Chapter Text
Not even a day had gone by since Robotnik was down in the underground prisons. An entire sixteen pathetic hours, and yet here he was, already making his way back towards the prison… again.
For some reason or another, he still couldn't get that damned tiefling out of his head. It was like the man was haunting his mind, actively drawing him closer.
Of course he had tried to do everything possible to stop thinking about this damned man, but it was all for naught. First he had tried simply ignoring it, then trying to sleep it away, then he tried to talk to the two bots, although that went about as well as one could expect with Cubot being as stupid as a damn insect and Orbot frankly seeming apathetic.
Either way, that was how he had ended up walking at a brisk pace towards the entrance to the dungeon. Honestly, he was still not quite sure what compelled him to go back, but the instinct was surprisingly outweighing his admittedly incredibly high sense of pride. He felt pathetic due to this. Having a feeling of crawling back to someone a mere few hours after having just seen them was frankly pathetic.
But that didn't stop him.
When the doctor finally approached the doors down to the dungeon, he was met by an entire horde of guards and police alike. Then, in said crowd of people, he spotted the worst damn combination when it came to people who he honestly hated.
“Ah, doctor! I was actually about to go searching for you.” Walters said in a serious tone.
“And so was I.” Rockwell chimed in.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
“And to what do I owe you the pleasure, my dear royal counsel?” Robotnik replied in a mock tone.
“You are so fucking lucky that you are not the one to be rotting down there instead of your ‘little boyfriend.’ You have seriously fucked up, Robotnik, and don't just think you’re getting away with this! What the hell were you thinking?!? Why in the name of all that is holy in this world did you feel the need to blow this guy’s arm off!?” Rockwell snapped with such anger that if he didn’t know better, Robotnik would've believed that the guard was a friend of hers or something like that.
Thank Gaia he did know better than to actually believe that she had any kind of meaningful friendship with anyone.
“He was in my way, just like you are currently.” Robotnik replied calmly, in a surprising change in their dynamic. “Now shoo, I have something important to tend to.”
“No, you absolutely do not!” Rockwell took a sidestep, blocking the doctor. “Not before you give a proper explanation as to why the fuck I had a guard staggering out of the dungeon with an arm blown off, blood spilling everywhere, and lightning scars up his body!!!”
“Pardon…?” Robotnik's voice lowered to something threatening as he leaned closer to the woman, staring at her with freakishly intense eye contact.
Rockwell responded in kind and leaned closer to the scientist. “I told you. Start. Talking.”
“I don’t need to explain myself to anyone here.” Robotnik spat, “But because I am feeling generous, I will explain in a way even your feeble mind would be able to comprehend. He and his little buddy were openly being downright vile in their way of talking about someone.”
“And since when have you started to care? Oh, right, childhood trauma or whatever the hell your excuse is. Did someone finally get a friend, hm?”
After having stood around and looked idiotic for the entire time, Walters finally stepped in by yelling. “Director Rockwell!” In a scolding tone, he grabbed her arm and turned a little to presumably scold her like she was some kind of child.
Robotnik didn't even register what else Walters was saying. Robotnik’s mood was already sour when he saw the half a dozen soldiers stationed around the entrance, and then Rockwell began spewing her bullshit and was getting on his nerves. But this? Bringing up something she had no business discussing?
Robotnik took a step towards them. “How dare you speak of something you would know NOTHING about!!!”
“Oh, great! Lookie here, everyone, the local disgrace has finally gotten a friend!” The director snarled, ripped her arm free of the grasp of the commander, and pointed at him, saying, “Too bad he is going to be beheaded in less than twenty-four hours.”
That was the last fucking straw.
That was what made Robotnik snap with rage.
Before anyone truly noticed, the overwhelming—nearly deafening—sound of static emanated from the doctor, and large red lightning began circling. Hands trembling with rage and eyes darkened. He looked over at the commander and Rockwell with hate filling his very being.
“You will shut up right this fucking instant.” Robotnik growled, his voice sounding strange due to the amount of electricity his entire body was emanating.
Rockwell just gave a sinister smirk: “Make me.”
Just as Robotnik was about to lunge, he quite literally felt the floor fall out from underneath him. And with a less dignified yelp, he fell, and when he landed, he did so almost directly on his face.
For a few seconds the doctor just lay there, processing what had just happened, and just tried to regain his composure.
Once he had finally re-gathered himself, the doctor finally got up from off of the floor and looked around. He was nowhere near the dungeon, actually finding himself closer to the academic wing of the castle, or in other words, near his lab.
Clearly when Robotnik was about to attack, someone had summoned a teleportation circle. And Rockwell didn’t know enough about magic to even cast a simple cantrip, so it was probably Walters.
That fucking asshole.
Robotnik’s footsteps could likely be heard all the way down in the dungeon with how hard he was stomping his feet making his way towards his lab. Robotnik was absolutely enraged, with the iconic red lightning zapping all around him like some kind of eerie aura.
