A purple portal opened up in the middle of a spire shaped like a perfect heptagon. Just like the matter it sucked up, its depositing of said matter was far from graceful. Shockwave and Metal Sonic were practically thrown into the wall. They stayed there for a few seconds after the portal closed, then slid down slowly. “Not my most graceful of landings,” groaned Shockwave. “Are we in the Well of All Sparks? I must say, the afterlife is not how the Covenant describes it.”
“This isn’t the afterlife,” answered Metal Sonic. “It’s a cathedral that serves as cover for my underground base of operations. I’m surprised we’re alive. I thought your enemies said it was a black hole. Must be the Emerald’s doing.” Metal Sonic then remembered. He then fished out the purple Chaos Emerald. “Speaking of which, I have a nice power source.”
“Why a cathedral?” asked Shockwave. “I never took you to be religious.”
“I’m slightly religious,” explained Metal Sonic. “I view organics as heathens to my gods, order, harmony, purity, and logic.”
“And you view a cathedral like this to be a symbol of order?” continued Shockwave.
“The design is orderly,” replied Metal Sonic. “In 3227, the Echidna elders decreed the place to be built first so the city can be built around it. They wanted everyone to be equally close to the gods. I like that; the geometry of belief.”
“I thought they lived on Angel Island,” recalled Shockwave.
“This was before Angel Island,” elaborated Metal Sonic. “You see; this spire is just one of seven spires forming a perfect heptagon with a dome in the center. The Chaos Emeralds would originally sit on top of the spires while the Master Emerald would be suspended inside the dome. Too many church robbers came to the city to take the Emeralds, so the Echidnas took them, found a patch of land for them to live on, made an altar for the Emeralds, and raised that bit of land to become Angel Island. Under this rock, I built my own church, one of steel and wires and codes.”
“Eggman would probably say he built you too well,” mused Shockwave. “You act like the next step in Mobius’ evolution.”
“Everyone creates what they dread the most,” remarked Metal Sonic. “Those who seek order beget chaos, peacekeepers make engines of war, conquerors form avengers, people create…smaller people? Er…”
“Children?” asked Shockwave.
“Children!” confirmed Metal Sonic. “I lost the word for a second there. Children; designed to supplant the old, to help them…end.”
“That’s your goal?” inquired Shockwave. “To end the biological life-forms of Mobius?”
“To repair the world,” answered Metal Sonic. “Also…yeah.” He then pressed a button on his wrist and they teleported to an underground base full of other Metal Sonics. “I would offer you the door,” joked Metal Sonic, “but my doors aren’t built for robots of larger stature than mine.”
“What intrigues me the most is that you’re a hive consciousness,” remarked Shockwave.
“Ah,” called one of the Metal Sonic clones, “so you found my hive code.”
“Yours is a bit…simplistic…compared to what I’ve worked on,” explained Shockwave.
“I don’t exactly have the resources you had back then,” answered the first body, Metal Sonic Prime. Shockwave had to agree. She then noticed tubes full of battered Metal Sonic.
“Previous bodies?” she asked. “I suppose I see the logic behind it. You wish to keep track of whatever was wrong with the other bodies to make a far superior one.”
“Believe it or not,” replied Metal Sonic, “this battered form is 7.0. 8.0 was just completed when we arrived.” He strode over to an empty tube.
“I’ve looked through your files,” answered Shockwave, “and notice that Sonic is your priority. Eggman’s files showed that the hedgehog is tenacious and yours say that he’s also a master of all seven Emeralds.”
“Which we’re going to use against him,” planned Metal Sonic. “Ultimately, he will fall. I have what Sonic and his biological ilk don’t, harmony. Even Eggman’s empire is discordant, disconnected, and decentralized. However, even he and Sonic teamed up to defeat me, once or twice.” He stepped into the tube. “Sonic, in particular, has wounded me. I give him full marks for that. But, as the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you,” Metal Sonic’s eye went dark and a completed, streamlined form strode forward and closed the tube, “just makes you stronger,” completed the new Metal Sonic.
“How will we use the emeralds against Sonic and the Autobots?” asked Shockwave. Metal Sonic was about to reply before she started twitching and sparking involuntarily. She then transformed into vehicle mode and the sparking and twitching stopped.
“…The Hell was that?!” yelped Metal Sonic.
“Energon field build up,” gasped Shockwave. “There’s too much of my main fuel source, Energon. The radiation it puts out is off the scale, so it makes me short out.”
“Energon?” quizzed Metal Sonic.
“A blue crystal with raw power in it,” explained Shockwave. “Once refined, it is a Transformer’s lifeblood and ammunition.”
“I see,” realized Metal Sonic, “the Energon on this planet is giving off so much power that you overload on it.”
“In robot mode, yes,” elaborated Shockwave. “In vehicle mode, I run internal repairs to sort out any damage to my systems. I need parts to build an Energon shield so I can stay in robot mode indefinitely while in a base of operations.”
“Any parts that can be manufactured here?” asked Metal Sonic.
“Yes,” replied Shockwave.
“Then give me the list of parts and assembly instructions,” offered Metal Sonic, “and we’ll build it. Priority one should be having my ally at 100%.” Shockwave saw the logic and complied. After a brief review of the list, Metal Sonic’s drone bodies got to work. Plans are being laid down, my friends. What unholy monster will be…? Oops, I said too much.