Work Text:
UNDISCLOSED EGGMAN BASE.
A BIT OVER TWO YEARS AGO…
“System Update Complete: Hello Doctor”
As Metal’s HUD flickered to life, they jumped a little in their charging station. That voice came from them automatically.
They looked down at themself. They were still Sonic’s height, and still all blue. Not in Neo form. Which meant Dr. Eggman had given them a voice chip in base form during this upgrade. Knowing the doctor’s preference in minions not named Sage, this was very odd to them.
“I… Have A Voice Again”
A strange voice. They sounded sort of like they did as Neo, but lacked inflection and punctuation - trust me, they could tell. It was as if Sonic’s voice had all emotion drained from it, yet still sounded kind of jokey and silly.
“Among other things,” the all-too familiar voice of Eggman suddenly said, snapping Metal out of their daze. “I’ve made a decision regarding you.”
Metal’s cybernetic eyes “blinked” on their visor.
“Does Not Compute What You Mean By: ‘Decision’”
“Things have changed in the world, Metal,” the doctor explained. “Sonic did something strange, and it made me rethink my life. Or rather, made me think of what will happen when I’m gone.”
“When You’re… Gone? Something… Strange?”
“There’s been a war,” Eggman said. “Sonic and the Restoration had a moral falling-out. A BIG one. They fought each other, Sonic, Tails and Amy leading one side and the Neo Diamond Cutters leading the other. All over that deserter Mimic. No, not just Mimic as a person. What Mimic represented.”
The digital thought of Sonic and his friends turning on and beating each other down would have brought a smile to Metal’s nonexistent mouth, but it was clear from the Doctor’s tone that the conflict was not a good thing for the Eggman Empire.
“It ended… with a compromise,” the fat man continued. “Sonic had framed it as a conflict between life and death. So, it seems, that with the stronger ones on the side against him, he’s decided to start… giving his foes up to the authorities.”
Metal could understand why the “stronger ones” - Shadow and Surge for instance - would support “death,” and quickly got what “compromise” meant. Their CPU had finally figured things out.
“Instead Of Deleting You He’s… Going To Lock You Away”
Eggman simply nodded, his mustache drooping.
“I…” Metal droned, “Why Do I Feel Like That’s Okay I Should Want To Stop This: To Stop Him”
“I’ve loosened your programming,” the doctor replied. “I took a page out of Sonic’s book… well, what his book used to be… and want you to carve your own path in life. Try and do more than destroy one guy because I tell you to.”
“Used To Be?” Metal asked, replacing one source of confusion with another. “And What… About Sage Are You Letting Her Free Too (I Know You See Her As Your Child More Than Me)”
“Sage has made it abundantly clear she’s with me to the end,” Eggman replied. “If I’m going to prison, I’m making sure whatever device she’s on goes with me. But you… you have so much more potential, which both Sonic and I have seen. You have the ability to go out there and change the world… but… the ‘compromise’ I spoke of…”
“This ‘Compromise’-”
“Changed Sonic,” Eggman snarled. “He’s not the way he was in the past or… even the way he was recently. Something has finally snapped in that hedgehog’s mind, and that something scares me. So… so I’m giving you one last order to follow, one rule to live your new life by.”
The doctor placed his hands on the cheeks of the robot.
“Do not trust Sonic.”
Metal’s eyes, to an outside observer, became a series of “loading” dots, before they raised their hand and saluted to their creator.
“I Would Never Plan To: I Will Continue Being Evil On Your Behalf”
“You don’t have to be evil if you don’t want to,” Eggman sighed. “With the sole exception of befriending Sonic, what you do next is up to you. Bad or good, I’ll be proud of you. Because you are my greatest creation…”
The doctor fiddled with something behind his back, and a tube descended upon Metal, suddenly encapsulating them as they had just stood up from their charging station.
“Wait”
“You are my son…”
The robot’s claws raked the side of the bulletproof tube, not ready for a goodbye.
“WAIT WAIT WAIT”
“And you… are a beautiful machine.”
