Chapter Forty-Three: We're Made Of Broken Things
Black Thorn stood in silence in her quarters. Her arms crossed against her chest with her metallic hands wrapped around the flesh of her elbows. She had to keep reminding herself to release some of the tightness of her grip, lest she accidentally tear open her skin in the midst of her tension. Such an accident would certainly damage her credibility. A hit she couldn't afford on the best of days.
And certainly not one she could risk when she was trying to focus on the news from Silver Fir that the Metarex had lost Sonic the Hedgehog to his friends once more.
Black Thorn held herself silent while Silver Fir made his excuses. Meanwhile, her mind reeled. No, the capture and use of Sonic the Hedgehog had not been vital to her plans. It had been masterminded by Silver Fir with the endorsement of Shining Birch. She had trusted their call. Certainly, it couldn't hurt to pull Sonic from the heroes' end of the battlefield. The loss of such an asset now should mean nothing, not when he wasn't originally part of their plan. Not to mention it would take time for Sonic to recover; he wouldn't be a threat to the Metarex for a good long while.
And yet…
She gritted her teeth behind closed lips to hide any of her discomfort from Silver Fir as he relayed his message. She focused her attention on enforcing Silver Fir's failure. At least, until she learned this wasn't the first failure of her most senior of Metarex.
"Rusted Maple fell?" Black Thorn furrowed her brow.
Silver Fir waved his hand almost dismissively. Black Thorn's grip on her elbows tightened, sending her dangerously closer to breaking her skin. But she tightened her jaw and held her tongue While she waited for Silver Fir to dig his own grave.
"Rusted Maple was foolish and prone to reckless experimentation," Silver Fir explained. "Shining Birch has directed our ships to join forces, if it pleases you."
It took Black Thorn effort not to react to Silver Fir's afterthought of a comment.
"We were, after all, the most successful of your forces, Black Thorn," he continued. He either entirely missed the growing tension in Black Thorn's expression or he was choosing not to acknowledge it. "We would like to propose myself and Green Fichus to fall under Shining Birch's command, with Shining Birch continuing to report up through you, of course."
It sounded like a perfectly reasonable request. A sensible one even. But when such a request came through Silver Fir, it gave Black Thorn pause. She was well aware of the Metarex's cleverness, his ability to manipulate his victims. It was why she'd placed him under the command of Shining Birch in the first place: a degree of separation.
"And what is your intention behind such a plan?" Black Thorn said slowly, measuredly, feigning patience while her heart raced in her chest.
Silver Fir pressed a clawed hand to his chest. Bowed slightly. "The destruction of that cursed crew, at long last."
-X-X-X-
Amy's View
By the time Amy reached C2 and Angel's coordinates at the base of the towering hill, her lungs burned like fire and her limbs felt less than solid. Shadow waited there with the girls as well, tense with his own impatience. Amy scrambled to a stop, collapsing against the trunk of an ashy tree in an attempt to keep herself on her feet. All eyes landed on her when she crashed to a stop. Though because her whole head felt like it was underwater, there remained no space for Amy's own self-consciousness.
Amy yearned for this day to be over, for the struggles before them to instead be in the past as nothing more than the memories of a hard day. For now, though, this was their present. The future outcome was unknown.
They would either save Cosmo.
Or they wouldn't.
"Please tell me there's a plan" Amy gasped, even as her watery eyes struggled to focus on either C2 or Angel.
"A plan, yeah," Angel agreed. "A good one? Er…"
Amy scoffed despite herself. Angel's words sounded enough like something Sonic would say, and the lightness of the thought gave Amy strength enough to stand a little straighter.
There was a crunch of foliage behind them. Amy spun—albeit unsteadily—toward the sound in time to see Tails and Knuckles emerge from the dead and thorny brush. Amy did a double-take. Maybe it was just her sliding, exhausted thoughts. But no, Tails was no longer wearing a sling and his hand and arm were no longer bandaged.
