Nicole walked into Newfound Sanctuary General Hospital at a sedate pace. Moving too quickly could mislead people into thinking there was danger about. That aside, she wanted to give Cosmo and Miles all of the time they needed. Nicole believed her presence would only make things worse, so she opted to instead check in on Marrow. He had gotten hurt during the liberation of the Oak Clan, and she knew Miles would want to make sure he was recovering well before leaving. The sooner they got their other objectives completed, the sooner they could track down Eggman and stop him from doing anything else.
Walking up to the reception counter, Nicole saw that no nurses or clerks were behind the counter. Looking around, Nicole noted that no one else was in the lobby. Getting a bad feeling, Nicole hopped over the counter like it was a turnstile and operating the computer. No one bothered to lock the console and Nicole found what room Marrow was staying in without incident. Nicole jumped back over the counter and ran for the stairway.
Forgoing the actual stairs, Nicole used her hover jets to fly up to the fourth floor. The hover jets Miles designed were only as loud as footfalls when working properly, allowing Nicole to go unnoticed until she slammed open the door to the floor. The dark green Mechas in the hallway were caught completely by surprise as Nicole rushed them.
Nicole shoulder-decked the first Mecha into another, then proceeded to grab the third before it had a chance to react and threw it into the pile. The cyborg Lynx extended an arm towards the Mechas with her palm up. The center of her palm opened, revealing it to be a mechanical iris, as the bottom of her palm slid into itself like a shutter. A small rectangular barrel extended from Nicole's hand; her Dummy Ring Launcher primed.
The newly exposed lens in Nicole's hand was the targeting computer for her DRiLs and it was already calculating the most optimal firing solution. ENEMY COMBATENTS ARE AMASSED OVER A DAMAGED OXYGEN TANK. WINDOW PRESENSE CONFIMS TARGET AREA TO BE AT THE EDGE OF THE BUILDING: CHANCES OF CIVILIAN CAUSILTIES MINIMAL. ACCEPT SOLUTION? Nicole only needed a moment to ready her DRiLs and process the proposed solution and she liked it, Confirm.
A single Ring fired from Nicole's arm, and it hit its mark on the tank's leaking valve. The oxygen tank exploded immediately and heavily damaged all three Mechas. Nicole was confident the one at the bottom of the pile was destroyed, but she wasn't certain about the other two. She used her jets to reach the intersection where the tank detonated, arms extended out to her sides ready to fire Dummy Rings as needed. Nicole quickly saw that the left fork was empty and focused both DRiLs down the right fork, where the path to Marrow's room was blocked by four more Mechas.
Nicole set her DRiLs to use Five-Rings and charged as she opened fire. Thankfully, the Mechas hadn't realized they were fighting someone who could engage at range when the oxygen tank exploded. This let Nicole score multiple shots on each Mecha before they could ready their Whispons and return fire. Nicole set her hands back to 'Claw Mode' and used them to shred a door into one of the patient rooms for cover. Nicole was not surprised to see a nurse taking cover behind the patient bed. What the Lynx was not expecting was for the nurse's arm to turn into a machine gun and open fire at her.
Replicas were armed with bullet guns, likely because Hyper-Go-On batteries could be scanned for. While these comparatively inferior weapons did less damage to PSG's, they could fire at a much higher rate and were ultimately better for 'shield busting.' Nicole did her best to avoid the stream of bullets as she rushed the Replica. Shooting it was out of the question, as it could explode and kill the person in the bed. The Lynx grabbed the gun arm with one hand, cut it off with the other, and jammed the barrel into its skull. Nicole then forced the Replica to her side of the bed and used it as a shield as she charged through the door again.
The Replica's body soaked every shot fired at Nicole as charged the Mecha in the doorway. The Replica also served as a super-heated battering ram as Nicole crashed it into the Mecha. Nicole kicked the pair of robots away from the door before leasing a hail of Dummy Rings into the twosome. Nicole was surprised again as the Mecha exploded suddenly. She managed a single thought before she hit the wall Why are their shields so weak? Do they even have shields?
