giving her more.”

“What?!”

Blaze couldn’t resist the smirk as Silver balked and stammered at the read, nodding after a moment, “Very well, I will keep them out of both of their hands.”

“What?! C’mon Blaze, I can be trusted!” Silver insisted, frowning.

Blaze only shook her head, reaching over to pat his cheek, “I’m sorry, but… that was a very accurate read.” Silver’s face flushed up as he sputtered while Blaze turned back to RK, “Is there anything else we need to know?”

RK looked up as he started counting, “Bed by eight, school starts at seven, she will spend as much of the morning moaning and dragging her feet as you let her. She likes specifically the syrup for breakfast so if you make pancakes or waffles, don’t give her too much and make sure there’s some kind of fruit with it. Her and Metal both have a gaming problem so don’t let her sit around playing them too long, same with the TV. Two hours, Tops. Oh and she’s been having issues with a girl at school. Obviously, I’ll be there during school hours but she has a tendency to ruminate at night so if she starts getting quiet, the best way to get her talking is to ask about her favorite snacks or plants. It’s especially important to get her out of her head if she starts thinking about Mephiles in any capacity, she’s still struggling with… well, everything that happened and there’s a high likelihood she’ll spiral if left alone too long.”

He crossed his arms, running through a list and rocking his head to the side, “I already covered snacks. She likes the brownies with the candy and almost any kind of cookie but don’t spoil her too much. Also, probably best to keep her away from that new pizzeria for now. With everything that happened with it, I don’t need her zipping off to another world again.” Running over his lists one more time, he stood up straight and looked back at them again, “I think that covers it but I’ll give you a direct line to my comms just in case anything else comes up.”

Silver and Blaze both stood there taken aback for a moment before Blaze shook her head, blinking, “Right. Of course. Yes, a communication line would be good, I think. And we’ll do our best to take care of her while she’s here.”

RK nodded, looking back over to Itara, who was staring up at him suspiciously, her head tilted. He walked over and crouched in front of her, reaching over to rest a hand on her head, “If you ever feel in danger at any point, you run alright? You come right home and get me. Keep track of your journal.”

Itara sighed, trying to keep the concern off her face, “I’ll be fine, RK, don’t worry. But I promise I will come back if anything feels off.”

“Alright. Good. And I will… try to deal with Metal in the meantime. Get him and Shadow sorted by the weekend so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Right. Yeah. Okay.”

He stared down at her a moment before pulling her into a hug, resting his head on hers, before sighing and releasing her again, standing back up. “Okay, then I’ll… see you tomorrow at school, alright?” She nodded and he turned to the other two again, pointing, “You take care of her.”

“We will. We promise,” Blaze nodded.

Once RK was satisfied, the four of them walked back to the entrance and RK stepped outside, looking back as Itara stood just inside the door, watching him. He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and looked down, instead.

“RK?” He looked up again, and Itara put one hand on her hips and pointed with the other, commanding, “Go find Metal. He’s being stupid.”

RK smirked and nodded, “Will do.”

She nodded and turned back around to go inside, “I expect to see him this weekend because we’re going to have some gaming to do!” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes, exchanging a look with Blaze before nodding to them and turning around to head back home. Once the doors closed behind him, he took a deep breath before taking off running. He still had some steam to blow off apparently.

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AO3 Series

Error_422: Story Page Chapter 1 --- Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

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[disrepairhouse]

Oh look. More Art.

Throw aaaaalll the way back to the first arc, when Itara first reactivated RK and made... some visual changes.

Who knew waiting all hours of the night for a plumber 4 days in a row was the key to pumping out art???

[disrepairhouse]

Keeping Metal Sonic away from Robotnik is sometimes harder than keeping the timelines intact

Future chapter sketch, might finish up later. Maybe.

[disrepairhouse]

I had some time to kill so... finished it 8D

Now to actually finish that chapter lmao

[disrepairhouse]

Keeping Metal Sonic away from Robotnik is sometimes harder than keeping the timelines intact

Future chapter sketch, might finish up later. Maybe.

[disrepairhouse]

DISREPAIR ERROR_422: Episode 5

Betrayal & Consequences: Chapter 2

Itara stared up at the towering walls, filled with a kind of dread she wasn’t even aware she was still capable of anymore. It had been some time since she’d been anywhere near Soleanna’s central building, rebuilt from the remains of the old castle, and she had no intention of being near it again so soon. But she wasn’t surprised, either, she knew this would happen eventually. Not only because of their past, but also because she was technically the Guardian of Solaris now. Of course the newly appointed Princess of Soleanna would want to talk to her about that. So she agreed, but she didn’t have to like it.

What did surprise her, however, was the antsy robot that had followed her and was now standing there, arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently. She knew RK would come, he refused to let her out of his sight for long anymore. But why was Metal here? When she asked, he only waved her off and didn’t answer.

Oh well.

She wouldn’t admit it but it did ease her mind a bit having both of them there. She needed the reassurance more than she expected as the guards finally agreed to let them enter and one escorted them through the building. She studied the rebuilt castle as they walked, noting where hints of the old castle still showed and what was new. The sturdier, outside walls remained mostly intact, but everything inside had been redone and the layout adjusted for something much smaller and more modern. It was strange. Even in Crisis City, the main castle – and lab – mostly remained intact so she knew the walls well, but everything around it changed. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. There was a small pang of longing for what once was but at the same time, she knew the change was necessary – good, even. The sooner they could all leave Crisis City behind, the better.

Taking another deep breath, she focused in front of her again as they stopped at a door at the end of the hall, the guard opened it and stepped aside but watched them cautiously. The room behind the door was a large office space, sparsely decorated but the necessities were there. As they entered, the figure behind the large metal desk stood and the other beside her stopped his pacing to face them, his eye narrowed slightly.

“Itara. Glad you could join us,” the purple cat motioned to the couches between them.

Itara nodded and moved to one of them, RK and Metal standing behind it, she imagined to remain on guard and ready to move at a moment’s notice, should the need arise. Metal, especially, was notably on edge, his fingers twitching against his crossed arms, while RK stood still and firm next to him. Of course she checked her journal before agreeing to the meeting at all, just in case, but it didn’t put any of them at ease, despite no sign of trouble. “I suppose it was inevitable,” she sighed, watching as the other two got comfortable on the other couch, “I’m guessing this is about my return to existence. If you’re worried: no Mephiles wasn’t released with me and no, I have no intention to change that this time. I wasn’t expecting to come back, either.”

All three eyes shifted to the two robots behind her briefly before returning to her, her own eyes falling to the coffee table between them. She really preferred it when there were less eyes on her, but she supposed this was the outcome for all her meddling. Silver quietly scoffed but Blaze spoke up first, “We just want to be sure there’s no repeat situation. Neither of us have forgotten the role you played in bringing Crisis City about in the first place-”

“Hey, I didn’t cause Crisis City!” Itara snapped, glaring up at them, “I helped Mephiles join with Solaris, but I had nothing to do with Crisis City!”

“What about the second time?” Silver hissed, causing Itara’s expression to drop, her eyes doing the same.

“That’s….” The room went quiet for a moment before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it and looking up again, her brows furrowed, “I was cut off from my dad and my powers entirely until Solaris returned, I couldn’t do anything about it if I had wanted to.” Her expression hardened again, “And as soon as he did, I helped seal him again, remember?” She waved her damaged right arm up, “I went through hell to do it, too, and everyone just seems to keep glossing over that! I get it, I helped Mephiles destroy the world once. I got everyone killed. I made sure Blaze was out of the way because I knew she had the power to stop Iblis. I fixed RK for the sole purpose of making sure Metal couldn’t stop Mephiles from being released in the first place. I made sure the Flame was protected instead of blown out so Solaris could still come back. It’s my fault. I get it.”

She had to stop and take a deep breath, on the verge of the tears and didn’t want to look so easily riled up, not when she knew she was being watched so closely. After a moment, she shook her head and frowned, “But I had to live through Crisis City, too, just the same as you guys did.” Her fists tightened around the edge of her dress, keeping her eyes sharply on the coffee table, “I was also ‘born’ into that world but where you two had each other, I only had Mephiles. He was the first person not to die or abandon me, he was the one who taught me to use powers I had no idea I even had. Of course I would have done anything for him.”

Her grip loosened as she glanced back at the robots behind her and sat up straight again, looking back to Silver and Blaze, “at least, until I found a real family. I knew Mephiles intended me to die long before he killed me, himself. I just refused to admit it-”

“Oh finally,” RK breathed, the exasperation and relief somehow written all over the unreadable face, his shoulders unsnapping and his entire demeanor relaxing, gaining everyone’s attention. When he looked over Itara, who was sharply side-eyeing him now, he stood back up straight and shook his head, “I’d been waiting for you to admit that for years now. I’m glad you can finally come to terms with it.”

Itara’s lip hitched but Metal just scoffed and looked away, “She’s known it the entire time.”

“I know she has, but you don’t know how long she spent denying it, Metal,” RK argued. “She’s been fighting that one more than anything else.”

“Excuse both of you,” Itara hissed, turning towards them, “why do both of you sound like you’ve known this the entire time?!” Both RK and Metal turned towards her with eyebrows raised, causing her to shrink further into herself, her scowl darkening, “NEITHER OF YOU WERE THERE AT THE BEGINNING! You, especially, Sparky!”

“I didn’t have to be, Left-Foot,” Metal only shrugged, looking away again, “It was obvious. No one asks someone to fight Shadow and expects them to live. You’re lucky you did.”

“Ah, speaking of Shadow, actually,” Blaze cut in, grabbing their attention back, Itara’s expression dropping immediately. “We asked him to join us, as well, he should be along soon. Considering he was the one to originally seal Mephiles, we thought it only appropriate.”

Itara’s entire demeanor dropped as she bolted from the couch and scrambled over to RK, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! He doesn’t know I’m back, does he?!”

“Yes. He does,” came the irritated, gravely voice from the still open doorway. Itara froze while Blaze and Silver turned to greet the black hedgehog. RK immediately went on the defensive while Metal quietly sighed. Shadow strode into the room, eyeing the robots and all but ignoring everyone else, his tone sharp as he scowled at Metal, “So that’s why you stole the scepter from me.”

Metal simply shrugged but Itara briefly peaked out from behind RK’s leg to eye Metal, as well, “You stole the scepter?”

She immediately regret the question as Shadow’s gaze shifted to her, scowling a hole through her very soul, “Yes. He did. What did you do to their programming that they’d be so hellbent on bringing you back over and over?”

“Hey! I did nothing!” Itara pointed back, once again regretting the words as soon as they were out of her mouth as before any of them could react, Shadow had her by the shirt collar, well off the ground and out of RK’s reach.

Metal reacted first, his arm sparking up as he threatened, “Put her down.”

RK wasn’t far behind, claws up and pointed at Shadow, ready to fight if he didn’t comply.

Itara panicked, attempting to get free despite knowing there was no escaping Shadow’s grasp, “I’m not lying! You can look for yourself! Both their loyalty chips are completely disabled!”

“As if I’d believe a spawn of Mephiles. I made the mistake of not destroying you on sight once before, I’m not doing it again.”

“Enough!” Before the situation could escalate further, all four of them were surrounded in a soft blue light and separated, Silver moving Itara out of Shadow’s reach before releasing them again. As soon as she was free and back on the ground, Itara dropped to the ground and sighed in relief, taking several deep breaths to calm back down. Shadow, meanwhile, only turned his fury on Silver, instead. “The point of this meeting is to decide what to do about her, there’s no need to jump the gun, though. So if everyone could just calm down.”

Itara’s cheeks puffed at the insinuation, but eventually just sighed and accepted her fate.

“Fine. But just know, I have no intention to let her live,” Shadow declared, crossing his arms, his eyes remaining sharply on the threat.

“And if you touch her, you won’t be leaving here alive, either,” RK threatened back, moving back over to Itara’s side.

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Are we done?” Blaze interrupted, irritated by the entire show and took the moment of silence to redirect the conversation back to the point, “It’s true she’s a threat and has been since the beginning, but perhaps we don’t need to be so hasty. I’d like to determine just how much of a threat she actually is at this point before any decisions are made. But Shadow does bring up an important point,” she turned to the small hedgehog girl still sitting, defeated, on the floor between the couches and desk now, “Do Metal and RK have loyalty programming to you?”

“Ugh, no!” Itara exclaimed, looking up again, “Like I said, both their loyalty chips are disabled. Completely. Damaged beyond repair. They have no loyalty programming to Robotnik. To me. To Solaris. To anyone. Whatever decisions they make are their own. Their AIs are too advanced for that kind of programming anymore, anyway. I don’t think even Robotnik, himself, could reprogram them anymore with their extensive interactions with both the timelines and direct Chaos Energy. Not that I ever reprogrammed their loyalty systems to begin with. Even RK when I first stole him from Robotnik, his loyalty chip was damaged. I never repaired it. He’s never had any kind of loyalty programming to me.

“And certainly not Metal Sonic. He was even more advanced than RK.” She looked over at Metal, hesitating a moment before explaining, “It’s why RK never rescued you from Robotnik. We couldn’t.” Metal’s smug grin dropped as he looked from his claws over to her, his expression blank before his eyes narrowed. “I don’t know how much you remember from the original timeline, but I tried recruiting you before I stole RK. When you initially went rogue. Because I knew you’d end up back in Robotnik’s hands and your loyalty programming would be too advanced for me to disable, let alone reprogram. That’s why RK didn’t return the favor. He asked. A lot. It just wasn’t possible until you were almost completely destroyed in the fight with Solaris. RK basically had to rebuild you from scratch.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked up at Shadow, adding, “And before you accuse me of putting a loyalty system in during the rebuild, RK was the one who rebuilt Metal’s systems, not me. Metal, himself, did more work than I did. And RK certainly wouldn’t install something like that.” She hesitated again but eventually sighed, looking up at RK, “And I guess if I’m coming clean about everything anyway… I lied to you, too.” RK looked down at her, confused. “I did know it was Metal who reactivated you. Of course I knew. I just didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get distracted trying to rescue him when I already knew it was pointless. You asked about it so often, I knew if I confirmed it, you’d drop everything. So I lied and said I didn’t know.” His brows furrowed and she looked down, playing with the edge of her dress, “I’m sorry. I lied a lot back then. Anything to ensure Mephiles’ plans worked. I didn’t care how. I knew what his goals were. I knew the world was going to end and convinced myself it didn’t matter. I’m… I’m sorry.”