How dare those pitiful insects tell him, Doctor Robotnik, what to do? Were they stupid? That was a rhetorical question, because of course they were stupid, both of them. Didn't they know that he knew best and that no matter what, Robotnik was never in the wrong? As in never.
The doors to his lab slammed open, and Orbot and Cubot let out a startled yell of surprise. “Oh, doctor—”
“Silence!” Robotnik yelled and, with a grand arm movement, performed a silencing spell on the robot as he continued to storm his way through the large lab and towards his office. “Why is it that I even bother anymore?! When I finally decide to grace the rest of this pathetic waste of a damn kingdom with my presence, I simply get mocked and then discarded like some rotten fruit!”
Then, a long pause. Robotnik was fully prepared for hearing something as stupid as what came next.
“Well… This could be a sign to overthrow the kingdom, boss!” Cubot tried, in an all too damn chipper manner for the doctor not to feel the rage bubble up inside of him once more.
“What have I told you two about speaking of the master plan in the labs?!”
“But it should be done while you are already this fired up!”
Robotnik stopped dead in his tracks, making both of the bots almost bump into him. He turned with a snarl and glared daggers at the both of them. “Have you lost your already feeble mind?!” He roared.
Then he closed in on the two bots and hissed, “There will be no discussion of the master plan until I have gotten my hands on what is rightfully mine. When it finally comes into my possession, that is when I will strike. Until then, no discussion of this will be held. Capisce?”
Orbot and Cubot looked at the man with fear in their robotic eyes. They exchanged a quick glance at each other before nodding profusely.
“Good, now get out of my sight!”
Days passed by in a strange sludge of events for the doctor, and before he truly could realize what was happening with time and space, an entire month and a half had gone by.
All the days had felt the same for the entire time. It had just been wake up, go to work if in his cottage, work for an entire day and well into the night, and then he would eventually either make his return home to the cottage, or, and this was more likely, go to the living quarters he had in the lab and pray to the gods he had never believed in that the sweet release of either death or sleep would come to claim him.
This day, though, was one that had deviated from the norm. Robotnik had sent Orbot and Cubot elsewhere in the lab to clean up and check in on some tests. So, that meant that he was finally alone in his office that worked more like his workshop than anything. Trying to wrangle his thoughts that would all too often wander places he wished they never had when a sudden knock took him out of his little daze.
With a deep sigh, Robotnik got up from his chair—groaning as he got up—and made his way towards the door. Honestly, he didn’t even bother to check the badnik security he had implemented before cracking open the door with a grumbled “This better be worth my time…” only to be met with Walters standing there, arms folded behind his back and blue eyes already staring into his very soul. “Hello, Ivo, may I come in?”
Now. The doctor truly wished that he had just slammed the door right in that expired excuse of a leader’s face, like he normally would, but, for some inane reason, he fully opened the door with a heavy sigh and mumbled, “I told you to stop calling me that.”
Robotnik turned and walked back towards his desk and sat down in his leather chair, giving a scowl at the commander, as a heavy silence fell over the room, the only sound being the whirring of the doctor’s many machines that were all around the entire lab. Walters cleared his throat. “I can see you’ve made great progress with the golems.”
“Why are you here, Walters?” The doctor snapped, clearly displeased with the situation. “Because I highly doubt you came here to say hi to your ‘favorite lab rat with teeth.’”
“Ah yes,” Walters dug around his inner coat pocket before pulling out a file. “It’s a file—”
“Oh my, I would’ve never guessed!” Robotnik mocked in a high-pitched voice before getting out of his chair to get up and directly into the commander's face, yelling, “Now get to the point, old man! I am not exactly getting younger over here!” The doctor plucked the file out of Walter's hands to take a look at it himself.
“Do you remember when you asked the counsel to get you assigned to an assistant? As in one that would clean, organize letters and meetings, and be there to assist you wherever you need it?”
That made Robotnik stop for a second. “You mean the appeal I made nearly thirty years ago and the same need that I met myself by hiring someone myself? Because I certainly do!” Robotnik sneered. “Last time it was some nutcase from the innermost city that had a little too big an interest in hypnosis.”
Robotnik plopped back down into his chair, waving the files around without a care in the world. “Because that ship already sailed. I don’t need anyone, let alone other scientists from the butt-fuck middle of nowhere with the intelligence of an actual clump of dirt.”
Walters sighed heavily and muttered, “Just open the file, please.”
Robotnik was tempted by the idea of not doing it, purely out of spite, but curiosity outweighed his frankly pissy mood right about now. So with a final scowl, he opened the file.
He was met by a massive wall of text, presumably the profile of the next moron that was going to be meandering through his lab.
General overview.
Name: Stone.
