Chapter 2

"Tell me you're joking…Please…" said Angel, her voice shaken by what Mira had just said. Her defensive stance had all but relaxed itself after hearing the girl's statement. How could this mobian possibly believe that a robot such as Metal Sonic could be her brother? It seemed impossible. Yet, Mira had said it as if it were as plain as the nose on her face.

"Why do you think I'm joking?" asked Mira, curious as to why Angel had seemed to have lost a good deal of color in her face.

"But you're not even a robot!" said Angel, turning her full attention back to Mira. "How could you possibly think he's your brother!?" It was after saying this that a light fit of laughter came from behind her. Turning back to face Metal Sonic, who was still calmly standing in the same spot with an amused look on his face, she reset her stance. "And what's so funny to you?" she asked with a hint of annoyance to her voice.

"Nothing really. Just glad to see that my design of mecha bot six is good enough to fool even other mobians into believing she isn't mechanical," said Metal Sonic, crossing his arms over his chest. "To be honest, it was a difficult challenge crafting her to have no visible mechanical parts like all the other mecha bots." Angel snapped upright, a chill running down her spine at what Metal Sonic had just said.

"No…You mean Mira is-" started Angel as she looked back at the young girl.

"A mecha bot, same as me or Robo Knuckles," said Metal Sonic. He paused for a second before cocking his head to the left slightly. "Well, I guess 'same as' isn't a good description of her. Her design is far more advanced than any of her predecessors, including the one Robo Knuckles built six months ago. Leviathan I believe he was called."

"I know of Leviathan and what he was capable of doing. And what sort of twisted plan do you have for her? I've witnessed the kind of world you sick mecha bots crave," said Angel, leaping sideways so she could get both of them in her line of sight as she reset her stance. Both of the mecha bots exchanged glances, Metal Sonic letting his arms fall to his sides.

"I don't know what you're talking about echidna," said Metal Sonic. "All I'm trying to do at the moment is survive, same as Mira is. Mecha bot four is determined to destroy us both." Angel softened her stance a little at hearing this.

"Why is he even chasing you two down? Aren't you on the same side?" she asked. Mira shook her head.

"I don't know why he wants us destroyed. We've never done anything to him," said Mira. Metal Sonic merely huffed at Mira's response.

"He's just upset that Dr. Eggman doesn't hold him in a higher regard than myself since his design is superior to my own," said Metal Sonic. "Now that we have gone rogue, he sees this as his opportunity to prove his superiority." Angel relaxed her stance a little more, confusion evident on her face.

"What do you mean 'you've gone rogue'?" she asked. Metal Sonic shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. All that matters now is staying one step ahead of Robo Knuckles," said Metal Sonic. He then narrowed his eyes. "I'm actually surprised he didn't follow you back here if he had found Mira."

"I threw a rock into his engine exhaust. He won't be chasing after you for a couple of days. I know the nearest town with any real means to fix the damage is a day or two away from here," said Angel.

"Well, I thank you for doing that. It'll give us a little bit of breathing room for at least a couple of days. We might get a good enough head start that he won't be able to pick us up again," said Metal Sonic. He then turned towards Mira. "Unfortunately you didn't get the chance to pick up any fuel for me, so we'll be walking till we come across the next town."

"I'm sorry. I didn't have time to get it," said Mira, looking at the ground.

"Don't worry about it. At least you were able to replenish your power supply, and I don't need the fuel to function so we can at least keep moving," said Metal Sonic, who turned back to Angel. "You should get out of here too. After what you did, Robo Knuckles will want to kill you as well." Angel dropped her stance. Her face, which had been one of defiance, softened as the two mecha bots turned and started to walk off. Angel was about to let them go, but then she reminded herself that she had made a promise to Mira. One that she was regretting making now that she knew who she'd gotten herself tangled up with, but one that she would keep, as she was honor bound to keep it.

"Wait," she called out, stopping both of the mecha bots as they came near the edge of the clearing. They both turned to look back at her.

"What is it?" asked Mira. Angel sighed as she sheathed her sword and started walking towards them.

"As much as I'm…uncomfortable to say the least about this, I'm coming with you," she said. Metal Sonic's expression turned to one of surprise at what the echidna had just said.

"Why?" was all Metal Sonic could think to ask as Angel came to a stop a few feet in front of him.

