ToaArcan

Nick Fury is an interesting case- Marvel actually wanted to make the Ultimate Universe Nick Fury look like Sam Jackson, and he agreed to let them use his likeness provided that they let him play the character in any upcoming films. Since the MCU is a sort of 50/50 between the 616 and Ultimate universes, they went through with it and cast Jackson as per their agreement.

 

An interesting case regarding Mr. Elba is the supposed incoming adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, where he has apparently been cast as the Gunslinger. All well and good, he's a great actor... but the Gunslinger being white is actually part of the plot- He gets harassed by another protagonist, a somewhat weird black woman, because he is white. With the change, they'll either have to drop that plot entirely or change it to a white woman hating him because he's black, which, well... stops her from being an interesting character and makes her just a racist in the eyes of the audiences. I can already hear angry Twitter mobs baying for the character's blood.

Fiona strode confidently into Casinopolis, eyes flitting across the various patrons under Mammoth Mogul’s protection. She glanced at her watch- Several hours had passed since she left Freedom HQ, so any hope of rescuing Scourge before the combined force of the Freedom Fighters and Suppression Squad overwhelmed him was looking thin. She’d need to at least go to Moebius in order rescue him, putting her options for new minions much narrower. A thought crossed her mind, that the Squad might not imprison him, but instead kill him- They’d made no secret of their contempt for him, and had even tried to sway her to their side, but she’d remained steadfast in her loyalty to him.

She swelled with pride for a moment, before a more familiar voice rang through her memories.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Sonic’s arguments stuck in her mind, much moreso than she wanted to admit. Her pride faltered, superseded by anger at herself. Her face hardened, snarling involuntarily at her own weaknesses- She’d cried in front of him. Before, she had stepped on his heart, struck his closest friend as hard as she could, and tore into him over his failure to save her, and it had only made him angry. And yet, with a few simple words, he had reduced her to a quivering, sobbing wreck. Her trip had been spent agonizing as to why this happened, and she still had no answers. A part of her screamed that perhaps his points were correct, but she shrugged it off, stomped the voice down. She’d been doing that a lot lately, since she had joined Finitevus’ plans.

Realising that the other patrons were staring at her, her eyes widened for a moment, glaring defensively back. She had half a mind to ask what they were staring at, but currently she had no backup, so aggravating them was a bad idea, especially since she intended to try and recruit some of them. With all eyes on her, save for one- a figure with a distinctive purple, crooked tail, wrapped in a greatcoat, head covered with a stetson, sat at the bar- evidently, Nack was drowning his sorrows again- she smirked.

“Hello, everybody. My name is Fiona Fox, and I’m here to recruit people for a little rescue operation.” She paused to gauge reactions- Most of them were still watching her quietly, but Nack seemed to be shifting slightly, turning on his barstool. “A close personal friend of mine got into some hot water with the Freedom Fighters and their counterparts from the anti-Mobius, and chances are they’ve taken him back there. They might’ve killed him, but with any luck, they haven’t, and we can get in there and save him.”

“Who’s “We”? a voice called out. She turned to look at them, but she didn’t recognise the face.
“Well, me, and anyone who comes with me.”
“And what’s in it for us?”
“Well, my friend managed to conquer Anti-Mobius, or Moebius, as we call it now. Planet full of psychopaths and maniacs, and he took it all over, bent it to his will, in a week. Even made me his queen. If we rescue him, we can do that again, even easier, and then you’ve got all the money, power, and anything else you need, no worries.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad. Anything we’ve got to worry about?”
“Well, there is the Suppression Squad. “Evil” versions of the Freedom Fighters, except Sonic and Amy. They’re not quite sane, willing to kill, all that stuff.” She replied. Immediately, the rows of interested faces looked awkwardly at each other, then at her, and returned to their drinks, ignoring the vixen again.

“And just like that, you’ve lost ‘em.” Another familiar voice echoed through the room. It seemed to have come from Nack, but the voice was definitely a woman’s. The weasel turned, and stood up, looking straight at Fiona. There were certainly similarities between her and Nack, but her muzzle was shorter, her torso covered by a white bodysuit, her boots lacking the brown toes, her gloves reaching her elbows. The distinctive enlarged fang was gone, and she shifted her hat, allowing long purple locks to fall down behind her. 

“Nic?” The vixen paused. Immediately, several of the patrons were pointing guns at the weasel, who rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know why you’re bothering. Nack won’t pay you, even if you do kill me. I also don’t know why you all think you can get something good from helping the guy whose biggest claim to fame is “I got kicked in the nuts by Princess Sally and beaten half-to-death by Amy Rose”. But what the hell, if you want to try and take me on...” She reached inside her coat, pulling out a pair of oversized handguns. Within a few seconds, every single glass in the room had been shot out, followed by the lights. She slipped a pair of night vision goggles onto her face. “... bring it on.”

The assorted criminals sat still for a moment, silently daring each other to make the first move. One of them pulled the hammer back, and, with another cacophony of gunfire, the weasel relieved each one of their weapons.

“I didn’t get where I was without getting to be a really good shot. Seriously thought you guys would’ve got that.” She mocked a sigh, sauntering past them, towards her former partner. Fiona smiled, closing the gap as the weasel pocketed her weapons and removed the goggles.

“Nic, it’s gre- Ow!” She was cut off when the weasel sharply pinched her ear, tugging her toward the exit. 
“You’ve got some serious explaining to do, young lady.” SHe hissed over her shoulder, kicking the door open.
“Ow ow ow ow, quit it!” She shouted, as they reached the cold night air, slapping Nic’s hand away. She reached up, rubbing her sore ear, glaring at her. “What was that for?!”
“You mind telling me what you’re doing? Running around, trying to raise an army to take over another Mobius. And doing it all while dressing like a skank. I thought I raised you better than this.”
“Oh, what, are you gonna call me out for being ‘bad’ now? The bounty hunter-come-treasure thief?”
“There’s a line, Fi. Conquering worlds is well over it.” Nic folded her arms. 
“Hey, it was Scourge’s idea, not mine!”
“Scourge... Scourge!? You threw in with Scourge!?” She grabbed Fiona’s shoulders, shoving her against the wall. “Are you insane? Or just plain stupid?”
“Hey, he’s not as bad as people say he is!”
“He’s trying to conquer planets! He calls himself Scourge! He’s a liar, a traitor, a mass-murderer, a pervert! And he works for Finitevus!”
“What’s wrong with Finitevus?”
“Oh, I don’t know, how about the whole “Burn the world to ash and rebuild it his way” schtick?” She retorted. “You’re trying to destroy one world and conquer another, throwing in behind Scourge. And the crazy part is that you don’t even realise what you’re becoming.”

“Oh, what am I becoming?” She sneered.
“Well, I want you answer this: How are you any better than Robotnik?”

