Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Iron Heart MK II ❯ The Choice ( Chapter 1 )

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:

This fic is loosely based on one I wrote some time ago. It's the story of how my fan character, Metal Sonic 2, came to become a `good guy', as it were. The original version of this one was in script style and was set in the SEGA universe. This one, however, will be in book style and is set more in the Archie Comics universe. There will be some SEGA in here too, somewhere…probably… The Metal Sonic that I use in this fic is the one from SEGA, and I believe is known as Mecha Sonic in the comics. Also, I'm not entirely familiar with the Archie universe, so please forgive any discrepancies. And now, on with the show!

The Iron Heart MK II

Chapter 1: The Choice

Somewhere deep in Robotropolis...

Sonic the hedgehog ran through a long, narrow hallway that seemed to go on forever. Various lights and alarms were going off, but they were overshadowed by the ever-expanding explosion that was tailing him. He was having a hard time staying ahead of it all as the oil refinery was exploding. Looking ahead, he finally saw the end of the corridor. Various pipes and control panels whizzed by his head as the hall's end more clearly came into view. Then, Sonic noticed something.

He was headed for a dead end.

The wall was rushing at him, faster and faster, but he kept running. The air behind him gained a blue hue as his form blurred. When he was only a few hundred yards from the wall, something caught his eye. A small ventilation shaft was at the bottom of it.

"I hope this works..." he thought to himself as leapt forward and curled up.

Now a blue ball, he reached the vent and shredded the grill that blocked his path. The explosion followed him, and he had faith that he would live. Sonic felt himself tear through another grill and roll across hard concrete. Finally, he was outside. He uncurled and began running again all in one, fluid motion. A fierce, roaring explosion shot out of the vent and filled the area. From a safe distance, Sonic watched the entire refinery go up in a bright, yellow bang. The shockwave rushed past him as he stood beside one of the factories.

Unknown to him, a camera was recording his every motion. Robotnik stood in a large, dark room surrounded by walls of TV monitors. Behind him was a large, green glass tube. Inside it was a robot that resembled Metal Sonic, but with a larger turbine for a body, and thicker arms and legs. The fingers were rounded and rubber, and two pointed spikes were attached to its back, just above the turbine exhaust. The three quills on the robot's head lacked a single curve, and the entire robot had plates of silvery armor attached to the lower arms and legs, and on the outer edge of the quills, as well as several other places, such as on top of both sections of the jointed tail that was attached to the same lower torso as the legs, and connected to the bottom of the turbine. The black visor that served as eyes for the machine was also without curves, and the ears were triangular and ran from the front of the head to the start of the top quill.

Robotnik leered angrily at the screen that showed his arch nemesis. "Blasted hedgehog." he muttered to himself. "I'll have his head..." he turned around to face the tube, and an evil smirk came across his face. "...and you're going to bring it to me." He looked down at one of the various, button-filled panels in front of him, and pressed a few.

The tube that held the machine emptied itself of liquid, and the glass retracted into the top part. Robotnik hit a switch, and two bright, red, rectangular pupils appeared in the robot's eyes. Its head rose up, looking forward at Robotnik.

"Metal Sonic 2, or Metal-2 for short..." Robotnik told the machine "you have been created with a variety of weapons and abilities, but your computer AI is the most advanced piece of programming ever made." He smiled happily to himself. "Your primary objective is to eliminate Sonic the Hedgehog. Use all the knowledge I have given you to accomplish this task."

"Understood." The robot replied in an almost non-electronic voice that seemed to have a hint of a Russian accent. Metal-2 stepped down from the tube, and walked up to his creator. "I will deploy whenever you are ready."

Robotnik hid his excitement. "Excellent. I will use you shortly, but first..." He returned to one of his monitors, where he saw Sonic alone.

Breathing heavily, Sonic held a radio to his mouth and spoke into it. "This is Sonic reporting. Mission accomplished."

At the other end of the transmission, near the edge of the city, Sally and Bunnie received the message. The squirrel spoke into her radio, answering the hedgehog's call. "Great job, Sonic. Meet us at the edge of the city, and we'll get out of here." Sally looked over to Bunnie. "With that refinery down, Robotnik won't be able to run his supply trains into the city."

"Well, that's just great, Sugah. I just hope he doesn't have a backup." The rabbit responded. Sally nodded, and then there was a noise from the radio.

"Uh...Sal?" the voice of Sonic said, worriedly. "I think I have a problem here." Sonic found himself in the middle of a swarm of SWATbots, each of which had a gun pointed at him.

Again, Robotnik watched from a monitor. He turned around to face Metal-2. "I'll handle him. You use the holo-projector over there to disguise yourself as him and find his friends. Follow them, and find the village of Knothole." He could hardly bear his joy as he continued. "Transmit its location to me, and then eliminate everyone!"

