This is based on issue 200 on the Archie' Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic's reaction of ending his life-long battle with Eggman had me want to write this. For those of you who haven't read it yet, consider it a spoiler.
Also, it also explains how Eggman escaped so easily in issue 205.
This is my first Sonic story and I hope everyone approves. But you may find a bit OOc-ness. Just a warning.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, the most way past cool Hedgehog. One can only hope though.
Sneaking into the fortress was easy, and not because of his speed, but because most of the robo-baddies have been replaced with ninjas that have yet to completely study his moves. And the ones that were not replacing him were ignoring him entirely. This had Sonic confused, but he was never one to look at a gift in a horse's mouth. Speeding down the streets of the city of the Eggman Empire, Sonic hid in a few shadows and tried to look for the secret entrance.
Sonic had a mission to do and it involved the utmost discretion. Something he wasn't too good at. He was normally the 'run real fast and cannonball a target hard' type of guy or the 'I got a power-up and I'm not afraid to use it.' But right now, he really needed to be in discretion. No one knew he was there, not even Tails or Sally, and it would stay that way. They would question him about his reason on why he was doing this.
Truth be told, he had no idea why he was doing this.
Maybe it was because he was convinced that Eggman was faking it and was just bidding his time to attack as usual. Maybe he wanted to finish Eggman off and not take the chance that he may recover. Or maybe, he was upset on how he defeated Robotnik this time. The mad scientist broke the rules of the game, he was supposed to fly off and shout, "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!!" and then come back in a week with another stupid plan, but his reaction to the last battle was not what he had expected.
To see him scream at the top of his lungs and thrash madly as well as bringing physical harm to himself was too much for Sonic. He had attempted to grab the distraught doctor before he did too much harm to himself (he still winced at the memory of watching Robotnik rip his own moustaches off his face) when Sally walked in to demand to know what Sonic did to him. Then Snivellus walked in after her and answered his unspoken question.
"You didn't just beat him this time, Sonic. You broke him." Snivellus had stated almost sadly as he explained to Sonic how the fight this time snapped his psyche and how he foresaw it coming a long time. At least, Sonic thought he was saying it sadly. Sniv never did have much love for his dearest uncle, but that was beside the point. What mattered was about the outcome of his fight. They may have defeated Eggman for good, but they now had a new enemy to deal with: The Iron King and Queen of the Iron Dominion.
But Sonic still could not help but feel concerned for one of his greatest long-time enemies.
'I didn't mean to do it. I only wanted to defeat him, not this!' Sonic thought as he continued using the light speed while zipping past the ninjas. Unlike the SWAT bots, they could not sense him when he was moving in that technique unless he made his appearance known to them. As he passed by them, he made it to the one area that was not heavily guarded.
The Egg Containers.
OoooOoooO
Sonic walked the corridors as he peered around three times to make sure no one saw him. The egg containers normally were used to hold very strong prisoners that would later be robotized. They should be housing Robotnik since he was in no state of mind to do anything that involved world domination.
He searched every prison cell, room and facility. He could not find the former ruler of Robotnik city. It was strange that he wasn't imprisoned, as that would have been the first thing that Snively would have done in order to cement his position as the ruler of the Eggman Empire. He wasn't worried that he was dead. Snively may be ambitious and hate his uncle with a passion, but he doesn't have the guts to kill Eggman, even in his most vulnerable state.
As he walked up, he noticed that the SWAT bots were in the area, which was odd. He had not seen them in years; he thought that they had become obsolete after Robotnik hired the Legion. He shrugged and was about to leave for another building when something just hit him! Those were an awfully large amount of SWATs in the area. For them to be here, they were either guarding an important political prisoner or someone dangerous.
