Arm-Egg-Eddon
With Station 7 completed Dr Robotnik sent the transmission, initiating the countdown for the sequence of six silos containing other rockets and the hidden bunkers within most of the major cities.
"Mecha, I need you to track down a certain individual for me," asked Dr Robotnik, turning to his robotic second in command, handing him a datadisk,
Mecha loaded the disk, looking at the info on it, "Which of his names should I look for him under?" he asked, turning to leave
"Any, we need his services as either" replied the Dr
Mecha left, picking up his wing pack on the way to the surface of the base, igniting the jets and blasting away on afterburners, wondering why Robotnik needed the services of a sniper.
Shadow was eating dinner in Rouge's mansion when the floor began to shake, the plates jumped on the table and the cups rattled. He put down his fork and walked out of the room, headed for E-123 Omega's workshop.
"Omega" he called, peering into the darkness and seeing a pair of red eyes light up,
"Affirmative, I felt the tremors, shall I procede down there?" came the digitized voice of the bulky robot,
Shadow nodded, "yes, get ready, I'll find Rouge, it seems he is angry again"
"Well he is kept imprisoned down there" came Omega's retort as he stepped into the light
The three convened at a large, square, metal door set into the floor. Rouge pushed a button and the door slid into four sections, opening the way down under the house, revealing three forcefields layered on top of each other blocking the way.
"Omega, is your shield online?" Rouge asked, just before a blue ball shimmered around Omega,
"Affirmative, best case scenario, I shall be out in 20 minutes or slightly less" he replied, looking down at the fields in the tunnel in the floor,
Shadow looked at him, "And in the worst case?" he asked, Omega looked up,
"Worst case I shall be back up in five minutes and will require extensive repairs" he said, jumping into the hole, falling through the EMP fields, his shield protecting him.
He looked around in the darkness, switching to night vision to actually see. The entire basement level was trashed, except for the stacks of barrels against one wall, and a power charger beside them.
With a snarl something slammed into Omega's shield, the impact causing the bubble to bend inwards towards the big robot.
"He used me! He told me I could beat HIM! I was nothing but a TOOL!" screamed the something, smashing again and again into Omega's shield, causing fluctuations across its surface as Omega's generators struggled to keep the energy barrier intact.
"Metal, calm yourself. He abandoned ME, left me to rot in that lab with the Shadow…" began Omega, but his reasoning was cut off by another shriek
"SEE! He cares nothing about his creations! We are tools to be used at his leisure! He locked me away in Final Egg! Just because he had no use for me! I had to watch So…S…my counterpart walk in and defeat him! And I could do NOTHING! He didn't even think of releasing me to help!" ranted the other person in the room.
Omega turned on his headlight, and in the glare of the lamp a pitiful figure was revealed. He was dirty, oil stained and rusting in some places; his once blue paint was dulling and peeling, his head spines were dented and twisted and the experimental Nanites were skittering around his metal flesh, repairing all the self-inflicted injuries. Metal Sonic had turned to Nanite experimentation to try and make himself more like his counterpart; he had reasoned that if he could become closer to an organic being he would be closer to being able to defeat his namesake. What he had had in his two hands had been enough to set him free from Robotnik, his upgrades had made him more powerful and he had been able to overthrow his creator, Robotnik having been disregarded as master ever since he had locked him into a pod within Final Egg.
All Metal had learnt was that Robotnik saw him as neither an equal or even a subordinate, but a tool, just a machine, designed for a single purpose, not the thinking, slightly feeling robot that Metal had become since his last rebuild, he had acquired a form of soul only ever before obtained by E-102 Gamma, when he had begun to think for himself and decide to 'free' his fellow E-series, his ultimate act of sacrifice, proof of a sentient entity, had ensured him his 'Digital Soul'.
After being defeated by Super Sonic, even as Metal Overlord, he had realised the truth, he was a copy, just a poor imitation, of the original, and even his near biological state was no match for the original. After the battle Team Dark had taken him to Rouge's mansion, but he had been violent, lashing out at everyone and everything in his despair so they had made the large basement his private domain.
He had broken out once and had proceeded to destroy the room above the door in his rage and sorrow, now he couldn't get past the three EMP fields that guarded the exit.
He had exhausted his rage, the cleaning fluid for his eyes flowing freely as he sank to the ground, wallowing in despair, staring at his hands, seeing them reminded him of his folly, how much of a fool he had been to think that he could have beaten his counterpart. He tore at the Bio-mechanical, nanite infused metal, attempting to somehow remove his shame and sense of betrayal, it didn't work, the Nanites simply went to work repairing the damage.
He had improved his mind, as well as his body, his entire CPU had been changed in an attempt to become more organic, he had also wired up nerves, and so the tearing of his flesh was as painful as a real organism attempting to shred its hands. That made him slump, a real organism, not some robotic copy of one.
Omega saw that Metal had calmed down and turned to leave,
"Omega, Why am I still, here? Why have I not been destroyed? Do I still have a purpose that isn't my old programming?" asked Metal to Omega's back
"I don't know Metal, I really don't" said Omega, turning to look at the bedraggled robot, no robot hardly seemed to fit the creature before him, he was looking at a metal hedgehog, a person in his own right, "Maybe a purpose is waiting for you to fulfil it" he suggested before jetting out of the basement, leaving Metal to himself.
