The ring deposits you all safely outside the base and seals up afterwards. Neo Metal Sonic doesn't chase after you, which is something of a mercy.
What's significantly less of a mercy is the sky - it's gone dark and ominously stormy, though the clouds spark not with lightning, but with that same green Chaos Energy you've been facing this entire fight. Worse still, there are now far, far too many robotic planes filling the sky - the Egg Fleet seems to go on endlessly, as far as you can see. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the Neo Metal Sonic Fleet.
Sonic and friends arrive shortly, looking pretty banged up but otherwise still healthy enough to make it here, though they stare up at the sky with obvious concern.
"O...kay, this is definitely not what any of us were expecting."
"We will have to take the fight to them, it seems."
"Easier said than done, I'm afraid... I'm not sure how to pinpoint their leader's exact location to send you all with a ring..."
A jolt of green lightning flashes across the sky and Neo Metal Sonic's voice rings out.
"I expect to see you onboard my fleet in one week's time. That includes you, my loathsome copy."
It seems you don't really have much of a choice. For now, tend to your wounds and try to regroup; you've earned a break after today.
You make a good point. No doubt he was created in Sonic's image, in whatever universe he originates from. To be able to express discontent with such a thing is already beyond what I would assume his programming would dictate, as I understand the concept.
Do you...think it could be possible? Even if the chance is a mere fraction of a percent, wht if he is reachable?
I...hope that it does. There are many things I need to make up for, and offering all of you my aid as best I am able is the least I can do in service to that.
...I just wish this did not have to end as I anticipate it might.
[Viktor shook his head, whirring in an exhausted sigh.]
I will not claim myself any better. I have spoken through those I linked to my own mind and even fought with their bodies as the conduit for my voice and will. In that sense, perhaps this is only fair retribution in a larger sense.
I have no right to confess myself to have been frightened. But I can say, whether cruelty or mercy, they no longer had that capacity when I did it.
Do not give that Neo creation so much credit. [Is he gonna be spiteful for a second? Absolutely.]
He echoes your mistakes but is willingly beyond reversal of them, whatever the reason may be. It was no retribution, it was an attempt to toy with us. To make us feel powerless.
You are allowed to feel fear, Viktor. It does not have to be seperate from what parallels are drawn. Perhaps... it may even be for the better, to know it as such.
Hm...the rigidity of a set function is simple to comprehend. A heart, much less so. I can certainly agree with you on the difficulty in understanding the matter.
Who knows? I would not immediately hope for the best outcome by any means, but...it is a hypothesis worth testing, should the situation allow.
Whether he is beyond reason or not...it is not possible to know that with certainty, not yet. Even if it seems a certainty, that is not an assumption I wish to make right now.
[Maybe that was selfish, projecting, or both. Wishful thinking, at the very least.]
But you may be right. These troubling emotions are...significant.
I do not expect as much to be possible. I do not know him, and I do not even know the purpose behind his actions--whether it is seeking perfection or a desire for control.
...I have said from the beginning, I am not a soldier. My purpose as a scientist is to improve lives, not to take them. One could make the argument that countless would be saved by ending one, but that is...not a solution I am prepared to accept.
[Because it was right. Viktor more than anyone knew he should have died to stop what he had nearly done, but on the other side of it he knew damn well he did not have the capacity to make that decision.]
When this inevitably becomes a fight, I will not hold back for the sake of protecting everyone here. To save this world, I will face whatever twisted imitation of my past self that I must. But I...will not be able to do so alone.
[ Void Archives is about to potentially try to swing back around to the thought, not even sure if they can finish it as the words escape them, but ironically enough, it seems Wolfwood has loosely followed it well enough. ]
Hmm...not anymore, you say. I suppose I should be fortunate, that he has given you perspective towards those who are - well, not exactly human.
[ There was a shift in how they almost phrased that. But, only by a hair. They already know that in their mindscape it showed that they believed that they would go back to being such. Trapped and losing their freedom of mind. The "humanity" they grasped despite not being one themselves. Yet, they don't want to call themselves less than whatever they think they are now...so, in this moment where their own personal progress might have been diminished, they tried to sort of. Claim some of it back.