The SWAT walked past the hedgehog though the glare from their visors told the Hedgehog that he was seen. Yet the troop made no attempt to capture him. In fact, If Sonic didn't know any better, he would swear that the robots were trying to lead him to Ro-butt-nik. Sonic slowly followed the SWAT bots as they made several turns to the maze of the prison. Soon, Sonic noticed several incubators with locks, he noticed that they were guarded by the SWAT bots until two of the guards watching the one in the center moved to the side, looking seemingly away from him. Were they giving him permission to move in? What was going on? Was this a trap?
Sonic shook his head at the thought. Snively wasn't as smart as he liked to believe and he didn't know the Hedgehog as well as Eggman had. There was no way that the snivelling butt-kissing nephew would know that he would return here to see his enemy. Taking a deep breath and hoping that he wouldn't regret his decision, Sonic walked up and reached for the incubator, surprised that it was open. There, inside was Robotnik, in a corner and in a straight jacket. Sonic would have laughed one time to see this, instead, it made him sick to his stomach. Had he really pushed the tyrant so far?
Sonic eyed the eerily still tyrant of the Eggman Empire. He was staring ahead with no sign of noticing Sonic and was drooling a bit. Sonic was about to approach him further when a shadow caught his eye. At the first, he thought it was his shadow, until he noticed that his shadow was right behind him. This one was another Mobian with an odd resemblance on him. On closer inspection, he saw that it was not a Mobian, but a robot. A robot he was too familiar with.
Metal Sonic.
He was shocked to see Metal Sonic leaning on mattress wall to Eggman's right. Sonic was taken aback at the sight, though Metal Sonic was a robot built by Eggman, he had never shown any signs of emotion for him. He has even gone so far as to defy the robotics expert. So why was the robot in this room as if he were standing guard there? Was he the one that ordered the machine to let him through, it would explain it. As Robotnik's favourite, he did have some authority to the Eggman Empire. Was he here because he was just as confused and upset as he was about Robotnik's situation?
'I guess we have a lot more in common than I thought. Or maybe he was ordered to watch over Eggman by ol' Sniv.' Sonic thought with a sad smile. As he approached Eggman, the moment he got within scanning range was when Metal powered his optics. Sonic froze. If Metal started a fight here, it would not only raise the alarm, but Eggman might get caught in the crossfire.
And he did not want Eggman in his current mental condition, to be any more hurt then necessary.
Sonic stopped before him and lifted his hands up in a form of peace while looking imploringly at Metal. Metal looked at him in a scrutinizing manner before he closed his optics and went back to seemingly recharge. This was a sign that he wasn't going to start a fight; so Sonic focused on the seemingly catatonic inventor. Cautiously approaching him, he stopped three feet away from him and carefully chose his words.
"Hey Doc? Remember me?" Sonic greeted with a half-hearted smile. Eggman drunkenly turned his head at the new voice. He tilted his head, and then went back to muttering about evil Mobians.
Sonic looked at him and tried not to let his feelings to get the best of him as he heard that.
"So, uh, Eggman, how is everything? Getting it back together or what? Is your mind still warped or what?" Sonic joked. Metal Sonic powered up his optics again and glared at Sonic. Really, was now the time to be joking?
Eggman drooled a bit more as he looked at Sonic while tilting his head on the other side. Sonic's voice hitched at the sight, but he placed a brave and confident face while he continued talking.
"That was quite a fight you and I had. You almost beat me again that time. You worked really hard to try to take me out and prevent me from taking advantage of your weak spots, though a giant mechanical spider is a bit redundant. I'm not scared of those; I enjoy stomping them, as you saw." Sonic gave a weak chuckle as Eggman lowered his head and mumbled a few incomprehensible words while Metal shook his head. Sonic was starting to feel his heart clench at the lack of response. He suddenly couldn't take and started to spill his feelings out before he could stop himself.
"Eggman, Robotnik, Ivo! C'mon! Snap out of it and wake up! I need you back to normal! You're my enemy! How am I supposed to be a freedom fighter when you crack up like that! I mean, where's the fun in fighting you without you shouting at me when I kick your butt or laughing at me when you catch me in a trap! I mean, it's not like I could pick a fight with Sniv, he's too easy! And that Iron Empire won't last a week and you and I both know it!"
