Chapter 1
Being a hero was freakin awesome!
It helped that Surge was also just so damn good at it! Better than a certain blue phony running around, acting like he was all better than everyone else. She did have to give the bastard one thing though, he got the hero schtick down to a science.
The attention was nice! Everyone loved her, praised her, she had to acknowledge the guy was clever, getting this gig down.
No wonder those dorks stuck around doing this for so long, they were practically worshipped, and could get what they wanted because of it! She made sure to take full advantage of that little benefit.
Unfortunately, her reputation was fifty fifty at best. Some people remembered her rampage through Central City, but a good glare and some electric pops from her usually silenced all criticism. And for the dumbasses who thought she was another ‘redeemed Sonic buddy’, well she was more than willing to profit off of those morons. They deserved it really, being so subservient to the blue bastard they couldn’t even comprehend people changing for themselves!
And redeemed, pfft, as if! There was no need to redeem herself for those bozos, she was already perfect.
Unfortunately, her rocky history meant she needed to start somewhere, build up trust or whatever, and get propped up by an established group. If she went off on her own and then that slimy opossum Clutch showed up again, if Eggman even gave that guy an ounce of mercy, and exposed her secret allegiance, it would be better if she built up relations with some known goody two shoes.
Which is where she and Kit found themselves, helping these Restoration nerds to get them in the group's good graces.
A choice she was quickly regretting.
“Ugh!” She complained audibly. “Of all the people to send up on janitor work, how come they send the two toughest people they’ve got!”
With the destruction of Restoration H.Q., a massive upheaval of the organization was taking place. They lost a lot of people, most leaving due to seeing the restoration as over now that their headquarters had been destroyed. That meant a lot of people had to do menial work to clean up.
That included Kit and Surge.
“Your speed makes cleaning much quicker, and I can easily lift heavy objects,” Kit answered calmly and objectively.
His companion turned to him with a grimace. “You weren’t supposed to answer that.” She growled out.
Kit immediately retreated into his programming. “S-sorry Ma’am.” He eked out.
Surge sighed. It wasn’t often they reverted back to their old selves, but it was always caused by her getting mad. Maybe she should…
“Whatever,” she replied while crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. “It’s just stupid, we’re here to be heroes! Not janitors!” She kicked a random piece of rubble on the ground. “Most of the important crap is already dusted, not like we’re going to find anything.”
Kit didn’t respond at first, lifting another piece of rubble with his water tendrils. “Maybe not, but if we want to gain their trust, we may need to do a few chores for them.”
Surge snorted at that. “I’m not gonna roll over and let these dumbasses use me as their speedy vacuum cleaner, they can clean up their own messes.”
Kit looked ready to reply, but stopped when he noticed someone nearby.
“Surge,” he said to get her attention.
“What’s up drippy?” She turned to look at him, and saw the same person he saw.
A cloaked figure stood ominously on top of a small incline of rubble, an odd looking mask on her face. Whisper.
Surge grinned almost manically. Despite what most might think, she didn’t hate the sniper. Quite the opposite.
She was the only person in the restoration she liked. Not in a friendly way mind you, no, she liked the wolf because she had seen her savage side.
While everyone else was singing kumbaya and talking to Surge about redemption and friendship, Whisper held no such thoughts. She hated the Tenrec, and Surge could tell with one look that she was ready and willing to put her down the moment she tried something. You don’t pick up a piece of your own broken gun and try to shiv someone if you're willing to give them a second chance after all.
And boy did Surge love antagonizing her. It was one of her favorite activities for sure.
“Hey sunshine,” Surge teased. “You come to clean up your base, or just to watch as other people do everything for you?”
The masked woman didn’t answer, but unfortunately for Surge, someone else did.
“Hey guys! How’s it going?”
Tangle. Now that’s someone Surge could hate. Easily. She didn’t even try to hide it, but the lemur was either too dense to notice and leave her alone, or purposefully annoyed her by continuing to flap her lips whenever Surge was around.
People thought she hated Whisper? Nah, no way. At least she shut the fuck up.
