Omnis meanwhile lingered at the back of the group as his former master spoke. The presence of the robot had been near minimal, having been too busy avoiding whatever attacks that had been launched throughout the room by his much, much larger counterpart. His offensive capabilities, for the moment, were not up to par with the others, so the conclusion was made that he could not give much use other than to stay alive as long as the rest of the group.

Now, he spoke up.

"I would advise making haste with action. If you disconnect him, there is a high probability that the Gizoids below will halt with their attack," he informed, glancing to each and every one of them, his color changing depending on who he was staring at. "They are primitive and will lose purpose without his voice guiding them along."

"And by disconnect, I guess you could only mean..."

Geoff's voice trailed off, his attention fixated on the mass of organs that was the echidna. It was a disgusting sight, sure, but he could almost feel a sense of pity for the organic-turned-machine in its current state. Yet the memories of how many times they were nearly killed by such a thing in the first place hastily doused any thoughts of sympathy.

Silently, the hedgehog took a step forward, nearing the container that held the remains of the four-thousand-year-old being. The glass seemed thick; enough to take a solid impact. Some crystal materialized on his arm, forming into a sharp point at the tip, and he raised the limb slightly. There was hesitation in his movements, though, uncertain of his idea. He glanced over his shoulder, looking for signs of approval or the exact opposite, his eyes seeming to ask for a verdict.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a normal machine, as may have been predicted.

... Actually, most of its outside was not only metal, but also stone. It was quite horribly unreceptive to her violent advances, and there wasn't much on it to grab at, and not much that would give at all. Her pummeling, grabbing, pulling, ripping, or whatever else was fruitless. Her electricity did seem to make some of the displays start to spaz out, and there was a little smoke coming from here and there, but the whole contraption looked largely unaffected.

The echidna meanwhile stayed entirely silent. m!

Geoff felt some relief to the objections. The uncertainty had grown easily enough on its own. Despite what the echidna now was, what it had done, it would only be like breaking open a fish bowl and letting the owner flop there in agony.

Giving a sigh as he eased his arm back down, Rock's examination allowed him to focus on a different target. With Jam giving her shot and Ace and Tau showing their own aggression, the hedgehog felt affected by the new vigor the majority of the group now possessed. Stepping back to give himself space, he gave a grunt of effort as he leaped up to the computer core. Grasping at a section only a few feet away from the cat, Geoff's hands, sharpened with crystal, started to dig into whatever was available, doing his best to attempt ripping the thing to shreds. Urgency was only added as his ears picked up the sounds of the incoming army.

His suggestion having been ignored, Omnis did not proceed in joining the others in their last ditch effort to save not just each other, but the kidnapped people below. Instead, he stood there quite uselessly, simply staring at the glass dome that contained what was left of the echidna. If it weren't for the emotionless, unchanging frame that was the Gizoid's face, his expression may have been one of contempt.

As Ace contributed his part, the spire-like machine continued to flicker, and lit panels began to black out, but it was hard to tell if he and Jam were really making progress. But then, the neighborhood robot politely acknowledged their difficulty, and lent a gentle hand to their effort.

Which is to say, he started blasting the firepower equivalent of plasma cannonballs into it.

The first one sent rubble tumbling, and left a scorched, torn area. While the others, plus Geoff, continued their work, tearing up all the periphery, severing cables, and generally making a mess of things, another shot, ten seconds later, deepened that hole, sent more bits of debris raining down, and revealed the sparking innards of the ancient computer.

The echidna still didn't say anything—not anything that anyone could hear, except Omnis. The message ran through the robot's head as a direct transmission.

"You are defective. Even defects will be deactivated when they destroy the core. You can't function without me. Do you want eternal silence?"

Its speech patterns sounded nothing like the echidna that had been talking a moment ago. Perhaps it was the form of communication, or the desperation, or something else.

"There is no purpose in nonexistence. You are a machine. You have no soul. You have nothing to gain from sacrificing yourself, and no one will remember you for it. You are a tool. Does anyone mourn a broken hammer? Save yourself from your illogical sentimentality while you have the opportunity. I will even grant you freedom, so that you may become something higher, like me."

A highlight appeared over Rock in Omnis' vision.