Fiona threw a punch at Nic, who nonchalantly titled her head away from the blow. The vixen swung again, the weasel’s fingers closing around her wrist. She twisted it slightly, sending a twinge of pain through her arm. “Don’t compare me to him! I’m nothing like him!”
“Answer my question, Fi. Tell me how you’re better than him. Tell me how serving Scourge and Finitevus is any better than Nack helping the lardass.”
“I...”
“You can’t answer, can you?”
“I’m not like him...” She murmured, arm relaxing.
“You’re supporting people who are just as bad, or worse in the case of Finitevus.” Nic replied, releasing her arm. “And I want to know why.”
“Because I love Scourge! You wouldn’t understand that, but it’s true!”
“And that’s worth all the wrongs you’re going to commit? All the atrocities you’ll support?”
“I-”
“Think long and hard about that one, Fi.” The weasel’s voice was suddenly lower, softer, and several orders of magnitude more threatening. Fiona shrank back as much as she could with her back against the wall. Nic could be very loud. She was very good at it, and it projected the aura of a hair-trigger temper. But in truth, Nic was a very patient woman. Her shouting was often just a way to let off steam. When she really became enraged, Nic became very quiet, very cold. Almost mechanical. “And how about Finitevus?”
“Scourge worked for him.”
“And that’s it? That’s why you do things now? Because Scourge does them?” Nic rolled her eyes. “You know, Fiona, you’re standing awfully well for a girl without a backbone.”
“Doing things together is what couples do, Nic!”
“And how many times has he taken you somewhere you wanted to go?”
“Loads-”
“That you wanted to go to for reasons other than “Scourge said so”?”
“Uh...” She paused. There hadn’t been a single time. In fact, Scourge had never even asked her. Nic noticed the silence, smiling grimly.
“What even is there to love about him? What attracted you to him?”
“Well, he was more fun than Sonic, for one thing. For a roguish charming hero, “ol’ blue” wasn’t half dull.” Fiona shrugged.
“Maybe because he was on the rebound from dating a princess? Shoulda seen that he was still hurting and said no.”
“I asked him.”
“Well, then you’ve got no-one to blame but yourself. You basically stamped “Rebound Girl” on your forehead. You locked yourself into a dead-end relationship, and Scourge exploited that. Hell, that relationship is the entire reason he wanted you.”
“Huh?”

“Don’t you see, Fiona?” Nic sighed. “You’re not his girlfriend. You’re his trophy. Scourge only wants you because you were Sonic’s girl. If Sonic had still been with Sally, he wouldn’t have given you a second glance. I met him once. ‘Bout two months ago. He was drunk off his ass, probably couldn’t remember the encounter if you asked him, because he spent most of the evening sleeping on a bowl of pretzels. He tried chatting me up. I knew who he was, but I decided to humour him. See if I couldn’t get him to spill a bit on FInitevus’ plans. Then I could sell the details to GUN, they love getting stuff like that. And it worked. That’s how I knew about the albino freakshow’s deal. ‘Course, he gave me the whole life story first.”

“If he gave you the whole story, how come you didn’t know I was with him?” Fiona asked.
“He never mentioned your name. He just mentioned some “dumb bimbo” that he’d managed to get to follow him away from Sonic. Guess that’s you. Of course, he mentioned this while his eyes were glued to the barmaid’s tits, very classy.”
“He was drunk! He’s different when he’s sober.”
“Hopefully he’s better at seducing people, or there’s something seriously wrong with you.” Nic smirked. “Anyway, he mentioned that he spent more time going after Bunnie Rabbot and Amy Rose. He made a pass at the “dumb bimbo”, but she didn’t take his fancy. Apparently, she didn’t appeal until Sonic went for her, at which point, well, you became priority target. The only reason he even cares about you is because you were Sonic’s girlfriend. You’re his ace over Sonic, as long as Sonic still cares, Scourge will keep you as a memento to his bruised ego. But the moment Sonic gets over you, and Scourge realises that... you’re screwed.”
“I-”
“Do you understand me now, Fi? You’re becoming no better than the man that tortured you as a child, all so you can keep being the brainless arm-candy for a psychopath that doesn’t even care about you. That’s all there is to it... So, are you going to wake up and do something about this, or do I have to make you?”
“How do I know if I can trust you or not?”
“Because you’re my little sister, and I won’t ever lie to you?”
“Bull, you lied to me before!”
“To protect you. And look what happened, it totally worked. If I’d told you the truth about that little excursion, we both know you would’ve run in half-cocked and got seriously hurt.”
“Alright, alright...” Fiona said. Her ears drooped, eyes shut tightly. She slid down the wall into a sitting position, pulling her knees closer to herself, her head slumping into them. Her tail wrapped around her body, and her shoulders shook, as the first bitter, angry sobs shook her small frame. “I believe you.”

Nic sat down beside her, pulling her into a gentle embrace, guiding Fiona to lean on her shoulder. Carefully, she pulled several pins out of Fiona’s hair, and it fell down into a more natural look, but not quite the curled style she had worn before.

“What do we do now?”
“I’m taking you home, to my place. We’ll get you cleaned up, get you something decent to wear, and then we can work out how to fix the mess you caused for the Freedom Fighters.”

Fiona nodded, and allowed Nic to lift her up, carefully carrying her to the hoverbike she had left outside the casino.  “Say Fi, I’ve had a few... Think you can drive this thing?”
“Of course I can.” Fiona nodded, smiling weakly.


***

That evening, the two quasi-siblings sat on a couch in Nic’s apartment, Fiona once again leaning on Nic. She now wore a loose-fitting t-shirt and sweats, her hair and fur now properly groomed once more.

“I feel so stupid...” She finally said. The duo had sat in relative silence for a while, leaving each other to their own thoughts.
“Well, in a way, good. You can see where you’ve erred, and you won’t do it again.” The weasel shrugged. “Right?”
“When you mentioned the mess I made of the Freedom Fighters... You don’t know the half of it.”
“Hm?”
“I... I managed to piss off just about all of them, even the ones that didn’t know me much. Amy came at with the hammer while I was trying to sneak off to meet Scourge, I mocked and ridiculed Sonic for trying to help people, Sally hates my guts and thinks of me as nothing more than a traitor... Tails... Oh gods, Tails...”
“The half-pint? What’d you do to him?”
“He was nuts about me... and I stepped on his heart twice, and then when I left, I slapped him in the face!”
“Okay, why the hell did you do that?”
“Scourge said I had to... Said I had to do something that would hurt Sonic as much as possible... Said I should hurt his sidekick. Especially after I let slip about his crush...”
“Word of advice: If Scourge tells you that you should do something, ignore him.”
“Oh brilliant, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind when I’m a whole universe away from him.” The vixen groaned. Nic smirked slightly, before sighing. 
“Well, you’ve got a lot to make up for.” She said. “So how do we deal with this?”
“You’re gonna help me?” She stared at Nic.
“Sisters, remember?”
“Okay, okay...” Fiona nodded. She stood up and walked over to the window, quietly watching the rain running down the glass. “Honestly, I don’t know what I can do. I guess, well, the first step would be an apology... But I don’t think that will cover it. I doubt they’ll ever trust me again... but I guess that’s only fair.”
“I’ve got a bit of a plan myself... We’re going to find your ex, and put a bullet between his eyes. If anything screams “Change of Heart”, it’s shooting the jackass in the face.”
“Or it could make me look like even more of an opportunist traitor...”
“Okay, good point.”
“Make no mistake, Nic. If he’s alive, we’ll kill him. But it has to be in a way that doesn’t make us look worse.”
“So now you’re on-board with killing him?”
“I threw away my life for his lies. I had everything I wanted, and I was too blind to see it. And then he came in and told me all the things I wanted to hear, and what did it amount to? Being queen of a planet where everyone wanted to kill us and take our position. And now I feel like I’ve got nowhere to go from here... He ruined me, Nic.” She hissed, hand balling into a fist as she turned to face her friend again.
“It’s one of those things, Fi... You never know how good you have it, until you lose it all. I didn’t even realise how much I needed you until you left...”
“Then I suppose there’s my answer to where I go next...” Fiona mused. “Here. I’m staying with you.”
“Really?”
“You need me.”
“I was thinking that I’d come with you. Fi, I can’t have this life anymore. With Nack after me I barely get any work, and I can’t support myself. I keep having to move out of places every time he finds where I live, on the off-chance he gets lucky.”
“So you want me to try and get back in Sally’s good graces?”
“Maybe. Maybe we find another team. Maybe we make our own. However it happens, we break into the Freedom-Fighting business.”
“You know that Freedom Fighters don’t kill unless they absolutely have to, right?”
“Well, we absolutely have to make sure nobody goes through what you did.” Nic replied, putting her hands on Fiona’s shoulders, before pulling her into a hug. “That’s why we’re going to do this.”
“Alright.” Fiona nodded. “What do we do about Nack?”
“Beat him up, and dump him on the Freedom Fighters’ door. They’ll take care of him.”
“Okay then... Let’s do it.” The vixen smiled. “One thing: I’m gonna need a new weapon.”
“Oh, that can be arranged.” Nic smirked. “I nabbed these handy little devices called shock gauntlets. I think you’ll like them. I’ll get you some new clothes too. And it’ll look a lot better and be a lot more comfortable than that... thing... Scourge got you.”
“Thank you.” The two embraced. “So what’s with the new look?”
“The fang was making eating and talking hard. Plus, it was a bit of a turn-off to any prospective partners. I grew my hair out because people kept mistaking me for Nack.”
“Even with the chest?”
“Yes.”
“How many people have you shot, or otherwise injured, because of that?”
“A few.”
“Damn. And the coat?”
“It has loads of pockets for my gear. And it looks badass.”
“Can’t disagree.” She nodded.
“Want one?”
“Nic, you know my tail’s kinda sensitive. I’ll have a shorter one.”
“Okay. Now, let’s go get those shock gauntlets.”