The wolf removed her mask to give the girl a fond (eww) glance, before returning her gaze to the Tenrec, no warmth present.
“Lanolin wants to see you.” She mumbled out, barely loud enough for the speedster to hear. This oughta be fun.
“Oh are you sure?” Surge replied in whatever tone she believed to be sing songy. “I was having so much fun cleaning up your mess!”
“Aww, that’s too bad,” Tangle cried out. “We were gonna let you quit early to talk to Lanolin, but I guess not!”
Surge visibly recoiled. “W-wait, hold on, I uh, I could use a break.”
Tangle giggled, and Whisper smiled only at her reaction. Surge felt heat rise in her face, but quickly ignored it.
“Cmon drippy, we’re going on break.”
Kit simply dropped the massive piece of concrete he was lifting during the conversation on the ground, not caring now that Surge had given him an order.
“So what does boss lady want anyways?” She asked walking by the two. She had rested her hands behind her head lazily. “More grunt work?”
Whisper surprisingly answered for her this time. “We need someone of your… skillset.”
Surge laughed at this. “What, you mean somebody actually tough? Not too many around here right?”
Whisper stayed quiet and Tangle ran a hand down her face. “Cmon surge, don’t be like that! We’re giving you a chance here!”
Surge heard Whisper mumble something about not deserving it, but her interest was solely on what the restoration wanted out of her. She could antagonize fox face later.
She groaned loudly and obnoxiously, clearly taking issue with the two.
Kit rushed past the two Diamond cutters to walk alongside his partner.
“Seriously though, what’s so important that you need us? Better be worth our time.”
Surge heard Tangle let out a rare sigh, and the electric Tenrec chuckled at her own personal win.
“You’ll find out when you talk to Lanolin.” Whisper tried to say that without letting her anger shine through. But she was not very good at hiding her distaste for her.
“Yeah yeah whatever, let’s just hurry this up then.”
They maneuvered around the destroyed ruins of the building, heading over to the makeshift base the higher ups had set up. Jewel and Lanolin had tried to keep some level of order.
The Diamond Cutters, plus Kit and Surge, made their way to the tent where Lanolin was staying.
The sheep leader was currently filling out paperwork when she was rudely interrupted by the punk Tenrec.
“Sup boss lady!” Surge yelled while jumping up to sit on her makeshift desk, receiving a glare from the leader of the Diamond Cutters in return. The other two Diamond Cutters entered the room staring at Surge’s attempts to aggravate the sheep. Kit snuck in behind them and slinked into the corner, trying not to be seen.
Surge didn’t think too much of the leader of the Diamond Cutters, she was a stick in the mud, a hard ass, and pretty boring. Still a little fun to mess with her, she was pretty cool when she just let herself go a little. Not nearly as interesting as Whisper, but whatever.
“Surge, get off of my desk.” Lanolin replied tiredly. Her coffee cup was drained dry, and Surge would bet a lot of money that was far from her first cup.
She didn’t have any money on hand. Point still stood.
“Fine, you're no fun, you know that?” She hopped off the desk and walked over to the other two, resting her arm on Whisper's shoulder to mess with her. The wolf growled and pulled her arm away, Surge only laughed at her reaction.
“Enough,” Lanolin barked out. “Keep this up and we’re putting you back on clean up duty.”
Surge just rolled her eyes. “Whatever, what am I here for anyways? I’m down to bash and destroy whatever you send my way!”
The sheep commander sighed. “Yes, we are all very aware, now then, can we continue or are you going to keep interrupting me?”
Surge scoffed, but didn’t say anything. She wanted to get on with this, so she’d let Lanolin finish her sentence.
“Now then, Surge, Kit, the restoration has a proposition for you two.”
That got Surges attention, and even Kit stood up a little straighter.
Lanolin cast a glance at Whisper and Tangle, the Wolf glanced downward, clearly not happy about whatever her leader was about to say. Tangle gave a shaky smile upon seeing her girlfriend’s reaction, giving a half confident thumbs up.
“We’d like to give you two a spot on the Diamond Cutters.”