Sonic suddenly found himself more hurt and frustrated then he thought possible. Why was Eggman hurting him like this? In a weird way, they were the best of friends despite being the bitterest of enemies; though neither of them will ever admit it. Deep, deep, deep, deep down; they were both fond of each other. The problem was that Sonic didn't know it until now. Sonic had no doubt that if the circumstances had been reversed, Eggman would be just as sad as he was about the situation.
"This wasn't supposed to end this way; at least not for you. You were not supposed to go crazy like that! That's not how the game works." Sonic said as he looked at Eggman, who was looking at him curiously before lowering his head and drooling. Sonic felt the stinging feeling of tears develop in his eyes as he valiantly tried to prevent them from falling. Sonic never cried, not since his uncle Chuck was taken and Robotimized. But watching his oldest enemy look at him like a complete stranger and then shuts himself off was close enough to let a small whimper escape his throat.
"How can you fall apart like that? I thought, deep down, you were enjoying the challenge, like I do! I thought you liked our encounters? You would always improve your weapons and strategies every time we met and it allowed you to perfect your technology, while it pushed me to be faster and smarter at the same time. You spent your whole life fighting, me, stopping the freedom fighters and trying to robotimize me. Just as I spent my whole life being a freedom fighter, fighting you, making it my mission to stop you. It was fun too. I'd fight, you'd release the latest monster machine and I would defeat it, then you'd fly off and say 'I hate that hedgehog!' The next day, you'd come back with an even stronger robot, the cycle continues. First it was from the real Robotnik, which died a long time ago, and then you show up and continue the cycle. Hell, there were times when you've actually beaten me. You have beaten me on occasion and it really sucked for me but I never…………….. Fell apart like you did." Sonic was starting to hyperventilate as he poured out his feelings to the still staring, unblinking mad man. Sonic saw no other reaction and it was making his hope for the Doctor to disappear. He looked at Metal, who had been watching him pace the room with an emotionless glare. He didn't move from his spot, had his arms crossed and was tapping his right foot in a very 'Sonic' fashion as he watched his 'copy' rant to his drugged-up master. Sonic would have laughed at this if the situation wasn't so frightening to him. Since Robotnik wasn't reacting, he might as well get some info from Metal. Walking up to his robotic doppelganger, he looked at him in his red eyes, which seemed to flare up in an indescribable form of emotion.
Metal with emotions, now that's just warped!
"Has he moved at all since I last saw him?" Sonic asked sadly as he walked up to the sullen robot.
Metal shook his head, his eyes glowed hatefully.
"Any chance of recovery?" He then asked, hope edging through his tone. Sonic looked at Robotnik as he asked this; who was shifting his feet around and drooling. Metal shrugged his shoulder and looked away from his rival, causing Sonic to sigh in frustration.
"Is Sniv even trying to help him get better?" Sonic asked in irritation. Metal gave him a 'What the hell do you think, you idiot?' look.
"Right, ask a really stupid question." Sonic growled to himself as he paced around the room. He should have known. Sniv and Eggman did not share a very loving relationship, if anything; the snooty opportunistic coward would take full advantage of this and make no effort in curing Robotnik.
Sonic looked back at Metal, only to see him still glaring at him with those red eyes. He had never heard Metal be so quiet. Sure he spoke in a blunt, monotonous voice and was never one for conversations, but he still has the ability to talk.
"You're not exactly peachy with the whole situation, are you?" he sighed as he figured out what was wrong with his robotic counterpart. It was no secret that of Eggman's robots were built to serve him. Suddenly, faster than even Sonic thought possible, he found himself slammed to the mattress wall and held their by Metal's claws.
