Julie-Su hated to admit it, but sometimes she enjoyed getting into fights.
It was an easy way to blow off steam, especially when it was against people she didn't know or didn't like. Back when she was with the Chaotix and Knuckles, that usually meant busting some Dark Legion or badnik heads. She was just having a good old time with her boyfriend and friends, stopping the obvious bad guys from subjugating other people. Making those who made her life a living nightmare pay by denying them the very things they wanted.
It was during the exile that it became harder to enjoy those fights.
They were mostly against her friends or variations of her friends. Some of them were so similar she could've moved into that universe and not notice the difference, some of them completely different.
Almost all of them she was forced to fight under Lien-Da's orders.
And then there was what she had to do after those fights…
But when she was facing off against someone she barely knew, like a Shadow, or against some variation of her usual enemies like those beefed up Orbot and Cubots she had to dismantle…
…well, that was when the echidna could have fun.
Music blared in the air as she and the badger squared off against one another. Her heart was pounding as the sound of her chainsaw's engine and whirling blades filled her ears.
"He isn't one of your friends." A part of her mind whispered. "You can go wild on him. He's the one who was helping these punks take over the town, right? Get rid of him and this'll all be over!"
Well that made her decision on what to do a lot easier.
Julie-Su lifted her left arm up as the badger leapt forward with his massive sword raised up. When he brought it down, the black blade met her chainsaw as sparks slew from the clash of metal.
The Ex-Dark Legionnaire grunted in pain as her muscles strained and her stump ached. How heavy was this thing?
"No time to ask that! I just need to get him off!"
With a shout, she swung her arm to the left, flinging her opponent off. But instead of being disoriented, the swordsman just laughed and spun his body.
"Not bad, chica! Not bad at all!"
He thrust his sword out, stabbing the hard ground and stopped his trajectory. He pulled himself using his left arm, planting his feet firmly on the ground.
"You have no idea how much fun this is going to be for me." With a swift motion, he took his sword out of the ground and rushed forward. "I've been having to put kid gloves on with these nerds and a bunch of weaklings, trying to teach them how to actually fight!" He swung his sword horizontally, with Julie-Su dodging by leaping back. "It's been a while since I've been able to face off against someone who knows what they're freakin' doing!"
"I'm so happy to impress you, Mr. Badger." Julie-Su lowered her left arm down and allowed for the chainsaw blades to touch the ground. Rapidly it began to kick up dirt and stones, enveloping the both of them in a matter of seconds. "But trust me when I say you're going to regret…"
She only had a couple of seconds.
She closed her right eye and focused entirely on her thermal vision, circling around the badger until her back was to him. Raising her chainsaw arm up, she dashed forward and began to bring it down.
"…trying to pick a fight with m-!"
In a flurry of motion, the swordsman already raised his massive sword up and the flat of the blade met her chainsaw. Even more sparks flew as he turned his head to her and grinned.
"CRAP!"
"I doubt that!" Twisting his body, the badger hit Julie-Su with the back of his fist. She stumbled back and shook her head in time to see the swordsman raising his sword up as it emanated that black and red energy. "You're good! You actually went in for the kill! But..!"
He brought the sword down, and the echidna leapt to the right to avoid the burst of energy that tore up the ground she would've been on before it continued to destroy the side of a building.
"…You're going to have to try harder than that, Anteater!"
Julie-Su's eye twitched.
"I'm an echidna, creep!"
The badger blinked once in surprise. Twice.
Then, that dark grin formed on his face again.
"Groovy. I never killed an echidna before."
Saffron never liked fighting.
It wasn't like she was a pacifist or anything. She wasn't opposed to fighting if it was necessary, nor did she have any sympathy for the pain those who willingly harmed others brought upon themselves through the consequences of their actions. It was just that she never really liked being the one who brought that pain.
In a perfect world, Saffron Bee would've stayed in the Golden Hive Colony with Charmy and their families. Living in blissful peace while the friends they had faith in continued the good fight.
A fight they knew they would win in the end.
But maybe she had been deluding herself with that dream of the future.
The dream that Eggman utterly shattered when he destroyed everything.
The female bee let out a cry as she flew towards the Noise Tank rushing towards her, his arm raised as he sprayed a stream of paint at her. It was a good tactic, honestly. Paint would completely wreck her eyes and really mess up her antennae, but the problem was that he was picking a fight with a bee.
She may not have been at the level of Charmy back when he was completely healthy, but that didn't mean she wasn't good at changing direction on the fly.
Brining her wings down, she shot up and curled into a ball as the paint flew underneath her. Then, she shot out her leg and kicked out with her right leg. Her blow struck true, hitting the human in the center of his face and leaving a massive red shoe-sized mark along with shattered goggles. He fell back, smashing down onto the ground with a groan.
"I-If you want my advice, you need to stay down!" She stuttered out, wincing at how unintimidating that sounded. Julie-Su was always better with sounding threatening.
"Saffron!"
The former fiancé of Charmy Bee turned around and saw the new version was waving at her while he was flying back. A Noise Tank was swinging his fists at the young boy, missing only by centimeters.
"Hold still, you little freak!" The human screamed in fury, to which Charmy stuck out his tongue.
"Make me, jerk!"
"Charmy!" Saffron flew towards them, ducking as a flying member of the Noise Tanks passed overhead. "Hold on, I'm coming!"
She knew that Charmy didn't look like he needed help, but she couldn't help but allow fear to grip her heart.
Even after his… accident… Charmy knew how to fight. But there were those moments where his mind would wander. Like that time when they were planting Tails' EMP devices and he'd declare it was like planting flowers, and she'd have to remind him to focus because she could almost see him retreating into his own mind at that exact moment.
But that didn't happen here.
Instead, a gleam appeared in the younger bee's eyes and he shouted, "CATCH!"
"Wha-?!" The human only had a second to react when Charmy kicked him in the stomach, knocking him back. "OOF!"
"EEP!" Saffron stopped her flight and put out her hands, catching the human before he could hit her.
"Push him back! Hurry!"
"A-Alright, dear!" The female bee didn't know what was going on, but she did as she was told and pushed the human back at the child that was her fiancé in a previous life. "I hope you know what you're doing!"
"Hehehe!" Charmy grinned from ear to ear as he stretched out his right arm and rushed forward. "THE AMAZING CHARMY SHOOTS AND…!"
His arm caught the human in the face, and the large body spun before landing painfully on the ground.
"…WHAT! A! LARIAT!" The young bee cheered while pumping his fists into the air. "Didja see that Espio?! Didja?! I pulled it off!"
Saffron blinked and turned to Espio, who was throwing a kunai at a smoke bomb before it hit him.
The chameleon looked over his shoulder at her and sighed. "Charmy has recently gotten into professional wrestling." He then shot the bee with an annoyed glare. "Which is fake!"
"Yeah… but it's awesome when you pull it off in real life!" Charmy smiled at her. "Thanks, Saffron! You really helped me out there!"
"That…" Saffron frowned and felt her eyebrow twitch. Did Charmy seriously just use her to try and recreate a fighting move from a fake sport?! "That was completely reckless, Charmy!"
