BEFORE
Sally Acorn didn't want to be here.
She didn't want to be in the presence of the mad genius Dr. Eggman, the monster who had replaced the thing that was Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Who continued the misery and suffering of the planet even when she and her friends had defeated Robotnik.
She wanted to strangle him. To wrap her hands around his throat and not stop squeezing even if he turned blue.
She wanted to run home. To be with her parents. To be with her friends.
To be with Sonic.
"Oh little princess… you used to be such a problem!"
STANDBY… PREPARING FOR HARDWARE UPDATE.
"Please! Please move!"
REQUEST DENIED. STANDBY FOR HARDWARE UPDATE.
"I'm not a machine!"
OBSERVATION: 100% OF ALL ORGANIC TISSUE HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO MECHANICAL EQUIVALENTS. STANDBY FOR HARDWARE UPDATE.
"I'M NOT A MACHINE!"
Sally was living in a body that was no longer her own.
Her fur, soft despite the years of constant combat and action, was now smooth metal.
Her hair, short and neatly combed that shined in the sunlight, was now one piece of hard and jagged metal in a facsimile of what it once was.
She wanted to move her arms, but they remained perfectly at the sides of what was once her body.
She wanted to kick out her legs, but they remained rigid and unmoving.
Nothing was moving. Nothing was living. Sally never noticed it until now but her body always had some part of it moving. Be it the twitching one of her muscles just because she moved a limb ever so slightly or her nose when it was itching. She had felt the air in her fur and, when it was too cold, she'd shiver. She'd feel her boots, socks, and vest rub against her body, and she'd move a lock of her hair if it was tickling her face.
All of those feelings were now gone.
Sally didn't feel anything.
Nothing at all.
She didn't even feel the two pincers that held what was once her head in place. The monster was smirking in amusement as he did it.
"You organized that little group of children and managed to upset everything for years." Eggman continued as he walked over to a box that contained some sort of cylinder. He picked it up and eyed it. It met some sort of standard for him, because he nodded and brought it over to the small table containing various tools. "Sonic was your W.M.D., but you aimed him."
Sonic. Her childhood friend. Her boy who she had been more than friends with. The carefree hedgehog who had always remained strong despite all the hardships and heartbreak they had experienced. Always running into danger, always running to protect the innocent from evil, and always running to save his friends…
She remembered the look he gave her when… when the thing that was once her body attacked him. The confusion, the horror, and the look of utter helplessness. He was trying to understand what was happening, even though he saw the reality before him.
He couldn't hear her screaming for him to run.
Sally watched from the deep and dark corner of her own mind as Eggman turned to her…
…and grinned.
"He knows I'm still here…"
"You may have saved half of Mobius from me, but you exposed the heart of the Freedom Fighters." The mad scientist put on a pair of goggles and took out a blowtorch.
But as he picked it up he motioned over to another section of the table, which was covered in a white sheet. Then, like a showman, he took it off to reveal…
…limbs and body parts.
A new torso. A new chest. Two arms that had horrible silver claws for hands. Two legs that look even more mechanical than the ones she had, only sleeker. Everything was streamlined and menacing, as if emphasizing that they were the parts of a… of a…
"No… Nonononono…!"
Once, Sally had been roboticized. It had been done of her own free will, because she had wanted to sneak in and sabotage Robotnik's base. She had been prepared for the sensation of not feeling sensation. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was slowly losing control of her body, losing control of her own mind, and having to sit back as if she were watching a horror movie as the thing that was once her betrayed her friends.
But her body remained her own. Every piece of herself was herself, and she had been de-roboticized in the nick of time.
Eggman's grin grew even wider as he lit the blowtorch, as if to mock her. As if he knew what was going through her mind.
"And I plan to make the most of it!"
Sally Acorn had no mouth.
And yet she screamed.
Sally didn't know where she was.
A part of her didn't even care anymore.
"Fire that laser right into their faces."
REQUEST DENIED. SUGGESTED ACTION WILL DECOMMISSION BADNIK UNITS ORBOT AND CUBOT. SUGGESTED ACTION VIOLATES EGG MAKER PROTOCOL #123.
"He's not my maker."
"Man, why couldn't da boss get Snively to do dis?" Cubot grumbled as he moved the computer to the table. "We could've been in da nice air conditioned base!"
"Because Snively is in prison, remember?" Orbot shot back. "He wouldn't have built us if he had Snively around!"
"I know!" Cubot sighed. "Not existin' meant no work! It was da easy life!"
Sally really wanted to turn these two annoying little Badniks into scrap. It would certainly make her feel better given the situation.
Eggman had… he had turned her body into something it was not.
It barely qualified as her body anymore.
STATEMENT: 85% OF ORIGINAL HARDWARE HAS BEEN REPLACED AND UPGRADED.
"Shut up! Just shut up!"
She didn't feel any of what the mad doctor had done to her. There was no sensation when he had used the blow torch to cut through wires and take off her roboticized arms and legs. There was no searing pain when he carefully took what was once her head and spine out of the body. But she screamed all the same. Cursed at him when he threw the parts carelessly to the side and told Snively to ship them off for smelting.
She had vowed to kill him the moment she was free. That the moment she regained control she would take him apart as he had done to her. That if she didn't do it, Sonic and her friends would the moment they find out.
All of those threats were never vocalized as Eggman whistled a jaunty tune while constructing a new body.
SEDITIOUS STATEMENTS NOT WITHIN ACCEPTABLE ORBOT AND CUBOT PARAMETERS. REQUESTED AUDIO DENIED.
"I don't care! It's how I feel!"
IT IS IRRELEVANT. ALL THAT MATTERS IS MY MAKER'S ORDERS.
