A/N Ok so here's next chapter, said this before but the itch to do some mass effect stuff is in my head now. I don't know what I'm gonna do or if I'll work on that while working on this but I'd like to give you all a heads up a head of time. If you like Mass effect and like the characters and stuff I end up using feel free to read.
I actually started a one shot that turned into a huge as hell one shot. I don't think it's my best. Let's just say it's hard to write legion and even harder to do him in that context. To make it make sense and logical and have it done right.
Someone asked if EVA is a reference to something. I'm sure you could reference it to something but it's more of me taking a name off something I saw recently because I suck at making names. Like I said I was playing mass effect and in the third game in an early mission you have to chase down a woman named Eva Core. After her shuttle is taken down it is revealed she is a robot disguised to be a human. So she isn't a VI she's actually more of an AI. If you want to call that reference go ahead.
This chapter was a bit hard to write as well. Work has been exhausting, I went through a lot of stress just trying to figure out my new schedule and getting time off for the end of June. Like literally the communication at the factory is terrible. Whatever. Besides that I've been just kinda losing inspiration again, it's also hard to writ a chapter that for long stretches of time has only one actual character in the scene. Besides that I've been gaming a bit more, with friends and also playing league a bit more because Warwick finally got his rework after 8 years and he was the first champ I ever bought.
Lastly, crap joke incoming. Someone said I may be the first person to pair up Scourge and Nicole…. Guess I'm captain of this ship. Commence your groans.
Thanks, for reading and enjoy the chapter.
Fiona's boots landed hit the ground spreading away ash, she hadn't been out here in awhile. All cooped up in headquarters had made her almost forget what it looked like out here. It quickly made her a little depressed.
She looked to the map on her HUD and saw it directed her to go left. She continued her way down the street. Apparently she wouldn't find a patrol for a bit. The empty streets made her feel small. It was so hard to think that this place was a bustling place where thousands of people passed through daily.
She knew if they could win and beat Eggman, that could be real again, just given some time and luck.
It was a bit of a walk before Fiona reached the first place of interest on the route. Since Tails had been doing this for awhile they had to go out further to find new places. Plenty of spots he'd looked through still had useful stuff, but it was easier to look for new places right now.
The first place was a small electronics store. She de-cloaked once getting inside and looked at her list.
"Eva, can you spot anything on this list as I look around the store?" Fiona asked.
"I can do that, Fiona. Please look around and I will mark items of interest" Eva said.
"Great" The fox began walking around the store looking at anything she could. She reached inside her belt for large bag. It was one of the things Tails kept in the suit all the time incase he found something he wanted. It was near impossible to rip and cloaked with the suit if it was touching it in some way.
She travelled through the store as Eva marked items with a green dot. She'd pick up what she could, though made sure to leave room for later. This place didn't have everything Tails was looking for right now.
"I suggest we leave now if we wish to stay on schedule" Eva explained a timer appearing next to the map.
"Ok, thanks Eva" she hefted the bag over her shoulder activating her cloak again and left the store.
"Of course, Fiona"
She continued along the path marked on her map. She tried to tunnel vision to avoid seeing the destroyed city. There wasn't much to distract her from it. It made it even worse that Eva wouldn't be able to hold a conversation. She missed Rosemary, maybe she could have been in the helmet, atleast they could talk.
Maybe she'd been right on ehte money when she suggested Tails use this time to clear his head and get away from command of the team. It was deadly quiet, nothing but herself.
She sighed again and looked to the sky, atleast that never changed.
"I suggest you keep your eyes out for danger" Eva interrupted her thoughts noticing she was staring at the sky.
"Oh, sorry" she aimed her vision back in front of her.
"We will reach the next location in a few minutes. There will be a patrol passing by shortly, I will warn you when they will relatively pass by" Eva explained.
"Thanks, Eva" Fiona thanked her beginning to jog knowing she'd be safe along the route.
Like she within a few minutes she arrived at the next location, a two story offive building, although half had been blown away.
"Jeez what happened here?" she asked looking for clues as she approached.
"I cannot make a an effective guess on that. Though initial scans show the blasts happened a long time ago" Eva said.
"Probably happened when Eggman did his global attack" Fiona guessed, it's not like anyone else was in the city to do it.
"That is a reasonable hypothesis"
The fox headed inside and once again began looking around as Eva scanned items. Walking through she remembered a conversation from years ago, back when she was an actual Freedom fighter.