"Aw, come on! Don't be like that!" The young bee pouted. "It was cool! We were both cool, y'know!"
The female bee let out a sigh and closed her eyes. "That's not the point Charmy! This is a fight an-!"
"LOOK OUT!"
Saffron let out a squeak as a bee-sized body slammed into her, causing them both to tumble to the ground.
And she saw why the moment she opened her eyes.
A large blast of black and red energy tore through the area they were just at, causing the ground to crack and buckle before it disappeared.
"W-What on Mobius?!" She then looked at Charmy, who was grinning cheekily at her.
"You're welcome, Saffron~!"
Blushing in embarrassment, the female bee patted the boy on the head before he let go of her and they looked at the source.
Julie-Su was fighting that badger that had appeared out of nowhere, trying to get in close with her chainsaw out and spinning in anticipation. The female echidna swung her arm horizontally, only for the badger to raise his sword in time as the edge of the massive blade met the spinning ones of the chainsaw. He pushed forward and raised the sword overhead, bringing it down in an arc that would've cut her friend in two if she hadn't jumped to the right.
The ground buckled and cracked from the sheer force of the blow and the weight of the sword, but the badger didn't look winded.
In fact, he looked as if he was having the time of his life with that grin on his face.
"Whoa!" Charmy cried out, his eyes wide in amazement. "That sword is so cool! And She's using a chainsaw against it?! AWESOME!"
"C-Charmy! Focus!" Saffron scanned the ground around the two combatants. "Julie-Su needs our help! Now where is…?" Her eyes lit up when she spotted the blaster. "There!"
The female bee flew towards it, scooping the firearm up and shouting, "Julie! Short range will not work!"
With that, the former princess threw the blaster at the female echidna who leapt back while the chainsaw retracted back into her arm. Using her mechanical hand, she caught it and aimed at the badger before firing.
Rather than dodging, the swordsman raised his blade up and in front of him before he twisted it so that the flat of the blade was facing towards Julie-Su. The blasts from the firearm bounced off the sword, but the metal did not crack.
"Heh! Nice try!" He rushed forward as Julie-Su was reloading her firearm. "But Deathburn isn't some cheap little espada!"
When he was close enough, the badger swung his sword horizontally which Julie-Su ducked in the nick of time. She swept her left leg at his feet, but he hopped over it.
"Oh no!" Charmy cried, but she put out her hand to stop him. "Wha? Saffron, what are you…?"
She didn't answer and instead pointed at Julie-Su calmly took aim and fired.
The shot hit true, and the badger cried out in pain as he was flung back. He didn't tumble on the ground, and instead winced while holding his left shoulder.
"Damn…!" He winced and glared at her. "Can't believe you got me…!"
Saffron smirked at that. Sure, sometimes Julie-Su needed help. Especially now more than ever. But this? This wasn't an area she needed help with.
Saffron knew more than anyone that when it came to fighting, there was no one better than her friend.
But then she blinked when she noticed something in the corner of her eye.
It was a lone Noise Tank. He had that strange device known as a Smartphone out, looking at it before looking up… and directly at Julie-Su before looking down again.
"What the…?"
"You talk too much." Julie-Su took aim at the injured swordsman's head. "Put that overgrown toothpick down before I…"
The human tapped on his phone.
Suddenly, the red dot on Julie-Su's eye grew brighter and she shouted, "GAH!" She reached up with her left hand, on reflex…
…taking it off of the badger.
Saffron's eyes widened. "JULIE-SU! GO FOR THE BUILDINGS!"
The swordsman didn't waste time. He grabbed his sword with his left hand and ran forward, but he was beginning to angle himself to Julie-Su's left to get into her new blindspot. The female echidna cursed and turned on her heel, running towards the door of a building that appeared to be the local library. Using her shoulder, she slammed into the door and flung it open before barreling inside.
"We gotta help her!" Charmy shouted, his eyes fierce and determined… before he looked at the Noise Tank and pointed at him. "YOU!"
The human looked up and she could swear his already pale skin grew paler.
"You're messing out with our friend's gadgets!" Charmy flew towards the human, twisting his body so that his stinger was now out and aiming towards the unfortunate gang member. "GET STUNG!"
Crying in freight, the Noise Tank skated away and leapt onto a car before using it as a springboard to get onto the roof of a building with Charmy in hot pursuit.
"C-Charmy! Don't do that!" She screamed as she flew after the boy. "If you use your stinger, you'll die!"
"Nah, It's cool! I've done it before!"
"YOU'VE DONE IT BEFORE?!"
As she frantically chased after the six year old iteration of her fiancé, Saffron looked over her shoulder at the library as a potion of the roof exploded in a blast of black and red energy.
"Please be safe, Julie!"
"Crapcrapcrap!"
Julie-Su didn't waste any time and rolled to the right before leaping behind a bookshelf. She steadied her breathing as she transferred her blaster from her left hand to her right, looking down with her right eye while the left side of her vision was completely black.
Whatever happened to her caused her eye to automatically turn off!
"This is bad!" She was already feeling sick due to the sudden drop of her depth perception. Losing her eye wasn't just bad because she now had a blind spot, but it would mess with her ability to tell the distance between herself and her target.
One that was already stomping into the library.
"I don't know what's going on, but it looks like it really messed you up, chica!" The badger drawled out as his boots crunched against the broken wood on the floor. "Too bad, but I'm never one to look a gift horse in the mouth."
"He's trying to get a reaction out of me." Quietly, she remained crouched on the floor while moving in time to the badger's footsteps. Once she was at the end of the book case, she peaked her head out from the corner and saw the swordsman was casually knocking books off the shelf to look on the other side. "Don't fall for it, Su. Think. Fifty percent of your vision is shot and now can't shoot worth a damn until this eye turns back on. What are your options?'
She spotted a table on the other end of the room… one that was across from her.
She smirked and reached down to her belt before taking out a grappling hook attachment from one of the pouches. "That'll work."
"Then again, I shouldn't be too surprised. If you rely too much on tools like that, they're bound to fail you." The badger shrugged. "Then again, you did put that stuff in you to keep on struggling. To keep on fighting. But the real question is…" He then glanced at her direction and Julie-Su knew her time was up. "Are you able to keep on fighting without your toys?"
No time to waste.
"At least…" The pink echidna leapt out, took aim, and fired. The badger turned his body to get out of the line of fire, but the claws of the grappling hook latched onto the table surface. "…I don't…" While landing on the ground she pressed the button on her blaster, causing the gears to turn as the table was reeled towards her, and more specifically the swordsman's back. "…rely on a magic sword!"
The badger let out a cry as the wood smashed into him, causing him to stumble forward while Julie-Su got up and stumbled towards the stairway further inside the library.
She couldn't fight in close range in her current state, and there was a good chance she could miss her shots in a wide open space.
Time to change things up.
"Please, like I need to rely on it!" The swordsman shouted as he raised his sword. Cursing, Julie-Su leapt up the first flight of stairs before turning on a heel to go up the second one while the energy blast tore up the ones beneath her. "It's just a tool that I use! I took this little beauty on a job to Bellbridge! It was forged using the metal from the sword that killed King Arthur, if you can believe it!" The badger leapt over the damage he had created and used the groaning wall as a springboard to follow after her. "I didn't need any magic tools to take it! Just my strength!"
