Forty thousand miles below the surface of the sea, rested the immaculate Egglantis: Dr. Eggman's private retreat and best-kept secret. Equipped with manufacturing facilities, deep-sea defense systems, and stocked with decades' worth of supplies and literal tons of raw materials. Nearly everything Eggman harvested was brought here with roughly five percent of his resources scattered around his hidden depots for quick and convenient access. The main reason Egglantis sat so deep in the ocean was also the reason it wasn't his capital during his near conquest of Mobius; virtually no signals from sea level or higher could hope to reach his personal city. The base totally relied on well-hidden and sparce landlines that breached land like weeds in concrete.
So it was well within reason, when the greatest genius alive was startled by a Priority-One Alert on his communications relay, "Gah!" Eggman exclaimed, needing a moment to recollect himself and remember how to answer, "Report!"
The main screen came online as he spoke, a thin layer of dust being revealed emitting light. As expected, Eggman saw a young albino Human girl with glowing blue eyes and live data streams running throughout her 'body' with the same glow. This was Sage, Eggman's most advanced AI, second-in-command, and Princess of the Eggman Empire. For her to deviate from her current tasks to contact him directly meant something significant had happened.
"Father, Dreadnaught Plateau has been discovered and taken," She reported.
"And I assume that the self-destruct devices were successfully disarmed?" Eggman asked.
"Yes, E-One-Twenty-Three lead Team Dark and GUN sappers through the tunnels in the foundation," Sage affirmed, "I have also confirmed the loss all Vanguard prototypes on site and the loss of fifty percent of Brass Company, including Brother Brass."
"What!?" Eggman yelled, "How?"
"Brother Brass set a trap for a team believed to be led by Sonic but siphoned all power from one of the Hatchery facilities. Exactly how he was destroyed is unknown as he had to cut power to the security systems within to overclock himself," Sage explained, "The other Brass units suffered cooling problems and overheated, slowing many of their programs and freezing others."
"I have already ordered the cessation of replacement production and reevaluation of their designs. I have similarly paused Brother Brass's restoration until we are sure his platform will not suffer similar problems," Sage announced.
"Very good, I approve of these actions," Eggman replied, "How much of the servers were wiped."
"The system reported failed hacking attempts and total storage wipes," Sage answered, "However, I personally went into Dreadnaught Plateau's servers to ensure nothing of value could be recovered, only to discover records of a file withdraw."
Eggman's brow furrowed, "Then why was a total wipe reported?"
"Because the file was hidden in the Operating System folders," Sage said plainly, "Between my own thought processes and one million simulations, I conclude that: copies of files already on the system were made, compressed to prevent detection, and then planted into the OS manually. The file was small enough that it didn't affect performance, but we have no way of knowing how much information was within or what subject or subject the file pertained to.
"Damnit," Eggman said as he pinched his brow.
During the war, Eggman captured thousands of specialists in various fields. He had even managed to keep almost all of them in some form of captivity or otherwise under his thumb. However, nearly all of them had also been to Dreadnaught Plateau for one reason or another and it would be nearly impossible to figure out which one of them needed to be disciplined.
"Sir," Sage said, getting Eggman's attention, "I do have some interesting news."
"Oh?" Eggman said, "What would that be?"
"Sonic wasn't present for the Dreadnaught Plateau raid," Sage answered with a smile, "This leads me to believe that fighting aboard the Mirage Express has exacerbated his injuries. Meaning that, not only will he be out of the way for the foreseeable future, but that we have more time to look for him."
"Perfect!" Eggman cheered, "If we can figure out where that glorified ROUS has gone to ground, we can be rid of that god forsaken pest once and for all!"
Eggman settled down, "I take it that there's more."
"There is, and it isn't necessarily good news," Sage announced.
Without saying anything, Sage simply started streaming video footage. Not only from Dreadnaught Plateau, but also from the prison camp on the Angletic Island. It all featured one particular Mobian Fox, the only person who rivaled Eggman in intellect and mechanical ability.
"Tails?" Eggman asked rhetorically, "He's not nursing Sonic back to health?"
