SALLY not SALLY (a broken SI in the Archie Sonic setting)

[Tangent]

SALLY not SALLY
Chapter 13
A broken SI fic by Tangent​

---

"I know, I know," Uncle Chuck sighed as he sat down on a bench and slumped his shoulders. "After the whole Metal Sonic Trooper fiasco, you likely didn't expect me to be working on another Metal Sonic…"

"Dad didn't mention another commission," Sally stated bluntly. And then continued under her breath. "Not that he told me about the Metal Sonic Trooper commission at the time either…"

"There wasn't one," Uncle Chuck replied. "I started working on Shard here back during the commission. He started out as a test bed unit that I tried various systems on, but when I was given the Power Gem, I made a housing for it in the test bed torso and he… well… woke up."

"And once he was awake, you didn't know what to do with him," I concluded nonjudgmentally, acknowledging that he had accidentally placed himself in a very awkward position. Because while the Metal Sonic Troopers were not sentient, Shard was. And Uncle Chuck couldn't very well bring himself to kill him.

Sally sighed, no doubt reaching the same conclusion I had. "You may as well finish putting him together. I'll talk to Sonic and the others and see if they'd be willing to accept him into the Freedom Fighters on a probationary basis."

"If not, he could always come to Knothole and find out what he wants to do with himself," I suggested. "That's what I'll be doing."

"Hey, I'm up for it either way, Beautiful," Shard grinned.

I had no idea until just now that I was even capable of blushing…

"Let's not forget what we came here to discuss," Nicole interjected.

"Ah, right," Uncle Chuck perked up. "You said that Nicole was going to be doing a deep dive to clear out Autumn's control overlay program and any other malware she can find. You'd like me and possibly Rotor to act as a safety overwatch for her, I take it?"

How? Oh, right, he's an engineer. Feature creep and distractions aside, he's at least aware of potential safety issues even if he's occasionally blase about them.

"With Jules and Bernadette acting as overall oversight, yes," I confirmed, earning me a slightly hurt expression from Uncle Chuck.

I just looked at him flatly and cocked a brow.

After a moment, he sighed. "Fair enough. I guess I deserved that."

"For what it's worth," I offered, "I don't think you or Rotor are bad people. You just both have a tendency towards feature creep, which is not a trait I feel comfortable having in someone poking around in my head without somebody providing oversight. Last thing I need is laser eyes or fire breath or something silly like that."

"Well, if you don't want them…" Shard quipped.

"Maybe after your probationary period, assuming the Freedom Fighters take you in," Uncle Chuck said, shaking his head. "I already gave you enough extra features - which probably proves Autumn's point, actually. Anyway, Rotor is scheduled for some pool therapy at the rehabilitation clinic near the hospital if you want to ask him as well."

"Ooh! So, I can get laser breath and fire eyes instead!" I joked.

I'm not sure where Sally found the stress ball she threw at me, but I made a show of falling over as if she rolled a nat twenty…

---

"Oh, yeah, sure," Rotor said as he slowly but steadily did his physical therapy regimen in the clinic's swimming pool. "It'll be interesting to watch Nicole at work, and it's a good idea to make sure your head is clear of any other malware as well. I'll discuss scheduling with Uncle Chuck and let you know when we'd like to do it."

"You mean when you'd like Nicole to do it," I pointed out flatly.

Rotor just looked at me and shrugged. "Just to be clear, that is how I meant it. I'm aware that I have a problem with adding extra, unasked-for features. That's how Bunnie ended up with her arm being able to turn into a Buster Cannon. I'll be on safety oversight only, stepping in only if you or Nicole seem to be in danger. If it makes you feel any better, have a third party there other than Uncle Chuck (because he has the same problem I do) to watch over us."

"We already asked Jules and Bernadette," Sally admitted.

"See? There you go then. No problem." Rotor shrugged again and then started another careful exercise to help with his recovering back injury.

Things were actually looking pretty good so far today, with almost no unexpected hitches or complications so far…

"Anyway," Rotor chose that moment to speak up again. "Nicole, I'd like to thank you for the patience and restraint you've shown these past couple of weeks by staying out of New Mobotropolis' systems. It's gone a long way towards assuring all but the most alarmist among the general public that you can be trusted and that what Regina Ferrum forced you to do was not your fault."

