Tails was honestly having the worst day of his life, and little of that had to do with the fact that he’d only slept two hours last night.

It had started so well. Amy had reappeared the day before and seemed fine…or mostly fine…but clearly it wouldn’t be too long before she was back to normal…and, man, did he feel bad that he hadn’t been able to do anything to get her back earlier…or even prevent her kidnapping in the first place. It was part of the reason he’d actually decided to work on his communicators so ‘early’, despite how much Amy and Sonic always insisted on him getting at least 6 or even 8 (crazy) hours of sleep a night.

But anyways that had been fun and a good distra…uhm…it had been good…and then Amy had shown up and showed him how stupid he was at not realizing that the frequency he’d needed was 1.7865 chz, I mean come on. And then, he’d made all that progress, and Amy had made such a great breakfast and then told him about this really cool site and seemed to be excited to go with him and explore it, just like he would usually do with Sonic…and then…it had all gone so wrong.

Suddenly, it wasn’t ‘Amy’ standing there, and Knuckles was hurt and maybe…and then Rouge was hurt, and this ‘thing’ that only sort of looked like Amy was looking at him…and then Robotnik…and then those horrible, horrible files…and suddenly everything was somehow so much worse.

Because then he knew the ‘not-Amy’ was Amy.

“Give it to me straight, kid. Is it in any way possible that…that…is…?”

They were all now being flown back on one of Eggman’s transports to his current main base. And, it seemed one of Tails’ fellow prisoners had now finally managed to break out of her earlier stupor.

Tails looked away from his bat friend towards their former(?) friend and ‘guard’, standing near them silently, not bothering to actually look directly at them, as if she didn’t really care what they did or said….She probably didn’t. Turning back to look at Rouge and Knuckles, who was also nearby and listening, if still much more…red…looking than usual, Tails sighed.

“Yeah…that’s actually…Amy.”

Though, with what he had learned…that wasn't as comforting as he wished it were. Seeing Rouge flinch and even Knuckles began to look unsettled, Tails decided he had to explain.

“Look, the files she showed me…Eggman calls it the ‘Roboticizer’ project. It’s a means he’s recently developed to produce a cybernetic copy of an organic subject and transfer their consciousness into it. The process destroys the original body…”

Rouge paled before looking incredibly furious.

“So, the bastard actually killed…!!”

“No!!!”

Tails cut her off. As much as he hated the truth of what had happened, he owed it to his friends, all of his friends, to convince Rouge and presumably Knuckles of it as well.

“No, he didn’t. Look, it’s an extremely advanced process that would be very difficult for me to explain properly…but I really believe what it is capable of producing is not just a metal copy. Physically, yes, there’s basically very little in common with Amy’s prior organic body, but memories, personality…everything that really makes Amy Amy was transferred and preserved…at least deep down.”

Rouge gave a somewhat incredulous look at their silent sentinel.

“Kid, and I’ll admit there have been a lot of moments recently where I’ve wondered if something like that were really true, but then how do you explain all of….”

She didn’t really need to finish….She clearly meant all of the very not ‘Amy’-like behavior, despite the other moments where the robot did seem so very much like their friend.

Tails sighed again and gave another look at the largely unresponsive…uncaring(?) figure nearby, in that manner being as un-‘Amy’-like as could be. Lowering his voice, as little as it probably mattered, he was sure his roboticized friend could still hear him….

“Honestly, Rouge, I don’t see how it would be possible for anyone to experience something like the ‘Roboticizer’ process without going insane…”

Rouge drew back in shock…or at least as much as her ‘Power Ring’ would let her.

“...to have their whole body replaced with something like that, to have all their thoughts, memories, and personality reintroduced into a mechanical copy of their old body and transformed into code and programming, on top of all the other extra programming and databases introduced as part of the process, and that doesn’t even begin to take into consideration the ROP.…”

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Rouge was beginning to look increasingly understanding…and horrified…though it seemed she latched onto one thing.

“...ROP…?”

Tails grimaced.

“Yeah, ROP, Robotnik Obedience Protocols, it’s something he installs into all of his robots, particularly those that can in any way ‘think for themselves’.”

Rouge’s look of horror and disgust only increased; it was a sentiment Tails shared.