The room went silent for several minutes, both robots processing the information. The longer the silence went on, the worse Itara felt, eventually convincing herself if they wanted to abandon her after this, she wouldn’t complain. She deserved it. RK was the first to speak up, shattering her spiraling thoughts when he reached down to pat her head before picking her up off the floor, “I had a feeling.”

“What?”

“Itara you’re a time traveler, it wasn’t hard to guess you would know who reactivated me. I’ll admit, I’m a little frustrated you felt the need to lie about it for so long, like I wouldn’t have figured it out eventually. You had to know I was reactivated at all to begin with, you would obviously know who did it.” Itara stared up at him, baffled, silently sputtering, but eventually looked down again, her ears pressing against her head.

A small huff from the other side of the room drew their attention to the other robot as he uncrossed his arms and headed for the door without a word.

“Where are you going?” RK questioned but Metal only continued through the door, waving him off.

“It’s too stuffy in here. I’m going for a run. Figure out what you need to figure out, I’ll meet you back at the base.”

He was gone before RK could argue further, leaving the room only further on edge, as Shadow’s scalding sight went right back on the time traveler. “He’s upset with me,” she muttered, sinking further into herself and RK’s arms.

“It’s Metal. He’s always upset about something. Just let him run it off, it’ll be fine,” RK dismissed, going back to the couch to sit down, keeping Itara tight in his grip and a sharp eye on Shadow. “In any case, I don’t mind sitting and talking the situation out, but I just want to make it perfectly clear to everyone here: no one is touching Itara. You’ll have to destroy me first. Hurt her and I’ll make it the last thing you ever do. I didn’t fight Solaris twice just for fun.” All eyes fell on the bot. His tone was flat, but the threat was clear, he was not exaggerating nor being facetious.

“If we can handle this without violence, we’d like to,” Blaze offered, “That’s why we asked you all to come and talk. To try and reach an understanding where we all feel comfortable.”

“There can be no comfort with Mephiles or his pawns roaming free,” Shadow grumbled, arms crossed, brooding in the corner.

“Would it ease your mind to explain that the other Guardians have already limited my powers so I can’t do the same again?” Itara questioned, her tone distant, defeated, “I lose my physical form if I travel too far out of my present, a handful of days at the most. My power was also halved after an… incident with a ghost. So not only do I not have the motivation I once did to assist Mephiles, I don’t even have the ability. Not to mention the paradox damage. Interacting with the timelines is physically painful after a point, I can’t do it for extended periods anymore. So I assure you, whatever your concerns, the other Guardians had them too and already put in safeguards against it.”

“I suppose that is somewhat reassuring,” Blaze hummed, “The other Gods were also trying to stop Solaris, it makes sense their Guardians would want to ensure this doesn’t happen again, either.”

Itara mumbled incoherently and looked down, away from them, an arm going up to rub the other. Thinking about the other Guardians made her a bit sad. Tikal still directly interacted with Chaos and even the Cookie Thief had some kind of connection with Dark Gaia, being his other half. But despite now being the Guardian of Solaris, Itara had no contact with him anymore. The only way she had to interact with Mephiles were the random bits of disjointed memories she couldn’t recall whether they were even hers or not… and her dreams. It’s not like she wanted him around again or anything, she knew that would be bad for both her and everyone else. But she still sometimes missed him. Especially whenever she was around her namesake and Mira. She no longer had a father and, really, never did. But it was nice to pretend she did for a bit.

But she still had RK and Metal. Mephiles and Iblis were gone, but she at least still had her robots. RK was more of a parent to her than Mephiles ever had been. Even now, he was protecting her from Shadow when Mephiles only ever did the opposite. Metal and RK were her reason for protecting this world and she’d long since lost her reason to destroy it. Shaking her head, she sat up again, “I know you don’t believe me, even though I’ve said it before, but I stopped wanting what Solaris wants a long time ago. I had no plans to come back after being sealed. But since I am, I just want to help this timeline recover and live my life, with less apocalyptic outcomes. I don’t know how to make you believe me.”

Blaze and Silver exchanged looks, having a silent conversation, before Silver nodded and the two looked back at her. “Move into the castle.”

“What?!” Itara jolted up, feeling RK stiffen and tighten his grip.

“Temporarily,” Blaze clarified, “We want you to come stay here in the city with us so we can keep an eye on you. Ensure you have no intentions or opportunities to bring Solaris back. Considering I hold the Flames and you are part of the Shadow, I’d like to personally overlook your training as a Guardian of Solaris.”

“Training​?”

“Correct.” Itara winced. There was so much conviction in her tone, not only did it sound like she’d considered this for some time, but that she wouldn’t be talked out of it. “The alternative is letting Shadow handle it. You’ve proven to be too much of a threat to just roam free without any oversight. So either you stay here and I train you, personally, or we have no choice but to let Shadow do as he sees fit to protect this world. And we’ve seen what he thinks is the necessary route.”

“I-! You-! That-!” Itara bumbled through her argument, unable to properly verbalize anything she wanted to say in her panic.

“What did I just say about hurting her?” RK stepped in, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

“Like I said, I’d like to resolve this without violence… if we can. But I’m unwilling to put this world at risk again. So either she comes to train under me or we do what we must to protect everyone.”

RK’s scowl only darkened but Shadow almost smirked in the corner, eyeing them sharply. Daring them to go with Option B. “How long? And what does the training entail?”

“Long enough to be sure,” Blaze shrugged, “as for the training, I’d like to see what powers she still holds and how much of a connection she has with Mephiles or Iblis. If she can interact with them at all anymore.”

Itara frowned and shrunk back again, looking away and mumbling quietly, “I can’t. My connection is non-existent.”

“It may be at the moment but you’re a Guardian now, there’s likely something there and I’d rather be around when you discover it. The last time you discovered new powers, this world ended.” That final comment hit like a truck. Itara’s stomach dropped and it took everything in her power to not curl into RK entirely to avoid further conversation. Blaze looked over the two of them, offering, “If she remains here with us, I can promise no harm befalls her. She’d still be free to go to school and we can keep her weekends free to spend with you and Metal, but the longer she’s here, the easier it’ll be to train her and the sooner we can confirm she’s not a threat.”

RK’s arm tightened around her further, leaning forward to almost encompass her entirely, his voice low and threatening as he questioned, “How do I know you won’t just decide she’s a threat as soon as my back is turned?”

“She’s still a time traveler that’s survived multiple worlds ending, I’m more than certain the second she feels threatened she could return to you easily. Part of the reason she’s such a threat is because she’s so capable. And she’s always returned to you, despite everything we’ve all been through. We’re not the threat in this situation.”

“And Shadow?”

Blaze looked to the otherwise silent hedgehog, questioning, “Do you agree to these terms, Shadow? If she stays here, she’s safe?”

He remained silent to consider it, looking between her and the tiny threat trying to hide. “I suppose Silver held his own in a fight against me,” Shadow conceded, “if the Mephiles spawn tries anything, he seems capable of handling it. I suppose I can agree to this. With conditions.”

Silver’s eyebrow rose at the vague compliment, but nodded, “I can handle it. What are the conditions?”

“One,” Shadow held a finger up before pointing at Itara, “if a connection to Mephiles is made and that spawn shows any signs of trying to bring him back, I’m informed immediately.” RK scowled at Shadow but let him continue. “Two, she stays away from Metal-”

“WHAT?!” Itara sat back up, turning to face Shadow, “You can’t do that!”

His expression darkened as he eyed her, “I don’t trust you, despite your insistence regarding their loyalty chips. Until I can confirm, myself, that you haven’t messed with his programming, you don’t get near him.”

“Why do YOU get to decide that?! That should be up to HIM!”

“For that matter, you shouldn’t be allowed near either of the robots-”

“NO!” The rage turned to panic at the thought, her entire body shaking as she fought back the tears that were threatening the corner of her eyes. “Y-You can’t… I didn’t… but I-….” Her grip on RK’s sleeve tightened but before she could get further worked up, he wrapped her up again and interrupted.

“I’m veto-ing this demand,” he snapped, “What Metal and I do is our own call. No one decides that for us anymore, that includes you. If you think Metal’s programming has been tampered with, you can ask him about it directly. But neither of us are going anywhere.”

“Fine, you can do as you please but I still hold that until I can confirm Metal hasn’t been tampered with, she stays away from him. Prove he stole that scepter of his own volition and I’ll rescind this demand.”

“Fine.”

“RK?!”

RK looked down, studying the horror and panic in her face before patting her head, “It’ll be fine. It won’t be hard to prove. Besides, not even Shadow can tell Metal Sonic what to do, anyway. I didn’t even ask him to come with me today, he came on his own. Metal wouldn’t abandon you any more than I would.”

“We’ll see why that is,” Shadow scoffed before turning to Blaze again, “my final condition is that anything she does while under your care is your responsibility. If you won’t let me eliminate the threat, then you take accountability for what happens. Agree to these and I’ll let the hellspawn be.”

Blaze nodded, “These seem fair to me. I’ll agree to them.” She looked to RK and Itara again, “Do we have a deal then? Shadow will leave her be while she’s here.”

RK only scowled again, “What if we don’t agree?”

“I’ve already explained the alternative. The decision is up to you.”

“That’s not a choice, that’s an ultimatum. Either leave Itara, undefended, in the hands of her enemies right after getting her back or fight Shadow.”

“The point of this is to not be enemies anymore,” Silver insisted, “and she won’t be undefended. Shadow agreed to let her be.”

“And what of Robotnik? He’s aware of our existence these days and is more than familiar with Itara’s powers. He’s just as much a threat as Shadow and I’m fairly certain you don’t have an agreement with him.” There was also the problem of Sigma but neither Itara nor RK wanted to bring that up, just in case.

“We have people tracking Robotnik’s movement these days, as well. If he tries anything, we’ll know. We’re well-aware that Itara’s powers need to remain far out of his hands, especially.”

Silence drifted once more, Blaze seeming resolute on her offer, but RK looking for any argument to dissuade her from it. Itara, however, looked down again, her shoulders dropping after a minute as she sighed. “If I agree, you’ll no longer consider me a threat?”

“If you agree, we will determine whether you are a threat or not,” Blaze stated, her hands crossed firmly in her lap. “If it’s determined you’re not, then that’ll be that.”

Itara’s ears flattened, but she continued, “And I can still see at least RK and go to school?”

“Correct. We can negotiate weekends.”

She took a long, deep, breath and looked up again, her brows knit together, “Then can I make a small request? If I agree?”

“What is it?”

“Infinite. I promised him I’d train him if he came back to this timeline. If I come here to train, can he come as well to continue his training? He’s got similar powers to mine but his come from the Phantom Ruby, which was damaged the same way I was. He needs help harnessing them again but if I’m here, I can’t help. If I agree to stay here, I’d like him to come along with me and whatever training you plan to give me, give him, as well.”

Blaze thought it over while RK exchanged an uncertain look with Itara. Silver and Blaze had a quiet conversation about it before eventually turning back and nodding, “Very well. Infinite may come as well. If he’s got similar powers to yours, it would be best to judge his abilities, as well.”

Itara nodded, sighing again, her ears pressed firmly against her head as she agreed, “Fine. If that’s what’s necessary, so be it.”

“Itara, are you sure?” RK frowned, leaning forward to get her attention, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

She nodded again, looking over to give him an incredibly forced smile, “Yeah. I mean, it’s fine, right? I’m just staying in the city instead of the base, it’s not that far, and Infinite and I will both get some training while proving I’m not a threat anymore. I see no downside.” RK’s mouth pulled to the side and he attempted to argue her out of it, but eventually realized it was moot and gave in, as well.

Instead, he turned a hardened stare and a clawed hand to the others and reiterated, “If anything happens to her, I will come for you.”

Blaze held her hands up in defense, “I promise she will be safe while here.”

RK stared her down for several minutes, looking for the lie, the con, the scheme. Eventually he sighed and put his hand down, “Fine.”

“Good. Then, Itara, go home and pack what you need. You can simply come here tomorrow after school is out,” Blaze instructed, getting a nod from the hedgehog girl. “Once we’ve determined your intentions and your powers are under control, you can go home again. This isn’t a permanent thing.”

“Right,” Itara muttered.

Few words else were exchanged and before long, they were heading back to the base on the outskirts. RK attempted to convince Itara not to go through with it once more, suggesting they could just avoid Shadow like they had before, but she only shook her head. It wasn’t that big of a deal and it would benefit them in the end. It would be worth it to her.

Hopefully.

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AO3 Series

Error_422: Story Page Chapter 1 --- Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

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[disrepairhouse]

DISREPAIR ERROR_422: Episode 5

Betrayal & Consequences: Chapter 1

“But RK!”

“Nope.”

“But-!”

“You’re not getting out of it. Go get dressed unless you want to go to your first day of school in pajamas.”

Itara huffed and groaned and whined, but the robot was having none of it and eventually, she trudged back to her bedroom to get ready. RK watched after her a moment before shaking his head and returning his attention to the other lazy moper sprawled across the living room couch. Reaching over the back, he fit his hook snug under the other bot’s bent knee and pulled, sending the unsuspecting bot flailing. Once Metal was flat on his back and staring up at the unamused warbot, his previously smug expression flattened to irritation.

“What was th-!”

“You’re not staying home all day, either,” RK commanded, releasing Metal’s leg to stand back up straight and let the other bot re-situate, “Either you come run defenses with me at the school or find something useful to do. Your joints are going to rust over if you keep lying around like you do.”

“Where do you get off telling me what to do?” Metal demanded, standing up to face the other bot, arms crossing but staying carefully out of range of the hook now. “I can tell you right now, I’m not helping you babysit.”