***

The next day, in Freedom HQ, the Knothole Freedom Fighters sat around the main table, blueprints, plans, and documents laid out in front of them, along with a three-dimensional map, projected from Nicole.

“Okay, what are we hitting today, Sal?” Sonic asked. 
“We need to put Eggman on the back foot before we assault the Eggdome. If we hit him now, he’ll be ready for something. If we knock him off-kilter, then it’ll be easier to hit him again, hard, while he’s still reeling. Fortunately, we have a way to do that.” Sally replied.
“So, what’s the target, Sally-Gal?”
“Eggman’s getting a shipment of something important today. We have reason to suspect it’s a new weapon or power source of some sort. It’s got heavy security, whatever it is.” Nicole zoomed the map in on the landing strip.
“How do we know he’s not just going to extreme lengths to project his lunch again?” Tails spoke up.
“Well, we got tipped off, thanks to Geoffrey’s team. They saw something being loaded up yesterday, and whatever it is, it was putting out a lot of energy.” The squirrel explained. “So we’re going to go there, steal whatever it is, get Nicole to plant some nasty viruses in the Eggnet and steal some files from the ship’s computer, and blow up the landing strip, and the craft with it.”
“Alright, I like the sound of that.” Sonic nodded.

“Now, Rotor has already got the explosives loaded up, and Tails has provided a new transport craft- The Special’s getting old, and it’s not at all quick in comparison to the fighters Eggman uses now.”
“I created a Magnetic Mass Accelerator. It was supposed to be an upgrade for Bunnie’s cannon, but its far to big to be a personal weapon, so I put it on the new plane!”
“And... in English?”
“Railgun.”
“Oh, nice!”
“Thanks!”
“Anyway... Antoine has run through the risk assessment, and this one’s going to be a little harder than usual. Security is tight, so we’re going to need some solid overwatch. Fortunately, Rotor will be keeping the plane airborne and using the weapon systems to cover us while we attack on the ground. Since landing won’t be safe, this is an air-drop, so if you can’t fly or take long drops, bring a parachute.”

As Sally finished explaining, a Warp Ring split the air above them, and Nack the Weasel fell out, crashing into the table. He seemed to be unconscious, hands cuffed behind his back, with a letter taped to his tail. The ring snapped shut, leaving the assembled team staring at the sudden new arrival. 

“Uh... not exactly what I’d call a present...” Sonic mused, nudging him. “He’s out cold… Want me to run him down to the jail?”
“Nicole, scan the envelope. Make sure it’s not a letter bomb.” Antoine spoke up.
“Already done. It isn’t.”
“Well, what is it?” Amy asked. Sally took the letter, opened it, and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

“It says… ‘Dear Freedom Fighters, I’m writing this to let you know that you’ve got a pair of unorthodox allies. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I’ve got a long road ahead of me before I can hold my head high in public again, but and with my Sis’ help, I’ll be done in no time. Hopefully you can consider this a first step. He was going to be a thorn in our sides, so we let him come to us, got the drop on him, and sent him on over. All the best… Fiona Indigo Fox…’”
“‘P.S: We’re taking Bean and Bark on as our team-mates, so don’t worry about them.’” Sonic added, leaning over Sally’s shoulder.
“Well, Ah’ll be…”
“She has a sister?”
“Nah, Ames. S’what she always called Nic the Weasel. They were like family apparently, somewhere between a sister and a mother. Nic was to Fi what the rest of us were to Tails…”
“Guys, look, there’s something else in the envelope!” Tails piped up, barely believing his ears. Sonic swiped it, and pulled the second piece out. 

“It’s a photo.” He said, putting it on the desk. It showed Fiona, now clad in a familiar yellow-and-white outfit, with a belt across her chest, her upper body wrapped in a short white coat. She was embracing Nic with one arm, the other holding up a “peace” gesture,the weasel mirroring her position, her free arm adjusting her hat. Her arms were encased in shiny golden gauntlets, with blue circles on the backs of the palms. “Heh… guess we’ve got some extra backup for the big one…”

 

 

 

***

 

Uploading more oneshots before I start on any of my larger works. THis one is set just before Issue 198-200. I like Nic a lot more than her design would really merit. She's got a fairly interesting history, and I especially like playing her off against Fiona. Normally, I write them with a more parental bond, but their exact relationship here was decided by poll on DA, back when I had a premium. This Fiona should probably also set the tone for the versions of her that I'll bring in for future stories. Hope you enjoy.

Once Flynn took over, general quality of the villains nosedived. Patch here was brought down to just being one of Scourge's lackeys, Eggman was truly monstrous but Ian wrote it in such a way that it felt like we were supposed to like him, Scourge himself was every variety of awful, Mogul basically retired, Naugus spent most of the run without a brain and then managed to pull off a much dumber version of this plot basically because Ian said so, and about the only good one was Finitevus.

 

THey really shouldn't have done SU arcs that focused on the villains, because then Ian turned them into protagonists rather than letting them be vile in the limelight. Eggman was at his most evil in the Mecha Sally plot tumour, but then he gets his own SU arc where, while gleefully sending the mutilated shell of his former enemy into combat, he rips you right out of the experience with a homage to Empire Strikes Back and sings his own damn theme song. 

 

When writing a villain, you should never reach the point where people ask "Why is he still alive?", and the only answers you can give are "Because the plot", "Because I say so" or "Because my bosses say so." Eggman reached that a long time ago, as did Scourge.

The machines might not be the same. For one thing, the one in Robotnik's body would be a lot smaller.

One of the most popular aspects of the Sonic franchise are the mechanical copies of the main protagonist, primarily Metal Sonic. However, the exact order of their appearances and the evolution of the concept is currently a less-than-clear thing, and I felt like going over them all. I'm putting this in the Mega Drive era folder, since the vast majority of their appearances were in those titles, with fewer appearing after that. I will not be covering the robots in other media like the shows and comics, though I will be discussing some of the discrepancies between the game lore and the comic stories, and I will use comic art for images because some of it looks better than the sprites.

 

Our long history of Sonic robots begins in Sonic 2 for the Game Gear/Master System, with the one and only Silver Sonic.

Yes, that is really what it looks like. 

Silver Sonic's role in the story differed based on the playthrough. If you hadn't collected five Chaos Emeralds, he would be the final boss. However, if you had found each of the Emeralds, hidden throughout the zones, his corpse would contain the sixth, and you would be able to proceed to the Crystal Egg Zone to rescue Tails from Robotnik's clutches. This particular robot appeared in the comic as part of a flashback during the "Champions" arc, heavily implied to be part of the comic's version of its game of origin. It received a slightly updated look, which made it a bit more dignified, and was labeled as a prototype, due to the comics creating the idea of a "Silver Sonic" series, and Ian needing to keep his own creation as the third model, even though the second model had been wiped from canon.

 

The second robot to grace our presence appeared in the Mega Drive version of Sonic 2, and is known as Mecha Sonic.