“It’s something intended to make sure that all of his robots will do only what he orders them to and prioritize his welfare above everything else, and for those that it would make a difference, want to do whatever he orders them to and serve him in any way they can.”

Rouge very much looked like she was only seconds away from making a considerable mess; it was again something Tails was fighting very much himself.

“The doctor is far more evil than even I took him for.”

For a moment, they both looked surprised at their previously silent companion. Knuckles only gave them a sad, solemn look in return.

Rouge gave her normally quiet associate a slightly bemused look before turning back to her foxy friend.

“Okay…I can’t say there’s anything I disagree with about that….But…saying I believe all this…and no matter what else I believe, the doctor is now officially the sickest…thing…I have ever heard of. Is there any way we can ‘fix’ her…make her go back to the way she…was…or at least stop her from…being his complete tool…just another one of his ‘loyal’ robots, like that demented orb that follows him everywhere?”

Tails sighed, wishing he could give his friends a better answer.

“...Unfortunately, I don’t see any way to safely reverse the process…particularly since it destroys the original body….”

They all shuddered for a moment at the thought of that, of what their friend had been put through.

“Anything I could think of would be more than likely to only end in failure instead…and be extremely unethical. I mean to have any chance of success, you’d basically have to prepare a clone of her original body first….”

Neither Rouge nor Knuckles had to be a genius to see how that indeed would be unlikely to involve anything that was other than something ‘extremely unethical’.

“As far as ‘fixing’ the ROP, I’d need access to her programming first, and I’m sure that she’d fight that and Robotnik almost certainly has means to….”

“Affirmative.”

The three were shocked by the return of a now familiar synthesized near monotone, though a monotone that had just a ‘hint’ of the voice of the friend they all cherished. They all saw their previously silent sentinel glaring at them, hints of red visible in its otherwise green ‘eyes’.

“This unit will tolerate NO EXTERNAL ALTERATIONS to its programming.”

The three, particularly Tails and Rouge, looked back at the now threatening figure in sadness. Meanwhile, ‘Amy’ continued.

“Furthermore, attempts to remove or alter the R.O.P. are required by said ‘protocols’ to be met with an extreme response, up to and including a unit autodestruct, if it is determined that preventing such removal or alteration is unlikely or impossible.”

The three were now digesting the declaration that their friend would now either be required to kill them or destroy herself if they even tried to free her from the thing that was apparently making her Eggman’s fanatical slave. Eventually, Tails just sighed again.

“So, yeah, what Amy said….It would be difficult to do anything…not without likely causing a lot of problems or probably making it all even worse.”

The red, meanwhile, faded from their friend’s ‘eyes’ at Tails’ response, apparently satisfied by that answer.

“Affirmative. However, you need not be concerned. This unit has been vastly improved by the work of the great Dr. Robotnik…as soon will all you three.”

The three, even Knuckles, squirmed at the declaration. The Eggman hadn’t been subtle about his intended plans, and the reminder of the fate that was apparently waiting for them was anything but pleasant. Not the least of which because their friend seemed…excited…that they were soon to share in her twisted condition.

“Indeed, once you have all been perfected like this unit…we can all be true friends once more…serving the glory of the Eggman Empire together….It is the Doctor’s inspired vision….”

Her three friends looked back at her with great sadness before it seemed Rouge felt she had to say something.

“Oh, Pinky, after what that…Ugh, can't use the words I want with the kid here….After what that sick lardball has done to you…he better hope he manages to successfully ‘Roboticize’ me and that those ROP are really damn good, because if I get half the chance….”

Their metallic friend looked back at them for a moment before phasing back into her original appearance, giving them all a very wide and distinctly ‘Amy’-like grin, her voice also changing to match her current form.

“You don’t have to worry, Rouge. I can assure you that you haven’t the slightest idea how well the ROP function: Even the great Doctor would be surprised, I am 100% sure. And, indeed, I am looking forward very much to eventually showing him just how much I appreciate everything he has done for me, for all of us, really.”

The genuineness of her response and the quiet, thoughtful ‘smile’ she maintained afterwards, so much like ones they had seen on her before, were among the most unsettling things that they had ever witnessed. Meanwhile, engrossed in a project elsewhere on the transit, Robotnik spontaneously shuddered.

“Orbot, I don’t know what Unit-Metal Rose may have just said or done, but underline that note eight times now. Five was apparently being far too generous.”