Metal glared at him. "You constantly attacked and taunted my master, made his life miserable with your interference and destroyed his sanity and had his legacy forcibly given to his spineless incompetent nephew, a bull-headed warlord, and a psychotic technomage with a lust for destruction. Inquire me on how I should not destroy you for all this?" despite his monotonous tone, Sonic knew Metal was furious with him. Sonic would normally have a smart retort for this, but he was fresh out. He was too serious on the matter at hand to tease anyone or taunt them.
Especially since he last did that to Eggman before he snapped right in front of him.
"I didn't know I was driving him crazy…………… at least not literally. I didn't think……" Sonic stated sadly. That only served to infuriate the normally emotionless and logical robot.
"Of course you do not think, you never do. How is it that you have managed to destroy Eggman's well-planned plots and back-up plans and manage to do it without the princess or the two-tailed fox to help you?" Metal criticized in a monotonous voice. Yet, his body language told Sonic that he was furious.
Sonic gave a glare back. "You know, for someone that disobeys his orders any chance he gets, you got a lot of nerve preaching to me about how I treat Ivo." Sonic snarled. He later realized that this was the second time this week that he called Eggman by his real name.
Metal looked at him with glowing red eyes that normally warned Sonic that he was about to be attacked. "Purpose: Destroy Sonic the Hedgehog. Priority: high. Means: By any necessary……….. including disobeying Eggman's orders that seem contradicting to priority." Metal told him darkly as he shifted his gaze back to Eggman. Eggman had a blank face with a slight drool on his right lip corner. His gaze was fixed on the wall ahead of him. Metal's glare softened and he let out air from his vents in a form of sighing. He turned his attention back to the doppelganger.
"Do not presume that disobeying Master Eggman and being disloyal to him are the identical, because they are not. I have always been loyal to him and the Eggman Empire." Metal argued.
"Sure you have." Sonic rolled his eyes only to be grabbed by Metal by his spikes. He tried not to scream as Metal brought him to eye-optic level. If Metal had been furious before, he was pissed off now.
"Never, ever assume that I do not care for him, ever. I exist only to serve him! While I will confess that my obsession of tracking and destroying you seems unorthodox to most of his creations, I have always intended to make sure that he has been protected or accomplish my mission to destroying you." He stated the last one in a relishing and sadistic tone. After what had happened to his master, he had a very good reason to destroying Sonic now.
*****
Metal had been curious about the sudden changes in the Eggman Empire as well as the new guards there. He had just returned from the Special Zone after his sensors had picked up a strange anomaly and affected his programming's usual directives. When he had finished investigating it, he returned to Mobius only to notice the Dark legion and some new decor around the area. Metal decided then and there to investigate this and find out what happened to Dr. Eggman.
Discretion told him that he needed to sneak into the base and make sure to see that his master was all right. After all, in addition to destroying Sonic, he was in charge of the safety of the Empire.
It was hard work, but someone had to do it. And who better than him, Metal Sonic, 2nd only to Eggman and most superior to all machines.
OoooOoooO
He eventually found his master in the Egg containers where he was guarded by some of the legion that had replace the SWATs. Outsmarting those imbeciles was easy, now it was a matter of getting into the prison and freeing his master. Though he liked to believe he was a machine with no feelings, Metal could not help but anticipate the punishment Dr. Eggman would dish out on the incompetent nephew. He carefully broke the code to the door and opened it.
As he walked in, he noticed that Eggman was trapped in a corner in a straight jacket. Metal scowled, though you could not tell since his face was always in a scowl. How dare Snively put the genius in a straight jacket like he was a mad man? He deserved to be treated better than that. Walking forward and making a note to kill the ambitious human, Metal reached behind to remove bindings. This woke up Eggman, who opened his eyes and looked blaringly to his side. In his eyes, He saw a blue hedgehog touching and pawing him. His vision went red.
"SOOOONNIIIIIC!!!!" Had it not been for the storm, his roar would have been heard all the way to New Mobius.
