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Chapter Text

Agent Stone sat in the corner of their lab, carefully charting the perfect route to G.U.N. HQ in London. He hadn't a clue why they had to go there, because Robotnik was too obsessed with his new Grampy to pay any attention to him anymore. 

He could rationalize Knuckles, he has that powerful energy in his quills that the doctor views as a drug. What did that stupid, fat, bald, old guy have that Robotnik adored other than his own blood. 

The blood that left him alone to raise himself in an orphanage, the blood that didn’t even think to check in on the genius they gave birth to. What happened to “all human beings are worthless and I care very little for them” when it came to Gerald.

Agent Stone had been distracting himself from the smiles and laughter behind him in exchange for hyperfocusing on his tasks and work, but it proved virtually impossible when his constantly angry and neurotic partner in crime was sitting behind him with a goofy smile that Stone could practically hear, their VR headsets making them none the wiser to their company.

The agent’s pencil snapped in his hand. That was his signal that he was getting too worked up once again and needed to calm down as soon as humanly possible. Imagine how angry the doctor would be that he’s ruining the immersion breaking pencils while he’s trying to steer the ship for no reason. 

So instead of continuing to make attempts at his chartmaking work, he quickly set up a program to steer the Crab in the correct direction and put on a third headset. He wasn’t directly told if he was able to, so he just lurked behind them. The simulation appeared to have them at some kind of drive-in movie, sitting on the back of a pickup truck together eating popcorn. Agent Stone took his place in the background sitting atop one of the other trucks and watching them a bit more than he was watching the actual movie, which was some stereotypical superhero adventure.

“Grampy, did you grow up watching superhero films?”

“Of course I did. I loved Batman. He’s the actual best. The Joker fought tirelessly, but Batman was smart enough to bring him down.” Gerald rubbed his shoulder, “Did you have favorite superhero films, my boy?”

“No…” Robotnik looked softly at his grandfather. It sickened the Agent.

The scenery suddenly changed to an amusement park. He was in a completely separate part of the mostly abandoned park, so he went into the café and brewed two drinks for himself and the Doctor. Then the sky was suddenly dark, it was night and he found them by following the fireworks he heard over a pier. He couldn’t tell where they came from, but they were beautiful, more beautiful than he’d seen in years. No more of the fireworks of electric circuitry breaking, rather that of a colorful gunpowder upon the night sky.

He slowly approached behind them with the drinks, but when he heard the Doctor laughing with true joy at something that his grandfather had said, it crunched on Agent Stone's heart. He walked directly to the trash can, latte art be damned, and poured both drinks away, angrily removing his headset.

‘Back to reality,’ He thought to himself. Yet, the echo within the room still rang with quiet laughs from Doctor Robotnik.

—

Doctor Robotnik had felt euphoria for the first time in his life. No wonder why everybody with a family was so happy, if this was what having a family was like, he definitely would agree with Sonic on the whole “not becoming a supervillain” thing. He would love existing in the world if just one equal person loved him as family. That afternoon proved that to him.

He felt like he could finally turn off his brain and relax, be himself. He had never felt freedom like that in his life. In the orphanage, the other kids would bully and tease him for being so unbelievably smart. They thought his social skills made him too childish and never took him seriously. The teachers felt threatened by his emotional tantrums when he’d kick and scream. They’d hate it even more how much he hated being touched by anybody else without him touching them first.

By the time he was 15 and asserted himself as top of the food chain intellectually, everybody had given up on him socially. This gave him enough time to get his masters by 20, and PhD by 22. Without friends Robotnik knew he could bury himself within the books and with it, any emotions that could arise were also buried.

While he studied, the military had its eyes set on the “Brilliant orphan from Bozeman,” who was never adopted but always given plentiful funding to continue studying, and more importantly, remain at peace.

In university, Doctor Robotnik was simply known as “Ivo Robotnik.” Ee-vo, not Eye-vo, as some tried to call him. When he got into his master's program, he insisted on being called “Robotnik.” Despite being younger than the others, he liked how being called by a last name made him feel respected, empowered. and everybody could pronounce it. As a bonus, it had some other uses to it.

Robot. He builds robots. Duh.

Nik. It’s a good name

Robot-Nik? Even better. It tells everyone exactly who he is and what he’s about all in one word. He hadn’t heard his first name in years, right up until they were in that VR simulation.

“Did your parents give you a name before dropping you off, grandson?” Gerald asked.

“Hm… They were thinking Kintober, Julian’ when they dropped me off apparently, but the orphanage named me ‘Ivo’ and maintained our last name.” Robotnik said, deep in thought, “Not that I cared all that much. Nobody before you in this family cared either.”

Gerald hummed, “Good choices.”

“What was your family like?”

“It doesn’t matter. You hate that domestic shit anyway from what you’ve said.”

“You’re right,” Ivo increased the amount of fireworks in their simulated night sky, hearing footsteps approaching. Not the time, Agent.

“I’m sure you’ll soon be able to complete our legacy and secure a strong continuation for our bloodline. Modern technology must be a marvel!”

Ivo shifted in his seat, suddenly extremely uncomfortable, “Sure. To rule the world.”

“Something like that!” Gerald said cheerfully, “When do you think the ship will land?”

“Stone calculated it perfectly I’m sure. He’ll revisit us whenever we’re in London.”

“Then?”

“You and I will go into G.U.N. HQ and the Agent will be at base to make a victory meal with Shadow for when we inevitably take them over.” Robotniks stole some of the cotton candy off his Grandpa’s stick. 

“We’re going to demolish everything and they won’t even comprehend it.” Gerald put his fist in the air.

“We’re landing now.” Agent Stone tapped on only Ivo’s shoulder, in real life. Not in the headset.

“One second.” Doctor Robotnik said to his Grandpop before evaporating out of the simulation.

“Agent,” Doctor Robotnik placed his headset on the table next to him, still aware he was within earshot of his beloved newfound family, “If you ever, and I mean ever, dare to interrupt my Grandpappy and I again like that, where he can't see you. I'll grip your hand so hard it'll pop off so I can shove it right back into your mouth.” He took a few steps closer, grabbed his collar, and began to whisper, “Let's keep this bullshit to a minimum in front of him. He has the key to everything.”

“Yes, sir.” Agent Stone swallowed, feeling the heat of Robotnik's breath on his face, “I understand sir.” He didn't even attempt to walk backwards. 

“You better make two, or maybe even 3, great lattes for us to share, no art required. Or if you must, a simple signature is excellent. Could you be fucking normal for a bit while he’s here?” Robotnik tilted his chin up, and Stone attempted at a nod.

“Affirmative.” He whispered, a slight red tingeing his cheeks.

Good. Ivo thought to himself, And now we have an excellent team.

Chapter Text

“Well, we’ve got some guac to get up and make,” Agent Stone opened the hatch and jumped in, expecting Shadow not to linger too long. He lingered, but they were both inside soon enough.

“Revenge guac.” Shadow glared up at the table.

“What is it with you and revenge?” Agent Stone asked, “It’s like you were engineered a killing machine. Chill… Relax… Watch some shitty telenovelas.” He used one of his devices on his table to turn on the screen.

“They took everything from me. It’s time we do the same to them.” Shadow glared over the table.

“Are you always this dark?”

“It’ll only be darker once everything is gone and all that’s left is the light of fire.”

“Damn that’s… That’s deep,” Agent Stone processed it in his head, “Everything?”

“Everything that took Maria away. And changed my life forever. She made this place home, and it’s all gone for me.”

Agent Stone stopped smashing the avocados in the bowl and set down the spoon, “Are you planning to take over G.U.N.?”

“No. Because when we’re done, there won’t be anything left to rule” Shadow’s eye lit up toward Stone, “They’ll pay for what they did to her once and for all.”

Agent Stone stored this information in his brain for later. Alien hedgehogs were known to him as dramatic creatures that couldn’t be trusted to discern their chest from their knees. 

What an odd thing to say… He whispered to himself, when suddenly he heard the transmission switch, and a yellow fox appeared upon his screen, Talk about poor timing, Tails.

“What is wrong with you?” Agent Stone looked up at the screen.

“I wonder if crabs can swim?” Tails announced over the PA system, “Crustaceans aren’t known for their speedy skills, are they?” He teased, flooding out the crab deeper into its hidden underwater cave, “I knew there was another signal around these parts!”

Agent Stone rushed to the control system of the ship to place down an anchor to mitigate any potential damage that could be done by the water rapidly approaching the ship. He also pinged onto the Doctors location using his gloves to see where in G.U.N. HQ he was. Relatively good in speed, but he was sure they’d encounter Sonic’s team soon. 

Despite that, he hesitated to alert the Doctor because of his orders from the day before. ‘ Let's keep this bullshit to a minimum.’

Reaching out to the doctor without a direct prompt as to why appeared directly off limits. And Shadow wouldn’t help defend him at all. Stone looked around the room. Actually, where is Shadow?