“Then find something else to do, so long as you’re not lying around. There are no video games to play all day and you have both arms now, you no longer have an excuse to sit around moping.”

“Who was moping?!”

RK only stared at him with a flat look, mouth tightened in a line. There was no point responding to that, they both knew the answer. Instead, he turned his attention to the door and picked up the backpack he’d already prepped, giving it another look-through to make sure it had everything. “In any case, whatever you end up doing, be careful of Robotnik and this Sigma guy. There’s no telling what they’re up to or what they’re capable of, especially since Robotnik’s fully aware of our existence now. You, especially, should be careful. You’ve always been his go-to.”

There was a moment of silence, contemplating the potential threat, but the moment was interrupted soon enough with a whining child making her way back out to the living room, dressed but no less happy about it. She stopped when she noticed both robots standing, staring at her, the silence hanging awkwardly between them.

“What?”

RK shook his head again and loosened back up, “Nothing. Come on, we should go. I want to have a chat with Mira before school actually starts.” Itara whined again but made her way over to the bot, waiting for him to put her on his shoulders before taking the backpack and getting comfortable.

She glanced towards Metal when she realized he was still standing there and raised an eyebrow, “What, are you coming too or something?”

Metal hitched and scowled, “Absolutely not. I have my own work to do, I don’t have time to babysit.”

“Sure. Whatever, Sparky.”

“Try not to light anything on fire today, Left-Foot.”

Itara shot him a furious scowl, but the previously frustrated bot responded with a smug grin before walking past them to the lab, saying nothing more while RK sighed. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Stupid Sparky,” Itara muttered, but sunk into his shoulders again and snuggled down for the run.

The run to the school wasn’t nearly long enough for Itara’s taste. It was technically slower than the old trains but far too short for her lack of interest in being there at all. The location was the same as the old school but the building, itself, was far smaller. For obvious reasons. However, while she barely expected more than their own group to be in attendance – having forgotten entirely about the misplaced humans from the pizzaplex – she was shocked and frankly horrified by the sheer crowd that had already gathered outside the newly built fence.

Not everyone seemed to be students or even their parents, though, as Itara spotted several survivors from Sonic’s group she knew for a fact didn’t have kids. She guessed they were just there for the grand reopening or something, not that it felt like something to celebrate that much. But when she spotted two specific people she realized why there was such a commotion. The new Ruler of Soleanna and her time traveling companion, the two people Itara wanted to see least, maybe even more than Sonic, were just beyond the gate.

Wincing, she curled further into RK as he made his way through the crowds and right up to the gate, waving someone down and waiting for them to approach. Lynda’s voice cut through the murmur of the crowd easily as the strawberry blonde reached the gate, opening it for them and ushering them through.

“RK! Itara! You made it just in time!”

“Sorry we’re late, it took me a while to drag someone out of bed this morning,” RK apologized, following Lynda further into the courtyard where the other new school staff were waiting. Itara made a face but said nothing as she scanned the area. Of course Mira and Kelly were there along with Lynda and Velio. Simon, Sceira, and her namesake were there, as well, Simon looking just as pleased to be there as she was. Itara avoided looking directly at the other two people present until the silver hedgehog caught sight of her and she could immediately feel the disdain for her mere presence and existence. He said nothing, but the look was hard to ignore, especially as RK decided the best course of action right now was to remove her from his shoulders and set her down in front of him. How dare he remove her from her hiding spot and put her in full view of her enemies like this?

Mira turned from his conversation with the purple cat, turning yet more eyes on them. Including the new Leader of Soleanna and the current holder of the Iblis Flame, with all her memories of previous timelines. Itara winced again under the sharp eye but felt no better when that gaze turned to the robot that had a hand in trapping her in Kipper’s gem. No words were spoken between them, but they didn’t need to be, both Itara and RK to got the hint. Of course, the tense air went entirely over Lynda’s head, but Mira seemed to pick up on it and spoke up to try and dissuade some of it.

“Glad everyone could make it,” he started, “I asked Blaze and Silver to join us for the re-opening, as the current leaders of Soleanna, Blaze agreed to give a small speech to the new students to welcome them in.” He motioned towards the robot and explained, “RK here offered to act as security for the school and Lynda will be in charge of the PTA. Of course I’ll be acting as Headmaster and Kelly will be in charge of after school sports. We’ve got a few other parents coming in that have offered to teach and luckily some of the parents from that pizzaplex incident were also teachers from whatever world they came from.”

A quiet gaze turned to Itara again at the mention of other worlds, causing her to look off in another direction to avoid the eyes. That whole pizzaplex situation wasn’t her fault. She was convinced it was that arcade machine somehow. She still wanted to go back there and investigate further.

“I still don’t understand why we’re letting the badnik act as security,” Velio snapped, getting an eye roll from RK, “We should be protecting the kids from Robotnik, not opening them up to attacks from him.”

“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not working for Robotnik anymore?” RK scowled.

“Never enough times,” the scorpion hissed back.

“I admit, I’m a little hesitant about it, as well,” Blaze added, crossing her arms and eyeing the bot. “You say you’re not working for Robotnik, but I remember well enough when you were helping a time traveler destroy the world. Robotnik hardly seems to the main issue here.” Her eyes fell right back to Itara, who bristled at the accusation.

“If I still wanted to destroy the world, I wouldn’t have risked everything I did to save it,” Itara turned to face her, standing up straight again, pointing to the cat, “Everything I did back then was for my father, who fooled you just as thoroughly as he fooled me. So if we’re still judging based on that, then go talk to your Iblis Trigger instead because I certainly wasn’t the one who released him! You and Silver had just as much of a hand in everything as I did, we’re more responsible for what happened than RK or even Metal.”

Silver jerked back at the retaliation, but Blaze remained silent, still, studying her carefully. Eventually, she sighed and nodded, “Very well. I suppose that’s fair enough.” She looked to RK again, offering a hand, “Protect the children and I will say let bygones be bygones.”

RK huffed but nodded, reaching out to take her hand, giving it a solid shake, “I’ll do my best.”

“Good! Then that’s settled!” Lynda clapped, grabbing everyone’s attention again, “that’s enough from you as well, Velio. RK’s proven time and time again he’s a good dad, I won’t hear more smear from you.”

The scorpion grumbled but Itara stared out in confusion while RK considered the comment. It wasn’t the first time Lynda called him Itara’s dad, he doubted it’d be the last either, on top of the fact that Metal and Kipper called him a Mama Bear several times a day. But it was still a strange concept to grapple with. He didn’t know if Itara considered his role anything near parental considering her relationship with her actual father. But he wouldn’t argue against, either.

“With that settled, we should get school started then,” Mira concluded, getting a round of agreement and nods from the other adults. Itara and Simon, however, rolled their eyes and whined while Sceira seemed just as enthusiastic about getting back to business.

Before long, the gates were open and the students – new and returning – were welcomed in, given a tour and their classes, and listened to several speeches from Mira, Blaze, and even Lynda, before being excused to their first class of the new school year. The classes weren’t huge. Despite a bigger crowd than any of them initially expected due to the newcomers, there were only 3 separate ‘grades’ generally split by age with the exception of one immortal time traveler who was put into classes based on her previous classes rather than her age. Additionally the newcomers had to be introduced to the existence of mobians to begin with, leading to several extended conversations that sidelined any actual learning in any class.

Itara mostly spent her day zoning out or throwing things at Simon to pass the time, only really being forced to take part in conversations when it came to history and the robotics classes. Of course. But unlike last time, she didn’t have to hide everything she knew about the Gods and the past, which became a point of exhaustion for her. The teacher quickly realized he had an easy point of clarification and Itara realized she would never be able to zone out in that class. The first day wouldn’t be so bad, they were all just getting used to being in school again at all, but she didn’t need her notebook to tell her this would get irritating once things started rolling. Especially considering how often she had a hand in everything that happened that put them in the situation they were currently in. Even in regards to humans from another world, she was once again directly involved.

The robotics class wasn’t much better, either. Just like history, she no longer had to – or rather, couldn’t – hide her experience with Robotnik robots and thus became a point of interest for the class. This one was somehow worse, though, as Mira was the teacher and her namesake was in the same class. And her namesake’s distaste for no longer being the most knowledgeable about robotics was palpable. On the other hand, though, it gave Itara an opportunity to subtly get under her skin, as well. They still hadn’t seen eye-to-eye and Itara took any chance to annoy the other girl. She couldn’t annoy Sceira anymore, considering the pseudo-scorpion was fully aware of her tricks now, so she needed the new focus.

Lunch couldn’t come fast enough and by the time it did, Itara decided to return to old habits and went searching for the quietest, most secluded area of the school. It was no longer multiple stories, so she couldn’t hide in a stairwell. It was also a lot smaller and those humans were roaming around everywhere, leaving few places outside the classrooms empty. She almost considered seeing if Mira would let her hide in his class, but realized that he was very likely not in there and wherever he was, her namesake probably was, as well. Groaning, she finally just headed outside to look for RK, knowing he would likely be patrolling the perimeter somewhere. However, on the walk back down the hall towards the front doors, a voice from the doorway leading to the lunch hall stopped her short. Itara briefly debated whether she even wanted to acknowledge them, but was forced to do so as the girl bolted and attempted to tackle her, only barely missing as Itara melted into the floor, reappearing in a black fog behind the other girl.

“YOU!” The much taller human girl with long black hair tied back in a braid spat, getting back to her feet to face the disgruntled hedgehog.

Itara sized the girl up, taking a moment to recognize her but eventually realized, “Oh. Camilla. You’re still alive?”

“Yes, I am! Despite your best efforts!” Camilla was much taller and much older than the last time Itara saw her, towering over her like Simon did nowadays, only coming a couple inches short than him at most. They no longer had uniforms so while Itara sported her usual overall dress and short sleeved shirt, Camilla was dressed in what Itara came to refer to as “the survivor default”. Well-worn jeans, flannel shirt, and boots that had clearly seen an apocalypse and lived through it. Gone were the days of designer dresses and perfectly trimmed hair and nails. Even the callous ‘better than you’ judgmental stare was replaced with the hard-worn survivor glare she saw on many people these days. Especially prominent in humans. It was less of a thing with mobians.

But even the survivor glare was tame compared to the outright hatred in Camilla’s eyes right now and unfortunately, they were grabbing attention that Itara frankly didn’t want. Sighing, she looked up at the other girl, “What are you talking about? I made no special effort for you in particular.”

“Not since the Solaris Festival.”

Itara’s expression went blank before grinning darkly, “You weren’t special then, either.”

She really needed to stop taunting people like this. As she once again had to fog away from the lunge, she couldn’t help but wonder why Camilla had it out for her specifically. She also knew, though, that if she survived this long, she could probably fight and it was best to remain out of her range. As soon as she touched down and became even half corporeal, Camilla was on her again, too quick for someone so much bigger than her. She immediately called for her Biters, just to keep the other girl at a distance, but the move only seemed to enrage her further.

Before even Itara realized it, Camilla grappled the glowing purple reptile dogs, tossing one into a nearby wall before lunging for the other. Itara used the distraction to put some distance between them, bolting through the crowd that had surrounded them to try and reach the door. Whatever happened to Camilla since the festival apparently turned her feral and Itara did not want to be in the path of that. Though it seemed she also had it out for her, specifically. This would be a problem. Luckily, the commotion drew not only RK but Kelly’s attention and both were on the scene to investigate by the time Camilla realized Itara had escaped.

“If you kids want to spar, wait until after school, that’s what club activities are for,” Kelly laughed, looking down at Itara when she bolted behind her legs.

“COWARD!” Camilla’s cry came from the slowly departing circle of watchers, standing firm where she’d been but scowling towards the runaway hedgehog. “Come back and face me! YOU caused all this!”

Itara’s cheeks puffed, refusing to respond but their mutual friends approached from the dining room, Sceira leading the way with Simon and Tobi not far behind. “Camilla? Is that you?” she called, heading towards the furious girl.

Camilla huffed and puffed a bit, trying her best to calm back down before turning towards her old friends, sizing them up. “Sceira?”

“I didn’t know you were here! Camilla, I’m so glad you’re alive!” Sceira immediately exclaimed, greeting her friend, reaching out for the girl’s hands, finding them before too long. “What was all that commotion about?”

“That freak is still alive and here,” Camilla hissed, scowling back at Itara.

“Freak?”

“Excuse you!” Itara shouted, still hiding behind Kelly and RK, who both looked down at her in slight amusement.

“Are you talking about Itara?” Sceira questioned, getting a small chuckle from Simon beside them. “That’s not very nice.”

“C’mon, Camilla, Itara’s not that bad. Just kind of a weirdo,” Simon laughed, trying to lighten the obviously tense air.

“Say that to my FACE, Simon!”

“I will when you stop hiding!”

“I’ll stop hiding when Camilla stops trying to beat my face in.”

Camilla whipped back around, scowling at her again, her tone dangerous, “You deserve it and more.”

Luckily or unluckily, Itara hadn’t decided which, the bell for lunch ending rung and Kelly clapped her hands, “Alright kiddos, that’s enough for now. Mira will yell at all of us if I let you already start skipping classes. Off with you. And no beating faces in. Save that for sports.” Sceira and Simon convinced Camilla to leave Itara be and head to class with them while Itara waited until she was long gone before sighing in relief.

“What did you do to her?” Kelly laughed once she stepped out from behind her.

“I did nothing! If anything she owes me an apology!” Itara huffed, crossing her arms.

“Just try to avoid her for the time being,” RK suggested, “off to class with you.” Itara huffed again but sighed and turned around to leave, whining about not even getting to eat lunch. RK and Kelly watched them all file out before RK shook his head, “We may need to keep an eye on them. This could be a problem.”

“What’s their deal, anyway?”

