Chapter Text
Ashley walked into the machine shop, breathed in, and coughed thanks to the particles of sawdust.
“Hey there! Ashley, isn’t it? If you’re not busy, would you mind coming to the machine shop real quick? Belle and Kit have a surprise for ya!”
That was the call she got from the chief mechanic after her… conversation with Whisper.
It was quite unexpected. Sure, she did find what they needed to put Belle back together, but other than that, she hadn’t contributed too much in that area. What could they want with her?
What could Kit want from her, after she worked with the man that almost killed him?
The leopard’s thoughts were put on hold as she bumped into someone.
“Ack, sorry! Sorry,” she laughed nervously. “Wasn’t paying atte-“
When she saw who she bumped into, she let out half of a startled squeak before clamping her mouth shut. In front of her was a humongous, and she meant HUMONGOUS, pangolin. And she was effortlessly lifting huge wooden planks over her head and piling them gently on the top of a shelf. Not to mention, she hadn’t even noticed the leopard.
…oop, wait, never mind. She saw her.
“Oh, are you alright, sweetheart?” she asked. Then, to Ashley’s surprise, she shrunk down to what seemed to be her regular size. “Sorry, I didn’t notice you there…”
Okay, so she can just… DO that. Cool.
“Uh, don’t worry about it. I bumped into you , anyway…” Ashley said. “I’m just trying to find the chief mechanic. He called me in here, so…”
“You mean Grease? I can take you to him!” the pangolin said sweetly. She walked past the leopard. “Just follow me!”
Ashley was dumbfounded, but was still right behind her.
There are all kinds of people in this place, huh…
After going past a few shelves and turning some corners, they both saw Grease watching over Belle and Kit, looking like they were just about done fixing… something. She couldn’t get a good look.
“Grease!” the pangolin said, putting a gentle hand on Ashley’s head, to her surprise. “Were you looking for her?”
The orangutan turned around and beamed at the sight of Ashley. “There’s the girl of the hour! Thanks, Rotunda!” he said while Ashley awkwardly grin.
“Rotunda” gave Ashley a warm smile before letting go of her head. “No problem. I’ll leave you guys to… well, whatever you’re doing.”
“Um… thanks for the help!” the leopard called while Rotunda walked away. She responded with a wave over the shoulder.
Huh… Ashley thought. For some reason, I felt very… ‘cared for’ with her.
She shook her head.
“So, uh… what’d you call me for?” she asked Grease. “Something about a ‘surprise?’”
“You got it!” he answered excitedly. “We’ve noticed that you’ve been… er, how do I put this-?”
“You being one arm short is a hindrance to yourself,” Kit finished for him.
Everyone stared at him, shocked.
“Could have at least put it a little softer…” Belle winced.
“Hey, I’m not wrong.”
“WOAAAH, woah-woah. Okay, being without my right arm is a little annoying,” Ashley admitted, putting her hand on her nub. “But I’ve managed pretty well! And I can provide plenty even without it!”
Kit looked at her, unconvinced. “Near the Neos’ office. Five days ago.”
“What are you-?” Ashley started, while Belle and Grease made motions with their hands to stop talking.
“You were walking down with a tray of drinks for your team. And you thought it’d be a good idea to carry a soda bottle under your arm. Then you lost your balance on the tray and spilled a hot cup of coffee on yourself.”
Ashley stared at him, appalled.
“Who told you?! I swear, if any of the Neos said anything, I’m gonna-!”
“You made a loud sound akin to a fire drill,” Kit interrupted.
The leopard’s pupils shrunk, and her muzzle was as red as an apple.
“…can we please just get to why I was called here?” she asked, embarrassed.
Grease snapped his fingers. “We sure can! Belle, Kit, would you like to do the honors?”
“Absolutely!” Belle answered while Kit just nodded. Ashley noticed that they were intentionally blocking the view of what they made, which got her even more curious.
“We’re aware that being without an arm wouldn’t be the end of the world. Heck, I can literally pop mine off no problem,” the tinkerer laughed. “But we’ve all heard your side of the story once… um…”
“Oh for- I’m not going to throw a fit every time Madman’s Casino is brought up,” Kit told Belle, irritated. Ashley just rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.
“R-right. Sorry,” she apologized. “Once Madman’s Casino was taken down, we were made well aware of your side of the story.
