Metal Sonic was Eggman's magnum opus. The perfect war machine, heavily armed, stronger, faster, and even better acceleration than the blue blur thanks to a powerful jet engine installed into its frame. It was even programmed with a learning AI stolen from ancient mobian designs that allowed it to quickly analyse and replicate Sonic's movements to turn them back against the blue hedgehog.

While Sonic's experience and determination generally came out on top in most battles, the super badnik was single-handedly responsible for many of the "near misses" that had happened over the years, so perfectly designed it had been to serve to counter him.

But Miles wasn't Sonic.

He had nowhere near the speed, a fraction of the mass, and compared to the hedgehog's well honed fighting skills his were simplistic and plain, any cleverness came from his strategies and tactics rather than his techniques.

And that worked out pretty well.

Miles battered aside a claw with a bloody snarl, slamming his head into the robot's head hard enough to crack its optical visor.

Because Metal Sonic wasn't playing to his weaknesses at all. It wasn't strong enough to simply dominate him, and his basic techniques - and extra limbs that the robot didn't share - provided nothing for the machine to replicate against him.

And not only was Miles well used to dealing with things that were faster than him, he was far less dependent on Sonic's primary weapon, momentum, when it came to his own arsenal.

A metal claw tore through his cheek. Miles barely managed to pull away in time to save his eye, tails slicing up in a brutal counter that slammed the robot back through a pyramid of wine glasses. Metal Sonic flew up into the air, propulsors blazing as it charged its plasma cannon to fire down on him.

Miles slammed into it, rotary tails slicing into its titanium chassis time and again, leaving deep dents in its reinforced frame as they spun through the air together. He shoved back a moment later, plasma bolt crackling over his ears before he grabbed at a leg, yanking it to send the badnik hurtling down to the floor.

Except there was no resistance, the leg simply elongated in his grasp.

Oops. They were extendable, weren't they?

A second foot smashed down on top of his head, sending Miles hurtling to the floor like a meteor. Stone crumpled beneath him.

But he'd had worse. Miles bounced himself backwards, still holding Metal's foot as a quarter ton of metal smashed down where he'd landed, sending pebbles flying everywhere. Sharp stone tore his suit.

How was Amy? She'd long since moved out of the dining hall, fighting an army with only the Vortex to help her. He could only barely hear the rumble of its vulcans from here. Hopefully they'd made it clear, he hadn't exactly stopped to concoct a sensible plan before rushing in like a complete Sonic.

The robot charged at him, blazing with energy. Miles spun in a pirouette, Metal's leg extending around him as he moved faster and faster, hopping into the air at the last moment to use its own limb as a shield against the impact.

And then it ran out of leg. Metal suddenly found itself simultaneously dragged after Miles and yanked sideways by centrifugal force, swinging through a pillar as they flew before smashing into the ceiling. Burning wreckage tumbled to the ground below.

"What's the matter, Metal? Too weak?" Miles dropped down through the tangled mess of limb, swaying unsteadily. "Well if you can't beat me, you'll never beat him." He grinned through pink tinted teeth.

He didn't have enough information. Was the bomb a normal one? Nuclear? Exotic? How long did he have left? Was there more than one? Could he disarm it, or was his best bet to carry it out to sea and try not to think too hard about the environmental ramifications?

Well, he was trying very hard not to think about things anyway, especially until the room stopped spinning.

He simply couldn't check with Metal around either. But he had no way of stopping the robot if it decided to disengage, and that also meant that if it decided to go attack Amy again he wouldn't be able to stop it in time.

Which meant that his only choice was to exploit its programming. Associate himself with its prime directive of defeating Sonic to keep it focused on him until he could either disable it outright - a daunting prospect, especially with a time limit - or deal sufficient damage to endanger its retrieval mission and force it to retreat with the emerald it had stored safely inside its chassis.

Miles rolled to the side as a coil of metal sliced down from above in a very loose approximation of a kick. The limb whirred back to its normal length with a harsh clicking. Metal slammed to the floor once more, a shadowy prism of energy crackling around it to block the grenade he'd left as a parting gift at its feet.

"You just sit right there then." Miles planted his feet, facing away from the robot as he revved his tails up. The debris on the floor hurtled towards the badnik, cutlery and burning wood clattering harmlessly against the defence matrix along with a spray of sticky desserts and salads that formed a messy layer on its surface before a filthy tablecloth billowed over it.

That would do it. Miles ran from where he'd been standing, slipping out a grenade before Metal surged directly towards him, its obscured vision no barrier for its short range heat sensors. An aura of blazing plasma ignited food and furniture alike as it surged towards him at multiples the speed of sound.

Miles stepped aside at the last moment, flinching from the burning heat, to leave Metal Sonic on a collision course with the bomb he'd stepped in front of. He could have sworn its black and crimson eyes widened in surprise as it deactivated its plasma field, tumbling to a halt just in time to avoid impact.

"Hi."