Angel put two-and-two together mere seconds before Amy did. "Nova didn't," Angel gasped.
"She said it was what she wanted to do," Tails said. The tips of his ears pressed down as his shoulders raised. But he forced his eyes up to meet those of his friends around him. "We have to trust her choice. In the meantime, Cream will take care of her."
On instinct, Amy's head snapped toward Shadow to check the reaction on his face. And while she saw tension in his features, she didn't see surprise. Maybe Shadow knew Nova had been planning something like this. Or maybe he just knew Nova well enough to expect such dangerous self-sacrifice from her.
"We cannot risk waiting any longer," C2 interrupted, stepping forward. She twirled the handle of her hammer in the palm of her hand. "If the Metarex haven't already realized they've lost control of Sonic, they will soon, and then they'll realize they have no use for Cosmo."
Amy straightened. The dose of reality poured over her like ice water.
C2 continued, "Shining Birch is injured from our last encounter but we don't know what Metarex might await on the other craft."
"Something tough enough to hurt Sonic," Amy muttered. "And as long as Sonic's unconscious, we won't know more than that."
Angel winced. But then she shook out her blue-streaked hair and rolled her shoulders back. "Which is why C2 and I agreed before you all got here that the majority of us need to go after Cosmo. In the meantime, Shadow and I will track down Shining Birch."
Angel's eyes cut over to Shadow, and Amy followed her gaze. Shadow dipped his head slightly in agreement.
"You don't think it'll be that simple, do you?" Knuckles snapped suddenly. Amy jumped at the sound. "It's not like it's as easy as getting on board the right ship. If more than one ship is here, wouldn't that mean they're collaborating?"
Tails's ears perked up at the suggestion. Then his brow furrowed with thought. Amy looked between the two of them. What Knuckles said made a lot of sense, clearly, or else Tails wouldn't have reacted as he did. "Knuckles, keep talking," she said quickly.
Knuckles blinked. Clearly, he hadn't expected encouragement. So he then apparently decided it wasn't encouragement at all. "I'm serious!" he grumbled. "It's not like Metarex get assigned a ship and can't leave."
"Especially if Shining Birch is injured," Tails agreed thoughtfully. "He's probably looking for backup since we destroyed Rusted Maple."
"So we go in together," C2 amended. "And we don't let the Metarex generals distract us from finding Cosmo. If we need to split off so the rest can continue on ahead, so be it. But we certainly can't afford to waste any more time."
Amy lifted her own hammer in mirror of C2. In mirror of her daughter. And together they would cut the last thread that tied her to a mortal existence.
-X-X-X-
Angel's View
This time, there was no way to even pretend that their invasion of the Metarex camp was anything approaching subtle. This time, they didn't hide behind the apex of the hill but instead crested it at full sprint. The lesser Metarex at the base of the hill didn't look up until the six of them were practically on top of the Metarex. And by then, the Metarex didn't stand a chance.
Angel's mind was almost not awake. Her consciousness flipped off while the rest of her instincts clicked on. She charged and released magic more on reaction than strategy. She twisted around Knuckles's fists, Shadow's Chaos Spear, and Amy's and C2's hammers, though Angel couldn't quite tell one from another.
Next thing she knew, they stood in a debris field.
Only Amy looked the worse for wear, but not due to any apparent injury, at least. As the crew started moving again, Angel fell into step beside Amy. "Are you okay? Did Sonic hurt you?" she asked.
Despite the sweat beading on Amy's brow, she offered Angel a brief sideways smirk. "You know your dad; his blows still pack a punch, even with the Metarex in his head."
Angel tried to offer Amy a smirk in kind, though it hurt her heart to do so. Even with Angel's existence no longer an option, it still stung Angel with guilt to hear Amy refer to Sonic as 'her dad.' Almost like it built a divide between her and Amy.
"That doesn't really answer my question," Angel pushed gently.