—

Tails had already planned out everything for the rest of the mission from the ground up by the time he’d rung Agent Stone. He knew that the rush of water would barely put a dent into their technology. Admittedly, Eggman’s crew did build great machinery. All he had to do was wait on the coast for Stone’s machine to wash up to land and talk man to man.

Agent Stone resurfaced from his vessel onto land, and immediately heard those stupid helicopter tails.

“Can a man just get fresh air around here?”

“Not as long as you don’t cooperate with my questioning. Why do you need the key?”

“Why do you need the key?”

“To keep it out of the wrong hands.” Tails answered plainly, “Like Eggman’s.”

“Okay, well to keep it out of the wrong hands. Like your hands. When Sonic already has one.” Agent Stone repeated condescendingly, “I can’t imagine how you trust that guy.”

“I can’t imagine how you trust that guy who just kicked you off of his mission team.” Tails giggled, “That must hurt!”

“You don’t know what I am and am not contributing to my mission, nor the Doctor’s team.”

“Well according to my intel, the Eggmen are inside of G.U.N. HQ fighting Team Sonic. And what are you doing again?”

“Wasting my time out here with you.” Agent Stone began walking back into his Crab ship.

“Well, you’re wasting time, it’s just not with me.” Tails shouted behind him, “It’s what’s left with Eggman!”

Agent Stone didn’t stop walking, but he heard what was said by Tails. Maybe he was right- it was time to talk.

Upon re-entering the ship, he attempted to connect to one of Robotnik’s streams. All he could catch was a faint audio stream with a lot of grunting and muffled shouting. It was like the microphone was trapped under him or something. 

It’s what’s left with him. That was what made the Agent doubt himself. What did he know about time left with the Doctor? What kind of threat was that, how dare he threaten the Doctor's life. 

Agent Stone truly couldn’t imagine another life without the doctor. The year without him had been the hardest year of his life. The past two years were the second hardest.

Following the crushing defeat of the Doctor, he was in physically bad shape, even in the hospital. He would mutter to himself about how terrible he was, he had no sense of self-care or tending to his needs since he spent his entire life ignoring them. They finally exchanged first names. “Ivo” and “Aban”. He sourced depression medication for him, which helped with his constant drowsiness but enhanced his appetite which sent him further into the spiral.

Yet, every single day, the agent would wake up and begin putting the pieces of Ivo back together. Making sure he took all of his medications, woke up on time, showered at a reasonable frequency, everything. The level of care Aban was putting in had quickly shifted this into a line-in job for him.

… How much they loved and trusted one another

That’s what Tails had said about his parents, wherever they were. Not on Earth, it seems.

Aban had loved Ivo the way that a moth is to a flame. He could always fly within his orbit, even when it could potentially burn. Agent Stone loving Doctor Robotnik feels like Icarus’ flight. Flying at the perfect level means seeing all of the wonders that the world has to offer, but the moment he gets too close to the sun his wings could melt and he’ll go tumbling down.

Trust was another thing. Some trust was there, sure. Robotnik turned to him both times when he was kicked down and needed help back up. He’d seen him at his worst, and at his best, and nobody else could say they’ve seen the doctor like that. Only Agent Stone.

Soon enough though, the Doctor would heal once again and Aban would go back to being Agent Stone and their dynamic would return to the status quo of a genius and his ‘sycophant’ assistant.

Did Tail’s technology let him see into the future? What’s with the whole ‘time you have left with the Doctor’ comment only a few days after pestering him on their love and care for one another? Agent Stone suddenly heard Shadow’s teleportation noise and before him lay Gerald and the Doctor.

“How’d it go?” Agent Stone asked, already opening the fridge to begin brewing their 4 lattes. He hadn’t an expectation as to what a latte would do to Shadow, but he couldn’t leave him out of the team. Gerald's latte was worth more poured over his head than served to him.

Shadow showed the key over his head, “A success. We now have both keys to finally put humanity in its place.”

“That is right, Shadow. Great work!” the elder Robotnik said, standing up from the ground, “My back…” He grasped at his back.

“Shouldn’t you rest? You’re looking rough this evening.” Agent Stone suggested. Doctor Robotnik immediately stood up and touched his grandfather's shoulders, “You feel so strong. You don’t need to rest. We can spend more time together… It’s hard being 110 but Grandpapa, I want to be with you as much as I can.”

Agent Stone turned around with all of their 4 lattes. No art, as requested. He had to get Robotnik alone somehow. So 2 of the lattes contained a special drug made to put the user to sleep, and the other two were brewed as usual. 

“Here we are… Shadow, Grampy, and the Doctor. Cheers to a successful mission!” Agent Stone announced. Sleepiness should follow the prior two soon after. 

Chapter Text

Doctor Robotnik was filled with glee for one time in his life. He had a grandfather, they had both keys to the most powerful weapon humanity had ever seen, he had a grandpa, he had his own personal hedgehog trained by family, and he had grampy.

His grampy was old and went to sleep early, and he felt like he hadn’t seen Shadow in awhile after he suddenly teleported away. What did echo through the room was the sound of footsteps going back and forth. And back, and forth.

“Doctor. We need to talk,” Agent Stone whispered, “Maybe not here.”

“Why?” Doctor Robotnik asked. Even though Agent Stone had been acting somewhat avoidant and weird since the cave mission, he’d never ask to speak to him outside.

“I don’t want to talk in front of them. It’s important.” Agent Stone implored, grabbing his hand, “You and I?”

Oh, so the Agent’s back on his bullshit. Typical. Ivo thought to himself, He’s just upset that he’s not the only important thing in my life anymore now that I have a real papa.

“Hm.” Doctor Robotnik took a step towards Agent Stone. He didn’t move from his place, though his eyes dilated slightly. His cologne had a slightly different scent to it from usual, though he couldn’t place from what. Was he nervous? Did something happen at base he’s not saying.

“Summarize.”

“I think Tails provided me with key information about the weapon, sir.” Agent Stone said in the most relaxed tone he could, “And I’d adore being able to tell you more where those two cannot hear anything more.” 

“Permission granted. Drive the Crab to a pier.”

“We’re at a pier now. Tails also flooded our hiding spot so I’ve been just off the coast instead. We can sit on a bench near where we ended up, the hatch will take us someplace dry on a shallow beach.” Agent Stone pushed a button and jumped up. Robotnik followed soon after.

“In the cave Tails said something that was very perceptive, almost too much so. And then, slightly later, Tail’s over the screen of this ship stated something about the ‘time I have remaining’ with you. Earlier today, Shadow said ‘They took everything from me. It’s time we do the same to them.’ Then he said it ‘might as well be the entire world.’ I’m worried.” Agent Stone said, pulling up their conversational transcript that the lab had automatically created.

“Hmm… So Tails can see into the future?” Doctor Robotnik asked, “That creates a major paradox, The future changes the more you view and meddle with it. They cannot be trusted.”

“Tails knows something about Shadow and Gerald’s plan. I think they are planning to kill one of us.” Agent Stone whispered into the night. As he looked down at the lake, he saw that Ivo’s reflection was looking directly at him.

“How dare you accuse my Granpappy of being a homicidal maniac based on something Tails said . For all you know, he wants to dissolve our team from the inside out.” Doctor Robotnik began to stand up, but Agent Stone pulled him back down.

“Listen to me. Would I ever lead you wrong?” Agent Stone pleaded, “I have reason to believe they were right initially, and we should work together to get your technology back and that’s it. Do you know what his weapon does? Has he told you anything in depth about his plan, Ivo?”

“You’re bold to call me that at this time? You’re jealous. Of his attention and because he’s my family, and you aren’t the only other person on the ship that matters now.” Doctor Robotnik pushed Agent Stone backward into the wall he sat next to.

Aban fought the color threatening to flood his cheeks, “Doctor, I… You’re wrong. You will rule the world, but only if Shadow doesn’t destroy it before you can. How do you trust Grandpappy but you can’t trust me?”

The doctor shouted in his face, “I trust you! I trust him! And I don’t give out my trust like fucking candy so if you don’t mind, I’m going to tell him your theory to his face and let him deal with your insane conclusions!”

Stone’s face remained blank, even as his heart raced. He hadn’t a clue what kind of power the elderly man possessed, but considering that he had lived well past 100 in excellent shape despite living in prison, it wasn’t out of the question that he possessed some kind of super resistance or strength.

He simply looked back into his dark eyes as they narrowed in his face. And just as quickly as that moment occurred, the doctor pushed himself up and back into the ship. The darkness of the sky combined with the chill of the coastal air made the following minutes outside equal parts draining and refreshing for Stone.

I trust you. I trust him. Was the phrase that echoed in the Agent’s mind as he looked out at the architecture. Bridges, highways, tunnels, construction. Then Tails: He called you the only person in the world he could trust. That didn’t ring so true anymore. Doctor Robotnik trusts Agent Stone, but Ivo trusts Gerald, and that’s the difference. Only sometimes did Ivo trust Aban. Most of the time, he only believed in Agent Stone.