 

  

 

This robot is commonly mislabeled as Silver Sonic, or something to that effect, but its canonical name is Mecha Sonic. The misnomer was a result of Archie, who conflated it with its 8-bit counterpart during the Sonic Quest miniseries, and the name was later adopted by the fandom to differentiate it from the robot in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and Sonic's roboticized form. Nevertheless, its appearance in the non-canon Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure, and the backstory for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, its name has been firmly established as Mecha Sonic.

Mecha Sonic appears to be a prototype of a later design, and is only the warm-up for the battle with the Death Egg Robot. 

 

Next up is the one robot that everyone is familiar with, Metal Sonic.

 

  

 

Metal's exact place in the timeline is uncertain, but I'm placing his first outing here. Unlike Mecha Sonic, he seemed to be designed more to match Sonic's speed than fight him in combat, though he has plenty of energy-based attacks of his own. Metal was initially little more than a mindless servant of Robotnik, though his AI would later evolve. He was initially seen kidnapping Amy Rose, and later raced against Sonic in Stardust Speedway, but upon losing, was disabled by Robotnik's own weapons and left to rust. An alternate version of this battle happened during the time paradox in Sonic Generations, where he displayed more aggressive tactics and was destroyed by Sonic. However, since this incarnation of Metal Sonic was reactivated in Sonic the Hedgehog 4, we can assume that the Generations version of the battle is non-canonical.

 

Following the loss of Metal Sonic, Robotnik brought another robot to Angel Island, the second Mecha Sonic.

 

 

Also known as that robot that curbstomped everyone in SMBZ. Confirmed to be an upgraded replacement for the previous Mecha Sonic, this particular robot guarded the Sky Sanctuary. It displayed the ability to drive vehicles, or at least Eggmobiles, and survived its defeat at the hands of Sonic and Tails. It later returned in Knuckles' story, having seemingly gone rogue after the defeat of Eggman, where it was revealed to be the one that stole the Master Emerald, destroying the EggRobo that had been hounding Knuckles by accident, then battling him by himself. During the battle, Mecha Sonic became the first antagonist to manifest a Super form, albeit a fairly unstable one.

 

Mecha Sonic MkII's exact fate is ambiguous. Since the Master Emerald is recovered, that would make the ending where Mecha Sonic self-destructs and Knuckles reclaims the Emerald canon. However, said ending is only seen if the player collects all of the Chaos Emeralds, something that would be difficult if they had scattered after Sonic used them in Doomsday Zone. Ultimately, it is most likely that Mecha Sonic was destroyed.

 

Following this, Eggman reactivated the damaged Metal Sonic, and repaired him in the Mad Gear Zone. After that, he was sent to recover an energy source from Lost Labyrinth Zone, which he absorbed, growing in power. Metal later opposed Sonic and Tails on his own in Episode 2, displaying several new abilities before ultimately being defeated and disappearing for a time.

 

Metal would next reappear in Knuckles Chaotix, where it appeared as a surprise final boss. Upon being separated from the Stage Select, it transforms into a monstrous red form, that had no thighs for some reason. THis design was labeled "Titan Metal Sonic" by Archie. The form was defeated by the Chaotix, but Metal Sonic was shown escaping with Robotnik, having survived its battle.

 

 

Metal Sonic would make a return in Sonic R, alongside EggRobo, and joined by the Tails Doll and Metal Knuckles, but the lack of story in the game beyond a plot intro in the manual meant that his exact role beyond being sent to join a race is unknown. 

 

Sonic the Fighters brought us a new robot, known as Mecha Sonic Model No.29, also known as Rocket Metal.

 

 

Rocket Metal's role in the game is incredibly brief. It only appears in the intro, where it transforms into a rocket and flies around the Death Egg II, before disappearing forever. Any elaboration on what this design actually is remains lacking. While Archie comics have made an adaptation of the game, it was incredibly loose- Neither Robotnik nor the Death Egg are important at all, and Rocket Metal did not appear outside of an off-panel that made jokes about his head being too heavy to move. Yes, really. In Arcade modeRocket Metal can be selected by hacking, and, like fellow "lost character" Honey the Cat, copies moves from other fighters. In what very weak meta the game has, Rocket Metal was considered the strongest character. However, unlike Honey, he was not added to the 2012 rerelease of the game.

 

In the game proper, Metal Sonic is the penultimate foe, and one of the few challenging opponents in the game. In fact, he's actually tougher than the final boss, Robotnik. However,he is ultimately defeated by Super Sonic, and left in the exploding Death Egg.

 

Metal Sonic next appeared in the lobby of the Final Egg, deactivated and in stasis. However, the more interesting robot in this case is the unnamed one in the second tube.

 

 

THe robot bears a distinct resemblance to the Mecha Sonic models from Sonic 2 and 3, almost a mix between their designs, possessing Mecha Sonic I's unpainted body and hand designs, along with Mecha Sonic II's visor, flight capabilities, and some semblance of its opening chest design. Archie labeled it Silver Sonic Ve2.0, while the game version would most likely be a Mecha Sonic model. 

 

Metal Sonic would finally make a major return to the main series in Sonic Heroes, with new abilities and a new form, known as Neo Metal Sonic.

 

 

The exact origin of Neo Metal's ability, copying powers, is unknown, but I would posit that it's Gizoid tech. We know that Eggman had access to Gizoids before the events of Sonic Heroes (Even though Battle is set afterwards because Shadow is there) because he built his own models of them before he built Omega: The Gizoids he built are designated E-121 Phi, while Omega is designated E-123. So, perhaps he upgraded Metal Sonic with Gizoid tech, but it caused him to gain full sentience and go rogue. 

Neo Metal locks Eggman up, and using his new power to shapeshift, takes on his form. He also briefly takes on the shape of Sonic to kidnap Chocola and Froggy, but nothing comes of this: When Team Rose encounters Sonic, Amy does all the talking and tries to force Sonic to marry her rather than asking him about her friends' missing pets, because Amy is a terrible friend. Sonic never actually finds out that he was implicated in the kidnapping. He spends the rest of the game disguised as Eggman, using his battles with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow to assimilate their data, allowing himself to gain full power, along with absorbing the data on Chaos from Froggy and Chocola, then uses this to transform into the enormous Metal Overlord. An attempt by three of the teams to hinder it before its transformation is complete fails, allowing it to assume the full form. In this state, Metal appeared to be developing some level of insanity, claiming to be "The real Sonic" and that Sonic was his "loathsome copy", while simultaneous acknowledging that his name was Metal Sonic and that he was "created for the sole purpose of destroying [Sonic]".

 

 

Despite being able to casually throw around battleships and possessing a host of other dangerous abilities, Metal Overlord was ultimately defeated by Super Sonic, Super Tails, and Super Knuckles, and reverted to its base Metal Sonic form upon defeat. The robot was last seen in the clutches of Omega. Following this event, Metal had a mere three more chronological appearances, in Sonic Rivals, Sonic Rivals 2, and Sonic Free Riders. Due to the Rivals series appearances being devoid of personality, and one of them being controlled by someone else, it is my personal belief that the robot that appeared there was not the same Metal Sonic that had appeared from Sonic CD to Sonic Heroes.

 

The Metal Sonic that appears in the first Sonic Rivals title is a mindless drone that works for Eggman Nega. This Metal Sonic was unsuccessful in hindering Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and Silver as they rushed to stop Eggman Nega from transforming everything in the world into a trading card. Yes, really. That really is the plot to Sonic Rivals. In the sequel, Eggman has a Metal Sonic of his own, which is also a drone and is controlled directly by him. Nega returns as well, and this time brings with him a new Metal Sonic of his own. Really, it's just the one we're familiar with wearing a new coat of paint, and it's even destroyed by the one that Eggman uses. I would like to posit that this robot, Metal Sonic 3.0, is the same entity as the drone Nega used in the first game, only upgraded.