“I don’t know what’s being going on with Camilla since, but when Solaris first returned and attacked Soleanna, Itara was off with them. Her powers came back as soon as Solaris’ monsters appeared and attacked the festival and they got scared. It caused a lot of problem for Itara and even though Simon and Sceira apologized, this is the first time we’ve seen Camilla since. If I had to guess, I think Camilla still likely blames Itara for what happened. It’s a sore spot for all four of them,” RK explained, frowning. “Itara thought her friends betrayed her, Sceira lost her mom during the battles, and Simon… well, Simon is just Simon. I think he still feels bad for running away but they were all kids at the time.”

Kelly remained quiet a moment to think it over. “That was when we met again, wasn’t it? After Solaris appeared?”

“Right after Itara’s powers came back, yeah. Saving you two was the first thing she did. You and Ned.”

“Right, the old codger! How is he?”

“Still old. Determined to set up shop again. Sitting around is too ‘boring’, apparently.”

Kelly got a good chuckle before puffing up again, her hands going to her hips before reaching over and slapping RK on the shoulder, “Right! Back to work for the two of us, then. I’ll keep an ear out for battles.” RK nodded, watching down the hall a moment before turning back around to return to his patrols outside.

Itara had spent the entirety of the rest of her day on high-alert for the furious classmate, only occasionally checking in with Sceira or Simon or Tobi to see which class she was in to minimize chances of crossing her path. It was an exhausting day that only got worse every moment and she hated every minute of it and by the time the school day ended, she wanted nothing more than to go home and melt. Unfortunately, even her escape from Hell got interrupted. As Mira said a final goodbye to the students for the first day of school, Itara headed for the gates only for him to call out to her. She mentally whined and dropped her head, but sucked it up and turned back towards him.

He watched the kids file out for a moment longer before turning to her, “There was something dropped off for you in my office, if you don’t mind staying a moment?”

“Considering my ride home is likely to wait for everyone to leave anyway, I suppose I don’t mind,” she grumbled, crossing her arms. Mira only nodded and continued watching the other kids leave. Once the last few stragglers were on their way out, he turned back towards her and motioned to follow, which Itara did without much more commentary. The walk back to the office was quiet and the empty halls were a bit creepy, it reminded her of the empty halls of the old lab in Crisis City. But she quickly shook the thought from her mind as they entered the office. It wasn’t much at the moment: windows, a desk, chairs, a filing cabinet labeled with ‘Students’ and ‘Staff’. There was a mostly empty shelf on either side walls with only a couple trinkets and a painting Itara recognized as Kelly’s hanging on the back wall.

Mira walked over to the desk, picking up a white envelope with a yellow wax stamp, handing it to her. She immediately recognized the Soleanna Royal Seal and winced, looking it over. Her name was written on the front but that was all. A sense of dread exuded from this envelope. Itara hesitated before snapping it open, pulling out the card stock invitation inside.

‘The Soleanna Royal Family Requests Your Presence At The Central Building. Tomorrow 5PM’

Why?

Itara looked up at Mira with an eyebrow rose but he only shrugged. “Blaze handed this to me before she left, told me to give it to you at the end of the day. She didn’t explain why.”

She looked down again, studying the invitation. Really, it was more a command. Soleanna Royal Family. What family? What could they possibly want? Taking a deep breath, she put the card back in the envelope and looked up again, “Thanks for passing it on, I guess.”

“Do you know what they could want?”

“I have a guess. But I suppose we’ll see. See you tomorrow, Mira.”

“Have a good rest of your day, Mara.”

She was glad she had her back to him when she cringed at the new name. It still caught her off-guard. But it’s not like she could complain in front of the real Itara’s parents. She was just happy they still tolerated her existence after everything that happened. Once she was back outside, she caught sight of RK – and Metal for some reason – by the gate and crossed over to them.

“You know Metal, if you’re that bored I could-”

“Whatever you’re about to say: No.” Itara snorted, grabbing their attention. “Took you long enough, Left-Foot. How was the first day back at baby school?”

“Why are you even here, Sparky?” She hissed as RK picked her up and she got comfy on his shoulders. “Anyway, Mira had something for me,” she reached down to hold the envelope out to them, “Blaze wants to see me in Soleanna tomorrow. Didn’t say why.”

RK took the envelope, reading over the invitation before frowning, “That’s concerning.”

“Could be,” Itara sighed, leaning against his head, her shoulders dropping finally, “They probably just want to know why I’m here again.”

“Should we go?”

“Mmmpro’lly. Might be important.”

“Alright. If you say so. Anyway, hold on, we’re heading home.” He exchanged a quick look with Metal before they both took off on a run. That was tomorrow’s problem. At least today was done with and they could all relax at home.

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AO3 Series

Error_422: Story Page Chapter 1 --- Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

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[disrepairhouse]

DISREPAIR ERROR_422: Episode 4

The Beach Episode: Chapter 2

The sun was at its full height, the adults were standing around chatting, watching as the kids swapped between snacking on chips or spiking a ball into the water. The day had started rough, but everything calmed down and everyone was enjoying the day when another car pulled up to the beach. While Lynda’s van was perfectly serviceable, one of the first to be released after the incident, the one that pulled in now hardly seemed suited to the post-apocalyptic recovery world they lived in. It was a sleek, white sports car with nary a scuff on its shiny, new hull. It caught the attention of everyone present, but when the teal hedgehog stepped out from the driver’s side, the grandiose car made far more sense to those who knew him best.

He cast a wary glance towards the distant water before turning back towards the car, calling to those within to make sure they remembered their coverings before closing the door and walking back to open the door for another hedgehog while another all but jumped out of the passenger seat, stretching and crying out in excitement. Unlike the other two, who remained calm and quiet, Kelly looked ready to bolt directly into the ocean until Mira reigned her in, reminding her she had ‘heavy things’ to carry first.

Itara was the first to turn away from the group and return her attention to the tide pool she was inspecting while RK and Lynda both waved to the group, Lynda holding up drinks as she called them over. The three emptied their car – more umbrellas, blankets, towels, and floaties – and joined the rest of the group. Mira nodded to RK while Kelly reluctantly took the drink from Lynda. The two women had been all too happy to vacate each other’s immediate presence after leaving the shelter and it still showed.

“Glad you could join us,” RK offered, trying to avoid eye contact with the young girl that remained close to her father, sharp eyes scanning the beach. Once she caught sight of Metal, her expression dropped and she took another step closer to her father.

“Well, I’m not the biggest fan of the ocean… but Kelly thought it’d be good for Itara,” Mira explained, though there was a touch of uncertainty as he glanced towards the nearly identical hedgehog girl crouching near the tide pools. “Both of them, I imagine,” he added quietly.

“How is she doing, by the way?” Kelly jumped in with none of Mira’s apprehension. “You must be happy to have her back after all that.”

“She’s… managing,” RK frowned, crossing his arms, “it is good having her back, though. She gave us another scare recently,” he motioned towards the other world robots and explained, “vanished off to another world again and came back with those three and that pizzaplex. I can’t get a moment’s respite with that child.”

Mira smirked, “The life of a parent. Never a moment of respite.” He reached down and rested a hand on his daughter’s head, looking down to meet her gaze. “Why don’t you go hang out with the others? Be careful in the water, though, alright? And not out of my sight.”

The girl hesitated but slowly nodded, “Okay, daddy.”

The four of them watched her head over to the other kids, wary but squared her shoulders again once they realized she was there. Simon greeted her with all the enthusiasm he had for everything and everyone, but an awkward air hung around them as he explained to Sceira that ‘the other Itara’ just arrived. Despite ‘their’ Itara agreeing to go by the nickname ‘Mara’, they only ever used it around the original hedgehog girl so it always came off awkward. Simon was especially bad at remembering.

Mira sighed, watching the situation play out and shook his head, “she’s struggling to find her place in the world again. Everything is so different from how she remembered it and she had a hard enough time making friends even before… this.”

“Maybe everyone needed this day out to just have fun, then,” RK offered, “to reset a bit.” Mira, Kelly, and Lynda all nodded in agreement and conversations returned, though all of them kept a careful eye on their kids, just in case.

Itara had an ear turned towards the group but otherwise ignored the conversations and goings-on, far more intrigued – or so she was pretending – by the tiny tide pool she’d found. She poked the wiggling anemone, watching it curl back up into itself, recoiling slightly at the slight stickiness she didn’t expect. But as she was reaching for a starfish to poke at, as well, a sudden swell of water built up, too quickly for her to react, and knocked her clean off her feet and into the rocks around the tide pool. The yelp that escaped both alerted those closest to her and rewarded her with a mouthful of disgusting, salty seawater. The sudden swell returned back to the sea, but Itara remained on her back, scowling up at the bright blue sky until two figures filled her vision. One blatantly laughing at her, the other pitying her.

With a huff and cough, she sat back up, spitting the awful taste of seawater out as best she could, ignoring the questions hovering above her. She liked the ocean less and less every minute they remained here. First that seaweed grabbed her foot and tripped her, now the ocean, itself, was trying to drown her in tide pools. If Chaos wasn’t an entire ocean away, she would blame him for this.

“I’m fine! Stop asking!” she finally yelled, pushing herself to her feet and scowling up at both Simon and RK.

“Are you sure?” RK questioned, crouching down to look over her, but she turned her back to him, too flustered and embarrassed for so much attention.

“If you’re okay then come on, we’re building a sand castle!” Simon jumped in, turning back towards the rest of their friends, “we’ve got buckets and everything!” He wasted no time running back to the group of waiting kids, who were all watching and waiting, buckets, pails, and shovels in hand.

Itara glanced up at RK again, waiting until he nodded towards the group and stood back up before resigning herself to whatever fate Simon had cooked up for them. “Very well, if I must,” she muttered, though her footsteps were considerably lighter as she rejoined the group, taking a small red pail from Tobi. There was little further argument from her as Simon and Sceira both took up the mantle of instructing everyone on what to do and how to do it. Simon guided the design of the castle while Sceira worked out the logistics to make the frankly deranged plans work. Tobi and Itara followed along to the best of either of their abilities while the original Itara mostly judged from several steps away. She said little but more than once corrected Sceira’s plans when she felt it necessary.

While the kids were fully engrossed with their castle, the adults cleaned up the leftover food, piling what was left back in the cooler, before setting out the remaining chairs. Of course, Kelly wasted little time joining the kids with their sand castle, volunteering to fill the larger buckets with water and carry them back and forth. She did her best to drag her daughter in, to get her more involved, and eventually got the young hedgehog to agree to ‘detail’ what was built. Mira only sighed and shook his head, setting up an utterly massive umbrella and chair to sit under, avoiding the sun and water and sand as much as mortally possible. RK joined Metal under their umbrella, relaxing into their other beach chair, while Lynda immediately set her own up right next to RK, but avoided the shade entirely as she set out a beach towel to lie down on and sunbathe.

The calm lasted just long enough for the several story sand castle to be declared ‘finished’ by the finicky architects, standing back to enjoy their work and cry out in collective joy at its completion. But as soon as the noise caught the attention of Zero, who had only grown more frustrated by the minute, the maverick hunter abandoned the silent argument with X and turned to the other robots, “No wonder your world ended up destroyed if you waste your time like this.”

X’s face flushed up with irritation, having been trying to keep Zero’s biting commentary between them. “Zero!”

RK and Metal Sonic both shot the other bot sharp glares but Metal recovered quickly, looking away and relaxing again, “Just because you can’t react as quickly to danger doesn’t mean I can’t. It’s easy to relax when you’re the fastest thing alive.”

RK side-eyed him before returning his attention to Zero, “A day at the beach to relax is not going to change whether Ancient Gods rampage or not. If there was danger we could do something about, we’d take care of it.”

“I’m fairly certain your demon child was looking into several appearances from your gods long before you did something about it,” Zero retorted, causing Itara to freeze when RK turned his glare on her.

However, before the argument could go further, much to the surprise of both Zero and those watching, X grabbed the furious bot by the arm and – with a roll and kick – chucked the other bot out to sea, rolling back to his feet before the massive plume of water erupted behind him. X stood back up straight with his fists on his hips, facing the shocked watchers with a wide grin, “Ignore him. He just needs to cool down a bit. There’s no danger right now, we should enjoy the day.”

Silence drifted only a moment before Itara snickered, “Can we do that to Metal next- YEEP!” Metal was on his feet too quick for her to react as her screech echoed over the water before there was another, much smaller, plunk and splash.

“Try it and I’ll destroy every single one of you.” Despite the threat being wholly earnest, it only garnered laughs as the tenseness evaporated once more and Metal returned to his chair. RK shook his head as the others turned out to the water to join the fun. Of course, while Itara only waded back far enough to touch and waited for her friends to join her, Zero stormed his way back to X, who waited patiently for him. Axl, meanwhile, decided it best to put as much distance between himself and the furious Zero as possible and stood closer to the street.

“What was that for?”

“What was what for?” X questioned as innocently as possible while carefully evading Zero’s grasp.

“Come here!”

“Oh wow, would you look at those waves!”

X made a mad dash for the water, in hopes that Zero wouldn’t follow him in, but that proved to be a horrible miscalculation as the red bot not only followed him, but caught up and immediately returned the favor. The blue bot was sent careening for the skyline, landing with another towering plume of water, and Zero standing at the water’s edge, dusting his hands off, muttering under his breath. Metal rolled his eyes at the theatrics, but stopped short when he caught sight of RK’s contemplative gaze, his expression dropping immediately.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“I wasn’t thinking about anything,” RK grinned, leaning back to get comfortable again, looking out towards the kids to watch them.

“That sure was some distance,” Lynda added, having sat back up to watch the shenanigans, eyeing the skyline. “You robot types really are strong, huh? How strong are you compared to them, RK?”

“Strong enough to throw Metal further than that.”

“YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT IT!”

“No I wasn’t. It was just an observation. I’ve fought Zero before and I’ve picked you up plenty. You’re a lot lighter than both of them, you’d be much easier to toss.” While Metal all but sputtered for a response in his frustration, Lynda burst into a fit of laughter, only worsening Metal’s fury.

