Chapter Text
Tangle jogged in place outside the Restoration HQ entrance. After Whisper said that she would talk to Lanolin, Tangle figured she would warm up, wake herself up. At the very least, it'd give her something to do.
Every second they spent talking was a second they weren't going after Eggman. The Botniks could be escaping! Who knows if they would catch them now? Every muscle in her body was itching to move, to run, to go.
It didn't help that the Restoration base was so quiet at night. She couldn't talk to anyone or help a friend out or even run around. People were sleeping in there. The ruins outside was just as quiet as always. The flower garden swayed in the breeze, little bits of rubble fell from the buildings, and no one was doing anything. She wasn't quite bored enough to start jumping around, but if Whisper and Lanolin took any longer, she would.
Tangle thought about peaking into the base, listening in on their conversation. She wanted to, but she shouldn't. After the whole business at the Eggperial Base, she didn't want to push either of their buttons. She already messed up enough with the Diamond Cutter name. Plus, it was the weird mix of too serious to be jokey and not serious enough that she needed to be there. No, no, despite how hollow it made her chest not talking to them, she knew she should give them their space.
What were they talking about, anyway? What was bothering Lanolin? She didn't laugh at Tangle's jokes, she wasn't paying attention to anything, and she barely told them what to do. Even just a few weeks ago, she actually felt like the leader of the Diamond Cutters. She was so determined to help people and stop Eggman. Did she even want to anymore? It was like her mind was always somewhere, not like Tangle where her mind was always racing, but like she was only thinking about one distant thing. Weird.
Just when she started to do push-ups for the sheer fun of it, Whisper finally came out the base, her wisps trailing behind her. Her mask was on, so maybe the conversation didn't go too well. "Whisper!" Tangle called, bouncing to her feet. "Where's Lanolin?"
"Not coming," Whisper said. "Let's go."
...
Tangle knew Whisper's moods and she knew that this one was a "not talking" mood. It was only once the attack site was in view that the silence was broken.
"What happened here?" Whisper said.
Tangle had no idea. The tracker they were following led them to a random spot in the densest part of Forest Hill. The Restoration members were gone and all that remained was the burnt wreckage of the medicine and scorch marks on the ground under it. Everything else looked completely normal: no explosion marks, no broken trees, light tire tracks leading to the wreckage. Heck, without the tracker leading them here, they might not have found it.
"Come on! Let's check it out," Tangle said, running over to the wreckage. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she figured she might find something useful. It was hard to tell at a distance, but the indistinct pile of broken steel was a truck. That must have been what the Restoration members were using to carry the medicine. The back was more holes and empty space than metal and the front was only slightly less damaged. All that remained of the cargo were shards and debris, all scattered around the truck bed. None of it looked whole, much less usable. Tangle growled involuntarily. She knew Eggman was pure evil, but this was just cruel.
"This is awful," Tangle said. "Why would Eggman do this?"
Whisper, who was searching the area around the truck, replied, "It doesn't seem like him."
"Huh?" Tangle said, turning her attention to Whisper.
"He likes to go big, show the world his genius, right? Why would he want to attack a random supply truck in the middle of nowhere?"
"Oh, yeah. Maybe he wanted to wanted to test the Badniks?"
"He has a ton of testing facilities, though. How did he even know about this?" Before Tangle could respond, Whisper's wisps flew up into the top branches of the trees and she continued, "Can you check that out with them?"
"Sure!" Tangle said. The trees in this area were massive, with even the lowest branches so much taller than herself. She ran up the closest tree, bark splintering under her shoes. When she got close enough, she used her tail to whip around a branch and swing herself up. The little flip she did on the way up may have been unnecessary, but it sure was fun.
Even on the lowest level, there were so many branches that they formed a floor. The leaves above her were thick enough that she couldn't see the sky. She didn't know what she should be looking for, but nothing looked out of place.
As Tangle looked around, her mind started to wander. As much as she loved spending time with just Whisper, why wasn't Lanolin here? What did she and Whisper talk about? Whatever it was, it didn't seem to make Whisper happy. Did Lanolin just not want to fight anymore? Was there something going on with her family? Did she have issues with the other Diamond Cutters?
Tangle stopped. Oh no. If it was that, Tangle had to fix it before it got too bad. Lanolin was an important member of the Diamond Cutters! A third of it, even! Sure, Tangle didn't quite have the same complete trust in Lanolin that she had in Whisper. Sure, Lanolin didn't take up so many of Tangle's thoughts like Whisper did. Sure, Tangle and Whisper being alone together had felt different and more intimate than being with Lanolin. But she was important! She brought things back when Tangle was too reckless and she had the same type of serious attitude that Whisper did. They were a team!