He brought down his sword, but the Ex-Dark Legionnaire kicked out with her right leg. It made contact with the flat of the blade, causing it to go off course and crash into the area to her left.
"And that's the rule of the land, chica! The strong take what they want, and the weak can either deal with it… or roll over and die!"
Rolling to her right, she turned the right and aimed.
"My witch of a sister would've loved ya if you were an echidna." She drawled out before she fired her grappling hook again.
This time, it embedded into the wall when she pressed the button with her blaster.
As she was flung forward, the Ex-Dark Legionnaire stuck out her metal arm to the left.
Things were moving too fast to pull her cord, but she could at least make this hurt.
Her lariat struck true, nailing the thug in the side of the face while she slammed into the wall. Groaning, Julie-Su used her thumb to release the grappling hook and wall onto the ground.
Stumbling, she rushed to the open door. She needed to get out of the building while the badger was still seeing stars.
That's when she saw it.
Dark Legion Eye Model: StC 131 Software Update: COMPLETE
EgOS 2018.4.4: DOWLOAD COMPLETE
Rebooting…
Light and vision returned to Julie-Su's left side, and her right eye blinked in surprise.
"EgOS…?" She muttered to herself in wonder. "What…?"
"JULIE!" Saffron's voice called out. "WE GOT HIM!"
The pink echidna turned around and looked up to the roof of the library to see Charmy and Saffron, but they were holding the back of the shirt of an unconscious Noise Tank while Charmy held up a peace sign with a grin.
Julie-Su herself couldn't help but grin. She had been a bit worried about Charmy since he actually was a little kid here, but it looked like he did alright.
Then it sunk in what roof they were standing on top of.
"GUYS! GET DOWN FROM THERE NO-!"
The roof exploded in a shower of splinters, black, and red energy. The two bees cried out as they fell to the ground with their human captive, and ex-Dark Legionnaire screamed as she ran to them.
"Nonono! No, I can't let it happen again!"
Her mind flashed to Saffron's prone form as Thrash approached her, her poor friend's antenna now recently bitten off by one of the Devil Dogs.
"Not again!"
Then she saw Charmy, acting so brave as he railed against Eggman inside the Egg Grape until the moment Snively pushed the button…
So many images of versions of her friends. All of them hurt or dying to protect each other or themselves from her!
"NOT AGAIN!"
"ESPIO!" Vector shouted from behind her.
A flash of purple raced past her. "I got them!" Within the blink of an eye, he was turning in mid air with his arms around the two bees and one human. Then he threw them, using his momentum to make them pass over Julie-Su's head as she turned to see their trajectory…
…And all three were caught by Vector the Crocodile, who now sported a bright neon-pink park over his eyes.
He dropped the human, but held the two bees in his hands and grinned. "You two okay?"
"Y-Yes…?" Saffron stammered out, her cheeks red as she squirmed in the crocodile's palm. "That you…"
"That… was…" Charmy flew up, his eyes now practically stars as he shouted, "…AWESOME! LET'S DO IT AGAIN! AGAIN!"
Vector gawked at the bee. "Wha-?! You little psycho! There's no way I'm letting that happen to you again!"
Sticks ran up behind Vector while waving her boomerang in the air. "If he's goin' again, I wanna do da thing too!"
"Don't you get started!"
Julie-Su let out a breath of relief, putting her hand on her chest as her heartbeat slowed down.
"They're okay…" She felt a hand on her right shoulder and turned to look at Espio, who was smiling at her. Smiling herself, she put her left hand on his right. "Thank you."
"Aw, how sweet."
Julie-Su turned, and this time she didn't hesitate. She pulled the cord of her chainsaw with her teeth and made the weapon come out, revving as she saw from the corner of her eye the chameleon ninja take out a new pair of kunai.
The badger was strolling out of the library with his sword slung over his right shoulder. He was glaring at all of them, the smile now completely gone from his face.
"But our fight ain't over yet." The swordsman pointed the tip of his sword at her. "Ready for round two?"
Before she could respond Vector strode in front of her and crossed his arms. "Get real, pal! The rest of your cronies are out of the game and you're outnumbered six to one! And on top of that…" He pointed at the badger's left shoulder. "You're left handed, so you're fightin' us with your weak arm! You ain't winning this one!"
"I can handle this by myself, Vector!" She protested, only for the crocodile to shake his head.
"Heck no! You're a member of the Chaotix, remember? And we fight as a crew!"
Julie-Su wanted to yell at Vector, tell him he's being dumb, but she caught herself. Wasn't that… always how they fought? Wasn't that how she fought with the rest of the Chaotix she knew?
Wasn't this… exactly what she wanted to come back to?
She turned to see Saffron and Charmy were flying again, glaring with their fists raised. Sticks was crouched, glaring at the badger with her boomerang ready to be thrown.
This was… this was the Chaotix of her memories.
The only thing that was missing was Mighty and Ray.
And she could see it in all of their eyes. None of them would back down, no matter what she asked.
So she sighed and grinned. "Try to keep up, old man."
"I AIN'T THAT OLD!"
"Outnumbered, huh?" The badger cocked his head before he grinned and chuckled. "You just made this more fun."
Julie-Su readied herself for the oncoming battle alongside the rest of the Chaotix. The air grew still as they waited for who'll make the first move. The heat of the sun bore down on them, and the pink echidna knew for a fact her shirt was now soaked.
The badger's boot shifted slightly, and Julie-Su's muscles tightened in anticipation.
She could see it in the swordsman's eyes.
This wasn't going to end unless one of them was dead.
"BOSS!"
The swordsman's mouth twisted into one of utter rage as he barked out, "What?!"
A lone Noise Tank rolled up to his side and offered him his phone. "I-It's Cassia-chan! She wants us to pull out now!"
The badger swatted it away and said, "Tell that brat to get lost! I'm in the middle of something he-!"
"A-And Onee-sama told me to tell you to pull out!"
For a second, the badger didn't respond. But his brow furrowed and his teeth ground against one another. Suddenly, he grabbed the phone and threw it to the ground before smashing his foot on it. "DAMN IT!"
"My phone!"
The swordsman glared at the gang member, who slunk back in fear. He then took in a deep breath before letting it out, calming himself down. He then looked up and glared at Julie-Su before he spat out, "This isn't over, chica."
"It's not chica or whatever." Julie-Su glared right back at him, her right arm slowly reaching her blaster…
…only for Vector's large hand to put itself on top of her own, and she looked up to see him shaking his head.
"What?! Why…?"
No, no she knew why.
They didn't kill their enemies.
It just wasn't their style.
She… she almost forgot about that.
She returned her gaze to the badger, who was watching her with a raised eyebrow. "It's Julie-Su. Remember it."
The swordsman chuckled and gave a mock bow. "I think I will. The name's Cortez. Cortez the Badger." He turned on his heel and said, "Until we meet again. And the next time… you better bring your a-game and ditch the weaklings."
And with that, the badger and human ran into an alleyway and disappeared.
