Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Iron Heart MK II ❯ A Lull In The Storm ( Chapter 6 )

Legal Stuff:

I don't own any of the characters in this story except for Metal Sonic 2. The others are the properties of their respective owners.

Author's Notes:

Time for a break...for now...

Chapter 6: A Lull In The Storm

The nearly dead body of Robotnik was transported into the dark city of Robotropolis. The robots automatically placed him inside of a special machine that would force his body to heal itself at an accelerated rate. His vital signs rose into safe levels, and much to Snively's chagrin, he survived.

It was now a little past midnight, and nearly everyone was asleep. Metal-2, being incapable of sleep, stayed up to contemplate the day. The robot was sitting on the couch in Sonic's home as he did so. They finally trusted him enough to go to sleep when he was around. There was much to be done tomorrow, and Metal-2 knew it. All he could do now, however, was wait.

Daybreak came with the cawing of crows, and the weather seemed clear. As the residents of Knothole began to awaken, Metal-2 was ready to begin work. He knew that Robotnik had survived, and wished that he hadn't been so damaged before. It's the damage that kept him from killing the scientist when he had the chance. But the robot swore to himself to finish the job next time.

There was the sound of footsteps from the other room, and Metal-2 turned his head to see a sleepy Sonic enter the room. The shoeless hedgehog weakly waved and mumbled a `good morning' to the robot as he entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Sonic." Metal-2 replied.

There were several clinking noises from the kitchen, and Metal-2 tilted his head slightly, wondering what they could be. After a moment, he stood up and entered the room. He was met with the sight of a mountain of chilidogs being put into a microwave. The robot watched as Sonic squeezed them in.

"Uh...Sonic?" Metal-2 began. "Isn't it a little early for those?"

Sonic looked at him confidently and fully awake, and spoke. "Nonsense, Metal. Chilidogs are good anytime!" He finished with a bright grin, and the robot just sighed and left the room.

By the time Sonic was finished, Tails was awake and had eaten breakfast as well. They met their robotic friend in the front room to discuss the day's plans.

"I think the first thing we should do is check up on Aunt Sally." Tails told them. "We need to help her figure out how to make that remote work for us."

Sonic turned to the fox. "Good plan, little buddy. I think making sure Metal here doesn't go nuts on us is priority number one!"

"Then let's get to it." The robot said, and they went out the door.

Metal-2 looked around at the underground village. Sonic and Tails were headed toward the home of Sally, but Metal-2 stopped following them, and looked in a different direction. Something inside him wanted to go to the hotel and check up on Amy, but he couldn't figure out why. He shrugged it off, and hurried after the others.

After a short trip, they arrived at Sally's. Sonic was about to knock on the door, but stopped when he saw a note tacked on it. He looked it over, reading. It said simply: "Gone to Rotor's". The hedgehog turned around and looked at the other two.

"Well," He said. "it looks likes she's not home. Let's check Rotor's place."

The other two agreed, and off they went. Meanwhile, far away in Robotropolis, The evil scientist was back on his feet. Robotnik wasn't happy with this recent turn of events, and wanted to put a stop to it. He had ordered the construction of another remote, which he now held in his hand. Robotnik had a devious grin and dark thoughts on his mind as he looked into the thick glass of a robot container.

"I had hoped that you would never be needed..." he said, tapping his finger to the glass. "But with Metal-2's experimental programming, I couldn't be sure."

There was a long pause as he examined the robot inside. It looked like a simplified version of Metal-2, having no extra armor panels, only one head spike, and lacking a turbine engine for a body. There was a single, large pointy quill that ran along the length of each lower arm and leg. The wide parts were nearest to the wrists and ankles, and two small weapon barrels stuck out slightly from both arm spikes. The shoulder pads were large orbs, each with a single large quill sticking out from the back. The machine's upper back housed two small thrusters, as did the feet.

The top of the robot's chamber was labeled with the words:

"SECURITY UNIT `BLUR' ANTI-MS-02"

Robotnik reached over to the side of the tube, and pulled a lever. The glass chamber began to empty of liquid as the release sequence started. "Your time has come, Blur." He said over the hiss of the tube's machinery. The scientist began to chuckle, quietly at first, but soon growing to the traditional evil dictator laugh.