Metal never saw it coming. One minute, he had removed the bindings, the next he was knocked flat on his back and was being strangled by the overweight man. While that might have not been a problem had this been any other human strangling him; Eggman, however, had a cybernetic arm that was strong enough to crush his circuitry, which was affecting his motherboard. While he was squeezing with his right hand, his left hand was hitting him repeatedly all over his body. At first, that wasn't a problem for Metal and he focused his time removing the hand off his neck. But then he noticed that Eggman was making dents and succeeding in breaking some of his plating. He also noticed that Eggman's fist was bleeding and turning raw. Metal panicked more on that then on his injuries. Eggman was hurting himself far more then he was hurting Metal.
"Master Eggman! Master, it is I: Metal!" Metal replied, hoping the doctor would see that he was his greatest creation and not his enemy Sonic. But Eggman continued to smash his fist on his metal frame more and harder than ever. While that was happening, Metal noted that Eggman's moustache had shortened and not in an attractive way, if he didn't know any better, he would have thought that Eggman had ripped them with his bare hands.
"Master? Eggman? ........ Dr. Ivo Julian Robotnick?!! FATHER?!!" he shouted the last one in sheer panic as he tried to escape the mad doctor's hands. He didn't dare push him off with his strength, he knew that he would do more harm than good on the doctor. As he looked at the face of the hysterical doctor, he saw something that would frighten him to the end of his expiration date.
The doctor's eyes, which used to be filled giddy intelligence and a creative passion, were now swirling with confusion, madness, fear, and increasing instability. Metal's face somehow managed to look fearful as his worse nightmares came true.
Doctor Robotnik, his creator and master, had finally been pushed over the edge.
It was something he knew would be a matter of time would happen with his battle with that infernal double of his. He had feared that the way things were stalling out and how he had lost New Mobian, he had noticed that his master was slowly losing his grip on reality, a reality where he will lose to the hedgehog.
Though he had a pretty good idea on who was responsible for this; Metal swore that he would find out what had happened to his master and make them pay, slowly and severely.
Metal was shoved against the wall and was being punched and kicked. Metal knew that he had to take drastic measures before not only would his master be harmed, but so would he. The metallic hedgehog lifted one of his claws and a needle shot out of his forefinger. He pricked Eggman's skin of his back neck with it and waited for the drug to kick him in. Sure enough, he was slowly loosening his grip on the machine. He collapsed right on top of Metal and was soon snoring. Poor Metal had to pull himself off of Eggman's enormous weight. Sonic wasn't kidding about that man's weight; he could feel his circuitry get crushed from the compression of his metal frame.
Metal rose and looked at the sleeping inventor. He rolled him on his back and examined him. His hand now looked like a hamburger and his robotic hand was damaged and overheated from use. The doctor looked exhausted and his face etched with misery. Metal stared at what used to be his master that was now a shadow of himself.
What had happened to him?
*****
"Imagine my rage when I learned what had happened. Imagine my fury when I found out who was the last person he battled. I had never felt a need to kill for the simple pleasure of it, but after what I had learned happened to my master, I came dangerously close." Metal finished in a deep dark voice. His left claw were clenching and unclenching like he wanted nothing more than to crush Sonic's throat.
Sonic gulped as Metal said this.
Still, something else was bothering him.
"How are you free, I know that the queen can control all machine so how is it that you're not under her control?" Sonic asked. Metal stared at Sonic like he was the biggest imbecile this planet had the nerve to create. How could that idiot not know? It was so obvious that even a Knucklehead like Knuckles could figure it out.
"Surely you realize that I am different from most robots because I have the one thing they do not possess? You and I both know what that is." Metal answered while glaring at him.
"Actually, no I don't. And don't call me Shirly." Sonic knew it was a weak joke, but he couldn't help it. If he didn't break the tension, he would go nuts.
Metal stared at him while trying not to groan at the weak attempt at humour, before he opened his chest compartment and showed him a red emerald gleaming in the place where his power core normally was.