"Nicole!" Miles' voice sounded through Nicole's commlink, "What's happening?"
"Mechas have infiltrated the hospital and they're all on the fourth floor," Nicole reported, "Be careful you two, there are Replicas among the staff."
"Understood, have you secured Marrow?" Miles asked.
"No, and he's on the fourth floor," Nicole answered, "I think he might be the target."
Nicole's shield absorbed the blast, but she was dangerously low on Rings. Nicole bit her lip as she drained her DRiLs Ring Supply for her PSG. Survival was more important than landing shots and Nicole's objective now was to simply keep the Mechas in place long enough for backup to arrive.
This is bold, even for Eggman Tails thought to himself. The last time Eggman launched attacks in the same place so close together was when Mobius was in the palm of his hand. The level of subtly he was implementing was also unlike him. Either Eggman has gotten sick of brute force failing him all of the time, or Sage is directing this new assault. Both is bad news.
Tails could only assume the explosion was Nicole ruining Eggman's stealth operation, which was good. However, letting the whole city know it was under attack again had drawbacks. The people of Newfound Sanctuary immediately panicked, stopping their cars in the middle of the road or haphazardly parking them on sidewalks and anywhere else they could to abandon their vehicles. This wasn't a problem for Tails, but he couldn't risk leaving Cosmo behind. The people of this city believed that Eggman had initially attacked specifically for Cosmo, and Tails was inclined to agree with them given his newfound interest in Seedrians. That besides, they were rushing towards an unknown number of enemies. The more they could stick together, the better.
Tails lifted up Cosmo and flew them over a large-scale car accident in a major intersection but ran the rest of the way to the hospital. Dreadnaught Plateau was a reminder of how vulnerable Tails could be while flying with another person. Cosmo was also still getting used to holding onto Tails while he flew. She didn't have the experience or grip strength to hold onto Tails for long periods of time and she had no idea how to position herself to avoid enemy fire. For now, it was simply too much of a risk to fly Cosmo in the middle of a mission.
After several minutes of detours and parkour, Tails and Cosmo finally reached the hospital, "Be ready to hit anything that moves," Tails warned, "Nicole has seen some of Eggman's doppelgangers inside."
"Understood," Cosmo said. Tails knew Cosmo still had her earpiece on her and had heard Nicole's warning, but reminders were never a bad thing.
Tails hated it, but he had to let Cosmo take the lead. She was more familiar with the hospital than he was and knew exactly where Marrow was supposed to be. No one was expecting Eggman to attack the city again so soon, and Prower Company didn't think to recharge their PSGs. Between dozens of endangered non-combatants and Nicole on her own against an unknown number of enemies, going back to the Pteropodidae to recharge was out of the question. However, rushing recklessly would get them all killed. They were treading a tightrope while drunk and the safety net was on fire.
They could hear the fighting from the bottom of the stairway and had no idea who was winning. Not seeing any of Eggman's robots and quickly running out of time, Tails grabbed Cosmo's hands in his and flew up, "Here," Cosmo announced, and Tails set them both down at the fourth floor. Nicole had left very obvious dents in the metal door leading out of the stairway. Tails opened the door and paused before heading through it, waiting to see if anything shot the door.
It was clear that the fight was coming from their right, "We can circle around them and get to Marrow's room that much faster."
Tails nodded and followed Cosmo. It was common practice to purposefully write down the wrong room on records whenever law enforcement or anyone in office was admitted to a hospital. Marrow, having been put into an induced coma, meant he had to be in the hospital's Coma Ward. While the staff could easily put down the wrong room number, Marrow still had to be on this floor. Thankfully, it appeared that Eggman's robots had started their search on the wrong side of the building.
Rounding the corner, Tails and Cosmo could see people in medical scrubs wheeling a hospital bed towards the windows. Between Marrow being unconscious on the bed, the 'nurses' showing no fear or panic, and the fact they were heading towards the sounds of gun fire, all meant these were Replicas. Luck was on their side, as they were facing away from the pair of heroes and gunfire easily covered their running. The Replicas had no hope of defending themselves as they were attacked from behind and destroyed. Tails and Cosmo wheeled Marrow back into his room and continued with their flanking maneuver.