The thing that was now in control of the body she was trapped in, Mecha Sally, was perhaps the worst part of plight.
This thing… It was cruel. It played with Sonic, Amy, and her friends' emotions. Mocked them for their failure. Said horrible things, like how she and Amy weren't friends.
That Sonic wasn't fast enough to save her.
And it seemed to take an almost sadistic joy in denying her will. Every time she wanted to move a limb, there would be an occasional reminder that the action served no function and was rejected. Sometimes when she thought about the operation, Mecha Sally would 'helpfully' remind her that she didn't even have twenty-five percent of her original body.
It kept calling Eggman their maker.
The door of the room flung open and Eggman strode in, his hands behind his back as he got closer.
"Are the two of you finished?" He asked Orbot and Cubot, who saluted.
"Aye-aye sir!" Cubot shouted. "De dings are all set up!"
"We really need to update your speech patterns…" Orbot muttered while shaking his head. "But if the boss had just checked your source code before bringing you online…"
"I will turn you both into conversation pieces if you don't go now!" Eggman pointed to the door. "Return to the Death Egg at once and prepare for my arrival!"
"Ya got it, Eggmon!" The yellow cube-headed Badnik took its 'brother' by the arm and dragged him out the door, slamming it shut behind him.
The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, if they weren't useful despite their bumbling…" He turned his attention back to Sally and said, "Ah, I apologize for keeping you waiting, little princess! I was a bit busy putting the final touches to my latest master plan!"
"The plan that will fail." She sneered back, but the mouth didn't move. "Some fancy new Badniks won't stop the Freedom Fighters!"
"Honestly, I was half tempted to show off the Willy Egg to you! But, unfortunately, Albert needed my input on a schematic…"
Albert… Eggman probably meant that other Overlander that she had spotted when she was brought to this strange place. The partially bald man with the large gray mustache…
"But I digress. You're probably wondering why I brought you here!" The monster looked pleased as punch as he strode to the computer. "I will admit it's partly to gloat about my plans. It's not every day when a plan to rewrite the fabric of the multiverse is close to coming into fruition!"
"What?"
"Oh yes, I have been planning this for quite some time with my colleague from an alternate dimension!" Eggman chuckled to himself. "We created this pocket dimension, the Skull Egg Zone, to work without that blasted hedgehog or Albert's own little blue problem interfering! Neither of us wanted to show our hands until we were ready and preparations were complete. And while you were busy destroying your people's homes and attempting to kill your beloved Sonic…."
Sally once again tried to get the body to move. To leap forward. To dig her claws into Eggman's…
REQUESTED ACTION FATAL TO MAKER. DENIED.
"SHUT UP!"
"We had managed to get what we needed! Now all we're doing is applying the finishing touches!" Eggman attached a cable to his computer and then walked around Sally.
CABLE NOW ATTACHED. CONNECTING TO SOURCE…
"No… No! What is he doing?! WHAT IS HE DOING TO MY HEAD?!"
"A simple press of a button from the both of us… that's all it'll take to mold reality itself as if it were clay!" The doctor was now in front of her, leaning down so they were practically nose to nose. "I will have won, and Sonic won't be able to do anything!"
"He'll stop you! Just like he always has!" Sally spat out from her corner of her mind. "You're pathetic, Eggman! Just like the old one! We will always beat you in the end, and the only reason I can think of as to why you keep trying is because you're a cockroach! An evil little cockroach that just won't stay dead!"
"Unit, please tell me what your host personality is thinking right now."
The statement came as a shock to Sally. She had suspected that Eggman knew she was still inside, but…
"Statement: Host personality states that your plans will not succeed." Mecha Sally said smoothly. "That the Priority One Target: Sonic the Hedgehog will defeat you, as he has done previously."
"Ohohoho!" Eggman guffawed, throwing his head back with a wide grin on his face. "I bet she said more than that! Well, it doesn't matter."
"How…?"
"Statement: Host personality is confused by reaction. Requests for you to elaborate."
"Ah, yes. I'd imagine she'd be confused." Eggman shook his head and walked to the computer. "Little princess… didn't you ever wonder why Sonic's precious uncle, father, and the rest of the robotized individuals could be deroboticized with their original personality and memories intact? It's because we need those aspects of your brain intact for problem-solving and, as you're aware now, psychological and emotional attacks." He turned to her and grinned. "Plus, what fun is there in making every one of my subjects Badniks if I couldn't personally ask them how they feel about their new lives?"
"You monster… You damn monster!"
"It's something that me and the version of me native to this world had shared." Eggman turned back to his computer. "As for the slim possibility that Sonic might be an annoying little pest and save the day at the last second once again…" He pressed a key. "I will be downloading a new protocol into you."
Before Sally could ask what the madman was talking about, she could see a progress bar in the center of her vision.
The numbers rose rapidly as Eggman put his hands on his hips and turned to her.
"I call it the Dreamcast Protocol! If the universe isn't to my liking, and I am not within your immediate vicinity, Mecha Sally here will be ordered to remain in place and cycle through the various distress codes and frequencies you have in your precious little head." He leaned down and knocked against Mecha Sally's head. "That way, if Sonic and his friends are alive and remember you, they will come for you and be killed by your hand. And if not… well…" He chuckled. "You can just sit there and rust."
"No… NO! Don't do this! You can't! I won't… I won't let you!" She screamed, but it was useless. He would never hear her. "Sonic will save me! He'll stop you!"
"Unit, compress your host personality's file and guard it behind the Egg Fortress Antivirus wall." Eggman turned on his heel and walked to the door. "Until we meet again, princess!"
"SONIC! HELP M-!"
PROCEEDING WITH COMPRESSION OF HOST PERSONALITY FILE.