Sage shook her head, "We knew that he had suffered a psychotic break while you had Sonic imprisoned on the Death Egg, and I believe he had a similar episode while trapped in the Ancients' Cyberspace."
Sage's expression became more serious, "My simulations predicted it would be another five years before Miles Prower went on his own in a worst-case scenario. Father, I no longer believe our current psychological profiles apply to him and that we need to elevate the priority of his neutralization."
"Agreed," Eggman said with a concerned look, "I also don't like how he appears to be making android assistants for himself," He finished, gesturing to the android Mobian Lynx.
"Speaking of his companions, there is one I think you will be very interested in," Sage said as she closed all but one footage stream.
The footage displayed… something, fighting a whole squad of Brass units by itself. It was covered in white spikes that protruded from all over its body and wrapped around it like armor. It took blows very well, but the armor wasn't indestructible. Eggman was shocked as it appeared to be regrowing. Eventually, the thing was brought low and was revealed to be a Mobian Porcupine.
Eggman leaned closer to the screen, "Sage, make the capture of this mutant a priority; second only to Project Prism and the development of my army."
It was a somber and quiet flight back to Newfound Sanctuary. Prower Company went in to save as many people as they could and ended up barely being able to save half of the captives. Even Nicole was visibly downtrodden. Both she and Tails both worried in silence about Cosmo. They wanted to help the poor Seedrian but didn't know how. Tails was especially lost as to what he could do for her. Nearly all of his friends and family went on borderline suicide missions for a living and for fun and his response to Sonic 'dying' in the war was to spiral into denial and desperation. The fact that Tails was right about Sonic did not change the fact that he also completely ignored anything that suggested otherwise. They had all agreed that would spend the night in Newfound Sanctuary before delivering the bad news to the Oak Clan. Prower Company were all emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. Hopefully a night's rest would help keep their emotions and tempers in check when the Oak Clan couldn't, but that was more grasping at straws than a calculated risk.
Tails carefully piloted the Pteropodidae to approach the city from the opposite direction of the Oak Clan dwellings and flew closer to the ground than normal, so none of the Seedrians would know they had returned before they were 'ready.' Tails radioed Newfound Sanctuary and got permission to land within the city limits and instructions on where to land in short order. The flight dispatcher had also notified Tails that the city had permanently reserved a rental home on his behalf as thanks for his aid in defending the city. Tails didn't argue because the structure had a landing pad attached to it and that meant they didn't need to do any traveling to get lodging.
Tails landed the plane and moved to help Cosmo down, "Hey, Cosmo? Could we talk for a minute?"
"Oh, certainly," Cosmo replied.
Nicole said nothing as Tails and Cosmo excused themselves and left her with the plane. Tails wasn't one to let someone do everything by themselves, but this was important and the Pteropodidae wouldn't need much post-flight maintenance until it took damage. A hatch on the landing pad led to the house below, connected with a ladder. Not knowing the layout of the building, Tails and Cosmo chose a room at random.
"Is something wrong, Miles?" Cosmo asked with concern.
"Yes," Tails said plainly, "I'm sorry about your people and your brother. If Nicole and I hadn't taken a rest day when we did, we might have been able to save them."
Cosmo stood in silence for a moment, completely stone-faced. Tails wondered if she was thinking about attacking him or if she was just making the perfect litany of curse words and insults for his mistake. Then she spoke, "Is that all?"
"Mostly?" Tails answered confused. Cosmo didn't even sound upset.
Cosmo took a step closer to Tails and hugged him, "That atrocity wasn't your fault."
Cosmo broke the hug but kept her hands on his arms as she looked him in the eyes, "You and Nicole worked largely by yourselves to save this whole city from an invading army. Don't mistake me, I'm furious, but I don't blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself."
Cosmo gave the Fox a smile as she let him go completely, "Now, what else do you hate yourself for that wasn't your fault?" She asked with a smirk
Tails snickered at how sincerely she had said that, "This one is one me actually. I knew the emissions from the Ultra-Go-On cells were dangerous to healthy plant life and I let you go out there to breath it all in."
"You did warn us all about that, and you had no way of knowing I was down there," Cosmo pointed out, "I think you're the only person who blames you for that."