Slowly, Julie-Su deactivated her chainsaw arm and returned it into its base arm. She holstered her blaster and said, "I'm not apologizing."
Vector shrugged. "Fine. But you gotta know that's not how we do things here. I don't know about what you did on Mobius but…"
"We didn't do things like that on Mobius either. Even if…" She looked down and spat out, "…Things could've been better if we did."
Nobody said anything about that.
Instead, they heard the sound of doors opening and the sound of clapping. They turned and watched as the residents of the town came out of their hiding spots, cheering.
"THEY DID IT!"
"Those darn punks got what was coming to 'em!"
"Quick! Someone get Sheriff John and the boys out of the cells so we can throw these hooligans in!"
"Didja see the moves that girl used?! It was like some Studiopolis magic, I tell ya what!"
"THREE CHEERS FOR THE CHAOTIX!"
"Be sure to tell your friends about our wonderful service!" Vector was beaming from ear to ear as he soaked in the cheers. "Remember, there isn't a job too big or too small for Team Chaotix! …Just be sure to put money down, obviously!"
That last part seemed to be ignored by the general population of the city.
Julie-Su, meanwhile, simply looked down at her feet.
This was it.
This was her first big mission in a world she never made.
A world so similar to the one she lost, one populated by people so similar yet so different to the ones she knew.
And yet… she smiled.
But as she smiled, a small tear formed at the corner of her eye.
It was like she was truly saying hello to this new reality…
…and goodbye to the one she knew.
"So…" Tangle drawled out as she stared at the wolf twins who were leading them. "…how long have you two known Sally? She never really mentioned you guys before."
Whisper really didn't know if she should wince or be impressed by Tangle's bluntness.
She didn't need to rest the lemur's mind to know that she already understood Sally's unspoken order. They were to gather intelligence while they were inside the Secret Freedom Fighter's base, and she could already understand why. Her brother's attitude and the group's actions indicated that something was definitely wrong, but they couldn't pinpoint what exactly.
It would be so easy to just excuse their attitude as them still being traumatized over their experiences from the Super Genesis Wave, but even then their actions were bizarre from a strategic standpoint.
They were fighting a losing guerrilla war against Naugus and his forces. If the situation were to continue, it was likely the New Mobotropolis Freedom Fighters would fall and the Secret Freedom Fighters not long after. In fact it was a miracle they were still operational now.
Sure, the Resistance wasn't exactly winning throughout the entire war but part of the reason why they were able to hold out was because they were spread out. It was hard for Eggman or Infinite to snuff out every cell, and that was why they were able to avoid being completely wiped out until their ace managed to free Sonic.
And even then, Sonic's freedom was the key factor that helped to turn the tide of the war.
"So why not reach out to Sonic?"
Surely, before things got even this dire, they would have seriously considered it? It would have been stupid not to. The New Mobotropolis Freedom Fighters might not have had the men or means to escape the city's borders, but the Secret Freedom Fighters had both.
So why didn't they?
"Unless they didn't want Sonic to get involved because of something they are doing…"
No. It was a possibility, but it wasn't a certainty. She couldn't just assume that was the case unless she obtained further proof.
Which was what this entire mission was for.
"Well…" Lyco, the blue-wearing wolf, glanced over her shoulder. "We weren't exactly close. I mean, we kinda knew each other but not really. She mostly knew our pack and our Grand Chief, Lupe."
The wolf's ears flicked at that. She and her parents weren't technically a part of a pack, choosing to live in the cities rather than maintain the traditional nomad life. It wasn't an uncommon practice, as plenty of their people preferred to have permanent homes and jobs rather than continue their wanderings.
Still, she knew enough about her people to know that there wasn't a 'Grand Chief'. Such a title would mean one wolf held dominion over all packs, making them a nation rather than a collection of various tribes. And the wolf packs' agreement with the islands' government was that in order for peace to be maintained, for the wolves to be granted citizenship and have their ways respected, such a thing must never happen.
"And this Lupe…"
Whisper knew she wasn't the best at social situations. Tangle's the one she spoke to the most, and staying with more than a few people at a time often made her feel uncomfortable enough to leave.
But she was good at picking up on things.
Like the sharp, pained look that crossed Leeta's face when she said that last name.
"Lupe must have been outside the city limits…"
"Princess Sally helped the Wolf Pack a lot." The mercenary blinked and focused on Leeta as she spoke. "But then the princess got roboticized. She came and kidnapped both Lupe and Queen Hathor of the Felidae…"
"The heck's a Felidae?"
"They're like a tribe of cats." Silver quickly explained, shrugging. "I remember from the history books Master Edmund saved that they mostly lived in the jungles. Also that they ate other Mobians? But, to be honest, that sounded like junk."
Lyco snorted at that. "Honestly? If you asked me that a year ago I probably would've just told you it's completely true."
Tangle's eyes bugged out. "Wait, seriously?! Why would you…?!"
"There was a lot of history and baggage between the Wolf Pack and the Felidae. Trust me, it got really bad. You should've heard some of the stuff they believed about us." Leeta shook her head. "Anyways, Sonic and the others helped us to rescue our Grand Chief and the Felidae's Queen. But Eggman and the roboticized princess flew off and they had to chase after them. We… we got jealous, I guess." A small, sad smile spread across her lips. "We wanted to be like them. To help others and not just our tribe. To do our part in freeing the world from Eggman and…"
"…here we are." The blue-wearing twin finished. "Harvey recruited us and we were able to do our part when Naugus tried to shoo us out. We did a lot of good work, as I'm sure Silver told you."
Whisper waited for them to continue, but they didn't. They were just leaving it at that, without even touching on anything they did afterwards.
"Almost as if they are ashamed."
"Then why did you guys try to kidnap Mina? Why did you guys try and shoot her when that didn't work?"
The mercenary blinked, stopped and looked at Tangle. She was now glaring at the wolf sisters, her eyes so angry and accusatory.
It was so unlike her.
The other three also stopped, Silver looking just as shocked as Whisper herself felt. The wolf twins, meanwhile, looked as if they had just been slapped. They had not been expecting this at all. It was likely that they thought Tangle was incapable of asking such a thing.
Or perhaps they had been hoping she wouldn't.
"That's… we didn't decide on that!" Lyco spluttered out, her hands tightening into fists. "We would never hurt Mina!"
"We told you and the princess already!" Leeta was supporting her sister, stepping forward as if to take the brunt of Tangle's accusations. "That was all on Harvey! He was the one who gave the order, and it was…!"
"Lyco. Leeta."
That new voice stopped the green-wearing wolf's defense, and all of them turned to see the black and white furred cat now staring at them.
Her shoulders were slumped. Her head fur looked like its combing had been an afterthought. Even her blue ascot was wrinkled.
But the thing that stood out the most was the cat's eyes.
They looked so… so dead.
"You don't need to defend yourselves to the…" She paused and hollowly said, "…the Genesis Births." She turned and looked at Tangle before saying, "It was me. I was following my orders as given to me by Director Harvey Who. So please don't throw accusations at the Wolf Twins. I was the one who attempted to shoot Mina Mongoose."
"Why?"
It was really the only question that could be asked.
Well, that wasn't completely true.
