Sonic was rushing down the southern corridor of the plant, with Bunnie and Tekno in tow. Everything was a blue and yellow blur as they sped on through, only stopping when they reached a fork in the road. There were two tunnels, each leading a different direction. Of course, if they took the wrong one, Sonic could probably take everyone and double back before they so much as sneezed. But if nothing else, he had learned over the past couple months that just rushing in half-cocked probably wasn't the best plan. Not that he cared. If it were only himself, he wouldn't hesitate to go in there and slice them to ribbons.
But it wasn't just him. Because Amy and Tekno were there too. And while there was a chance Tekno could protect herself from whatever they stepped into, there wasn't a guarantee that Amy wouldn't get blasted by a surprise barrage or some-such. And he wasn't about to lose anyone else on account of being a cocky asshole. He never thought he'd say this, but it was best to take things slow.
By Gaea, he wanted to vomit.
He stopped at the fork, giving everyone a chance to get their bearings. "Okay, pitstop everybody! Least until we make sure where we're goin'." As Amy gave a woot in exhilaration, he started to pull Nicole out of their satchel. "Rise and shine, Nicole! Any clue where we're headin'?"
Nicole reappeared in her holographic form above the console, her robes twirling like a slow whirlwind. She appeared a bit distracted. None too surprising given she had just hacked into the systems of the entire plant. Though if they wanted to shut it down for good, they'd need to go a bit farther in. "Sorry. Somewhat busy with two things at once. But I believe that it's to the right. With any luck, it will take us where we need to go."
"Gotcha! Hey, Tekno, Nicole says we're, uh, okay, what now?"
Tekno was standing at the tunnels' intersection. Her eyes closed as she lifted her head toward the ceiling, her brow furrowed in concentration. Her hands began to twitch and flail about just the slightest, though she quickly got a handle on it.
For his part, Sonic wasn't sure what she was doing. He knew Tekno said something or another about having something or another, but he was too busy stuffing his face with chilidogs to pay attention. Something he probably should have started working on already. "Uh, you okay, Tekno?"
Amy almost seemed on the verge of saying something, but a quick raise of Tekno's hand kept her mouth shut. "I'm alright. I think." She continued looking toward the tunnels, not so much as glancing toward Sonic's gaze. Most would think they were being rude or snubbing them, but for Tekno, it couldn't have been further from the truth.
"Well, if you say so. Just makin' sure, ya know? Kinda looked like you were having a conniption or something."
As soon as one of Tekno's eyes began to twitch, Amy finally saw fit to step in. Literally. She took a large step toward Sonic and leaned over as she whispered in his ear. "Uh, Sonic? You know she's, well, you know, right?"
Sonic wasn't sure what she was talking about. Other than Tekno still having something, though he wasn't any closer to figuring out what. "Uh, kinda? Okay, not really. What's she got again?"
Amy pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Wouldn't be the first time. Especially with him. "Oh, come on! You're seriously telling me you don't have a clue?!"
As much as he would have liked to say that he did, the truth was, no. No he did not. "Hey, excuse me for trying to give my friends some privacy. If she wants to tell me, she'll tell me. And if she hasn't told me now, well, I guess it's nothing she thinks important enough to tell me later, huh?"
Amy sighed in disbelief. It wasn't every day one spoke at such length to someone who was still in some ways an idiot. "Or maybe it's because she can't bring herself to tell you and doesn't even know why because she's neurodivergent!"
Oh.
Well that explained a lot.
Sonic slapped himself in the face as he realized that he had been acting like an ass for the last minute or so. Not that it would be the first time. "Oh, Gaea. Uh, look Tekno, I'm—"
Tekno raised another hand as she slowly took off her shirt, revealing her feathers for all to see. "It's alright. I'm used to it." Her voice, usually so dull and monotone, was filled with ever the slightest amount of sadness and regret. Something Sonic wouldn't have picked up on starting out. Mostly because he wouldn't care to.
By Gaea, could he be an asshole. "Maybe it's just me, but you don't sound used to it."
Amy tried to give him what for, but Tekno again stopped her. At last she turned around, a practical brassiere having been kept underneath. "It's alright. Actually it isn't alright, but I'm not going to make an issue of it. In any case, I just needed to collect myself after that excursion. Some days it's hard to think. As though there were some sort of pressure or static running through my brain if that makes any sense. Especially after being dragged along at 100 miles per hour. And so occasionally I need to focus and regain my bearings. As it were."
"Okay. Sorry. Again. That said, is there a reason you stripped down? Cause I think that might be overreacting."