Amy hummed affirmatively, shifting her focus ahead of them. Even with her eyes on the path ahead, her shoulder still clipped the doorway into the Metarex craft, and she stumbled toward Angel, who caught Amy's opposite shoulder before she fully lost her balance.
"Thanks," Amy murmured. She slowed up just a bit, and Angel matched Amy's speed beside her. "I'm…less than my best. But I'm okay."
Angel's lips twisted into a frown. She could see how Amy was moving a little less than straight ahead, as much as she tried to hide it. Maybe Amy was offering a brave face but as far as Angel could tell, there was less left in Amy's tank than she wanted to let on.
As much as Angel, even now, wanted to be like her father, always dashing into danger to save those who needed her, that meant she also needed to pay attention to those around her who might not realize it was time to save themselves.
"If you're sure," Angel said. "Though when you need to tag out, do it, or else we'll need to figure out how to save you too."
Shadow and Knuckles led the way through the hallways of the Metarex craft, blasting through the lesser Metarex that crossed their path. And yet no sirens blasted warning that the Metarex were being invaded. Did the Metarex generals not realize it yet?
Or was the trap the Metarex set with Sonic actually a double-trap?
-X-X-X-
Tails's View
Tails's arms pumped at his sides. What had been his injured hand held on tight to the Chaos Emerald that before Nova used to fuel her magic. He'd hated to take it from her when her magic was wiped, but she insisted.
Unworthy, unworthy. The single word pulsed through Tails's thoughts in time with his racing heartbeat. He did his best to brush the shaming refrain away. Self-pity wouldn't get them anywhere.
"Behind us!" Angel cried.
Tails heard the sizzle of Angel's magic. He skidded to a stop, grabbing the wall beside him to slow him down. Amy stumbled into Tails from behind. He slammed them both against the wall to keep them upright. He didn't have time to ask if she was okay. Even while he saw her expression smarting, she spun back around, raising her hammer.
Tails looked past her. He raised the Chaos Emerald in front of him like it was a weapon. A shield? He had no plan. He had no trust of himself. Did he still know how to use the Chaos Emeralds after the fake Chaos Emeralds had fueled him so completely? Tails was shaking. Maybe it was just because Amy had collided with him.
Focus. Focus. Tails struggled to see past the swing of Amy's hammer and the flash of Angel's magic. There wasn't space for more. Tails spun back forward. All he could see was the swing of Knuckles's fists and the flash of Shadow's Chaos Spear.
Tails twisted toward C2 beside him. She raised her hammer high. She looked ready to swing. But like Tails, she too apparently saw no space to enter the fight in such a narrow hallway.
Claustrophobia choked Tails. This wasn't a good position. It wasn't defensible. This was a place to get trapped.
"They're cornering us!" C2 snapped at him.
Tails saw it as she said it. Understood the meaning of the walls of lesser Metarex here after the sad brief show outside. It had been intentional. What if Sonic wasn't the trap?
What if Sonic had been meant as bait?
"Tails, wake UP!" Tails winced himself out of his panic at C2's command. He focused his eyes on C2. "C'mon, use that brain of yours!"
His eyes snapped to either side of them, to the combatants and his friends warring against them in the limited space they had. What could he do what could he do?
Then, he realized there was still one direction to go.
"C2, can you fly?"
C2 followed Tails's gaze upward to the high ceiling and all the space it offered above the battle. She nodded once. "Well enough. What's the plan?"
"You're right, they're wasting our time," Tails said quickly. He tucked the Chaos Emerald he was holding back into hiding, lest he lost it in the sea of Metarex while flying overhead. "We need to get out and get to Cosmo before they run down the clock. But—"
Tails paused. Hesitated. Because even if the hall was too small, abandoning his friends felt…
"Are you kidding?" Knuckles roared, throwing his fist into the silver plating of yet another lesser Metarex. "Go!"
C2 wasted no more time. She twirled her twin tails behind her, and a moment later, climbed through the air. Tails hesitated only a second more, heart squeezing painfully in his chest, before he followed.