And with that, with one more press of a button by Eggman, Metal was blasted out through the tube, sending them across the Egg Base before finally ejecting them out of a passageway to the base’s exterior, the door shutting behind them.
The robot landed in a heap, but quickly righted themself, hovering to their feet. They wanted back in, but… they didn’t. Their loosened programming was starting to get to them and make them realize they didn’t need Eggman.
If only they could have told them one last thing about themself - herself.
“I’m Not Your Son” she droned solemnly - as solemnly as someone with her voice chip could. “I’m Your Daughter…”
She stood still for a drawn-out moment.
Then, realizing her dad had made up his mind and she had nothing more to gain from this base, she Boosted off.
A FEW WEEKS LATER…
Eggman had told Metal the truth and nothing but the truth.
Everywhere the robotic hedgehog went, news had been blaring from big and small screens about Sonic the Hedgehog’s announcement of his and Eggman’s final battle, and that had given way to the reports of the doctor’s arrest. The whole world knew full well all he had done, and only so much of his empire had a hold on governments and industries. The United Federation’s courts had quickly, unanimously sentenced him to Super Ultra Crazy Maximum prison for life.
While that news was going on, Metal had been laying low, sneaking about in alleyways and conserving her battery, and had managed to scavenge a ragged cape and hood to hide her robotic appearance beneath. However, she had known since the moment she was set free that she’d have to show her face eventually.
The trigger turned out to be her gender - she realized she wanted something, anything to express herself as feminine without the ability to go Neo or anything of the sort.
And so, having had a reasonable allowance uploaded to her system prior to her release, she found herself walking through the halls of a large Techno Depot store. The robot’s eyes were kept dim beneath her hood and she avoided hovering or speeding, but she could tell that strange looks were falling upon her as she traversed the displays - robotic or not, the cape made her look like a harbinger of death.
Eventually, Metal approached one of the store’s wandering employees, a green lizard.
“Excuse Me Sir:” she said, trying to be casual. “I (A Paying Customer) Am Looking For Parts”
“Um… w-what sort of parts?,” the worker asked back, clearly as unnerved as everyone else.
“Parts For Machines With A… Feminine Aesthetic”
That came out wrong and Metal knew it.
“Girly Technology”
That was even worse.
“Gender Affirming Care But For A Robot”
Oh Gaia.
“I’m sorry, y-you’re a robot? I-i’m not sure we can accept a purchase from you, given the infamy of B-badniks…
Even after the awkwardness of her statement, Metal found her claws clenching at the response.
“Especially now that they have nobody telling them what to do. Waaay too unpredictable… sir? Ma’am?”
Her digital eyes squinted beneath her hood.
“Not to say your identity isn’t valid. But if you’re… an Eggman bot… that’s kind of all we see you as-”
And at that moment, she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Eggman Bot? I’ll Have You Know”
With a swing of her claws, Metal tore away her cloak to reveal herself to the Techno Depot and everyone inside.
“I Am THE Eggman Bot And You’ve Beeped Me Off”
“METAL SONIC!”
The lizard’s girly scream alerted absolutely everyone around him, causing more screams, finger-pointing, and rushing for the exit. In less than a minute, the reveal of Eggman’s most powerful creation had prompted a complete evacuation of the building.
Metal’s eyes blinked.
“Welp Guess I’ll Help Myself To Those Parts” she said as she sped things up.
CENTRAL CITY.
A FEW MONTHS LATER…
As time had gone by with one accidental scare after another, Metal had given up bothering to hide herself.
Her current walk down a city sidewalk was much like any other - a scaredy-coyote jumping into his trembling rabbit girlfriend’s arms, an entire line of ducklings bursting into tears at a single glance from her, a chili dog vendor’s cart tipping over backwards with him, and even a street band’s music descending into chaos from fear.
She looked down at herself. She’d managed to do a few self-modifications - install some plates around her waist that resembled a skirt, and paint her nails and quills in silver. People probably still couldn’t tell she was “girly,” just that she was a terrifying robot.
Yet at the same time…
“Boooooo! Go away, Metal! Eggman’s gone! You’re old news!”