Tails decided not to mention that one Seedrian woman who harassed him in the hospital over the matter. However, Cosmo did realize something about Tails' words, "Your plane uses Wisp energy?"
"So close, yet so far," Tails answered with a grin, "Hyper-Go-On is what the Wisps produce naturally. Ultra-Go-On is something I worked on with GUN and Wisp scientists. It is a carefully distilled, purified, and concentrated form of Hyper-Go-On Power that-"
Cosmo subconsciously tuned out Tails. She wasn't one to space out when another person was talking, but Tails was using more technical terms and jargon than she had previously believed existed for any one subject. The fact he was ranting about something she was nearly ignorant of did not help. Tails seeming to forget that he wasn't giving a lecture to an audience of grad students and other scientists, was all Cosmo needed to know that any clarification on this was going to be infinitely more complicated than the answers to her questions about Augmented Reality.
Tails eventually realized he was ranting again, "Er, what were we talking about again?"
"You were apologizing for things that weren't your fault," Cosmo reminded him, "If it means so much to you, I just need you to support me when we talk to the Elders."
"I don't mind that, but will it be necessary?" Tails asked, "Aren't we just going to tell them what happened?"
"Not just, I'm afraid," Cosmo replied, "And it's not going to be pleasant."
Cosmo didn't think she would get much sleep that night, but sleep came easily to Prower Company. They were all exhausted in body and mind, but their sleep was thankfully dreamless. Cosmo, at the very least, would probably eventually have nightmares about what she saw in Dreadnaught Plateau. At present, however, she was fully rested and as ready as she could be to deliver bad news to her Clan. Nicole, knowing that Seedrians were uncomfortable with advanced technology, opted to go check up on Marrow at the hospital.
While Miles and Cosmo were in no rush to get to the Oak Clan settlement, it was still a relatively short walk to get there. Not helping the situation was Cosmo's guilt over not being in touch with her family or Clan. Between exploring Grand Metropolis, meeting the GUN Commander, and preparing for Rail Canyon, Cosmo had simply forgotten. Now, not having seen or heard from her in days, the Oak Clan was going to learn that she and her friends weren't able to save everyone. That Apollo was among the lost only made it that much worse.
Cosmo was worried about how Miles was going to be received by the Oak Clan. He was such a nice person, but they were going to report something no one could take well. Despite their heart-to-heart last night, Cosmo suspected that Miles still blamed himself for what the Ultra-Go-On mist did to her. A lot of her people were going to blame Miles for the loss of life, both at first and forever, and Cosmo worried for her friend's feelings. Unfortunately, most of the Oak Clan were gathered on the boarder of Newfound Sanctuary and the Oak Clan settlement. Cosmo never thought the sight of everyone she knew and loved could cause so much dread.
Of course, the Elders were in the front. It was very rare that someone was elected as an Elder without being incredibly sharp, and the Elders' expressions were dropping like tons of bricks when they saw that Cosmo was not being accompanied by any other Seedrians. Any semblance of confidence in Cosmo and Miles was quickly fading.
"Cosmo," Her father started slowly, "Where is everyone else?"
"The captives were in very poor condition, so GUN is tending to them at the Eggman base until they're healthy enough for transport," Miles said.
While Cosmo knew he was stalling for time to figure out how to word his delivery, she also knew what he had said wasn't a lie. All of the Seedrians who hadn't been roboticized were put into induced comas and had been living off of the liquid nutrients in their tanks. They were incredibly poor substitutes for their actual needs, especially given that Eggman hadn't bothered to change the formulas for Seedrians and used formulas meant for Mobians. GUN was keeping them in induced comas until they were healthy enough to stand on their own power.
"So the rest of our Clan will be delivered to us soon?" Cosmo's mother asked.
"The survivors will be, yes," Miles replied.
Cosmo knew that was a slip of the tongue, as Miles was suddenly paralyzed by the realization of what he had said. Here goes nothing.
"Eggman executed some of the captives?" Terraminae asked, horrified, "What of Apollo?"