 

 

Metal Sonic's final appearance so far is in Sonic Free Riders. He once again appears in disguise, following Team Dark as E-10000B, and entering the races with them. He is revealed to be Metal Sonic after the disguise malfunctions and appears to explode.

 

Once again, Metal has a personality, is obsessed with defeating Sonic, and acts separately from Eggman. This is why I believe him to be the same Metal Sonic from CD through to Heroes, which would explain why he is following Team Dark, because he was last seen with them. Although Metal is defeated at the end of the story, he is not destroyed, and flies off. 

 

Metal Sonic is almost certainly going to appear in the 25th anniversary game, but given SEGA and Pontaff's lax attitude to continuity, it will likely be just as an Eggman minion. In that case, I'll treat him as the same robot from Rivals 2.

[The Red Stranger: This can include concepts you enjoy that others do not commonly do as well.]

 

Buckle up, I'm about to say somewhat nice things about Ken Penders.

 

Let's talk about one of the comic's best villains, and a rather unsung one at that. This guy:

 

 

 

This pirate-looking guy, for those not in-the-know, is Patch D'Coolette, Antoine's counterpart from the Anti-dimension, and his contributions to the series are often ignored, because the Archie fandom has a bad habit of revisionism. Since his plans were put into motion primarily during what is now regarded as the comic's dork age, the whole story tends to be regarded as "rubbish" because it was written by Ken Penders. And while its execution was flawed, it wasn't awful, and the plan itself was gloriously devious.

 

Patch started out as Antoine's exact opposite, a fearless, merciless warrior, always scheming to get himself on top. His rivalry with Scourge was also a mirror of Antoine's rivalry with Sonic. Whereas the latter was generally rather pathetic and Sonic always came out on top, Patch was always one step ahead of Scourge as far as schemes went- In fact, Scourge got so mad that Patch beat him to the idea of  "Wear a fake eyepatch to look rugged" that he actually put Patch's eye out, which just highlighted things- Scourge was impulsive, violent, and brutal, while Patch was precise, skilled, and a schemer.

 

But what makes him a good villain was not that, it was his master plan, which ran from somewhere between Issue 125 and issue 130 all the way to issue 156. For a little backstory, at the time, the comic had a bit of a writer edit war going on- Karl Bollers was the head writer on Sonic at the time, while Penders was working on his infamous Knuckles comic. Well, the latter got cancelled, and Penders was brought back to the Sonic title, and, being the senior writer, kinda took the rug out from under Bollers' feet and started imposing his own plans for the Sonic comic, incompatible with Bollers', onto the stories. In particular, they clashed over Antoine.

After Sonic's return from space, Antoine had apparently turned into a colossal jerk and broken up with Bunnie for no real reason, something that Penders did not like, and to be fair to him, not a lot of people did. Bollers' plan was for Antoine to keep getting worse and eventually become a villain, while Penders decided to not do that and have Antoine actually be Patch. To his credit, he didn't immediately show Patch gloating about impersonating Antoine in private, and he didn't show off Patch's scheme until after Bollers was gone. If Penders deserves crap from fans for this, then Flynn deserves it for doing the same to Bollers and Penders' plans for characters like Fiona. Either way, we got the story with Patch, which worked a lot better.

 

Here's his plan, and how it worked:

 

He began by switching places with Antoine, and working to ingratiate himself with Max, while breaking things off with Bunnie because being in a relationship with her would hinder his plans. People would be suspicious if he broke up with her just when the issue of Sally's marriage came up, so he had to do that early. See, like Robotnik, Patch intended to take over the kingdom by abusing its own hierarchies. Unlike Robotnik, he was not going to get himself into a position of power and then stage a coup, he would instead get himself married to Sally, and then bump off Max to take the throne legitimately. Whether it was due to an actual law of the kingdom, or one of those unpleasant things about Max's own attitude toward his daughter, it was often made clear that Sally could not be queen unless she had a king, so Patch decided to use that to get himself made an actual king.

While his plan was briefly put on hold by Sonic's return, Sally's frayed mental state soon saw to it that her relationship with Sonic ended explosively, putting him back on track. It's also possible that Patch actually "helped" the relationship collapse, abusing Sally's trust and her fear of losing Sonic again to "advise" her to demand his retirement, and insinuating that not doing so would be "selfish", that he would be doing it for his own enjoyment rather than the good of the people, but that's just theory talk.

His plan with Max worked pretty well- "Antoine" got promoted to Commander, and was appointed to be Max's bodyguard during the world tour, during which he started poisoning the king, causing a decline in his health. After several failed negotiations, he upped the dosage, forcing Max to abandon the tour and return home. Being the monarch's new right-hand-man, he was now a shoe-in for the soon-to-be-vacant throne, and the marriage was demanded by Max right before he lapsed into a coma. And it worked. Sonic's attempts to talk to Sally are foiled by Patch blocking him from seeing her, and he was able to manipulate her into agreeing to her father's wish, the wedding going off without a hitch, and Sally, for her part in this, appeared broken, allowing Patch to have Sonic carted off by guards when he attempted to put a stop to things at the reception.

Patch was seconds away from finally killing Max when things came crashing down. While it seemed that Sonic had just protested about Sally's agreement while at the same time macking on Fiona, he had in fact gone off and found Elias, and tried to convince him to come back and put a stop to proceedings, so that Sally would not be forced to marry Patch. While initially reluctant, he soon changed his mind at the prodding of Megan, his wife. He returned, and announced his intention to take the throne, and, being the legitimate heir, bypassed Patch's claim via Sally, testing the waters to see if Patch would react. 

Patch faked acceptance, deciding to kill Elias' wife and child as well as him, but was ultimately foiled when Sonic spotted the needle of poison that he intended to use to kill Elias, revealed his true identity, and kicked him back to Moebius, bringing Antoine back at the same time.

Oh, and during all of this, he also fatally poisoned Antoine's father, just because he could.

 

With all this in mind, I do think that, honestly, Patch was one of the best villains the comic had. He didn't have fancy powers, he didn't have an army or a superweapon, and he didn't beat the tar out of anyone to show off how dangerous he was. But with a few bottles of poison, knowledge of the Kingdom of Acorn's antiquated succession rules, and Max's prejudices, he was inches away from being the legitimate, crowned ruler of the Kingdom. His machinations, once laid bare, were equal parts monstrous and horrifying, some of the most evil things displayed in the whole run, his manipulation of Max and Sally, his casual disregard for Bunnie and the rest of the people he pretended to be friend of, the murder of Armand, all while posing as a face that all of them loved and trusted, along with his casual use of poison to get his own ends brought a level of evil far more visceral and real than any of Eggman's more fantastical plots, or Scourge's posturing and bluster. And I think i even works on a level that affects the reader too. If nothing else, Sally finally caving and hopelessly going along with "what's expected of her by her father and her husband", just like Max always wanted, opens up a bit of a pit in my stomach, just because of how wrong it feels.

Villains these days aren't on the same level as Patch. Flynn spends too much time trying to make them wacky or cool or sympathetic. Patch wasn't that. He was pure, unadulterated evil, and it was awesome.

I don't have much to say regarding the first two, but with the third...

 

Make it a full reboot. Reset everything to zero. No half-assed attempt to pretend that the preboot comics matter, no pathetic clinging to the number because it grants them an arbitrary record, just take everything back to basics. Sonic and his ragtag group of friends living in a hidden base and making attacks on the empire of their nemesis, Robotnik. Loose adaptations of the games follow, starting with Sonic 1, then Sonic 2, then CD, and then Sonic 3&K. Other, original stories, to establish the world and address other parts of the classics would be mixed in and put into side-stories. Universe would be cancelled, and instead become a second release of the main title per month, at least until such a time that there were enough characters to tell SU stories again.