Past…
"You ever wonder where you'd be if we weren't saving the world?" Sally asked. She along with Sonic and Fiona were sitting around relaxing while they could.
"Well we all know where you'd be" Fiona said back to the princess.
Sally chuckled "Well yes, but I meant the rest of you"
Sonic smirked "Definitely wouldn't be doing anything boring"
"No definitely wouldn't be doing a desk job" Fiona agreed.
"Bet Tails would be doing paperwork to get into a college or university" Sally smiled remembering how fast the boy was developing.
"Oh Antoine would be training to do his dads job" Sonic chimed in.
Fiona smirked "Bunnie would be anywhere near a kitchen, I guarantee it"
The three both agreed with that slowly goig back to another bout of silence and relaxation.
Present…
Fiona wondered where she'd be had she not been kidnapped as a child. Would she have ever et the members of the Freedom fighters? Would she have been just a normal girl? She sort of hoped that was wrong.
Yes, getting kidnapped and never meeting her parents again had scarred her deeply. Not to mention she'd made some pretty bad decisions in her life, but she could never imagine her life being normal. She wouldn't be able to stand it.
The fox frowned though. If she hadn't come to the Freedom fighters maybe Tails would have never grown up so wrong and left the team. Then he might have been there to help with Eggman. She knew there was no use thinking about what could have been, but sometimes it was hard when it could have been the difference between Mobius and it's inhabitants dying to a fat madman or not.
She continued to look around when Eva said "Patrol approaching, activating cloak"
Fiona still instinctively hid behind a desk and peaked around the corner. She kept her eye out to the large opening of the building. In a couple seconds a patrol came into view. They seemed to be just walking, no sign of them being on alert.
She watched as they passed. She then waited another minute before moving again once she lost sight of them before beginning her search again. It was quick, she only picked up one or two more things before continuing her journey again.
"Alright show me where to go next"
"This way" the map came up again and she was on the move again.
Back at the HQ…
Nicole fiddled with her hair as she ascended the stairs to the roof. It was empty feeling in here. Her footsteps echoed through them, but it was the only way up so she could suck it up.
She reached the door to the roof and opened them and found who she was looking for.
Scourge was resting against an old air intake. She couldn't help but smile seeing him like that. He was supposed to be watching out for any suspicious activity, but honestly they'd been awhile now and been perfectly fine. Even Shadow had been caught slacking once recently.
She approached the resting hedgehog and sat down beside him. She didn't feel like disrupting his rest. She smiled staring off into the empty sky. It was a nice day out, a small breeze, little clouds and nice blue sky.
She found herself smiling more since she and Scourge spoke before. Well they'd spoken since then, but the important one in his room. She was glad he wasn't annoyed by her. She was still sort of confused by his actions though, maybe she just had more to learn?
Her hands continued to fidget around, she felt…. Nervous? Was that the feeling? Oh maybe it was because she sat down next to a sleeping person and decided not to wake them. That'd be strange to wake up next to someone just silently sitting next to you right?
Her ears drooped a little feeling like she was being a creep and repositioned the way she was sitting. It was enough to nudge Scourge by accident. He snorted a little and slowly flickered his eyes open.
"Huh? What?" felt thought someone was waking him up cause he fell asleep.
Nicole frowned feeling bad for disturbing his sleep "I'm sorry, I did not mean to wake you" oh she hoped he didn't get mad with her again.
"Oh" he took a deep breath rubbing his eyes "Hey Nicki" he arched his back and it popped "What's up?"
Her ears perked up glad he wasn't mad "Oh not much I guess, just wanted to check up on you, see if you are hungry or something"
"I'm fine" he shrugged, it wasn't him dismissing her, just a short answer cause he was still waking up.
"Oh good, I'm good as well" she said a bit awkwardly.
He just nodded staying quiet…
Nicole kept shifting every once in awhile, her hands fidgeted around, she messed with her hair occasionally and her eyes darted around. Mostly they'd try to see what Scourge doing without turning her head but then zip back to other directions.
"Something bugging you?" Scourge finally asked a little annoyed by her constant movement.
"Huh? Oh… ummm… n-nothing" she very terribly lied.
"You sure?" Scourge asked nudging her.
Nicole was quiet for some time, Scourge nearly stop listening for a reply until she opened her mouth. No words came out for a moment like she were thinking of an answer, or how to say it.
"I feel like my mind is in other places, I'm trying to focus on keeping everyone safe and well, but I keep thinking of other things" she tried to explain.