'The Chaos emerald. D'uuuuhh!! How could I be so ...........slow?' Sonic couldn't believe that he would have forgotten that part of Metal's construction. The chaos emeralds are not only the most powerful artefacts in the known universe, but they were the most uncontrollable. With the exception of the Master Emerald, there was no way to control it. Sonic, Shadow and any other special Mobian may harness the power of the Chaos Emerald, but you would have to be a fool to believe that you could ever control it, at least forever. As long as Metal had a chaos emerald inside his body, the chaos energy would protect him from the Iron Queen's technomagic. If Metal was truly outside Regina's control, it would explain his need to have Eggman back.
After all, Snively was a very poor substitute for the ruler of the Egg Empire.
Metal calmly closed his chestplate as he glared at his rival. "Admit it, Sonic. You care for him. This whole thing is bothering you because you cannot stand to see him like this." He looked at Sonic's face to see his reaction.
Sonic gasped and huffed. Was Metal suffering from a glitch or computer virus, he cared nothing for that fat madman. Not after all his attempts at taking over Mobius and hurting all the innocent people.
"I don't care about robotwit!" Sonic denied.
"Then why did you come here?" Metal asked as he rubbed his nose in a Sonic-like manner. If he had a mouth, he'd be smirking.
"……….. I don't know." Sonic sighed as he looked at drugged Eggman, who was now looking back and forth from the banter. Whether he understood what was going on or not was a mystery to the two. Metal Sonic dropped Sonic down unceremoniously and walked up to Robotnik, who looked at him with a glassy look in his eyes and a tiny vacant smile. Metal looked at his master, sadly. He kneeled down to Robotnik's level and placed a clawed hand on his shoulder. He released air from his ventilation as his optics began leaking oil.......... Was Metal crying? He looked for the entire world like a son that was watching his sick father in a hospital.
A little boy waiting for his father to look at him with sane eyes again.
Sonic looked at him with sad emerald eyes. "You're fond of him too, aren't you?" not knowing that he just admitted his fondness for the doctor.
Metal glared, if he could, he'd bristle. "I do not see why you care? You did not appear this upset when the original Robotnik died. In fact, you were ready to celebrate. I do not see how seeing this Robotnik out of commission can make you behave so strongly." Metal stated matter-of-factly as ran his claws on the top of Eggman's head in what Sonic could perceive to be an affectionate manner. Sonic thought it was kind of creepy.
"That was different. That was personal. What Julian Robotnik tried to do was over the top and he almost killed Sally back then." Sonic frowned. It was not one of those things he wanted to remember. It was one of the few times he wanted to kill someone.
"This Robotnik has tried to kill the others many times as well as Sally. He has done unforgivable acts. How is this different?" Metal asked as Eggman leaned in on the touch, taking comfort on his loyal robot. The sight alone made Sonic furious!
"HE RUINED MY LIFE AND MANY OTHERS, I DON"T CARE ABOUT HIM OR WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM!!" Sonic screamed, no longer caring now to be discreet. He was furious and confused. Was Metal right? Was he fond of the giant talking Egg of a man? If so, what will it mean in future encounters when he fights him again? Because Sonic refused to believe that Eggman will be out of it forever. Eggman will pull through and things will go back to normal.
"THAN WHY ARE YOU HERE?!! WHY ARE YOU NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS?!!" Metal amplified his voice. Sonic took a step back. Metal never screamed. Never. For him to get this worked up, he must be just as miserable and hurt as he was. Eggman jumped from all the yelling and whimpered in fear, causing Metal to calm himself and proceed to massage his shoulders to sooth the frightened doctor. Sonic watched this as he slowly backed to the door, not wanting to get between them. But Metal was far from done with Sonic.