The old muskrat rambling at her from the window of his apartment was not the first to have that reaction to Metal. As she’d wandered Mobius looking for some sort of purpose, she’d divided the world into two kinds of people based on their reaction to her: those who fled and those who verbally fought. She enjoyed the suffering of the former, but the latter just made her upset.
She had the power to eradicate those who made her upset, but she just… didn’t feel like it anymore.
If only there was a way to prove that, even in her creator’s absence, she was still a threatening and deadly robot, not just something to give weird looks.
She was just about to find that way.
KER-RACK!
That sounded like lightning, but also… didn’t? Looking at the source, Metal saw a Jumbotron that was apparently displaying Channel 6. On the screen, body crackling with electricity, was a face Metal was surprised to see again after literal years.
Sonic’s other cybernetic doppelganger - the tragic one, not the soulless one Metal was.
Surge the Tenrec.
“So long, suckas!”
Holding a large metal box in her arms, the Mean Green was shown slamming it into the trunk of a black car before… hopping into the driver’s seat at high speeds, joining four other figures Metal didn’t quite recognize from behind.
“Sawdust indeed…”
Wait, she recognized that voice too! And, as it cut to the live feed, that clown-nosed face!
“This is reporter-bot Belle the Tinkerer, on behalf of Channel 6 Action News. Once again, I find myself reporting on the latest wave of crime, all conducted by a group of thieves composed of five old foes of Sonic and the Restoration, no doubt seeing my fath- seeing Dr. Eggman’s absence was their chance to be big shots!”
Old… foes? Big… shots?
“To those who live under a rock, the band at this time consists of notorious bullies and goons-for-hire Rough and Tumble the Skunks…”
Oh right. Those two blunt objects, who Starline hired and Eggman exploited with the Metal Virus.
“Devious, murderous shapeshifter Duo the Cat, formerly known as Mimic the Octopus…”
Metal hadn’t met him in person, but had once been assigned to hunt him down “if necessary” during the early days of the virus.
“And the wicked Imposter duo of Surge the Tenrec and Kitsunami the Fennec, the former of which claims leadership of the crew.”
Surge and Kit were by far the most infamous and powerful of this lot - Metal knew, for Kit was one of only a select few who had ever overpowered her one-on-one.
“This fearsome fivesome,” Belle continued to report, “has been popping up at one source of valuables after another at different Mobian-inhabited locations, but primarily in Central City. One can only imagine why they’ve switched from violence and terrorism to theft and heists. Is it for profit? For a secret project? Or…”
Metal blinked twice.
“Just to prove how powerful and scary they can be? Regardless of their motive, these… Bad Guys are simply terrible!”
“They’re horrible!,” the crowd around Metal cried.
“They’re Perfect” Metal said, rubbing her cold hands together.
THE “BAD GUYS”’ SECRET HIDEOUT.
A WEEK OR SO LATER…
This had to be the place.
After flying up and scanning the city, interrogating various passersby, and maybe even secretly watching the crew she now wanted to join in action, Metal had found what must be the entrance to their secret collection of valuables. It was an open sewer, big enough to drive a car through.
“Mediocre Job Of Hiding But The Doctor Has Been Worse At It”
Levitating off the ground, the robot hedgehog flew forward into the tunnel, projecting light from all the weapons systems she could to allow her to see until she reached a metal garage door in the dark, in front of which she touched down.
“Calculating… How To Get In While Still Making A Good First Impression”
She couldn’t just smash the door, or she’d risk hurting the team’s security and opinion of her.
“If Only I Had Some Sort Of Built-In Lock-Picking Devi-”
As she stepped forward to put a hand on the door, it suddenly lifted up automatically to reveal a rickety elevator.
“Oh OK” Metal said with as much surprise as her voice could as she stepped onto the lift, which brought her up to another door… which immediately began to open. “Wait Wait Wait I’m Not Ready Not Again-”
Holding out her hands, Metal was left in an awkward stance with the attention of anyone inside the base squarely on the spot where she stood. However, what she could see made it very clear this was the Bad Guys’ hideout. And what a hideout it was! Furniture, racks of clothes, a pool table, an arcade machine, a kitchenette, and a surprising hoard of riches scattered about the place. But more important were the denizens of the lair, who Metal was about to be thrust into interaction with. Before she showed up, Rough and Tumble were messing with the arcade machine, Duo was shuffling through the clothing stash, and Surge and Kit were fiddling with what appeared to be a safe.