That's when everything turned dark.
All that remained was the thing that Sally Acorn had turned into.
NOW
Nicole never experienced nightmares.
She knew about them. Sally would often tell her about them whenever she woke up early. Much like a dream, they would wildly differ in subject, setting, and sometimes even genre. But they always ended the same. Sonic or all the members of the Freedom Fighters dying as Robotnik or Eggman laughed, now free to do whatever he wished on Mobius.
She had been fascinated by them. Dreams were the subconsciousness of organic beings allowed to flow in their brains. Nightmares were as well. They were illogical and interfered with the biological need for sleep, but they seemed to remind Sally and the others about something in the waking world.
Nicole never got to experience it, because she simply wasn't organic. But a part of her always wanted to.
Now, though?
Now she was in a nightmare.
"How… how did this happen?!" Nicole screamed. "Sally! How… How did you…?!
"Move!" Whisper ordered as the thing that was her friend leapt forward. It brought up its clawed right hand as it raced towards them. Tangle and Whisper dove to opposite sides, avoiding the slash of the claws. The railing where Tangle once stood in front of was half sliced and half torn off, the ends of the metal bar twisted as the pieces fell down.
No hesitation. Not even a slight twitch from the robot body.
Sally, her princess and friend, had been fully roboticized.
"Crap! What is this?! Metal Sonic's sister?!" Tangle's tail hit the ground and caused the lemur to backflip onto her feet. "Nicole, where's your friend? We need to get out of here!"
The holo-lynx could hear the words, but she couldn't answer. She was still trying to fathom what was going on.
"Sally… when could she have been roboticized? Had she been here all this time and had been captured by Eggman?" No, no that didn't make any sense! There would have been records of her if that was the case! She would have left some sort of clue for her…
CORRUPTED FILE RESTORATION COMPLETE.
That came as a shock to the artificial intelligence. She had been having data recovered from her corrupted files and trying to restore some of them during the trip. She had just wanted something, anything, that could shed light on her new situation. She hadn't told Tangle or Whisper because there was always the possibility that it would fail.
But did this have to happen now?!
…PLAYING…
A video of Sally began to play for Nicole. She was in the guts of the Death Egg, and the code streaming to the left side of the screen told her that they were patching into the Death Egg's local area network.
"Nicole? Are you patched in?" Sally ask, breathless but still concerned. They were running out of time and both of them knew it.
"I am. But the defensive software remains formidable." Nicole's audio replied. "It will take hours to break the encryption."
"We have minutes." Her friend licked her lips, her mind racing as Nicole tried desperately to find some way around Eggman's firewalls. He had so many for the Death Egg… "Can we block the command signal? Confuse the startup process?"
It only took her a millisecond to provide an answer. "No. I am locked out, and it is ready to fire. I could potentially invert the beam to this exact point, but…"
The beam… it was a robotization beam. A petty and horrible creation that Eggman was using for his latest bid of conquest and revenge. It would turn everyone into unthinking and unfeeling machines, and Eggman planned to do it right in front of Sonic and Sally. To make all their struggles and sacrifices worthless in the end.
If the beam was inverted, then Sally would be the one who would suffer. Who would turn into a machine who could do nothing but serve their hated enemy.
Nicole didn't want to hurt the people below. She didn't want them to suffer as roboticized slaves, even if they had rejected her.
But Sally…!
The princess closed her eyes, her face smoothing out as she took in what Nicole was saying. Then, in an utterly calm voice she whispered, "Do it."
"But you will not be immune!"
"Make sure your core programs are safe at home." Sally opened her eyes and moved her hand to the device housing Nicole's program. "Just give me a manual executable."
"But you will be…"
She had wanted to cry then, but even if she did Sally wouldn't see.
And she likely would not change her mind.
Sally Acorn gave Nicole a soft smile. "Nicole… I have been given a second chance. I can save everyone with that. Please…" She caressed the screen, caressed her. "I can't do this without you.
…DATA CORRUPTED BEYOND RECOVERY. END PLAYBACK.
When Nicole was brought back, she assessed the situation in confusion.
Tangle and Whisper were running down a ramp with Sally, no, Mecha Sally, following them. The metal parody of her friend was flying after them with jets coming from her feet, gaining on the two young women with each passing second.
"Hold me in place!" The sniper shouted. Tangle's tail shot out and wrapped around the wolf's body, making her face Mecha Sally as the lemur continued to run. The wispon transformed to look like a bazooka as Orange Wisp went inside. Whisper took aim and fired.
"NO!" The holo-lynx shouted. Even if she knew it was illogical, even if she knew that they had to fight or die, she couldn't help but pray for Sally to dodge the rocket fired four times at her.
"Enacting projectile evasion maneuvers." Mecha Sally saw the rockets and began to steer to the right. For the first one she twirled in the air and the rocket passed by her. She then brought herself up in the air so that the second rocket could fly under her, and didn't move when the third rocket hit the wall to the left. But for the last one it was too late. The heat of the exploding projectile and the debris made it impossible for Mecha Sally's systems to keep track of it. The rocket slammed into the robian's left shoulder and knocked her back. The robian crashed into the side wall and fell to the ground, her left shoulder sparking and a bit singed but otherwise intact.
"Oh thank you… thank you…" The holo-lynx half sobbed out but noticed that Whisper was lining another shot. "Wait! Don't! Please, she isn't a Badnik!"
"Wait, she?!" Tangle took Nicole's PDA from her hup and brought it in front of her. "What do you mean?!"
"Please don't kill her!" She begged the lemur and wolf. "She's not herself!"
"Whisper, time out!" The lemur's tail moved and the rocket missed its target, depositing the wolf by her side. "Nicole is saying that not-Badnik isn't being herself!"