Chapter Text

Doctor Robotnik stomped back inside the ship, leaving his Agent on the pier. He would tackle the information at hand immediately. Not because he didn’t love his grampy, but because he wanted to rule the world with him. And if his Grampy and Shadow truly wanted to end the world, he wanted to eliminate their partnership.

Considering the urgency of the news, Doctor Robotnik began constructing his plan for how he would handle whatever could happen in the upcoming hours. The Crab was a marvel of technology, a mobile base that could fly, go underwater, and settle on any land area. He never gave his grandfather a full tour of the crab, instead just providing him basic access to the labs and living quarters. The advantage of this was if he had to remove him, he’d no longer be able to share tools. He already had his own working base with Shadow. As for the keycard, that was safe in a secret drawer that only himself and Agent Stone knew the location of and access keycode.

He paced around his lab, no longer used to the long nights of working as he once had been. As the gears turned in his head, he realized that Shadow could be the bigger problem. Did he want the Crab? After careful thinking, Doctor Robotnik had concluded that was unlikely. Partially because he was never a user of machines, and partially because of what he saw of Shadow in action. He never used the machines, it was grandpappy. By removing his access to the machines, he’d only be able to use his own to do whatever he needed to. However, it would not be with support from The Ivo Robotnik.

He paused when he hit the final point on his list. What if his Agent was incorrect?

Doctor Robotnik lingered on this. What was an appropriate punishment? He seemed to take everything in stride, with this forever positive attitude. He was always a good sycophant willing to do anything to keep the Doctor’s happiness. If he lied and betrayed that trust, it would be like ripping out the Doctor’s brain and placing salt on it instead of water. He would pay for making the Doctor look dumb. His grandpa, of course, would make him pay as well.

The decision as to which punishment had to come later.

6 am arrived quickly, with the hour-long telenovela’s as a timing metric only requiring four. The Agent must have snuck back inside at some time during the night, because his quarter was listed as locked and occupied on the ship map. Grandpappy’s was occupied and unlocked. Ivo had realized he managed to fall asleep in his chair at some point, as what woke him up was not the telenovela, but Agent Stone’s door opening. He had to make the decision to be awake and continue watching, or pretend to be asleep as Agent Stone walked around the ship. He wasn’t the best at pretending to sleep, but he wanted to pretend nothing was tense between them, and that required letting him be asleep with his guard down. He’d face him at 8 am sharp, when he had exactly 4 hours of sleep and 2 hours of wake-asleep in him, and a latte to sip over it.

Doctor Robotnik heard the footsteps come and go, quiet and then loud. He didn’t miss a beat, even though he could tell the Agent was upset by what was said the night before. His routine was never broken, in health and in illness, and even when Ivo was at his rock bottom, he truly could trust Aban to be around to maintain some normalcy for him. 

Ivo heard the latch on his grandfather's door open, and he instantly snapped his eyes open and began to drink his latte. Agent Stone appeared to be in the cooking quarters with Shadow according to the screen, which was strange but nothing dangerous. 

“Grandson, Ivo,” His grampy said, approaching him, “You must get a great start to the day my boy! We have both keys and need to combine them as soon as possible!” 

Doctor Robotnik sat upright straight in his chair, turning happily to his grampy, “And then what?”

His grandfather gave him a look of confusion, “Well you, Shadow, and I go up on the ship and have a victory dance while G.U.N. HQ and everything around it disappears in a targeted strike”

“How targeted?”

“That’s classified.”

“How much of everything?”

“The entire world, my son. We will fly away on the Eclipse Cannon to find an even better world to rule! One that would have never taken our sweet Maria away!” Gerald proclaimed.

So it was true, and he was proud of it. Touché. 

“That’s not what I want, Grampy.” Doctor Robotnik said plainly. He didn’t want to be forced to stand up to him based on a claim from a sycophant, but that’s what reality was beginning to look like.

“I know what is best for you as your elder, Ivo!” He stepped closer to him, “How dare you question me?”

“I am the smartest man on Earth, and I’m sharper than you old hag. You don’t know a thing about the modern Earth. It’s been 50 years and you emerge and attempt to murder my future empire,” Doctor Robotnik sneered, pushing back on his chest, “Don’t even think I’ll give you the first key. It’s nowhere you can find it.”

Gerald pulled out a blue glove and placed his hand inside. Within seconds, an acid formula had materialized as he smacked the Doctor in the face.

“Ivo, you think you can stand in my way? You think you can treat me like dirt? I will let no pansy stand in my way. You nearly allowed a woman in the military to beat us. What makes you think that you can beat me?” 

Doctor Robotnik tossed off his hoodie to reveal the full technical gear he had on underneath. 

“Rule number one of battle: Always come prepared. Your days in the Crab are over.” He scraped the sludge off of his face, “Rule number two, at least try to have a home-field advantage next time.” He smacked his Grampy’s arm with the acid sludge, causing a bubbling on the surface of the skin. “And number three? PPE is essential on the job.”

Doctor Robotnik pressed a button, opened the vacuum exit hatch to the ship, and delivered him out of the ship using a tube. After dusting his hands off and finding another jacket, he began steering the crab to another area within the city. It sounded like London was the place to be.

He whistled as he strolled to the kitchen, hoping that was where Shadow and Agent Stone had remained while he removed the tumor from the ship. And they didn’t notice the ship rapidly moving across the county.

“Doctor. We are making Tres Leches. It’s a cake.” Agent Stone said, pouring a can of condensed milk onto it, “I even included your favorite. I apologize for any stress I have caused you recently, sir.”

Robotnik walked toward the cake and sniffed it. “Delicious. Sweet victory.”

Stone's face went pale, and the Doctor instantly realized he may have said something wrong.

“He’s gone by the way. He can build his own lab, but this is ours.” The Doctor said, reassuringly, “Good work. Your intel may have saved our lives today.”

Agent Stone sighed in relief and turned to his right, “Shadow?”

Shadow teleported to stand atop the table behind Doctor Robotnik. His eyes were glowing, “What did you do to him? What did you do to Maria’s grandfather?” 

“Grandpappy is right where he belongs. In his old lab. Said mine is too modern for his liking, and needed a change in scenery. What a shame. I’d have loved to finally have a family to rule the world with. All I got was that geezer.” Doctor Robotnik explained to Shadow. Shadow’s eyes stopped glowing, but in the flash of an instant, he was no longer in the ship.

It looked like it was just going to be himself and the Agent against not one but two extraterrestrial hedgehogs. For the first time in years Robotnik had work to get done.

“Agent. Set up the lab for active and immediate use, and locate that hedgehog. I’m going to the lab. It’s time we have our cake and eat it too.”

Chapter Text

The sound of a blowtorch against metal filled the room with a quiet buzzing, only interrupted by the clicks of the screen and beeps of running equipment.

They were officially their own duo once again, working hard to protect Robotnik’s precious technology from being used for even greater evil than he anticipated. It made him feel like he was almost one of the heroes for once. 

Having something to work towards allowed Doctor Robotnik to have something to work toward once again. No longer would he be a lazy oaf watching television and eating Mexican food. Nor would he be the imbecile that his grandfather took him for, treating him like a brain with some machines that he could conveniently use for his missions after coming back from prison. This Doctor was going to return to tip-top shape again no matter what it took.

Their first issue was their manpower. Every other opponent had one of those Alien Hedgehogs to help them battle. Their technology was no match for the instincts and prowess held by the Dark Sonic. Without knowing the backstory behind how Shadow got where he was, they had to figure out how to replace or replicate this power.

Lucky for the Doctor, he knew an Agent who always thought 6 steps ahead for every possible scenario.

“Agent. What information do we have on Shadow?” Doctor Robotnik leaned over his shoulder on the computer, “We are currently at quite a disadvantage in battle. We have two whacked out Hedgehogs after us, a person who cloned and stole my technology, and we’ll need to work to fortify the ship against anybody getting the first key. Whatever the Eclipse Cannon is will shrink my future empire into nothingness. Stone, show me what you’ve got.”

Agent Stone began typing quickly on his device to open up one file, two files, four files. It looked like he had been preparing against something like this for a long time.

“Go backward, File M3741.”

“It’s a blueprint. Not finished yet, but I’m sure your genius will make one in no time when I’m done, sir. I had collected nearly 50 quills from Shadow prior to his departure from around the ship. There are also some quills from the colorful crew that have been stored, outside of the 3 used for monitoring and recreation.” Agent Stone opened a separate file, number M3412. “This is the information I had recorded on the field, observing Gerald and Shadow. I have reason to believe that Shadow is not fully aware of much outside of his allegiance to Maria and Gerald. This appears not to extend to you despite sharing blood. Not yet, that is. He seeks revenge for her. There wasn’t anything I could find about her in any of the files saved from G.U.N. in our offline storage.”

