The two hedgehogs faced each other in a standoff. Sonic stared down his metallic counterpart, eager to see if he was a match. Metal analysed Sonic through his neon red eyes, strategizing to defeat the no time, Sonic curled into a ball and started spinning on the spot, charging his attack. In response, Metal Sonic began charged the jet boosters on the back of his feet, ready to strike. Dr Robotnik stared, grinning ear to ear, eager to see his new creation destroy the thorn in his side. After a few seconds, the two hedgehogs crashed into each other before ricocheting off, both landing crouched on the floor before standing up straight.
"Gotta hand it to you, Robotnik," Sonic drawled. "None of your other piles of scrap have ever amounted to much. Looks like you've outdone yourself!"
Robotnik snarled. "Metal Sonic is more than a match for you, rodent. He's designed to match and better you in all aspects!"
"Yeah?" Sonic challenged. "Let's see about that!"
The two hedgehogs began darting across the room, trying to land hits on the other. To Robotnik, it looked like two blue blurs speeding around his lair, occasionally stopping to throw punches before reducing to blurs again. Robotnik's eyes darted across the room, following the two opponents, watching in anticipation.
No matter how fast Sonic ran, his clone would be right beside him. For every single punch Sonic threw at his counterpart, he would receive one in return. No matter how fast Sonic dashed to the other side of the room, Metal would be right on his tail, ready to strike, all the while hearing the insane cackling of that mad Doctor. Rarely had Sonic fought like this. Rarely did Sonic fight someone so close to him in speed and strength. The two returned to the centre of the room, each on opposite sides. Sonic took some time to breathe and Robotnik sneered at him. Sonic looked at his opponent only to see him in a similar state to himself; slightly out of breath. This would not be an easy fight by any means.
Tails was busy mass-preparing explosives in his workshop. This had to be the biggest batch he had produced; of course, the situation demanded it. There was no doubt in Tails' mind that this was the most important mission he would embark on. Despite knowing Sonic for a pretty short amount of time, Tails acknowledged that he had breathed new life into the Freedom Fighters. His unparalleled speed was a game-changer. Bringing Sonic back onto their side was of the upmost priority, as a Sonic against the Freedom Fighters was the equivalent to a death sentence in his mind. Tails heard the front door to his workshop slowly creak open. He put down his tools and turned to face the visitor, only to see the weasel that beat him up. Tails instinctively grabbed a wrench to protect himself. The weasel raised his hands as if to tell Tails to calm down.
"Hey, pal," Fang said, unusually gently. "I ain't here to cause trouble. Just wanted to say sorry for earlier."
"What are you still doing here?" Tails stuttered.
"I'm gonna help ya find yer friend," Fang reassured him. "Ya don't gotta worry about me."
Fang walked back out and closed the door. Tails sighed in relief. He guessed that Espio must have struck a deal with him when they brought him in. The door opened again; Sally walked in.
"Hey, hope Fang didn't give you any trouble," she said, leaning in the doorway.
"It was fine," Tails said, redirecting focus back onto his work. "Just didn't know he was working with us, that's all."
"Yeah..." Sally said, looking outside. "Espio managed to get him to co-operate. I'm not sure how long he'll stick around, but he agreed to help us get into Robotnik Tower. Hopefully, we'll find Sonic in there somewhere."
Tails turned back around. Sally looked at him.
"You know, Sonic would have been pretty impressed that you stood up to Fang that first time. It was very brave."
Tails' eyes looked down, appreciating the sentiment, before looking back at Sally. "I've told you how important this is to me. I know you don't really seem to like him, but Sonic's important to the team."
"I do like him!" Sally said, "I know I give off the impression that I don't, but I only ever did it to push him, to test him. I know he's important to the team. We need him back."
Tails nodded, and Sally left.