The other option was "Why did you try and shoot an unarmed girl, you absolute psycho?"
But that would've been too much.
It wouldn't feel right to say that kind of thing, especially with the look in Hershey's eyes.
Tangle the Lemur had seen that look sometimes during the Metal Virus. A deep hollowness in people's pupils, an abyss that showed how little hope they felt. They were the eyes of someone who was there and yet they were also somewhere else. Like they were viewing this entire scene out of their own body because it was just easier to deal with the situation that way.
It always disturbed her whenever people looked like that. It was why she tried to act goofy and keep a smile on her own face, because then they would lose those eyes.
But she couldn't bring herself to do it here. Not when she needed answers.
Hershey the Cat, one time assistant to her friend Jewel the Beetle, looked at her. To the cat's credit, she didn't look away in shame. She just stared right back at her and said, "It was to prevent New Mobotropolis' current status from reaching either the Restoration or Mammoth Mogul. Director Who believed we could not afford the Restoration getting involved while the situation is still manageable…"
"Still manageable?" The lemur couldn't believe her ears. "I've barely been here a day and it's a nightmare! You've got people starving or dying of thirst, the place is crawling with ninjas along with soldiers and badniks, and you've got a freakin' evil wizard piloting a meat suit to be king! Mina had every right to go looking for help!"
Tangle noticed as Hershey's hands clenched into fists and her brow furrowed. For a second, the lemur thought that the cat might take a swing at her. Then, the fists unclenched and the woman's expression smoothed out before she said, "Mammoth Mogul would have likely found some way to take advantage of our situation to make it worse. We had to prevent even the slightest possibility of him learning about the instability in the kingdom."
"How could he have possibly made it any worse?" Silver asked the question before she could, causing Hershey's gaze to fall upon him. He didn't flinch and instead continued. "I mean, look at what Naugus is doing to the kingdom. Anything would be an improvement over…"
"Silver." Lyco, unless it was Leeta, interrupted the hedgehog. Her face had become solemn as did her sister's. They weren't angry at Silver, that much was obvious, but they were firm. "You don't know what Mogul was like during our time… or even before then. You don't want Mogul in charge."
The hedgehog looked like he had been slapped at that. His face twisted in pain before he looked down, his shoulders slumped. "…Damn it."
"Silver…" She knew that her friend was still going through a tough time, reconciling the memories of his old self's master and what he knew about him now. The fact that he actually met the jerk basically helped to confirm every bad thing Sally said about him, but it probably still hurt…
Tangle shook her head. She needed to focus.
"But what about the Restoration?!" The lemur motioned to herself and Whisper. "If Mina got to us, or if you had just told us…!"
The cat's body stiffened at that and her mouth began to move. "If the Restoration had been notified, then they as well as the new iterations of Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies would have thrown everything into chaos. All current operations and future ones would have been completely ruined, and the possibility of the False King taking complete control would have increased exponentially." She shook her head. "Which was why the capture of Mina Mongoose was of the highest priority. And if we were unable to safely and discreetly extract her, we would need to silence her."
She could not help but gape at the cat.
She couldn't even believe what she was hearing!
"They wanted to kill Mina because her telling us maybe would've wrecked some of their plans?!"
How good were those plans in the first place if the city was still controlled by Naugus?!
And worst of all, it felt like the cat was reciting from a script!
She didn't even sound like she believed those words!
"Nothing about that makes trying to kill Mina right!" Tangle threw her hands up in anger and disbelief. "Hershey, do you even know what you are saying?! You were going to kill someone for just trying to get some help! Because they were scared and it looked like nothing about the situation was getting better!"
"Our operations wer-."
"Why not let them in on it, then?" Silver stepped forward, glaring at Hershey before looking back at the wolf twins. "When we became Secret Freedom Fighters, it was to help fight against Naugus while he held legitimate…" Tangle was kind of glad when he used his hands to quote that last word. "…power. He doesn't anymore and the situation is dire. Nothing about this required the Secret Freedom Fighters to remain a secret. You could have told everyone here and Mina wouldn't have been afraid enough to feel like she needed to go find help!"
Tangle let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you! Someone in this place is making sense!"
"If the False King knew that King Elias was here, he would have stopped at nothing to kill him." The cat bitterly replied. "You think what's happening is bad? It would have been worse if the rightful King was revealed to be alive."
"That's just an excuse and you know it!" The lemur pointed at the cat. "The same as Mina getting the Restoration and Sonic's help would've wrecked everything! Not even you believe that!"
Hershey's hands began to clench into fists again. So hard that Tangle could swear she saw the claws poke out of the spy's gloves.
"It doesn't matter what I believe." Hershey said in a low voice. "They were my orders, and those orders are in the end for the greater good of the Kingdom of Acorn. The Director is working to keep all of us safe and to fight against that monster, and that's all that matters to me."
Those words… something about them made the lemur's blood run cold.
"Even if it means betraying people who trusted you?" Tangle knew it was a low blow. She knew it, but it was also something that needed to be said. "People who were your friends?" There it was. The slight glance to the right, as if the cat couldn't bring herself to look at her. But the lemur pressed on. She needed to if she was going to get any answers. "Hershey… Jewel trusted you."
Tangle knew that she and Jewel didn't hang out as much as they used to. Honestly, it really sucked. The beetle was her childhood friend. Her partner back when she was running out into the woods to explore and test out her awesome tail. Heck, she had no shame in admitting that if it wasn't for Jewel then she wouldn't have lived to see her teenage years.
"I was really reckless and stupid as a kid, and that's saying something."
But…
"Jewel's really busy with the Restoration's paperwork and management, but sometimes we had lunch together and I remember her talking about you." Tangle lowered her voice, calming herself down and letting the words pour out. "She'd talk about her awesome assistant, Hershey. Who was so smart and cool. Who helped her out when the workload was becoming too much and would listen to her vent. She'd talk about how much you loved your husband and hung out with that Lanolin girl and… and…" She grimaced. "She trusted you, Hershey. Why would you use that to spy on her? On the Restoration?"
For a second, the cat didn't respond. But her mouth pursed and she looked down, her head slightly bowed as if she were feeling a heavy weight. Then, she looked up and those dead eyes returned. "We needed to gather intelligence and make sure the Restoration didn't discover New Mobotropolis. I just took advantage of the chaos from the Metal Virus and gained her trust. What's deceiving some Genesis Births compared to the fight for New Mobotropolis?" She shrugged. "It wasn't even that hard to do. I would've been stupid not to."
She turned on her heel and walked away.
Tangle's eyes widened in shock before a deep burning rage rose up from inside her. How could she talk to Jewel like that?! How could she not even bring herself to say her freakin' name?!
"You…!"
Hershey stopped, but didn't look back. "I do whatever is necessary for my kingdom. I don't always like what I have to do…. But I need to be the one who does it. I… I can't afford to back out now."
And with that, the cat walked away without looking back.
"Hershey…" Tangle stopped herself before she could continue, instead looking down at the ground.
She was still angry, there was no denying that. The way the cat talked about Jewel, just calling her a 'Genesis Birth' instead of just saying her name was all kind of screwed up! It was like she was intentionally avoiding talking about her like the beetle wasn't even a person!