Tekno sighed as Amy slapped her own face in frustration. "If you must know, I figured I'd prepare myself for whatever awaits us, seeing as I had the time. Wearing a sweater covers my feathers and makes me unable to take flight. This way I'm ready for whatever comes our way and can take off at a moment's notice."
Oh. That made sense. Not that it was something he or most people would do, but if made sense. Sort of. Kind of. Okay not really, but who was he to judge?
Amy grabbed Nicole and got things moving just as Sonic was about to open his mouth, presumably to shove his foot in it. Not that he would've tried, but even he was starting to wonder if he could say anything else without coming off as an insensitive prick. "Hey, Nicole. Don't know if I said it earlier, but I love the look!"
"Thank you," said Nicole. "Though I was under the impression you no longer cared about such things?"
"Hey, just because I'm trying to be practical doesn't mean I still don't have a soft spot for that sort of stuff. Now, do you think you can tell us what route is gonna take us where we wanna go?"
"One moment please." Nicole closed her eyes as she focused, fur glowing with a bright blue light as she remotely accessed the plant's schematics. "I believe the central processing unit should be down the left tunnel. As long as we head in that direction, we should reach it shortly."
"Cool." Well, that settled it. As far as Sonic was concerned, all they needed to do was race over, have Nicole shut down the plant, and they'd be home free. Well, and maybe beat up whatever was in their way while they were at it, but hey, it couldn't be that hard, could it?
Famous last words.
"Come get some, sugars!"
Meanwhile, Bunnie was tearing into the oncoming hordes of Swatbots and Troopers with wild abandon. She didn't even bother trying to evade their blows. For every knife to the gut or bullet to the face, she simply shrugged it off and kept on trucking. It wasn't as though she could feel it. Nor were her injuries that severe. Her wounds had already started to heal, if somewhat slowly, but somehow she wasn't sure that would make a difference. She just didn't care. At all. Not about her limbs. Nor about her condition. Or that she wasn't sure if she could face her parents again. And why should she? Was she even herself anymore? Was she the same girl she was before all this started? Just what was there to give a crap about anymore?
And then in a whisper, it came to her. Like an epiphany.
"Antoine."
Unfortunately this couldn't have come at a worse time, as one Trooper was about to fire its' rifle straight at the back of Bunnie's head. And while she may have become somewhat durable, she wasn't invulnerable.
Nor was she alone.
A sharp stone of spike shot up from the ground, tearing through the floor and skewering the robot above it. The same occurred for all the remaining bots, not that there were many left after Bunnie's rampage. A lone bot managed to send off one last round of fire toward where it thought was the source of the spikes, but a thick wall of earth rendered it null and void before one last stone lance shot through it like a needle.
"You okay, kid?!" Chirps came running down the corridor, briefly catching his breath as he glanced at the robots' remains. "Gaea, kid. Talk about anger management.
Bunnie slumped to the ground, literally breathless. Not that that was something she could help. She would have broken down into a sobbing wreck and fill an entire river with her tears if she could. But nothing came. All she could do was punch a crater into the ground and scream at the top of her lungs in frustration. All while Chirps shook head as he took out a cigarette and set it alight. "Something you wanna tell me, kid?"
Up until now, most didn't know about Bunnie's condition. Maybe some suspected, but the only ones who knew for sure were those at the lab and Cream. She hadn't told anyone else. Didn't want them to worry. Or at least that's what she told herself.
"You know, sugar, bad as everything was at the start, with the robotization and everything, I thought that was it, you know?" Her voice was low, quiet. Utterly devoid of the usual energy and enthusiasm she was known for. But she just couldn't keep it up. Not any more. She held out her hands in front of her before clenching them into fists. "Guess I was damned stupid for thinkin' that."
Her long ears had started to droop, perhaps for the first time any of the others had known her. Certainly not for the longest time. "But you got it right the first time. You were holdin' my shoulder for a whole minute and I didn't feel it. You could've stuck me in a pool of hot sizzlin' lava and I wouldn't have felt it! Cause I can't feel anything. But I thought maybe it would go away, ya know? If I just smiled and waved, just kept on like nothin' happened, it would all be better. And no-one would have to worry."
Chirps blew a ring of smoke into Bunnie's face. Most anyone would interrupt this as incredibly rude, but in this case, it was a test. And in a sense, Bunnie passed. Because she didn't so much as cough or blink or wipe drops of moisture from her eyes as it passed through. "Well, tough luck. We're worryin'." He sighed as he crouched down to meet her at face level. "You really should've said something sooner, ya know?"