"ESCORT SQUADRAN DESTROYED; ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVED. RETREATING," One of the Mechas called out.
Tails and Cosmo rounded the corn in time to see a pair of dark green Mechas fly out of the windows. Tails noted that their jets produced much less light and noise than the brown ones from they faced on Angletic Island. Tails put that observation aside and hurriedly looked for Nicole. This hallway was wrecked by the fighting; walls were broken open and scorched, the floor had become severely cracked and uneven, and several doors were either completely taken off their hinges or barely hanging onto them. Pieces of desks, chairs, and counters were scattered all throughout the battle zone and lights were flickering, but Tails froze as his eyes locked onto scraps of fabric that definitely came from Nicole's dress. The damned things had gotten through her shields.
"Nicole!" Tails called out.
"Room four-o-seven!" Nicole's voice called back.
Tails rushed into the room without hesitation. Evidently, this room was without a patient, as Nicole had turned over the medical bed and was using it as cover. She was already standing and had started towards the door, giving Tails a full view of the damage. It was largely superficial, small patches of her dress had been torn in several places; her shell being exposed in most. She would be bleeding out rapidly if she was wholly organic, but Nicole didn't seem phased by the tears in her fake flesh. It appeared Nicole had taken a few glancing shots from Whispons and bullet guns, but she had taken a direct hit to her right shoulder. Part of Nicole's skull had been exposed around one eye, but the metal wasn't even dented and the cybernetic eye was still in one piece. Tails was confident he could repair the damage without replacing anything, but he was going to examine the damage more thoroughly later.
"By the All Mother!" Cosmo exclaimed from behind.
Oh right, I'm the only one who knows how much of Nicole is synthetic. Tails turned around to see Cosmo's horrified expression, but pretended not to notice, "Okay ladies, we need to work on evacuating this floor."
"Even with just one arm, I should have enough strength to help you lower beds down the stairway," Nicole commented, "Provided you got the other side."
"Sounds like a plan," Tails nodded, "Lets start with Marrow, we know he's their main target and the sooner we get him to one of the bunkers, the better."
Cosmo stepped aside to let Tails and Nicole out, but was still shaking, "Just how much of you is machine?"
"Over seventy percent of my body, including parts of my brain," Nicole said as she gestured for Cosmo to follow her and Tails.
"We know I was put into a roboticizor during the war and that it was interrupted by one of the few successful GUN operations, but we're not sure if I was a political prison or someone used as an example," Nicole continued.
Tails led Nicole and Cosmo into Marrow's room and started checking the bed and supporting equipment, "She managed to get away during the chaos and spent the rest of the war and the next two years hiding out in the grasslands between Apotos and Spagonia, fighting between orders from the Eggnet and her own will."
"It looks like the Replicas prepared the bed for transport properly," Tails said to himself before continuing, "The Restoration got reported sightings of 'Robians' but were too busy rebuilding and making shelters for people to check into it. They forwarded the sightings to Sonic who in turn told me about it."
Nicole took the front end of the bed while Tails got the back, "I didn't know anything about mechanics at the time and I didn't get any maintenance gear during my escape. My mechanical parts were rusted out and I'll spare you the details about my organic parts."
"I'm so sorry Nicole," Cosmo said, "It's a miracle that you're still alive."
"You can thank Dr. Prower for that," Nicole replied, "I was in too poor of a condition to be taken to a hospital and Miles is the only person other than Dr. Robotnik smart enough to make and repair cybernetics of that level."
"I had to modify her cybernetics to return total control of herself," Tails said with shame, "I messed up though."
Nicole stopped dead in her tracks, "If you couldn't perfectly remove the cerebral implants, I doubt anyone else could."
Nicole tilted her head to look past Tails and at Cosmo, "The implants in my brain had to be taken out to make sure they didn't self-destruct, but most of my memories from my past life were lost as a consequence."
"You don't know who you were?" Cosmo asked.
Nicole kicked the doors to the stairway off of its hinges, likely taking out her frustration on them, "I have roughly five days' worth of memory from before I was roboticized, and what I have left is entirely because of Dr. Prower's skill."
