Molly's Return

Chapter 18: Healing Paths

In the aftermath of the attack, Molly, Maria, and Hope begin to clean up the wreckage left behind by the Asthma troopers. Shadow practically bursted through the door when he heard what had happened, followed by Team Dark and the other team members of the Sonic Heroes.

"Girls!! Are you okay?!" The Ultimate Lifeform asked as he checked on all three of them, making the others surprised by how worried he seemed for them, but none of them dared to comment about it. Meanwhile, Tails was analyzing the destroyed Asthma, trying to understand their construction and potential weaknesses.

"Any luck, little bro?" Sonic asked. Tails shook his head.
"Nothing yet. These 'Asthma' are more complex than I thought. They're made up of a weird combination of biological and mechanical components, and I can't quite figure out how they're connected. But I did find where their..."

Tails opened a small compartment on the back of the destroyed Asthma, revealing tons of vines that began to shriek at everyone, causing panic before the two-tailed fox slammed the compartment shut before continuing: "'Ammo', is at."

"BURN. IT." Molly demanded, still feeling pain on her wrist and leg from the earlier attack. But then, Vector, the lead member of Team Chaotix, stepped up.

"Hey, hold on now, miss." He spoke, arms raised defensively. "We can't just burn a potential clue for investigating the origins and functionality of these troopers."
"What do you know about investigating?"
"I run a Detective Agency. We specialize in finding things others can't."

"Yeah." Knuckles replied. "The Chaotix may not look or be heard like much, but they have a knack of solving things when it counts."

"And I've got to admit," Sonic chimed in, "They've got some serious detective skills. They've helped us out on more than one occasion." As Sonic spoke, he gave a thumbs up to the Chaotix team, acknowledging their past contributions.

"Alright, fine... but if any more of those things come alive, I'm torching them on sight." she declared, her gaze hardening with resolve. "Unless any of you wanna get these."
She lifted her wrist and showed the vines' rash-like grip marks, only it was more raw, red, and inflamed, clearly causing her discomfort in both her wrist and leg. The sight silenced everyone in the room, serving as a stark reminder of the threat they were up against.

"You should go take care of that." The youngest member of the Chaotix, Charmy advised optimistically and matter-of-factly.
"I'm fine."
"I sense that you're not." Espio, the third member of the Chaotix interjected.
"I'M-! I'm... fine... I-I'll be in my room."

Molly turned away from the group and headed back to her room, her body tense with lingering pain and frustration. She hoped a moment of solitude would help her regain her composure and tend to her injuries in peace.

"What's wrong with her?" Charmy asked. "And why is she so ditchy?"
"Charmy!" Vector scolded angrily at the bee. Shadow didn't take the word Molly was called so kindly either.
"She's not 'ditchy', Charmy, she is a survivor of betrayal from her own people! She has every right to feel the way she does." Shadow's voice was firm, his gaze piercing, while the others reflected on what he said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Charmy said, looking genuinely remorseful. Sonic then tapped on Shadow's shoulder, his expression serious and crossed his arms.

"Shadow, if I may, what exactly happened to Molly?"
"None of your business, blue hedgehog." Shadow retorted, his voice cold and final. "She's been through enough without you prying into her past." With that, Shadow turned away, signaling the end of the conversation, until Maria stopped him by grabbing his wrist softly.

"Shadow, I don't know what happened to Molly either. Could you tell us so we can understand everything better? Please?"
Shadow turned back to the direction of his sister figure, gently holding her hand as he looked into her eyes.
"Alright." he began, his voice softening. He turned to Rouge and nodded, in which she understood and nodded back. Sonic meanwhile rolled his eyes. "Back when we were fighting the Metarex, Eggman, his robots, Rouge and I found a Resistance team from the planet Cascade, fighting them off. I saved them by Eggman's orders, and the captain, Molly, saw me as something I was not."