"I made a promise to Mira that I would protect her and her brother from Robo Knuckles till he was stopped. I am honor bound to uphold that promise, even after knowing the truth about you two," said Angel. Metal Sonic seemed lost as to what to say, as this was something that had never happened to him before. Never before had anyone pledged themselves to help him out. In fact, as far as he could remember, everyone he had come into contact with was either aggressive towards him like Sonic was or was fearful of him like most of the other people he had ever been around. But right now, it was the first time someone was showing him compassion, even if it was kind of forced.

"You do know that Robo Knuckles will more than likely want to rip your head off for what you did to him next time he finds you, and that staying with us will only hasten that encounter," said Metal Sonic, wondering if it the echidna was trying to trick him into thinking she wasn't a threat to him. After all, she had openly prepared herself to attack him the instant he had become known to her. But then again, he reasoned to himself, if she was trying to lower his guard to attack, why had she put her weapon away?

"I do. And to be honest, both of us will have a better chance at stopping him if we work together, as much as the idea sickens me," said Angel.

"I agree," said Mira, looking over at Metal Sonic. "The two of you working together will increase your odds of winning by about 36%." Metal Sonic sighed, shaking his head slowly.

"Fine. You two win, but don't expect me to save your skin if Robo Knuckles goes after you first," he said, pointing at Angel who merely huffed at the comment.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Mecha," said Angel. Metal Sonic's eyes frowned at being called by the nickname Sonic and the Freedom Fighters had given him.

"Should've guessed you were with that hedgehog at some point in time, seeing as how only people that know him call me by that name," said Metal Sonic. He then crossed his arms. "Since you seem to know everything about me you need to know, I'd like to at least know the name of the person that's going to be following me for however long this takes."

"Angel is my name," she said.

"Very well, Angel. I suggest we get moving. I want to cover as much ground as possible before dark," said Metal Sonic as he turned away from the echidna and started walking out of the clearing, Mira following close behind.

Angel stood still for a few seconds, taking in everything that had transpired in the last few minutes. I can't believe it's come to this…Forced to protect the one person I would rather throw into a trash compactor than help. I hate how ironic fate can be at times…I really do… she thought to herself before she started walking after the two mecha bots.

"Enter," said the voice of Dr. Eggman as the door to the main control room of the Command Center in Robotropolis whooshed open. A trio stood in the doorway, two of which were of obvious robotic design while the third seemed to look like an aquatic mobian. Slowly the trio entered the control room as the command chair sitting in the middle of the room whirred around to reveal the doctor himself seated in it. "My my. This new mecha bot seems to almost be alive when compared to the two of you," said Eggman as he stood up, wanting to get a closer look at the soft skinned mecha bot.

"Indeed," said Metal Sonic, walking forward while the other two mecha bots stayed back. He then motioned for Mira to walk up to where he was at, while Robo Knuckles simply stood in his place with his arms crossed over his chest, a look of annoyance plastered on his steel face. "She has been designed to be able to seamlessly blend into any mobian population, enabling her to gather intelligence on targets without arousing suspicion." As Mira reached Metal Sonic's side, the doctor leaned down to get a good look at her face.

"An interesting design to say the least. Why the aquatic look if I might ask?" asked Eggman as he slowly started walking around her, giving her a good once over while Mira's face turned to one of nervousness at being examined so thoroughly.

"Seeing as how neither myself or mecha bot four is designed to be able to handle aquatic environments, I decided that mecha bot six's design should include the ability to not only allow for such emersion into said environments, but to be able to thrive in it," said Metal Sonic.

"I see," said Eggman as he finished his close examination, noting the look on Mira's face. He looked over at Metal Sonic with a look of curiousness. "She seems…skittish…to me. What's your call sign and civilian name?" he asked Mira.

"Mecha bot six, but you may call me Mira," she answered. Eggman looked back over at Metal Sonic.

"Mira, huh? Is the name an acronym of sorts?" he asked Metal Sonic, who nodded.

"Yes. It is short for Marine Infiltration and Reconnaissance Android," he answered.

"Which is pointless seeing as how all our targets are all on land," spat Robo Knuckles, finally breaking his silence.

"Mecha bot four does have a point," said Eggman, turning away from the trio as he took a few steps away from the trio. "Still, there are advantages to her being able to perform underwater. Not many of my creations have that luxury." Metal Sonic looked back at Robo Knuckles, giving him a look asking why he was pointing out the downsides. Robo Knuckles only response was a small smirk. Metal Sonic narrowed his eyes for a second before returning his attention forward as the question he feared the most was asked.