Cosmo spent several seconds trying to speak, but could not find her voice. So instead, Cosmo silently walked forward and handed her mother Apollo's broach. Cosmo's mother gripped the broach with both of her hands as tears started welling up in her eyes.
"What happened to him? Why is his Sprout Stone riddled with machina?" Cosmo's mother asked.
"It was converted into a Logic Crystal," Tails said, as though it explained anything, "Highly advanced computers and energy projectors. They can also serve as power sources and CPUs for more advanced constructs."
"You have answered my latter question, but not the former," Cosmo's mother spoke in a monotone voice that did not suit her, "What happened to my son."
"He, and many others, have all been roboticized," Tails answered bluntly. In the end, neither he nor Cosmo had managed to think of a tactful way to say it. So, they had to put it bluntly
Terraminae fainted. No one was expecting that, yet Cosmo was the first to rush to her. Cosmo not only got to her mother first, but got to her quickly enough to stop her from falling to the ground. Her father was next, having been standing next to his Other at the time.
Miles ran over, "Is there anything I can do?"
"How many were lost?" Lucas asked.
"We managed to save half of the captives before anything could be done to them," The Fox answered, "We even managed to shut down the facility before all of the roboticized Seedrians were activated."
"Can you heal them?" Galaxina asked, hope in her eyes.
Cosmo could not imagine what it must feel like to have to crush such desperate hope when you only wanted to help, "If it had just been the limbs and a few organs, and they were Human or Mobian, yes," Miles replied shamefully.
"So you would restore your own people, but not ours!?" Lucas demanded.
"We've had generations worth of study and practice on Humans and Mobians," Miles argued, "While I understand your peoples' apprehension towards most of mine, it also means that even our best geneticists and physicians would be ignorant on how to do anything past basic first aid. The only reason GUN and the Federation can help anyone at Rail Canyon is because someone enslaved by Eggman left behind detailed instructions on how to help them."
"That's not the only problem," Miles continued, "Eggman was installing so many implants into your people, that there's barely enough organic material left to tell who they were. About ten of the turned would survive the surgeries need to replace the cybernetics and getting their bodies to accept cloned or synthetic flesh and organs, and that's with generous rounding in your favor. Even then, we have little to no hope of figuring out how to make the chloroplast your bodies need to function. It is completely hopeless if your people have anything like Blood Types."
"I see," Lucas replied solemnly, "I apologize for jumping to conclusions."
"Don't apologize to him!" Elder Blackberry yelled, "That scum relied on his machina, like Eggman, and barely saved anyone! Why should we believe that our people are safe in the Federation's hands?"
Elder Blackberry was not done with his ranting, "How do we know that they aren't performing the same experiments on our people that Eggman was? He's already done most of the work, why wouldn't they just pick up where he left off? Easy shortcuts like that are what define these lazy tech abusing crooks."
"Enough!" Cosmo shouted, "Miles had done more for our Clan than the whole lot of you Elders put together. He has the honor to come here himself and admit his failings, and now you're trying to rally the people he has saved against him? And for what, meeting Eggman's edge with his own."
Whether Miles was too shy or polite to defend himself, Cosmo wasn't going to let this slander continue unopposed, "Eggman told us he was coming and wagered he could bring low the War Branch with just half of their number. Not only did that maniac beat us, but he also did it without inflicting a single casualty among our warriors. You have to hold back in order to not kill your opponent, and our forces outnumbered his."
Cosmo took a moment to calm down before continuing her defense of her friend, "He saved Newfound Sanctuary, broke those of us here out of Eggman's prison, and healed us all in a single day. Not you, nor anyone else, gets to blame him for Eggman's crimes just because he can't be everywhere at once."
"C-Cosmo," Miles' voice was so quiet, that Cosmo wasn't sure if she imagined it or not.
"Our traditions have guided us so far, but have proven to be useless against Eggman's cruelty. I have seen with my own eyes what he can do with our Sprout Stones. Even if we could tell him where to find the Conversion Prism, he would still hunt us all down just so we could be used to make weapons for him."
Finally, the dam broke, and tears were streaming from Cosmo's eyes, "I don't care what the rest of you think of it, but I'm leaving with Miles again to stop Eggman."