"It's trying to kill us!" Whisper shot back. "If we don't do something it will!"
"Hold on! I… I can help!" She was still connected to the Death Egg's system, and some of the data recovered allowed her to find a few shortcuts. Using the PDA's wireless capabilities, she diverted the power from the upper levels to the floor they were running down. The lights were no longer flickering and the floor had enough power for what she was planning. "Sealing port 3D!"
As Mecha Sally was getting up a panel slid down from the ceiling just behind Tangle and Whisper, the large 3D emblazoned on it in faded paint.
"Woah…" Tangle stopped and looked back. "When could you do that, Nicole?!"
"I… I had been here before and still have a sample of the Death Egg's code." She admitted. "I was able to access the onboard system and activate a few defensive protocols."
"Oh please tell me that this place has security lasers."
"They do, but there isn't enough power." Plus, she didn't want to tear Sally's body apart.
"We need to go." The wolf grabbed onto Tangle's arm. "That will not hold it off for long."
As if to emphasize this, a loud bank was heard from behind the wall. It was then followed up by several more blows and the sound of something humming.
Mecha Sally was already trying to break through.
"…Those walls were designed to hold off Sonic and Knuckles." Nicole whispered. "It can hold Sally off for a while. But she'll soon see that it'll be more efficient to find an alternate route."
"Wait, hold up." Tangle brought the PDA to her face and asked, "Sally? So you know this Metal Series thing?"
"She… she isn't a Badnik." She couldn't hide it anymore. These two didn't know Sally, and if they didn't know Sally they had no way of knowing the reality of the situation. "She's Princess Sally Acorn. Eggman… he roboticized her."
The fear and horror on Tangle's face was a horrible welcome sight to Nicole. But what confused her was Tangle and Whisper now checking their bodies as if looking for something.
"Do I have any on my back?!" The lemur stretched out her arms and her tail as she turned her back to Whisper.
"No." Whisper turned around and looked up and down her friend. "Me?"
"No! Nope, we're good…" Tangle let out a nervous laugh as she combed back her hair. "M-Man… I was worried for a second! I could've sworn she grazed my fur…"
This reaction didn't make any sense. Why were they acting as if Sally could give them some sort of disease?
"Last thing I would want is to become a zombot again…"
"Zombot?" The lemur looked back at Nicole. "I don't recognize that ter-."
The loud crashes of Mecha Sally's blows interrupted the holo-lynx's question. All three of them looked at the door, which stood silently for a few seconds.
"Statement: This action is only delaying my objective. Not making it impossible." Mecha Sally's voice was muffled but still clear and cold. "Elimination will be quick without resistance."
"Yeah, like we'd let that happen!" Tangle blew a raspberry at the obscured robian.
"Sally…" Nicole's holographic form popped out of the PDA and she walked over to the door. Placing her hand on it she looked down. "Sally… I am so sorry…"
"Declaration: Apologies are irrelevant. This unit now serves the glory of the Eggman Empire." The robian shot back. "Observation: However, it is because of Secondary Target Nicole the Holo-Lynx that I exist."
It felt as if a knife had been stabbed through Nicole's heart. She stumbled back a few steps, staring at the wall with wide eyes.
"I truly couldn't have done this without you."
"This isn't Sally. It isn't really her. It's just Eggman's programs using her memories…" She knew this. She knew this from years of experience and combing through Eggman's files.
So why was she crying?
"Hey! Shut up!" Tangle was now by her side and shaking her fist. "If you're so eager to fulfill your objective or whatever, maybe you should do that instead of making Nicole cry! Or are you just full of hot air and you really can't think of anything besides hitting this door, you stupid bucket of bolts?!"
Mecha Sally said nothing to that. Instead, they heard the sound of the twin miniature rockets before they silently began to fade.
"…It will not take her long to find us." Whisper pointed forward. "We need to hide and prepare."
Nicole and Tangle nodded before the holo-lynx returned to the PDA and the two mobians began to run.
"Thank you." Nicole muttered. "I… I know Sally wouldn't say those cruel things, but when I heard them I…"
"Hey, no sweat. That jerk was trying to mess with your head." The lemur grinned. "I just couldn't sit by and let you cry. Had to say something."
Perhaps it was a good thing that only Tangle and Whisper were here, instead of one of Nicole's other friend or Sally's loved ones.
They had the advantage of simply not knowing who she is. What the robian had done to Nicole, Sonic, and the others couldn't be used against the lemur and wolf.
And Tangle standing up for her simply because she saw Nicole was crying… it did touch her.
Whisper pointed to a door and Nicole ordered it to slide open. Once inside they could see that it was a warehouse full of various crates. The wolf opened one to reveal several warheads and took out a red marker from her belt to draw a small starburst on the crate.
"Okay, so we're going to hold up here?" Tangle looked around. "I mean it's pretty big but…"
"Not many choices." Whisper muttered as she began checking each of the boxes. "Still far from the exit, which will be the first place that the zombot will go to."
"Sally isn't a zombot!" Why couldn't they understand that?! "And I still do not understand what that term is! Is it slang for a robian?!"
Tangle and Whisper looked at eachother. "Okay." The lemur sat down and placed Nicole on the ground. Understanding what was happening, Nicole's hologram came to life in front of the lemur in a sitting position as well. "I think we gotta clear some things up. Take it from the top. Who was that killer Eggman robot and what's the deal?"
Well, this had to have happened sooner or later. Taking a deep breath she began, "Her name… is Sally Acorn, princess of the Republic of Acorn. She is one of my dearest friends and… someone special to Sonic. One day, Eggman…"
"Wait, hold on…" Tangle raised her hands up to make the holo-lynx pause. "So basically… Eggman used her for robotomy?"
