smash_logs | [OPEN LOG] Egg Invasion Aftermath

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[OPEN LOG] Egg Invasion Aftermath

Who: Everyone
What: Congratulations, you blew up Eggman's stuff! Now deal with the aftermath.
Where: FDC hospital
When: February 23 - March 7

It all started on the morning of the 22nd. A small invasion force, determined to rescue the animals Eggman used to power his machines, set out to wreck his airship and destroy his robotic army.

Perhaps they went too far.

The Egg Carrier fell from the sky, damaged beyond repair, into the water. Most of Eggman's machines were destroyed. And the mad scientist himself? He was severely injured in the crash. After he was recovered from the wreckage, he was taken to the FDC hospital. His condition was critical, and he was in a coma. And now, in a great moment of irony, the man who turned living beings into machines himself depended on machines to survive.

Was there anything interesting left on the Egg Carrier's floating wreckage? Did you want to visit Eggman in the hospital to gloat or try and finish the job? Relocate the freed animals?

Needless to say, demolitions class was cancelled for the foreseeable future.

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And anyone who would come to finish the job? You're going to be met with a chair right in front of the door, occupied by a small girl with minor injuries, but nothing even remotely close to what the doctor had sustained.

She was different. Motivated by the same desires to protect what was important, but right now? The gun in her hand was very real, and very lethal, and she sat there, knees together, looking more like a young girl at a formal affair. However she was cold, quiet, and lacked any expression as if it had all been ripped away from her. The feelings she always had, worked so hard to understand, were all replaced by something far more complicated. It was a virus in her brain that she could not conquer.

So go ahead. Come in. But be prepared to go through her first.

And remember: she does not miss.

Hajime's job was finished, in more ways than one. He'd united the school as a force for change, freed hundreds of enslaved animals, and destroyed the lab and fortress that allowed for more creatures to meet the same fate. All it had cost him was his humanity, his livelihood, his understanding of everything he'd based his life upon, and grievous harm to another man.

It had been days since he'd last left his room. Without the need to eat, it was easy to lock himself away, where people couldn't see what he'd become, and he didn't have to see people empty and cold.

Much as he pitied himself, though, much as he wallowed in shame and humiliation, Hajime could not deny one fact: he was responsible for all that happened. Without his actions, this would not have happened, and he couldn't hide from that. Little as he wanted to face himself, he had to face what he'd done. He needed to see the effect of his actions.

There wasn't any more plan to it than that. He didn't even know if he'd be allowed in, after what he'd done, or even as suspicious as he looked. Still, no one stopped him as he entered the hospital. No one, until he neared the room.

Metal-on-linoleum footsteps came to a stop as Hajime saw the electric force of rage and despair sat in front of the ward. One android stared at the other, and went very still.

It's a shocker she didn't just shoot his head right off his shoulders, but Vivian stared at him, gun instantly trained right between his brand new eyes. Perhaps it wasn't entirely clear that she was boiling over with animosity, considering she couldn't even manage pure rage through her grief.

"What."

That was all he was getting, gun moving to every slight movement he would make.

This was the second time one of Eggman's loyal robots directed the barrel of their gun right at him. The first had set all this in motion, his realization of Eggman's intent and his planning to put an end to it. One gun to get him going, another after he'd finished.

For a long stretch, Hajime still said nothing, eyes on the gun, wondering if he had the right to be afraid. Would it work on him? He didn't feel pain, anymore. Perhaps getting shot without any pain was even scarier.

"Is he... have they said if he'll be all right?"

Was that a fucking joke?

Vivian's default was one of happiness, and even as his question boiled her from the inside out, her gun did not waiver and she just ended up with a disbelieving smile.

"...are you thinking about that now?" C'mon. Vivian didn't know what was suddenly coming over her. She felt so... so... different.

"Hajime. I'm not very smart. I understand... But even I know what happens when I use my weapons..."