"Look at you! You're so confused without him that you are not so sure anymore of anything in your life. The fact that some of your friends have become your enemies and your rivals are working with you has made things complicated for you. You are correct on one thing: Without Robotnik, the person that you are, the hero of Mobius, no longer exists. Without Eggman, the balance has been destroyed and the hero and freedom fighter of Knothole is gone. Where is your confidence, where is your devil may care attitude, where is your need to protect? Are you truly Sonic the Hedgehog anymore?" He sneered as his hands were now moving lower on Eggman's back; who groaned leisurely.
Sonic looked away as those words hit home. Was his identity so important that he would risk the safety of everyone he cares and loves by hoping that Eggman recovered? Was he willing to sacrifice his friends and family for his enemy? Also, was Zonic from the Special Police Zone right? Was a Robotnik in his world necessary for the balance? It seemed that as soon as he was locked away, something worse showed up. The Iron King and Iron Queen showing up with the Legion; Espio had turned on him because of his loyalty to the Bride of four houses, and he had to deal with the monkey king, who also was at risked in being used by the Iron Queen, the fact that they were back to square one and they still didn't know much about the new enemy or how vast their armies are. At least, with Robotwit, he knew what to expect. With this new enemy, he would have to improvise.
Not only that, but Metal was right! Lately, he hadn't been the same when Eggman became a non-threat entity. He had been more depressed then usual and his guilt for destroying the man's sanity and often overwhelmed him. He never wanted something like this to happen to his oldest enemy. There were also nightmares of watching Eggman tear himself apart and continuously harm everything surrounding him.
Sonic wanted to defeat Eggman, not break him.
"Sonic, I exist to destroy you." Metal sighs and shuts off his optics. "But it is meaningless if the person I care about the most is unaware of your destruction when I do succeed. Just as your victories are worthless if the others are not aware of them. What is the point of fighting for the freedom of Mobians if your friends are not there by your side, watching you and cheering you on? Tell me, would winning be important if sally or tails were destroyed? This is the same to me. I can kill you now as I was programmed. But what happens to me after that? Will it bring me joy of achieving Robotnik's objective if he does not even know who we are? Can you say you enjoyed your victory over Eggman when it cost him his very sanity? Are you happy with the outcome, brother?"
Sonic lowered his gaze and looked away. He was starting to agree with him deep down. Perhaps, in some way, Robotnik was the father he never grew up with. He had been a constant in his life, always there, always pushing him to be better, always challenging him. Eggman had known him since he was five years old, maybe even before then when he wasn't destroying Mobius and had been part of King Acorn's court. He sadly wondered if Robotnik saw him as a rebellious son.
"I must be so stupid for thinking this. You're right! I'm depressed, In fact, I haven't been happy about victory at all. Even after all he's done and the crimes he did to not just me and my family, but to everyone on the planet, I can't help but be guilty. I guess……. Deep down, I never thought I would defeat him. I always thought I'd be fighting him for the rest of my life." Sonic sobbed. "I can't stand seeing him like this! I want the old Robutt-nik back! I want him as My enemy, not Sniv or the Iron Empire. I miss the SWATs, I miss his kooky inventions shaped like animals, I miss his girly mannerisms, his corny jokes. Heck, I even miss having him say that he hates me!!"
Metal simply looked at Sonic as he contemplated his words.
"Perhaps,…… we are more alike than we originally thought." Metal said softer then he thought his vocalizer could go. As he looked at his 'twin', he could not help but see now that he was not the only one in pain.
He had not been lying when he said that Robotnik was fond of him. In fact, Eggman saw him as a wayward son. Eggman would much prefer that Sonic worked for him then against him. Over the years, he had started to see Sonic as a son that he had never had. Sonic, until now, unaware of those feelings.
This was why Metal was always recovered and rebuilt. No matter what, Eggman would have saved him and brought him back, even if he did sometimes cause problems with him, in the name of catching and destroying Sonic. However, Metal knew why he was built to look the way he did or why all other robotic dopplegangers were scrapped or obsolete while he was always saved and improved upon. It was because he most resembled and behaved like Sonic.