Whisper glanced over her shoulder as she marked the last crate of explosives in the room. She had been keeping an ear open as their new companion recounted her relationship with the so-called robian.
Apparently the mechanical weapon was once just a chipmunk, supposedly royalty who had been in a relationship with Sonic. On a mission to destroy the very Death Egg they were standing in, because he had been planning on launching a ray that would've turned all of the population of Sally's home into machines.
Since they couldn't turn the thing off, they had to invert it so that only Sally would become a robian.
"Robotomy?"" Nicole bit her lip. "That… is a term I haven't heard for robotization."
"Well, it's what he called it in those weird propaganda videos he played during the war. Said that we would all get benefits if we just turned ourselves into unthinking machines that only served him." The lemur gagged before turning to Whisper. "But I don't remember hearing him actually doing it to anyone… Whisper! Did you…?"
"No." The wolf capped her marker and walked over to them. "When I… was with the Diamond Cutters." Her hands clenched at the memory of her team, but slowly she relaxed them. "We looked into it. No machines for the process had been built. Thought that Eggman either lost interest or was planning to use it once the Resistance was crushed."
Both scenarios were likely when it came to Eggman.
Nicole opened her mouth before closing it and looking down, a troubled expression on her face.
Whisper knew that the AI was about to say how that was impossible and that it had to have happened earlier, but she likely figured out that their information always contradicted each other.
So what was the use?
"I was thinking that Eggman probably used some of the plans and work he already did with that and just upgraded it. That's how we got the Metal Virus." When the sniper blinked in surprise Tangle rolled her eyes. "Come on! I'm not that dumb! It's pretty easy to connect the dots once you see them."
Whisper felt her cheeks burn and turned her head in embarrassment."Well, now I feel like an idiot."
"So, Eggman took the concept of robotization and turned it into a viral infection…" The lynx's hands clenched into fists. "The worst part is that I can see him doing it. He's just that cruel."
At least Nicole, Whisper, and Tangle's thoughts all agreed on that one thing.
"So… what are we going to do?" Tangle glanced at Whisper. "This Mecha Sally isn't like zombots. We can't just lock her up and wait until Tails gets back."
Whisper already knew the answer to that. "We will have to fight her." She nodded at Nicole. "Sorry. We can't just let her run free and try to kill us."
She meant it too. While her heart did ache for whatever poor soul was in that metal husk, their options were limited. Whisper wasn't ready to die, and she wasn't going to let Tangle die either.
"I… I might have a solution." Both of them looked at Nicole, who was staring Tangle directly in the eyes. "In the back of her head will be a cable port. I need you to plug me in so that I can gain access to her system. I can give her mind access and control of the body, and she'll stop."
Tangle bit her lip. Slowly she said, "…Y'know, we're still going to have to fight your friend. I don't think she's going to willingly let us mess with her brains."
A look of anguish passed through Nicole's face for the briefest of seconds. Then it smoothed out. "Yes. I… am aware of that. Just… please, don't destroy her. She… she's my best friend."
The quiet plea broke Whisper's heart.
She remembered when she learned about her team dying. Her quietly pleading for this to all be some elaborate joke. Her hope that they would walk back into base and pick on her for crying over nothing. Because they were her friends, her family, and she would do anything to be with them again.
Yes… Nicole may be strange. Possibly insane too.
But Tangle was right. Her emotions… they were all real.
They heard and felt the explosion, which shook the room.
"Well, it's showtime." Tangle got up and stretched her arms as Nicole returned to the PDA. Whisper upholstered her wispon and prepared it for laser mode. "I'll go up close and personal while you provide support, right?"
"Don't have much of a choice." Whisper put her mask over her face. "If it looks like you're in trouble I'll step in. If I shout 'saturn' you need to knock her forward and jump back."
Her friend grinned. "C'mon, give me some credit! I can hold my own in a fi-!"
Two silver claws burst through the door and in a screech of metal the sliding door was torn off to reveal Mecha Sally.
"Statement: Secondary Targets have been found. Proceeding with elimination." With that, the robian shot forward with her claws bared. Ready to tear a hole through Tangle as if she were nothing but a sack of meat.
The lemur grinned and instead jumped up as the metal mockery flew under her. "Nice try!" Tangle's tail shot down and nailed Mecha Sally in her back, slamming the robian into the ground. Using the body as a springboard, the lemur leapt back while Whisper opened fire.
The lasers kept pelting the robian as it got up and shook its head. To the wolf's annoyance it appeared that Eggman built Mecha Sally of sturdy stuff. There were only singe marks from the shots that landed and nothing else.
"Well, it's not like we expected this to be easy."
Cutting her fire, she switched her wispon's mode to Spikes Mode. The Cyan Wisp exchanged places with the Pink Wisp, and the wispon fired the swirling saw blade at the robian.
Mecha Sally looked up and raised its right arm. A blue humming blade popped out and made contact with the saw blade, causing sparks to fly from the clashing blades.
"Miss Whisper! Stop the blade!" Nicole shouted in her mask. Whisper did as she was told, confusing the robian momentarily before Tangle's foot made contact with Mecha Sally's face.
The robian barely budged as the bladeless arm shot out and her claw grabbed Tangle's ankle.
Before the wolf could shout out for her friend she saw the smirk on the lemur's face. "GOTCHA!" Tangle's tail shot forward and nailed Mecha Sally in the face again, and this time the machine stumbled back and let go of the lemur. Tangle landed on her feet and continued her assault as the robian's eyes flickered and lights flickered from the blow.