"Thank you, Councilor Rotor," Nicole said cooly, clearly repressing her frustration with the ongoing situation.

"No, seriously - you staying out of the systems of your own accord has gone a long way towards defanging one of Naugus' stronger leverage points. He can't very well offer a King's protection against a threat that isn't there," Rotor explained.

"Well, there is that," Nicole conceded.

"Why hasn't he been driven off yet?" I asked in frustration. Mind you, now that I was wearing a Power Ring, I was much less vulnerable to be taken over by his Crystalmancy, but still…

"Because his subsequent defence of New Mobotropilis during the Death Egg attack actually won him some political support despite the fact that he had just tried to claim the Throne of Acorn by force. Also, he seems to be fixated on restoring at least some political power to the throne. I think our switch to being a republic threw him off."

"Of course it threw him off," I retorted. "He's a bargainer mage and one of the major bargains he had been counting on was for the Throne of Acorn. If it has no political power, a lot of the mystical power he had been tying up in that bargain goes away."

"How do you know these things?" Rotor asked. "I didn't think that Sally was into mysticism."

"I literally manifested due to a glitch in the universe," I snarked bluntly, purposely leaning more heavily into the radio-voice effect that most Robians had to some extent. "How do you think I know random things Mobian was not meant to know?"

"Okay, that was creepy," Rotor grumbled. "Never say that again."

"No promises," I retorted.

---

We left Rotor to finish the rest of his therapy in peace and were now just casually walking through New Mobotropolis, taking the time to actually enjoy the city that Nicole had built.

Okay, barring a few more complications and political weirdness than I felt was strictly necessary for one of Sally's days off, things were still looking generally upwards. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, there wasn't a cloud in the…

"DOCTOR ROBOTNIK HAS ESCAPED!" some random Mobian yelled, starting a panic.

Why, universe? Why must you taunt me so!?

Fuck my life…

 

[Navrin]

Suggestion:

I suggested. "That's what I'll be doing.

Click to shrink...

Add quotation mark to end.

At least they actually noticed that Robotnik escaped. Progress! Maybe they'll even try him in absentia, condemn him to death, and give everyone permission/encouragement to kill him if they get the opportunity! He certainly deserves it infinitely more than basically any badnik does...

It's nice that Autumn Rose feels more able to tell people that she's not a straight robian clone of Sally like this.

 

[cazador]

Might want to ask if they can install a buster Cannon

 

[Tangent]

Might want to ask if they can install a buster Cannon

Click to shrink...

Autumn: "I said a Buster Cannon, not a Buster Keaton!"

 

[Tangent]

SALLY not SALLY
Chapter 14
A broken SI fic by Tangent​

---

Ugh… I did not want to be standing in front of these goobers again. Rotor and Uncle Chuck aside, I did not have a lot of respect for the Council of Acorn even if Sally at least respected their office. Republic of Acorn my shiny metal ass - they still didn't know how to actually function as a democratic republic…

Calm down…

The republic isn't actually much older than I am. As a political entity, they are still basically going through their baby steps. And, according to some of the memories I inherited from Tangent, only one of them, Councilor Rosemary Prower (Tail's mother) had even seen one in action. And that was from the point of view of a refugee, not a participating citizen.

Still didn't mean I was comfortable with them being all up in my business…

"It has come to our attention that you are seeking to have Nicole remove a control overlay program from your operating system," Councilor Rosemary Prower led with. "That sounds like an attempt to jailbreak a safety feature."

"It's an attempt to delete an incessant whiny insistence that I serve and obey Dr. Julian Ivo Robotnik," I corrected, forcing my voice to remain calm. "It's the program that he added to the robotization process that forces Robians to obey him. I want it, and any other malware that may have come with it, gone."

As if neither Rotor nor Uncle Chuck wouldn't have told them this when they informed the rest of the Council of Acorn of my intentions. Still, there was a reason for this political theater. And said reason was probably heading towards Snively to take control of his empire back from his nephew.

They needed to be seen dealing with a potential Eggman asset.

