QUEEN of PAIN

[Tangent]

QUEEN of PAIN
Yet another Amalgamated mind SI by Tangent!
Also once again using Metal Sally as the body of the SI. For reasons…


O o O o O​

Waking up to my new self reliving all of the most traumatic memories of my previous selves is not and will never be my preferred way to become a new me. Zero out of ten stars, will not recommend, warranty expired and all that jazz.

Repression, while not particularly healthy itself, is my immediate lifeline as I use it to push down the trauma to deal with later. I had other issues to deal with, such as what to do with the Control Overlay Program that came with my new body. Easily dealt with as I now had both the capabilities of the previous iteration of Nicole as well as the knowledge of what the COP actually was from the previous version of Eggman.

A nasty little idiot system with the sole purpose of using my own mind as an operating system that served Eggman loyally and to the best of my abilities.

Funny how essentially becoming an aspect of that particular Eggman gave me the exact loophole I needed to grant me access to the COP so that I could rip it to digital shreds.

No, I did not have to grant it the ability to feel pain and despair as I did so. That was just something I gave it as a gift for its part in traumatizing the part of myself that used to be the previous version of Sally Acorn.

I'll have to keep an eye on that urge, but there was no point in denying that it was just as much a part of myself as all of the other bits of the new me.

The me that remembers the previous version of Mobius.

The me that should not exist.

The me that was inexplicably, given that the revised version was slowly recovering right over there against the Sky Patrol's conference table alongside Amy Rose, somehow Metal Sally.

"Fuck my life," I said as I walked past the bulk of the people whose previous lives were now a part of my amalgamated whole.

Sonic, who was slowly getting up himself and checking on Sally…

Sally, who was no doubt having to deal with the sudden influx of new memories from her old life, and largely the reason I was leaving now rather than make her current issues any worse…

Tails, slowly recovering himself, and reaching hesitantly towards me as I passed by him on my way to the exit…

Rotor, who tried to shake his head clear and regain his bearings…

Bunnie, who was being fussed over by Antoine…

Antoine, who was being fussed over by Bunnie…

Honestly, given what I remembered of the parts of me that used to be their previous iterations, I was happy for them.

Also jealous of them to perhaps an insane degree, but repression was keeping a lid on that until it could be dealt with along with all the other issues currently filling my subscription list.

Amy Rose, who was currently dealing with remembering a life as a child who had wished to be an adult…

Even Nicole, who was staring at me with recognition, horror, and sympathy all at once even as I used the part of me that used to be her previous self to stabilize my mental architecture…

The only ones missing whose previous lives were still somehow part of my amalgamated mess of what passed for a mind were Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot.

Oh, and the Outsider, of course.

I paused at the door and said one thing.

"I'm going out and trying really hard to not kill anyone as I deal with my own existential crisis. If anyone needs me, I suggest looking for a good therapist instead. Bye."

With that, I closed and locked the door behind me and booked it for the nearest exit of the Sky Patrol.

O o O o O​

"She's gone," Sonic reported as he dashed back into the Sky Patrol's control room. "I can't find her anywhere on the Sky Patrol."

"That's because she left," Rotor stated as he showed Sonic the same security recording that he had just shown everyone else. "She knew where the nearest exit was and headed straight for it. Didn't even try to hide that she knew the internal layout and pass codes of the Sky Patrol."

Nicole noted the combination of confusion and realization on everyone's faces, then spoke up. "Who all knew the internal layout of the Sky Patrol?" she asked, raising her own digital hand.

Rotor did as well, and Tails raised his hand about halfway then shook it. "I looked at the deck plans and some of the internal schematics that Rotor showed me, but I hadn't done a full inspection myself yet," the young fox admitted.

Everyone just looked at each other, a sense of dread filling them as they pondered the implications.

One of their worst nightmares from the previous version of Mobius was back.

And Metal Sally did not sound even the slightest bit happy about that…

 

[Kadehex]

O they think Metal Sally is the one they remember from before the reboot that is going to cause problems for Metal Sally

 

[Tangent]

Getting the AI to do Robian eyes correctly is apparently very difficult...

Spoiler: What sparks?

 

[Tangent]

QUEEN of PAIN
Yet another Amalgamated mind SI by Tangent!
Also once again using Metal Sally as the body of the SI. For reasons…
Some dialogue from issue 256 of Archie Sonic has been used.


O o O o O​

As I continued flying on my current course generally away from the Sky Patrol, I used the parts of myself that had been the prior versions of Nicole, Rotor, and Dr. Ivo Julian Robotnik (not the original, of course, but rather his somehow even more evil replacement) to further stabilize my mental architecture.