"Atatatatata!" The lemur landed punches and kicks on the body, occasionally striking out with her tail to hit different parts of Mecha Sally. She hopped around the robian's body. But if it was doing anything, it was likely frustrating the program in charge. The lights in the eyes steadied and Mecha Sally swung out with her bladed arm. "WOAH!"
Tangle leapt back and Whisper switched the wispon into Rocket Mode. Firing, the blast hit Mecha Sally in the center of her chest and flung her back.
"Direct hit!" Nicole declared. "But don't hit her with that attack too much! Too much damage and…"
"Statement." Mecha Sally clutched at her singed chest. "For a so-called friend, you seem to be aiding these two Freedom Fighters with decommissioning this unit, Nicole."
The holo-lynx sucked in a breath and the wolf could see her shivering.
"Don't listen to her." She reminded the lynx. "Remember, that isn't your friend."
"Really? So you're getting your butt kicked and that's when you bring the 'we're supposed to be friends' card?!" Tangle leapt forward. "I didn't know Eggman built cowards!"
Mecha Sally's eyes flashed red and, as Tangle tried to swipe with her tail the robian caught it. The metal monster's rockets flared to life as it shot up, dragging her friend with her.
"NO!" Whisper crusted and changed the wispon to laser mode. Taking aim she fired at the robian, making sure not to hit her friend by accident.
When Mecha Sally reached the roof she turned her body, cut off the rockets, and used the roof as a springboard to leap off of. Activating the rockets again both robian and lemur raced to the ground.
"Crapcrapcrap!" Tangle screamed and her tail extended itself. Throwing the extra length out it caught onto a box of Badnik parts before he pulled. The box was thrown towards Mecha Sally and slammed into the robian's shoulder. Mecha Sally let go of the tail and quickly the lemur shot out and wrapped it around a ceiling lamp. The momentum of the fall was lessened, but she still landed on her shoulder on the ground. "GAH!"
"Tangle!" Glancing at Mecha Sally she noticed she was almost in front of the box containing munitions. "SATURN!"
Despite the pain, her friend grinned and used her tail to slam against the still recovering robian. She stumbled back and once within range Whisper fired a laser at the box.
The force of the explosion knocked Mecha Sally to the ground and on her face, the light dying down in her eyes and only slightly twitching.
"NOW!" Nicole screamed and Tangle rushed forward. She was clutching her right shoulder but the lemur girl did not let it slow her down. Skidding to a stop at Mecha Sally's right she released a cable from the PDA and jammed the end into the port in the back of the robian's head.
Now they could only hope that this worked.
Nicole materialized her Mobian avatar in the system and looked around. It appeared that Eggman had prepared for the possibility she would come here. The white tiles of the floor clashed against the blue fields with random portions opened to reveal a bottomless pit.
Digital copies of the doctor appeared in the space in front of her, green and grinning from ear to ear.
FOREIGN PROGRAM DETECTED! PROCEEDING WITH DELETION!
Nicole raised her hands and bullets of her code shot out. They hit the antivirus programs, and after a few blows they left this plane of existence screaming. The others noticed and began to fire back, forcing Nicole to begin running.
She had to brute force her way into the system. This method may risk her core programs but it was the fastest way to make it through Eggman's defenses.
And this system was far less advanced than the one in the Death Egg.
Ducking and weaving through the blasts the programs fired at her, Nicole struck back and destroyed each of them. The floor rumbled and pillars rose up, seeking to hamper her.
"No." Nicole leaned down and touched the floor. A spring quickly materialized and she leapt on it. Shooting up just like she had seen Sonic do so many times, she flew over the wall and ran forward, firing more at the obstacles in her way. "Not this time! I'm never going to let you stop me again, Eggman!"
Within minutes she was near to gaining access to Mecha Sally's files. A firewall appeared, each section a looming black pillar with Eggman's face.
EGG FORTRESS ACTIVATED.
Ports opened and fired at Nicole, who touched the ground again and raised a wall to give her cover.
"Damn it…!"
She needed to think. How could she get through this firewall?
Closing her eyes, Nicole ran through the scenarios. She could return fire and gain access in about a couple of hours with the possibility of her death. But by then Mecha Sally would have reactivated and be fighting against her two friends again.
"Have to get creative…" She muttered and looked down. If only should be as tricky as those viruses in Jewel's computer!
An idea hit her.
Yes… it might work! Those viruses had been strange things, each relying on disguising their purpose or reacting if a specific action was taken. Eggman never prepared for those, and without an AI as advanced as ADAM the program would have no idea what to do!
Closing her eyes, Nicole put her hands on the ground and saw the code. She studied it, carefully, and slowly the floor itself wrapped around her body before turning translucent.
Her very footprint had now changed, masked as just another part of the program.
The blasts ceased as the foreign program they detected disappeared. Calmly, Nicole went around her cover and asked forward. She held no fear in her heart, for fear would make the disguise drop.
Instead she imagined lying down and gazing at the stars.
"I'm coming, Sally." She said to herself as the wall dropped and she came to the files. "I'm going to bring you home."
Sally's file was easy to find. It was compressed, as were most host personalities in roboticized mobians. But the timestamp on the compressed file's creation made her anger boil.
"You made her watch, didn't you."
Shaking her head, Nicole uncompressed the file and within seconds there, standing in front of her and as beautiful as ever, was Sally Acorn.
She had to be. Nicole molded her avatar after the last time she saw her friend.
Sally's eyes opened slowly. When they seemed to register Nicole's presence they widened in shock. "N-Nicole…?"
The lynx pulled her friend into a hug. "I'm… It's good to see you again, Sally."
"Nicole, it's… it's really you! I'm not dreaming!" Sally's avatar held her tightly. "I knew it! I knew you and Sonic would come!"