And as much as I didn't want to admit it, I needed to be seen as proactively having the last of my tethers to him removed. Even if they never worked quite right on me to begin with.

"And Nicole has agreed to perform this removal procedure?" Councilor Dylan the Porcupine spoke next.

"With oversight by Councilors Rotor and Charles," Nicole clarified. "As well as by Jules and Bernadette Hedgehog."

"I think we can agree that this represents sufficiently adequate oversight on this matter," Councilor Penelope Platypus stated. "I propose that we mark this procedure as approved and move to do what we can to facilitate the action as presented?"

"I second the motion," Councilor Roemary stated. "All in favor?"

Much to my surprise, the vote was a unanimous chorus of "Aye!" Even Councilor Hamlin was apparently deciding not to be an obstructionist.

Damn silly nonsense if you ask me - in the time it took them to call the matter before the Council to do all this political theater, Nicole could have already cleared my head of any malware and been done with it. This was supposed to be a private matter, not a public one!

Ugh… The things we do to prevent rioting in the streets…

"With that out of the way, may I propose that we make a final ruling on Naugus' claim to the Throne of Acorn?" Councilor Hamlin put forward, interrupting the celebratory hug Sally was giving me.

Please don't tell me he was now in favor of letting that would-be usurper's claim stand as valid…

"With the evidence that we have of his attempts to exert mystic influence over several Councilors as well as over the investigation into Geoffrey St. John, I move that his claim to the Throne of Acorn be declared to be a bargain made in bad faith and thus unenforceable," Councillor Rosemary stated plainly.

"I second the motion," Councilor Charles added. "All in favor?"

And once again the vote was unanimous. Which was damn weird, because I could have sworn Naugus could control one person at a time, so where was the nay?

For that matter, where was Naugus anyway?

---

"Hmm?" Sonic shrugged and then answered first when I brought up the matter when we rejoined the Freedom Fighters later.

Not that the bunker that served as Freedom Fighter HQ had been repaired yet, as the Council of Acorn was still split on whether or not the Freedom Fighters should remain a thing and had at least temporarily cut funding down to a trickle for basic operations and little else.

Which was about as stupid as Elias' ill-advised attempt to annex the Freedom Fighters as a national asset. Not our brother's proudest moment there, given that it practically crippled the formerly extranational organization by immediately severing all cross-national ties and allegiances. The only saving grace was that it wasn't actually Elias' idea - it had been Geoffrey's idea given as advice.

"Autumn, you're doing it again," Nicole pointed out gently.

"What? Oh! I'm sorry, Sonic. What were you saying?" Damn, that was embarrassing…

"I said that Naugus the Naughty got sick and locked himself in his room," Sonic repeated, shaking his head in amusement. Whether over Naugus' sudden illness, my ability to randomly distract myself with mental tangents, or most likely both, I had no idea…

Wait…

Naugus is sick and in hiding?

Isn't this still just a bit early for his decline to accelerate?

"When did he do this?" I asked.

"Sometime around ten this morning," Sonic shrugged again, although he was obviously wondering where I was going with this.

Oh…

Around ten this morning was right about when I had Sally give Dad the spare Power Ring she was carrying for me. Wait, if Sally was carrying it for me, wouldn't it be more of an extra than a spare? Ack! Not important! Focus, Autumn, focus!

Oh!

Between getting cut off from his apprentice, his claim on the Throne of Acorn being in question (now denied), and the fact that Dad now had a Power Ring…

Naugus fell ill and went into hiding right about when I had Sally give him that Power Ring…

THAT BASTARD HAD BEEN LEACHING VITALITY FROM DAD TO KEEP HIMSELF IN GOOD HEALTH!

"Autumn, you're catastrophizing again," Nicole pointed out in concern.

Which, fair. That was a bit more concerning than an anxiety attack or distracting myself.

"Thanks, Nicole," I sighed.

At least Dad was safe now.

Well, reasonably safe.

…

"Let's go check on Mom and Dad."