“And once the machine shop was all fixed up again after my… lash-out,” she muttered. “Kit got the idea to see if we could replicate a mobian arm.”
Replicate a-?
“Wait, are you saying that-?”
Ashley didn’t get the chance to finish talking, though, because Kit was turning to her with what they were working on in his hands, which Grease proudly presented.
“To put it simply… we thought you’d love to possess our newest creation!” he said.
Ashley’s jaw was practically on the floor. In the kitsune’s hands was a silver-colored robotic arm.
“That’s-! Wh-!” the leopard stuttered. “You made this for ME?”
“We sure did! It was a lot of fun to work on too!” Belle answered. “Care to give it a test?”
“I-I’d love to!” Ashley said, trying not to let her excitement get to her.
Expression unchanged, Kit walked over to her with the arm. “Hold out your nub, please.”
Ashley did what Kit asked, and he stood on his tiptoes to put the arm on her. Suddenly, it started vibrating in his hands, and…
*CLACK*
“ Woah! ” Ashley yelped. The arm clamped right onto her as if it were a magnet. She could feel the end tighten into her nub. “It attaches to me that easily?!”
“Yep! We made it so that it only perceives a certain blood type,” Grease answered. “We had to go to the director about your background for that…”
“It’s able to make out your blood by scanning through your skin. That means it’s able to attach to you, and anyone else with your blood type. But I don’t think anyone else in the Restoration is without an arm…” Belle continued. “Not only that, but it can track any movements you’re trying to make!”
The leopard started off testing the arm by wiggling the fingers, then clenching and unclenching the fist.
She stepped back a little, and did some shadow boxing. Sure enough, it worked like a dream.
She looked at her new hand, and grinned heavily.
“It’s… it’s like I have my actual arm back!” she exclaimed. She was almost on the verge of crying. “And you’re just… letting me keep this?”
“Hey, why not? If there’s one thing the Restoration aims to thrive in, it’s providing,” Grease said. “We’re just happy ya like it!”
“I love it. You guys outdid yourselves… and obviously I gotta thank you too, Kit!” Ashley turned her focus to the fennec fox. “I appreciate you for thinking of me!”
She reached her hand out to pat him in the head…
Until Kit whipped his head at her, eyes glowing red, with a look that could turn her face into a donut. And water tentacles shot out of his backpack, and became inches away from Ashley’s face.
“ Hands. Off. ”
“OOOOOOH-kay, no headpats!” she blurted out, quickly retracting her hand and stepping back. “Noted!”
Thankfully, after that, the tentacles disappeared. Belle and Grease look at each other nervously and mutually agreed they should wrap things up with her.
“Um, anyway, that’s all we wanted to show you,” Grease said. “But now that you have the arm, we’d like a favor from you, if that’s okay.”
Ashley looked at the chief mechanic. “What is it?”
“It’s nothing too big. Just do the stuff you’d usually do on an average day, and if you can, try and use that arm more often. Then come back to us in a week and tell us your experience with it!” the orangutan told her. “If needed, we can could upgrade it and add some quirks. If possible, we can even distribute robotic limbs to those that need it!”
With the robotic arm, Ashley gave a thumbs up. “I can totally do that! Not a problem! And again…”
She looked back at Kit, who was turned away. Despite that little threat earlier, she still found the courage to give him a smile.
“Thank you.”
With that, Ashley made her way out of the machine shop, ogling at her new possession. When she was out of sight, Belle gave Kit a concerned look.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Why did you come up with the idea of a new arm for her if you're so resentful towards her?”
Kit gave the tinkerer a side-eye.
“Is it not simple?” he asked. “She worked with Riot.”
Grease blinked. “That… does make sense.”
The kitsune clenched his fists.
“The only reason I let her go about her day is that, unlike those that did hurt me…”
He fully turned around.
“…she actually regrets working with that scumbag .”
-
Ashley finally let out that squeal she’d been holding in while walking away from the machine shop.
She thought she’d be without an arm for a long time, but nope. In only two weeks, it became as if Riot hadn’t dismembered her at all.
I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been this excited! she thought. I can do so much I haven’t been able to do for the past few weeks! I wonder what the Neos will think-?
“Hey, Spots.”
The leopard’s ear twitched, and she looked up from her arm. In front of her was Surge the tenrec. And she… didn’t look particularly happy.