The cyborg Lynx turned back around to pull Marrow's medical bed and lifted, "He took me back to one of his laboratories, personally made me new cybernetics and installed them, just so I could say no part of me was Eggman tech."
"Are you really okay with telling me all of this?" Cosmo asked as she followed her friends into the stairway, "We barely know each other, and this is extremely personal."
"I said that I would tell all if you decided to keep traveling with us," Nicole replied as her jets started up, "If you were the kind of person to come with us to Rail Canyon, there was no way you weren't going to come with us after seeing what Robotnik did to your people."
Cosmo nodded in understanding, "I'll go ahead of you two and make sure the way is clear."
Cosmo rushed down the stairs as Tails and Nicole slowly lowered Marrow down to the bottom. They had no way of knowing how bad Marrow's condition was, but just him not being conscious was enough reason to go slow. The doctors in the hospital for the city Marrow lived in keeping him in an induced coma was enough reason to make Sonic slow down, if he was here.
As they lowered the medical bed down to the ground floor, Tails couldn't help but wonder why Nicole left out certain parts of her story. Especially since she included the surgical amnesia and partial roboticization. Tails thought that was much more personal and sensitive than everything else, but he wasn't going to go behind Nicole's back and tell people things she didn't want to share.
Marrow and the other coma patients were escorted to the underground bunkers without incident. An investigation revealed that the Replicas had taken overtime on behalf of the people they were impersonating. The people who were supposed to be on the fourth floor got the day off and the Replicas were able to incapacitate workers in key locations to maintain their cover and let in the Mechas. There wasn't a single casualty in this incident.
However, Prower Company agreed that it was best for someone to keep watch over Marrow until he was awake. The hospital had several other law enforcers who were injured in Eggman's first attack on New Sanctuary, but Marrow was the only one Eggman went after. Miles quickly came to the assumption that Marrow's control over his bones made him a target, and no one could think of a better reason. If it was because he was a SWAT Captain, the Replicas would have simply killed him. Eggman wanted him alive for something. Cosmo didn't like it, but she was afraid they were going to have to force him to come with them. If Eggman found out that Marrow had a family, two of his children would become targets for whatever he wanted Marrow for.
Marrow had been awake for two hours at this point, and Cosmo still hadn't even told him he had nearly gotten kidnapped by Eggman robots. Him being a family friend only made it that much harder. Cosmo would have normally gone to her parents for advice, but she was certain she had burned that bridge. Miles was away working on repairing Nicole's body and assuring the people of New Sanctuary that they were safe. Even if they weren't busy, Cosmo doubted they would had any advice to give.
"Hey, Rosebud?" Marrow's voice brought Cosmo out of her thoughts, "You okay? Ya look like your'a thoosand miles away."
"I've been better," Cosmo admitted, knowing Marrow would know if she lied, "There's something we need to talk about and I'm having difficulty finding the words."
"Ah take it has somethin' ta do with me wakin' up onderground instead of the hospital," Marrow surmised.
Cosmo nodded solemnly, "A lot of terrible things have happened while you were unconscious, the latest of which concerns you directly."
"What, did Eggy come to kill me?" Marrow asked.
"No, he came to take you," Cosmo said, "He wants you alive."
"Ah see," Marrow said, "What about Angus and Maisie?"
"They're fine, but we don't think Eggman knows they exist," Cosmo said, not being able to look him in the eyes.
They were both silent for several moments before Marrow spoke again, "Ya think it's because of my bones."
"You were the only person targeted and they had plenty of opportunity to murder you," Cosmo elaborated, "I'm sorry Marrow, but there's no other reason he would want you alive and we're doing our best to keep him from finding out about your children."
"Well then, Ah'm going to have to talk width Miles then," Marrow stated, "If I have ta be away from my wife 'nd kids, then it's gonna be crackin' eggs!"
Cosmo looked up at him in shock. She was not expecting him to be so easily swayed, she certainly wasn't expecting him to offer to come along like this, "Really?"
