This may not be related to my 'Robotnik Name' series, but from day one of the sequel, Sniper craved his own story! He needs the FULL spotlight! Yes, that's right – Sniper's got his own story! Here it is and I hope you like it!

PS: I only own my OCs within this story, the rest is owned by SEGA!

Metal Sniper: Secret Agent Tarot

~Prologue~

Sniper, a silver hedgebot, aged eleven, was sat in a tree within the forest near Mobotropolis. He had no real place anymore. Not after his brother's incident at Mount Mobius. His last memory of Metal was when he hugged him, flying off to test and taunt Sonic. When he ended up destroying himself… Sniper was lost. Robotnik found him and tried to destroy him, knowing he also had freewill, but Sniper got away. Ever since… he was alone. And here he was now, in a tree, outside the city where his brother's Mobian counterpart lived – he was ready to get revenge now.

"Dance to the beat, wave your hands together, come feel the heat forever and forever, listen and learn, it is time for prancing, now we are here, we're Caramelldansen! Ooh, ooh, ooh-a, ooh-a…" Sniper sang. Clearly he was tired of waiting for Sonic to run out of the city. He had already been waiting for about half an hour, so decided to make a rather foolish choice – he flew into the city.

Instantly Sniper was noticed. Of course, not many robots lived in Mobotropolis. In fact, none did. Not like Sniper, anyway – or so he thought…

Civilians felt threatened when seeing the chrome robot fly in fast. They panicked, running around like startled ants. For a moment Sniper was proud, for once not feeling like he was at the bottom of the pile. He could then see Sonic speeding towards him, grinning a little, presumably excited to fight for once.

"Look, I don't know who you are or why you're here, but from what I can see right now, you look like some kind of a threat!" Sonic began once he stopped a few feet away from Sniper.

"Oh, yeah? Well, watcha gonna do about it, Sonic?" Sniper asked him as if to taunt him.

"I'm gonna send you to the scrap-heap, that's what!" Sonic retorted, running before jumping up, performing a homing attack.

Sniper was unprepared for this move, being knocked down hard. "What the heck! I didn't know you were that fast!" he panicked.

Sonic smirked. "Didn't know you were that slow," he responded, running towards him at top speed, stopping in front of his grounded opponent. "Already had enough?"

"Hell no!" Sniper answered in a snappy tone of voice, jumping back up to his feet and aiming at Sonic with his built-in arm lasers. "I'll never give up until I finish you!"

"Heh. Like you have any chances of beating me in a fight," Sonic snickered.

Sniper growled at him angrily, his irises blaring. He fired some laser shots at the blue blur, but each shot was avoided.

"Is that all you've got, bolt-brain?" Sonic questioned, grinning.

Again Sniper snarled, enraged. He was aware that his chances of winning were low, but he didn't want to accept that. After all, this hedgehog killed his brother. He went for another attack. "I'm not going to be done until you are dead!" he yelled in a way which sounded heroic.

"Gee, you really are eager, aren't you?" Sonic muttered. "Well then, metal-head, bring it on! Let's see if you can hit a moving target!" The blue hedgehog ran around him at high speed, causing Sniper to get dizzy as he tried watching him. His head spun a little, until finally he grabbed it to hold it still, his pixel eyes wandering oddly.

"How about if I hit a sitting duck instead?" he requested.

Before the hedgebot got his answer, Sonic spin dashed into him all of a sudden, managing to cut into the back of Sniper. Sniper whirred awkwardly, his eyes fizzing as he jittered until he finally decided to fly upwards, no longer in range of the attack.

"Hey, dumb-bot, why don't ya come down here and fight like the other robots do!" Sonic insulted.

"Because I have a very unique way of fighting!" Sniper yelled down to him as an answer.

"For a killing machine you sure are a coward!" Sonic mocked, laughing.

Sniper growled, flying down towards Sonic and attempting to grab him. However, Sonic jumped on his head, knocking him to the ground. Before he could get up, Sonic put his foot on his head.