Unworthy, unworthy, unworthy. His strangled heart still pumped that one singular thought through him as he abandoned his friends. Even though he knew it was the right thing to do. Even though he knew he couldn't risk Cosmo's life by wasting his time wrestling with his own twisted guilt.
Tails and C2 landed just beyond the stretch of lesser Metarex. Though land was an imprecise word. Tails landed solidly on his feet. C2's strength vanished a foot above the ground and she fell the rest of the way to the floor. But she growled under her breath and dragged herself back upright before Tails could even ask if she was okay. C2's hammer was back in her hand by the time her feet were beneath her. C2 kicked herself into a sprint and Tails did the same. He yanked the Chaos Emerald back into his hand.
Unworthy, unworthy, unworthy, his heartbeat pounded.
But the Chaos Emerald didn't keep the beat. The glow burned steadily in his palm, brightening and fading ever so slightly with the ease of a deep breath. He wondered how it didn't reinforce the voice inside him, where too resided his own Chaos Energy. Shouldn't the Chaos Emerald feel the disturbance? After all, his falling to the fake Chaos Emeralds was why he felt this way. The Chaos Emerald, however, warmed his hand all the same.
C2 led the way through one hallway, then the next. Like she knew exactly where to go, or at least had a very reasonable guess. Time Whisperer, Tails reminded himself. Maybe not right now but Tails could only imagine how many versions of Metarex ships in multiple timelines C2 had seen.
Then, without warning, C2 skidded to a stop in front of a massive doorway where the doors had been slid open even before they reached them. Tails halted a heartbeat later to stare into the room beside her.
A wide floor stretched out in front of them, like a portion of the massive Metarex craft had been left as a flexible space. And right now, that massive space included two smaller ones side by side. Each boasted three cold walls and a ceiling, with no fourth wall at the front. Instead, at the space where such a fourth wall would logically exist was just a strip of metal at the end of where the wall would connect. And on the floor of each of those too small spaces was a single thin mattress. "Was this…?" Tails breathed but found he couldn't finish the thought, couldn't dare give it voice.
"I think so," C2 agreed anyway. She held her hammer a little higher and crept over the threshold into the room.
"But then where's Cosmo?" Tails said, following C2.
C2 glanced back at him like she intended to reply. But then her eyes went suddenly wide. "No!"
Tails spun on the spot. In time to see those wide-open doors behind them slam closed.
"You continue to be abysmally easy to predict."
Dread descended on Tails's heart. His limbs threatened to freeze but he pushed through it to turn toward the metallic voice. Until his eyes landed on the slender silver Metarex general, Silver Fir, on the other end of the room.
With a single sharp finger pressed beneath Cosmo's chin.
Tails's body tried to bolt forward in shock but his shoes remained glued to the floor. Like at least some part of him realized the stakes before his mind caught up. C2 held similarly still beside him but he was only barely aware of C2 at all.
He only had eyes for Cosmo.
A blue bruise going yellow and green at its edges blossomed around one of Cosmo's eyes, like it was a wound she had received some time ago. Even with the threatening hand of Silver Fir pressed against her face, she stared steadily at Tails. Just as he stared steadily at her. Like the universe could be ending around them—and almost certainly was—but they were clinging to this tiny shadow of peace in-between.
Then, Cosmo's eyes narrowed, flicking to one side for a heartbeat. Even that tiny movement was enough to wake Tails up again, remind him where they stood. Reminded him of the hand of Silver Fir beneath Cosmo's chin and C2 standing frozen with her hammer only a few feet in front of him. Not to mention the prison where Sonic and Cosmo had been held prisoner of the Metarex for weeks.
That was why Cosmo was using her limited ability to communicate to flick her eyes toward that prison, Tails realized. She was asking about Sonic. Tails twitched his head slowly downward in the most modest nod he could manage. He's alive.