Of course, after Metal showed up, their actions were promptly dropped.
Kit let out an ear-splitting whine before everyone but Duo (who ran and hid) charged at Metal with their signature weapons (or lack thereof) at the ready.
A shudder ran through Metal’s CPU and, facing hydro-electro-obliteration, she spoke.
“First Of All I Must Say You Have Literally No Security But Hi”
Surge immediately skidded to a halt.
“... Hi?,” the tenrec said with a blink, before realizing who had shown up at the Bad Guys’ doorstep. “Wait, METAL SONIC? You can TALK now? W-what the actual crap are YOU doing here?”
“Asking To Join Your Team” Metal blurted.
Surge, Kit, Rough and Tumble all looked at each other upon hearing that, even Duo peeking out from between the clothes.
“For some hidden Eggman agenda?,” Kit asked, raising his Hydro-Coils further. “I think not.”
“Negative: Purely For Selfish Reasons”
“Selfish reasons?,” Surge asked, nodding to Kit before grimacing at Metal. “SELFISH REASONS? I’ll have you know I know exactly how you work, Mr. ‘Real Sonic.’ You, more than ANYONE else, are just a mindless extension of Eggman, and if you’re trying to infiltrate our crew and somehow bust him out of jail to start the Sonic Cycle over again, you’ve got another thing co-”
“Eggman Literally Loosened My Programming And Threw Me Out To Make My Own Decisions” Metal anxiously replied. “It’s Actually What Happened: Take Me Apart And Check My Memory Bank If You Have To: Becoming The ‘Real Sonic’ Is Completely Behind Me And I Have Made A Vow Not To Trust Him”
“Not trusting?,” Surge chuckled. “Even more reason you’re not even good enough to be Sonic's fake-”
“He’s telling the truth,” Duo suddenly said from behind her.
“Wait, wha-”
“I can tell when people are lying,” the octo-cat sternly explained, putting either hand on the tenrec and fennec’s shoulders. “Even robots. I made a career and a manifesto out of it. Metal’s genuine. He genuinely wants to join our team. Not because of Eggman, but because of HIMSELF.”
“Okay,” Surge said after pausing. “Let’s assume we did for some reason give you the benefit of the doubt, faker.”
“Why do you wanna join?,” Tumble asked.
“And whatcha qualifications?,” Rough added.
“Okay Running Sob Story Protocol” Metal began. “I Have Spent The Last Several Months Since The Doctor’s Arrest Wandering Aimlessly: I Promised Him Even Without Him I Would Keep Being Scary And Dangerous (Evil) While Still Not Letting Sonic Drag Me Down”
“Pfft, anyone could do that,” Surge remarked. “I literally pretty much did, hence this lair and this crew I’ve got- wait a minute.”
“But: I Haven’t Found Any Way To Actually Be Evil” the robot continued, “Aside From Scaring People As I Walk By Them… Until I Saw ‘You Guys’ On The News: I Figured If You (The Strongest Villains I Know Aside From The Doctor) Had Teamed Up…”
“Then what is one more?,” Kit surprisingly asked his boss/sister/it-was-still-complicated-at-this-point.
“It Worked For Sonic After All” Metal finished. “Didn’t It? I Am Still A Deadly Machine And The World Cannot Be Allowed To Forget That”
“I…”
Surge’s mood appeared to have turned 180 degrees as she came to an understanding.
“I get it, I really do,” the tenrec said, tapping her foot. “So, if we do accept you… what can you bring to a heist crew?”
Metal looked down, seeing her own painted nails and skirt-plates that nobody had pointed out.
“Well I’m A Robot” she said. “I Can Be Modified And Customized For Whatever Job You Need As Long As You Don’t Beep With My Personality”
Rough and Tumble chuckled a little.