The robot was motionless as he listened. When Robotnik was finished, he responded. "By your command, sir." Metal-2 then walked over to a shelf and picked up a small holo-projector and turned it on. His appearance changed from a robot to that of Sonic. Physically, he was still the same, but he appeared to be Sonic. The silvery panel of armor on the robot's leg extended outwards to reveal a drawer-like compartment. Metal-2 tossed the device in, and closed the panel. There was an identical compartment in the other leg as well.

Metal-2 departed, and took to the air, flying by vectoring his body's turbine's thrust downwards and engaging two small booster jets, one from each foot. The robot flew over Sonic, who was being dragged the other way by the gang of SWATbots. Metal-2 scanned the area with a variety of methods, and found his thermal scanners to be the most useful in locating Sally and Bunnie. Within minutes, he had landed behind a nearby building and raced up to them.

"Sonic, you made it!" an excited and relieved Sally exclaimed when the hedgehog approached her.

Metal-2 recognized the two life forms from his pre-programmed memories, and now had to play the part of Sonic. Using Sonic's voice, he replied. "Yeah, there was a bunch of SWATbots, but I took care of `em." He waited a moment, and then continued. "Let's get outta here." And the three made their way to the edge of Robotropolis.

Robotnik watched them through the network of security cameras, and let them escape. He turned around to see a couple of workerbots strapping Sonic to a cold, dark wall. They finished, and left. The scientist walked up to the hedgehog, and looked him in the face.

"You won't get away with this! I won't let you!" Sonic yelled, rebelliously.

Robotnik chuckled to himself and answered. "Ah, but I already have. As we speak, my creation is being led to your hideout by your own friends." Sonic's face gained a look of horror as Robotnik went on. "Once he's there, he'll send its location to me, and then decimate the village!" He then laughed heartily, and backed away.

Sonic let his head fall as he stared at the ground. "No…I've failed…" he whispered to himself, and was silent and motionless while Robotnik left the room. Sonic listened carefully for the door to close, and then looked up at the straps that bound him. "Gets him every time!" Sonic thought as he tried to figure out a way to escape. But the restraints were too strong, and he couldn't move. The feeling in his hands and feet slowly began to drift away as the tight straps held him. Sonic had to move his wrists and ankles every once in a while to keep the blood flowing.

Meanwhile, The two girls and the imposter hedgehog were nearing Knothole's secret entrance. It wasn't long before they arrived, and Metal-2 kept careful track of where he was and how he got there. Bunnie lifted the top of the door, and Sally hopped in. Metal-2 looked back and forth between the rabbit and the hole, and she looked at him quizzically.

"What's wrong, Sugahog?" she asked, and Metal-2 had to quickly come up with an answer.

"Nothing…I-I'm just…a little dazed from the city is all." He replied carefully. Then, the robot climbed partway in, and paused a moment before going down. Bunnie followed, and they entered the village. Metal-2 could hardly believe his eyes. He was a machine, but programmed to act very real. And it worked. Sally, Bunnie, and Metal-2 went their separate ways, and Metal-2 was constantly recording information on what he saw.

His logic told him that he should find the residence of Sonic to help keep up his disguise, and to use as a safe place to upload Knothole's location to Robotnik. He could've done so with his own transmitters, but didn't want to risk blowing his cover on the off chance that things around here were monitored. Instead, he would make it look like Sonic was a traitor by using the hedgehog's own computers against him.

After spending a lot of time searching for Sonic's home, he finally gave up and asked one of the residents. They gave him a strange look, and Metal-2 gave his story about being dazed from the mission, and tossed in a lie about having been hit with anti-memory gas. Eventually, he found his way to Sonic's home, and entered the door. A cheery young fox noticed someone arrive, and rushed in from the other room, headed for Metal-2 with open arms.

"Sonic! You're back!" Tails cheered as he ran.

Metal-2 jumped out of the way as Tails hopped up to give a quick hug. Tails missed, and nearly crashed to the ground. After stumbling forwards for a brief moment, he turned around and faced Metal-2.

"What was that for, Sonic?' Tails asked, and Metal-2 realized he had made another mistake.

"I uh…sorry, Tails." He answered after comparing the fox to his memories and figuring out that it was Tails, and that he was supposed to be the fox's best friend.

Before the conversation could continue any further, there was a loud series of knocks at the door, as if whoever was on the other side would die if they didn't get in immediately.

"I'll get it." Tails said, and walked over to the door. He opened it, and asked "Hello?" but was interrupted by a pink blur and whoosh of wind.

