Alternated Current: An IDW Sonic SI

[Small Nerd]

Have you ever woken up with no idea of where you are, no idea how you got there, and the worst headache of your life? It sucks tremendously. I try to avoid it when I can. Unfortunately, being careful doesn't protect you from the whims of chance. One night I went to sleep in my home, and then I woke up sitting in a hospital bed with my head splitting open. Luckily for me, the headache wasn't quite bad enough to keep me from thinking straight, and so I was able to get out, "Head, why...?"

That was my first sign of just how strange things were. The voice I heard spoke the words I wanted to say, but it wasn't mine. It sounded... higher than I remembered, and a little more raspy. Maybe whatever caused my headache and put me in (hopefully) a hospital had done something to my throat, but how would it make my voice higher? Something funny was definitely going on, but I didn't have time to guess what.

"Doctor! She's woken up!" A voice near me shouted. It sounded young, like a kid, and not a kid I knew. What would a kid be doing in a hospital as a doctor's assistant? Curiouser and curiouser.

The shout reminded me that I hadn't actually opened my eyes yet, so I did, looking to both sides to see if my glasses were on a table or something. No dice, just a hospital bed, a heart monitor, and an IV drip huddled together inside a curtain. Bad luck, but what could I do? I didn't see the kid, either. Off to get the doctor, I assumed. I started to rub the usual post-sleep gunk out of my eyes, only to stop and stare at my hand. It had a glove on, both of them did. And not rubber gloves like you'd expect in a hospital, these were goddamn Mickey Mouse gloves. What the hell...?

Before I could think through the implications of apparently having cartoon character hands, someone I could only assume was the doctor came in. Calm, composed, a look of mild concern on his face, face with a duck bill, and covered in fur. Either hospitals had gotten really relaxed about fursuits, or I wasn't in Kansas anymore. Something about this particular furry seemed familiar, but I didn't quite have the energy to try remembering every animal person I ever saw in a cartoon.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked. "Do you remember what happened?"

I had a feeling that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth wasn't going to do me any favors here. But I could be a bit creative with it.

"Not really, Doc," I said. "I musta hit my head, but that's all I got. Hurts, real bad."

"I suppose that's to be expected when you ram into a steel wall head-first at hundreds of miles per hour," the doctor said.

What?

"Just keep from hurting yourself any more for the next few hours, Surge, and you should be fine," he continued, not noticing my confusion.

An animal person named Surge... It can't be that Surge, can it?

"I'll let you off training for the rest of the day, but tomorrow you'll need to make up for lost time," said the mysterious doctor, whose name I was starting to suspect I knew.

"After all, Sonic's not going to get any weaker," said Doctor Starline. "Rest up, Surge. We've got a busy day tomorrow."

And then he left, letting me quietly freak the fuck out.

The details of that freakout don't really need talking about. Once I decided to proceed like I wasn't crazy, I spent a while being sad about losing my friends and family, then I distracted myself from that by trying to remember anything and everything I could about Surge the Tenrec and her story. I don't know how long I spent stuck in my head, but at some point the kid I now knew to be Kitsunami the Fennec had come back to my side. He looked like he was waiting for something, but I didn't know what.

"Hey, Kit," I said, eventually. "Don't worry about the tears. Bad memories is all. But they reminded me, I do have something I need to talk to you about when no one can listen in."

"All right, ma'am," was all he said.

"Actually," I said. "Do you think this spot's private enough? I really don't wanna stand up right now. I need all the painkillers."

"I'll get some. Just a moment, ma'am," Kit said. Ah yeah, that was right. The kid had been brainwashed by Starline into being Surge's- well, mine, now- little buddy. But Starline was as evil as they came, so he thought "little buddy" meant "willing slave." Kit would do whatever Surge- whatever I told him to do, I was sure, and he'd be happy to do it. I was gonna have to be careful with what I said to Kit, I didn't want a "turbulent priest" situation.

That said, Kit wasn't literal-minded enough to make me truly worried. He got me a reasonable number of pills and a glass of water, which I made sure to thank him for. The original Surge probably hadn't thanked Kit once in her life, and it showed in the way his face lit up when I did. Bright as the sun, his smile was.

"It looks private," he said in a low voice after looking around. "No cameras I could see, but I can't be sure about hidden microphones, so I think we should be quiet."

I nodded and took a deep breath. Luckily, my head was starting to feel better. This conversation was gonna be tricky, I couldn't have anything splitting my focus.