Doctor Robotnik nodded, then pushed his Agent aside, making room for himself on the chair, and added further notes to the file. Maria was his cousin, based on his grandfather’s account of the family tree. She was the light of any room she walked into despite mainly remaining under his care throughout her life. The room he and Sonic were in had several photos of Maria and Shadow doing these mundane, humanly activities. It was also of note that when Shadow arrived at Robotnik's base, he returned to doing these humanly activities with Stone, showing that he has a particular affinity for this human and others despite his claims for being the “Ultimate Life Form.”

“Did the hedgehog say anything about Maria’s goals to destroy the world?” Doctor Robotnik asked.

“She did not want to destroy the world to our knowledge, sir. She grew up around laboratories just like him. That’s all I know.”

Doctor Robotnik thought about the many specimens that indicated some kind of home or shelter within the lab, “How did they all view each other?”

“Shadow is her keeper, protector of everything she was and stood for. Gerald was her grandfather, and also in charge of Shadow’s project before it got shut down. Maria was only a girl when she passed. Shadow is the only way we know anything about her.”

Doctor Robotnik grunted, walking quickly back to the center of the room. If Shadow’s allegiance to the Robotnik family was that strong, that would mean that there must be a way to get him to join their side, get back the fraudulent technology, and help defeat Gerald and capture the enemies.

“Agent Stone. Great work. Please make me a latte to fuel what is about to be a Category 5 brainstorm. You'll have a front row seat beginning promptly at 2.”

Agent Stone got up and immediately got to work. There was no time to waste while they were out there, possibly on the cusp of wreaking havoc or finding a way to create a second key card to power the eclipse cannon. As he left for the kitchen, something stood out in his mind: They may actually have a common goal with Team Sonic for once. If they could unite against Gerald in just one battle, Sonic may respect them enough to donate some fur to them and stop battling against the empire that Doctor Robotnik would build. Of course, this would mean granting them more rights, but Stone’s study of diplomatic work in helping the Doctor wouldn’t have gone to waste. It could even mean that all of the extraterrestrial furry friends would be under their thumb and control as well. With the doctor, one should never question the process and keep their eyes on the prize.

Chapter Text

Team Sonic was having no luck in tracing where or what the weapon that Gerald and Eggman were looking for was. After the second key was taken, they were sure they’d be quickly gearing up to battle it, but rather it was simply gone.

Sonic and Knuckles had recently been really obsessed with this new game that Tom bought called “Table Tennis.” It could be played by 2 or 4, though mainly 2. They could hit the ball across the table, but it required anticipation. Knuckles had quickly mastered this art, and continually challenged everybody to round after round. Sonic enjoyed running and playing against himself, or trying new tricks to win. Tails was too small to successfully play with any acceptable winning rate, and flying while playing was not as easy as he’d imagined. Maddie was no match for Knuckles, and Tom’s arm prevented him from being a worthy opponent. They no longer picked up aunty heat signatures anywhere, at all. It was as if they had already left the Earth.

“Hey, what if we took this up a level and tried to play Table Tennis with no gravity?” Tails pondered, “Leveling out the playing field for once!”

“The ball could not land.” Knuckles concluded, “There is no more fun.”

Tom walked in with a tray of miniature cheesecakes, “There is fun, Knuckles! We have cute food!”

“Not in space.”

Maddie stood up, “I heard the most peculiar thing. G.U.N. believes Robotnik has an active lab once again.”

“You mean Eggman’s?!” Sonic nearly spat out his cheesecake.

“No, the alien’s. Yes, Eggman's!” Maddie continued, “I asked our assigned case agent. She said there may be a bigger threat at hand. There are not many details, but we can have one of you speak to her in person.”

Knuckles fist nearly broke through the floor as he jumped off the table.

“I will beat this foe senseless! How dare he challenge us once more following his dishonor at the HQ?”

“No, remember, we don’t like G.U.N. anymore.” Sonic added, “We can’t trust them at all. Or anybody. Besides us in this house.”

“Shouldn’t we hear what they have to say?” Tails asked.

“G.U.N. accused us of being foes for trying to steal the key. The doctor has both keys, what could he possibly be delaying his plot for? There’s a set up here.” Sonic squinted.

Tails rapidly typed on his computer, trying to find a signal for the new lab. It didn’t work at all, no matter what he did.

Then he remembered that the crab should be easy to find even if it gives off no signals: It was a massive, disk shaped ship that was typically stationed near a coast. Armed with several egg shaped surveillance bots, and catered in. He could trace coastal areas in London and find out where could sell espresso, a key latte ingredient. 

“Isn’t it sweet, baby I know-” Tails read off the screen and gave a look of confusion, “Uh. Does anybody know which espresso Eggman and Agent Stone use? I don’t think it’s Sabrina Carpenter.”

Sonic paused in thought. “Austrian goat?”

“Austrian Goat Milk Espresso Drink?”

Tails typed it into the computer. Few places in London sold ingredients for that, so if he took CCTV video from each place, he’d easily know where the crab could be near, or where the Agent regularly visited. There, they’d confront and capture him, and wring him for information.

–

After nearly 5 hours of pouring over CCTV video, they found the Agent walking into a Waitrose on Thomas More Street twice seemed frequent enough, though his plainclothes still made him stand out. His dark military fatigue style pants paired with his dark grey tee was not typical civilian wear in the United Kingdom. Their plan would be easy to execute if he was caught off guard. After all, they were in hiding and on the run, and if the lab is active again he’d know what’s being brewed.

One short private plane ride, personally piloted by Tails for 7 hours was followed by another 13 hours of staking outside of the Waitrose and still the Agent was nowhere to be seen.

“Do they have Chili Dogs here? We never tried to explore here. I’m going to get a few.”

Sonic ran away from outside the store, disappearing into the distance.

“Why wait for the filthy Goat Milker? We can seek him out!” Knuckles said.

Tails kept staring at the entrance. “The past two times, he came at 4:02 sharp. It’s soon. He’s here every 3 days”

Knuckle pointed into a crowd of people, “That’s him!”

Tails looked and immediately shook his head, “That is an actual member of the military. 4:01”

Further back in the parking lot, somebody grabbed his eye. It was Agent Stone, entering from… Walking along the road?

“Get him!” Knuckles shouted, launching himself in front of the spot on the pavement with Stone.

Tails flew down in front of him and placed his ankles into cuffs. Agent Stone drew his gun, pointedly keeping a hand in his pocket.

“Knuckles, Tails, it’s not what it looks like.” Agent Stone looked down at his feet, “Seriously? That’s it?”

“I’d break your arm if violence was legal here.” Knuckles eyes narrowed, “Where is your lab, and why is it active?”

“I don’t have a lab. The Doctor’s lab is a classified area. Take a hike, I won’t take you there.”

Tails did a quick visual scan of Stone’s person, but only found his typical weapons. He also had a necklace in a pocket, likely used for whatever disguise he was attempting.

Knuckles didn’t hesitate to stomp on Stone’s foot. “Liar.”

“The Doctor’s current work is delicate and time sensitive. And my work is too. I’m going to a supermarket. Relax.” Despite the shooting pain the stomp must have caused, the Agent barely flinched.

Knuckles did it again, hoping for a bigger reaction. There still was none other than a closing of the eyes,.

Sonic ran back to the scene, 6 chili dogs in hand. “The Doctor’s teleporting Dark Sonic was no match for the real blue blur.”

“If you must know, the ‘old hag’ and ‘Dark Sonic’ are none of our allies. Leave us alone.” Agent Stone’s hand moved in his pocket.

“Aw, is the Agent scared again and calling his big bad boss to help him?” Sonic teased.

Suddenly, 4 egg shaped floating crafts surrounded them and created a fence. Stone’s cuffs unlocked, and his drawn gun was glowing. He pointed it toward Knuckles.

“What-”

“Do we have here?” A voice boomed from the gun.

“Doctor. Look who came to visit us.” Stone grinned down the barrel, “A ball of fur and friends.”

“Just who we need. Bring ‘em in.” Doctor Robotnik’s voice continued, “Now.”

The 4 crafts multiplied into 8 vertices of a cube, and they were instantly in a cell in the lab together.

“WHAT! ” Sonic shouted, banging at the transparent wall, “HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!”

Agent Stone crouched through a corner and exited, but it appeared to be an allowance within the shield specifically for a human his size.

“I programmed this box to keep you in my lab. I never thought I would say this in my life, but we can work together.”

“You remember how that turned out last time, Eggman?!” Sonic shouted, “Do you think I’m stupid?!”

“You’re in a transparent box that even the Agent knew how to exit. Of course you have the tendency to be stupid.”

Agent Stone tilted his head. He walked across to another corner of the room, watching the box.

“Shadow and Gerald plan to destroy the world. I want to rule it. You… I don’t know what you want. But you’d prefer a world where I ruled, right?” Eggman stood up from his chair. He appeared leaner than before already, with a kept mustache once again, “I’d be a great ruler. Maybe we could make some… diplomatic concessions to keep you in check.”