"Aye," Marrow replied, "Ah'm a cop, Cossy. Everyday I leave mah house is a day Ah might not come back."
Marrow stood up and cracked his knuckles, "Stayin' with meh kin while Ah'm bein' hoonted just poots'em in danger. Ah'll save that manky bastart the trouble and come to him!"
Cosmo started chuckling, "I was really overthinking this, huh?"
"That you were, lass," Marrow agreed, "Ah know you already have a lot on yer hands because of Eggman, but it'll be easier bein' away from my family if I know you're lookin' after them."
Marrow's request reminded Cosmo that he had no idea she was also leaving with Miles and Nicole. He was equally ignorant of what happened at Dreadnaught Plateau and the argument she had with her family before leaving to save him. Cosmo didn't want to admit it, but one of the reasons she volunteered to stay with Marrow was to hide from her family. She didn't want to talk to them again until it was too late for them to make her change her mind. If they didn't want to talk to her through Miles' com-links, she'd manage.
"Cosmo? Are you in here?" Galaxina's voice called.
Shit Cosmo thought. With everything else going on, she hadn't thought to ask Miles and Nicole not to tell her people where she was. Cosmo wouldn't be surprised if Miles had gone out of his way to tell them so they wouldn't worry about her, and why wouldn't he? Miles wasn't a mind reader, and she hadn't left Marrow's side since they rescued him. Cosmo wouldn't have had the chance to tell her family where she was even if she had wanted to.
Emotions were running too high for Cosmo to really notice it before, but Galaxina and the rest of the Oak Clan looked like the attack had never happened. No one's skin was wrinkled or pale from lack of water and sunlight, they could finally replace their dirty and decaying clothing with fresh sets, their grassy hair no longer looked like they'd fall away to dust at a touch, and Galaxina even had her belt back.
Cosmo's sister looked exactly the way she did before the attack, complete with her blue, white, and yellow coat. What was alien to Cosmo, was the look of concern in Galaxina's eyes. Being the first born to two of the Oak Clan's Elders forced Galaxina to learn leadership skills at a very young age, and she had always been a positive person that helped uplift others and helped them through difficult times. Even during their imprisonment, Galaxina did her best to keep their people from falling into despair. Between Galaxina's neutral expression and intuition born from being raised with her, Cosmo knew that something had happened that Galaxina didn't like but wasn't necessarily bad.
"Oh, Marrow! I didn't know you were awake," Galaxina stated as she entered the room.
"Aye, just got up not too long ago," Marrow stated with a smile, "The medics want to keep'n eye on me over night, but are confident Ah'll be good to leave by mornin',"
Galaxina nodded, "Good, I'm glad no harm came to you."
Galaxina then turned to her younger sister with the same empty expression, "Cosmo, the Elders held an emergency Summit over your proclamation and are largely in agreement with you."
"What?" Both Cosmo and Marrow asked.
"All but one Elder supports your desire to leave to fight Eggman, including our parents," Galaxina stated. So this is what Galaxina didn't like Cosmo deduced I suppose she wouldn't be a good big sister if she did.
"Furthermore, those in support of you believe it is for the best," Galaxina stated, "We were still recovering from our imprisonment while you rushed with Miles Prower to save the members of the Oak Clan Eggman had taken. Other Clans are clearly in danger from Eggman, and you are the only one of us who have meet success in opposing Eggman."
"S-so I'm not exiled?" Cosmo asked. She was certain she was going to be branded a traitor for leaving while the Oak Clan was in such dire straits.
"Quite the opposite," Galaxina replied with a smirk that fell away almost as soon as it came, "You have been chosen by the Oak Clan's Elder Council to represent us in this new war. Your objectives are to ensure the wellbeing of as many of the other Seedrian Clans as possible and to put an end to Eggman's machinations against our race."
Galaxina withdrew something from her coat as she approached Cosmo. Cosmo stared at the item for a moment as her sister presented it to her. It was a Black Laurel Crown, something she had only heard of in song. It was only to be donned by a champion in times of crisis. Of all of the people in the Oak Clan, the Elders had chosen a clumsy and reticent girl barely in adulthood.