The rest of the day was filled with swimming, a very short game of volleyball with one of the beach balls that ended with a deflated ball on the end of one of Sceira’s pincers, Mira having to keep Kelly from challenging the various robots to arm wrestling matches, several snack breaks, and eventually Axl cautiously joining the fun when X pushed him to ‘have fun while he can.’ By the time the sun began to dip under the skyline and the blue sky turned yellow and orange, Kelly called all the kids back to her massive, now mostly empty beach bag.

“Shhhh, Mira doesn’t know about this, but I thought we couldn’t have a beach day without them,” she whispered, pulling several small, long boxes from the bottom of the bag, hidden under the shirt she’d long since ditched. Handing each of them one of the colorful boxes, she explained, “They’re sparklers. You just light one end and they sparkle pretty colors like a firework in your hand. Just make sure you hold them away from yourselves to not get burnt, alright? Now where did I put that lighter?”

She dug around in the bag as the kids all unboxed their sparklers, ‘whispering’ excitedly about what colors they were supposed to be. The noise grabbed the attention of the others, unfortunately including Mira, who came to see what was going on.

“Where is that damn lighter?”

“Language,” Mira hissed, “and what could you possibly need a lighter for he- Kelly!”

“Oops, caught,” she laughed, but frowned again, “I think I forgot it though. Hm. That’s a problem.”

While Mira chastised Kelly for sneaking the sparklers in behind his back, Itara looked away for a moment to think. Unease filled her face before she turned back, the frown not quite leaving yet as she stammered, “I… I c-can light them.” She pulled her free hand up to draw a small fire forward, looking around and waiting for the recoil.

Much to her surprise, she was met with excitement instead as Simon and Tobi immediately jumped to light their sparklers in her flame. Mira and Kelly watched her curiously but Kelly eventually smiled, glad that the sparklers hadn’t been ruined. The only one who recoiled was the original Itara, who scowled at her, “Is that the same flame you injured my mother with?” Mira and Kelly both winced at the memory.

Itara’s face dropped, along with her hand, the flame fizzling back out as she looked away again. “I….”

“Hey. It was the past,” Kelly jumped in, reaching over to pet both their heads, grinning again, “I’m glad you’ve finally got control over it. I wasn’t even that badly injured, I’ve dealt with worse. Your dad’s done worse testing his inventions.” Mira scowled but Kelly only laughed, standing back up straight, “I know things are weird between you two, but I don’t wanna hear about any of that past stuff. It’s all fixed and now we have both of you!” She stopped to think a moment, side-eyeing Mira and fake glaring, “Double the kids but not double the se-”

“AND THAT’S ENOUGH!” Mira jolted, covering her mouth and waving the kids away, “Go. Enjoy the sparklers. The day’s nearing the end, have fun before you have to start school again.”

With the reminder of school, both kids winced and immediately walked away, Itara sighing and pulling the flame up again, offering it to her mirror. There was hesitation again, but reluctantly the other hedgehog accepted and lit her sparkler and they joined the others again. Mira watched them before dragging Kelly further away to tell her off, both for the sparklers and the final comment.

Simon explained the sparklers in great detail to Sceira, helping to light hers so she could still enjoy the sound and heat. Tobi waved the sparkler around, trying to draw shapes with the trailing flame, while Itara stared into the light of the colorful fire. It reminded her of the fireworks during the Soleanna Festival, making her wonder if it would ever happen again. Not that there was a ‘Solaris’ to celebrate anymore. Or really much of a Soleanna to celebrate him. Those that remained weren’t exactly happy with the God that destroyed their world. There would be no lighting of the torch or fireworks for Solaris any longer. But she would enjoy these much smaller sparklers with her friends now. They were the new world. Small, limited, but still just as colorful. There were still celebrations to be had. There was still fun to be had.

Once the sparklers ran out and the sun fully dipped behind the water, bringing forth the cool, calm night and chilly ocean winds, RK lit another fire to start what he’d brought for dinner. Swimsuits were swapped with dry clothes and light sweaters and umbrellas were folded up and put away. Mira, Kelly, and the original Itara said their goodbyes and goodnights, Mira wanting to get home to make a proper dinner in a proper kitchen. He reminded both RK and Lynda of school plans while Kelly carried their dozing daughter to the car, then the three were gone.

As soon as Lynda pulled another colorful drink from the cooler and sauntered her way over to RK by the fire, Simon decided it was time to enact his and Tobi’s ‘secret plan’ for the evening. He waited only long enough to ensure his mother was fully distracted by whatever drunk nonsense she was up to before quietly motioning to the others to follow him away from the fire and towards the lump that remained of their sand castle. The waves had long since washed away their intricate décor and left only a mound of wet sand and an overflowing moat behind.

“Oh, is it time?” Tobi questioned, giddy despite all of their sluggish tiredness.

“Time for what?” Itara questioned, watching Metal get up to interrupt whatever conversation RK and Lynda were having.

“The final event of the night,” Simon answered, his voice low as he glanced cautiously over his shoulder. “We can’t end summer without a test of bravery, right? There was always a test of bravery in our old shows and we’d be in high school now so it’s only fitting. I had Tobi scope one out ahead of time.”

“Wait what?” Sceira’s brows furrowed, “You want to sneak away?”

“It’s not that far, right Tobi?”

“There are a lot of abandoned buildings around here,” Tobi nodded, “Also definitely haunted.”

Itara cocked her head to the side and stared out. If they wanted to be haunted, she could easily find them a ghost. Well, maybe not so easily. Kipper didn’t exactly stick around like he used to these days. But her relationship with ghosts aside, she failed to understand how walking through an abandoned building could be considered a ‘test of strength’ considering everything they’d all gone through. She decided not to voice this concern, however, and listened back in.

“Simon, I don’t think this is a good idea. It could be dangerous.”

“Oh come on, Sceira. We joined a battle against actual gods. I don’t think an abandoned building can really compare in terms of danger. It’s just a bit of silly fun. To do something normal again.”

“I think we all want to do something normal again,” Tobi added, his tone more sad than even he meant for it to be.

There was silence around the group as they considered it, but Itara decided that was good enough for her and shrugged, reaching out for Sceira’s hand, startling her out of her thoughts. “Sound logic to me. Tobi, where’s the building?”

Sceira stammered arguments, but Tobi happily explained the building’s general location and direction. Itara nodded, “Meet you there, then. Don’t take forever.” And with that, she opened a portal and pulled Sceira through, much to the confusion of the pseudo-scorpion. Once they stepped back out, Sceira nearly tripping as she wasn’t used to the odd way of traveling, Itara released her hand again and dispersed the portal. “Sorry for the sudden teleport but that was the only way we were getting here without your dad noticing. We’ll have about half an hour before he finds us anyway so we have to be quick.”

“… Right. Time traveler,” Sceira sighed.

“Mhm. I checked to make sure nothing would go wrong today.”

“How often do you do that?”

“As needed.”

She went silent again while Itara watched the path for the boys. Eventually, she spoke up again, “You were without your powers the entire time we were in school before, right?”

“Unfortunately.”

“So you didn’t know what was going on? With the gods? Despite being one of them?”

It was Itara’s turn to remain silent this time. She stared out, thinking back to it, frowning, but shook her head when she spotted the boys nearing. “Does it matter? The slowpokes are catching up, let’s just explore this weird building Tobi found.” She knew she could have, and maybe even should have answered the question. Of course she didn’t know. Not really. But even after all this time, even with everything that happened, admitting it, out loud, to someone else, was still too much. She didn’t know why, but something about it closed her throat and dried her tongue. The answer died on her breath. It was better to change the subject.

She gave a small wave to the boys, waiting just long enough for them to reach the broken cobblestone path before turning towards the building and heading in. “Let’s be quick. We’re not going to get far before the adults find us.”

“Right! Let’s go,” Simon jumped in, moving quickly to Sceira’s side while looking back to Tobi, “You found the place, you should lead the way. Don’t let Itara lead, we’d never get anywhere.”

“HEY!”

“Sorry, it’s true!” Simon laughed, followed soon by both Tobi and Sceira, much to Itara’s frustration. “You have two left feet and there’s a lot of rubble.”

Tobi snickered, walking past the group to take the lead while Itara huffed but ultimately let the squirrel boy lead the way. Simon and Sceira weren’t far behind, Simon making sure Sceira didn’t trip over all the rubble. Not that she needed that much help, being more than used to using her pincers to feel her environment out and proving that point when she avoided a large chunk of fallen wall that Simon managed to walk directly into. Tobi and Itara stopped at the sound of his yelp, looking back and laughing at his flustered, stammering attempt to recover.

“Who’s the klutz now?” Itara chided, grinning but turning back around to continue after Tobi.

“Shut up.”

Laughter erupted around the group… until something further in the abandoned house bumped. All noise immediately fell silent and smiles turned to wary stares. The crumbling walls of the large, expansive building stretched up, consuming the group, cutting them off from the open, fresh air of the beach they left. The cold evening wind swept through the several openings and blown out windows, howling quietly, and kicking up dust and sand and dirt around them. A hallway to their left was completely collapsed and blocked off and a door to their right was missing, giving them a view into the destroyed living room. A set of stairs just ahead looked ready to fall apart at the slightest bit of weight but several hallways beyond it were open and waiting to be explored.

“So. Are we splitting up to explore? Or staying together?” Itara questioned, exchanging glances with the others.

“Stay together. Definitely staying together,” Tobi shook his head.

“Good idea,” Sceira added.

“Welp, lead the way, Tobi,” Itara motioned, watching with a bit of amusement as he hesitated a moment, taking a deep breath, puffing up, and leading the way further in.

The living room was mostly empty, nothing but stone walls and a thick layer of ash where furniture once was. Whether everything was destroyed during the initial incident or picked through for salvage in the aftermath, they couldn’t tell, but the only thing remaining was a barren, damaged room. With the living room complete, the group moved back out to the opening and continued down towards the left hallway. Doors were blown from their hinges, dust and ash covered every visible surface, the wind whistled strangely through openings, both large and small. The group picked their way over large slabs of fallen walls and under collapsed beams, carefully and quietly, curious but wary.

Once or twice a thump or groan echoed through the halls, never near enough to discern where it came from, but loud enough to startle and put the group on edge for several minutes after. With the left fully explored, they headed for the right and the soft sound of dripping made its way to their ears. Sceira was the first to notice, followed by Itara, Tobi, and finally Simon as they located the room it was coming from.

“There’s no way the plumbing still works, right?” Tobi questioned as they hovered just outside the broken door.

“Not a chance,” Sceira answered, shaking her head, her brows furrowing as she listened closer. “It doesn’t sound like it’s coming from a pipe, either.”

“You can tell that?”

“Of course.”

While the other three deliberated how there could still be water running through the old house, Itara stood back and stared in the direction it was coming from, eyes focused, head tilted. There was more than just water coming from that room.

Simon waved the conversation down after a moment and took a step towards the door, “We should just go in and find out.”

“Wait.” The others stopped and looked back as Itara stepped forward, eyes still locked on the room, “Let me go first. There’s something in there.” She put her hand out, about to pull the flame forward, but reconsidered after a quick glance around. The last thing they needed was a fire. Instead, she crystallized both hands and inched towards the door, hoping whatever it was wasn’t hostile. But she was sure she sensed Chaos Energy beyond the door. An uncomfortable amount.

Waving her friends further back, she approached the door half shattered off its hinge and glanced around the corner. At first she saw nothing in the darkness. Just more ash and rubble. She spotted the dripping water, following the source to a crack in the ceiling. The water was odd, though. A far more pigmented blue than normal, yet too clean to be coming from such a rundown building. But as she stepped forward to inspect it, she caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to face it only to have the shadow immediately spring towards her, causing her to scream and stumble back, tripping over the edge of the broken door and falling. Her scream drew her friends’ attention as they rushed in, calling for her, only to be jumped by the shadow with the bright red glowing eyes, as well. Eyes.

Eye?

Gem.

“KIPPER!” The doll floated in place, laughing hysterically at the group of frightened children until Itara swung for him, barely ducking under her grasp. “You a-absolute- f-filthy little- un-unbelievable-!”

The fox doll only grinned wider, making sure to stay out of her grasp but turning back to the startled, stammering hedgehog. “I thought you were after ghosts? I was just helping.”

“Not you!”

Unfortunately, the surprises weren’t over – or maybe they were – as there was another thud out in the main hall, followed by both Velio and RK calling for Sceira and Itara. Itara’s ears dropped as her friends pulled themselves back to their feet just in time for both of them to reach the group and waste no time tearing into all of them. Itara hissed and used the distraction to grab Kipper by the gem to ensure he didn’t escape when she no longer could. The doll just accepted his fate and ragdolled into her arms while grinning up at the furious RK.

“I should have known you’d show up when there’s trouble,” the bot hissed, staring the doll down before turning his attention back to Itara, “Just what did you think you were doing?!”

“Exploring.”

“And you had to sneak away to do that?!”

Itara’s cheeks puffed but instead of answering, she remembered the weird energy she’d been reading and looked back to where the water was dripping. Except it was gone. There was no water and, even stranger, no wet spots where it should have fallen. She tilted her head to the side and, ignoring the yelling adult and robot, turned towards where she knew the water was and walked over to inspect it.

“Stop ignoring me!”

“There was something here,” she explained, reaching down to run her hand over the perfectly dry floor board. “I know it wasn’t just Kipper. He’s not that strong.”

“Rude,” the doll fake huffed but grinned, “but you’re right. There was someone else here. Seems I scared them off.”

“Someone?” But Kipper offered no further explanation so Itara turned her attention to the upper level, where it had come from. He was right, whatever was there was gone now. The water and the energy she’d been reading. Was someone watching them that entire time? Or did they walk in on something? Her thoughts were shortly interrupted as RK swiped her up into his arms and turned back towards the door, despite her arguments, following after Velio as he shooed the other kids out of the abandoned building and back to the safety of outside.

By the time they reached the end of the pavement, Lynda was running up to meet them, out of breath and frantic, “DID YOU FIND THEM?!”

“We found them,” RK responded, sounding just as displeased and disappointed as Velio looked.

“Oh thank goodness,” Lynda sighed, stopping to catch her breath once she reached them. Simon winced under her piercing gaze once she stood back up again. “Unbelievable, you four. Just what were you thinking?! What if you got hurt?!”

