Chapter Text
Perhaps nothing terrified Metal more than the looming threat of being deemed obsolete. Outdated. Replaced.
So he waited. When left unplugged for too long, when motor functions fail from the excruciating heat of magma, even when dragged away to an unfamiliar workshop in the weeks that followed, he was fully conscious- waiting to be dismantled and thrown away.
His optic sensors were shattered. Parts of his body, entirely melted and scorched away. His circuitry partially fried, gaps in his memory leaving him with little more than remembrance than reaching out, clasping another hand, and a scream that pierced the air. Memories he couldn’t be entirely sure were even his, if he was still neurologically interlocked with his organic counterpart.
And after that, nothing. Darkness enveloped him. He recognized the kit’s voice from time to time, enough to gather that he was hooked up to a tank of some sort, the sensations of wires running up his body uncomfortable to say the least.
At some point, for a split second, everything went completely offline, right before his eyes shot open. He could see. He could hear.
He had been… repaired. Repaired? By the enemy, did they override his code? Alter him somehow? He couldn’t detect any changes in his software but still, machines can be edited and made obedient to anyone with the right tools to do so-
“G’morning sunshine!”
“Sonic! Don’t instigate him! I just rebooted everything… his new hardware should be operative.”
“Can you hear us?”
…
Auto diagnostic screening initiated.
Sensory: functional.
Motor: functional.
Artificial Intelligence: functional.
Systems operational.
Metal’s red, pixelated facial screen blinked to life slowly. He was… opening his eyes.
His surroundings were crude, almost cute compared to Robotnik’s sterile silver lab. A little workshop, belonging to the fox that stood before him. Tools scattered across the floor and spare parts left on the workbench.
Inviting, almost, compared to the cruel steel from which he was born.
“I feel him! I feel him!”
A voice he recognized. The hero, his antithesis and savior. He felt him in return, sparks of excitement and relief bursting from his circuits- certainly not his own emotions, but the other’s linked to his.
You saved me?
I couldn’t let you die.
Perhaps Metal was grateful for the artificial connections they shared, as his lack of speech capabilities was rather frustrating. The fox accompanying Sonic, however, could not understand and tilted his head at their wordless exchange. “Should we dismantle him? What if he attacks us again?” He wrought his hands awkwardly.
“I thought you said you reset his directives from Robotnik?”
“I did. He has total free will. He could still kill us if he wanted.”
Free will?
Yep. Tails here set ya free, dude. He’s a real genius.
An overwhelming emotion consumed him, one he could not identify but urged him to break out and run, speed away as far as he could. Sonic must have sensed it, as he reached out to place a hand on Metal’s.
You don’t owe the doctor anything. You don’t owe us anything. You can do whatever you want, alright? Just don’t hurt people.
I hurt you.
Yes- you did.
“Will you two stop that?” Tails sighed, growing restless. “It’s freaking me out. I can give you a voice box, Metal, if you’d like.”
The android considered it for a moment, but thought better of it. The only one who needed to hear him was his complement, he thought, shaking his head no.
“… Alright. I’m- I’m gonna release you-“
Before Tails could finish tentatively removing the wiring from his chassis, a rush of hot air filled the boy’s faces as Metal pounced off, activating his jet pack and blasting through the roof like it was paper, away into the daylight.
Shock and concern ran through him like a current, quickly identifying it as the other’s reaction to him quite literally leaving them in the dust.
He brushed away the thoughts of the hero that mixed with his own, instead focusing on his balance- gaining altitude so quickly could fail his newly repaired systems.
His limbs, he realized, were lighter than before. Replaced with slim cobalt bearings, identical but no doubt replacing his components that had melted away from the volcano. In place of clunky metal replicas, red sneakers adorned his feet now, hip looking shoes that reached his ankles.
Something told him Sonic picked them out.
Doing his best to tune out his counterpart’s brainwaves, he grazed over the Land of Sky, for the first time simply gliding for the sake of doing so. The sun was warm on his back, and he opened his solar panels before landing gently in a field of white flowers, a cloud of petals that stretched forever.
Sinking gently into the dirt, Metal dragged his claws over a flower stem, severing it. The little organic thing so tiny and soft in his cold grip.
He became acutely aware of every little petal and leaf around him, swaying in the wind and crushed beneath him.
Perhaps if he lie still long enough, he shall rust and become obsolete on his own. There is no use for him, replaced before he was even created by a living, breathing body.
Motionless, he lie there for hours.
Even after his solar arrays had fully charged, he could not pry himself from the earthen bed. Metal’s optics locked on the sky that boundlessly loomed over him- it was incomprehensibly more vast than he could’ve imagined it to be. It was everywhere.
The sky was everything he could see.
His processing power was not meant for existential contemplation, he realized, as his senses whirred delicately. His software was that of a tool, a weapon- an inanimate object not designed for the luxury of free thought.
He had only existed in a conscious state for perhaps a few days now. Defective almost immediately.
Again, he sunk those steel digits into the dirt as if to clutch the planet close to him, cold metal against warm grass. He was afraid he might drain the very life from it.
A rustling behind him snapped him from the thought.
You look rather peaceful.
Metal did not shift his body, still plastered to the flower bed on his back, but those red eyes flicked to meet jade ones.
His loathsome copy. His merciful hero. His own self. His complete opposite.
Sonic. How did you…
Find you? Easy man. C’mon, we’re linked. You’ve been out here all day though, I wanted to give you some privacy but-
The organic shook his head, sitting beside Metal. “Agh, I’d rather talk. Anyway, Tails and I got worried.”
Tails?
“Yeah. The fox.”
The android nodded thoughtfully, unable to pinpoint why the violent desire to prove himself, to attack Sonic, had simply vanished. He supposed it had to do with Tails’ tinkering, but still- his directive programming tugged at him. A desire for something else now, though what it was, he couldn’t begin to understand.
The boy beside him said nothing.
Perhaps nothing needed to be said.