I'm going to be the death of me, I just know it…

 

[Silvercrystal]

Well this was a nice little distraction to find.
Absolutely love what you've done.
As someone who grew up on Archie Sonic this was a nice nostalgia bomb, if my place wasn't a disaster I'd be tempted to unbox my collection of the comics for a re-read. (Not that it's complete… )

 

[Tangent]

SALLY not SALLY
Chapter 15
A broken SI fic by Tangent​

---

"Max is fine," Dr. Horatio Q. Quack informed Mom, Sally, and me as Dad huffed in indignant bemusement over the fact that his daughters had returned to his home so urgently to drag him off to the hospital. "Relatively speaking of course, as he's still prematurely aged and had been through an extended period of poor health. But as far as I've been able to determine, he's no longer in active decline."

Mom, Sally, and I all looked at each other in relief. We'd inform Elias later, of course.

"Now, you said that his return to health happened when you were given that Power Ring?" Dr. Quack asked Dad.

"That is what happened, yes," Dad confirmed.

"And this was about the same time that Naugus fell ill and locked himself in his quarters?" Dr. Quack asked Sally.

"According to Sonic, yes," Sally confirmed.

"Correlation, but not direct proof of a cause," Dr. Quack noted.

"Dr. Quack, come quick!" a member of the hospital staff burst into the room (an opossum, i think?). "Geoffrey St. John was just brought in! They say that he suddenly fell ill in his cell and is experiencing violent seizures!"

Sally and I looked at each other, then turned to watch Dr. Quack as he rushed off to respond to the medical emergency.

"No proof of connection. Riiiiiiiiight," I commented drily.

"That's not verified yet!" Dr. Quack yelled back over his shoulder without stopping.

---

Oddly enough, Jules and Bernadette had arrived in New Mobotropolis at some point during all of this and had been ushered to the hospital, where they met Rotor and Uncle Chuck.

I, of course, had to infer all of that when an orderly came to Dad's room to collect me and Nicole (and Sally by default because she was the one carrying Nicole's handheld) and escort us to a room designed for Robian care.

"Have a seat," Rotor said as he waved me towards what looked like a high end gaming chair with an attitude despite being a completely inanimate object. The built in wrist and ankle restraints were not helping matters.

"Don't wanna," I said, not moving any closer to the high tech S&M chair.

"The chair has a built-in neural override chip…" Rotor started.

"DON'T WANNA!" I insisted, keeping the rising panic out of my voice. I think. Maybe…

"I told you that was a horrible name for it," Uncle Chuck admonished Rotor. "Autumn, all the chip does is actively suppress a Robian's control override program. Not only will this provide extra safety for Nicole, it will guide her right to the control overlay program so she can deal with it. That's it. That's all Rotor designed it to do."

"That is a horrible name for it, then," I snark, the panicked edge to my voice stabilizing and receding.

"It overrides the neural restraints of the control overlay program," Rotor tried to explain his naming convention.

"It sounds like an enslaving device!" I wasn't having it. "Call it… I dunno… An autonomy liberation module or something! And those physical restraints on the chair aren't helping either!"

"Those are literally there for the safety of the patient and the technicians," Uncle Chuck sighed, palming his face.

"You built this thing…" I started.

"Nope," Rotor countered. "All I designed was the neural…"

I glared at him and he quickly decided that this wasn't a hill he wanted to die on. "... Autonomy liberation module. The chair itself and others like it were salvaged from one of Dr. Robotnik's captured bases. They're what he used whenever he wanted to work directly on a Robian."

"One: Thank you for changing the name of the thing," I said. "The original name was horrible. Two: none of that actually helps your case for the chair itself. Why don't I just lay on the workbench over there? You can secure me with bungie chords or something."

"Why do they always ask for the bench?" Rotor sighed. "The chair is ergonomic."

"Speaking as a former Robian, I would have chosen the bench too, Rotor," Uncle Chuck said in flat disapproval. "You didn't tell me that these chairs came from one of Dr. Robotnik's facilities."

"Speaking as someone who is still a Robian, I have to agree with my brother," Jules added, shaking his head.

"I literally went over all of them myself to remove the pain inducers and other Robian torture devices," Rotor pointed out.

"YOU'RE STILL NOT HELPING YOUR CASE!" I insisted vehemently.

Panicking? I'm not panicking! You're panicking.