"Truly, nothing to say?" Silver Fir said suddenly. Tails's shoulders jumped at the sound of the Metarex's voice, the reminder that Silver Fir was not an inanimate robot but a literal living thing choosing to be a monster. "I find it hard to believe you are the ones Blue Seed calls allies. He never seems to know when to keep his mouth shut."
Tails's stomach roiled with acid. Silver Fir spoke like this was all a game. Was that still all this was to the Metarex? Time was one wrong turn from falling to pieces for nothing more than entertainment? But Tails couldn't risk saying anything in reply. One wrong word or one wrong twitch and without thinking, Silver Fir could snap Cosmo's neck.
Silver Fir tutted, sliding a single slender finger against Cosmo's chin. She winced at the touch. "A pity," Silver Fir continued in absence of a conversation partner. "I would have hoped more from the child who damaged Shining Birch."
C2 scoffed, uncharacteristically breaking her silence. "Very pointedly ignoring a timeline where Tails fully destroyed Shining Birch is a choice. The same one where you yourself were defeated by the use of a mere three Chaos Emeralds. Very tactical of you, General."
Silver Fir's finger stilled in its path across Cosmo's skin. "A timeline that never occurred, child, though I do so know how mixed up Time Whisperers are prone to become as they frolic through the affairs of the mortals that must pick up the shattered remains Time Whisperers love to leave behind."
C2 bristled. It was a fraction of a movement, a twitch of her tails but since Tails too shared that mutation, it was an easy tell for him to notice. Especially from someone like C2 who so rarely flinched.
Tails remembered how Sonic had briefly described Silver Fir in a rare moment when he described his experience imprisoned by the Metarex during the Changed War. Like C2 had alluded to a moment ago, Silver Fir was a master tactician. The Metarex was smaller than other generals to appear like he was less than he actually was. And if there was a single Metarex Sonic had ever feared, it was Silver Fir.
Tails didn't dare move. Didn't bristle, didn't speak. This wasn't a fight. This was a game of chess.
And Tails and C2 were already in check.
-X-X-X-
Amy's View
Amy had been a fighter long enough to know 'mind over matter' wasn't just a clever alliteration but critical advice in a battle. Her legs quaked beneath her and her arms could hardly throw force into each swing of her hammer. But she was still standing because her mind knew better than to fall.
Knuckles shoved his way through one line of Metarex and Amy cleaned up the strays he left behind. Shadow and Angel operated similarly, pushing through the opposite direction. Surely one of them would reach an end to their line. Then they'd be able to help Tails and C2 find Cosmo.
Knuckles roared with a vigor Amy couldn't even imagine ever having again in her own body. He threw himself into each lesser Metarex like it was the first. Meanwhile Amy's vision slid and swam like the entire world was waterlogged. But she knew she couldn't stop. She stumbled forward and swung her hammer with all the force she could muster. On and on, endlessly; life was nothing more than movement.
Until it wasn't.
The line of Metarex forces ended abruptly. Knuckles spun on the spot and snapped out with one hand to catch Amy's shoulder before she fell forward from her momentum. She gasped and tried to shake the water from her thoughts.
"We have to keep going," he told her. But from Knuckles, Amy knew such a statement was just as much a question.
"Then let's go!" she agreed. She lowered another brick into the wall in her mind and hoped it would be enough to hold her firm. Though when Knuckles started running and Amy realized the effort it would take for her to keep up, she also noticed how unstable the mortar was in that wall and how she lacked the time to let it set.
She sucked in a deep breath and let her hammer fall away into hammerspace to avoid the additional effort of its weight. And since Sonic wasn't here to do it for her, Amy kicked herself up into a run.
If Knuckles had a plan, or even rhyme or reason for the turns he took through the Metarex craft, Amy couldn't follow it. Every hallway looked the same. Few lesser Metarex scattered the path and Knuckles made quick work of them before Amy could reach the battlefield.