"You may as well just give up – you're not exactly a challenge," Sonic admitted, sounding tired of fighting Sniper.

Sniper tried pushing himself back up, but was unable to due to Sonic standing on his head, keeping him down. He fell back onto his front after he had attempted to push himself up, yet still was determined to win. "No… I… will not… be beaten by you!" he choked. "Not after… what you did… to my brother!"

"Huh. Almost sounded like you had emotions then," Sonic acknowledged. "Never encountered a robot which actually had some kind of personality – except for Metal Sonic. He had a personality of his own."

Upon hearing his brother's name, Sniper tried getting up again, this time with more anger coursing through his wires. He almost succeeded, but was still pinned down by Sonic's foot. That's when Sonic figured it out.

"Wait a minute, your "brother" is Metal Sonic, isn't he?" he asked angrily.

"You left him in Mount Mobius to die!" Sniper exclaimed.

"That's not exactly what happened," Sonic corrected. "He sacrificed himself. Besides, Metal Sonic is no longer…"

Sniper interrupted him by grabbing his foot and throwing him over, managing to rise back to his feet. "I know he's no longer around! Because you killed him!" he hollered, flying towards his opponent. Sonic roundhouse kicked his face, knocking him down again.

"I didn't destroy him! He destroyed himself!" the blue hedgehog yelled at Sniper, irritated.

"Liar!" Sniper accused, flying towards him again.

"I'm trying to tell you that he's – gurgh!" Again Sonic had been interrupted when Sniper shot him down with a laser shot.

"I've had enough of you!" Sniper announced, walking over to Sonic, now feeling superior since the blue speedster was on the ground. The metallic hedgehog then aimed at him, charging another laser attack. "It's time to put an end to your robot-trashing days!"

However, before Sniper could fire to finish off his creator's long-time nemesis and older brother's counterpart, a weighted rope tangled around his ankles, then another one around his body, causing him to fall over onto his back. Sniper struggled to escape them, growling loudly with rage.

Sonic looked, seeing Rotor holding the gun which fired those ropes, Tails standing beside him.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails asked, running up to Sonic.

Sonic got to his feet. "I'm fine," he answered, dusting himself off. He then looked at Sniper.

"I'll see if I can do something with this 'bot in my lab," Rotor informed.

"Uh… Hey, look, a distraction!" Sniper responded, trying to wriggle away like a worm. Nobody fell for the trick. Rotor picked the young robot up, since he wasn't getting anywhere fast. As a reaction, Sniper stood out his silver tongue rudely.

"This one sure does have an attitude," Rotor confirmed. "Especially for one of Robotnik's robots."

"Just see if you can tinker with him a little, Rote," Sonic commanded. "He might have some useful information lying around in his main computer thingy."

Rotor nodded, heading off with the unstill Sniper.

Once the two were gone, Tails looked at Sonic again. "What was that robot, anyway?" he asked.

"I don't know everything, but I learnt one thing – he's the brother of the original Metal Sonic," Sonic answered. "I think he came after me for revenge, but he didn't give me a chance to explain that Metal Sonic is still alive."

Metal Sonic 2.5, now known as Shard, was sat on a tree stump reading a book. He was being bugged by a fly, which at first he tried to ignore, but now realised how annoying it was.

"Gr! Would you just go away already? Go! Shoo!" Shard demanded, swatting his cannon-arm around, using his hand to hold his book. The fly then landed on his nose, and without realising it, Shard hit himself in the face. Even worse – the fly flew away, not being hit at all. Shard frowned.

Nicole, an artificial intelligence projected in the form of a lynx, appeared standing beside him. "Shard, Mobotropolis just got attacked," she began. "A robot – one of Eggman's – was attacking, but Sonic managed to defeat it and now it's in Rotor's lab."

"Then we should be fine," Shard concluded. "Mobotropolis is safe, the robot's probably gonna get reprogrammed… All is good."