"Sister, no!" Galaxina yelled, "I'm as upset as you are, but you can't let vengeance dictate you."
"Vengeance has very little to do with my decision," Cosmo insisted, though she wasn't entirely sure how true that was, "He has singled out our whole race as a resource to be defiled and exploited! I'm not just leaving to avenge our brother and our Clan, I'm leaving to ensure our peoples' future doesn't revolve around hiding from this self-absorbed fat ass lunatic!"
An explosion from within Newfound Sanctuary interrupted the very loud and very public argument. Everyone whipped their heads from the direction that Miles and Cosmo had come from, to see a small pillar of smoke coming from the hospital, "Marrow!" The two young heroes yelled as they raced back into the city. If the blast hadn't come from a hospital or school, or suggest that a friend was in danger, Cosmo would have been glad for the excuse to escape this discussion.
AUTHOR'S NOTES-
We finally see Eggman in this story. He was in Cyberspace for a lot longer than Sonic was, Cyber Corruption not withstanding, so I think it makes since that he's hiding out to lick his wounds. Besides, the best part (for Eggman) about having access to the Ancients' advancements in programming and AI is that he can create android servitors for projects that require direct supervision without the risk of them revolting against him. I know naming an underwater city after Atlantis isn't very original, but Eggman's whole career is about stealing secrets from other cultures and using them to his own ends. The man even uses the same naming convention for nearly everything. Incomprehensible genius without even a modicum of creativity.
I haven't had the opportunity to deeply explore Sonic media outside of the games and a couple animated series, but a common flaw among most of the Sonic Cast is that they aren't the sort of people who would really know how to deal with emotions. I don't think any of them, except Eggman, are Sociopaths or Psychopaths, but Amy and Cream are the only mainline Sonic characters I can think of that of who are good with empathy. Even Cosmo, one of my favorite Sonic Characters, has this flaw. I know that she didn't really have time to grief or get therapy, but she focused so much on other peoples' wellbeing's that she neglected herself. The only time Cosmo only ever showed weakness involuntarily. So, I'm used Tails' confession to she maturity on his part. He had a total mental breakdown in Sonic Forces, only vented to his big bro after a lot of time dwelling on his own inadequacies in Sonic Frontiers, and (for the purposes of this story) double checked his own findings during TMoStH with a complete stranger (Barry). Between being more logically oriented and being very shy by nature, I think Tails would have more problems with dealing with his own emotions than a lot of characters, despite being super empathetic himself. Tails hasn't just become a capable hero, he's becoming more of an adult. He put aside his apologies and condolences until everyone had time to themselves to process it and calm down and he had the thought to speak to Cosmo in private so she could more freely express herself. Obviously, he isn't all the way there, but he's come a long way since Frontiers. I know him being unhelpful in Frontiers wasn't his fault, but you aren't going to convince me that Tails thinks otherwise.
I've said before in these Notes that Cosmo's relationship (both platonic and romantic) with Tails has nothing to do with why I like her character, but a lot of fan works I've seen heavily emphasis on that. I understand why, but I think it's unfair to reduce her to just being a love interest to another character. Cosmo is one of the strongest characters in fiction when come it emotions, but I'm hoping this story will help convey the other things I adore/admire about Cosmo. Here, she didn't just stand up to her family in Tails' defense, she stood up to the leaders of her Clan. She matched raised voices with her own and took advantage of the shock to shoot down every unfair criticism they threw at Tails. While that may not have been the most appropriate way to handle things, I don't think anyone would be emotionally stable so soon after what happened in Dreadnaught Plateau. Further more, Cosmo didn't rely on insults or using personal information. She found the strength to stand up to people she well knew and respected deeply because she believed they were in the wrong. Combat was never Cosmo's strong suit in Sonic X, but was a natural at comforting other people and looking out for them. One of the reasons she was so desperate to stop the Metarex was save others from what she had to suffer through. Here, she isn't just looking out for the Oak Clan, she's looking out for the Seedrian race as a whole. She can live with being an outcast to her Clan, so long as it means they're still alive.