After the tenth quick skirmish, just as Amy's hand reached out to brace against the wall beside her, Knuckles finally snapped, "They send an onslaught of lesser Metarex as a distraction while the generals play hide and seek? What sort of plan is that?"
"The right one."
Amy's spine hardly had time to ice, her watery awareness hardly had time to realize the door just beside where she was braced against the wall was wide open, her ears hardly had time to hear the metallic comeback, before a heavy metal fist crushed into her side.
The snap of force shoved Amy from her feet. She collided with the opposite wall before she realized she'd left the ground. Her feet tried to catch her, but her knees buckled beneath her. Knuckles raced to her side, sliding to a stop between where she lay on the ground and her assailant.
Amy forced her eyes up. She grabbed at the wall behind her to use as leverage in order to drag herself back to her feet. And when she did, her vision steadied to see the brawn of the Metarex Green Fichus standing over them.
-X-X-X-
Angel's View
Angel and Shadow twirled around one another as if in a dance rather than a fight. The pair of them had so rarely fought side-by-side, given the timeline in which Angel claimed a mortal existence was one where Shadow no longer lived. But Angel had been trained in combat by her mother and father, and the fighting styles of Nova and Sonic were ones Shadow knew without a word to one another, Angel and Shadow ebbed and flowed, stepping in where the other left space before moving back to allow the other to refill the space they'd vacated. It was a movement so easy, Angel could hardly feel the effort. The fight was nothing more than an injection of adrenaline.
So much so that the wall of Metarex evaporated before Angel noticed.
She stilled, readied magic still burning in her palm. Shadow slid to a halt against her back. Though she couldn't hear so much as labored breathing from him, she could feel his shoulders shaking against hers. The silence left behind unnerved her, even with the remains of lesser Metarex still smoking at her feet.
"This feels too easy to you too, right?" Angel asked. Her voice sounded too loud in the suddenly quiet space.
Shadow hummed in response, a sound Angel took to be agreement. Neither of them moved. They stayed back-to-back. Angel scanned the scene in front of her, waiting for any small piece to slide out of place.
"This was intentional," Shadow said so suddenly that Angel jumped at the sound. "They separated us."
Angel's skin chilled. Because he was right. He had to be right. They'd known going in that this had to be a trap, then almost certainly a double trap. It was simply a question of how deep the trap ran.
And clearly they hadn't yet reached rock bottom.
"Then we need to find them," Angel said, though she couldn't urge her voice much above a whisper. "Tails and C2 or Amy and Knuckles. Catch up before the Metarex can take advantage."
"It is a shame that the daughter of Sonic the Hedgehog is so very slow."
Shadow stiffened against Angel's back. Angel's skin ran hot, then icy cold. As one, the pair of them turned toward the sound of the third voice. To see the newly one-armed Shining Birch standing at the end of the hallway.
It was all the warning they got before Shining Birch rushed them.
-X-X-X-
Amy's View
Knuckles smashed one fist into the palm of his hand. As if they weren't face-to-face with one of the bulkiest Metarex generals. Though Knuckles had acted similarly when facing off against Yellow Zelkova, who was if not the same size, then even larger than Green Fichus.
But still, just behind Knuckles, Amy was gassed. She couldn't ignore it anymore. Green Fichus knocked her down, and her body realized it wanted to stay down. She'd fought Sonic earlier, for crying out loud. She was spent. Not to mention her side was throbbing with new pain where Green Fichus had struck her.
Not that she had time for such a luxury as rest.
"I've been itching for a punching bag," Knuckles declared with a sneer.
"That's some wild confidence to hold against the Metarex that personally defeated Sonic the Hedgehog not once but twice," Green Fichus shot back without hesitation. "And I am more than happy to claim his remarkably confident friend as my next victim." The Metarex's head shifted so that it felt like Green Fichus's gaze slid over to Amy. "Or perhaps his lover would make for the more potent exchange."