“Like what?” Knuckles punched at the wall. Instead, his hand sank in like a jelly, and as he pulled it out in slow motion, the punch appeared to have no effect on the glass.

Another weird thing about the box the Knuckles observed was the depth. Why was the Agent so tall, but the Agent appeared small and far. And they each only hovered one side of the box, not both.

“You can rule over the extraterrestrials on Earth. I’ll also allow vacations to the moon once per year.” Robotnik pondered, “What could you want?”

“A better ruler?” Tails added.

“How dare you, you little freak fox fuc-”

“You thought that you tricked us, but we tricked you. Of course we’d want to see you. Let us tell you about Gerald Robotnik, the most evil man to walk the earth, and his little project, Shadow.” Agent Stone pointed at a board projected behind Eggman.

Eggman’s presentation was themed red and black, with some hints of silver. It was surprisingly visually appealing, but the words on each slide were completely written in capital letters.

“Sonic and Friends. Welcome to the virtual crab. Your box might be in the crab, but you’re right in the parking lot you started in. Let’s destroy my grandfather together!” Doctor Robotnik read, as a flower burst animation filled the screen took everybody to the next slide.

“Shadow has admitted to me that he plans to end the world to help Maria, who died over 50 years ago.” Agent Stone read plainly, “We will prevent this by separating him from the final key.”

“What!?” Sonic blurted out, “The final key?! He has it.”

Doctor Robotnik showed the key on a projection, which had the label “within 50 feet” on it.

“We have the first. No key, no eclipse. Nobody dies.”

“But!” Eggman clicked his pointer, but the slide didn’t turn.

“Butt?” Sonic whispered to Tails, “Seriously?”

Agent Stone calmly took out his phone and clicked a button for the next slide.

“But! We have a problem in the Shadows.” Robotnik elaborated, “A genius like him can replicate the key and repower the eclipse cannon and end the world.”

“How do we stop this?!” Agent Stone said dramatically, “However shall our empire survive?”

“This.” Robotnik clicks the board, and a poorly drawn cluster of 3 circles appears on the board, “You three, unfortunately.”

“Seriously? Even when you want our help it’s unfortunate?” Sonic crosses his arms, “No.”

“So I guess we’ll just let the world end and help them do it…” Robotnik sighed dramatically.

Agent Stone giggled in the corner, “Of course we will…”

“Or! You three will go all golden mode or whatever and just take down their ship, while the Agent and I take down the ship from the inside and leave, completely unharmed and with a basket of 50 of each of your quills.”

Sonic rolls his eyes, “Why do you always need our damn quills?”

“It’s too dangerous. The Master Emerald is gone and scattered once more.” Knuckles said. His teammates could clearly tell he was lying, but Eggman appeared to believe them.

Stone appeared to start whispering something into his glove to Robotnik. He suddenly stood up.

“We’ve got a bigger problem, Doc. Look up at the sky.”

The sky above the Agent had gone completely dark, and the wind had rapidly increased. Something major had shifted in the atmosphere.

Chapter Text

The darkened London sky was no longer an indicator of the typical London rain, but rather an indicator of the launch of one of the biggest attacks the world had ever seen.

“How..?” Agent Stone whispered, “We’ve got a bigger problem, you’ve gotta look up at the sky, Doctor.”

“That looks like the ship Grampy described. Get them to the Crab.” Doctor Robotnik ordered, silencing his end and freezing his video frame. Agent Stone turned off the simulation, surrounding them with a fence of Badniks.

“Listen. I’m going to take you three to the crab, and we can defeat this,” Agent Stone told the group, “If you trust in me for once, I’ll believe in you. After you can all make fun of me, I don’t care. Don’t harm me or the doctor or you’ll regret it.”

“Let us regroup.” Sonic motioned for Tails and Knuckles to join in a huddle with him. While they did that, the Agent used his glove to dial up the Doctor.

“How is this possible?”

“He must have returned to his old base and cloned the first key. Or, because he’s the creator, he just made another. The government is so fucking stupid.” Doctor Robotnik added, “You need to be fully on board for this plan, Aban. I can’t have you stray one bit, even for the rainbow collective.”

Stone’s eyes widened, “What? Of course I will be loyal to you, Ivo. I’d never doubt your genius.”

“Do what it takes to convince them to defeat that ship. Go inside, find Shadow, whatever. Then, we need to find out how this all started. I will handle the computers of the ship, and you will be tasked with utilizing my technology to the fullest extent to destroy the Eclipse Cannon. Agent, do you copy?”

“Copy,” Agent Stone smirked. He’d ensure the doctor was proud.

– 

“We are not trusting this guy again.” Knuckles put his fist in the air, “Let’s punch him.”

“He’s not the sharpest,” Tails added, “Don’t punch him while he’s down.”

“Does nobody else see the massive spacecraft in the air flying directly into space?!” Sonic pointed, “The whole simulation is gone. The box is gone. We could do anything we want.”

“We can attack that ship with all we’ve got. Bring them down, and with it the Eggman empire.” Knuckles announced, “And if those two are involved, their loss. If they aren’t? We let them rot as they have for the past 4 years.”

“What about Shadow?” Tails inquired.

“What about shadows? They exist.” Knuckles pointed, “See?”

Sonic shook his head, “Shadow, the one who kicked our butts last week. The hedgehog.”

“We will blow him up with the ship. He’s pure evil.”

“He has a family!”

“Had. He doesn’t right now.” Tails explained, “Just like Eggman. They’re in pain.”

Knuckles shrugged. “I don’t care.”

“I do. It’s not rocket science. They won’t bother us if they get their happily ever after.” Tails typed on a small, handheld device, “Don’t they deserve one too? Shadow and Stone. They are only victims of Eggman.”

“Victims?” Sonic scoffed, “They are practically weapons of mass destruction.”

They looked over to Stone smiling to himself on a phone.

“That’s a weapon of mass destruction? Him? Not the ship in the sky?” Tails repeated, “You’re sure?”

“We need objectives.” Knuckles pointed, “Stop wasting time.”

“Knuckles, you and I will go up there and battle Shadow. We need the Master Emerald. It’s the only way we have a shot against him. Tails, you will stay in the crab with Eggman and Stone and make sure they are not trying to kill us. If they do, page us and we will have their heads.” Sonic put his hand in the middle.

“Wait, wait, I-”

“You boys ready?” Agent Stone waved them along with a smile, “It ain’t gonna defeat itself.”

“Where did it launch from-” “We can’t use that-” Tails and Knuckles said respectively, overlapping each other.

“What?” Sonic crossed his arms, “Does it matter? We have to.”

“Hop on.” Agent Stone signaled, a basket and extra seat attached to his motorcycle. Tails hopped into the basket, but Knuckles and Sonic just stood.

“What? I’m faster than this.”

Agent Stone rolled his eyes, “Always so cocky.”

After revving the engine once more, they practically flew down the freeway and back to the river in only 3 minutes. With the press of a singular button, the badniks from before had formed a tube within the water to slide into the ship.

“Sonic and company, welcome,” Doctor Robotnik stood with crossed arms. The eye bags he held had never been greater, but his spirit also had never appeared higher, “Due to the expedited nature with which this is taking place, you will only be provided with Gerald and Shadow’s old quarters. Not that you are allowed to rest. We will take them down tonight.”

Sonic and Knuckles turned to one another, practically ignoring the Doctor and his assistant.

“How dare you even suggest to me that we use that resource one more time. It could disappear .” Knuckles continued on.

“Feisty. He sounds like you,” Agent Stone joked, earning himself a jab to the side from the Doctor.

“We need it to eliminate Shadow. It’s the only way possible.” Sonic got louder. Tails silently slipped away from the scuffle, curious to explore the innards of the ship.

“We swore to never touch it again.” Knuckles continued, balling his gloves into fists.

“ You swore. I will do this with or without you.” Sonic’s spines began to glow.

“Why care? You never trusted them.” Knuckles spines also began to glow.

“Because I trust my eyes and instincts.”

“To get it you must defeat the fearsome warrior guarding it.” Knuckles intensified, “He defends the greatest town in America.”
“Seriously? You think Wade Whipple defends the greatest town in America?” Agent Stone whispered to the Doctor again. This time, he even gave a genuine laugh.

Both Sonic and Knuckles paused from their fighting to stare at the other duo. “What?” Sonic took a step toward them.

Knuckles eyes narrowed at them, “How do you know?”

“He’s the only one defending Green Hills from nothing in the first place.” Eggman taunted, “Your hint really gave it away.”

Suddenly a woosh of air, and Sonic was gone. So was Tails.

“Seriously?” Knuckles grunted, “I’m going to handle business.”

Knuckles ran to the left, leaving just the Doctor and Ivo once again.

“You think we made the right choice?”

“If my future empire will be gone, I will be wiped out with it. And in doing that, I’ll have done everything in my power to defend our territory, Earth.” Doctor Robotnik sat down at his computer, “And I trust that even if they sabotage me, I’ll know they worked their hardest to destroy the worst grandfather a man has ever had as part of his worse family that had never existed.”

