On what felt to him like any other day, Metal found himself operational again and guided through the interiors of an unknown ship of Eggman design.
Plenty of new faces in the hangar; some altered designs of tried-and-tested robots, others completely new. Few would give him a customary glance; most ignored him.
"Don't worry. Once you get your big important mission, they'll warm up to you!" The small diminutive yellow robot would speak up, elbowing the blue robot in the pauldrons.
"I work alone."
They'd step into an elevator and headed up to the highest floor normally accessible to robots - the brig.
"Oh, you're one of those 'mission bots'! Long-range, month-long missions, independent!" the cubical bot exclaimed excitedly. "Here I thought Eggman stopped using 'em ever since the incident."
"Incident?"
"Yeah. A couple years back, one of 'em went rogue, imprisoned the boss and assumed their identity. Man, if only a half of what the records say is true, that guy's toast if Eggman ever gets his hands on him!"
With the mention of records, Metal attempted to search his own memory banks and made a startling discovery - there was a gap between his last defeat by Sonic and his cohorts and now, whenever now was.
Elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open.
A robot equally as diminutive - albeit spherical and red - greeted them, hands at his sides.
"What took you so long, Cubot? The doctor's finished his main course already and he's yearning for dessert!" Cubot would wave his hand and urge the metal to follow, but the other robot would intercept their path.
"Cubot, fetching the dessert and Metal was your job. That's only a little above fifty percent completion; the doctor will be most displeased."
"He's the one sitting all day in that flying porta potty - why doesn't he get it himself?"
"Cubot!"
"Alright, alright, sheesh!" And down the elevator he went.
Metal could only stare. Perhaps there were other reasons why he hadn't met these two sooner. None of the other robots he knew talked like this about the doctor.
"Apologies, I don't know why it's so hard for that rustbucket to follow simple instructions," the red robot spoke up, shaking his head. "This way, the doctor's been waiting for you."
He'd proceed to fly on over to the doors leading to the captain's quarters, but Metal didn't follow until the other robot motioned him to do so.
Inside, the good doctor was enjoying a nice cup of some afternoon coffee. Without turning around to face them, he grumbled. "Leave us, Orbot." The robot nodded and complied.
Metal got on one knee, not daring to look Eggman in the face as his chair turned around.
"Fool! What kind of idiot do you take me for?!" Before the robot could reply, the actuators on one of his arms started to move of their own volition and began to strike him repeatedly in the face, the first punch sending him to the floor.
This went on for a while
By the time the doctor stopped it with a simple push of a button and Metal was in control of his limb once more, the screen serving as his eyes was cracked in several places.
Eggman towered above him, holding a device the robot didn't recognise in one hand. Whatever it was, it was covered in buttons of all shapes and sizes.
"I gave you simple instructions, yet you failed me in every conceivable way!"
The robot got up from the floor, readjusting the screen so that it was properly aligned by slamming the side of his head.
"Pattern recognition determined your string of failures against Sonic made you unfit for any future moves against the hedgehog."
Eggman listened intently, his stewing anger fully on display with every word furrowing his brow little by little. Once all was said and done, he pressed another button.
Nothing.
For a few brief moments, Metal would lock up the servos on both of his arms, only to be relieved that it wasn't necessary.
Instead, a voice recording would play.
"Finally, without that blubbering fool, I can crush Sonic once and for all!"
His voice, his words. A quick query found an identical soundbyte in his memory banks.
Eggman would lean in, grabbing the robot by the shoulders. "Was that the product of pattern recognition, too?"
"The proprietary piece of software had been digitally signed by you, Doctor."
Eggman would let go and dust off his clothes.
"So be it."
He pressed yet another button and the robot braced himself for what was about to come.
His anticipation of it being the other arm was the wrong one.
A thruster on his left foot would ignite and he'd start to hover unevenly.
Before he could activate the other thruster and make himself upright, there would be a power surge and the robot would be violently hurled against the ceiling.
Then the floor.
Servos failed to respond as Metal struggled to get himself off the floor.
The wall behind him opened and wires restrained him, ensuring he couldn't try further.
"Sayonara, Metal Sonic."
Metal got one last look at Eggman before he was consumed by the darkness of the rat maze that made up the ship's service ports and maintenance tunnels.
The doctor was smiling ear to ear and laughing in a way that only he knew how.
The robot could only watch as he was stuffed into a large cylindrical object and entombed within. It shook, rotating itself up into the chamber of a ridiculously large gun and then primed itself for firing.
With a large gloved fist striking its surface, a comically large red button would fire the gun's single and only projectile and with it, help rid Eggman of yet another loose end.