The Rough Streets of Metropolis Zone City
Shortfuse and Vermin in their younger, pre-cybernik years. I've been percolating a little pre-origin story for them where they grew up on the streets of Metropolis together.
Shorty is the rebel, striking out at Robotnik but Vermin is doing whatever he has to to get by - Vermin never notices the difference because for a long while these things are one and the same. But one day Vermin gets in too deep and Shorty walks, but Vermin doesn't understand, seeing this as a sudden and unexplained betrayal... when they meet again as Cyberniks, Shortfuse doesn't even know it's his old friend facing him in the armour~ But Vermin does...