Her question stabbed at him. Now, he was thinking about that now. He'd been so careless, he knew, and it was too late to do anything about it.

If he'd paid attention to her before, properly seen her, what could he have managed? He'd been so eager to brush aside her efforts and kindness, ready to discredit her cheer as something false, and now that he was actually looking at her it was gone. Because of him.

He could tell her he never wanted this, that he never planned to hurt him, that he never meant for the ship to crash, but that wouldn't change what he'd done. Excuses wouldn't take away responsibility.

"I don't understand much of anything anymore, so... so tell me... would your weapons work on me?" He would be shaking, in a body of flesh and blood. His chassis was too well calibrated, now. "You, you said we were alike, once. You'd know."

No. That wasn't what she saw. But it didn't seem to matter now. She thought of the answer, but then wondered what the next question would be. She couldn't imagine it alone; it wasn't as if this event made her any more perceptive. She was just more critical of her targets that came through that door. To this safe place.

"What are you asking?" Because it wasn't just that, right? The answer to his question wasn't all that simple anyway.

That was probably the right answer, seeing as he wasn't entirely sure himself. Everything was a huge mass of questions, ones he couldn't see from far enough to make sense of, spiraling out of control and smothering him. He just wanted answers, simple and palatable and easy.

He'd always hated the idea of anything being easy, before, and yet.

"I... I just want to take responsibility." His voice cracked as the barrel stared him down. He didn't want this, but he didn't want that either... did he...? "I wanted... I want to make things right, but... l-last time I tried that... it got us here."

Oh this was rich.

"Hajime," she started, standing up from her chair. "Are you asking me to neutralize you?" The threat. He was a threat - is he still?

Hajime took a step back as the fear shot through him. Oh, good. He still could feel that. The part of him that kept accidentally egging her on, goading her to it, wasn't all that was left. He didn't want to die, and he didn't want to be the reason for her to kill again.

He had no right to try and tell her what sort of person to be, or what kind of robot, or what he wanted for her, or what Eggman would want. Trying to think of the right thing to say, when everything was so wrong, only sent him in sprials of looping logic that made his processors whirr in aggravation.

He hung his head, at a loss. "No. I think that would just make everything worse."

Good answer.

Letting it linger in the air for many moments, Vivian sat back down.

Even if he had asked, she would never kill him. No, he was fine the way he was now. Besides, she really didn't want to kill anyone ever again, however a distant programming in her memory reminded her of days long ago where threats were destined to be neutralized.

Right now, in this place, she was back at the beginning of her life, only her actions would be refined by experience. Reconsidered with additional emotions now more firmly in her grasp. It used to be so black and white, but within days of being human, the grey area expanded like a vicious plague, until it flourished from death into a colorful array of freedom.

Freedom. Feelings. Emotions. To be this way was a wonderful and horrible condition of life.

"Hajime," Vivian began again. "How do you feel... right now?"

She sat, and the tension seemed to settle on the linoleum. Not gone, but eased, just for the moment, until he kicked it up again.

His gaze averted, Hajime couldn't bring himself to look at Vivian again. How did he feel? He wrapped his arms around himself. Small, for one. And stupid. And afraid. All manners of guilty and regretful. Angry, a little bit, and sick somehow.

For feeling so many things, it shouldn't have been such a hard question to answer.

"...If I had to sum up, I guess I'd mostly say I feel... terrible."

Tails... wasn't actually sure how he felt about this. The mission to save the animals was usual enough for him. So was disabling things on the Egg Carrier. But this? This was a little different.

Truth be told, he never knew if Eggman had been in a situation like this during any of his previous defeats. But the knowledge that what they did actually nearly killed him... it tore at his morality the more he thought about it.

So, for some reason or another, he wasn't really sure, he found himself at the hospital, walking towards the room where the Doctor was. Maybe he'd figure it out before he got there.