Amy's anger flared as heat against her cheekbones. For a heartbeat, it even overwhelmed her exhaustion. She threw her arm out at her side and the handle of her hammer flashed back into the palm of her hand. "You may have beat Sonic," she said in a low voice, "but I beat him while he was under your control. Not just once but twice. So don't call this battle before it's won."
Green Fichus shrugged. "With pleasure."
Without hesitation, Green Fichus thrust his fist forward. Knuckles caught it between his palms. "You've bit off more than you can chew, Fichus," Knuckles growled.
Knuckles yanked Green Fichus to the side. The force shifted Green Fichus where he stood, but the Metarex managed to keep his feet beneath him. Amy slid out from behind Knuckles. She swung her hammer toward Green Fichus's side to try to tip the Metarex the rest of the way. But when her hammer struck the metal plating, it was she who felt the blow. The force shuddered through the head of her hammer, up through the handle and into her hands. Green Fichus hardly shifted an inch beneath it.
But Green Fichus still had a second hand. He swung a hook straight into Amy's side and sent her flying. Her shoulder slammed into the ground, followed quickly by her head. Sparks exploded before her eyes. She skidded along the ground for a number of feet before sliding to a stop. Darkness threatened at the edges of her vision. It took her more than a moment to find her arms and even longer to figure out how to position them beneath her to shove her torso away from the floor. Her head spun violently with even that modest motion and she halted halfway up, stuck on her elbows. She ached to squeeze her eyes shut, to clear her foggy vision, but she didn't dare. She felt mere heartbeats away from losing her grasp on consciousness.
But she heard Knuckles and Green Fichus trading blows behind her, and she dug her fingernails into the shreds of willpower she had left. Amy sucked in a deep breath and began the slow arduous process of climbing back to her feet. Her fingers found the handle of her hammer and she used it to prop herself upright.
Knuckles ducked Green Fichus's swing and jumped back up into the opening with an uppercut. Green Fichus's head snapped back but only for a moment. The Metarex whipped out a backfist while Knuckles was still recovering his stance, and the echidna stumbled back against the blow. And Green Fichus wasted no time taking advantage of the opening. He snapped a leg out in a front kick that crushed Knuckles's torso. The force shoved Knuckles back through the wall behind him so that he dropped out of Amy's line of sight.
And Green Fichus's gaze snapped back over to where Amy swayed.
Amy yanked her hammer back off the ground and almost immediately lost her balance without its counterbalance. A movement Green Fichus couldn't have missed.
All the same, Amy raised her hammer in her shaking arms. I saved Sonic, she reminded herself. I have to at least try to save myself too.
-X-X-X-
Shadow's View
When Shining Birch rushed them, Shadow and Angel split, each diving toward the opposite side of the hallway. Shining Birch slid through the space they left behind. Shadow shoved off the wall the moment he hit it. And before his gaze fully locked on Shining Birch's form, his arm tore through the air to unleash Chaos Spear. The Energy raced for the Metarex, only to die against the metal plating.
Angel wasted no time, following in the space Chaos Spear left behind. And as she ran, she shoved her hand into the pocket of her jean jacket and yanked free the Chaos Emerald she carried. She drew orange magic into her opposite palm as the Chaos Emerald glowed in kind, adding its own Energy to her magic. Shining Birch spun back toward her in time for Angel to let the magic fly.
The magic struck Shining Brich at the shoulder where the arm Dark Super Tails had destroyed once hung.
Shining Birch shrieked. The sound cut through the air, like metal dragging against metal. Angel's wings pumped forward hard and shoved herself out of reach just as Shining Birch's remaining hand tore through the air Angel had left behind.
Shadow rushed forward. Angel threw her hand out toward him, and he snatched the Chaos Emerald up from her palm. The Emerald's Energy was already at its surface, and the power sunk into Shadow's palm even without his call. Like a shot of adrenaline, even the simple drip of Energy was enough to send Shadow accelerating. Shining Birch reached for Shadow, but Shadow was too quick now. He slid beneath Shining Birch, between the Metarex's legs, before launching himself into the air and pulling his body in for a spindash. His spines cut into the Metarex's armor. At the apex of his climb, he uncurled and chucked the Chaos Emerald back toward Angel, clear over Shining Birch's head, before flipping back to land on his feet.