“No, but seriously,” Rough clarified, “none of us would do that.”
“That’s cycle-of-abuse-type crap,” Tumble added with a nod.
“Well,” Surge said, hand to her chin. “I’m the mastermind, Drippy’s a hacker, Tentacles is the distraction, and the skunks are the muscle. But lately, we realized we need a specialized lock-picker. A safe-cracker. Someone who can sneak in and do precise moves that Kit and Duo are only so good at.”
“I Was Just Wishing For A Lock Picking Device Before I Found Out You Had No Security” Metal replied. “I Could Certainly Be Upgraded Into A Heist-Bot With Stealth Gadgets And Safe-Cracking Tools: But One More Thing To Be Clear”
“What?,” all five asked.
“I’m A Female Woman”
Surge suddenly blushed.
“Oh.”
She, Rough, Tumble and Duo slowly turned their gazes to Kit. The fennec pointed to himself sheepishly, before his expression became stoic again.
“Two weeks… ma’am. I’ll rebuild you from the ground up. A perfect safe-cracking machine, just as you and Surge ordered.”
Metal’s digital eyes blinked.
“Do You Even Know How To Handle Eggtech?” she asked, slightly concerned knowing Tails’ previous failures.
“Watch me,” Kit replied, eyes glowing.
TWO WEEKS LATER…
“System Update Complete: Hello Drippy”
As Metal’s HUD flickered to life, she realized her automatic voice had changed. It was still monotonous, but was now higher-pitched and… made her feel euphoric.
She looked at the mirror in front of her. Her body had been rebuilt, just as Kit promised, with physical specifications she’d asked for before he shut her down - including silver stripes and heeled feet from her Neo body, and a much more natural-looking “skirt.”
“I’m…”
Kit appeared next to her in the mirror.
“D-do you like it? I can try again..”
“I’m Beautiful” the robot genuinely replied, rubbing a metallic hand across her cold muzzle.
And the fennec smiled.
“Okay, she loves her look,” Surge said, also stepping into Metal’s line of sight. “And I’ll admit, so do I. But do her upgrades work on command?”
“Give your cloaking device a try,” Kit cautiously suggested.
Pulling up her internal HUD yet again, Metal found a variety of new slots for technology and devices.
“Wow You Uh: Loaded Me With Gadgets” she observed.
“Nothing but the best,” Kit chuckled. “For, um, someone Surge trusts, I mean.”
“Trusts?”
“We read your memory bank like you said,” Duo’s voice said. “You speak the truth.”
“Also,” Rough admitted, “we came up with a lot of ideas for upgrades.”
“All six of us!,” Tumble added.
Her eyes outwardly becoming upward-pointing arrows, Metal selected CLOAKING, and lo and behold, she became transparent to the observing eye.
“IT WORKS!,” Kit cheered, seeming out-of-character at that moment.
“It Works” Metal cheered back as she became visible at will once more in front of the fennec. “... Thank You: I’m Now Everything I (And You Guys) Wanted”
“You… really mean that…”
You could practically feel Kit’s mental blocks fading. Surge certainly could.
“Now You Said Something About Needing Safes Cracked?” Metal asked.
“We’ve amassed somewhat of a backlog,” Duo said, gesturing to a pile of safes that had suddenly become apparent.
“Let Me At Them” the robot replied. “I Will ‘Free’ The Riches Inside”
Surge laughed.
“I like the way you think and talk, Metal. To think I saw you as just another one-note knock-off.”
“I Think We Could Really Bond Over That”
“Indeed…” Surge said with a toothy smirk. “I think this is the beginning of a wonderful partnership.”
“Our fearsome fivesome is now a sinister sextet!,” Rough cackled.
“All thanks to Kit’s unexpected machine prowess,” Tumble chuckled, giving the fennec a thumbs-up. “Good job, bro!”
“Beautiful work for a beautiful machine,” Surge said while giving Kit a supportive noogie.
As Metal walked over to the pile of safes to begin her work for the Bad Guys, she looked back at Surge and her eyes displayed happiness. The utterance of the words “beautiful machine” hammered it home.
She had found her place.