Metal knew that he was simply the replacement for Sonic in Eggman's eyes. The spare son! Metal hated the fact that he would be converted so badly! He hated the fact that Eggman still was obsessed for the Hedgehog! Why couldn't he be satisfied with him! He was a better son: loyal, determined, powerful and far more superior than any other robot Eggman could make! So why won't Eggman think of him more? Why won't he be satisfied with him and not his doppelganger?
Why did he take this defeat so badly and leave him all alone?
"What do we do, then? Can you help him?" Sonic interrupted his processing, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.
"Possibly, With the right resources, I should be able to take care of him. But his mind to heal is completely up to him." Metal stated casually as he sat next to Eggman. "But I have confidence in Eggman that he will recover. He has made some achievements in recognizing certain people and has not attacked me as much when he looks at me." He caressed the whimpering man's face, which was snuggling on his shoulder. "Human determination and spirit is considered a force capable to achieve the impossible. There is a Fifty-five percent chance that he will recover."
"Yeah, sure. I hope you're right." Sonic added quickly as he watched as Metal cuddled the doctor as he left. It was really creepy to see him do this and Sonic felt that he was invading their privacy. Not to mention it was kind of making his stomach churn. He zoomed out, not knowing that he forgot to lock the door to the prison. He had a lot to think about and he had a feeling that he'll be doing a lot of that for the next few days.
Outside once again, Sonic snuck away from the Legion and guards and was already speeding back to his home. He had to go speak to Sally, who doesn't even know he left.
'No doubt Khan is taking advantage of it and making a move on Sally!' He thought, letting the thought annoy him more than it should.
As Sonic ran to go back to New Mobian, he made a silent prayer to the god of all things fast that Eggman gained a speedy recovery. He once again wondered if he was being selfish in hoping that the Doctor would recover soon.
'Get well soon, Eggman. The Iron king and queen are a poor replacement for egomaniacal mad tyrant.'
**********
Holding up to his tightly bound master and still very confused of his new found emotions, Metal tightened his hold around the Inventor's shoulders. Metal snuggled the snivelling doctor as he started to whimper and sob about 'scary hedgehogs', 'stupid nephews' and 'why mommy won't make his favourite crumpets anymore'. At the last one, Metal made a note that he should reduce the amount of drugs in him.
"There there, Master. That horrid hedgehog is gone. You have nothing to fear now. You are safe; go back to sleep." Metal cooed in his robotic tone, which strangely had a touch of affection.
He jumped when his systems picked up a faint temporal anomaly. No doubt from that 'Silver the Hedgehog' fellow he encountered. Metal normally would not have bothered to go after someone who wasn't a freedom fighter or a friend of Sonic. However, he was hunting down his prey and was talking about destroying a threat in the future: A threat that was not Robotnik. If that threat was not Robotnik, then that means that this new threat had taken out his creator and replaced himself as the Ruler of Mobian.
That was something that Metal would not accept.
Standing up, he carefully released Robotnik and checked him out. He was still a bit out of it from the drugs, but Metal was sure he'll be back in time to re-administrated them. Using the chaos energy from the emerald in him, he performed Shadow's chaos control and disappeared from the dimension.
Unbeknownst to Metal, A ghost of an arrogant grin slowly spreads on the drugged sleeping scientist's face and his arms continue to work its way into sabotaging the straight jacket. A look of coherence was slowly returning.
END
Okay, I made Sonic too angsty and Metal way too creepy. But that was what my mind was going through when I thought of how sonic took this. Originally, I didn't think of Metal, but when I read the issues before 200, I realized that he doesn't know what's going on. And since he and sonic are a lot alike, I wondered how he took it.
There you have it. The reason Eggman escaped in issue #205 was because Sonic forgot to lock the door and Metal never added more drugs to the Doctor. Looks like Sonic and Metal may be getting their wish. Wonder if they'll regret Metal, he doesn't get enough love. I don't see a lot of Metal stories around.
I hope Eggman gets better soon, though. I was a little sad when I saw issue 200.