"You must be worried about something then, it happens to people all the time" he shrugged.
"Well, yes I know that, and I know it has happened to me as well. Usually I can figure out what the problem with ease and manage, but I feel so scatter brained" her ears drooped, she was so confused. Maybe it had to do with recent events. Waking to find all your friends dead, the world she helped protect was gone, and shortly after losing their home again.
"I'm not the smartest guy, you know that" he sighed "But I guess there's something new going on in that head of yours. Something you don't understand yet…. I guess" he shrugged admitting he wasn't fully sure.
"I was thinking that too" Nicole agreed.
"Probably a dumb suggestion but have you tried to focus on what's taking your attention?"
"Yes…. I feel like I know it , but then it's gone" she frowned.
Scourge was good at stuff like this so said "You'll figure it out I guess"
"I hope so" she sighed.
Scourge felt her lean against him. He didn't mention it and both sat silently with eachother.
Elsewhere…
Fiona had filled up her bag and even her pockets with stuff. Eva suggested heading back, but Fiona wanted to continue to each location, simply see what was still in stock. So far she'd visited all but one location, and she was getting close to it.
She;d gone through a couple close encounters with patrols, nothing too risky, but despite her cloaking she'd still feel her fur go on edge.
Like the other places almost everything was still there, all be it aged and damaged.
"It seems this place is well stocked as well. I suggest heading back now that we've seen all locations on the route" Eva said
"Ya, that was my plan" Fiona turned and began heading back.
The walk like always was quiet, outside of the occasional patrols or hover ships she'd avoid.
Seeing the ruined city and bots made her angry. She remembered the days when eggbots weren't allowed in here, now it was the opposite. She'd kill Eggman or die trying.
Her ears dropped at the thought "Shouldn't be thinking that way… it shouldn't come to that unless there's no options"
Besides, with Eggman gone she doubted everyone would just work together in perfect harmony, as much as she hated to admit it. Mobians could be terrible to eachother, and without Eggman, a power vacuum would open up. People like her, Tails and everyone else would be needed to keep the peace.
She sighed getting back to the HQ, for now, this was there home now. For how long? Who knows.
Once inside she turned off her cloaking and walked back to the workshop. Inside she found Tails, as expected. He was always working now, he was supposed to be resting. She opened the door and eventually closed it "Hey there" she smiled.
He turned "Fi, you're back" he sounded relieved dropping what he was working on to walk to her. He hugged her and "Glad to see you're ok"
She smiled hugging back "Wasn't too hard considering I had a suit that makes me invisible, but it's good to be around friendly faces again"
"Good to hear it went well" Tails smiled breaking the hug "So let me see what you got"
She nodded handing him the bag, he rummaged through and began sorting through everything. He seemed pleased with what she found, as he looked through everything he asked "How was Eva?"
"She was fine" she was just getting the last of the armor off "Good advice and useful in helping me grab what I needed. Wish she could hold a conversation, but whatever" she shrugged.
"Ya, it kinda sucks, but I don't have time or the resources to make her more advanced" He sighed.
"Don't worry about it, she gets the job done, that's all we really need"
"True" he agreed "Good job with the stuff you got, I can use this pretty well.
"Great" Fiona said smirking walking up behind him "But now…" her hands grabbed his shoulders making him freeze "It's time to get some rest"
He sighed hearing that, he didn't want to sleep, he avoided it once, but he wasn't gonna get out of it this time.
"Fine" he said as Fiona pushed him to the workshop door and back to his room.
Ok so it's short, honestly ut's because I needed a chapter out and show I'm not gone yet. I have been sort of losing a lot of time to myself. Changing to afternoon shift as drastically lowered the amount of time I have for various reasons, and I don't see my family anymore five days of the week. I work when everyone is home I wake just after everyone leaves and by the time I come home from work everyone is sleeping. It sucks. Not to mention the new area I'm working in it draining my soul away because(and I'm not even joking) nothing works. The machines fail every day, multiple times per shift, even the new stuff that came in a month ago, doesn't work. Not one day has passed with ease. I hate it there.
Besides that with the lowered amount of time to myself I've been trying to fit in playing my new games that recently came out, For honour(Except the servers suck) and halo wars 2. In a month I'll have mass effect Andromeda too.
So yes, everything is kinda weird right now so please forgive for the lack of updates and length of chapter. I'm sorry
Live long and prosper
Admiralkirk