SALLY not SALLY ch24
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Tangent
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SALLY not SALLY
Chapter 24
A broken SI fic by Tangent
Chapter 24
A broken SI fic by Tangent
I honestly had no idea how Shard had found me so fast, but I was very grateful that he had.
Mind you, I'd have been just a tad more grateful had he actually gotten me out of this chair or at least removed my gag first, but I guess he didn't want to risk hurting me by going too fast.
Which was kind of ironic given all of the badniks, Dark Egg Legionnaires, and mounted internal defences that were actively trying to shoot at us. And not so actively trying to avoid shooting anything that wasn't part of their subgroup.
"Ah, here we go!" Shard said as he ducked into an alcove with the chair I was in. "This should be safe enough for a few seconds…"
And in those few seconds Shard's deft, powerful hands had broken every single one of my restraints including the gag - and then we were on our way again even as bullets, blasters, and lasers riddled our position with holes.
"Now to find a way outa here," Shard commented.
So, I gave directions even as we flew through the corridors and maintenance ways at ludicrous speed. "Up! Up! Down! Down! Left! Right! Left! Right! Bay! Airlock!"
And we were outside of the Death Egg II just like that.
And in very short order, we made a rendezvous with a Freedom Fighter shuttle that was still approaching from the east.
"We gocha, Sugar," Bunnie d'Coolette said even as Shard handed me over to her and she guided me to a very different kind of seat. One without the restraints or pain inducers, or the threat of being mostly dismantled in order to be rebuilt as a weaponized slave…
Now that the danger had (mostly) passed, I started shaking and crying uncontrollably, broken sobs escaping me even as I released everything I had been desperately trying to suppress all at once.
Bunnie, Shard, and Sonic all looked at each other and nodded before Bunnie turned to her husband who was flying the shuttle.
"Get Rosie somewhere safe, Antoine," Bunnie ordered. "The boys and I got us an egg to fry."
And with that, the three left the transport shuttle and flew off towards the Death Egg II, with Bunnie carrying Sonic, even as Antione turned the shuttle around and started to fly back towards the Republic of Acorn…
The next day everyone in New Mobotropolis was celebrating the destruction of the Death Egg II, Shard was being repaired, and Sonic's arm was in a sling for a sprained elbow. Bunnie managed to not get hurt, but that was mostly because the fucking brand new Metal Sonic was trying to focus down on Shard first.
"And what did we learn?" I asked Shard even as Uncle Chuck was finalizing the attachments on his new left arm.
"That my replacement has bad manners and no sense of humor," Shard quipped and then fist-bumped Sonic.
"Okay, fair enough - I'll give you that," I acknowledged with an indulgent smile. "Now how did you guys find me so fast?"
"Oh, that one was easy, Sugar," Bunnie replied. "Once Bark and Bean were caught tryin' to pawn your very recognizable hoverbike and we got who had hired Nack from them, we knew there was only one place you could end up, and we still knew where the Death Egg was."
"Of course, I got there first!" Shard bragged.
"Only because you fly and I don't," Sonic quipped.
I sighed as the sheer weight of events settled on me in a different manner and I came to a realization.
"What is wrong, Rosie?" Antoine asked, immediately noticing the downward shift in my mood. "What is it that is troubling you so?"
"It's…" I hesitated, unsure how to say what I needed to say and convey the proper context. "I… It's… It's just… I…"
"You don't have to say anythin' Rosie," Bunnie assured me. "Just know that you ain't in this alone."
"Thank you," I sighed. "But that's not it. At least… not all of it. When I first manifested, part of me was Sally and part of me was Tangent, but I was always just… me. Well, me and an annoying tagalong who never shut up and wanted to use me to serve Robotnik. I didn't want to do that, but I didn't know how to be me either, so I just sorta followed Sally around, because it was safe. And if she was Sally, then I wasn't Sally. Which… honestly? It was kinda reassuring. Because while part of me was Sally, I didn't feel like I was actually Sally. So Sally being Sally and me not being Sally was sorta my thing. What I used to anchor myself."
I was quiet for a bit, but rather than filling the silence the others just patiently waited for me to gather my thoughts and speak again.
"Part of me was Tangent too, but not really," I continued eventually. "And not in the same way that I wasn't really Sally either. From Tangent I just knew things… If I remembered them, which… well, you know what I'm like. Some of which I didn't have any business knowing. A lot of it not quite right but just accurate enough to be sorta useful. But…"
I sighed again and sorta collapsed in on myself as I took a seat on the bench next to Shard. The Freedom Fighters were there, of course. As was Uncle Chuck, who was quietly working on repairing Shard.
And to be clear here, we were here visiting Shard, given that his social circle isn't actually all that big just yet. And I did not feel at all comfortable with taking the focus away from him. He's the one who took the brunt of his father's hatred and his brother's jealousy.
Yeah, Sally ended up ordering the Acorn Army to go and finish securing and dismantling the Death Egg II so that Dr. Robonik couldn't repair it again. Which got her into a row with the Council of Acorn about making that decision without consulting them. It took Hip and Hop, the current Judges appointed to head the new judicial branch to intervene and force a compromise. I didn't understand how it all settled, nor did I want to at this time, but it boiled down to the executive branch having to have at least some authority to initiate actions or why bother even having House Acorn as anything but figureheads.
Not my monkeys, not my circus. I had to get my own ducks in a row before I worried about anything else.
And my ducks are currently scattered all over the place.
Ultimately, we had to end our visit before anything other than Shard's repairs were resolved. Uncle Chuck had to get back to the Council - not because every member had to be there for every decision, but more because this particular decision was important enough that everyone involved had to be there to weigh in and make their case.
I will, as previously mentioned, remain quite happy to stay out of politics for the next sixteen years. Or even longer if I could get away with it.
But I wasn't free to just go home to Jules and Bernie's place in Knothole either. Dr. Robotnik wanted me enough to have had me kidnapped.
And I had been dumb enough to dismiss the idea that Robbie the Rabbit was a serious enough threat to report to anybody before deciding to confront him for stalking me.
So, I had a room in the palace again - my own this time and not just a spot in Sally's chambers.
I also had to sign in and out if I wanted to go anywhere. And request a bodyguard if I wanted to leave New Mobotropolis.
It was for my own protection.
And I hated it.
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