Agent Stone put his fingers under Robotnik’s chin and locked eyes with him for a moment, distracting him from typing. “If the world ends, I’ll be in the arms of the greatest creations amongst the Earth, Ivo.”

“But that won’t happen. Look.” Sonic had re-entered the lab, holding the emerald.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt, where is everybody?”

Chapter Text

Knuckles went to find Tails and warn him about the Master Emerald. He trusted Sonic, but not inside the ship with a weapon that powerful. If Tails didn’t walk away, he could have prevented Sonic from leaving the Crab on a 4,500 mile journey to the United States to find it. Also, he couldn’t explore the Crab too extensively, knowing the enemy was at the core and ready to get them at any time.

Then he heard the familiar clicking noise of a keyboard.

“Fox.” Knuckles spoke into the fork in the hallway. There were 3 rooms, all with short hallways leading to them. Labeled with post-its on the wall, they were composed of “Storage #2,” “Grampy <3” and “Shadow.”

Knuckles heard a pause in the typing and a noise from behind him.

Unsure if it was a rogue Badnik or Tails, he ducked behind the cut for the wall labeled “Shadow.” Through the camera outside of his room, it appeared of a decent size. They clearly didn’t know what to place for their hedgehog visitor, so it had a bizarre mix of various snack foods, action figures, and a wall filled with a gun display case. The room had a bed, though it appeared to contain a mattress set on the ground as opposed to a proper bed.

Knuckles silently slid to look into the second room, Gerald’s. It had a stereotypical hospital bed, a machine, and a dresser. It looked like there was also a metal stand with a bag, but Knuckles couldn’t discern what that could be. When the typing started once more, he realized it was coming from the third room, Storage #2. It was scarier, and dark, with no camera to peek inside. If he tripped a wire and alerted Eggman, it would be game over if they were thought to be snooping. But if Tails could quietly enter these, surely he could.

Knuckles quietly opened the door, closing it carefully behind him. The lights were already on for some reason, and a trail of dust footsteps led in various directions around the room. As he followed the circle, peeking through the clear containers showed various items that appeared to be from an old living place. Bathroom mats and a shower curtain, a full industrial size box of coffee filters, 2 scarves knit with matching red and black print and the classic Eggman logo, and a box of several mugs bearing various phrases, like from a book fair. “Best Brother Ever!” “Livin' la vida mocha” “Energy = milk * coffee2” “Coffee + Men, both: huge, a bit bitter, with an overpowering flavor.” 

Who would need stupid mugs like these? Knuckles thought to himself. Another box labeled “Bedroom 1,” which looked somewhat opened, and then the telltale clicking of a trackpad. Tails.

“Knuckles!” Tails eyes widened, “How’d you find me?”

“Dusty footsteps,” Knuckles looked down at Tails hands that held 3 books, labeled “Past.” “Stone 1.” and “Robotnik 1.”

“What are those?” Knuckles pointed.

“Documents on the Doctor. So many fake IDs here,” Tails flipped some toward Knuckles, “Julian Kintober, Jim Techno, Vinciente Cardoza… All bearing the doctor’s young face. He was kind of handsome, dare I say..”

Knuckles stared at them, “And from Jersey of all places? Really?”

Tails flipped to the first page of the other book. “Stone has so many passports… Canada, Italy, France, and the United States. He must be so well travelled,” He said, with admiration in his eyes, “I can’t even imagine how France would be! So many bakeries and mimes!”

Knuckles opened one of the passports, “He can’t be a citizen in all of these places.”

“I wonder what his first name is,” Tails continued, “We can’t touch these too much. And the rest of these books are just photos of places. Barely any of either of them.”

Knuckles continued flipping through the Agent’s book, “You were wrong about Eggman. He could never be handsome with that evil heart of his.”

The Agent’s book had more artifacts of his past life opposed to images of places. He had a receipt from Quickchek for 4 slushies, his favorite pizza order handwritten. He had a photo of him and somebody else paintballing. That same person was in the next photo, which appeared to also be in a military academy, eating noodles with him. Then there was a handwritten letter in cursive (Which neither Tails nor Knuckles could real) followed by a date. Several notecards in the places where photos could be filled the next few pages, bearing various recipes in multiple different types of handwriting. 

“Those four were inseparable. Then there were two. But then there were none.” Tails observed, “Since that day in 2009.”

“Did they all..”

“2 guys, 1 girl, and the Agent. They all travelled the world together. The recipes are labeled with restaurants.”

“If they were enlisted, why new passports?”

“What if they’re theirs?” Knuckles realized, “He’s…”

“Not a killer.” Tails flipped to the final page, with another letter. 

“2 de-enlisted. One of them died.” Knuckles read, “This one was their best friend, but then was deployed and…”

“ I don’t expect to come back, Stone. ” Tails read, “ For my final letter, I give you the stamps of all of our memories, and I’ll keep the time we shared in my heart until the end of time. Sincerely, Charlie.”  

“Why did he get their passports then?” Knuckles flipped back to the photos. 

“They gave up on travelling and went home.”

Suddenly a loud beeping noise played through the ship. The door to the room they were in flew open, and they quickly put everything back in the box and away. Not before Sonic nearly toppled Knuckles over, “We don’t have much time. Take 7 rings, we’re going up there now!”  

Tails sat, staring at where they had been a few moments before. “Um Sonic? What about-“

“Go back to the center of the crab, make sure they’re doing their job. Knuckles and I have got some butt to kick.”

–

“Agent, what’s the state of the tech?”

“I have surrounded the vessel with Badniks and other crafts. There are additional reinforcements placed on the moon as backup. How is your side?”

“The systems for the ship run off of satellite pings. By shutting down the satellites we-“ 

“Shut off all of the internet across the world?” Stone finished out his sentence, “You need a latte and a quill.”

Agent Stone began walking away to quickly do his task, but stopped in his tracks when a voice spoke behind him.

“I trust you to brew the best latte I have ever tasted. Brew as if it’s our last.”

While he walked into the kitchen, he realized a familiar smell in the air.

“Tails. What are you doing here.” He scanned the room, but he was nowhere in sight.

“I know you’re in here. Are you also thirsty for a drink or what?” You’re supposed to be doing… Whatever Sonic’s team would have you doing. Be useful.” 

“You weren’t always like this.” Tails spoke from a cabinet, “Evil. You aren’t evil.” 

“What are you talking about?”

“You serve Eggman day and night, and you mastered latte art, which is incredibly difficult, and the ship has a Michelin Star kitchen. You’re…”

“A genius, I know. The Doctor doesn’t just keep me around to look nice.” The whirr of the machines continued, “And you are hiding in my kitchen because..?”

“You can change him. The doctor.” 

Agent Stone’s footsteps grew closer to the cabinet he hid in. He knew if he was wrong, Tails could relocate anywhere he wanted, and swiftly.

“Why would I?” 

“Because you care about the world-“ Tails was interrupted by the initial cabinet opening. He stared back at the Agent’s face. He signaled for Tails to jump out and stand next to him.

“How do you know that?” Agent Stone continued his interrogation.

“And you care about him, and you’ve seen the world. You know how much it has to offer. It’s not an empire to be conquered.”

“Shh-“ Agent Stone put a finger up to Tails then tapped the table, “Hop up. and be quiet, if you’re so interested in my art.”

There were 2 cups on the table. Not that Tails was expecting a cup. He added a large amount of half and half to one, and barely any to the other. Instead, the bulk of the space in that cup was replaced with the specialty Austrian goat milk, which was nearly empty. He utilized a heated metal toothpick to create his typical art of their two faces and began carrying them to the lab with the doctor.

“We officially have access to the- he's here?” Doctor Robotnik spun his chair around, “The Blue Crew left us a souvenir?”

“Come on!” Tails sat on a random part of the floor, “I’m supporting from the ground. They are travelling at Mach speed.” 

“Sir, your latte.” Agent Stone served it to him calmly, “I see that Team Sonic infiltrated the ship, although Knuckles incapacitated Grampy, he couldn't stop the countdown in time. We have 8 minutes.”

Doctor Robotnik laughed maniacally, “How slow is he? We wasted so much time doing virtually nothing here and they still barely started the countdown. Stone, show me your live camera feeds.”

Doctor Robotnik tapped the armrest of his seat, prompting the Agent to sit on it. Tails watched as he slipped his arm around his waist to stabilize him. Touché.

Tails nearly laughed at how absurd the whole scene was. Eggman and his agent sharing a chair to watch a live feed of Sonic and Knuckles save the day while Tails makes sure they didn’t decide to perform a live dissection on the team. They didn't appear to even think about anything besides destroying Gerald.

“Wow Doctor, your genius really knows no bounds,” the Agent marvelled, “Geralds gone, where is Shadow?”

Tails device immediately began flashing and blinking. “Sonic! How is it up there?” 