But at the same time, there was those looks on Hershey's face. A tone that showed how she was practically forcing herself not to feel anything. The fact that Hershey sounded less like a person just explaining herself and more like a machine reading from a script.
"And the last thing she said…"
The cat practically admitted that she doesn't always like the kinds of missions she goes on, and even earlier about how it did not matter what she thought about what she was told to do.
Was Hershey being ordered to say these kinds of things? To view Jewel as nothing but a 'Genesis Birth'?
And if so… why was she being forced to see Jewel as nothing but a label?
"You okay?"
Tangle turned her head to see Whisper staring at her through her mask, and the lemur could only offer her girlfriend a weak smile.
"Yeah, just… rattled is all.'
She couldn't outright just say that she now knew for certain that something fishy was going on.
"Just… don't let her get to you." Leeta, or Lyco, shook her head. "What Hershey tried to do to Mina was horrible but…" She grimaced. "She's… we are… going through a lot."
"…I can see that." Tangle and Silver exchanged troubled frowns. "So… is there any place interesting we can see?" She needed to change the subject before these two clammed up. "Like, the place where the cool gadgets you guys use are?"
Because all spy people had a special gadget division, right?
The other green-wearing twin seemed to snap out of her melancholy and grinned. "Well, you're in luck!" She pointed to a door up ahead and said, "That's where we're going now!"
They walked up to the door and the blue-wearing twin rapped her knuckles on the surface asking, "Uncle Chuck? You in?"
"Yes, come on in, girls!"
The door opened and they all walked in, but Tangle couldn't help but gape at what she saw.
All the monitors and equipment, all the mechanical doo-dads and binary code rolling down screens, it was like she had stepped into a panel from a comic book!
Sure, it wasn't exactly a big leap from the stuff Eggman kept around but it all seemed so… strange to look at. Like the lab was composed of stuff that shouldn't actually exist, like it was an idea of the future based on old tech from when she was a little kid. Stuff that her parents were already throwing out when she was eight. If she had to describe it, it was 'Futuristic Retro'.
"Whoa…"
Then her foot caught onto something, and Tangle let out a cry. She fell forward, and felt a hand grab onto the back of her shirt… only for her to hear the soft cry of Whisper as they both tumbled on top of the ground.
"Ow…" The lemur groaned, pushing up while the wolf scrambled to get off of her. "What was that all about…"
"Oh geez, I'm so sorry!"
Tangle looked up to see a lemur wearing a suit similar to Elias and the Wolf Twins save for the yellow stripes running towards them, a harried look on his face.
"Guess my luck finally hit somebody." He reached out his hand and helped her up. "I'm really sorry about…" He did a double take and looked past her. "Silver?"
"Hey, Larry?" Silver chuckled. "N-Nice to meet you, again…"
A pained look crossed the lynx's face as he stared at the hedgehog. It was like he was relieved… but also kind of scared. "It's…" He licked his lips and said, "It's good to see you too, man." A strained smile crossed his face. "Just wish it wasn't… y'know."
"While a wizard king is running around making everyone's lives miserable?" Tangle filled in the gaps and looked the lynx up and down. "Lemme guess… you're Larry, right?"
He looked pretty shocked at her statement. "H-How did you…?"
"Because I was told there was a lynx that was a jinx named Larry by Sally and Nicole." She grinned. "Gotta say, that's an award-winning pun right there!"
The lynx's ears dropped at that. "Yeah, funny…"
…Oh man, she just put her foot in her mouth didn't she?
"Oh? You brought some guests?"
Tangle looked past Larry at the other two occupants in the room. There was Mach, and he seemed to be in front of a movie watching an anime, one that had a dark blue dress-wearing human witch flying on a broomstick, and on the opposite side of the room tinkering with what looked like a small remote control was a hedgehog.
One with… bit white eyebrows and a mustache?!
"…Is there something on my face?" The hedgehog asked, pointing at himself before he adjusted his glasses. "Wait, aren't you…?"
"Big…" Tangle pointed a shaky finger at the hedgehog. "Big mustache…!"
How?! Why?! Islanders aren't supposed to grow stuff like that!
But there it was, all bristly and well groomed and… and…!
Whisper elbowed her on her side, and the lemur let out a yelp before shooting Whisper an embarrassed grin.
"Uh, Tangle. Whisper…" Silver motioned at the hedgehog. "Meet Sir Charles Hedgehog. Or Uncle Chuck. He's… Sonic's Uncle."
Tangle stared at the hedgehog.
He stared back, seemingly mystified by her presence here.
The lemur tilted her head as she studied his features and quills.
"Y'know…" She mused. "Take off the gross mustache and the eyebrows and yeah, I can see it!"
Chuck blinked once, twice, and then touched his mustache with an affronted expression on his face. "G-Gross?!"
Tangle grimaced. "Crap. I said that out loud didn't I?"
Silver let out a snort of laughter while Larry, Lyco, and Leeta looked appalled by her words.
Whisper, meanwhile, merely groaned and put her face in the palm of her hands.
Well, they were off to a great start, weren't they?
"An' we cannot thank you again!" The brown-furred mouse shook Julie-Su's hand vigorously. "You lot saved our town!"
"D-Don't mention it!" The pink echidna felt like she was going to explode from embarrassment. Why the heck did Vector put her in this situation?!
Was this payback for the thing about him liking moms?!
She wasn't used to being thanked personally. It just wasn't her style! It was always Knuckles or Vector that handled public relations, not her! She was just supposed to stand in the back, smirking all cool like while her boyfriend fumbled his way into saying how it was no big deal. Vector went into it like a croc in water, all cool and grinning from ear to ear.
Not her!
She looked at Saffron, who had her hand over her mouth and seemed to be holding back her giggling. Charmy was elbowing her in the side, seeming to take delight in her suffering.
"YOU JERKS!"
"Yeah! T'anks for all yer help, Big Sis Su!" The small mouse boy beamed at her. "You're a hero! Like Sonic!"
Her mouth formed a thin line at that. "Like Sonic, huh…"
That's who she tried to be like during her exile. To be the hero who bore every hardship on their shoulder. Who went above and beyond to make sure everyone was safe.
Like Sonic, her friend.
Like Knuckles, her lover.
It had been what kept her going.
It had been what almost destroyed her.
And now… now these people were declaring her what she had been trying to strive to be when that was the furthest thing from her mind.
"…Thanks kid." She smiled at him. "All in a days work."
"Now yer goin' off to save Big Sis Lupe?"
"That's the plan. We're going to bring her home, no matter what." She grinned at him. "Count on it."
It was what the kid needed to hear.
"Alright, guys!" Vector walked out of the spray-painted building that was apparently the Sheriff station while a Mobian armadillo wearing a cowboy hat and a small golden star on his little brown vest waved at them. "I got the info we needed! Lets get goin'!"
"And I got supplies!" Sticks yelled as she ran out of the general store, carrying several plastic canisters sloshing with water and a crate of sugar plums. "Lets go before da feds bust us!"
"Sticks, that isn't gonna happen!" Charmy rolled his eyes. "They gave you that for free!"