Back in Knothole, Sonic and the others were surprised to find that Sally and Rotor had managed to figure out most of what they wanted to know. With a little additional help from Metal-2, they successfully made him immune to the remote's effects; or at least more resistant to them.

"I admit, it isn't perfect, but it's better than nothing." Rotor commented after the modifications were made. "You should be fine as long as the remote's signal doesn't become too strong."

"Thank you, Rotor." Metal-2 replied. "What now?"

Sally rubbed the back of her neck as she thought about an answer. "Well..." She began. "I guess it's back to what we were planning before all this happened."

"Hey, that's right!" Sonic exclaimed. "We need to hit Robotnik now before he can get that refinery back up." He looked around at all of them. "Are you with me?"

He started for the door, but Sally grabbed onto his shoulder, stopping him. "Hold on, Sonic. We can't just go rushing in there without a plan."

"Aw, why not?" The hedgehog replied, half-honestly.

They began to argue back and forth as Rotor shook his head slowly, and faced the others. "This could take a while. Why don't we go catch a break until they've settled down?

And they left, leaving Sonic and Sally behind to `discuss' the fine art of invading a city. Rotor and Tails went in opposite directions, leaving Metal-2 alone. He looked around, and again felt a strong urge to visit Amy. Seeing that he had nothing better to do, and with a hope of figuring out why he felt the way he did, Metal-2 left in the direction of the hotel. When he was about halfway there, he was stopped by the point of a blade weapon. The robot looked to its owner, and scanned him, discovering that it was Antoine.

"Hold it right zere, mister!" the coyote spoke, threatening Metal-2 with the sword.

The robot pushed the blade aside with his index finger, and stared at Antoine, annoyed. "What do you want?" He asked impatiently. The robot felt a strong need to get to Amy, and Antoine was getting in the way.

"You must be ze new robot zat Sally told me about..." He answered. "Well, for ze record, I don't believe zat you are really on our zide."

"Outta my way." Metal-2 said, slightly pushing Antoine aside as he walked by.

The coyote turned around and pointed at Metal-2 with his sword as he spoke. "Hey, you come back here, or else I'll...I'll..."

He was cut off by Metal-2 when the robot stopped and turned his head slightly, glaring at Antoine with a single glowing red eye. "Or you'll what?!" He nearly shouted.

Antoine was motionless for a moment as the angry stare of the robot got to him. He sheathed his sword, crossed his arms, and stuck his nose up. "Hmph. I don't have time for ze likes of you."

Metal-2 could've killed him. Fortunately for Antoine, the robot remembered his new allegiance, and stormed off toward the hotel instead. He managed to calm down as he got nearer, and was again happy as he entered the building. Upon learning the location of Amy's room from the manager, he made his way toward it. The robot didn't reach the room, however, as he instead bumped into Amy in the hallway.

"Hey, Metal." She cheerfully greeted. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to see how you were doing." Metal-2 told her.

Amy looked up at him. "Oh...well, as you can see, I'm just fine."

Metal-2 realized that they would need a topic if this conversation were to live much longer. He quickly came up with one. "Hey, I think we fixed that problem with my mind."

"Huh?" Amy asked, confused.

"You know, the one that lets Robotnik take over my mind? I think we fixed that problem." He responded. Amy nodded, understanding.

She then smiled, and spoke. "That's great, Metal. I was going to try flower picking again today. Wanna come?" After a moment of not getting an answer, she noticed that the robot hadn't taken his eyes off hers. "Is something wrong?"

Metal-2 snapped out of it, shaking his head. "No...Why?"

"No reason." Amy said after thinking for a second or two.

There was an uneasy pause as they both tried to think of something to say. This time, Amy came up with it. She glanced around for a moment, hoping for an alternative statement, but none came. She finally looked back up to Metal-2. "So...I...guess I'll see you later, then..."

"I uh...I guess so..." Metal-2 said, and they stared at each other briefly before going their separate ways. Metal-2 eventually came outside, some time after Amy had left to go up to the surface, and saw Sonic running around. When the hedgehog saw him, Sonic came up to the machine.