That settled it. Tangle had to know what was going on. "Hey Whisper!" she called.
Whisper looked up. "Did you find something?" she said.
"Uh, no. There's nothing up here. But is Lanolin okay? What's going on with her?"
Whisper paused. Eventually, she said, "She didn't say. Anyway, come down here." When Tangle did, Whisper continued. "Eggman shoots down an unmarked medical truck in the middle of nowhere. There's no evidence of a battle. The terrain is undamaged. Everyone got out safe enough to make it to a medical center. They couldn't even tell us what Badniks attacked."
"Well, they did say it was invisible. But yeah, this whole thing is weird."
"Have we even seen invisible Badniks?"
"I haven't, no."
Whisper's face was serious. "This was a set-up. Had to be."
Tangle gasped. "A set-up? By the Restoration members? They wouldn't!"
"Nothing else makes sense. But why would they..." As Whisper trailed off and Tangle started to find polite ways to tell Whisper that idea was crazy, her eyes widened. "It's an ambush."
Before either of them could say anything, something exploded. The heat burned Tangle's fur and the shockwave sent her flying back. She hit the ground hard and rolled.
She opened her eyes to see the crash site, now far away, on fire. The smoke pooled to the nearby. Whisper was lying motionless under a nearby tree. She must have hit it after the shockwave from the blast. Tangle tried to get up, run over to her side and protect her, but she couldn't. The pain in her legs, absent at first, was overwhelming. Still, she crawled as quickly as she could. All she could focus on was protecting Whisper.
Once Tangle got close, nearly enough for her to reach out to Whisper with her tail, the space between them lit up with laser fire. Tangle turned to see what it was. Buzz Bombers. Lots of them. They had their stingers aimed at the two of them. As they charged up, Tangle stretched her tail out as far as she could, hoping she could shield as much of the blast from Whisper as she could. She braced for the pain.
But before she felt anything, she heard a deep, deafening ringing. A magenta light radiated from behind the Buzz Bombers, then waves of energy tore through them. Scrap metal and screws flew apart and fell to the ground. Relief and safety rushed through Tangle.
Behind them, with fire casting her in shadow, was Lanolin. And she looked exhausted.
The morning after Nicole talked with Sally, as the ship flew lazily over Northamer, nothing seemed like it was changing. Sally was still in bed, the rest of the Freedom Fighters went about their day, and Nicole tried to keep her mind off of things. Sally was feeling the same pain and loss they all did. The grief and pain that came from the war. But they were all heroes and Sally was the strongest, bravest person Nicole knew. As soon as danger arose, she would lead them. She had to.
Nicole was eating breakfast with Bunnie in the meeting room. Well, Nicole wasn't eating. Her feelings about not being flesh and fur was always conflicted, but especially after last night, the loneliness and sadness were taking over. Still, it was nice to have company in the morning and sitting with Bunnie while she had eggs and coffee was always a good time.
"Hey Nicole," Bunnie said, interrupting Nicole's thoughts. "What's going on with Sally-girl?"
"What do you mean?" Nicole said.
Bunnie gave her a look that said they both knew what she meant. "She's barely been out of her room. She hasn't been eating with anyone. Heck, I've barely said a word to her for weeks! Has she said anything to you about it?"
Nicole looked away. She didn't want to tell Bunnie what Sally had told her in confidence, but she didn't want to lie to Bunnie either. "I think Sally's just recovering from everything that happened with Dark Gaia," she said.
Bunnie took a sip of her coffee before responding. "Fair enough. I just can't remember the last time I saw her like this. At least for this long and without talking about it," she said. "Shoot, I should go talk to her."
Just as Bunnie started standing up, the ship shuttered. Under flickering lights, the drinks and food jostled off the table. Bunnie and Nicole both grabbed on to the table for some stability. It stopped quickly, but that didn't make Nicole any less worried.
"What was that?" Bunnie said, sounding more confused than worried.
"I'm not sure," Nicole said. "I'll run diagnostics." Nicole dissipated her holographic body and entered a digital version of the Sky Patrol's systems. Her digital avatar was placed inside towering maze of light blue hallways. She knew this system so deeply that she didn't need to follow the circuit paths. She ran to the system display by memory and started reading the outputs. Weapons: online. Communications: online. Engines: online. Life support: online. Shields and long range sensors: offline? When did that happen? How could she not notice?
