~Chapter 9: The Rescue~

"I still can't decide what to do with this little pest," Robotnik snickered. "Should I roboticize him or vaporize him?"

Metal ignored him, continuing to repair Shard. He noticed that the auto-repair had also burned out slightly, which is why it wasn't working. Metal figured that if he repaired that, he wouldn't need to do much of the work.

Sonic then began to wake up, groaning as he rubbed his head. "Urgh… What happened…?" he asked himself, opening his eyes. He gasped when he saw where he was, jumping to his feet.

Robotnik looked at him and chuckled. "Well, Sonic, I see you have woken up," he noticed.

Sonic saw Metal fixing Shard, glaring at Robotnik angrily. "What have you done to Shard, Robotnik!" he demanded to know.

Robotnik sniggered. "Oh, I only made a few adjustments," he chortled.

"Turn him back! And keep your metal-me away from him!" Sonic demanded.

"Are you forgetting that Shard is also a metal version of you?" Robotnik reminded, chuckling. "You're also forgetting that it was only seven years ago when you fought him to the death?"

"He destroyed himself once he turned good! He knew that the right choice was turning against you!" Sonic yelled.

"You might want to shut up, rodent, or else I'll roboticize you!" Robotnik warned.

Shard's auto-repair had been repaired, and had also completed repairing his damaged body, both inside and out. His green irises turned on, since he was not using his power gem, and he glanced around.

Metal looked at him from his distance as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded.

Sonic was also looking at Shard. "Shard!" he exclaimed.

Shard turned to Sonic, then smirking evilly. "At least we have the hedgehog," he spoke.

Sonic's eyes widened as he quietly gasped. "No…" he reacted quietly, his voice wavering in sadness.

Robotnik bellowed out a loud laughter. "Ha! It looks like you're wrong, Sonic! Hyper Metal Sonic is devoted to me now!" he finalized.

Sonic gritted his teeth and smashed his fist against the glass. "Stop calling him that!" he demanded.

"Does it honestly matter what I call him?" Robotnik retorted. "He's just a machine!"

Metal glanced over at his creator as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, taking that statement as an offence. He then turned his head so he was facing his black and yellow brother, who looked back at him. Shard just shrugged, not knowing why his younger brother looked so annoyed. After all, the statement was true.

Robotnik then continued his small statement. "And soon, you will be just like him," he finalized, grinning. Instantly Sonic, Metal and Shard knew what choice had been made, causing Sonic to widen his eyes and gasp, Shard to grin evilly and Metal to just stand and watch without any change in his expression. Robotnik reached his hand towards the control panel, about to press a large red button which stood out from all the others, until he heard a laser blast at the door. He, Sonic, Shard and Metal all looked in the direction of the door, seeing Tails and Knuckles there, Tails holding a black laser gun which was smoking since it had just been fired.

"Grr! Have you pests not given up yet!" Robotnik growled.

"It'll be a long time until we give up, Robotnik!" Knuckles answered confidently.

"Metal Sonic! Shard! Get rid of these pests!" Robotnik commanded, calling Shard by his current name.

The two robotic hedgehogs got ready for battle.

Before anything, Tails shot the control panel Robotnik was standing by, deactivating it so none of the controls worked. Robotnik was enraged, but made his quick escape as Sonic was freed from the capsule he stood in. Sonic then did a Homing Attack to the back of Shard's head, causing him to whir for a bit before falling to the ground. The blue hedgehog then ran to Tails' and Knuckles' side, ready to take on Metal. Metal glared at them angrily, waiting for them to make their move.

Tails aimed his laser, locking onto Metal and firing. However, Metal was smart and had managed to avoid the blast. He didn't focus much on Tails or Knuckles; he mainly focused on Sonic. Sonic grabbed Metal by the arms, struggling to keep hold of him, but looked at Tails.

"Tails, fire!" he ordered.

Tails quickly aimed and fired at Metal as Sonic jumped out of the way. The setting was on beam setting now rather than pulse, so it pierced straight through Metal. Metal had a rather odd look in his emotionless expression, almost as if he was shocked or struggling to find a way to react. He had stopped, then he stumbled, and finally he fell to his knees, holding his chest. The beam had gone through his engine, causing serious internal damage, and soon Metal had fallen on his front, eyes switching off.

"Nice shot, buddy," Sonic complimented, giving a 'thumbs-up' to Tails as he smiled.

"Thanks," Tails thanked, smiling back.

Knuckles lifted Shard up and put one arm over his shoulder. "Sonic, could you get the other arm?" he requested.

"Sure thing, Knuckles," Sonic replied, also putting one of Shard's arms over his shoulder. He and Knuckles then walked out of the base with the knocked-out Shard, Tails following behind.

However, Metal had not gone down so easily. One of his red irises switched on as he watched Sonic leave with Shard. He knew that Sonic was going to do something to him. Metal wanted to do something, but he couldn't. Not only because of his critical internal damage, but because he simply was not programmed to make his own choices. Even if he somehow managed to disobey Robotnik, there was a back-up plan such as a kill-switch or a self-destruct button.

The three friends returned to the Presidential House, dropping Shard onto the floor. The black and yellow robot was still out.

"Mr President, we managed to rescue Sonic," Tails informed. "And we managed to bring Shard back. Right now he's shut down, though."

"As for Robotnik?" the president asked.

"He retreated from the scene after he was about to roboticize Sonic," Tails answered.

"But we managed to stop Metal," Sonic added. ""I doubt we'll be seeing him in a while." He then laughed a little in his usual cocky way.

Shard groaned as he began to awaken, sitting up and rubbing his head. He had an uncomfortable look on his face, as if he had been forced to wake up incredibly early. His power gem was green, meaning it was not in use, and when he allowed his irises to switch on, they were also green.

All the attention was then on Shard as he looked at everyone, confused. "How'd I get here?" he asked.

"Shard, I need a word with you," the president stated.

~End of Chapter~