Metal was one of Robotnik's best robots, a bright blue machine with an image near identical to the human's biggest enemy, an irony that was never once lost on Robotnik. MDP, or Metal Doppelganger Project had begun after Robotnik's very first defeat. During his time on South Island, Robotnik had first been dismissive of the blue blurs efforts, but as the hedgehog kept winning, Robotnik began to realise that maybe there was something more to it than just simple luck.
Hence Robotnik's first project after his first defeat was to assess why he lost, and the conclusion was a combination of speed, spikes, and agility. Thus the MDP began; an effort to build a robot that could not only match, but surpass the efforts of the human's enemy. The first prototype was barely finished when it was thrown into action; a last minute experiment caused by the unexpected arrival of the blue hedgehog onto the Death Egg. It was a failure.
The design was improved by the time of Robotnik's raid on Angel Island, so much so that the obese scientist had made several, and used them as diversions while he rode the Death Egg to escape with the master emerald. Those robots also failed.
It was eventually deemed the problem was a lack of intelligence. So Robotnik scaled down the design, streamlined the product, and removed some of its direct offensive weaponry and focused instead on giving it the best AI he could. The final code was actually stolen from himself, via his time travelling adventures on the Miracle Planet.
Robotnik never once looked at the code when he downloaded it into the Metal Sonic; doing so would cause a paradox that would prevent the code from existing. Instead he wrote the code from scratch later on, during his downtime, and placed it in one of his safest storage holds, guarded by biometric security that only he could access. It still sits there now, waiting for Robotnik's past self to travel forwards in time while setting up the attempt to take the Miracle Planet.
It was this build of Metal that had been the most effective, and also the fastest of all of Robotnik's machines. Its AI however was what made it second in command to the human's empire. Unlike Egg Pawns, which were built purely to follow commands, Metal could think. The robot could reason and make decisions on its own. The robot seemed to the unobservant to be alive, and while Robotnik would dismiss such claims, it possessed an uncanny ability for reasoning and making informed decisions from any number of factors.
Yet Robotnik could never make an army of Metals. Robotnik had managed to create one battery to power Metal, but the design was lost in an attack. The battery that Metal was using was the same one from the first prototype, and no amount of attempts to replicate it had been successful. The Chaos Emeralds aside, there was only one material that could make a battery that small that efficient, and Robotnik had used his entire supply in making Metal. Even though Robotnik could make fake Chaos Emeralds, the power output in them would only last five seconds inside Metal; nowhere near long enough.
Hence Metal Sonic was a one of a kind robot, completely irreplaceable, and today he was going to get another upgrade. The newfound Megatel was more than enough to replace all of Metal Sonic's current armour, albeit at the price of his shape shifting abilities, reason enough for Robotnik to make a secondary protective stasis tube to store this new armour in, and allow Metal to swap freely between the two.
The overweight human began ordering machines about demanding them to replicate his original Metal Sonic armour designs. Without hesitation, the robots got to work, shaping the Megatel into the necessary parts. Meanwhile Robotnik met Metal in a briefing room. Robotnik had always made a conscious effort to keep Metal, like all his critical machines and data, away from his main networks, as well as keeping each network separate from each other. This served as protection, in case his systems were ever compromised. But in times like these, it meant Metal had no idea what was going on.
"Metal," Robotnik greeted his top soldier.
"What is your command Doctor?" the blue robot answered, his circular red sensors focused on the scientist, in the same way an animal's eyes would normally.
"We're getting behind schedule on this project," the human admitted, his face slightly pained as he did, "I need you to start a little project for me," he finished, a little smirk creeping across his face."
The robot stood motionless, his eyes nevertheless tracking the doctor as he paced around the room, "Which is what, Doctor?"
"A new robot power system design," Robotnik beamed, "and I need a few test pilots. The usual type, healthy, young, wouldn't be noticed as missing for a very long time."
"Understood, Doctor," the robot answered, as it readied itself for action, "How many?"
"Ten will be enough," Robotnik replied, "But I need to remain in hiding for now. Scour the whole world for test subjects if you have to, and take them to my factory underneath Turquoise Hill Zone. Report back to me when you have completed this task."
"Confirmed," Metal nodded, "Though query if I may Doctor?" the robot asked.
"Proceed," Dr Robotnik answered, always distrustful of whenever anything questioned him.
"Why was I summoned if I am to 'scour the whole world for test subjects', and take them to factory delta three?"
"You mean aside from the upgraded armour you are about to receive?" Robotnik scowled, "Make a note in your memory chips Metal, you may be second in command, but you still answer to me, and you still do as I say, even if it doesn't make sense to your feeble little mind!" the human yelled angrily, "I will not have my motivations questioned! You hear me? I am in charge, and if I want you to come to me, you will come."
The robot nodded dutifully, remaining otherwise static even in the face of his master's worst rage. It awaited confirmation that it could leave, and then left, without the slightest hint of annoyance or malice in spite of what it received. As it walked out of the office where Robotnik still sat, none of the other robots even glanced at this bright blue machine.
The scientist was still angry, not because of Metal's questioning of his orders, but because Metal had a point. It was redundant of Robotnik to call the robot here, particularly when the job did not require him to be on site. But it was the fact that Robotnik had been corrected that annoyed him, even though that was one of the things Metal's AI had been designed for. Metal was his second in command for a reason, because he alone could question Robotnik's decisions, and point out the flaws Robotnik otherwise missed.
The scientist hated to admit it, but he was not perfect. If he was, the world would already be under his rule. However, he made mistakes. Some admittedly weren't his fault; caused by things that he could not have possibly foreseen, while others were simply things that, on paper, work a charm, but when applied to the real world tended to be a bit less than ideal. But the mistakes that annoyed him where the ones he should've been able to account for, but didn't. Having Metal point these out would often prevent a failed encounter later, a useful thing to have, but would not save Robotnik's already rampant ego.