In an instant, Metal-2 found himself being tightly hugged by a pink hedgehog that was shouting gibberish about "missing you" and "so glad to see you" and such. The robot shoved her to the ground, and stared at her cruelly, almost forgetting that he was in disguise. Metal-2 waited for a moment, calming down, and scanned her. It was Amy Rose he soon discovered, a rare face around here and Sonic's self-proclaimed number one fan. Metal-2 felt a twinge of something strange inside when he saw her, but ignored it.

Amy climbed to her feet, looking sad. Metal-2 remembered that he was playing the hero, and looked away as he quietly spoke. "I'm sorry, Amy." He said grudgingly. Amy's mood brightened right then and there, and she hugged him again, though not as strongly as before. Metal-2 tolerated it for a moment, but then slowly pushed her away. "I have work to do." He said as he turned away.

"What work?" Tails asked, and Metal-2 repressed his annoyance. He turned around, glanced at the closed door, and then at the fox and the hedgehog.

"A couple of quiet kills won't endanger the mission…" Metal-2 thought to himself as he considered unveiling his concealed laser blasters. Tails was waiting for an answer, and began to wonder why Metal-2 wasn't answering.

"Well?" Tails asked, waiting.

Metal-2 looked at him, annoyed. "You're about to find out!" he firmly stated as he deactivated the holo-projector via equipment in his leg compartment. The hologram disappeared, and Metal-2 was seen pointing his arms at Tails and Amy. The armor plates on the arms rose up, and two small metal cylinders were attached to the inside of them. The front tips of them extended forwards, and Metal-2's concealed blasters were ready for action. All four barrels, two on each arm, were pointed at the two creatures in front of him.

Amy screamed, and leapt behind Tails, who had a look of shock on his face. He shook it off, and stood protectively in front of Amy, spreading his arms and Tails. "I don't know who or what you are, but you aren't getting Amy without going through me!" He yelled, looking Metal-2 directly in the eyes.

Metal-2 would've ignored the fox's bravery and taken them both out, but he couldn't help but think about the fact that he was willing to sacrifice himself to protect someone else. It occurred to him that if he were ever in danger, there wouldn't be anyone or anything to help. Metal-2 wanted the kind of loyalty and friendship that those here in Knothole had. "But wait…I can't want anything…can I?" Metal-2 wondered silently. He kept tossing it back and forth in his mind, and was able to do so quickly because of his extreme processor speed. Still, it was very confusing, and he decided that he needed time to think about it properly.

"I don't get it…what's he doing?" Tails thought, waiting for the pain to come.

Metal-2 shook his head, and ran out the door without engaging his holo-projector. The people around were shocked and afraid when they saw him go by. Rotor noticed the panic from his garage, and looked out. The walrus was surprised to see a robot fly by, hovering inches off the ground.

"W-what is that?" Rotor said to himself as Metal-2 went by. The robot flew to the secret entrance, and disappeared through it in a cloud of dust and dirt. The robot soared higher and higher, first above the treetops, and soon into the clouds. Figuring this to be a safe place, he slowed to a hover, looking out across the many miles of terrain below.

"Okay, let's think here…" Metal-2 said, not really to anyone. He began to consider his condition; how he would end up in Robotnik's scrap yard one way or another, whether he succeeded in his mission or not. Either way, Robotnik wouldn't have any use for him, and he'd be dismantled, and that was if he was lucky. But what choice did he have?

Down below, there was panic in Knothole as word spread of the invasion. Word soon reached Sally, and after much debating between everyone, a realization slowly began to dawn on them: There was nothing they could do. Knothole was discovered, and their only hope was one they didn't even know about. If Metal-2 decided not to tell anyone, they would be safe. Not only that, but Sonic was missing. Tensions were high into the night, and they wore the citizens out. Despite the danger, many of them went home and went to bed. Many feared for Sonic's safety, and found themselves in a sleepless night.

Metal-2 had remained airborne all day, and had made his decision. "If I continue to serve Robotnik, I will be in great danger, and be hated by many, and will meet my doom." He thought to himself. "But… if I were to join them…I would have a lot of support, and live a happier life, so to speak." And he had arrived at the conclusion that he would have to join those in Knothole.

Metal-2 had figured that out about an hour ago. Now he was focused on the question of how to go about executing his plan. "I need to find someone with an open mind; someone that isn't too hostile. If I can prove to them that I've changed, then they can help me convince the others…but who?" The robot considered all this, scanning his data on the personalities of the various Freedom Fighters. After a while, he came up with an answer: Tails…

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Well, how was that? I haven't written in the book style for a long time, so I'd like to know what everyone who's read this thinks of it. Even a short review would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!