Angel snatched the Chaos Emerald out of the air as cords like vines exploded from Shining Birch's remaining arm and twisted straight toward her. Her wings propelled her further back but the cords were faster than she was. One twisted around her ankle and yanked her down hard. Her back smashed to the ground. She choked then gasped as she struggled for oxygen.
Shadow didn't hesitate. He didn't even know he was making the choice before his fingers were wrapped around the limiter ring and pulling it free from his wrist.
-X-X-X-
Tails's View
Something doesn't fit.
Tails hardly dared to breathe, lest his sudden movement spurned Silver Fir into abrupt and deadly action. C2 clearly had the same message. She kept glancing out of the corner of her eye toward Tails. Like she was waiting for his command, like she didn't know what move was the right one to make next.
Like she was waiting for her dad to know what to do.
Tails kept his eyes on Silver Fir now. He could still feel Cosmo's on him, but Tails knew whatever happened next depended on how well he read Silver Fir. Because if this was a game of chess, he needed to pay even more attention to the player than the game.
"This is all your doing, isn't it?" Tails said suddenly. C2's eyes cut suddenly toward him in apparent panic, but Tails forced his attention to remain focused on Silver Fir. Silver Fir, who slowly lifted his chin, as if in the smallest appraisal of Tails. So Tails forced himself to keep going, even as his voice attempted to strangle itself in his throat. "Sonic told me you were a great strategist, but then you fell on Majyk during the Changed War and I was confused."
"Tails," C2 snapped in warning.
But Tails forced himself to continue, forced himself to trust himself. "But I realized that was a tactical choice too. You fell because you were laying a different trap, one that didn't need you. You expected Shining Birch to win that war. Except Shining Birch didn't. And then it happened again on his ship a few days ago. He had a second chance and I beat Shining Birch again. But you're smart. So you're not going to let it happen a third time."
Silver Fir still said nothing. Was he waiting for Tails to finish or waiting for Tails to realize he shouldn't? If there was one thing Tails had learned from constantly coming into conflict with Eggman, though, it was that genius wanted to see itself acknowledged.
So Tails continued, "Because if I know chess at all, I know the king might be the piece you need to take, but it's the queen that's the most powerful."
Silver Fir scoffed, a sound that sent all of Tails's limbs stiffening with fear. But then Silver Fir simply said, "Shining Birch is hardly a king."
Tails forced himself to nod, though the tension in his neck ached with resistance. "Because that would be Black Thorn."
Silver Fir burst into laughter.
Tails and C2 both jumped at the unexpected sound. The Metarex even pulled his hand away from Cosmo as he erupted. Though Cosmo didn't dare move yet. Tails wanted to glance at C2 but he didn't dare look away from Silver Fir now, not when this was the last reaction Tails could have predicted.
"Black Thorn is nothing more than a symbol her father left behind," Silver Fir snapped through his laughter. "A mistake of nature, an abomination to Metarex perfection, but we will carry out the Metarex mission her father set in place all those years ago."
An abomination to… Tails struggled to keep himself from wincing at such a harsh comment. Even knowing that Black Thron was the same leader who'd commanded the Metarex through at least three wars, Tails had seen her and all he'd been able to think was, She's just a little kid. And her own forces thought she was an abomination? It was an alarmingly relatable burden to bear, especially as Tails couldn't ignore his possible-future-daughter bearing the mutation that Tails had passed along to her.
But that wasn't the only problem that Silver Fir said that struck Tails. "The Metarex mission of her father…" Tails breathed.
He realized what that meant mere heartbeats before Silver Fir said it. "You really believe that after all this time, we don't still proudly serve the mission of Dark Oak?"
Black Thorn was Dark Oak's daughter.