“I expect better of you, Sceira,” Velio hissed, eyeing his daughter purely out of frustration. She winced and dropped her head, muttering a quiet apology.

“I wish I could say the same,” RK sighed, reaching up to bonk Itara’s head with one of his long, metal claws. She offered a sheepish grin and shrug as a response, not having much else to say for herself.

Simon and Tobi got the worst of it, however, as Lynda reamed both of them equally, expressing all her frustration and worry and disappointment, but simultaneously looking over them to make sure they were unharmed. By the time she was done, all four kids quietly apologized as RK led them back to the beach where Metal stood, arms crossed, toe tapping, at the edge of the pavement.

“Seems you found them,” he commented, far calmer than the others, waving a hand and turning back towards their gear, which was all collected and ready to be packed away. “Took you long enough. I had everything cleaned up ages ago. Oh, and the other problem makers took off. They said they’d meet us back at the house. They took our stuff back with them.”

RK sighed but silently appreciated that they didn’t have to worry about carrying everything back home, at the least. He set Itara back down near Metal, telling him to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t disappear again, before offering to help pack Lynda and Velio’s stuff back into their car. Between the three of them, it was done quickly and the beach was cleared and they were ready to all head home.

Itara grouped back up with her friends again, though couldn’t help but notice Metal’s hovering, but decided to ignore him. “I told you we wouldn’t have long,” she started.

Simon only laughed and shrugged, “But it was fun, anyway. I’m glad we got to do this. All of it. Thanks for joining us, Itara. I’m glad we all got to have a final summer day out before school starts again.” He looked up in thought before adding, “How many others do you think there’ll be?”

“I can’t imagine many,” Itara muttered, “Mira said he was trying to get the word out as far as possible, subject as many poor kids as he can to the nightmare that is school again.”

“I think it’d be nice to have something to focus on again,” Sceira added, “get some semblance of normalcy back.”

“I’d prefer video games to school,” Tobi huffed, getting a nod of agreement from Itara and Simon, both, though Sceira only shook her head. “Hey, I bet that fancy pizza place has some arcade games, right?”

Itara blinked, having completely forgotten about the pizzaplex somehow. “From what I saw, yeah. I didn’t get a good look at the arcade but what I did see, there was a lot. I don’t know if we should go there, though.” Was that security guard still there?

“Of course you’ve been to it,” Sceira sighed.

“Well of course I have, I was the one who-,” but she stopped and snapped her mouth shut, reconsidering. Then again, what good did it do her to hide it at this point? Huffing and dropping her head to the side, she explained, “I pulled it here. I think. It’s from another universe, like X and Zero, a different one though. I got stuck there for apparently a couple days. When I came back, the building came with me. I don’t know how. So if you guys go there at all, especially without me, just be careful, okay? I don’t know what’s going on with it. And avoid the security guard. She’s… kinda stabby.”

“Stabby?!”

“The first time I met her, she destroyed my laptop and nearly stabbed me in the eye.”

“First time?”

Itara looked up again at the confusion written so plainly on Tobi’s face, realizing he and Sceira weren’t as used to her casual time travel as Simon was. “Time traveler,” she reminded them, waving it away, “there’s a timeline out there where she actually did some considerable damage. One where she did not miss my eye.” She reached up and put her hand over her already damaged and half-blind right eye, putting it back down after a moment, “so stay away from her if you see her. At all. That universe had a lot of ghosts. I would rather not find out why.”

Her friends recoiled but agreed, much to her relief. They discussed the pizzaplex, what all Itara saw in there, and what school might be like once it starts up until Lynda called them over to pack up and head home. The group said their ‘goodbye’s and Tobi, Simon, and Sceira all climbed into the car while Lynda bid farewell to RK and Velio waited in the driver’s seat. Once the others were gone and it was just Itara and her robots remaining, she sighed and motioned for RK to pick her up. The day was fun, but it was also long and she was exhausted. Once she was situated, the bots started for home with Itara comfortably on RK’s shoulders and Kipper tucked in her arm.

“You really can’t go a day without causing some problem, can you?” Metal questioned on the run back. Itara lazily scowled at him out of the corner of her eye but only mumbled and went back to leaning on RK, getting a snort out of the blue bot. “Ever the troublemaker, Left-Foot.”

“Not even a surprise at this point,” RK added, clearly more exasperated about it. But they left her alone after that and the rest of the run home was silent. Itara was out cold before they even got halfway. The day had taken it out of her, for a variety of reasons. She would sleep like a rock tonight.

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AO3 Series

Error_422: Story Page Chapter 1 --- Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

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[disrepairhouse]

DISREPAIR ERROR_422: Episode 4

The Beach Episode: Chapter 1

Itara did her best to ignore the testy robot that had been pacing back and forth behind her for the past three hours. Though no one had said a word since the three returned from the scouting mission, the air in the house was tense and the wrong one could easily remind the on-edge robot how few qualms he had with destroying everything around him. She debated leaving the room to lessen the potential of being the one to set him off, but just as she was about to do so, there was a knock at the door. The sudden noise in the previously dead silent house sent her soul directly out of her body and straight through the living room ceiling. The boy on the other side of the door called out to her and RK and even Sparky several times before she finally managed to release her death grip on the arm of the couch.

With a heavy release of breath, she pushed herself off the couch and over to the front door, pulling it open without looking back at the robot that had her so on-edge. She didn’t want to chance meeting his eyes and setting him off. Instead, she put her full attention on the now towering human boy at their front door and his wide-eyed grin.

“So you are home!” She nodded and he continued, with all the glee Simon had never lost, “What took you so long to answer?”

“Doesn’t matter. What do you want?” Her classmate and neighbor always managed to keep her moods light, even in the worst of times. She questioned how he did that so consistently, especially after everything that happened with Solaris and essentially the end of the world. She never got a satisfying answer though.

“You heard Mira’s plans, right?”

“Unfortunately. The plans RK and your mom encouraged.”

They both sighed at the shared responsibility in the situation. Simon recovered quick enough, reaching up and rubbing the back of his head, “Yeah. So, I was thinking, if we have to go back to school here soon again, we should have a proper end to the summer! At least a day or two of summer vacation. I already talked to Sceira and Tobi about it, they’re on board. All that’s left is you and… uh… the other Itara.”

Simon’s tone got sheepish as Itara’s face scrunched up at the mention of her namesake. It was still awkward between them and she imagined it probably always would be. Their situation was… difficult. She decided it was best to keep their interactions to a minimum because of it. “Did you not get enough of ‘summer’ already?” Her question was purely out of curiosity, but it came off a bit more bitter than she intended, causing Simon to wince. Whether it was from her tone or the memories, she was unsure but somewhat regretted the question watching his reaction.

“That didn’t count,” he glanced away before shaking his head and looking back, beaming again, “Look, we’re all going to the beach tomorrow. You should come. We’ll all be there, it’ll be a last chance to unwind before we have to do homework again.”

Itara couldn’t help but snort before sighing at the realization. The dawning of his words and the truth of the matter. Several hundred years old, living through several timelines and worlds, and RK was for sure still going to make her do homework. With a deep inhale, she held it for a moment before releasing it again, staring up at him with a slight smirk, “Fine. I’ll be there.”

“GREAT! We’re meeting up just off the marina just before noon so we can have lunch and then spend the rest of the day at the beach. See you there, Itara!” Simon gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up before bounding off their porch and booking it back down the street. Itara watched after him a moment, still curious why Lynda moved back to the otherwise empty street, especially considering how far it was from everyone else now, but never bothered asking. But as soon as Simon’s distraction was gone, she was all-too-quickly reminded of the furious robot behind her. Especially once she closed the door and turned around, realizing he had stopped his pacing and now stood towering over her, scowling down with his arms crossed.

“W-what?!”

“Is now the time for goofing off?” Zero hissed.

Itara glanced down and around, wondering if she could get past him and to the safety of the basement before he could catch her. She doubted it. Luckily, she wasn’t constrained to the physical world so much anymore and looked up again, offering a coy smile, before melting into the floor and vanishing from his sight. The ethereal ball of purple smoke zipped past the furious robot and down to the basement, around X and landing behind Metal. RK had taken Axl to their sparring spot so it was only X and Metal down in the lab at the moment. X watched the smoke strangely while Metal only glanced at it before returning to his work on the computer. Itara had barely materialized again before Zero was storming down the steps after her.

“Don’t think you can hide that easily!”

“Who me? I’m not hiding,” Itara grinned, from behind Metal’s leg. Before he could accuse her otherwise, she looked to X and smiled all too sweetly, “Hey X, can you swim?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, yes?” the confused bot responded, looking between the young hedgehog and his frustrated partner. Metal was now also side-eyeing the conversation but waited and listened. “My armor is a bit heavy, but I’m designed for most weather and conditions. Why do you ask?”

“Do you really think we’d join you for your goofing off?” Zero scoffed, “We have more important issues to attend to.”

“I don’t know, I think a day to just relax is exactly what you all need! What do you think, X? A day at the beach? Make Zero relax for a day? It’s not like Sigma and Robotnik are going anywhere and we have to monitor them for a bit anyway. You should enjoy Soleanna while you can!” Itara’s grin only widened, keeping her sight square on X but could see the fury in Zero’s face out of the corner of her eye. She had him cornered and he knew it. Especially as the contemplative look came to X’s face, his finger going up to his mouth as a small smile touched his lips.

“I think a day to relax is a great idea.”

Got him.

These two were too easy. Between the look of much-needed relief on X’s face and furious resignation on Zero’s, Itara barely kept her own face in check as she nodded in agreement. Of course, her grin dropped once she glanced up at Metal, who had stopped what he was doing to side-eye her. “I’m gonna go tell RK the plans then!” she exclaimed, disappearing into the fog once more and zipping off as Metal huffed and returned to his work. Convincing X to take a beach day, and thus roping Zero into it, as well, was one thing. But if she wanted to convince Metal to come, that’d require RK.

Could she possibly convince Infinite to join them? She didn’t want to promise any ‘training’. She just wanted a fun day out.

-------

“What do you mean you’re ‘not built for the water’?”

An eyebrow disappeared behind a helmet as the echidna’s mouth flattened, two sets of eyes glancing up towards the stairs to the main house before returning.  RK could only shrug as he explained, “Most of our repairs are haphazard, at best, and we both have too many exposed parts.”  He glanced towards the blue hedgehog at the computer, where he always was, continuing, “In Metal’s case, he just doesn’t like the water and doesn’t want to think about being near it enough to need the protection.”

Red eyes scowled over at him, but the blue bot said nothing and returned to his work with a silent huff.  RK smirked but turned back to Zero, studying the incredulous look.  “You were here long enough to know how precarious our setup was up until recently.”

“And because you haven’t taken the necessary precautions, it's now my job to watch your child.  Again.”

“It’s not like we aren’t going to be there.  It’s just if something happens, it’d be helpful to have someone who can withstand water keep an eye on her.”

Before further argument could break out, the door to the main house opened and a particularly gleeful X called out to the bots below, “Zero!  Are you ready to go?!”  A sigh escaped as Zero looked to the stairs, watching with wary exhaustion as X made his way down, a wide-brimmed straw hat and blue shades replacing the armored helmet and the bulky shoulder armor swapped out for a blue floral shirt.  On one arm was a large beach bag already overflowing with beach toys, sunscreen, and various floaties, with a large umbrella tucked under his arm.  On the other arm was the time traveler, quills pulled up into pigtails, wearing a purple and teal frilly one piece bathing suit, wrap-around skirt, sandals, and a matching wide-brimmed sun hat.

“RK!  Metal!  Let’s go already!” the tiny hedgehog urged, grinning widely as she kicked her feet to show off the sandals, “Look, X found these cute new shoes while we were shopping!”

“I’m just glad there were no issues this time,” X laughed, reaching up to rub the back of his head with the mostly free arm.

“That’s because no one called Zero this time,” Itara hissed, side-eyeing the already irritated bot before looking back towards the stairs, “Where did Axl go?  Wasn’t he behind us?”  As if on cue, a heavy thud rang out from the upper floor, followed by the loud huff of the missing bot.  Itara and X exchanged glances as Zero and RK rose an eyebrow to the commotion.  “Are you okay up there?!”

“No!”

With another huff, Axl made his way to the stairs, his shoulders sloped, “Why did I have to carry all that back?”

“X had the beach bag and I’m too small,” Itara explained as though it were obvious.

“Why do you even NEED that much?  There’s no way someone so small eats that much and the rest of us are robots!”

“Simon, Sceira, and Tobi are meeting us there and RK told me to make sure we had enough lunch for everyone,” Itara started counting on her hands, “plus Simon’s mom, Sceira’s dad, Mira and Kelly will probably bring their own lunch cuz Mira’s kinda picky, and Infinite if he decides to show up.  Plus snacks and lots of drinks.”

X looked to RK as she counted everyone off with a slight sheepish smile, “I hope you don’t mind, I got her an extra snack on top of the list you gave me.  It was hard to tell her ‘no’.”

“No it’s not,” Zero scowled.

RK only shook his head, “It’s fine.  She can be very persuasive.  Cookies or brownies?”

“Brownies.  The ones with the colorful candies on top.”

RK nodded knowingly before clapping his hand and hook together, “Alright, that’s that then.  We should head out soon, let me just go repack the cooler to make sure we have everything and then we can go.  Metal, send the directions to the beach to everyone since everyone has a different running speed.”  The blue bot mumbled under his breath but pulled the map up to send to the connected comm units before getting up to follow RK while Zero had a silent argument with X about the day ahead of them.

Once everything was sorted, directions were sent, and items were more evenly distributed between the bots carrying them, Itara got comfortable up on RK’s shoulders and the household left for the beach. The trip wasn’t long and they arrived well before the others, but as soon as the ocean came into view, RK and Metal both stopped short to stare out at the endless water. Memories of Station Square flooded back to all three of them as Itara and Metal exchanged silent looks. Metal scowled slightly while Itara looked away, unconsciously rubbing her arm. RK, meanwhile, briefly glanced down at his leg before the silence was interrupted by the other three robots’ arrivals. Thoughts were shaken away as RK led the way to set up their spot on the beach.