The badger narrowed her eyes. "Dat's what they want us to think!
Groaning, Julie-Su waved goodbye to the mouses and walked off with the Chaotix to their vehicles.
"So, what did you find out?" Julie-Su asked no one in particular, but she could feel a presence to her right.
"Plenty." Espio appeared and was flipping through a notepad. "Apparently this rumor about shadows has been going on for a while. Before even the war and Metal Virus."
"What?" Charmy flew down and looked over Espio's shoulder. "How come no one's told us about it, then?"
"It's because they usually happen in remote places like this town." The chameleon shook his head. "Unfortunately, many people go missing every day. And attributing it 'shadows' makes the authorities less inclined to go to the media about it."
"So this happened before and after the war…" Vector rubbed his jaw. "…Y'know, if I'm a bettin' man, they probably did it during it too."
"Would make sense." Julie-Su contributed with a shrug. She wasn't a detective, sure, but she did have experience. "Heck, they probably ramped up their efforts during those times. Nobody would be paying much attention when there was bigger stuff happening."
"Dose aliens sure are crafty." Sticks gave a sagely nod, causing Saffron to groan.
"Sticks? Please, it wasn't…"
"That's not all. I even got some descriptions." Espio interrupted, flipping another page of his notepad. "Not much, but it's something to go on. They were all dressed in black, but what features did stand out were decidedly feline…"
"Feline… dressed in black…" The pink echidna muttered to herself, frowning. That did kind of sound familiar. Maybe someone told her about something similar in the past.
"Think you remember somethin'?" Vector asked, raising an eyebrow.
"…Maybe? I dunno…."
"Those that did spot the assailants leave with Lupe the Wolf say that they likely went west from here." The shinobi pointed to the left while Sticks dumped her supplies into the open hood of the Beat Monster, ignoring the yell of protest from Vector. "But they couldn't give any more directions than that."
"Well, I think I found somethin' that might help us with that." The crocodile motioned them to follow him. "Come on!"
Within minutes they were inside a parking lot, where a fairly large black van with yellow stripes was parked.
"Hey, that's Akira's van!" Charmy pointed out while Espio walked up to the passenger door. "What's that doing here?"
"Akira?" Saffron asked while Vector grinned.
"A rookie that helped us out a ton during the war! Practically won the whole thing for us!" The crocodile nodded at Julie-Su. "Runs a cafe. You'll probably like it! We'll take you after we get a payday from this job!"
"…Does it serve good desserts?" She tentatively asked, trying to hide her excitement. It had been so long since she had a pasty! The last one she had was in New Mobotropolis, and she barely enjoyed it considering she was worried about Knuckles during the Enerjak fiasco!"
"Dunno about deserts, but he makes one heck of a curry!"
Suddenly, the door clicked open and Espio hopped inside. Within seconds he was back out holding several strands of fur and a gray quill in one hand while the other held a map. "Yes." He nodded. "Whisper, Tangle, Blaze, and Silver were here."
Julie-Su didn't know any of those names, except for Silver. She vaguely recalled Sonic mentioning something about him. "And Sally?"
The chameleon shrugged. "The locals did mention something about a mongoose and a badnik. Are either of those Sally?"
"The… badnik." The pink echidna felt like a complete jerk calling her friend that. "But we called them robians on Mobius."
"Hey!" Sticks shouted. "I knew you were in cahoots with dem government cyborgs!"
The ex-Dark Legionnaire pinched the bridge of her snout. "Oh don't you start…"
"Knew it." Vector nodded. "Guess they left their car here like the locals said. The guy running the general store also said they took the train for the Extreme Gear Riders. The question is why."
Espio held up the map. "This will perhaps offer some assistance."
He put down the map on the hood of the car and they all stared at its contents. There was the town, the train route, and a giant stretch of beige for the local desert. But there was also an area vaguely shaped like a circle with numerous x marks.
"Know what any of this means?" Julie-Su asked Vector, who frowned.
"Espio. Got a pen on ya?" He asked the chameleon, who produced one from thin air. "Great." He uncovered it and traced the train route. "They took the train, that's for certain." He pointed to the x marks. "Which means there was somethin' here that made it impossible for them to just go in Buddy's van." He went back to the train tracks and traced the route until it got to a bend that was the closest to the circle of x marks. "So they must've used the train to ride Extreme Gear around here." He circled that portion of the map and drew a small arrow to the circle.
"A barrier of some kind?" Espio asked with a raised eyebrow, and the crocodile shrugged.
"Probably. A real nasty one if they needed to go at high speeds to break through it." The crocodile then went to the marking of the town. Slowly, he began to trace an arrow west of it…
…which led directly to the barrier of x marks.
The pink echidna merely stared at Vector incredulously.
"I can't believe Vector is smart enough to figure something like this out."
Not that the Vector she knew was stupi-well, completely stupid, but still!
"I knew it!" Sticks screamed, pointing at the map. "I knew dat place looked familiar! Dat's Area 2014!"
Both Saffron and Julie-Su began to massage their temples simultaneously. The pink echidna herself muttered, "Aurora damn it."
Sticks was right about something, technically yet again.
There was no justice in this world.
"Dat's da place that never shows up on any satellite! Da government's off da books site where they whisk away people dat get too close to da truth!" The crazy badger was hopping on one foot to the other. "I told you all and ya didn't believe me! Who's crazy now?!"
"You are." Charmy yelled to avoid the boomerang that nearly hit him. "HEY!"
"Technology?" Espio asked Vector, who rubbed his chin.
"Probably. But there's gotta be a reason besides tech that those guys felt they could only get past whatever this is…" He tapped on the circle of x marks. "If they went really fast on Extreme Gear."
"…Probably means whatever is there won't affect us if we break through it fast enough."
"My thoughts exactly." Vector turned at Julie-Su and grinned. "So… you up for it, newbie?"
Julie-Su merely grinned at him.
This was the Chaotix she knew.
"Ready when you are, Croc."
"I can't believe you ratted me out to your sister!"
"Well you were the one who just stood back while those Chaotix guys beat up the Noise Tanks!" Cassia crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue at her tablet which housed the image of a glaring Cortez the Badger. "So consider us even!"
"They needed to get into a real fight sooner or later." The badger shot back. "Besides, I got involved when I felt like they really needed my help."
"Yeah, after they got their butts kicked! Now almost all of them are in that town's jail cells, and those hillbillies probably took away their tech!" The pronghorn shivered in disgust. "And five minutes away from my phone is like torture…!"
If Metal Sonic had a mouth, he would've smirked at that.
"It's amusing/entertaining/comical that organics need a constant flow of information to remain sane/stable/coherent." Phage hummed in his system. "Not that I can blame them. Data is just so… appetizing/luscious/tasty."
"Oh what do you care?" Cortez snorted. "You still have an army of nerds under you. Afraid that there won't be anyone else to make your stupid little dolls?"
"I'll have you know the Noise Tanks are my friends and my figurines are both cool and cute, thank you very much!" She wagged her finger at the monitor. "See, this is why I had Clove call you back! I knew you would act like this!"
The badger rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You ruined a good fight I was having and now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere with one of your nerds for company. Come pick me up already."