"Metal, there you are!" He started. "I was looking all over the place for you."

"Well, I'm here. What is it?" He asked.

"Sally and the others want your input on our plan. We figure you'd know Robotropolis better than any of us." He answered, and led the robot back to his house.

When they arrived, they found that many of the Freedom Fighters had assembled around a table that was covered in various maps and documents, and were talking about various ideas and such. They all stopped when Metal-2 came in.

"Ah, here's our guest of honor." Sally announced as Metal-2 entered after Sonic. "Metal, we were hoping you could give us a hand."

"I will do what I can. Let me see those maps there..." The robot told them, reaching for one of the maps. He was looking them over when there was a sudden beeping noise came from the other side of the room.

Everyone looked over and watched as Sally took Nicole out of her jacket pocket, and opened the device up. The small computer spoke with a slight tone of urgency.

"Sally, I'm picking up a message that's being broadcast on all frequencies." Nicole told her.

"Display it." Sally answered, and the computer did so.

A small hologram appeared from Nicole's projector, and it was the face of Robotnik. The room was stricken silent as the message played.

"Listen to me, pathetic rebels! I have something, or should I say, someone that might interest you..." The video of Robotnik's face was replaced by that of Amy as his voice continued. "I'm proposing a trade. We each have someone that belongs to the other. If you send my robot back, I'll free this worthless hedgehog. And if you don't, well, I guess I'll have another slave to add to my ever-growing collection!"

"Amy..." Metal-2 said to himself. He looked around the room, and saw everyone watching him. The robot looked to Sonic. "Sonic...What do you think?"

"I don't know, Metal. If we send you, we might get Amy back, but then Robotnik would have another powerful machine. But if we don't, we'll lose her." He said.

"Lose her?" Metal-2 asked, somewhat shocked. "I can't let that happen. I'm going."

"Metal...do you have to go?" Tails asked, hoping to change the robot's mind. "We need you here..." He said, looking down at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Tails." Metal-2 answered, looking away. He then left the house, and made his way out of Knothole. The robot faced the direction of Robotropolis, and took to the sky.

"I can't let anything happen to her..." He thought as he flew. "But if I do fall to Robotnik's control, he could use all the data I've obtained, amongst other things...no, I can't let that happen, either." He thought for a moment, and then made a promise to himself: He would self-destruct before submitting to Robotnik. It was the only way.

In Robotropolis, Robotnik stood in a large, empty room. Amy was strapped to the wall behind him, and Blur stood in front of him. He paced about, impatiently waiting for Metal-2. Eventually, he faced Amy, and decided to explain his plan.

"When that reject gets here...heh heh heh...He's expecting me to take him over...and I'll try..." He looked down at his hand, which held his new remote. "But if that fails, then I'll just destroy him and get it over with! Ha ha ha!" He waited a moment before adding: "Either way, I'm not letting YOU go."

Amy couldn't stand to hear it. Her eyes watered slightly as she shouted to him. "NO! You can't do that! Not to Metal!"

"What do you care?" Robotnik asked, cruelly. "Not that it matters."

Amy was about to shout something, but stopped. She hesitated for a moment, and calmly spoke. "Why would you want to destroy him?" She asked, trying to change his thoughts. "He must've taken a lot of work to make..."

"He did, but it's really quite simple: If I can't have him, no one will! I refuse to allow MY creation to work for YOUR side!" He confidently answered. "Now, you answer my question: Why do you care?" He wanted to know, now that she seemed protective of the robot.

"It's none of your business!" She said, bravely.

Robotnik just crossed his arms and calmly spoke. "Fine. I'll just pry the information from his computer's trashed remains."

Amy's face broke into a horrified look for a moment as she visualized Metal-2's destruction. She finally looked away and refused to speak to Robotnik anymore.

The scientist, pleased with the emotional havoc he had caused, turned to face Blur. "Blur, do not attack unless I tell you to. I'm going to try and retake his mind again first. Understand?"

Blur nodded, and returned to his original position. A few seconds later, he looked up slightly, focusing forward. Metal-2 had arrived...

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Uh-oh! Another cliffhanger!

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