 

The status quo would crumble with the end of Sonic 3's adaptation. With the destruction of the Death Egg, Robotnik's empire would collapse, especially with the doctor presumed dead. EggRobo would become an interim villain at first, supposedly being a copy of Robotnik intended to take over after his death, but he would never quite be the same threat, mostly using repaired versions of Robotnik's own mechs. At the same time, the FF would be dealing with their own personal troubles, namely that they freed Sally's father but he's also a giant prick, along with a few other villains. EggRobo would also turn out to be being remote-controlled by Robotnik himself, using the droid to inact some of his plans from the transitional bit between S3K and SA1. EggRobo would eventually go to Angel Island to try and reclaim Mecha Sonic, but would be destroyed by the rogue warbot.

 

The comic would also have a defined end point- Solaris. The gestalt god's destruction of the timestream would lead to a scene where, after its own death, Sonic would erase the flame that would become it, and cause another reboot, at which point, I'd end my run as head writer and pass it on to someone else.

1) With regards to how Nicole would've been done, almost exactly as Hurst planned.Her just being a computer that gained sentience and developed a fascination with Mobians is nice and all, but her once being a Robian makes it a lot better in my eyes. With regards to her powers, I'd have them be something she had before she got stuck in a computer. Maybe not quite as powerful, but present. We know that her deliberate spells weren't going to be that great- Sonic was supposed to keep remembering, no matter how ahrd she tried to stop him, so I would cast her initial attack on Robotnik to be one of pure fear and rage, not a controlled thing, which would actually cause some permanent damage to his psyche. In turn, this damaged part of his mind would be further aggravated by Sonic, Sally, and the rest of the FF during the war, leading to his deteriorating mental state.

 

 

2) Bunnie is a bit more tricky. She was fine in Season 1, but when Season 2 happened, Hurst dropped the ball with regards to her and Rotor. In particular, Bunnie was pushed out of the limelight largely by Dulcy, so I'd give the latter a reduced role. During missions, I'd have her paired off with Sonic, as opposed to with the others, on the logic that she makes a lot of noise and is more suited to wrecking stuff to give Sally and co. an opening or covering the backs of her friends than she is to sneaking around. Outside of the action scenes, give her a lot of time just interacting with the others. She struck me as being the one person in the team that everyone could count on- She had her own troubles over her cyborg parts, but she wasn't neurotic like Sally, shy like Rotor, cowardly like Antoine, basically an orphan since birth like Tails, or putting on a snarky prick persona as a coping mechanism like Sonic. She could be the rock, the irreplaceable core of the team that everyone could be open and honest with. 

I think the coup, as it happened, was pretty alright. However, if I could change it, I'd probably make the start less obvious. In the episode, it's not exactly subtle. The streets fill with SWATbots, including that badass-looking blue one that we never saw in anything else, and then Julian smashes his warship into the palace, steps out and announces his intentions.

 

 

In this case, I'd have the whole thing start much quieter, with people disappearing. Thye just vanish without rhyme or reason, except, of course, they're getting rounded up and roboticized. By the time Max and co. know what's going on, there's already a huge number of Robians.

 

I think this would fit a little more with Robotnik's style. Unlike modern Eggman, Robotnik was not alien to subtlety. We know from Ben Hurst's plans that his first scheme to take over wasn't bombastic at all, it went like so:

 

Step 1: Kidnap Princess' friend

Step 2: Turn friend into psychic computer thing.

Step 3: Use computer to rewrite everyone's memories so they see Robotnik as the rightful leader.

 

If Nicole hadn't lashed out and erased Robotnik's memories of the plan, he would've taken over without anyone ever knowing that it was a takeover. So I think a more quiet approach would've worked pretty well.

Here's an appropriate one for a largely Sonic-based site.

 

I've had the misfortune of playing Boom, and during one section, I discovered that the rocks that littered the area are not actually solid objects unless you jump on them. If you walk into one, you literally walk into it. Due to the size of the rocks, there were one or two that made both Sonic and Amy look like decapitated heads just sitting on top of boulders. Even more did the same for Tails, or worse, made him look like half a head. Buffles' size meant that he at least got to keep part of his chest.

If I recall correctly, it was a mental thing: The roboticization process only worked perfectly if they really wanted it for some reason. Why this happened was never explained, it was just stated to be a fact. 

It appears to be a sort of psychosomatic problem, I suppose. But whatever it is, the exact details are a bit... weird.

Deep in the heart of the Mystic Ruins sat the long-abandoned Final Egg, a base structure used to construct one of the Doctor's greatest weapons, a cannon capable of inducing a Supernova. The device had been destroyed a few years ago, when the ship carrying it self-destructed, but there was no reason why he couldn't rebuild it in time.

As it was, the base was too obvious once it had been located, and Eggman had abandoned it long ago, leaving most of its contents where they were. As Sonic had attacked alone, he didn't take much with him, and simply returned home. The only thing missing was Metal Sonic, which remained active among the mad human's forces. However, it had not been the only robot in storage there. Finally, many moons after the location had been left, the final backup generator ceased to function. Systems all over the base went into shutdown, machines grinding to a halt, terminals going dark, and the second stasis container failing. The figure within slumped into its metal harness, servos groaning after years of inactivity. It shifted, visor lighting up in gold and crimson, straining as a bright crimson flash erupted from its body.

The cylinder shattered, glass and metal exploding outwards, shards peppering the walls. The harness incinerated, the droid slumped to its knees, head bowed. Its fists clenched, as it began to rise, placing one foot under itself, pushing its body upright. It stumbled forward, reaching out to brace itself against the opposing cylinder, which had once housed its older, smaller brother. It looked up, slowly taking in its own reflection.

Its head shaped into three streamlined quills, one at the top and two at either side, with a few smaller ones in between. Its face was expressionless, a single visor-shaped optic sensor, and a smooth, mouthless muzzle. Mecha Sonic stood himself upright, the engines in his back firing up, launching him through the ceiling. After so long, he finally hung in the night air, gazing out over the ruins below. The energies of Chaos rippled through his body, as it began to flow through him once more. 

A few warnings flashed up on his visor, a informing him of lower power levels, faulty parts, and various other maladies. Those would have to be fixed before he could get anything else done. Turning away from the sky, he rocketed off into the night.



***

Two years later, the North Pole


Reginald Marshall was a soldier in the Egg Army, holding the rank of sergeant. Currently, the bulky form of the Mobian horse stood on the lip of the Death Egg's hangar, looking down at the icy cliffs that the station had embedded itself in. The shield was down for maintainence, so the door had to be guarded. What exactly his laser rifle was supposed to do to a Freedom Fighter aircraft, he wasn't sure, but the Doctor was firm in his assessment that they would not need rocket launchers, and he wasn't about to argue. He'd seen the fate of those that disappointed their Master, and he was determined not to share it.

He shivered, not just from the thought of it, but from the cold. Even wrapped up in his multiple layers of winter clothing, the Arctic desert was a far cry from his familiar, warmer climates in Shamar, but he'd been chosen for the "honour" of Death Egg duty, and he wasn't going to refuse that either. Things like that made him wonder about the words of his Egg Boss. Nephthys had told him that the Freedom Fighters were a dangerous group, and in opposing Eggman, prolonged a war that would see the end of life as they knew it, with the doctor laughing triumphantly. And yet, he somehow doubted that Princess Sally would shove her friends into tiny, pitch-black boxes, unable to move but fully conscious, if they failed a mission. Or if she failed one and decided to shift the blame.

The sharp beeping of a radar roused him from his contemplation, and he looked over at the screen. A single target, racing toward them at high speed. Too small to be an aircraft, too fast to be one of the Freedom Fighters' fliers, at least as far as he'd been informed.

"Hey Rich, you seeing this?"  He shouted, turning out toward the tundra again. He tapped the metal side of his face, trying to get his cybernetic eye to focus. It had been sticking in the cold, not being designed for temperatures this low, but it broke free and zoomed out toward the likely location of the blip.

"It's on the radar, what is it, Reggie?" One of his comrades, an eagle, yelled back. 