"That hit on the head, it made me remember... things about us," I said. "I remember us finding out that Starline, he didn't just find us and offer to help with killing Sonic. He made us want to kill Sonic. Starline just took a couple random people off the street and got rid of their memories so he could brainwash them- us into being his goons, with robot parts he built to give us powers. He's not our support guy, we're his toys, and he gloated about it."

Kit opened his mouth but cut himself off, staring at me wide-eyed.

"And if you're wondering whether our relationship was programmed into us?" I continued. "It seems like it. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for... everything I've done and said to you. I was taking advantage of you, and I should've stopped before I got any screws knocked loose."

"How could you have stopped, ma'am?" Kit said. "If Starline brainwashed us into being who we are now, I don't think either of us would become different without getting hit on the head."

"Maybe, maybe not," I said. "But that does bring up a question I gotta ask. Now that you know you're only loyal to me because the bad doctor forced you to be, do you want to stay like that? And don't just say what you think I wanna hear. Tell me what you want."

Kit sighed, wrung his hands, looked anywhere but at me. Eventually, after a long time of neither of us saying anything, he said, "I- I don't know. What I want is... being your partner, doing the things you need me to do. Even if I didn't need to help you, it's all I can remember wanting. I don't think it'd matter if we got rid of Starline's brainwashing, I'd still be there by your side."

"All right," I said with a shrug. "If that's what you want, I'll leave it drop. But if you change your mind, that's fine too. I wanna get rid of what he did to me, and if something works for me, I bet it'll work for you too if you decide that's what you want."

Actually, now that I'd mentioned it, I wasn't sure Starline's brainwashing was still messing with the brain I was using. I didn't think I wanted to destroy Sonic and Tails, at least. I sure as hell didn't want to do anything Starline told me to. And even before being thrown into this body, I'd always had trouble controlling my emotions and a general disregard for authority. The personality Starline had beaten into Surge was similar enough to the one I remembered having I wasn't sure how to tell the difference. Something to figure out later, I supposed. Along with a whole lot of other things.

"...I'll think about it," Kit eventually said, with a tone that made me think he wouldn't.

"Take all the time you need," I told him. "I wanna get Starline outta the picture first anyway. Can't get rid of his brainwashing as long as he can just redo it. And some of the stuff he did to us... Getting rid of him would be a public service, honestly."

"What... what sort of things?" Kit asked, voice not quite shaking.

I sighed and said, "I'm pretty sure his training for us has gotten both of us killed. More than once, even. There's something I remember him saying in a log about 'reviving' us, and I think I saw footage of us getting crushed and incinerated and drowned and... who knows what else. Starline didn't care except that he had to spend time fixing us. I don't think we're safe around him, even a little."

"I don't think so either," Kit said. There was an edge in his voice, one that made me think he was already thinking about what he wanted to do to Starline. Actually, come to think of it...

"Y'know, I'm a little surprised you're believing all this," I said. "I don't think I would've if I didn't remember seeing it, it's pretty out there."

"I trust you, ma'am," Kit said. "And the things you said about Starline's training for us, they sound familiar. If they really did happen, I can believe the rest."

"Thanks, Kit," was all I could say as I scratched the back of my head. Having someone just trust what I said, even if it sounded totally crazy... it felt nice. I could feel the little guy growing on me.

After a minute of searching for something else to say, I jolted and said, "Oh, right, Starline made you to be my idea guy. You mind helping me think of ways to take care of him?"

Kit grinned, all teeth.

"With pleasure."

I felt my lips curl to match his. Starline was a stain on the world. Getting rid of him needed to be done anyway, but I had a feeling that Kit and I were going to make the job fun.

A/N: I know this premise isn't the most original, but sometimes you get an idea that just won't leave you alone til you work on it. This was inspired by me reading SUBJECT: RALLY the CHIPMUNK recently and thinking about how I'd do my own take on that kind of SI setup, which turned out to be... quite different from that inspiration. If anyone's curious, the voice for SI-Surge I've got in mind is that of Lisa Ortiz, an old anime dub VA. I'm mentioning it because the sound of her voice actually comes up in the story, but if people are interested, I can write a bit about the voices I've got in mind for other characters that might show up.

 

[Small Nerd]

As it turned out, Kit's ideas for offing Starline all depended on the two of us being able to leave his base to get equipment or backup, not that we wanted backup. But you do what you need to do, and having someone who wasn't extra vulnerable to hypnosis would help a lot. The problem, of course, was that Starline had his base locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

I floated the idea of us acting like we already had a line to the outside world and driving Starline's paranoia through the roof. Maybe he'd have a heart attack or something, was my hope. Kit pointed out that we wouldn't be able to fake that, we'd need to actually have access to the wider world or it wouldn't be convincing. And if we had that, then we might as well use it. At least he thought my idea was funny. I'd take that.