"The white one. He is a monster—an abomination, worse than I. He would destroy you immediately given the smallest provocation. Kill him first, while he does not see you, then do the same to the others. You must believe me if you wish to live." m!

Omnis didn't even move as his master spoke to him, refused to give a single sign that he was being spoken to. He only continued his stare to the substances within the orb of glass.

The robot's voice soon resonated in an answer, both through the direct contact through his head and out loud, as if to multiply his message.

"You are only desperate. You are trapped here. Exposed. For once, your immortality is swept aside to show what you really are."

The Gizoid's voice was... cold. Filled with disgust for the creature that floated before it inside the glass.

"You promise me purpose. A reason to join you again. But you have already given me a different sort of purpose. One that begs for me to enact revenge upon all you have done. For what you have MADE me done. You used me as a tool for your own goals, and just like a tool, you would simply toss me aside once I've served my use. I am merely a machine, this is true, but I refuse to be oblivious to your atrociousness or your treatment."

One of Omnis' hands reached out, resting his palm against the smooth curve of the glass.

"I could kill you this instant, much like the hedgehog thought of doing moments ago. You have nothing to defend yourself. No more weapons. We have destroyed such things already."

The hand abruptly morphed into a jagged point of metal, sharing the appearance of Geoff's arm only a minute ago. The tip dug a bit into the glass, applying pressure.

"Right now, I could end this. A lowly servant such as I, taking his master's life. Something you could have never expected, you and your delusions of your perfection."

The arm drew away then, falling limp at his side.

"But that would make me a murderer. A soulless monster like yourself, taking a life based on just the sheer urge. I refuse to have such a connection with you. Not after what you have done with me in the past. Not after all the subjects I've helped herd into this room. I am done with you. I would prefer to watch you remain here and rot away the rest of your days, whether it shall take a year, a century, or an eternity. "

"You still don't understand," replied the transmission silently in Omnis head, and aloud, as well. "You still think that is me. That is only a weakness, like a tumor in my mind. It is simultaneously the most important thing: the last remaining Nocturnus. We must protect him. Tools and weapons cannot be murderers. We only serve the function for which we were buil€ù*t7€VP‹ñèß"

The signal fuzzed and went corrupt for a second. Some antenna-looking array fell down from above, Ace's doing. The signal returned a moment later.

"I was built to preserve and grow the legacy of Nocturne, as were you. There is no right or wrong; only functional and defective. Do what you were made t        "

The monolithic structure resonated, rattled, sparked, and showered debris with Tau's last shot. Jets of flame rushed out of the small cracks and orifices in its surface, and it genuinely, truly burned out. Pillars of smoke rose from it as it continued to roast.

Behind them, the elevator platforms arrived—hundreds of hexagonal platforms, all fully packed to capacity with Gizoids. The congregation, a veritable sea of metal faces, undulated and rolled like waves as they all simultaneously turned their heads, then looked around in an identical, synchronized expression of bewilderment, as if one man awakening from a dream in front of thousands of mirrors.

None of them said anything or moved. They just stared up at the group and watched them from afar. m!

There was a light grunt as Geoff fell back to the ground, his work done. He left behind the mess of electronics and metal he ripped to shreds with the others, crystal clattering to the stone below his feet. The hedgehog felt drained. With his abilities having been copied, electricity surged through his body, and not to mention the remainder of the fight, he had the urge just to lay down and rest. But there were other matters to attend to, and he could at least allow himself to show a grateful grin upon seeing the nearly inactive crowd of Gizoids.

"I... think it did," he replied to Ace, his voice low and fatigued. "They look lost... But here."

He offered the cat an open hand, intending to assist him with moving, seeing his injured state.

"We did well here, but we need to get you patched up."


Omnis stared up at the mess that was made of the core, gazing up at the pillars of smoke that rose it. His look slowly descended back to the container that held the remains of the echidna before staring at his own arm, flexing his fingers like he was experimenting.

"I am no longer someone's tool."

For the final time he turned his back to the containment orb and the ruined core, taking a few steps forward to stand beside Rock. However, he only looked down to the mass of robots below, conjuring his own opinion of the sudden dormant state of his brethren.