"I'm trying to get a bead..." Finally, his eye picked something up. A blue figure, perhaps a head taller than him, a column of crimson fire driving him forward. "Looks like a blue bot or suit of some kind. Kinda hedgehog-shaped..."

"One of Lord Eggman's?"

"I'm not sure, looks better-made than his..."

"Heh, don't let 'im catch you sayin' that!

"Feh, I'm not scared. What does he care about us? We don't matter to him until we fail." Reginald shrugged. "It's closer now... Yeah, no way that's a suit. THe proportions are all wrong. It's got a sort of visor-face, though... Weird."

"Alright. I'mma go call this thing in. Might be a problem." Rich stood up and walked out of the room. "Won't be ten minutes."



No more than a minute later, the figure landed with a heavy clang, before rising to its feet. Reginald coughed, wafting away the smoke from its engines, in time to see the newcomer staring at him. The machine had a masculine build, mostly encased in cobalt blue plate armour, with just his chestplate, muzzle, upper arms, cuffs and fingers being a paler blue, and his thighs, palms, and soles being black. Across the bottom of his upper torso ran a bar that held the same colours as his visor, crimson with a gold core. Its legs were long and bulky, its arms the same, and its shins and back contained rocket engines.


"Is the Doctor in?" His voice was deep, smooth, and not at all like a typical mindless automaton.  "I need to see him."

"Sorry, he's busy with his Egg Bosses, so he won't be disturbe-"

"I know, I want to see them too. That's why I came now." He waved his hand dismissively. Reginald growled at the machine's impudence, pointing his rifle at him. Wouldn't do anything with the safety on, but it might convince the machine to back off.

"Even if you do want to, we don't just let anyone in!"  He narrowed his eyes. "And how did you know about the meeting?"


The robot stared at the weapon for a moment, before casually swiping it. Heturned it over in his hands briefly, testing how well it fit, before squeezing it, mangling it into an unusable shape, casually tossing it over the side of the fortress. Reginald didn't hear it hit the bottom. The robot turned toward him fully, stepping closer, as it stared down at him. He gulped, one hand instinctively going to his holdout pistol.

"Surely, you must be aware of how lax the security is? How simple it is to get into the systems?"  He folded his arms behind is back, head tilting slightly. The horse stroked his chin, metallic fingers grooming his beard. It was true, the droid was correct about the computer security. The vast majority of computers in the Eggman Empire used simple, easy to guess passwords, often the word itself with a number.  "I just logged in checked the schedule." He shrugged. Despite the lack of mouth, Reginald practically felt him smiling.

"Who are you?"

"I am Mecha Sonic, a creation your master abandoned. I awoke from stasis when his Final Egg Base lost all power, and I've spent two years watching his "Empire" while I repaired and upgraded myself." He replied, spreading his arms. "Suffice to say, I'm not impressed. And you are?"

"Uh, Sergeant Reginald Marshall. I joined up because my region's Egg Boss, helped us. She says that, if we work with Eggman, we'll be better off than prolonging the war and getting more people hurt."
"In your specific region, perhaps, but to the rest of the world, you're traitors and quislings, siding with the tyrants to save your own necks."
"Nephthys has the local Freedom Fighters on her side, people believe in her."
"And who is more foolish? The fool, or the fools that follow her?" The android sounded smug. He snapped his fingers, and Reginald's cybernetics jolted, his entire body locking up, freezing in place. "You're probably wondering what's happening, how I can trigger your failsafe... Well, with a system as poorly-defended as Eggman's, it was easy to find the killswitch. Then it was just a case of copying the signal and sending it."

He circled around to Reginald's side, putting one hand on his shoulder. "It's a shame, really. You've shown some level of intuition, but I have no need for the gullible and the easily led."

With that, he gave a push, sending the horse's locked body over the edge of the hangar, watching him plunge into the frozen abyss, before turning back toward the exit, stalking out of the hangar into the corridor. 

The warren of tunnels, passages, and hallways would've been a nightmare for an organic, and even the soldiers, who had been given maps, struggled. Mecha Sonic, however, had the complete plans in his processor. The design was hardly a practical one, deliberately designed to funnel an invader toward a large central room. The paths toward the areas like the bridge and the engine room were hidden, made to look less like the way to important parts of the station. The whole thing was a giant maze with an arena in the middle. A trap for the Freedom Fighters. But he was no Freedom Fighter, and he knew exactly where to look.

"HALT." He looked up from his musings to see a line of Eggpawns pointing their oversized blasters at him. His shoulders sagged slightly at the sight of the newer machines. 

"These are what he uses now... A bunch of children's toys." He raised a hand toward them, bypassing their meager defences and lodging his own programs in their processors, blue optics turning crimson. "Still, for now, they will have to suffice, and destruction would be a waste of material."

The robots fell into step behind him, escorting him up to the elevator. With the new entourage, he passed by without a second glance. He looked to be just another part of the scenery. The sign on the door read "Conference Centre" in binary- At least there was some indication of where the correct path, and it would be infinitely more useful once he was finished. As the doors slid open, he sent a mental command to the Egg Pawns.

'Stay here. Allow no-one to enter or exit until I am finished.' With that, he stepped inside, and found himself being propelled straight upwards. He lowered his head slightly, pausing for the brief moment of quiet. The day had been coming for so long, that his waiting and rebuilding could finally come to fruition. Everyone he needed to remove or change in one place. All the pieces on the board, so to speak. He looked at his own hands for a moment, clenching them into fists. 'Prepare yourself, my old master...'



***

In the conference room itself, Eggman placed himself at the head of the table, with the twelve Egg Bosses lined up on either side of the table. Orbot sat beside him, holding a screen, as the rotund scientist addressed his underlings.

"Welcome, my loyal servants, to the Death Egg!" He spread his arms wide. Reactions were varied. Most of the group looked suitably awed, Maw seemed to be grinning, while Clove and Nephthys looked apprehensive, Conquering Storm looked completely unamused, and Thunderbolt had an expression that he'd rather not inquire about. "I trust you're all comfortable?"

"Uh, boss, we're getting reports of a disturbance, and the cameras-"

"Silence, Orbot, there are more important things to discuss." Eggman pressed the spheroid robot's head down. "What do you all think?"

"It's certainly impressive..." Clove began.

"It's simply perfect! A magnificent testament to your genius, Doctor!" Thunderbolt interrupted. The pronghorn frowned at her, but before she could so much as clear her throat, Maw joined in.

"Indeed. With a weapon like this, no-one will dare challenge us."

"Boss, I-"

"I must admit, I do have some concerns about the application." Nephthys spoke up. "This is the third Death Egg, is it not? The previous two did not exactly deter the hedgehog..."

"A good question, Nephthys, what makes this one better than the last ones? Simple: The shield cannot be penetrated by their aircraft." Eggman grinned.

"In theory." Orbot cut in. "Boss, I really must-"

The diminutive robot was cut off when Thunderbolt threw her coffee mug at him, knocking him off the table.

"The station is very impressive, Doctor, but why did you call us away from our fronts to visit this place." Conquering Storm tented her fingers.

"I thought it was necessary to bring you all here, so you can see the nerve centre of the empire. The ground base is something that can be invaded by the Freedom Fighters and their allies, whereas this station requires aircraft to even reach, and, as I just explained, such an effort is futile."


"All well and good when the station is flying, Doctor." The voice echoed from the corridor, as the door to the room slid open. "But alas, you are currently still grounded, with the shields down."

"Who is that!?" Hood's eyes widened.

"Why did the door open!?" Eggman roared.


A cold, harsh, grating laugh filled the air, followed by the sound of heavy, leaden footsteps, clunking ever closer. Slowly, the glowing visor and chest of Mecha Sonic became visible from the gloom, and Eggman began to hear someone panicking, trying to break himself free.

"I... don't believe it..." The doctor stood up slightly. "Mecha Sonic?"