Back in the throne room, Sonic and Metal have gone back to trying to outrace one another, trying to get the upper hand in terms of speed. Sonic noticed himself slow down a little; a terrible mistake. As he did, he felt Metal Sonic grab him by the leg. Suddenly, Sonic was being swung around, before being tossed across the room, crashing into the main door. Sonic slowly got to his feet, the sound of Robotnik's maniacal laughter echoing across the room. He felt a little light headed.
"Well done, Metal!" Robotnik exclaimed, applauding, jumping out of his seat before leaning over to look at Sonic. "Not quick enough, eh, hedgehog?" the scientist began laughing again, throwing himself back into his chair. Sonic looked up, scowling. The mere idea that this copy could be faster than him struck a nerve. He looked at the cyborg, stomping across the room.
"No way!" he growled. Sonic sped into the copy, ploughing him into the wall. Metal kicked Sonic back, and the two returned to speeding around the room again, narrowly dodging attacks. Robotnik watched gleefully, feeling pure joy at the sight of his enemy getting hurt.
Mighty leaned against a wall while Espio prepared his shurikens and kunai knifes, sharpening them to perfection. The armadillo asked him something that had been on his mind.
"So, what's the deal with you and Fang?" Mighty asked Espio. "Seems like you two have an interesting history."
Espio chuckled. "Yeah, you could say that." He put down his weapons and sat on a table, recounting his previous encounters with Fang.
"The first ever job I had with the Chaotix was to investigate a jewellery theft." Espio began. "We soon found out that Fang was the perpetrator. Fang really hasn't changed much; back then, he was operating on the same scale he is now."
"Did you catch him?" Mighty asked, invested in the story.
"No," Espio said lightly. "I nearly had him; it was just him and me, facing off, but I wasn't as skilled in combat back then. He got the upper hand. So after that, I trained continuously, preparing for the next time I ran into him; all the while, he was still committing petty crimes which were being reported to us. The next time we found him, I beat him."
"So that's why he's so mad at you?" Mighty implored.
"Well," Espio continued. "He broke out of jail not long after. Since then, it feels like we've always been trying to one up each other. For every time I catch him, he manages to sneak out. The next time we meet, he'll have learnt a little more, and he'll be able to slip out of my grasp in our next confrontation. This time was different, though. Fang's always had that revolver, but he never really had it in him to use it on someone. He'd just sort of wave it around." Espio paused. "Last time was the only time he'd ever fired at me. Seems like now, he's really willing to kill me."
Mighty stared, taking it all in. "So, what next? You hope he's gonna stay good?"
Espio smirked. "I have no doubt that Fang will go back to his old ways after this job. I'm hoping if I catch him again, he'll stay in prison, before he does something stupid."
As Espio talked, Vector came in. He waited for Espio to finish.
"Telling ya all about his war stories, huh?" Vector asked Mighty jokingly, before addressing both Espio and Mighty. "Hey, the Princess is ready to get a strategy together, so y'all need to come soon."
Sonic slumped over, panting, out of breath. Metal was in no better shape. Each hedgehog was covered in cuts and bruises from their battle. The moment of silence was interrupted by Robotnik slamming his fist on the armrest of his throne.
"Metal! METAL!" Robotnik yelled. "What are you waiting for? Kill him!"
Sonic saw his enemy look up, red eyes flickering. It seemed that some of Metal's tech had been damaged in their fight. Metal set the jet boosters on his feet to charge, before releasing, targeting Sonic and getting ready to swipe. Sonic desperately dived out of the way, falling in a heap on the floor, while Metal sped head first into the wall, crashing.
Suddenly, something in Metal changed. A report in his view stated that the Emotional Inhibitor had been damaged. For a few seconds, Metal felt a rush of unknown emotions, feelings that had been programmed out of him. He was able to recognize himself for what he was; a clone, a science experiment. He became self aware, realizing that he was a freakish amalgamation of nature and machinery. He felt regret for being created, anger at the man who brought him into the world. What was he but a machine, designed purely to bring an end to the very thing he was based on; and for what, the sick amusement of his master? As he felt his opponent beating on him, Metal did nothing. As he heard the screams of his creator, ordering him to fight back and to kill the hedgehog, he refused to obey. No more would he serve his purpose as a killing machine, an executioner. As quickly as these emotions came, they went. Without realising, Metal's emotional inhibitor seemed to stop malfunctioning, the self-awareness he had previously attained disappearing, replaced with one purpose: kill Sonic the Hedgehog. Metal felt his opponents' fists pounding furiously against his body, before spinning around and slashing Sonic across the cheek, sending him stumbling back in shock. Robotnik grinned.