“Go for Knuckles, Old Eggman down, Sonic on Shadow, Copy.”

“Sonic on Shadow? What?!” Tails' voice cracked, “Why?”

“He won't stand down.”

“Ah-ha!” Doctor Robotnik pointed at the screen, “He really won't stand down!”

“They're really going at it, those two. Uh-” Agent Stone pointed to a corner, “Who is that?” 

“That is Sonic but with the power of the Master Emerald.”

“He actually got it?” The Doctor squinted

“He’s Sonic. Of course he did.” Tails smirked, “Now, let’s kick some rotten egg booty!”

—

Sonic did not realize he couldn’t breathe in Space. What an oversight by the creators at SEGA, that hedgehogs from space can’t breathe there.

While Knuckles was tasked with Archaic Eggman, who went down with minimal of a fight, Sonic knew that going super was the only way to take down Shadow.

“You’re fighting a losing battle, Shadow. When was ending the world ever the only option?” Sonic asked, “It never was. Never will be.”

“With a world as cruel as this one, we must start anew. That’s the cost of making the mistake of destroying stability and rotting its core.” Shadow monologues, “It’s just like you and Tom. Of course you would do anything to avenge him.”

“Tom is different. He would never agree with this.” Sonic charged up himself once again, “I’m going to make you pay .” What was a temporary return to normal became a global battle spanning all 7 continents for hours. Which provided just enough time for Knuckles, aboard on the Eclipse Canon to figure out some things of his own.

Chapter Text

Knuckles realized how the Eclipse Cannon wasn’t just one large ship. It was four pie slices put together and connected by its domes and 4 way bridge. So the way to destroy it was clear.

“Chaos energy already fuels this ship, but we can stop it by disrupting the swirl above. The cannon cannot fire without ammunition.” Knuckles communicated through the radio to Tails. Agent Stone managed to overhear this and launch an assortment of large badniks toward the windows of the ship.

“I know just what to do.”

If they could break the glass, the energy flow of the ship would be disrupted and could be redirected out into space, never allowing the laser to fire.

“How much time do we have?” Tails asked.

Eggman made the display clock on his console larger for them all to see, “5 minutes.”

“How long will it take to destroy the windows?”

“Nobody knows.”

“Break the arms on the bottom of the ship. Aim them away from my empire.” Eggman ordered.

“Copy.” Tails nodded, “Knuckles, break the ships arms.”

“There’s too many.”

“Try. It’s our last chance.”

Agent Stone fired to the fullest extent of their machine military possible at all of the windows, but quickly realized when one broke, metal would take its place. Doctor Robotnik realized this and began typing away once again, this time in an attempt to shut down the backup systems. Inadvertently, he had soon managed to make the full system freeze.

“The clock stopped!” Tails shouted, “3 minutes or less until it fires. Possibly ost communication with Team Sonic.”

“Go for Sonic,” Tails asked into his headset, “Do you copy?”

No response.

“Go for Knuckles. Do you copy?” Tails continued.

“Ship unsafe, I need to leave. It’s going to explode.”

“Get it out of orbit.”

“How?”

“Where are the arms that aimed it to the Earth”

“Inside.”

“So where would it shoot?”

“It will implode,” Robotnik interrupted, “That’s my conclusion. It will explode when the energy’s path is altered and collapse in on itself. Now what that means for your team…”

“Get yourselves out of there!” Tails shouted.

“Sonic’s not here. Tell him not to return.” Knuckles said calmly, “I'll leave when I'm sure this will all self-destruct.”

“I can't reach him, he’s not on the channel!” 

“Where did you put Gerald?”

“I punched him off the platform into the energy filled wall and he evaporated. So he won't prevent this anymore.”

Doctor Robotnik laughed, causing everybody in the room to turn to him. It was a laugh with nothing held back, nothing dramatic, just pure joy. And Agent Stone began to laugh too, leaning into him so he wouldn't fall off of the chair. Even Tails joined in on laughing, before realizing they only had a minute and a half until uncertain fate (at least, according to Eggman’s separate timer). 

“What?!” Tails rejoined the channel, “He just became water vapor?”

“Yes.” Knuckles said plainly, “I will connect to Sonic’s channel and make sure he doesn't try to get back to the ship.”

“Will you be back here too?” 

“I'm going to wait until-”

Suddenly Knuckles felt the ship slowly moving away from Earth, “I think it worked. We are leaving orbit.”

Agent Stone returned to the camera feed from the Badniks. He saw a strange sight- two golden hedgehogs working together to make the machine exit orbit.

“Sonic and Shadow?” Stone shook him and whispered into his ear, “Ivo, I think we'll have a bigger problem than we anticipated.”

“You guys had Shadow and didn't tell us?!” Doctor Robotnik shouted, “What the fuck is your deal?!”

Tails paged Sonic, “You have Shadow and didn't tell us?”

“No. But he realized one thing,” Sonics feed went static, “He… family, but… home.. Earth”

Tails paged Knuckles, “Go for Knuckles! 20 seconds until the ship explodes. Get out of there!”

“Copy!” He shouted. Suddenly directly after, his feed went static. 

“Shit!” Tails shouted. 

“He can curse?” Agent Stone snapped toward him, nearly jumping out his chair, “For real?”

“Why couldn't he?” Doctor Robotnik spun his chair around.

“Well he's like… you know-” Agent Stone gestured, “A child. I think.”

“You just think? That is literally a child, Ab- Agent seriously?!” Doctor Robotnik pointed, “He's tiny! Even compared to the other colorful freaks!”

“Guys I'm right here!” Tails complained, “The world could end in 30 seconds and you're over here thinking about my age of all things?”

“Oh what do you want me to be doing? Confessing my feelings or something? We're going to live. I don't need to do anything right now. My job is done and so is the Agent’s for the night. We should kic-”

He was interrupted by a loud boom up in the sky. Stone quickly turned back on the Badniks cameras, but all feeds were down except for one. It looked like the Eclipse Cannon exploded, the battle was over. 

So where were Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles?

Doctor Robotnik raised his hand for a high-five and stood up, “Aban!”

“Ivo!” Stone took the hand that he put out for him and grabbed it, deliberately subverting the gesture.

“We did it!” Tails shouted, “Go team!”

Both of them glared over at Tails before laughing and embracing one another.

“Well played sport. Come here.” Agent Stone motioned Tails over and crouched down to his height, “You never saw any of that, you hear me?”

Tails gave a thumbs up, “Your secret’s safe with me.”

A portal suddenly opened in the kitchen, revealing Knuckles, completely unscathed. “You succeeded?”

Tails ran over and put a finger up to his face, signaling for Knuckles to be quiet.

“I didn't have to,” he whispered, “We all did. Good work.”

“Then where's Sonic?” Knuckles asked, and immediately after another portal opened. 

Sonic pointed across the room upon entering, “I didn't think you guys were actually going to make them fall in love as part of the plan but…” 

Both Knuckles and Tails stopped their conversation to watch their temporary allies across the room. They were whispering to each other, foreheads touching. Sonic cleared his throat, “Uhm, guys?”

Eggman practically pushed himself backward off of the Agent and wiped his hands on his uniform. “You guys can go now. We're done with you.”

All three of them stared back at Eggman in awe. 

“That's it?” Sonic started walking towards them, “Not even a goodbye.”

“We finished what we needed to. So I can build my empire. And you can try to stop me, or whatever. Just without a whole ‘world-ending,’ grandfather, or Dark Sonic around.”

“Oh, Shadow’s alive. He doesn't care for us though. He’s flying solo.” Sonic added.

“Shocking news to me but never surprised with you, Hedgehog.” Robotnik crossed his arms.

“And we know about Charlie,” Knuckles added.

“Shh, that's not-” Tails started.

“I knew you were in that room. We don't care.” Agent Stone panned, “Most of those documents are fake.”

“They were your family right?” Tails asked, “Between moving everywhere and military enlistments, they were your family away from home.”

“Yes. Not anymore. That is all.” Agent Stone’s face had a hint of sadness, “When I first became his assistant, for the first year we made those books. We put the things we had before and we're leaving behind inside. Honoring the past and moving into the future. That's what I think you saw.”

“Oh… That's deep,” Sonic nodded, turning to Tails and Knuckles, “Well, we’ll leave. Just agree not to create a totalitarian government body to rule over the world using egg cams and surveillance.”

“That's what you view it as? It is so much better than that, I plan to rule the-” 

“I’ll see what I can do.” Agent Stone interrupted him, “As concessions for your cooperation today.”

Doctor Robotnik grabbed the Agent by the collar, “You can’t just interrupt me like that! I'm telling them of my genius!”

“We'll be leaving. Right now.” Sonic reached for a ring and still couldn't find one on himself. “Knuckles, do you have a ring?”

“No.”

“This is so awkward.” Sonic looked to Tails who also signaled he had none.

Doctor Robotnik clicked for the hatch and pointed, “Out you go, au revoir!”