By the time they’d set up the umbrella, blankets, towels, and cooler, a car pulled up to the marina and the first to bounce out and yell excitedly was Simon, followed soon by Tobi, Sceira, Lynda, and finally Velio. Lynda gave them a friendly wave before she and Velio moved to the trunk to pull their own beach gear out while the three kids made their way out to Itara and the beach.

“Itara made it!” Simon exclaimed, likely for Sceira, who smiled in response as the human boy led the group over, making sure Sceira knew where the asphalt ended and the sand began. Itara waved from her spot on the towel she’d been sitting on.

Metal had taken one of the chairs set up under the large umbrella, arms crossed and scowling out at the ocean. RK was still making sure everything was set out and ready, setting up a small campfire to roast hot dogs over. X and Zero were standing nearby, having a silent conversation between themselves, while Axl had wandered near the water, looking out over the horizon. Once the others joined them, RK looked up from his fire to wave to Lynda, explaining what he’d brought for lunch and asking if she thought it’d be enough. Velio remained close but silent, eyes scanning the various bots they were meeting up with, while Itara stood to greet her friends.

“Took you guys long enough,” Itara grinned, her hands moving to her hips, “I thought I was just gonna have to have fun without you.”

“Sorry,” Simon apologized, reaching up to rub the back of his head, “when I told my mom you were joining us, she suddenly decided she needed a whole new wardrobe just for today and then spent ten years getting ready. I don’t even know why, its just gonna all get wet anyway.”

They both glanced towards the once-again cherry blonde excitedly conversing with RK before Itara rolled her eyes. “Your mom’s weird.”

“Yeah…”

“Who cares, we’re here now,” Tobi jumped in, kicking his sandals off, “let’s get in the water already!”

“What about lunch?” Itara frowned.

“It’s not ready yet, right? We can swim ‘til it is, can’t we?”

“I guess that’s true…,” Itara turned to RK and yelled over, “RK! Call us when lunch is ready!” Once she got the wave of approval, she turned back to her friends, kicked off her sandals, and turned to race them to the water. However, before she could even challenge them to said race, the sand slid right out from underneath her, tripping her up, and sending her face first into the ground with a yelp. Several barely contained snickers escaped her friends but it was the unfiltered cackle from Metal Sonic that frustrated her most. She pulled herself up to her knees and scowled over at the bot, who had finally relaxed into the chair and wasn’t even looking her way despite his mockery.

She would get him back.

A hand appeared in front of her face, pulling her focus away from Metal, as Simon helped her back to her feet, still trying not to laugh, himself. “Last one in the water is a rotten badnik-! Er….” Now it was Itara’s turn to laugh at Simon’s embarrassment and attempt to apologize to the two once-badniks on either side of him. RK only huffed before turning back to his grilling but Metal scowled. Velio, however, scoffed in disgust, muttering something only Sceira caught as her face scrunched up.

“If we don’t get in the water already, we’re not going to have time before lunch,” she cut in, pincers moving up to push the two in the direction of the water. Neither Itara nor Simon argued and Tobi followed quickly after.

RK and Lynda both stopped their conversation a moment to watch the group run into the ocean, waiting to make sure they didn’t go too deep before turning back to the fire and food. “Thank you again for picking lunch up for everyone. I meant to do it but… time just got away from me,” Lynda laughed, a cold, colorful drink already in her hand and half finished.

“Yeah, she’s good at that,” RK commented, keeping his eye on the food until Lynda gave him a strange look.

It took several seconds before realization struck, “was that a joke?”

“It may have been.”

“I can’t believe even robots tell dad jokes,” she snorted and he turned his attention back to the food. “I guess a dad is a dad no matter what.”

RK stopped again, staring out at nothing for several moments before quietly humming and returning to the fire. It wasn’t long before there were plenty of hot dogs for all the kids so he asked Lynda to get the rest of the food out of the cooler while he called the group back out for lunch. There was a moment of whining from kids before they all headed out of the ocean and back over to them. RK couldn’t help but notice Itara was the only one drenched from head to foot already while the others only seemed to have gone in up to their waist. Once she was close enough, he turned back to the food and started pulling the dogs off the fire for them, “You fell in, didn’t you?”

He glanced over long enough to see the look of frustration on her face before snorting and turning back, putting a hot dog in a bun on a plate that Lynda had already added a handful of chips to. She swiped the plate up but turned around more carefully to stalk back to her towel, saying nothing. Getting the rest of the kids taken care of, he turned to Lynda and asked how many she wanted before looking for Velio to ask him. The scorpion was back to helicoptering Sceira and RK questioned for a moment whether he even wanted to talk to the ex-Freedom Fighter.

With a heavy sigh, he finally called out to the scorpion, getting a scowl in response, “There are still plenty of hot dogs, you want one or what?” There may have been more resentment in his tone than intended, causing the kids between them to look between them warily.

Of course, while RK at least attempted to keep his irritation under control, Velio did nothing of the sort. His distaste was blatant on his face. “As if I would trust-!”

“He wants one,” Lynda interrupted, having none of their nonsense, motioning for RK to make up a couple more and getting another plate for both herself and Velio ready. “You’re not able to eat, right, RK?”

“No, not an upgrade we ever saw as necessary.”

Lynda nodded and turned to the other robots that had thus far been off on their own the entire time, calling out to them, “Hey, you guys eat?!”

X jumped to respond, seeming relieved to have an out from the argument with Zero, and rejoined the group, “Yes! We can- we do. That was an upgrade I thought was very important so I made sure it was widely available to reploids that were interested, though it’s been a bit of a challenge with certain designs. We’ve been working on-”

“Great, how many would you like?”

Zero rolled his eyes, remaining where he was, but Axl followed X to join the conversation. X coughed and looked away a moment to recover from the rather abrupt interruption, but looked back and smiled, “Ah, whatever… everyone else is having, then. Please. Thank you.” Once Lynda nodded and grabbed more plates, X turned his attention to RK, instead, “Are you guys not upgraded for that?”

“We are not. Considering the state of things, we’ve only really focused on necessary upgrades and maintenance. We haven’t had the time or materials for anything else. Maybe one day, though,” he explained, deciding to just finish off the large pack of hot dogs. Anything left could just be up for grabs, he was sure the kids would want seconds, anyway. “Though, Itara and Metal have been brainstorming ideas now that things have been recovering.”

“Oh, maybe I can offer some advice on that, if they’d be interested!”

RK nodded, handing three plates of hot dogs and chips to the enthusiastic fellow bot, “I guarantee, if you ask Itara about it right now, she’d want to know every detail right now on the spot. And Metal will eavesdrop the entire time and claim not to be interested.”

X laughed, taking the plates, “Maybe I’ll wait until tomorrow then. I don’t want to distract her from her friends.” RK nodded in agreement, grabbing the final plate for Velio and holding it up to indicate for him to come get it. X handed one of the plates to the waiting Axl before taking the other one over to Zero, who hardly seemed interested in anything, let alone eating.

Velio grumbled, but with nudge from Sceira, finally stood and joined the other parents at the campfire, reluctantly taking the plate. His disdain remained apparent and it took RK every ounce of control not to start something. The silent challenge was there, but was just as soon interrupted by Lynda again, sensing the animosity between them easily enough.

“Can we just call a truce already? Whatever it is between you two? For the kids’ sake?” Scowls darkened a moment, but Lynda shook her head, “What even is it with you two anyway? Your both mobians, why do you hate each other?”

“That thing is no mobian,” Velio hissed. “It’s one of Robotnik’s robots. It’s only purpose is destruction.”

“If my only purpose was destruction, you would not be standing here right now,” RK snapped.

“Is that a threat?”

“It could be.”

“Boys,” Lynda sighed, exasperated, “Please.”

“I may have been created by Robotnik, but I hadn’t worked for him for years even before everything happened. I explained this to you. During the festival. Where you caused me to lose track of Itara.”

Lynda frowned, reaching up to rub her arm and look away while Velio’s expression only darkened further. “You and Metal Sonic should have never been there to begin with and if you hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have lost sight of Sceira.”

RK finally stood to his full height to face the scorpion, claws raised and eyes glowing, “Don’t pin that on us. We were doing nothing wrong, YOU dragged us away from the kids, causing me to lose track of Itara when she needed me most. When your kids turned on her and that lowlife sun god decided to show up again!”

“Hey! Whoa whoa whoa! Stop!” Lynda jumped between the two, waving them down, head nodding towards the children that were all sitting there, silent, having clearly caught onto the argument. Ears were flattened against heads, shoulders dropped, eyes averted, food forgotten. Guilt spread across Simon and Sceira’s expressions, confusion filled Tobi’s, while Itara was left trembling from the memories and never-forgotten hurt and betrayal. Both RK and Velio stopped immediately and dropped the argument upon noticing and took a step back, leaving Lynda sighing with relief. Even Metal finally came out of his thoughts to study the situation, his head tilting as he eyed RK. He remembered, all too clearly, nearly getting flattened by cars and concrete in Momma Bear’s rage after the incident at the festival and secretly hoped to get a shot at the scorpion someday. Shame that nosy woman stopped the fight.

“Can’t believe I was told not to start anything today and then it’s Momma Bear who goes and gets in a fight,” Metal scoffed, turning away from them again, leaning back and inspecting his claws, “Always such a double-standard.”

RK sighed heavily, taking a deep breath and calming himself back down before turning back to Velio, his tone stern but even, “You can think what you want of me and Metal, I don’t care-”

“I care,” Metal threw out, “Feel free to continue to fear me.”

RK scowled, grabbing the tongs from the fire and launched it at the other bot, only missing by mere seconds as Metal jolted forward to avoid them, scowling back, much to the amusement of the kids between them. Giggles broke through the frowns as RK turned his attention back to Velio, “Anyway. Lynda’s right. We should put this aside. For the kids. We don’t have to be friends, just cordial. At least in front of them.”

“In what world would I believe you’re not lying?”

“The world was destroyed. Why would I keep a ruse up after that? How do I convince you we’re no longer working for Robotnik?”

Velio went quiet, crossing his arms to think. With a glance towards Sceira, he turned back and answered, “I will never trust you so long as his most powerful creation walks around free. Only when Metal Sonic is destroyed will I maybe believe you.”

Both Metal and RK’s expressions darkened, Metal finally getting up to face the scorpion, himself, but before either of them could argue, Itara jumped to her feet and stood between Velio and Metal, “No!” Fury filled every ounce of her being as her hands and quills crystallized, staring wide-eyed up at Velio, Metal stopping in his tracks to look down at her, as they all did.

“If anyone ever touches RK or Metal ever again, I’ll destroy this world, myself. For good.”

To make her point decidedly clear, flames roared up around both arms as her irises swapped to bright green. Sceira and Tobi, who had been sitting closes to her, both scooted away from the heat, while Velio watched in shock and RK shook his head.

“Itara, calm down,” RK put his hand up, looking to Velio again, “No one is touching Metal.” The threat was clear enough, as the surprise fell from the scorpion’s face, eyeing the robots again.

“I don’t know what lies you told that child but I’ll never trust a badnik.”

“They told me nothing. I repaired them,” Itara snapped, releasing the fires but keeping her crystals intact, “Metal and RK are my family and I’ve used every ounce of my powers to keep them safe. I’ve destroyed timelines to keep them intact. Don’t think for a second I won’t do it again. It’s not the robots you should be worried about. It’s me.”

Silence permeated around the group, a mix of expressions as realizations struck. Velio struggled to accept what he was hearing while Simon and Tobi exchanged looks. Lynda simply looked confused while Sceira’s brows knit together in contemplation. RK and Metal watched the frustrated time traveler before exchanging glances of varying degrees of discomfort. The first to finally speak up again was the one who had stayed out of everything up until that point.

“You all somehow seem surprised the demon child is the most dangerous one,” Zero remarked, unimpressed with the entire display, getting a smack in the side from X, who just looked uncomfortable.

Itara blinked, huffing and turning around to point to the disinterested maverick hunter, “NO ONE ASKED YOU, ZERO!”

“You’re a danger to every society you even vaguely interact with. Of anyone here, you deserve to be locked up the most. Not even that pizza shop was safe from your meddling.”

“That-,” Itara’s cheeks puffed as her crystals faded away again, crossing her arms and looking away, mumbling under her breath.

Silence drifted again but this time it was Metal’s turn to break it, standing back up straight and placing his hands on his hips, the easy grin returning to his face as he waved one hand, “I can’t decide if I’m insulted that I’m somehow not considered the biggest threat anymore or endeared by Left-Foot’s defensiveness. What a dramatic day this has turned into already.”

“Shut up, Sparky.”

“I still can’t believe Metal Sonic was a chaperone on the school trip,” Tobi added, causing Metal’s amusement to fall immediately and both Itara and RK to smirk. “Sceira, didn’t you room with them at the hotel, too?”

“I did,” Sceira nodded, causing Velio to immediately hitch as if it were new information. RK did not miss the reaction. “Meaning it was Metal Sonic who protected us at the university when Robotnik attacked. Well, Metal Sonic and Itara.”

“What?” Velio immediately gasped, looking between his daughter and the robot standing, seething behind her.

“When Robotnik attacked the university, Metal Sonic told us to get away and even kept some of the rubble from hitting Itara and I. I had no idea what was happening at the time, but it's easy to figure out now, thinking back on it. I suppose I owe both Itara and Metal my life.”

“Stop reminding me,” Metal hissed, turning around and going back to his chair in a huff.

RK took the opportunity to look back at Velio, crossing his arms, “Robotnik’s most dangerous creation saved your daughter.”

“CEASE THIS CONVERSATION!”

RK chuckled, watching both Metal’s fury and Velio’s internal struggle. Finally, the scorpion sighed in defeat, looking back to RK with disdain and resignation, “Fine. For now, I suppose you win.”