We ended up deciding to play along with Starline's plans until he let us out himself. He'd have to do it eventually if he wanted us to kill Sonic. No way the guy was coming to us. But playing along meant running through the torture gauntlets Starline called "training courses." I couldn't tell if they'd been designed by a sadist, a special forces team, or both. The only reason I survived them was the original Surge's muscle memory had stuck around. Thanks to that, I could run, jump, climb, and wreck badniks with the best of them. It also made my handwriting a lot neater than I remembered it being, but I only figured that out later. There isn't a whole lot else to say about that training. Obstacle courses are obstacle courses, even when they've got flamethrowers, spike pits, and killer robots. Kit and I ran them, and we kept running them til Starline let us take a break. Then we'd find somewhere private and think about what we'd do when he finally gave us a field mission.

---

Eventually, after what might have been weeks, months, or no time at all, the time came when Kit and I had finished our daily dose of boot camp and Starline didn't tell us to break for food or sleep. He just looked at the two of us, no scratches on us and barely wheezing, and turned around to walk to what I knew was his office. He made a "follow me" motion with one hand, and follow we did.

"The time has come for your first live field test," Starline said once we were all in his office. He typed something into his computer, and pictures of more animal people showed up on his needlessly big monitor. Pictures of animal people I recognized.

"This is Jewel the Beetle, recently instated leader of the Restoration," Starline said, using an extending rod to point to the one with antennae. I wondered where he'd been keeping the pointer stick. "Not a fighter, but anyone can turn vicious when cornered. Don't let her catch you off guard."

"And this is her associate, Tangle the Lemur," he added, pointing to the fluffy one. "She can use her tail to lift heavy objects, and it can stretch to several times her body length. Stay out of her range until you can put her down."

Ah yes, one of the lesbians, I thought to myself. But what about the other one, Whisper? I can't make any Metal Gear jokes if the sniper wolf isn't around.

"Both are known friends of Sonic, but your priority is Jewel. Without her, the Restoration should flounder, and Sonic loses much of his support base," Starline went on, not noticing my distraction. He seemed to care more about doing his presentation than making sure we listened to it.

"However you kill them, you must make it look like an accident. If Sonic has a target to focus his anger on, it will only make him stronger," the man kept going. "If the only culprit is bad luck, all he'll have is despair. That will weaken his resolve."

"Is there anyone else we should watch out for, Doctor?" Kit asked. "Bodyguards? Friends?"

"Ah, yes, there are two to keep an eye out for," Starline said while he brought up two more pictures of people I recognized.

"This is Whisper the Wolf," he said while pointing to the masked one. "Former mercenary and one of few people known to use a variable-type wispon. She has access to most of the common Wisp abilities but prefers to fight from range. Close in quickly, and she should crumble just as fast. She's been known to associate with both Tangle and Jewel, but she isn't formally aligned with the Restoration. I can't say if she'll be around when you go after Jewel."

Oh, there she is, I thought. Maybe I should get some jokes ready.

"Now that you mention it, when are we doing this?" I asked. "If you want the little guy-" I pointed at Kit with my thumb. "-to be my idea guy, he's gonna need time to think of somethin', I know that much."

Kit grinned nervously at the attention. Starline just sighed and kept talking.

"Once I finish this briefing, I'll give Kitsunami the dossiers I've prepared. He'll have time to plan while I get the two of you as close to Restoration headquarters as I can. Jewel has a habit of staying in her office until late hours, and my weather prediction algorithm says the area around that building will have a thunderstorm tonight. The storm should give you cover if things escalate, but don't let things escalate."

"You got it, Doc," I told him, smirking. "We'll be real careful."

The Doc just raised an eyebrow at me. He and I both knew "Surge the Tenrec" and "careful" didn't belong in the same sentence.

"I'm sure," he said, drier than a desert. "Now then, your last person of interest."

The last picture zoomed in to take up the whole screen.

"This is Belle the Tinkerer," Starline said, a strange tone in his voice. "One of Doctor Eggman's creations. She has... opted to join the Restoration as a mechanic. Do not allow her to come to permanent harm, I'm hoping to sway her back to the Doctor's side eventually. She's not much of a combatant, a few basic self-defense features and nothing else. She won't be much of a threat, so keeping her intact should be quite doable."