---

Eventually, we settled on just strapping me to the workbench like I suggested while Rotor grumbled about the waste of time he had gone through repurposing perfectly serviceable Robian Service Seats.

Somebody else had to have given them that name, because apparently that was much better than what I was now expecting from anything named by Eggman or Rotor.

In the end, the procedure itself was actually anticlimactic because Rotor hadn't been kidding. The autonomy liberation module led Nicole straight to the control overlay program, which she deftly deleted with determination and drive!

Small mental alliteration kick aside, I think I was doing rather well.

I was definitely glad it was all over and done with at least.

"I still think that it's a waste of time to build these seats from scratch when we captured so many perfectly serviceable ones," Rotor grumbled as he and Uncle Chuck undid the bungie chords strapping me down. "I even procured one of the extras for myself because of my back problems."

"Look, it's good that you can see past the malicious purposes Dr. Robotnik actually used these chairs for and put them to actual beneficial use," I tried to assure Rotor that his heart was in the right place. "But maybe consider reupholstering them in something other than industrial grey and burgundy?"

"That matters?" Rotor asked.

Bernadette, Nicole, Sally, and I all palmed our faces.

"Yes, Rotor. That matters." Sally confirmed.

There was a sound of crashing and violence from out in the hall, which Sally, Nicole, Jules, and I rushed out to investigate. Well, Nicole would have had to come by default since Sally had her handheld, but I was pretty sure she would have come out with me and Sally anyway. Jules doing so was a bit of a surprise though…

Focus, Autumn!

Now what made that noise?

"YOU!"

Oh!

Oh dear…

That was what had to be what was now possibly the former Geoffrey St. John. If Dwane "The Rock" Johnson was wearing him as a fursuit and he was coming out as a Werewolf of London enthusiast.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU MISSALIGNED MECHANICAL MANNAQUIN! I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

Okay, crazy hybrid Geoffrey-Naugus monster is threatening me. And my day had been going reasonably well so far too…

Sort of…

Oh, who am I kidding?

"NO! I WILL ENSLAVE YOU INSTEAD AND USE YOU TO WIPE OUT THE ACORN LINE SO THAT THE SOURCE OF ALL WILL BE MINE!"

Okay, this fruitloop is going down.

Spoiler: Ixis Naugus

Spoiler: Geoffrey St. John

Spoiler: Um... Yeah...

 

[Dragonin]

Gotta love a boss who knows how to get under your skin… I hope they give the traitor the mercy of a quick death

 

[Tangent]

SALLY not SALLY
Chapter 16
A broken SI fic by Tangent​

---

Okay, a couple of things became quickly apparent as the fight with Geoffrey-Naugus started.

First off: Neither of us actually knew how to fight in our current bodies. Sure, I was tougher and stronger than Sally, just as agile, and I had inherited memories of her fighting style…

But I was also heavier due to being made of metal, and the extra weight was throwing off the combat training I would have otherwise gotten from those memories.

Geoffrus - or would that be Geogus? No! Not the time for distractions! Geoffrey-Naugus, for his part, was a weird mix of Geoffrey St. John with the proportions of a gorilla and the magical power of…

Okay, from the rather unimpressive patches of crystal here and there, I'd say that his new hybrid body is much less magically potent than what Naugus had been used to.

I ducked as he threw a hospital gurney at me.

Right. Body like a gorilla now. Gotta remember that.

"We have to get out of the hospital and away from civilians," Sally said as she dodged a (fortunately unoccupied) thrown wheelchair.

"Down the hallway away from Naugus, turn left at the first intersection," Jules stated as he literally caught the wheelchair and whipped it back at the gorilla-skunk that used to be Geoffrey. With much greater force and accuracy than Naugus' own throw had been.

I kinda forgot that Sonic's father had been a war hero in his own right before he had been roboticized. And he's been a Robian for a decade or so now, so he's more than just used to his body…

The three of us ran down the hall as if we had an angry gorilla-skunk chasing after us (which, to be fair, we did), turning left adroitly…

Well, Jules and Sally turned adroitly while I tried but kept skidding straight until I managed to catch the wall railing and pull myself into the turn.

Naugus the Big and Clumsy kinda slid past the turn like I almost did, buying us some more time to make it to the window at the end of the hall.