With that, the badger handed the phone off to the Noise Tank.
"JERK!" Cassia sighed, paused, and quickly said, "No, not you, uh…!"
"Makoto, Cassia-chan!"
"Right, right. Makoto…" The pronghorn laughed nervously before scratching the back of her head. "…So, uh… mind giving me your report?"
"Of course!"
The pronghorn quickly hit the mute and camera button on her need to smile nervously at Metal Sonic. "Sorry about this. But I figured you might want to see how I run things and… well…" She motioned to the tablet. "Here we are!"
The badnik merely stared at her before pointing at the Noise Tank and tapping on the screen of the tablet.
"Oh! You wanna know how I got these guys, huh? Well…" She laughed. "Y'see, I was combing through the webs to find anyone that was sympathetic to the Doctor's cause, because we couldn't be the only ones, y'know? Plenty of people know, y'know." Her smile faltered a little. "How the body will fail you. How the flesh will break down and mess you up. And how we could improve ourselves with the right tools. The tools Doctor Eggman has and…!"
Metal Sonic tapped on the screen again. This was all irrelevant. Of course the flesh was weak. Of course anyone with half a brain would seek to replace it with metal.
But a part of him still felt vindicated by Cassia's words. It was like they knew. They knew a Sonic that was wholly metal had to be the true one, because the real Sonic would never allow himself to be hampered by the prison of his own body and age!
The pronghorn blinked and shook her head. "A-Anyways! I found these dudes online and they knew exactly what I was talking about! They wanted to improve their bodies too! So we had tons of chats and video calls and…" She shifted slightly and had a warm smile on her face. "…a-and they thought my upgrades were cool and c-cute… I was so happy when they called me an idol and made all that stuff! Sis finds it weird but that's because she's not into the circles I'm in!"
Interesting. The Noise Tanks were partly here because they truly believed the doctor's mission… and partly because of the chemicals and synapses in their minds telling them that Cassia was 'cute'.
A part of him thought it was ridiculous.
But another…
"Tell me, brother, what would you do if you heard her call you cool/trendy/impressive again?" Phage chuckles in amusement. "Would you feel happy/content/delighted?"
He didn't dignify that with a response.
He was the real Sonic.
He was supposed to be cool.
And yet…
"So yeah, that's my story!" Cassia then had a panicked expression on her face. "Wait, crap! Makoto!"
She turned on the camera and the speaker as the Noise Tank continued with his report.
"…so when Naoto saw the Update Now request he just pushed it, and it actually worked on that echidna's Chrome! It was old so it took awhile, but the software was there!"
"Wait. An echidna? With Chrome?" Cassia looked at Metal Sonic, who was looming over her shoulder. "Didn't Phage talk about something like that in the Meeting? Dark Brotherhood…"
"Dark Legion." Phage finished before her face appeared on the screen of the tablet. "Interesting/fascinating/riveting. So one of them is here now…"
A Dark Legion member? Yet another remnant of the obsolete world?!
Why hadn't he been told?
"Because you would not have reacted… well to the news, brother." The screen flickered. "One moment. Ah. It appears that the software and hardware of this visual/optical/vision device of Legionnaire technology belongs to a… Julie-Su."
Metal Sonic searched the name through his files and found one result.
Julie-Su. Ex-Dark Legionnaire and member of the Chaotix.
Thought to be banished by the Tasmanian Devil known as Thrash.
Knuckles the Echidna's mate.
"Can we see her feed?" Cassia asked, scratching her forehead. "Might be useful."
"One moment."
The screen flickered again and now it showed the image of a map. One with various writings on it which all pointed to the Mirage Desert.
Specifically coordinates that were close to where New Mobotropolis was supposed to be.
"Well now…" Phage drawled out in amusement. "It appears that they will be coming/approaching/advancing to New Mobotropolis as well, brother."
Metal Sonic's hands clenched into fists and a feeling of joy filled his very being.
Good.
He always wanted to pay the echidna back for ruining his plans for the Master Emerald.
It will be a nice little sub-mission that he could take his time with when the rest of that accursed city was burning and Mecha Sally was little more than scrap beneath his feet.
"Is everything packed and ready to go, dear?"
Jules Hedgehog walked towards his wife, who was laying down on the roof of the stone building they've been calling home in this Source-forsaken desert. She wore her brown rags which allowed her to blend into the stonework, rags he also wore to hide his metallic body from reflecting the sunlight.
If it did, then he would be a sitting duck for anyone looking for them.
"Just about." He admitted as he sat down beside her. "There's enough water for three days for you and enough firepower to make a real impression on Geoffrey's loyalists." He glanced at her and knew for a fact that his eyes conveyed the jovial smile he wished to give her. "All of them are just for you, my sweet Bernie."
She looked up at him and smiled. "Well, we can't all have 'super cool rocket fists and laser blasts', right?"
He laughed at that. "Oh don't you start! If I had that kind of weaponry I would've hunted down Robotnik myself!"
"Still… that's good." Bernadette nodded to herself and sat up, putting her head on his shoulder. "At least now we can be a little prepared for whatever might be thrown at us.
"Right…" He was quiet for a second before he said, "I just… I just wish that we were going in with Sonic."
It was what they had planned for, after all. Sooner or later their son would discover them and, memories or no memories, he would run right to the kingdom to help free it. They would be by his side rather than staying on the sidelines this time, working alongside him to free their home from tyranny.
But days turned into weeks. Weeks into months. And months into…
Then the princess came alongside Nicole, Mina, and the new ones she made. Ones that found out what had happened and dropped everything to come and help.
Doing what their son would've done, had he been there.
Then there was that lemur, Tangle… the one who reminded Jules so much about his son.
The one who looked heartbroken after he told their story, who was so happy and excitable before when they first met. The one who stood up to bullies like the Sheriff and Mordred Hood.
"…I know, dear. I know." She patted him on his metallic thigh, her wedding right glinting in the sunlight. "But… he probably wouldn't want for us to just wait for him anyways."
"…No, I guess he would not." Especially now when their location was compromised. "Guess we better get…"
Suddenly, his sensors picked up something in the distance. He squinted and his vision enhanced the distant image.
It was that acolyte, Ebony, along with several others acolytes and soldiers riding inside dune buggies to their location.
None of them looked as if they were stopping by for a friendly chat.
"Dear?"
Jules focused his attention back on Bernadette who was looking at him with worried eyes.
"It looks as if our dinner guests are arriving early, Bernie."
Bernie's kind eyes hardened, becoming the blue gems that frightened both Overlanders during the Great War and Naugus himself.
They were the eyes of the woman he fell in love with.
"Jules?" She said sweetly while taking out her binoculars and looking in the direction he had just been staring at. "Get me the bazooka."
"Yes, Ma'am!"
To Be Continued…
Notes: Well, looks like I finally got this out!
Writing the Cortez vs Julie-Su was a lot of fun. It's like having a cyberpunk character pick a fight with Guts from Berserk.
Also had fun with Vector and Espio being actual detectives here! There's a reason why we love these guys!
Anyways, be sure to leave a review and add to the TV Tropes page!
Until next time…