He didn't say "I won't take any excuses for you killing her," but he didn't need to.

"Sure, sure," I said, still smirking. "We'll keep your girlfriend nice and safe."

Oh, that was a nasty glare. I must've touched a nerve.

"Belle is not my girlfriend," he said. "Now get to the staging ground before I change my mind about letting you two do this mission."

"Hey Doc, no need to be hasty," I said, putting my hands up. "I won't, uh, cast aspersions anymore, okay? Just a bad joke."

"A very bad one," Starline said. "Don't do it again, and get moving."

I hurried along with Kit after that. Definitely a little too much needling there, I was gonna have to dial it back. Once we were far enough away from the Doctor, we slowed down and started talking.

"Think this is our chance, Kit?" I asked quietly.

"I don't think we'll get a better one for a while, ma'am," Kit said. "Starline has to leave us alone for this mission. If he's seen, everyone would know it was a murder."

"Yeah, that's true," I said. "So how do we play this? Maybe defecting? The Restoration probably has stuff we could use, and they'd definitely keep Starline away from us, but I'm not sure they'd let us finish the job."

Kit hummed thoughtfully and said, "I think it'll depend on how Starline gets us to the mission site. If we're lucky, he'll fly a plane into a storm. If we aren't, we might have to defect after all."

I nodded and said, "All right, we play it by ear. Fingers crossed we get the easy option."

---

We didn't get the easy option. Starline drove us to the outskirts of the city Restoration HQ was in (a place called Emeraldville, which I didn't learn until much later), using a regular car. Maybe Kit and I could have caused an accident, but we'd get caught in the crash too, and that was just asking for trouble. It looked like we'd have to get help taking care of Starline, and there was only one place in this city we knew how to get to: the Restoration.

By the time Starline dropped us off, the sun was setting and clouds were gathering. He gave us a reminder of how to let him know to pick us up, then he was out of there. I faced Kit, and the two of us nodded. We were going to the Restoration and hoping they wouldn't try to stop us from killing our soon-to-be former boss.

"Let's get moving, Kit," I told him.

There wasn't much else to say. Kit gave a "Yes, ma'am," and then we were off.

---

Walking in through the front door of Restoration Central was probably the smarter option than breaking in and finding Jewel's office. But Starline would absolutely come to "retrieve" us if we took too long, and there was no telling how long it'd be before whoever worked the front desk could get us to someone who could actually help us. The criminal route it was.

From what Starline could figure out, the place had security people, but they were mostly concentrated around the place's armory and repair shop. After all, if anyone was gonna break in, they'd be after weapons or vehicles or something else like that. Y'know, something valuable. The leader of the bunch? She didn't have anyone keeping tabs on her, as far as Starline could gather. Just Tangle, who was off doing her own thing half the time anyway. Hmm, if Jewel did take us on, maybe we could work as security consultants. The sheer sloppiness of the operation bothered me.

As it happened, the Restoration's base was built partly underground, a fun little wrinkle I didn't remember from the comics I'd read, but my memory was hardly perfect, especially since I couldn't refresh it. So maybe they weren't quite as sloppy with their security as I thought, but they still had to move things in and out to do their work. That meant there were access points, and those meant we had our way in.

---

We decided to go the quiet route for our infiltration, make a better first impression and all. Kit "found" a couple of stripy construction jackets and hard hats for us to wear, and I looked around for any delivery drop-off points, loading docks, or anything else that might be a place where stuff moved between the base and the outside world. After a while of searching, I came across a spot that had people moving crates around with forklifts and a tunnel leading in the direction of the Restoration's base. Jackpot. Once Kit had our disguises, we suited up and headed over.

"Excuse me?" I said to the first person I saw with a clipboard, a woman with red fur and beat-up clothes. She had a feeling of exasperation coming off her in an almost visible aura. If this wasn't a boss of some kind, I'd eat my hard hat.

"Yeah? Whatcha need, kid?" The woman said. She sounded tired, and she looked it too. I'd bet she hadn't had any sleep in the last couple days, and by now the rain was coming down hard enough I wouldn't blame her for wanting to go home and not leave. People working these kinds of hours for the good guys... Had something happened here recently? Now that I was paying attention, the place did look a bit beat up.

"We're new here," I said, gesturing to myself and Kit. "We weren't told what to do, just show up here and let the boss put us where we were needed. And you look like the boss, ma'am. Where should we go?"

Clipboard Lady closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Great, just great," she groused. "Look, kid, we don't need you here."

I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, she cut me off with a "Let me finish."