"Seeing as how I asked you to develop mecha bot six to be a weapon that could rival the creature I showed you on the ancient tablet I found on Floating Island last year, I must know…Can she match its power?" asked Eggman, turning back around to look at the three mecha bots.

"Unknown, I must confess," said Metal Sonic, shying away slightly as the doctor's eyes narrowed.

"Unknown…How could you not know? You built her yourself!?" shouted Eggman. He then turned around and started walking towards the main control console, not even caring if Metal Sonic gave an answer. He then began typing away furiously at one of the keyboards. "Well, we'll just see what she can do right now!" On the other side of the room, one of the exits to the room opened as two Swatbots walked into the room, laser blasters in hand. Eggman turned back towards the three mecha bots. "Mira. Destroy them both!" he commanded, pointing at the Swatbots. As soon as this order was given, Metal Sonic felt like his internal fluids were turning to ice. He knew what would happen next, and he knew it wouldn't please the good doctor one bit.

"I refuse," said Mira, her voice shaky but stern at the same time.

"You…What!?" cried Eggman, disbelief clearly written on his face. Metal Sonic cringed at the doctor's outburst, while Robo Knuckles' smirk only widened. He too had known what Mira's response would be, and he knew it wouldn't sit well at all with the overweight human.

"If you will allow me to explain-" started Metal Sonic.

"There's nothing to 'explain' here! She is a failure! Destroy her immediately!" shouted Eggman to the two Swatbots standing at attention. The two robots raised their blasters towards Mira, who looked scared out of her mind. But before the Swatbots could fire, Metal Sonic walked in front of Mira, arms spread out in a protecting position.

"I will not allow you to destroy her simply because she refused one small order, especially when you have no idea what she is truly capable of," said Metal Sonic.

"If she won't even attack a throw away target like those two, then she is useless to me. And once I have no use for something, it is dealt with. You of all my creations should know that, seeing as how many of my machines you've personally seen me scrap in the past because they couldn't get the results I wanted," said Eggman. Suddenly, at this statement, something that had never occurred to Metal Sonic hit him like a lead brick. He doesn't care in the least about any of his creations…even us mecha bots. If we don't get results, he'll scrap us the same as if we were a simple Swatbot. Metal Sonic's eyes narrowed as this realization dawned on him for the first time in his existence.

"You would do the same to me just because I haven't been able to kill that hedgehog yet. Or worse yet, you'd do it as soon as I killed him cause I'd be of no more use to you, wouldn't I?" asked Metal Sonic. Not waiting to hear Eggman's answer, Metal Sonic whipped around and grabbed Mira by the waist. Firing his engine as fast as he could, he shot up towards the skylight, crashing through the tempered glass as the shards rained down on Eggman and Robo Knuckles, leveling out and flying away from the Command Center as fast as he was able to towards the south, Mira in tow.

"Hey!" shouted Angel, breaking Metal Sonic from his thoughts of what had transpired four days ago back in Robotropolis. Metal Sonic looked up at her from the rock he was seated on, annoyed at the fact that the echidna girl had bothered him. "What the heck had your mind scattered just now? I've said your name three times already."

"What do you want?" he asked Angel, trying to hide his annoyance at being disturbed, but failing miserably at it.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm going to go scrounge up something to eat, so don't be alarmed if I'm gone for a little bit," she said.

"And I care you're doing this why?" he asked. Now it was Angel's turned to be annoyed.

"Well I was just letting you know. No reason to bite my head off," she said before turning and walking off towards the river they had decided to stop and rest by for the night. Metal Sonic watched her walk away, Mira walking back towards him from the same direction as the two girls crossed paths. The two of them exchanged a few words then departed with both of them having a smile on their faces. As Mira returned to their campsite, she walked over to another rock sitting opposite of Metal Sonic's and sat down, a cantina in her left hand.

"I like Angel. She is nice," said Mira before placing the cantina on the ground and picking up a fairly long stick. She then started prodding the small fire Angel had made about an hour earlier.