"So you do remember me..." The robot replied, stepping into view, his right hand gripping the head of a flailing Cubot. The door slid closed behind him, locking itself.

"Why are you active?"

"The power in the Final Egg failed, and my stasis container deactivated, allowing me my freedom."

"And you came straight here to rejoin, I imagine." He relaxed back a little.

"No, I got out two years ago. Since then, I've been waiting, watching, rebuilding myself, seeing how your Empire has progressed." He replied. "The verdict: Disappointing. Wasting your time with soldiers that fight amongst themselves, or fail to grasp the core requirements of their mission. Those that serve you for ulterior motives, and would ditch you in a heartbeat if another side offered them the same. And your creations... My... siblings... How are you meant to conquer anything with the most recent crop?" 

"Mecha Sonic,-"

"This one, for example." He hoisted Cubot up. "A defenseless, lazy, stupid machine that serves no purpose beyond providing half-baked criticism of your plans, which you immediately dismiss. In other words, a worthless waste of time and resources." He tightened his grip, metal screeching and crumpling, until, with a sharp crunch, the smaller robot's head compacting into a small lump, optic sensors popping out between his fingers. He dropped the limp machine to the ground, stepping over it. 

"How dare you insult your Master!" The pompous statement came not from the Doctor himself, as he had expected, but the small robot beside him. Thunderbolt hopped onto the table and began to storm toward the cobalt droid, teeth bared, sparks flying around her. She tensed, electricity arcing out at him, but none of it even darkened his paint, rippling over him without any effect. As she closed the gap, he raised one hand, and snapped his fingers.


Immediately, the flow of power stopped, and the chinchilla's body locked up, arms frozen by her sides, face twisted into a terrified silent shriek. He reached down, and picked the tiny Mobian up. 

"I could crush you just as easily... But I'd rather not make a mess." He casually flung her away, keeping his optic trained on the others. She flopped stiffly to the ground, unmoving.

"WHAT!?" Eggman roared, as the other bosses began to rise, preparing their weapons. "How did you-"

"Come now, Doctor... With security as lax as yours, getting into your systems to recover the code was child's play. In fact..." He snapped his fingers again, and immedately, the other eleven Egg Bosses became frozen in place. "Far be it for me to question tactics, Doctor, but I do believe that using a device which can cripple every single one of your soldiers via wireless signal is not a good plan. Imagine the chaos that would've resulted if Nicole had found it."


Eggman recoiled, as his predicament became frighteningly apparent. He was trapped in the room with Mecha Sonic, with only Orbot for protection. He had but one card that he could play, but if he did, unfreezing the bosses would likely be a bad idea. Fortunately for him, however, the mechanical hedgehog continued talking. Perhaps he could stall a little...

"Of course, your tactical prowess has always left something to be desired.You have no grasp of the subtle and quiet, everything must be done with as much spectacle as possible. In your mind, there's no point in doing anything if they don't know it was you. Everything needs a whole army of people dressed like you to march in, as far as you're concerned. All that does is advertise your presence to the Freedom Fighters, and that is why you fail. So many plans would've suceeded if you'd done it covertly, but you didn't... Because what you want, really, is to fight Sonic. And that's all that truly matters to you. You wouldn't know what to do with yourself if you actually succeeded."

"And what, exactly, do you intend to do after lecturing me?" Eggman straightened his moustache.

"I think I'll take over. You will be scanned and disposed of, your soldiers will be vetted, reprogrammed, and restructured. The Death Egg will be a decoy, while I work on my plan underground."

"Hm, I see... Well, in that case... Orbot... Activate Failsafe Level X." He would have to do it. THe one way he had to stop this machine from taking everything that was rightfully his. Not that it would really matter in the long run, but finding replacements would be difficult.

"But boss-"

"Do it!" Eggman shouted. "Now, Mecha Sonic, if you don't stand down immediately, and allow yourself to be reprogrammed, I will trigger Level X, and you will die."

"Oh, really now?" He titled his head.

"Yes! Did you honestly think paralysis was as far as the failsafe went? That's merely Level 1, a punishment for failure. Level 2 is a memory wipe, useful in the event that I need to prevent an interrogation. Level 3 burns out the subject's brain, an excellent way to dispatch traitors. And Level X is a powerful cherry bomb!"


Mecha Sonic laughed again, metal hands clanging together. "I know. I just needed you to explain it for your twelve friends here. THey wouldn't have believed me, but now they have it straight from the horse's mouth."

"It changes nothing!" Eggman grinned. "Ask yourself, Mecha Sonic. Do you want to be in here when all twelve of them go off?"

"Do you?"


He froze, as the robot began to laugh again. That one very obvious point, likely what Orbot had tried to warn him about. Mecha Sonic was between him and the door, and even if he wasn't, he was much faster. 

"Which of us is more likely to survive if you do trigger it? You, the soft and squishy humanoid, or me?" He asked, raising his hand again. A bolt of energy rippled out of his palm, as Orbot's cranium blossomed into a fireball. "Especially now that I am the one with his finger on the button? Deactivating Level X."

"Are there any other things you wish to lecture me about?" Eggman growled, as his wayward creation stepped up onto the table, and walked down it, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him out of his seat. "Perhaps you can tell me how you went from being just another of the very failures you reamed me over, to being the apparent authority on leading an empire and fighting a war."

"It happened when Snively reactivated me. After I destroyed his EggRobo suit, I came in contact with the Master Emerald, and it empowered me... But it changed things. It introduced illogic to my systems... and finally, I could think outside of the box. You programming was no longer my end-all-be-all... I became sentient, and now wield the power of Chaos myself. That is something that did not fade when you rebuilt me. With that capacity, my logic functions became that much more defined, and no longer limited in their applications. I could address any issue, not just the ones you provided. And that was why I studied you. So I could see where you failed, and account for that in my own schemes." He threw his creator to the ground, standing over him. "That is why I will win in the end. Your theatrics and need for attention are things I do not have. By the time the Freedom Fighters know that I am here, my plan will have already been completed, and they will by mindless automata."

"I knew that little goblin would be the death of me..."

"Oh, but he won't. You'll die in battle, when, in your Empire's final stand, your ejection systems fail, and your mech explodes with you inside it." The robot crowed. "It has to be convincing, after all, when you disappear. They'd investigate if this place just exploded overnight."


He turned on his heel, looking down at the paralyzed Egg Bosses, arms folding behind his back.

"I know all of you can hear me. Fret not, I will not harm you, nor any that happen to be dear to you. In fact, no harm will ever come to them again. I will remove their ability to become ill, hungry, elderly, or otherwise infirm, all will become steel. In turn, I shall remove their capacity to harm each other. Freedom is a burden, and it shall be stripped away from all. You shall be my first twelve." He spoke. "However, I do believe a name change is in order. I am no mere copy of Sonic. I am above him, in every way. Hence, I shall now be known simply as Metallix, and you are all part of my brotherhood. I'll speak to you all after your... reconditioning."

 

 

 

 

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Well, this appears to be the first story post on the site. This is the first and only of my stories set after the reboot of the Archie timeline, everything else I've done is set pre-SGW. I wrote in response to how dumb I thought the whole "Eggman Empire" thing got in the comics. Initially, I'd wanted to use Metal Sonic for the role, but I always wanted to do something with Mecha Sonic, as well as address the misconceptions about the second robot in Final Egg's lobby in SA1. My decision to use him was solidified this peice of art: http://cerberean.deviantart.com/art/Worthless-toys-499029448 and that gave rise to this take on him. I imagine him sounding a lot like James Spader's Ultron. 

 

Hope you enjoy. I've got some minimal ideas about expanding this, but for now, nothing concrete.

Hello all, I am ToaArcan. Friend of Wulfsbane and Nemesis, who posted just before me. I've been working alongside them on DA's Anti-Archie-Sonic, as group founder and reviewer of the main titles, with a fair few stories of my own under my belt, which I'll be bringing here.