Of course, he didn't expect someone to be sitting in a chair in front of the door. A figure he'd seen once or twice since his arrival a couple of days ago... he kept his distance when he saw the gun, though. He wasn't going to be getting any closer right now.

Carefully, slowly, he called to her... "Vivian?" This was Vivian, right? The one who welcomed him to the school, was so happy... and yet now... this made him wonder what he hadn't found out yet about the situation.

That gun didn't hesitate to lock right onto him either. She didn't say much of anything once he entered the room, focused only on his movements in case he tried something out of line. She tried to remember if she saw this one in the fray of it all. Was he a culprit, too?

"Why are you here?" In other words, state your damn business.

Keeping a close eye on that gun, Tails still didn't move. No way was he going to give her a reason to shoot him.

"I... To see how he's doing, I guess." His expression turned to a neutral one. "It was just supposed to be an animal rescue mission. It... it wasn't supposed to end like this."

So he was part of it. Vivian had nothing against the idea of the animals being free. She, too, had feelings about it... but the tactics they resorted to were too much. She was lucky she got away with what she did as far as injuries go.

"But it ended like this."

"I know."

He crossed his arms. "It's been like this for years. He captures animals, uses them to power his weapons and robots, then turns them on us. We free them, dismantle his inventions, he flies off and plots the next scheme. Like clockwork, it's happened time and time again. He's toyed with forces that could consume him. All of this, just so he could conquer one planet.

"And even with all of that... I never would've wanted to see him like this. I don't think even Sonic or the others would. And nothing I say or do is going to make it any better... but I'm sorry that it happened. He didn't deserve this."

This bothered her. For a moment, she decided to rest her gun in her lap. It wouldn't be an issue; she could still easily neutralize him if he posed a threat.

However, she lowered her gun because she was a lost little girl again. She wanted to understand something and perhaps Tails could answer it.

"Why... Why, after it's over... why is everyone sorry only then?"

You know, Sonic never really hated Eggman.

This wasn't a change of heart upon hearing that the Good Doctor had been injured so badly. He just didn't. Even when Eggman had him trapped under ruins and sure to drown in the cold depths, he didn't.

He pitied the man, actually, that he had to go to such great lengths to claim dominance over the world. He probably wouldn't know what to do with it once he got it! Probably just yell at it a lot, Sonic guessed. That said, Sonic never intended to bring serious harm to the man. The insults, high-speed trespassing and explosive property destruction was all a sort of GAME, to strip Eggman of power whenever that power threatened anyone, to emasculate him and make him think about what he's done. Eggman may have been an atrocious example of a human being, but he never deserved to be killed.

Unfortunately, it looked like people played the game for keeps around here.

It's evening when he arrives at the hospital. His girlish guard-bot is someone that Sonic had already wanted to talk to about her loyalties, but that was for another time. One that was a long way in the future, at this point.

"Don't worry. M' not gonna try anything." He just says simply to her and stares through the open door.

"Hm... Amazing they found a hospital bed that could take his weight."

Hey, he'd earned his sympathy, not his respect.

Vivian's eyebrows rose as quick as they fell when he came in. Ah... The one she thought was her friend. She had seen Sonic's speed and skill, so she wondered if he tried anything, would she be fast enough to deal with it? I mean, people can just say they won't do something and go off and do it anyway. Happens all the time, right.

The insult was something beyond her, though. It sounded factual, really.

"Yes," she said. Sorry, Doctor. But that aside, she kept her gun fixed on him anyway, as anyone who would walk through that door. No matter how you looked at it, her eyes were calculating every single spot she could aim to take him down.

Sonic lopes past Vivian and into the room, standing at the foot of the bed in contropposto.

"...Hey. I dunno if you can hear me." He starts awkwardly over the beeping of the life support. "But I didn't expect any of this to happen. They just told me they wanted to bust up some bots! They had objections to the animals you put into 'em, surprise surprise... That was all I thought they were gonna do, wreck your stuff, put you in some kinda jail in FDC or something, but things got outta hand."