Nicole grimaced but didn't say anything. No, now wasn't the time to tell her. That could come later. But she stayed in the embrace for a few more seconds before saying, "Sally… we need to hurry. I have to…"
The ground rumbled and Nicole cursed. It seemed like the system noticed her opening Sally's file. Going to the ground, Nicole created two different viruses and wrapped them over her friend's avatar. "I need to go. If I don't disengage then the… the Mecha Sally will attack with the device housing my program still attached."
Sally wiped away her tears but her face regained its composure. She nodded and said, "Right! Go, Nicole! Make sure Sonic doesn't get himself killed!"
Nodding, Nicole offloaded her program from the system. But before she was completely gone she smiled at her friend. "Do not worry, Sally. Everything's going to be okay now."
It was a lie… but it was one her friend needed to hear right now.
"JUMP!"
With Nicole's shout, Tangle leapt back with the cable popping out of the port just as Mecha Sally twisted her body and swiped at her. She grimaced at the stinging cut now on her arm, but it was her arm with the busted shoulder so it's not like a bit more damage would make a difference.
"Did…" She gave Nicole a nervous smile. "Did you do it?"
Nicole nodded. "Yes, but it'll take some time for my virus to affect it! The system noticed me opening Sally's file and I had to eject!"
"Statement: Weak. Always weak, Nicole. Broken and defective program." It was almost scary how Mecha Sally spat out those words. It was as if it really was angry. "Always requiring assistance. Always needing power and tools from others. You showed your true self under those stars."
Okay, that was it!
"Oh, shut up!" Tangle shouted back at Mecha Sally. "Y'know, Metal Sonic may be a pain in the butt but you don't see him using a bunch of Sonic's memories to hurt his friends! He is able to get things done! He stays quiet because nothing needs to be said! Which means…" She pointed at the robian. "You're weaker than him!"
"…You are aware that Metal Sonic can speak, right?" Nicole whispered from her PDA.
"Yeah, but don't bring that up now!" She whispered back.
Mecha Sally's eyes flashed again as a blade popped out of the other arm.
Tangle gulped. "I think I pissed her off."
Well, no time for regrets! Running forward, Tangle got in close enough that Mecha Sally swung with both of her arms. Leaning back, the lemur fell to the ground and slid in between the robian's legs while wrapping her tail around them. With a mighty pull the robian fell on her face again as Tangle scrambled to her feet.
"DUCK!" Whisper and Nicole shouted at the same time. Automatically she did so, and just in time because a giant freakin' laser would've vaporized her head if she didn't!
"Oh man, that's so cool…" Tangle looked back at Mecha Sally. A slot had slid back on the top part of its 'hair', revealing a red lense. "And scary!"
Tangle yelped as another laser shot out and she leapt to the side. As she was rolling on the ground she watched as Mecha Sally shot at her again, both of its arms pulled back and ready to gut her.
A rapid patter of feet was heard and a giant blue hammer smashed against Mecha Sally's head. The lemur stumbled onto her feet and looked at Whisper, who was snarling while holding her wispon in Cube Mode."You're not…" It transformed into Rocket Mode again and Whisper shouted, "…going to touch her…" She fired and the robian only had enough time to raise its arms and block the missile. "…AGAIN!" The wispon changed to laser mode, and Tangle saw that the crate behind Mecha Sally had another one of those markings that her friend had made earlier.
Whisper fired and Mecha Sally was enveloped in an explosion.
"…So cool…" In spite of the pain, she couldn't help but stare in awe at her totally cool mercenary friend as the wind from the blast almost dramatically blew Whisper's hair.
Man, Tangle loved her life.
"N-No damage…" Nicole muttered, causing both her and Whisper to snap out of it. They narrowed their eyes at the flaming wreckage. "She sustained no damage!"
They heard a crackle in the air as Mecha Sally flew forward. A field of blue energy was surrounding her, almost seeming to shine to highlight its nature.
"Oh come on!" Tangle motioned at the force field. "How is that fair?!"
"Observation: You have failed." The robian gloated as it floated forward. "This unit's system has found the uncompressed host personality file. It will be compressed again as I eliminate you. Once that is done the Dreamcast protocol can proceed."
Well, that didn't sound good. Probably meant that Mecha Sally would kill whoever tried to find out what happened to Tangle and Whisper.
"No. No, I didn't fail." Nicole said softly. "I just gave my friend the tools needed to free herself."
Well, that was some good news!
"Statement: Host personality has no power. She can do nothing but serve as reference material for this unit of the Eggman Empire."
"That's where you're wrong!" Nicole appeared next to Tangle and pointed at the robian. "I know Princess Sally Acorn, leader of the Freedom Fighters of Knothole! I know that so long as she holds hope… so long as she has just the slimmest chance of victory… she's grasp onto it and never let go!"
Mecha Sally stared at them for a few seconds. Then it shook its head. "Statement: Illogical. I shall show you reality in the nanosecond before your elimination."
Tangle sighed and got ready to fight as Whisper readied her wispon.
Time to put faith in Nicole's friend.
Sally didn't know where she was.
Well, that wasn't accurate. She had an idea of where she was, but knowing that she was inside Mecha Sally's system in an artificial avatar that was in the form of her old body didn't really inspire calm.
But she had been sneaking into Robotnik's nightmarish cities since she was a kid. Being in unfamiliar and hostile enemy territory was nothing new to her.
"Still, I wish Nicole was here." She was happy when she saw her friend again. Her mere presence assured the princess that the day was being saved. That despite it being close, the villains and dragons were losing as they always had.
Because monsters like Eggman never succeeded in the end.
Sooner or later, they got what was coming to them.
UNCOMPRESSED FILE LOCATED.