"I was only out for a couple of days!" Marrow exclaimed, bringing the pair of sisters out of the tense moment, "You're tellin' me that Rosebud went off with that Fox boy on a great big adventure and you're sendin' her off again!?"
"Did you really not tell him?" Galaxina asked incredulously.
"I was too busy trying to figure out how to convince him to leave his family for their own protection," Cosmo defended, her checks turning lime-green, "It slipped my mind."
Galaxina tittered to herself, "Well, at least we can tell the Elders your new position won't go to your head."
Cosmo took the Laurel Crown from her sister and placed on her head like a circlet, placing it over hair on her forehead for all to see. Cosmo then immediately covered her face in her hands as both Galaxina and Marrow were laughing at her embarrassment. The new representative of the Oak Clan went from being afraid she would never see her people again, to not being able to get away from them fast enough.
AUTHOR'S NOTES-
This Chapter starts off with Nicole showing off some of the upgrades she didn't get to use in Dreadnaught Plateau. She couldn't use them to their full potential due to circumstances, but the fact she kept anyone else from being taken or injured makes it a mission success. This will be brought soon, but the dark green Mecha Sonics were made for urban stealth. Eggman wasn't able to use as much tech for these Mechas to keep them from being picked up by the various sensors and radars, it's also why the Replica Units are so fragile. Amazing for hit-and-runs and assassinations, but aren't strong enough to even be glass cannons in open confrontation. The dark color helps them to blend in with the night sky and unlit areas.
In the Tails POV, we finally learn Nicole's tragic backstory. I'm sure it was obvious to most readers by this point that she was a victim of roboticization, but a lot of traumatic things happened in quick succession for Cosmo and she didn't really think about it. Unlike what happened to Bunnie Rabbot, Nicole's body parts were transmuted into robot parts. If Sonic Lost World is anything to go by, roboticization is more like cybernetic conversion from System Shock or the Servitors from Warhammer: 40K. It's still horrible and most people wouldn't have survived, but Tails knows enough about Eggman to save anyone who hasn't been completely turned. The only thing you can do for someone who has been through the whole procedure is to put them out of their misery.
I seriously considered having Comso be branded as a traitor and exiled by her Clan. Not for leaving for Dreadnaught Plateau, but leaving after that. The Oak Clan is down to ~75% of the population it did have and she's really the only one of them who have successfully fought off Eggman. No one could really blame them for despising Cosmo over leaving when the Clan wasn't in danger. Then, it occurred to me that they were still in danger. They know Eggman is after Seedrians and he is as tenacious as he is fat and smart. He wasn't going to leave them alone just because they got away once. Even if he did, the rest of their race is still being targeted by Eggman and the Oak Clan is the only Seedrian Clan that goes out of their way to maintain good relations with the sapient fauna of Mobius. If Eggman finds them, the other Clans are screwed. Even if the Oak Clan Elders didn't care about the other Clans, saving them still helps them in the long run because it will stop Eggman's schemes. The one Elder who was opposed to Cosmo leaving wanted to give the Black Laurel Crown to Tails specifically, that Elder believed it was wrong to make Cosmo fight when she hadn't had the chance to grieve over her brother and the other people who died at Dreadnaught Plateau.
Rereading this story through the site itself made me realize that the Chapters were not as long as I thought they were. That isn't always a bad thing, but I'm trying to make interpersonal relationships a focus of this story. So, from here on out, I'm extending the Chapter lengths. This will largely be so that Chapters aren't always just either action or slice-of-life, and the ones that end up that way will have more substance to them. I actually wanted another major thing to happen in this Chapter, but felt the Cosmo POV section was getting too long. I couldn't justify shortening it to myself because I didn't feel like that would fit Cosmo very well. One of the most endearing things about her is her willingness to do everything she can for her friends without bothering them, so that logically leads to overthinking things. We all overthink things when dealing with our loved ones, that would have taken a lot longer if Marrow wasn't so blithe and observant. You don't become a SWAT officer by being a dumb thug, and Marrow knows Cosmo well enough to read her pretty well.