"Maybe. And I did. Sorta. Cream knows. And everyone in the lab knows. But so far, they don't know what to do." She looked toward Chirps, clearly distraught and not sure what to do with herself. "The hell am I supposed to do?! I don't wanna be… this! Some cold unfeeling thing! Something that's gonna outlive Antoine and most everyone else! Oh, Gaea, Antoine. How am I gonna explain this to him? How am I gonna explain this to anyone?!"
Chirps stared at her for the longest time before embracing her in a hug so strong and compassionate that it nearly swept Bunnie off her feet. "I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry. That's not somethin' anyone else should have to go through."
Bunnie didn't know what to do at first. She wasn't sure what she was expecting when she finally let it all out, but it certainly wasn't this. But in the end, she couldn't help but hug him back. "Thanks." But as the wheels in her brain finally started turning again, she couldn't help but notice something was off. "Wait, hold on. 'Anyone else?' You can't mean—"
Chirps sighed. "Guess it was gonna come out sooner or later." He tore open his jacket, revealing the shimmering green emerald embedded in his chest. "Believe it or not, I always did have a thing for jewellery."
Bunnie was stunned. Truth be told, she didn't know Chirps that well. Not many did. But what she did know of him was something of a wise-cracking if well-intentioned asshat. So this, whatever it was, was the last thing she would think about him. "Never would've guessed. Sugar, what—"
"Later." He zipped his jacket back up, covering the emerald and its' radiant beauty in a flash. "The important thing is, I'm not so different from you. I know what it's like to start turning into something you don't want to be. To have everything you took for granted stripped away. Of knowing that everything you knew is one day gonna be done. But I also know it can't take away who you are. And let me tell ya, you're somethin' special. Anyone else who had to deal with what you're goin' through, they would've buckled under the first day. But you kept on goin'. You never quit. Which is more than I can say about myself."
Bunnie wasn't sure what to say. She almost started to try and say something if only for the sake of it, but Chirps kept on going before she could. "Look. All I'm sayin' is, it ain't as bad it seems. Sure, you've lost a lot. Maybe more than most people. But from where I'm standin', you're still breaking even. Because you've got someone who'll never give up on ya no matter what. And not everyone's got someone like that. Sad but true."
It didn't take long for Bunnie to realize who he was talking about. "Antoine." She cared for Antoine deeply. That was without question. But was that enough? Of that, she wasn't sure. She held out her arm, staring at it as if looking at it for the first time. "That's the same thing I've been telling myself for the last couple months, ya know? Maybe my whole life. 'Don't worry about it.' 'It ain't as bad as it seems'. 'Don't wanna make everyone worry.' She slammed her fist into the floor, cracking the metal around it with sheer magnitude. "And where the hell did it get me?!"
Chirps shrugged. "Well, maybe there's somethin' to that. You can't please everyone, ya know?"
Bunnie's ears perked back up a bit, though less out of optimism and more out of curiosity. "What now?"
"Honestly, it didn't hit me until just now, but I think it's finally startin' to click. Tell me somethin', when was the last time you ever thought about yourself? When you weren't thinking about what all this might do to everyone else? When was the last time you let yourself be selfish?"
Now that was a thought. Had she ever put her own needs above anyone else's? Obviously she had to some extent, but had she in any significant ways? Truth be told, up until today, she hadn't. Not really. Even as far back as when this all started, when she and Shortfuse were kidnapped and imprisoned, it was Shortfuse she was concerned about.
"Huh. You know, I don't got a clue. I don't think I've done anything for myself since all this started. The last time I ever really did was when I opened up my shop." She chuckled a bit at that. "Don't think I've even thought about it since."
"Then that's your problem right there. There's nothing wrong with looking out for others, but if you don't look out for yourself, then you won't be even able to do that, ya know?"
She rubbed her eyes if only out of habit. "But what am I supposed to do? Far as they can tell, I'm stuck like this. Kind of late for that, ain't it?"
"That's only one way of lookin' at it. Because at the end of the day, it's all about how you see it."
'How you see it'. She blinked as she slowly puzzled through just what that meant. All this time, she'd been thinking about all this as a curse. As a burden. Never once seeing it as anything else and just allowing it to stew. But maybe there was something else? Another way of seeing things?
But that would have to be put on hold. Suddenly a flurry of shouts and static erupted from the tunnel Johhny and Thunderbolt had gone down. "Crap!" She'd been so knee-deep in her own self-pity that she'd forgotten Johnny and Thunderbolt were still fighting for their lives. "Chirps!"
"Gotcha." A block of stone erupted out of the floor, and Chirps hopped on it just as it hovered into the air. Bunnie started jetting forward, and the two of them blasted towards their teammates at top speed. Hopefully dealing with her own shit hadn't gotten them killed.
By Gaea was she starting to hate herself.