A stream of code formed in front of Sally and took the form of her nightmarish robian body. Mecha Sally started at her with cold artificial eyes and frowned.
"You do not belong here."
"Yes I do." She didn't even hesitate in her response. "This is my mind!"
"False. It belongs to the Eggman Empire and my maker." Mecha Sally pointed at her. "And neither needs your file."
Code shot out and wrapped around Sally's body, but something shimmered an inch from her fur. In a voice that was eerily like her own, Mecha Sally actually screamed and drew back, her eyes actually widening in shock and horror.
"Error. Hostile virus detected." The robian program looked at Sally. "What did that program do?"
She didn't know either, but she had an idea. "My friend gave me the tools to strike back." She took a step forward and her double took a step back. "What's the matter? Afraid?"
"Fear is illogical. Fear is not acceptable in the Eggman Empire." Mecha Sally narrowed her eyes. "Your hostile code can be walled off from the rest of the system."
"Yeah, you could do that." Sally nodded and crossed her arms. "But that would be admitting that Eggman's little rinky dink system couldn't handle an inferior program like Nicole, am I right?"
"Your seditious comments are no-."
"Eggman is brilliant. But he is also a cowardly and sadistic little worm." Man, it felt good to finally get someone she hated to listen to what she had to say! "There's a reason why he always loses despite his so-called genius!"
"Not this time. This time he has me. He has the heart of the Freedom Fighters in the palm of his hand."
"Yeah, he does. And he got me roboticized by complete accident." Sally scoffed. "The first time it happened I did it on purpose! Says something about his batting average, doesn't it!"
Maybe she was letting Sonic affect her too much.
Mecha Sally's eyes narrowed. "…I recorded you feebly begging for him to stop with my body's upgrades. I recorded you crying out for Sonic the Hedgehog and your friends' help, because you could do nothing in the face of my maker."
Did this piece of scrap really think that would work. "Yeah. I did. I was scared. I… I still am." No, don't break down here. Not in front of this thing. She could deal with it when the battle was done. "But that's just part of life. Whoever said that heroes couldn't get scared or lose, even for just a little bit, were full of it."
She stepped forward again.
"But I'm not scared now."
"Sonic isn't even here!" Mecha Sally spat out. "He never came!"
Doesn't matter. She could deal with that later.
"My name is Sally Alicia Acorn. Princess of the Kingdom of Acorn. Leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters."
Mecha Sally leapt forward and knocked her back. Straddling her, the program wrapped its hands around Sally's throat.
"DELETE YOU! I'LL DELETE YOU!"
She didn't give this sad parody of her the satisfaction.
She felt her hands being enveloped in something warm. Nicole's last gift to her.
Putting her hands on both sides of Mecha Sally's head, it screamed as it began to glitch out.
Her hands were flames.
Her flames.
"And I want you and Eggman to get the hell out of my head!"
She saw the image of the cocky but kind hedgehog holding her hand in the warm sunlight. She saw Nicole. She saw Tails and Amy. She saw Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, and all her friends and family. She saw them in Knothole, their home, smiling.
"I'm coming home, everyone."
She wasn't scared when the darkness returned.
Sally Acorn had faith, and that was enough.
Sally's eyes opened as if she had just turned on an old television.
Standing above her and looking down were two members of the Freedom Fighters that she didn't recognize, a lemur and a wolf. The wolf was pointing at her face with the barrel of her gun, her finger hovering over the trigger.
Smart. She likely would've done the same.
"Uh… hey?" The lemur waved her hand. "If you're still, y'know, evil and murdery I wouldn't recommend trying anything."
Slowly, Sally willed her head to move to the left.
For once it actually performed the action.
She was now staring at the hand the lemur had on the floor, with the Mobian cautiously moving it back just in case.
"I can move it…" She muttered and heard the slightly artificial reverb of her voice. Her mouth was her own again! "I can't feel anything…"
She couldn't feel her tongue move. There were no twitches of facial muscles as her lips formed the words. She didn't have muscles anymore. It was all cold metal.
"The artificial intelligence that was in control is no more." Nicole's voice made her turn her head back and slowly pick herself up. She was now staring at Nicole, who was on her hands and knees in front of her, smiling with tears in her eyes. "You're back, Sally…"
Sally said nothing. Instead, she looked down at the body she was a part of.
The cold blue, grey, and black metal that made up most of this form. The legs that weren't her own, but moved when she willed them to. And as she raised her hands up, she turned them to look at the metal claws that had replaced her hands.
"Sally?"
The princess looked at her reflection in the silver metal and saw the oil coming out of the black glass panels with blue LED lights that replaced her eyes.
"Of course… of course he would include that."
"He… He took me apart Nicole." Sally's new arms fell to her sides as she sobbed out, "I couldn't stop him… he took me apart and put me back together just to hurt me… hurt Sonic and… and…and I couldn't say anything! I couldn't stop! I wanted to stop but… but…!"
Nicole was now on top of the cold metal body that was her own. The holo-lynx's arms were now around her neck as she hugged the chipmunk.
Sally didn't feel a thing… not physically at least.
Nicole was crying too as she held on tightly. "I know, I know you didn't mean to, Sally. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"
The two friends, now reunited, continued to cry as they held each other tightly.
Nothing more needed to be said.
To Be Continued…
Notes: Well, this certainly came out sooner than expected and longer too!
I had a ton of fun writing this, especially listening to Find Your Flame from Sonic Frontiers which I found extremely appropriate for the fight between Mecha Sally, Nicole, Tangle, Whisper, and Sally herself. For some weird reason I imagined the male vocals were sung by Mecha Sally for the most part while the female vocals are sung by Nicole, Tangle, and Whisper.
I really hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!
Please be sure to leave a review!