"That's not the point," Nicole countered. "This robot is not just any simple badnik. It's…"

"Stronger than me? Smarter than me? Cooler than me? I don't think so," Shard snickered.

"No, Shard…"

"I bet it was another imitation of Sonic, right?" Shard continued.

"Shard, if you just let me explain then…"

"Or maybe for once Eggman decided to make a robot of someone else," Shard carried on interrupting.

"Shard!" Nicole shouted to get his attention.

Shard looked at her. "Sorry," he apologised.

"Shard, this badnik is one we know that you have links with," Nicole explained. "It's Metal Sniper, your brother."

"Sniper?" Shard asked, sounding surprised.

Sniper stood in a glass capsule with wires attached to him, mainly at the back of his head. Rotor was on a computer by the capsule, taking a look at Sniper's data and files.

"Music folder?" the walrus eventually questioned, raising his brow in confusion.

"It's easier than having an iPod," Sniper shrugged.

Rotor rolled his eyes, continuing to search. He eventually found a folder containing all the information about Sniper, named: "Profile". The handy-man walrus decided to check Sniper's profile within this database.

Project: Metal Sniper

Project Custom Name: Metal Sniper Cyrus Tobor

ID: M374L-5N1P3R

Preferred Name: Sniper

Date Created: 12th July

Years in Activation: 11 Years

Template: Metal Sonic v1.0

Badnik Type: Fighter Robot and Stealth Robot (Hybrid)

Power Source: ROBOTNIK Custom AI Chip and Regular Electricity

Metals Used: Steel-Titanium Alloy (Main Body), Aluminium (Feet)

Laser Type: Red Laser (Beam Form)

Strength Level (1-10): 5

Iris LED Colour: Orange

Special Features: Silencers (Base of Feet), Advanced Mouth, Expressive Face

Emergency Shut-Down: Gas or vaccine

Recent Note: This badnik is defective. Sentenced to be decommissioned.

"Defective?" Rotor asked. "Let me take a look at your programming." He then checked Sniper's "Programming" folder. Once seeing the programming, he looked at Sniper. "I think it's the right choice to have you decommissioned," Rotor pinioned. "But it's not up to me to make that decision. I'll need to see what everyone else thinks." He then had a syringe appear from the top of the cylindrical tube, injecting into Sniper's circuits via his chest, causing him to shut down. Sniper remained on his feet due to the wires hold him up.

"Nicole, I need to see him – he needs to know I'm alive!" Shard revealed.

"What if he doesn't recognise you?" Nicole questioned.

"I'll explain everything to him once I get to see him," Shard replied. "I must speak to him; I haven't spoken to him for years…"

"I will ask Rotor for you to get you permission to talk to him," Nicole concluded. "I bet he's missed you, too."

Shard then sighed. "I bet he's grown into a harsh, brutal and ruthless killer machine now…" he muttered. "Eggman would've robbed him of his freewill somehow, even though Sniper's defective programming made him impossible to reprogram…"

"If he's impossible to reprogram, Eggman can't have done anything to him," Nicole assured.

"I hope not…" Shard muffled sadly.

"I will go and ask Rotor if you can see him," Nicole informed for a final time before disappearing.

Nicole reappeared in Rotor's lab, seeing him about to leave to speak to Sonic and various others.

"Rotor, I need to speak to you about that robot," she began.

"It's just another one of Eggman's badniks, Nicole," Rotor answered before she even brought up a discussion. "He won't do any more damage while he's in his current state."

"That's not exactly what I was going to ask," Nicole responded. "Shard needs to see him."

"He can see him later – right now I need to discuss with the council if I should deactivate him or not, also asking Sonic, of course," Rotor replied, beginning to walk out.

"But…"

"Not now, Nicole," Rotor interrupted, sighing. "I'm just not in the mood to argue." He then left.