Wait… stone? Why did Robotnik feel like he had heard the name before? No, that wasn't the important thing right now; he could deal with that once Walters was handled. He continued reading.
Age: 42
Race: Infernal.
Basic Info: Stone doesn't seem to have either a first or last name and only responds to either ‘Agent’ or ‘Stone.’ He is a very stern and serious man, showing a scary amount of professionalism in the way he talks about his previous crimes. His demeanor is so far beyond eerie in the way he is so detached from everything. He is incredibly skilled in the field of combat and a very quick study. He is therefore a suitable candidate for both frontline work as a normal foot soldier, although the much better-suited option would be assigning him to do spy work. Although both options will only ever be under proper observation and monitoring. He is to be considered quite a flight risk.
Walters opened his mouth and was clearly about to say something, but the doctor interrupted him quite harshly by continuing. “What the hell do you mean by ‘flight risk’?” the doctor sneered. “Is the counsel giving me a flying monkey to ‘assist’ me?!?”
“The reasoning behind him being categorized as a flight risk is due to him technically being on death row.” Walters said calmly
Robotnik's composure cracked, making him very tense as he whipped around and yelled out a “WHAT?!?”
Then, he spoke in a low and threatening manner: “… you’re seriously suggesting that I use my very precious time and energy wrangling this moron, pretending to be some kind of parole officer. On top of the work that I am getting contracted for?!? So you can, what? Drink your tea and cut some budgets along the way? Have the military truly gotten their standards in the deepest trenches of hell?” He ended in a roar.
The doctor got up to his feet and continued. “Have you truly gone mad, or are you just that idiotic to think that I would take you up on this?”
“This is not a choice, doctor.”
Robotnik started to chuckle, which slowly grew to something far more maniacal. Walters just watched with a furrowed brow as Robotnik cackled before regaining his composure. “Oh, my sweet, sweet commander, you know I don't do very well with sad excuses for jokes.”
Then, the finishing blow. “I was not joking, doctor. He has shown quite the interest in you. So much so that he refused to take our offer of joining the royal guard unless he would be assigned to be working directly under you.”
That made Robotnik stop for a second. All of those words in that order made absolutely no sense. And for once in his life, he had no comeback.
This was far too sudden; why the hell had Walters said yes to this disaster of an agreement? Had he no concern for the most valuable asset to all the royal guards? Not that Robotnik ever worried for his own life; his magic was powerful enough to overpower any kind of physical attack, as well as probably kill the guy, but Walters didn't know that.
How was he even able to do this? Robotnik was a freelancer that would get hired by the royal court to do whatever the hell it was they needed him for. They couldn't just do that!
Why the hell had Walters forced him into this.
Robotnik began, stepping closer to the commander, this time with sparks all around him, flaring up rather quickly. “How… dare you—”
Then, a few firm knocks on the lab door stopped Robotnik dead in his tracks.
No one was supposed to be there today. Hell, it was a shock when Walters insisted on getting into the lab. Right off the top of his head, Robotnik couldn't think of anyone who had business in the lab; it was not a possibility of a certain blue-haired menace being behind this due to him being out of town for the day.
“Ah, that must be him.” Walters said.
“Say what?”
Without Robotnik realizing it, Walters quickly slipped away and made his way to the door and opened it. Robotnik got snapped out of whatever mind spiral he had gotten caught in when someone with a rather deep voice said something that he didn't bother deciphering.
Robotnik grumbled, “Who the hell do they think they are?” as he walked towards the door to get a look at what was going on, but it was hard to determine due to Walters standing in the way. Robotnik stood a bit in the background as the commander talked with whoever was clogging up his doorway, growing increasingly annoyed as time went on, although after having stood there for a grand total of half a minute, he walked back towards his chair. If not to flee from the situation, then to at least pretend that it wasn’t going on.
Once the door audibly shut, Robotnik was already ready to fully incinerate Walters and well on his way to planning how to get away with it.
“Doctor, I would like to introduce your newest assistant.” Walters said with a smile depicted in his voice.
Then, from behind the commander, someone stepped forward. Robotnik did a half turn in his chair, looking over his shoulder to take a look at who Walters was talking about.
Shorter than himself with all too familiar purple skin, horns, and crimson eyes that all hit him like a knee directly in the gut.
“He will be working in the lab as an assistant from now on.”
Robotnik's breath hitched and his brows furrowed. How the hell was this even possible?
“Hello. My name is Agent Stone.” The man said, a soft smile curling his lips. “I am truly looking forward to working with you, doctor.”
What.
The.
Fuck.
Robotnik didn’t even know what to say, let alone what he should do, so for a moment he just stared.
It was him.
The tiefling.
Why was the guy Robotnik had captured standing in front of him, with no chains keeping him stuck to the floor or wall?
After looking the man over a few times, noting that he looked to be in relatively decent condition, he snapped his gaze towards the commander that Robotnik could visibly see slowly get uncomfortable.