"We don't need you here," Clipboard Lady said. "Those Zeti monsters didn't do much to this side of things, we've already got enough people to fix their mess here. If you wanna help with the repairs, go inside and check the tracking board. Big corkboard right in the middle of the main room, ya can't miss it. See who needs help and ask the front desk guy for directions if you need 'em. Now leave me alone, I gotta make sure these yahoos don't crash another forklift."

"Thanks, ma'am! Sorry for the bother, ma'am!" Kit said to her as we left the overworked woman to her job. Hm, some sort of attack would explain the damage I'd noticed. The attackers were "Zeti," huh? The word sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. I just got the feeling it meant something annoying. Something to look into later, maybe.

The main room of the Restoration's base was big. The place half reminded me of a train station, all high ceilings, screens covering the walls with information, and people hurrying in every direction. Clipboard Lady was right, though. The big corkboard in the middle was impossible to miss. Kit and I made our way over to it, just in case anything useful was on it.

And the lucky break with Clipboard Lady not suspecting us continued, as it turned out someone had a bunch of paperwork that needed to be delivered to Jewel pronto. If we really were going to kill her, this kind of coincidence would fit right in a Hitman level. Though it did make sense for Jewel to have a lot of paperwork delivered to her if Starline was right about her working late every day. It might be why she worked so late, even. Still, no sense looking a gift horse in the mouth. Kit got directions to Jewel's office while I got the paperwork, and off we went.

---

Jewel's office was surprisingly small for the leader of closest thing to a government much of the world had. A window looking out on the base's main room, some filing cabinets, and a desk for the big boss herself.

Jewel was... shorter than I'd expected. Even though she was sitting at her desk, I was sure I'd have at least half a head on her even standing up. She was hunched over some paperwork, filling it out and looking it over, putting it in one pile and taking more from another. She was working slowly. Hesitantly, even. Like she thought she'd already made mistakes and was trying to find them. In that moment, Jewel didn't look like the most politically powerful person I'd ever seen. She just looked like a kid with too much to do and no idea how to get help. The way we'd be interrupting her, Kit and I were about to do the girl a serious favor.

"Just put it on the chair over there," Jewel told us. Huh, she sounded a bit like Sailor Venus. How strange.

"I'll-" A yawn. "I'll get to it once I'm done with this batch."

I gave Kit a glance. While I set the paperwork down as directed, he closed the office's door and started checking for bugs.

"What are you two doing?" Jewel asked, no longer sounding tired. We were acting like we were going to kill her, the situation must have set off alarm bells in her head.

"No need to worry, Bosslady," I told her. "We're here to defect from Doctor Starline, not kill you. Though your security does kind of suck, you might wanna work on that."

Jewel shot straight up and looked me dead in the eye.

"Doctor Starline? Tell me everything."

Kit and I gave her the rundown. Starline kidnapped us, brainwashed us, gave us powers, etc, then I got a bump on the head that changed my priorities, so we decided to get away from the bad doctor and not kill Sonic or any of his friends. And when Starline let us out of sight, we took the chance to run. All we could think of was to join up with his enemies and hope they'd help us out. After all, we hadn't actually done anything bad yet, so they didn't have a reason to hate us... hopefully.

"You are fine with helping us out, yeah?" I asked at the end of the spiel. "We've got info we can trade, though it might be outta date soon. Doc's gonna know we went AWOL pretty quick if he doesn't already."

"The information would be helpful," Jewel told us. "But it's not necessary. You two need help, and helping people is what the Restoration does. I'll see if there's someone who can help you with the brainwashing-"

Jewel interrupted herself with another yawn.

"It can wait til tomorrow, Bosslady," I said. "You don't seem too awake right now. Me and Kit can wait a while. Just as long as we don't run into them."

"Yes, please don't kill Sonic or Tails," she snarked.

It was then that the door opened, revealing Tangle the Lemur. She didn't look happy.

"What was that about killing Sonic and Tails?" She asked. The first thing I noticed was that she sounded like Sailor Uranus. Then, I felt how the challenge in her voice made my muscles tense and my blood sing. There was a fight brewing, and I was more than ready to throw hands.

"They're not going to kill anyone, Tangle," Jewel said. "Surge and Kit here were brainwashed to kill Sonic and Tails by Doctor Starline, but they don't want to do what he says. We were talking about making sure nothing bad happens before Surge and Kit can get their heads on straight."

Tangle relaxed immediately, and I followed suit a moment later. I was a bit disappointed a fight wouldn't happen, but maybe Tangle would be up for a spar later.