Nicole let out a sigh herself. She looked back at the capsule containing Sniper. 'I can't let Shard lose his own brother,' she thought, heading to the controls. She then allowed the glass around Sniper to drop, next detaching the wires. The silver hedgebot collapsed, and in doing so, he re-awakened.

Sniper jumped to his feet, looking around quickly. "Who are you!" he demanded when seeing Nicole.

"Sniper, calm down," she soothed. "I'm an AI known as Nicole – if you want to get out of here unnoticed, follow me."

"Well, I am built for stealth, so it should be no problem," Sniper shrugged. "But I don't know if I can trust you yet."

"We don't have time for this, now come on," Nicole ordered, walking through the door quite literally.

Sniper followed, but actually opened the door. Nobody saw him, and he saw nobody. However, he could see Nicole waving him over. He followed her silently outside the city into the forest.

"Why are we going in a forest?" Sniper asked.

"You'll see," Nicole replied. She was close to becoming unable to project her lynx form, but she could still just manage to get to Shard.

Shard was pacing around on the spot, waiting for Nicole to return. It seemed to bother him that his brother was being held in a lab. He then saw Nicole with Sniper behind her.

Nicole walked up to him. "I had to help him escape since Rotor wouldn't grant permission," she revealed.

"What's going on? Who is that?" Sniper asked, feeling as if he had been led into a trap.

"Easy, Sniper, I'm not going to hurt you," Shard assured calmly.

"How do you know my name?" Sniper questioned, still suspicious.

"Remember that day when you were younger and your brother was destroyed in Mount Mobius?" Shard reminded.

Sniper turned away sadly. "Yes…" he mumbled.

"He turned good that last second and saved Sonic and Tails," Shard continued. "However, he wasn't fully destroyed. His power gem was still active, making it possible for him to be rebuilt. Now he's a good guy."

"Where is he now?" Sniper asked, turning to look at him, interested.

Shard smiled. "You're looking right at him, lil' bro," he answered, winking.

Sniper facial expression completely changed. It was a mix between shock, disbelief and pure happiness. He took time to react properly, until running p to him and hugging him tightly. If he was a Mobian, he would be crying tears of joy. "Metal, you're alive!" he exclaimed happily.

Shard hugged back, knowing how much Sniper must have missed him. Truthfully, Shard had missed him a lot, too.

Nicole smiled at the two, until realising something, causing her to lose the smile. "How will I explain Sniper going missing to Rotor?" she asked.

The black and yellow hedgebot looked at her. "Tell him that you left him in the capsule and assured that Sniper was not active at the time," he responded.

The projected lynx nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "I will give you two some time alone so you can catch up with each other." Nicole then disappeared again.

Shard then turned his attention to Sniper. "You must've been distraught for a while, huh?" he guessed.

Sniper nodded. "I arrived here to avenge you," he admitted. "…I thought Sonic killed you…"

"It wasn't a bad guess," Shard chuckled. "I mean, back then you wouldn't have expected me to save Sonic's life."

Sniper chuckled with him. "You got that right, Metal," he confirmed.

"Oh, by the way, no one calls me Metal anymore," Shard remembered. "Everyone calls me Shard."

"Shard?" Sniper responded, confused.

"I just prefer to be called that nowadays," Shard excused. "Mainly because I don't want to be compared to Sonic anymore."

"Right," Sniper acknowledged, nodding a little.

Shard then thought about something. "We're gonna have to keep you hidden from the city for a while," he stated. "And I think I know a good place to hide you." He then began heading off in a particular direction.

"Where?" Sniper asked, following.

Shard just smiled cheekily as he replied with: "It's a secret."

That's gotta be the longest prologue I've ever done! XD Anyway, that's the beginning of the story. Well, opening-prelude thingy. I will have theme songs in this, but no theme songs will be repeated from my other stories (maybe one or two but oh well) and I will only add those when I introduce the OCs. By the way, how's the front cover? XD See you next chapter!