He pauses. "...really outta hand."

The gun shifting in Vivian's hand was not a sound that would normally rise. She had a steady arm, perfect aim - it was about the only thing she was truly a master over. Sonic's statement had moved her, though whether it made her angrier or... whatever emotions were there, it was difficult to say.

Still, if he looked at her, he'd continue to look down a barrel and beyond at an unmoved expression.

In fact, he does look at her when he hears the tiny clak of a faltering grip. It's very quiet in that room for a couple of seconds.

"...Hey, Vivian. This is pretty tough for you, huh? I know you like Eggman, though I have no idea why. Probably none of my business, anyway, but, uh...

He turns to look at her full-on now, and tries to stare past the muzzle of the gun pointed at him.

"Is there anything I can do for ya?"

Vivian put some thought into his question, but first, she had something to say.

"Not many people believed in me," she started, voice soft, almost back to what she used to be. "It was... fine. I was trying to be a better human. I knew, some day, they would see me as human."

Vivian's hand shook a little as she fought back the pain she was unable to break away from. It had its hold, but she would struggle until her last breath.

"The Doctor..." The word was difficult to say without a pang of agony. "L-loves me. He is... my family."

With that said, Vivian went back to a cold expression.

"Just... leave."

Sonic stares for a little longer, then nods.

"I'll see ya later, Vivian."

He gives the Doctor another glance, then turns and lopes out.

Flurrie came as soon as she heard the news.

In fact, she went to the wreckage site first, nearly had an emotional breakdown and forced herself into the ambulance, then admitted defeat and followed the paramedics to the hospital. She herself was a wreck by the time she arrived and pleaded with the doctors to see her beloved. The hours he was in surgery were the longest moments of her life, and when she was finally admitted into his room, she flung herself across him and wept. ~~probably getting smeared eyeshadow all over everything~~

Vivian stood up the moment she saw Flurrie race through the door. The only reason she didn't shoot was, well, she kind of heard her coming. Who wouldn't have?

Vivian had essentially threatened her way through the hospital. She wouldn't leave his side; she didn't trust anyone right now. Except Madame Flurrie.

Vivian stood behind her, expression defeated and racked with guilt. How could she have failed him so miserably? He counted on her to protect him. What could she even say to his important person now?

"I'm... sorry." It was all she could say.

Flurrie wiped away tears, trying to compose herself the best she could. "Who could do such a thing? Who could think this was justified?"

More questions she couldn't answer, however it stirred inside her a fury that was already boiling deep. It was by some grace of her happier days that she hadn't completely snapped yet.

"I'll wait here," she offered, hoping to make her feel better somehow. "I will protect him until he is awake..." She paused. "An after..." She hoped. This failure could lead to dismantlement and she would not object. It frightened her, but she would understand.

....so people were apparently kind of sad about Eggman being hurt.

Knuckles was... well. He wasn't SAD, per-se. Or morally conflicted. He didn't want to kill the guy, but maybe bruising him up a bit would fix his little red wagon. Maybe seeing that there were real, tangible consequences to his actions would mend him in ways that leniency couldn't. The Echidna hoped for a speedy recovery, of course. And he certainly didn't want the guy's condition to deteriorate.

That didn't mean he couldn't have some fun, right?

He saw people standing guard at the hospital room, so, he ninja'd his way through the air vents.

And he was only there for three minutes.

That was all he needed...

"...get well soon, Eggman." he said before he climbed back through the vent from whence he came.

Edited 2015-03-05 04:35 (UTC)

Vivian quickly turned when she heard his voice but saw nothing. Huh.

She looked at the doctor, ticked up an eyebrow.... but smiled a little.

How'd that happen?

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[OPEN LOG] Egg Invasion Aftermath

Just you go ahead and try

He's tried more than enough lately

I'm ready

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CRIES, HELLO

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dramaaaaa

WAH

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