"I wouldn't know. No one's ever been 'nice' to me before," said Metal Sonic, his gaze looking down into the fire as it cast its light on the two mecha bots. It was nearing the ten o'clock hour by his own internal clock. Personally he would've liked to have kept going, but he also knew that an organic being like Angel would need to sleep to recharge for the next day. His eyes narrowed as he realized that having her along was slowing down their trek as neither he nor Mira required sleep to keep functioning.

"I thought I was pretty nice to you, wasn't I?" asked Mira, catching Metal Sonic's attention again as he looked up at her. Despite being so advanced, the young mecha bot was also very naïve about many things, as she had be designed to be. It was one of the qualities he liked about her.

"I guess you were," he answered. "You seem in a more upbeat mood than you've been since Robotropolis. Why is that?"

"It's having a new friend with us I guess. Angel's a nice ray of sunshine in this dark time," she answered. Metal Sonic cocked an eyebrow at Mira's answer. To think of Angel as someone who could put a bright side to everything that was going on seemed farfetched to him. Especially as hostile as she was when she first ran into him. But then again, who hasn't been off put by me when they run into me? he thought to himself. The two mecha bots sat in silence for the next twenty minutes, neither of them saying another word until Angel came back, her backpack full of nuts, berries, and a fish from the nearby river. In her hand was a large stick.

"Sorry. Took longer to catch that fish than I thought it would take. Need to practice bare hand fishing more often," said Angel as she sat down.

"I could've helped you catch it. It would've only taken a second," said Mira.

"Nah. I needed the practice anyways," said Angel as she fashioned the fish onto the end of the stick, setting it in the ground about a half a foot away from the campfire with the fish hanging near the flames so it could be cooked properly. She then slipped the backpack off her back along with her sword, setting the blade up against one of the many rocks that dotted their campsite. She then picked a couple of the berries out of the pack and popped them into her mouth.

"May I try one of those?" asked Mira. Angel stopped chewing, looking over at Mira with a confused look. She then chewed a couple more times before swallowing the berries.

"I thought you mecha bots didn't eat?" she asked.

"Mira's a special case," said Metal Sonic, not taking his eyes off the fire. "She was designed to be able to emulate mobians in every facet of their lives. She can eat and drink same as you can. Her secondary power source is water so it made sense to give her an easy means to get it into her systems."

"I didn't think Eggman cared enough to give a mecha bot that kind of realism," said Angel.

"That's because my brother designed and built me, not Dr. Eggman," said Mira, her face full of pride at the statement.

"Huh…Would've figured anything a mecha bot would build would be nothing but a destructive horror. Not some soft spoken, well-mannered girl," said Angel as she offered a few of the berries to Mira, who happily took them and plopped them into her mouth. Metal Sonic looked over at Angel with a raised eyebrow.

"Why would you think that?" he asked. Angel huffed at the question.

"Seeing all the things Leviathan did and created, why wouldn't I think that?" she countered.

"Leviathan never built anything. He used the Timestones in some failed attempt to change history," said Metal Sonic, now confused as to what Angel was referring to. I keep forgetting this isn't the same Metal Sonic as the one from my timeline. He doesn't know of all the nightmares Leviathan unleashed on the planet, thought Angel.

"These are so good!" said Mira, pulling both their attention away from the discussion to see Mira happily chewing the berries. Angel's gaze softened into a smile as she saw the look of joy on the girl mecha bot's face.

"Glad you like them," said Angel, picking several more from her pack and offering them to her. "Want some more?"

"Yes please!" said Mira as she took the berries. It was at this moment that Angel's eyes caught sight of something she had never expected to see. Metal Sonic was watching Mira enjoying the berries, a small smile plastered on his face. Seeing this, she couldn't deny that there was something very different about this Metal Sonic than the cold blooded killer version from her timeline. He seemed relatively calm and gentle compared to what she had always envisioned him as being. Sure his manners and conversations skills needed work. But then, she figured, he's probably never had a civilized conversation before with anyone other than maybe Mira.

Still, she also knew that he was designed for one thing and one thing only. To kill Sonic. And he would do whatever it took to achieve that goal. Yet, to see him like he was now made her begin to doubt that he was as ruthless a machine as the one from her timeline as well as how Sonic had described him as being in this one. She realized, though, that she would need more to go on before making such a decision about someone she had at one time sworn to hunt down and destroy for the murderous acts inflicted upon her family and village. One moment does not a person's character reveal, she told herself before popping a couple more berries into her mouth.