Sonic and Silver were at Frozen Peak.
"You're sure this is the way?" Sonic asked covering her eye from snow.
"This is where the guy told me to go." Silver said.
"I mean, I know this seems sketchy." he said shrugging. "Random guy appears, tells me about an Eggman Base, and then vanishes, but..."
"Nah, it's cool. It matches up with what Tails experienced the other day." she said. "And right now we need any lead we can get." she said and noticed something. "Yo! Look you ahead!"
"Looks like they're clearing out the Base..." he said. "...And it looks like my lead was right."
"Uh-huh. So when does this blow in our faces?" she asked but they were hit by something. "Seems like they're to get rid of evidence. Let's hit 'em fast before they-" she said and saw Metal Sonic. "Oh. Hey, Metal looks like you're fully repaired, huh?"
Then Silver aimed a kick but Metal grabbed his wrist and spun him around.
"Aaaaaayiieeeeee!" Silver yelled while being thrown away.
"So who fixed you up? Tinker? Or Eggman?" Sonic asked and punched Metal but he dodged and did the same but she dodged. "Oh. Right. You can't talk as plain old vanilla Metal Sonic." she said scratching her head.
"Was that the real reason you went back to being Neo Metal Sonic?" she asked. "
So you could do more than "Beep-Boop"? Because this is a major bowngrade." she said and dodged a punch. "I mean, if the Doc didn't awant you to getting distracted by battle Banter..." she said. "...It didn't really work." she said with a thumbs up while Silver was holding Metal with his powers.
"Nice catch, Silver. You okay?"
"I'll hold Metal, you go into the Base and-" Silver said but Metal set himself free surprising them both.
"Lady, gentleman." Starline said.
"What the... that's the guy! That's my informant!"
"Looks like he's controlling that Wormhole." Sonic said. "The same kind that grabbed Rough and Tumble." she said. "Alright! I've got a bunch of questions, and I'm willing to bet you're the answer to a lot of them!"
"Very astute. I am Doctor Starline, and I am indeed the one behind your present concerns." Starline said and bowed.
Sonic twitched a little at the bowing hoping he doesn't know who and what she really is.
"And why is that?"
"I wanted to meet you- experience you- for myself." he said. "The Blue Blur! Hero across Time and Space! The only being alive to be able to stand up to the overwhelming might and brilliance of Dr. Eggman through sheer skill alone!" he said. "Can I measure up? Can I complete my objective with you in my way? Everything about this encounter has been constructed to be the ultimate test of our abilities and willpower!" he said and Sonic looked at Silver with her hands on her hips.
"He did not sound this creepy or crazy when I talked to him!" Silver said with his hands up.
"At least you're giving me straight answers. I'll assume you busted Rough and Tumble out of jail with your sky-holes. So tell me this: What did you do with Mr. Tinker?" Sonic asked.
"That pale shadow of the Doctor no longer exists. I've seen to it that Dr. Eggman has been restored!"
At Eggman's Secret Lab.
"Hmm... The Metal Virus's progression is steady, but slow." Eggman said. "A self-recruiting army is a nice Idea, but it won't spread far at this rate." he said. "Total saturation works fine, but there's no way I can soak the whole planet in my Metal Virus. I wonder if repeated exposure would accelerate things...?" he said and dropped the rabbit. "Boop!" he said and laughed. "Mwa-ha-ha-ha!" he said laughing. "Boop! Boop! Boop!" he said and watched. "Eureka! The greater the exposure, the more rapid the effect!" he said. "A mob of my Infected minions will be able to convert new victims in no time!" he said smiling and turned around. "All I need to do is administer the Metal Virus in a few locations, and the rest will take care of Itself!" he said. "Which means everything fits neatly Into phase two of my brilliant-!"