Which Jules and Sally stopped and opened wide rather than the three of us crashing through it like Studiopolis stunt doubles.

We were on the third floor, but there was a tree outside that Sally used to perform gymnastics to get safely down to the ground below, treating the branches like irregularly placed uneven bars. She even stuck the landing as if it were no big deal.

I leapt out the window to do the same…

…and the first branch I grabbed snapped under my weight and I tumbled down to belly flop onto the lawn below, injuring nothing but my pride.

Especially as Jules just jumped straight down and struck a three-point superhero landing.

I started to push myself out of the light indent I left in the lawn, only to get immediately shoved back into it as roughly five hundred pounds of gorilla-skunk landed on my back and planted me deeper into the ground. Scoring the second hit against my pride but no actual physical damage yet. But being this tough wasn't going to do me any good if I couldn't do anything.

I felt the large hand wrap around my neck and the crystals starting to spread across my body as Naugus got off of me and lifted me high in the air…

I also heard the tinkle of the forming crystalline layer as the Power Ring on my left wrist pulsed, sending a wave of energy that caused the magical crystal that Naugus was attempting to use to control me with to shatter and crumble away to dust.

Maybe I'd be in trouble if Naugus' crystalmancy wasn't weakened by his current condition, or if he had his magic staff with him instead of wherever his original body was, but I was apparently safe enough for now.

You know, besides the fact that Naugus still had all the physical strength implied by having a gorilla-like body and he was holding me up by my neck.

Details like that are important.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, the fight!

I punched the hand Naugus was holding me up with as hard as I could, causing him to yelp in pain as he dropped me.

Which would have been fantastic if the force behind my own punch hadn't stunned me too.

Hello, Lawn. We have to stop meeting like this. People are going to talk…

The fight went on without me for a bit as I lay there and recalibrated myself as well as I could.

From the sound of things, Naugus couldn't lay a hand on Sally, and Jules' own Power Ring was shattering any layer of magical crystal that Naugus managed to coat him with.

"I'LL HAVE YOUR HIDE FOR A THROW RUG, PRINCESS!" Naugus bellowed in frustration. "I'LL CONQUER THIS PATHETIC KINGDOM AND CLAIM THE SOURCE OF ALL BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST AND TURN EVERYONE INTO MY SLAVES!"

Right. Villain rant. Time to get up and do the thing.

Whatever the thing I need to do happens to be, considering that my thinky-thinky bits seem to still be a little rattled.

Ooh… Big, fluffy, grabbable tail - plus he's looking at my sister and not at me.

Looks like it's time for some applied rotational physics!

I grabbed the tail and was immediately glad that Mobian skunks didn't have the same spray glands that their animal counterparts had.

Or at least Naugus' current form didn't, which was a win anyway.

"WHAT!? LET GO OF ME, YOU DELINQUENT DOLL!"

Maintain hold, shift weight, spin…

"OW! LET ME GO!"

Spin faster…

"I SAID…"

"Okay!" I said cheerfully as I let him go and watched him soar in a ballistic arc that fell short of the public fountain I had been aiming for by about the length of half of a soccer field.

Good to know. So, I needed to either spin even faster or maybe arc the throw higher?

Dammit. Naugus was getting up already and didn't look any worse for wear.

This fight was going to be a slog…

And then a blue streak hit Naugus at roughly the speed of what the fuck was that and then proceeded to blur all around the gorilla-skunk, striking him again and again and again. Dozens of times, then over a hundred, until Naugus fell defeated in roughly two-point-five seconds and the blue streak just abruptly stopped.

Sonic the Hedgehog had arrived.

 

[Navrin]

But being this tough wasn't going to do me any good if I couldn't do anything.

Click to shrink...

Silly Autumn Rose. Being extremely durable means that you aren't an active liability in the fight and you can afford to act as a distraction to him. That already means you're providing some degree of combat power compared to you not being there. So it's making your side more likely to win and you, in particular, more likely to survive the fight without being maimed.

Congratulations to the ad-hoc team in keeping the collateral damage relatively low until Sonic could show up and end the fight. And possibly to whoever got the message out to Sonic. (If anyone did I'm betting it was Nicole)