There was no time to check on them manually, so Nicole activated the automatic error programming and turned her attention elsewhere. The ship hull showed a breach in the lower decks. It was small, barely larger than a person. It didn't compromise the ship's integrity and it was in a hallway between engine room and the medical bay. It was maybe the best possible hull breach they could have, but it still never should have happened under her watch.
Nicole utilized the heat sensors to locate everyone. Bunny was where Nicole left her and Antoine was running towards her. Sonic was speeding over to the bridge. Rotor was in the engine room and Tails was in the hallway outside. Amy was leaving the kitchen. Sally was in her quarters. Everyone was accounted for and there were no extra life forms. Granted, with Tails Doll having hidden in their systems for so long, she couldn't rule anything out.
"Nicole, what's going on?" Sally said over Nicole's handheld device.
Nicole appeared in Sally's room in holographic form. Sally was by her desk, attaching her Ring-Blades to her wrists, but her movements were slower than usual. When she turned around, Nicole saw the bags under Sally's eyes and her heavy blinking. She wasn't at her best, but it would have to be enough.
"Something breached the hull in the lower deck and took down our shields and sensors. I don't see any extra organic life forms. I don't know how this could have happened," Nicole said.
She didn't realize how much she wanted Sally's reassurance until she didn't get it. "Are we under attack?" was all Sally said.
"We have to assume so." Nicole manually activated the emergency system. A low alarm began to sound and the lights turned red. "I'll contact the others. You get to the bridge."
"Right." Sally nodded and ran out of the room. Nicole transported to the engine room, where she saw Rotor crawl out from underneath the massive machinery that held their ring supply.
"Nicole," he said. "What's going on?"
"Likely an attack. Our sensors are down, so I can't use the weapons. Can we use them manually?"
Rotor nodded, but his face didn't look optimistic. "Of course, but we won't have visuals from the bridge. We'll have to go to the weapons themselves to use them."
Just then, the hallway door opened and Tails stood in the entrance. "There's a ship incoming! Fast!" he said.
The three of them ran outside. The hull breach was on the left hall, approximately 10 meters away. The ship was moving slowly, so the air rushing out of the ship didn't carry them off immediately. Still, Tails flew backwards and Rotor grabbed onto the wall to keep himself grounded. Nicole looked out. They were just below the cloud layer, so she was able to see to the ground. A single ship was in fact flying upwards directly towards them. It was small, rectangular, and bulky, looking more like a transport ship than a fighter jet, but it was moving just as quickly. From the speed at which they were traveling, Nicole knew they had less than a minute before it arrived. Not enough time to repair shields, arm the weapons, send out a distress call. Their best hope was getting all the Freedom Fighters to the breach to attack it on their own. At least, that was what she thought. Maybe Sally would have a better plan if she was there, but it was down to Nicole.
Nicole activated the shipwide speaker system and called out, "Everyone! There's a ship approaching the breach on the lower deck! Come here immediately!"
By the time that Sonic arrived, the ship was close enough that it was starting to slow down and turn to its side, showing the side doors. They must have intended on boarding. Just then, Amy arrived, followed by Bunnie, Antoine, and Sally. There wasn't enough time to for any of them to leave and attack the ship. They had to be reactive. Bunnie started charging her arm cannon, Sally activated her beam swords, and everyone else got into a fighting stance.
They wouldn't get a chance to, however. Before the ship even stopped, the side doors opened suddenly and a line of Egg Army soldiers started firing lasers at them. Everyone in the Sky Patrol dodged to the side to avoid the blasts. It worked — the blasts harmlessly hit the back wall — but the Freedom Fighters were out of position. They couldn't attack the soldiers before they would be able to board.
"Hah! Told you it'd work!" yelled a feminine voice from the other ship. It was hard to hear over the wind, but it was unusual in how cybernetic it was. Egg Army soldiers began jumping over, clad in green and pointing their guns at the team. Then two more people jumped over, different from the rest. They were both green pronghorns and wearing grey military officer outfits. One of them was tall. Her expression was calm and, even with the wind whipping her around and the general chaos of the scene, she had an air of authority. The other was shorter. She looked absolutely giddy to be here and, unlike anyone else in the area, her body was completely cybernetic.
"Clove," Nicole heard Sally say under her breath.
"Sally Acorn," Clove the Pronghorn said. "We need to talk."
Clouds roll into empty sky. The shiny green grass dulls. Shadows of nonexistent trees line the hills. The dream, shared by no one, stays alive.