“Oh… hi there,” Ashley greeted, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy. “Surge, right?”
“Yep. And you’d better remember that.”
She looked down at her arms.
“Well, look at that. You’ve got the robotic arm Kit and the others made,” the tenrec observed.
“Oh, he told you about this beforehand?” Ashley asked.
Surge nodded, crossing her arms. “Didn’t want me to say anything.”
The leopard raised the arm to let Surge have a better look.
“I can tell why. Those three really went all out when working on it. I’ve only had it for a few minutes, but it works great!”
The tenrec stepped closer. “That so? Glad to hear that.”
“T-thanks, it’s reallyEEEP-“
Suddenly, Surge grabbed her by her tank top and pulled her close. All that was in Ashley’s sight were angry, teal eyes, which were beginning to glow.
“But if you think that means I’m letting you off the hook, you’re more of an idiot than you already are.”
Ashley gulped. “Woah, I- uh-“
“I never got the chance to go to you once you were outta the hospital, but now that you’ve got one of Drippy’s creations on you, I think now’s as good a time as any to say what I wanna say,” Surge growled.
“A-and that is?” Ashley nervously asked.
Suddenly, Surge slammed her on the ground, laying her on her back.
“ACK- hey-!”
“I’m gonna make this as clear as I possibly can- I hate you, ” Surge snarled. “The second I saw you in person, I’ve thought lowly of you. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe I’m just being petty. But you’ve worked for Riot, and that’s good enough of a reason for me.”
The leopard, while still shocked, kept her face straight and listened.
“And I don’t give a flying fuck that you’ve been doing all that shit out of blind hatred, or that you never hurt Kit yourself. You still assisted that waste of space,” she told her.
“As for the Neos… they can have you on the team. I don’t care. That type of stuff isn’t my business, anyway,” she admitted. “But for as long as you’re here…”
She raised her hand, and it sparkled with electricity.
“I’m not letting you forget the stuff you pulled. Or what he did to Drippy. You’re lucky that I’m even letting you near the kid,” the tenrec said, pulling Ashley up by the tank top once more.
“Now, I highly doubt you’ll try anything around here. Especially after this. BUT. Make one wrong move… especially towards Drippy…”
She shot her electrified finger at the leopard’s head, making her flinch. But she’d stopped it mere centimeters away from her, being enough to lightly shock her due to static electricity.
“…and I’ll make you wish you were rotting in a cell along with your old boss.”
Silence.
“…you were holding that in for a while, weren’t you?” Ashley suddenly asked.
A bit surprised, Surge retracted her finger. She didn’t ask that in a mocking tone. All she heard from Ashley’s voice was heavy guilt.
“Before I even joined the Restoration, I knew that this path wouldn’t be sunshine and roses,” Ashley told her. “At the end of the day, I was the secretary for a terrible mob. If I’m being honest, being welcomed to the Neo Diamond Cutters so easily felt like complete luck. Luck that I didn’t deserve.”
All of the electricity around Surge’s body faded.
“I was never gonna go around, acting like I was always making a difference for the better. And I especially wasn’t gonna expect you to like me, let alone Kit,” she continued.
She raised her robotic arm.
“Even if that’s the case, I swear to you, I wouldn’t dream of betraying my team; betraying the Restoration,” Ashley vowed. “And I won’t ever forget what Riot did to your brother. You have my word.”
Surge looked at her a little longer, before letting go of her tank top and getting off her.
“Good answer.”
Finally being free from her grip, the leopard could look at her more clearly. The hate the tenrec had for her was definitely still visible, but her expression softened up a bit.
She had nothing left to say to her though, so she turned around.
“You’d better treat that arm like it’s your child, ” Surge ended off before marching away from her. It was getting late, so it was probably to grab the kid and head home or something.
… and breathe.
Ashley released a deep exhale, getting up off the floor.
I suppose that could have been a lot worse, she thought, dusting herself off. I could be nothing but a stain on the floor right now.
She held out her robotic arm, examining it yet again.
She made a fist, forming a small smile, and continued back to her room.
Surge’s words to her may have hurt a lot, but she wasn’t wrong. Being nudged in that direction or not, she chose the path she’d walked before.
Whatever else comes at her now, she’ll face, even if it terrifies her.
The Restoration carved a new path for her, and she’ll be damned if she lets anyone down.
-