"Ah, my bad. Sorry about that!" She told us. "Tangle the Lemur. Can we pretend I didn't just put my foot in my mouth?"

"Don't see why not," I told her. "I'm Surge, my little buddy's Kit. Starline told us a bit about you. Probably nothing worth believing, aside from the stretchy tail and being friends with Sonic."

"If he told you Tangle never looks before she leaps, that's true," Jewel said. "We've known each other for ages, and I've never gotten Tangle to understand the meaning of caution. Or forethought. Or-"

"I think they get it, Jewel," Tangle interrupted. "I like adventure too much for my own good, yada yada yada. What're you doing up this late anyway? I was hoping I wouldn't see you in here when I came by."

Jewel sighed and said, "Too much work to do, then these two showed up. Though I'm pretty sure Surge was about to tell me to sleep when you came in. Fine, I'll get going. I don't want you two ganging up on me."

Jewel stood up from her desk and stretched. Some nasty pops came from her back.

"Forget about us, Bosslady," I told her. "I think you gotta find someone to help you. I don't think spines are supposed to sound like that."

"I've been telling her that too," Tangle chimed in. "I think she just likes doing paperwork."

"If either of you are volunteering to help me out, I'm happy to accept your offer," Jewel said with an impressively sarcastic smile.

"No thanks, too boring," Tangle and I said in unison. We looked at each other.

"Jinx!" Tangle shouted before I could.

"Ah, ya got me," I fake-grumbled before smiling to take any sting out of it. "Anyway, speaking of people who need to sleep, I'm one of 'em. How're you feeling, Kit?"

"Also tired, ma'am," he said.

Tangle looked at me with a question written all over her face.

"We can explain later," I said. "Right now, we gotta sleep. You know somewhere we can do that?"

"Sure, there's plenty of beds around here," Tangle said. "Just follow me!"

Then she ran out, leaving me and Kit to follow in her wake.

"Let's talk more tomorrow!" I shouted to Jewel on the way out. She nodded and started to shuffle out the office too.

After a few minutes, Tangle led us to a room full of metal bunk beds. There were a few posters on the walls, mostly pictures of Sonic. Just looking at them put me in a bad mood.

Ignore them, Surge, I told myself. It's not the real deal, and you don't want to kill him anyway.

I ended up taking a bed where I couldn't see me, while Kit took one near mine.

"You're not going to sleep?" I asked Tangle, who hadn't moved to claim a spot for herself.

"I am, just not here," she said. "I need to check up on Jewel, I'll get a bed near hers so she can't trick me again."

There was a story there, but I wasn't going to ask.

"All right, then," I told her. "G'night."

"Good night!" Tangle said as she left. And then it was just me, Kit, and a bunch of pictures of Sonic.

"How're you feeling, Kit?" I asked him. "Been a big day for us, huh?"

"It has indeed, ma'am," he said. I still couldn't get him to express many opinions of his own. It was a work in progress.

"So how do you feel about getting out from under Starline's thumb?" I pressed him.

"How do you feel about it, ma'am?" He asked in return. The classic "answer a question with a question" maneuver, beloved of teachers everywhere.

I shrugged and said, "I guess it hasn't quite sunk in yet for me. And maybe I just don't wanna think about what to do next just yet."

"We could always try to take over the world," Kit said.

I chuckled.

"You crack me up, little buddy."

The conversation wound down from there, and soon enough the two of us were ready to sleep and see what the new day would bring.

...

Damn it, I'd forgotten to give the construction gear back. We were so in for it.

A/N: And now we actually have a place in the comic's timeline for this story! This chapter happens a few days before issue #45 of the comic, and the story's probably derailed that arc completely. Poor Jewel, she's never gonna get a vacation. The comic's pretty vague about how much time passes between Starline getting the missing piece for Surge and Kit in issue 44 and him giving them their first field mission that causes the forest fire in issue 45. I'm not going to try and offer my own answer to that question, just say that it was enough time for SI-Surge and Kit to get some ideas ready. As it happens, I didn't actually remember that the Restoration set up shop in an underground base until researching for this chapter, which means the SI doesn't get to know that fact ahead of time. It really threw a wrench in my plans for the chapter, I'll say that much. Also, when she says Jewel and Tangle sound like Sailor Venus and Sailor Uranus, the SI's referring to Cherami Leigh and Erica Mendez, who played those characters in the most recent English dub of Sailor Moon. Both of them have also been in a lot of other things, including Sega games, so it seemed appropriate.