"Well done, Metal!" Robotnik leaned over in his seat, gripping the armrests.
Both fighters were too tired. Sonic managed to gain a slight upper hand in the moments that Metal had malfunctioned. He wasn't quite sure what was happening, but he used the opportunity to inflict as much damage as he possibly could. But it had tired him, and now he was forced to continue fighting against himself.
Back at Knothole, the Freedom Fighters had gathered around, ready to hear Sally's plan.
"Robotropolis is constantly under surveillance," Sally began, "and we have reason to believe that the Surveillance Control Room is in Robotnik Tower. The first thing we need to do is shut this down so Robotnik won't see us coming."
Sally looked at Fang and Espio. "Fang, as far as we're aware, Robotnik is not aware you are working with us, meaning you get to walk the streets of Robotropolis safe. I want you to lead Espio to Robotnik tower and sniff out a way for him to go in. The front entrance is too heavily guarded, they will be able to detect Espio, so it has to be somewhere different."
Fang and Espio looked at each other for a second. "I can do that," Fang said at last.
"Good," Sally continued, "Once you find the entrance, you and Espio need to find the control room. It might have a few badniks in there, but you should both be capable of taking them down. Once you've done that, disable the surveillance, then call us in over our radios."
Espio nodded. Sally went on to explain the next stage of the plan.
"Once we've been given the go-ahead, the rest of us will head straight for the tower undetected. The guards at the front should be no match for all of us. It's possible that if Robotnik realises we're inside, he'll force the doors to shut. Fortunately, Tails has produced a healthy supply of bombs we can use to blow through them."
Tails spoke up. "I've got enough for two bombs per person. Use them only when absolutely necessary; we don't want to run out right before we find Sonic."
"One question," Ray asked. "What do we do if Sonic starts fighting us?"
Tails paused. "We'll just have to do our best to subdue him."
Sally nodded. "It won't be easy, but we need him back with us. Right; is everybody ready?"
The Freedom Fighters cheered back in response.
Sonic and Metal had resorted to slugging punches at one another. The fight had slowed down considerably; neither had the strength or energy to keep it up, yet they were forced to continue by their mad spectator. A kick to Metal's head seem to put him out of the fight. Sonic fell to his knees, completely exhausted. He looked down at Metal, seeing that he was still awake, but too tired to get up. Sonic fell to the floor besides him, vision blurring before passing out.
Robotnik sat back in his chair, disappointed that the fight reached such an anti-climax. It seemed that Metal could do with more work.
"On your feet, Metal," Robotnik commanded. "It seems like there are numerous improvements I will need to make for you to beat the Hedgehog."
Metal slowly rose to his feet before his legs, heavily damaged from the fight, gave in, forcing him back onto the floor, unable to get back up.
The Freedom Fighters gathered outside Robotropolis. Sally spoke to Fang and Espio.
"Are you two confident you'll be able to get in?"
Fang adjusted his hat. "You bet, yer highness. I'll sniff an entrance out."
Sally looked to Espio, who responded, "Don't worry about me. They won't see me."
The pair stepped out, Espio camouflaging before they sped towards the city.. The rest watched them as they headed up the road to Robotropolis, Robotnik Tower visible even from this distance.
"Do you think they'll make it there without killing each other?" Mighty joked to Vector. Vector chuckled. Fang shrunk to a dot on the horizon before disappearing completely. Tails looked on, nervousness overwhelming him. He couldn't fail his friend.