Though, they pass Wolfwood like a slight bit of a look at his other words. A hint of amusement. ]
Typically...they would fall into line with ease, yes. [ Pause. ] They wouldn't hold such opinions or - have personal preferences. Or perhaps, find amusement in back-talking such individuals.
[ They briefly smile wryly at the initial response, saying nothing of it.
But, as Lucifer elaborates, they tilt their head just a bit. ]
The individual's choice? Because of the acts that they've committed?
Rather than I suppose you deciding to take them there for an arbitrary reason?
[ Since, well, going to hell seemed to be based around that, really. One's acts decide whether or not one is permissible into Heaven or Hell. Which does make sense as opposed to the man driving the initial direction there. ]
...Then it is a good thing, is it not, that you will not be alone?
[His smile is light, before he lets his eyes glance down towards his hands.]
I do not want it to end in this way, either, my friend. There are plenty among us that wish to just end all of this definitively, to possibly end this with force that feels deserved as an even match and call it done for good.
[...]
Toa... we do not kill. Or... we should not, at any rate. It is a feared and loathsome thing, to be driven by the urge to take another's life, or to help another in pursuit of the same. Even knowing that some of our own want as much... even if I know that we may well have little remaining options, it still does not sit right with me.
It is. We will not be too much worse off if it fails.
[There's usually a chance to yell a little before the fighting starts.]
...I...feel as though by rights, I ought to be the one to try. Considering. [He gestures at his own face.] But I am not sure I know what to say. How can I not know what to say?
[The particulars of their situations certainly differ, but Turo's a robot copy. He's thought about that every time they fought one. But the android versions of Shadow and their friends were clearly not intelligent, really. Neo Metal Sonic is the first one who clearly also has some feelings about it.]
[ They're definitely having a time of it - which, on some levels feels earnestly frustrating to them. It's one thing to struggle with something in a nightmare or a mindscape.
But...something about stumbling with it in the real world feels like it shouldn't be - even if they know why they would. As such the extremely cursed evidence of their lack of smug self remains.
The perception comment gets something like a look that'd normally look more amused, though, well. That isn't the case - they take the glass and begin to take more than a sip. ]
I suppose it'd be foolish to say that it hadn't been a bother. I thought there was a decent chance that it may have gone unnoticed, however. The chaos that occurred on the minds of others at the last half of the battle did not involve just myself.
To make such an appeal is more than within your rights as well, I should think. But you certainly need not know what to say right this instant. By the sound of it, we have time to prepare ourselves--perhaps you should dedicate some time to thinking the matter over.
I can not say it would be wrong to utilize force. Of all people, I can not say his crimes are ones earning anything except being stopped by any means necessary. If and when it comes to that, there is nothing I will do to dissuade anyone from that course of action.
...But I have killed far too many in my attempt to 'save' the world. I do not have the strength to do so now, even if that salvation should be more than a lie this time.
[Turo sighs, venting hot air, as the damage repairs itself and the alerts retreat from his consciousness. When More is done, he rolls his shoulders and bends his back, a few automatic motion tests. Everything is back in place and working again, of course; it was just the same the last time.]
Thank you. That's much better. Really, it wasn't that bad.
[Not so bad as More was earlier. He turns to face him properly now, eyes skimming over him again as if to check for injury.]
...I understand. [Not for the same reason, but the desire to reach out was present regardless.] If you wish my opinion, I think you should try--but at the same time, I do not think it unreasonable if you simply could not find the words.
[ More watches those motion tests very carefully, taking a second to be fully convinced that it is indeed fine now.
For his own part, he looks... well, he looks like a mess, given his clothes are in tatters and he's covered in blood all over. But Turo will note that all the patches of skin that are visible seem to have healed up to near completion. There is scab left, but it seems quite shallow. The gash that had cut through half of More's torso is no more. His collarbone looks a little crooked, like it didn't grow back together perfectly, but it's in one piece now. ]
It occurs to me that I truly have no frame of reference for what a dangerous injury would look like on you. What a frightening realization to have, this late into the matter.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Page 12 of 17