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles exited the hatch of the crab, and Agent Stone immediately set it back on course to reside near Australia.

“Why Sydney?” Robotnik eyed the computer, “What about Tokyo?”

“Nobody will find us there. And, it's actually fun to be in a place the government isn't aware of and actively searching for you and the alien activity around you.” Stone reasoned.

“Go make a latte. We have to talk.”

Chapter Text

Doctor Robotnik had totally blown his cover. He was not holding back at all anymore, knowing the world had nearly ended under his watch. His assistant, Agent Aban Stone, was the only thing standing between his death at the hands of his oldheaded Grandpappy and him. He deserved appreciation for preventing that, if not the myriad of other wonders he performed.

What do you want me to be doing? Confessing my feelings or something? was the part of the conversation that echoed in his mind. That was quite a topic to place into the air. That and Charlie . They didn't talk about Charlie, but Robotnik knew how much they meant to the Agent. They taught him everything he knew in the kitchen. Those 3 friends and him were inseparable. When they first made those books, he could tell that the Agent would stick around longer than anybody else. After all, even though they were Stone’s idea and he’d adamantly been against them, he’d ended up being convinced. Their books showed how similar yet how different they were.

The Doctor’s soft spot for the Agent only grew until he realized the predicament that he’d gotten himself into when he realized he actually enjoyed physical contact with the Agent.

Casual brushing against one another turned into sitting together into… Whatever it had devolved into by now. Of course, the Doctor was careful not to make Stone too aware of his minor epiphany, but with the whole recent occurrence of “The world might end” and “We’ll soon be ruling the world.” maybe he could use some family. Even if they’re not by blood.

“Here you are sir.” Aban handed the cup to Ivo and sat across from him in his usual chair at his computer. He also had a second cup for himself, though the Doctor suspected it was not brewed similar to his. It was always a darker color, and he’d sometimes skip the art for his own in favor of a simple heart or flower.

They sipped their drinks across from one another in silence for a moment, only the beeping and whirring of machines in the background to break the quiet. It was abnormal- for the past month or so the ship was so lively with others or with things to be done, but then it was once again just them.

“So…” Agent Stone looked up with a smile, “What’d you need to talk about?”

“The past month or so. You always hated my grandfather.” Ivo put down his cup, locking eyes with Aban, “That’s a good thing. You have a sense for when things are good or bad. You connect so well with everybody around you. I don’t have that magic. I can’t read everybody, people don’t open up to me, they don’t like me. But you… You’re a master at it.” Ivo pointed to him, “You, my friend, have a superpower that those colorful creatures could never have. And that is the power of personality.”

“It’s not just me. It wasn’t always like this, you know.”

“I do. And you showed me that first year in that photo book that you can do it all. You connected with people around the world. You can speak 3 languages including body language, you took the best parts of those around you and left behind the worst parts. You were so shy growing up and a family chose you and took a chance on you. They took you everywhere they went. And you took it in stride.” Doctor Robotnik’s praise was rare. Agent Stone couldn’t figure out why he would be saying anything like this out of nowhere.

“Doctor. Did you hit your head? You’re never this positive. It’s almost worrisome.”

“We nearly died today.”

“But we didn’t,” He stood up, “The sun will come out in the morning and we will continue life. Are you worried?”

Doctor Robotnik put his head in his hands, hiding his face from the Agent, “I’m just so thankful that you treat me so well… and you don’t just want power. You care about me. I… care about you.”

Agent Stone’s eyes widened, “I do.”

“You’re the closest thing to family I have ever had. You… it’s unconditional.” He whispered, then began laughing to himself, “It was always you. You were right in front of me. I’m stupid for a genius.”

Aban stood in silence for a moment, waiting for the Doctor to continue his sentence. He never did.

“Ivo?”

“I fucking love you.” He looked up at the Agent’s expression, but he put his hand over his nose, covering most of his face. In his eyes, it was clear he was gleaming.

“You…”

“I can’t build an empire without you by my side to rule. No matter how many times I wake up on the wrong side of the bed and say shit, and I mess up, you stand there ready to fix everything up and help me when I’m down. And build me further up when I’m high.” Ivo stood up and wrapped Aban into a hug.

“You finally see everything I see, Ivo.” Agent Stone grabbed his hand. It felt rough, calloused, even overworked. He could tell from the bags under the doctor's eyes how tired he was. He figured that’s what brought on this moment of honesty.

“If I accept you into my heart as family, you better promise not to break it.” He locked eyes with the Agent, “And we continue work just as we do now, but if you desire more from me, that could be arranged.”

Agent Stone’s jaw dropped, and he looked away and turned bright red. 

“If I already desire you, then what?”

“You’ll be the first person on Earth to make me feel loved and not immediately stab me in the back.”

“You are. Unconditionally.” Agent Stone met their foreheads together one final time and kissed him softly on the lips.

“Oh and one more thing,” The Doctor grabbed both of his hands, “I don’t just love how you make lattes. Your food is way better than the sludge my badniks make.”

“It’s all food from the heart. That’s our secret ingredient. Time, love, and care.”

Chapter Text

Tails opened up his laptop to a website used by humans to view videos. It seemed to be an app that everybody was talking about after it was on TV for some political reason.

“Sonic, isn’t this stupid? They have no clue what they’re doing!” Tails tilted the screen to Sonic, which displayed a video of two men repairing and detailing a car.

“Who likes this stuff?” Sonic swiped further, then saw a video he pressed the heart on, “See, this is what cool looks like!”

“It’s just some guy dancing.”

“But look- this too!” Sonic clicked the heart next to an edited set of clips from a TV show he watched, “They’re the best duo in the entire show! Firefighters are way cooler than cops!”

“Really Sonic?” Tom shouts from the other room, “We can hear you!”

“Except for you, Tom.”

“Including you,” Sonic corrects Tails, “Eddie, the dude on the left, he’s peak.”

Tails continues to scroll, as his Sonic occasionally clicks to ‘heart’ specific videos.

“This might be way better than TV. I could watch this all day.”

Knuckles walked in through the door, “It has already been 2 hours.”

“Whaaaa-” Sonic turned to a clock, “No way!”

“Come on, one more-” Tails wined, “Hey that’s Eggman!”

“What?”

Sonic and Knuckles both huddled the phone and got sucked into the screen once again.

Eggman was gesturing wildly in front of a blue screen, a large audience had been viewing, somewhere around 200k people. The comments went by quickly, barely readable to anybody else watching.

“And that, everybody is the conspiracy they have you under. That is why, I would be the best leader these states has ever seen!” Robotnik proclaimed, “We do not need a Gulf of Mexico or a Gulf of America, we need to be engulfed by the light, that my technology will bring to all of you.”

The comments all began to say the same exact things:

“Yes Master.”

“Always, Robotnik.”

“Correct.”

Sonic pointed to the screen, “Who does this guy think he is?!”

“We don’t need Canada, nobody’s there.”

“Sir, there are 40 million people currently in Canada.” A voice from behind the camera stated, “There’s people watching who live there.”

“We don’t need borders, right Canadians? That’s what I’m here for.” Doctor Robotnik continues, “You are all equal in an empire built on the foundation of innovation, inspiration, and intellect.”

“Commenters, please stop talking about how wonderful the Doctor looks. He is not interested.” The background voice said.

Knuckles tilted his head, “The Goatmilker.”

“Oh, he’s so protective,” Tails giggled, “I can’t believe they still haven’t figured their whole romance thing out.”

“The Agent is still in love with Eggman?” Knuckles banged on the screen, “What is he seeing?”

“What is he seeing? There’s so much better out there.” Sonic swiped away the tablet from his hands. “You left the stream.”

Tails took the device and rejoined the stream. More comments flooded in.

“Who is that?”

“Roommate?”

“Your cameraman is actually attractive, but your attitude makes up for..”

“Stop talking about how wonderful the Agent looks, he’s not interested.” Eggman pointed at the camera, leaning in to read the comments. The Agent was in the background fixing a piece on the back of Eggman’s uniform.

“He’s such a catch!”

“What a lucky girl!”

“Where’s the ring!”

Robotnik put a finger up to the camera, “Shh- any louder and I might hear some of your stupidity!”

The Agent shifts and suddenly to Doctor jumps slightly, “Agent- Not right-” He stutters, “Just tie the damn jacket!”

“Ooooo-” Sonic laughed, “Flirty.”

“For the audience’s information, I get things far better than a ring for working together in taking over the world.” Agent Stone pat Robotnik’s back and smiled, “All done.”

“Did he just grab his as-”

“That Agent doesn’t have a wife, that’s for sure.”

“Well that’s all actually, folks!” Doctor Robotnik hides chat, “Oh, and don’t call me a lucky girl. It’s a bit weird.”

Tails tilted his head as the stream wrapped up. “Did he just confirm they are together, or…”

“Dinner’s ready!” Tom shouted.

“I guess we won’t know until next time we see them.” Sonic closed the lid on the computer, “I call first dibs!”