“Finally,” Lynda breathed, holding a fresh drink up to Velio, smiling wide, “Then let’s let bygones be bygones and enjoy the rest of the day! No more fighting, just sun and fresh air.” Velio grumbled, but took the drink and walked away. Lynda and RK exchanged a glance before turning their attention back to the kids, who had all but fully recovered and returned to their own conversations. Finally, the day could return to the fun day out it was supposed to be.

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Ah haha.... oops???

Mun here.

Guess who forgot to update several chapters here on tumblr! (They are on AO3 tho)

Definitely not me.

You should definitely not prepare for like 8 new chapters over the next few days. Definitely not.

(Mah B)

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Story Arc Banners

Wanted to have all the banners together in one big post, plus make an overall banner for the whole story :3

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Time-Shattering Demon Child (Before Paradox Damage)

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Casually spying on your enemies, as you do, when a killer animatronic manages to follow you through the timelines. Somehow. And now your cover is blown.

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Gone. They're all gone.

Aaaaaa...... hey look, a piece I started 3 years ago for a scene that's LONG SINCE PASSED and finally finished it TODAY! 8D

Oops.

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Have any edgy boi because mun couldn't be assed to do anything else today.

At least Infinite's Bio Card will finally be updated on his profile page.

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DISREPAIR ERROR_422: Episode 3

Security: Chapter 2

Boring.

Itara leaned back in the oversized security chair, giving the desk a swift kick to get it spinning before staring up at the ceiling. She'd decided to hang back and watch the download since Metal and RK were faster, it made sense to have them do the search. But that meant she had to sit there and watch a computer in the meantime. Of course, she could just time travel, but she was still wary about the energy around the pizzaplex. All she had to do was touch that arcade and all of this happened. What would happen if she time traveled here?

She was kind of curious.

Sticking her foot out to stop the chair again, she grabbed the black notebook from the desk and flipped through, scanning for notes about the building. She didn't get far before the door suddenly slammed open, startling her off the chair and sending both her and the notebook sprawling to the ground. With a quick shake of her head, she stood back up, scowling towards the door, expecting it to be Metal.

“SPARKY–!”

It wasn't, though.

It was a human woman. Tall, slender, long blonde hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and through a black cap with ‘security’ written across it. The gray shirt also had a security emblem, which made who she was all too apparent. Except everyone should have been escorted out of the pizzaplex by now. Why was she here?

Itara’s eye narrowed in confusion, immediately mirrored by the human woman across the room.

“You shouldn't be here.”

Itara debated the right response for a moment before realizing she was in her own world and could respond as such. She was so used to needing to be cautious all the time. Standing back up straight and picking her journal up, she faced the woman, her tone remaining flat, “I should, actually. You, however, have no reason to be here right now. You should have left with the others. This world is far too dangerous for humans to wander on their own.”

The woman visibly hitched. Itara imagined the response was likely strange, she wasn't surprised it would catch her off-guard. What she wasn't expecting, however, was the anger that filled her face.

“Where're your parents, kid?”

Why must everyone call her a kid? “I don't have any, not that it's any concern to you.” She watched the woman's eyes scan the room, falling on the laptop and the running program. This was going to be a problem, wasn't it? Maybe she should call RK or Metal back. But before she could even pull her phone out to call them, the woman's demeanor shifted completely. She didn't even see the knife until it was firmly embedded in her laptop screen, a ring of cracks around the blade, the screen glitching before going black with a fizzing snap. Nor did she have time for the shock or rage that followed as the woman bolted across the room, pulled the knife free, and swung for her. Itara barely managed to stumble away from the slash before it went clean through her eye.

But that was all she needed to know and wasted no time seeping into the floor to escape the crazy security guard. Why was she even here?! But she couldn't just leave with all her stuff there, either. Did she chance time travel? No better time to find out.

Zipping out of the office and down the hall just enough, she rematerialized and created a portal back five minutes. She still couldn't travel huge distances without losing her physical form, but five minutes was fine. The portal took a minute to stabilize, though, enough time for the crazed woman to come rushing back out of the office, but she managed to get it stable and hop through before she could catch up.

Once on the other side, Itara took a minute to breathe and calm down and assess what happened. She had no idea who that woman was or what her problem was, but she needed to keep her from destroying her laptop! With a huff, she stood back up straight and looked around. First thing's first was a note in her journal, she'd leave it on one of the earlier pages so she'd see it right away:

The security guard has a knife, get the laptop and LEAVE!

Done. Next was to warn RK and Metal. Melting into a fog again, she zipped off to the nearest robot, finding RK around the upper floors of the atrium. He stopped once he spotted the fog, waiting for her to materialize. “I thought you were watching the laptop?”

“I am but we have a problem.  There’s a crazy lady with a knife and she breaks the laptop in about five minutes.  I’ve warned myself to just grab the laptop and leave but it’ll be easier to do so with you present.”

“Right,” RK nodded, hesitating only a moment but once she disappeared back into the floor, he took off for the office, contacting Metal via comm unit to update him on the situation.

***

“Where are your parents, kid?”

“On their way, very likely,” Itara guessed, moving in front of the laptop to block it from the woman’s view, looking for the hidden knife.  The security guard’s right arm was partially behind her, though Itara was unsure if she was already holding the weapon or if it was hidden on her person somewhere.

“Don’t you know better than to sneak into places when they’re closed?”  The second the woman strode forward towards her, Itara took the hint and reached around to close the laptop’s lid.  The download wasn’t done but it was better than being destroyed.

“I thought this place was empty but clearly it isn’t.  You’re right, I should be leaving,” she agreed, shoving the laptop and her book in her bag as quickly as possible and pulling it on.  She turned back around to face the woman just in time to not only see her standing directly over her, but also to catch a glint of something shiny behind her back.  Knife confirmed.  Time to go.  Slipping around the towering woman, she shuffled backwards to the office door, the recognizable heavy footfalls of RK nearing as she bade the woman farewell.  She waited only long enough for RK to reach her, letting him pick her up and put her on his shoulders, both of them eyeing the woman before finally turning to leave.

“What happened?”

“I’ll explain back at home.  Let’s just get out of here for now.”

“Right.”

-----

“So.  What happened?”

“Clearly, the building wasn’t empty,” Itara frowned, staring up in thought, going over every detail of the incident that hadn’t come to be.  Her notebook filled out with further notes once they were back home, detailing the initial run-in with the woman.  “Whoever that human was, she had no problem immediately resorting to violence, either.  According to my notes, she pulled out a knife, broke the laptop, and came after me.  She shouldn’t have even been there to begin with- actually, wait a minute!”  She sat back up and grabbed the notebook from the nearby computer desk, scanning through her notes and narrowing an eye.  “She shouldn’t have been there at all!  According to the database there’s only one human employed at the entire pizzaplex and they’re a night security guard.  When we came back here, it was nearly noon!  Why was she there so early?  Why was she still there after everyone evacuated?”

“Who cares?” Metal interrupted, walking over to the laptop sitting open in the desk, pulling the database folder up, “it's not like humans are particularly hard to get rid of.  If she gets violent, so do we.” He grinned back at them as Itara looked over, her expression dropping.

“While that is one solution, I think we should just be cautious of her next time we go there.  Something’s off about her and that entire building is strange.”  She stopped and looked up to the main computer when a window popped open, alerting to an activated security system.  “Damn, the power’s back on now.  I can only assume that woman turned it on… but I wonder why?  There’s no way she’s just that dedicated to the job, right?”

“It’s possible,” RK shrugged, “some security guards take their jobs fairly seriously, depending on why they’re in security to begin with.”

Both Metal and Itara glanced back at him, eyebrows raised, until Itara realized, “That’s right, you took on security jobs while I was away in the original timeline.”

“And after.  Yours and Metal’s games weren’t exactly cheap to keep up with,” he eyed them both, causing them to look off in other directions simultaneously.  Itara whistled lightly while Metal returned to the computers in an attempt to ignore the insinuation.  If anything, they were shocked he stopped trying to convince them it was just ‘training’, rather than video games.  He never let go of that one until recently.  RK shook his head at both of them but continued, “In any case, while I was mostly there just for something to do, some of my coworkers at certain jobs were deadly serious about it.  It went beyond even the paycheck for them, though I never really asked them why.  That said, I’m pretty sure none of them turned into knife-wielding maniacs over it, even if they did get a little trigger-happy with tasers.  Luckily, I was already used to dealing with Metal, so a taser-happy human wasn’t too big of an issue in comparison.”

Metal scowled over his shoulder at the comment but Itara snorted.  “RK, why DID you go into security in the original timeline, though?  Do you remember?”

He shrugged, “It was something to do to keep my body moving that didn’t ask too many questions.  I don’t remember why taking a job was ultimately what I went for but security worked well for my physical strength, plus there isn’t really much chit-chat between coworkers or the employer.  I didn’t have to worry about people wanting to know anything about me while on the job.  Probably why I went back to it even after the reset.”  Crossing his arms, he leaned back against the nearby work table, “Plus, the pay was good and your school was pricey.  I had to take a lot of extra shifts after-...”  The room fell into uncomfortable silence as both RK and Itara realized after what.

After Mira and Kelly weren’t able to cover the costs.

The hedgehog parents were back now and even Itara’s namesake somehow returned, but the incident at the mansion was still a sore spot for Itara.  She refused to let herself forget about it or pretend it didn’t happen anymore, but she didn’t like talking about it, either.  RK shook his head and drew her attention back, “Actually, speaking of the school, Mira mentioned an idea to me recently that I’m in favor of.  I think he and Lynda have been working on it, I wonder how that’s coming along.  Maybe I should help them out.”

Itara was immediately suspicious.  Nothing good ever came from Lynda being involved in anything.  “What is it?” she questioned, side-eyeing the echidna.  If Mira, Lynda, and RK were all in on it, she was concerned.

“Mira wanted to get a school back up and running.”

SHE KNEW IT!  NOTHING GOOD!

“RK WHY?!” she immediately whined, her ears flattening.  “Who needs SCHOOL?!”

“Children do.  To grow.  Obviously.  Look at all the good it did you, after all,” RK offered, though the snark was hard to miss in his tone.  “A lot of businesses and systems have been rebuilding lately.  Mira thought education should be prioritized, as well.  I fully agreed with him.  Of course, the population isn’t nearly what it used to be so it might be more generalized than it used to be but I think it’s a good starting point.”

Itara whined again, knowing full-well that if a school started back up again, RK would still make her go despite everything.  Despite the fact that it was now a well-known fact she was not a child.  That several years had passed.  That they didn’t need to blend in anymore.  He would still insist she go.  Desperate, she turned to Metal, who had been ignoring the entire conversation, “Metal!  Help!  Tell RK school is a terrible idea!”

“Why would I do that?  It’s not my concern.”

She scowled, “Do you want to go on more field trips?”

This caught his attention, as she knew it would, his own ears perking as his eyes remained straight ahead, Spagonia replaying before him.  Eventually he scowled back at both her and RK, “Absolutely not.”  He turned fully to RK, getting a slight smirk from the echidna, “I don’t care what you subject the child to-”

“HEY!”

“But if you force me to babysit one more time, I am going to destroy you.”

RK shrugged again, looking away, “I make no promises.”  The grin never left his face for even a moment, even once Metal was nearly on top of him, only stepping back to avoid the blue bot’s grasp.  The two danced around the basement lab; RK remained defensive, Metal’s attacks were half-hearted and easily avoidable, while Itara did her best to remain out of range of any stray swipe.  Metal only seemed to want to show his frustration with being roped in without actually wanting to start a fight and RK knew it well enough and let him get that frustration out.  It wasn’t going to change anything, either way and they all knew it.

The lighthearted fight came to a rather sudden stop, however, as the thud of thick boots were finally heard over the noise the two bots were making.  All three stopped and looked towards the stairs, where X had also stopped short, looking between them, discomfort and confusion written all over his face, and questioned, “...We’re not interrupting anything, are we?”

Metal and RK straightened up right away but Itara sighed in relief and moved the chair back towards the center of the room again, “No, just RK making terrible decisions.  How did the scout go?”  She studied them carefully as all three otherworlder bots moved off the stairs and further into the basement lab, signs of a battle rather blatant on all their armor.  Scuff marks, dents, chipped edges, but the worst sign was the look of exhaustion on X and Axl’s face… and the frustration on Zero’s.  Well, more frustration than usual, possibly even rage.  While RK and Metal moved back to their usual spots near the computer, Axl leaned against a far wall while Zero remained by X near the center.

Finally, X sighed and shook his head, “We located them both, it seems they were, in fact, working together…”

“And?”“And they escaped,” Zero snapped.

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Arc Four Updates

Hi guys! Mun here!

I have some notes for this coming chapter and the future ones and a little bit for previous ones. Up until this point I'd been debating back and forth between where EXACTLY I want this story to go because I'm indecisive af. I kept going back and forth between a full-on tragedy or something more like Recal that's slice-of-life, just with something brewing in the background. BUT! I've finally made a decision!

We're going slice-of-life! And not just that but since Arc Four is an "unofficial" addition to the main story, I wanted to leave it open to some silly ideas so instead of writing it as a straightforward singular story, I'm making it more Episodic in nature. Individual stories and events that, while they have an overarching story, each little tells its own, full story. So!

What this means: For one, I need to go back and edit previous chapters a little. I'm going to make the individual stories more apparent in the chapter titles and separate them out a bit. Instead of chapters titles, I'm going to give them essentially an episode name and then the chapter number within that episode. (This'll be a lot more apparent on the AO3 page than here on tumblr) Then moving forward, I'll write them in that manner, as well.

And two: it means I can do some silly shit without worrying about it having to fit within a singular storyline. Which opens up a lot of fun potential. So the first part will more or less remain as is, as an introduction to what's going on, but I'll be planning out "episodes" from here on out! (I'll be going back through and deciding where the episodes start and end and retitle chapters after I get this coming chapter posted)

This is very rambly and long but I just wanted to let everyone know that's what I'm doing with the story. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

[disrepairhouse]

Have a Sassy Robutt. Cuz reasons.