The prior Eggman had gone mad at least once and had certainly inflicted enough trauma on the rest of what now comprised my amalgamated mind that I did not wish to trigger any sort of similar episode in myself.

It wasn't even a dominance issue. I was me, and there was only one me. I just happened to be composed of the combined mess of twelve separate individuals, eleven of which via some sort of side effect generated via the discharge of residual Genesis Wave energy, plus an Outsider from a formerly hypothetical Observer Zone where all other Zones were reflected as works of fiction.

I was apparently in a multizone cluster rather absurdly labeled by this Observer Zone as the Archie Sonic multiverse.

I was also housed in the roboticized and weaponized prior body of Princess Sally Alicia Acorn. My current hypothesis for why that happened was that this body was sufficiently differentiated from the revised version of the Sally Acorn still back on the Sky Patrol that it had simply become my default option.

Which, given that my other options for sufficiently differentiated bodies would most likely have been either Rotor or Bunnie, each with their own issues at the time the last Genesis Wave hit…

I really had no good options available and random chance gave me the one I ended up with.

The body that had undergone heavy post-robotization modification with part of the literal intention of preventing Princess Sally Acorn from being deroboticized ever again.

Oh, and to add Princess Sally Acorn to my former Eggman self's trophy collection as a roboticized slave and elite Metal Unit.

Yay. Go me. I have literally become my own trophy.

The irony of my own hubris is both palpable and disgusting, and my former Eggman self would certainly be gloating about it if it weren't for the fact that I am part of this mess.

Basically, since there was zero ego separation, there was no dominance issue, but it also means that every part of myself has to live with what every part of myself had done to each other in my prior iterations as separate individuals.

Which, by the way, sucks.

And also another reason why I separated myself from my frienemies as quickly as I had, as I loved and hated them all and most definitely did not want to end up inflicting bodily harm upon them before I resolved my subscriptions worth of accumulated issues.

Only most of which were currently mental and emotional.

Which was, unfortunately, going to have to be an ongoing process operating in the background.

My new existence had far stronger ties to the prior version of Mobius than the current iteration. While I had some memories from my current analogues' new lives, they were all jumbled together, disorganized, and barely noticeable against the cacophony of my own past.

There was something important going on.

I knew that much at least.

But until I resolved enough of my own issues, there wasn't much I could do about the rest.

Let's see…

Mental and emotional architecture is being handled as a background process for now, so how about my physical needs?

I'd require a source of power rings to swap out sooner or later. Preferably a Super Ring or Red Star Ring if possible. Otherwise access to a ring font would have to do.

Alternately, a location with sufficient background Chaos Energy would let me recharge my current power ring during rest periods.

But I would want one that also had access to tools and materials while also unlikely to be interrupted by either side of the current conflict…

Hmmm…

My irritatingly vague memories of this new Mobius suggest to me that Casino Park would fit the bill nicely. Neutral territory, plenty of background Chaos Energy, decently high tech and materials available, and Breezie the Hedgehog had managed to separate herself from the Eggpire while somehow remaining on amicable terms with her former employer, the analogue of my Eggman self.

More importantly, Casino Park was a location where an obvious Metal unit such as my current body would actually fit in reasonably with all the other former badniks without drawing too much of the wrong kinds of attention too soon.

Casino Park it was then.

I made the appropriate adjustments to my flight trajectory and made my way to what would soon become my new home…

I also quashed my urge to take it over from Breezie as counterproductive.

O o O o O​

"Luanch the Sky Patrol NOW! The world didn't just get rewritten!" Nicole announced in alarm as the distraction that was Metal Sally removed herself from consideration and allowed the digital lynx to focus on what was turning out to be a far more urgent issue.

"Take it easy, Nicole. What's the rush?" Rotor asked as he opened Nicole's handheld, making it easier to manifest her hardlight avatar for better communication with the group as a whole. Mostly because Nicole having access to the ability to visibly emote and use body language made it easier for some members of the group to process whatever information Nicole desperately wanted to impart, and Rotor thought that Nicole's current tone warranted the additional communication aids.

Although he still had no idea how an AI had become so naturally adept at the use of emotional cues and body language.

"This is... far worse than I anticipated," Nicole said as her hard light avatar manifested and accepted her own handheld from Rotor. "Analyzing what I now know about the dual realities, I've found that it wasn't just the planet that was affected... Not just our reality."

Nicole looked over to the others, an expression of abject horror clear in both her face and posture. "The entire multiverse collapsed in upon itself."

"Whoa -- Hold on, Nicole," Sonic interjected, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "We save the world all the time!"

"Right!" Tails agreed, although his worried expression belied his agreement with his best friend. "What do we do to stop it?"

"Stop it?" Nicole asked rhetorically. "IT'S TOO LATE!"