“You.” Robotnik said, cold in his tone, and pointed at the tiefling as he got up from his chair. “You will get the hell out of my lab, or else I will personally see you to your evident demise.”
“Now, now, doctor, let’s not get so hasty—”
“NO! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SPRINGING THIS GUY ON ME, WHO, MIND YOU, TRIED TO FUCKING KILL ME, AS MY PERSONAL ASSISTANT!?” Robotnik stomped closer to the commander and got all up in his face, making the very small height difference suddenly very prominent. “You dare put MY LIFE in danger once more for some mediocre military thing that you and I both know is a complete and total waste of time and funds better used elsewhere. Like, oh, I don’t know… my research?”
Walters looked at him with what the doctor could only describe as an attempt at a stoic expression. “Doctor, I can assure you that he won’t do that.”
Robotnik looked at the old man, and then he laughed dryly. “Okay, but how the hell do you suppose I am going to trust that, hm? Who knows, maybe his client still has their claws in him.” Robotnik looked over his shoulder and saw the younger man, having not moved from his spot, hands folded behind his back and a neutral expression.
“And who knows, maybe this is all you just trying to do what you were originally hired to do.” The doctor then fully stepped back and began circling the tiefling like a shark. Leaning down a little and getting really close to the man's face, he continued. “But let’s be honest here for a second. You and I both know that I am not falling for whatever shitty attempt you will make at taking my life.”
That was when the man, Stone, decided to finally speak up. “I am physically incapable of hurting you, doctor.”
There was a long moment where it was like time stood still. None of the men moved until Robotnik finally slowly got back up to full height and turned, looking at the commander with squinted eyes. “And what is that supposed to mean, Walters?”
Before he even waited for a response from the commander, the doctor shifted his full focus onto Stone. “Are you implying you made a pact, Stove?”
“He vowed to keep you safe if we put him under your care.” Walters finally spoke and was met by a very annoyed expression from the doctor. “And his name is Stone.”
“That’s funny, because last time I checked, I didn’t ask you.” Robotnik sneered with an agitated grin. “Now kindly get out of my lab so I can have a peaceful conversation with my ‘assistant’ before I add you to the list of casualties!”
Walters cleared his throat briefly and quietly said, “I’ll deliver you the details of this case later.” Before quickly making his way out of the office, and once Robotnik finally felt Walters presence completely gone from the lab, he finally sighed heavily and turned back to the tiefling, at first just looking him up and down once more.
No matter how hard it was for Robotnik to believe, this sure was the guy… still something the doctor had a problem fully understanding. Which was, of course, anything but acceptable.
“You. Start speaking. Now.”
The man looked at him with a furrowed brow, “what?”
“Why the hell are you here?”
“… the commander just—”
“Not that, you imbecile! How did you end up on the other side of the bars?!” Robotnik took a few long strides until he was all up in the younger man’s face.
Impressively, this guy, Stone, didn't move an inch as the doctor hovered barely a few inches from his face. “It’s kind of a long story, but I can try to condense it.”
“Oh, well. It’s not like I asked you or anything, but yes, do that.” Robotnik sneered and leaned back a little. Still towering over the tiefling, but this time leaving the other a bit more room.
“Well. One day, I think two days before we had our conversation, Commander Walters came down to talk to me. He gave me a proposal and seemed almost desperate for me to accept. I would be allowed to live and walk freely in exchange for me working under the royal guard. At the time I declined, but after you had visited me, I changed my mind.”
“Okay, that doesn't explain why I suddenly get told that the person who tried to kill me is now suddenly my assistant.”
“Ah yes… Well, I told them that I had one condition to work with the guard. And that was I would be allowed to serve you as an assistant.”
Robotnik didn't believe his own ears, “…what?”
Stone looked away, almost sheepishly, and said, as if confessing to something embarrassing, “I want to work as your assistant. I’ve seen what you are capable of doing and creating; it’s so far beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined myself, and I am just… I want to be able to help the best I can!” The man looked up at him with those infuriatingly big eyes.
“Yeah, no… I am planning on getting rid of you ASAP.” The doctor stated coldly, trying not to look too much into his eyes. “I don't need, nor do I want, you here. I have worked by myself for decades.”
The tiefling looked up at him with wide eyes, almost looking like some innocent animal having been cornered. Robotnik would normally enjoy the process of grinding their self-esteem down into little more than dust, but he couldn't be bothered right now; there were simply too many things whirling around in his head.
“But. If you are so desperate to ‘please,’ then do me a favor.” Robotnik raised a hand and pointed at a corner in his office before saying with a sneer, “Stand over there, and make yourself as far out of the way as possible. Understand?”
Stone looked down for a few seconds, then he nodded. A silent response.
“Good… now if you’ll excuse me, I have actual important work and research to get back to.”