Twin tails coiled around its neck. Miles spun his tails with Metal in his grasp, slamming its head into the ground thirty times in a second, gouging a deep furrow into the stone before lifting it aloft, dangling before him. Most of the paint had been scoured away to leave twisted metal below, warped and damaged from the impact and reflecting orange from a dozen different fires burning around them. Miles reached out, tearing away its dented faceplate with a grunt of effort.

"Got your no- agh!" Miles yelled involuntarily as the robot engulfed itself in an electrical field. His limbs went numb, smoke rising from his body as he dropped to the floor.

Figured. Just as he was about to make a decent one-liner for a change. Miles gritted his teeth, willing his body to respond as a dented metal foot slammed down against his skull. And agai-

A hammer slammed into Metal's face, shattering its damaged visor entirely. It hurtled backwards, bouncing into an overturned serving trolley with a metallic clatter. A blur of pink and green dominated Miles' vision, muffled words filtering through with worried urgency.

Miles raised a thumb.

"I've had worse!" He grinned.

"Tails, I asked you if you could stand up."

"Oh. Right." Miles peeled his head out of its crater with difficulty, accepting a gloved hand from… Amy? Amy. "Pro noblem!"

"... Come on! Everyone's clear of the building, we need to get- Watch out!"

Metal Sonic rose from the wreckage, red orbs glowing from a sparking mechanical void that had once been a face. It hovered upwards, plasma cannon glowing as it charged, pointing directly at the bomb behind them, evidently willing to risk being in the blast radius to be rid of them.

"Hey, Metal!" Miles grinned, thumb still raised, holding onto Amy for support, blood trickling out of his ear. "Remember I was holding a grenade?"

Crimson sensors glanced sideways for a moment before Miles lowered his thumb onto the detonator. The grenade he'd slipped into Metal's exhaust port exploded in a flash of blinding light and sound, blasting the robot apart in a chain reaction that scattered burning hot plasma to ignite even more of the room.

"... Wow." Amy blinked, open mouthed. "Wait, hey!"

A red and yellow helidrone smashed through a window, streaking across the room to scoop Metal's head and torso from the wreckage. Crimson eyes glared down at them as it headed for the same window once more.

"They're getting away with the emerald!"

"Forget it." Miles pulled his hand free of her grip. "We need to stop the bomb."

"Wait, Tails!"

"Get outside." Miles pushed away from her, stumbling unsteadily towards the platform. "Try to get off the island."

"No way." Hands grabbed his torso, lifting him easily off the ground. "You can barely stand."

"I've got to try, Amy. It's Eggman. There's no telling-"

Amy placed him up onto the platform before hoiking up herself.

"I meant I wasn't leaving you, dummy. Do your smart guy thing. I'll be right here with you."

"... Thanks." Miles rubbed the back of his head, glove coming back bright red.

Well, that wasn't great. He pulled out his computer, holding it up to the bomb, eyes flicking across streams of data as it scanned. A timer popped up in the corner of the screen, far, far lower than he'd have liked with a payload far, far larger than he'd have liked as well.
And it was immediately clear that Eggman had built it. The man wired things up more or less randomly at the best of times. Miles tore off an access panel, rolled his eyes at the shoddy soldering and pulled out his beam knife, glancing at the screen and back to the tangled mess within.

"Were there any other bombs?"

"I didn't see any. There was a smoke thing out in the gardens before I hammered it though."

"Any emerald inside?" Miles sliced a green wire. The timer started ticking down twice as fast.

"Didn't see one." Amy shook her head. "Do you want me to hold the screen?"

"Thanks." Miles held it up without looking, head inside the opening as he tried to figure out which wire was supposed to go to the blasting cap. Or was it the squib? A concussion possibly wasn't the best thing for disarming a bomb, even if it did put him that much closer to the mindset of the one who built it.

"Let me know if you need me to get us away from here, alright?" Amy glanced nervously at the timer, her breath tickling his ear.

"Huh? Sure." Miles reached forward, then winced as a spark gave him his second shock of the evening. "Okay, that's it."

"We need to run?" Amy tensed, grabbing his arm.

"No, it's disarmed." Miles held up the detonator between singed fingers, tossing it behind him. "I mean, bombs aren't exactly complicated, it's just Eggman. I swear half of these wires are just decorations. Look, he even made a little rainbow out of them here."

"So… No disabling it at the very last second?"

"It's your birthday, I can put it back together again if you want? I'd like to grab some ring monitors from the Vortex first though." Miles shrugged. "Pretty sure the timer doesn't work anyway, it was a miracle it didn't blow up the moment they turned it on."

"... Oh." Amy moved slightly further from the massive cylinder.

"Yeah, well, that's Eggman for you." Miles straightened, wincing as he banged his head on the edge of the bomb's panel. "Can't say I'm not used to dealing with… Oh no."

"What?!"

Miles flinched, staring up at her wide eyed as the reality of what he'd just done hit him.

"Don't tell Sonic, okay?"