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It was not uncommon for the great Doctor Ivo Robotnik to immerse himself in music when he carried out tests. The situation really wasn't surprising to his agent, Stone. The Doctor takes his headphones and starts his favorite playlist: “Eggman empire”. The volume was loud, very loud. Loud enough that even with the headphones on, Stone could clearly hear what was being played in his ears.
And the Doctor dances, frantically, without any real dance steps. But he moves, in time with the music throughout the laboratory. It happened several times that he was surprised by the presence of Stone, too immersed in his dancing. No, it was Stone's fault. Why is he so discreet?! His body is as light as his brain?!
Anyway, today was a particularly pleasant day for the doctor. He had made good progress with a new formula and was about to try to prepare it. The doctor took his headset and, as usual, started his playlist. He launched production while he gesticulated, without any real formula yet, in the laboratory.
Allowing himself to be carried away by the rhythm of the guitar playing in his ears, he closed his eyes. His arms slender in front of him making waves. His feet walk backwards, legs bent. Little pirouette to end up facing the front door right when the music's over, both arms in the air as if to celebrate a victory. Satisfied with his solo performance, he opens his eyes to greet his (non-existent) audience.
It was at this moment that he saw the scene.
Right in front of his eyes, near the front door.
Stone, a body and a trail of blood coming from a nearby cabinet.
Arms in front of him, holding the bodies by their feet, Stone stops moving when he realizes that the Doctor is staring at him. Neither of them moved, remaining staring into each other's eyes for a little while.
Robotnik didn't even recognize the “poor” person who had fallen victim to his agent's skills.
“Stone…”, even he wasn’t sure what he was going to say.
To be frank, Robotnik had seen deaths before, but not executed by his agent. This was even before he met Stone. And he knew that G.U.N agents had all been more or less trained to assassinate. But the idea that Stone could use this skill doesn't seem...real to him.
“If you want to do your job well, at least keep your back straight when you're moving a heavy load...I don't want to have to train a new agent because you've blocked your back!”
“Yes, sir”
Not looking away, Robotnik watched as Stone moved the battered body to the front door with his back straight.
The automatic door opened, the living and the dead came out, and the automatic door closed.
The doctor wanted to return to his work, he tried, but he couldn't help but question himself. Who was this person? When did he die? And how? Certainly there is a long trail of blood, still present on the ground, but he did not see any particularly visible wound. Was it really Stone who killed him? How ? And where was he going?
Robotnik resumed his work when the music started again, it was better not to dwell on this event of the day. Stone was simply doing his job.
And like the competent agent that Stone is, the blood had quickly disappeared from the floor and when the doctor had ordered his coffee, Stone was perfectly dressed, spotless and lightly scented with his cologne as if, in the end, everything he had seen had never happened.
At the end of the day, Stone returns home. Finally alone without his laboratory, the doctor began his quest: to understand where the body went?
Robotnik walked towards his front door as if he was about to go in search of lost treasure and he was Indiana Jones.
He never liked these films anyway, much too predictable for the genius that he is. Obviously the hero was going to find what he was looking for. And the few injuries the main character received were simply to give the viewer a semblance of action and sympathy for a falsely intelligent adventurer.
After the front door, there are several rooms connected to a large corridor. Mainly storage rooms. As well as a room roughly set up to be able to sleep late at night when Robotnik couldn't afford another sleepless night. And a bathroom too.
The doctor began by analyzing the two storage rooms to his left. Nothing special, robot carcasses, cables, metal, an exploding coffee machine, paper and a turned off generator.
Unless Stone could turn flesh into metal, the body is not here.
So he moved on to the semblance of a room on the right. Far from really giving the impression of a room, there was nevertheless a simple single bed and a chest of drawers with some clothes that the doctor keeps aside in case an accident happens. The room was so empty that there was no possibility that a body could be hidden there. A crime scene, perhaps yes, but leaves no possibility of hiding anything.
He closed the door, maybe adding a sofa or an armchair in this room...
All that's left is the bathroom. As neutral and empty as the previous room. A sink with a mirror, a toilet and a shower-bathtub. Luckily, the faint scent made the room a little more pleasant.
Wait.
Robotnik never perfumes his rooms.
Wait.
This is the same scent that Robotnik had smelled on Stone earlier.
So this is how it all ended! This is a laboratory, obviously Robotnik has a lot of different acids. And one of the best ways to make a body disappear is to dissolve it.
The realization makes Robotnik a little sick. A body has just been dissolved, in HIS bathtub. Where, in the coming days, he was going to wash.
He left the room and closed the door. The method used was somewhat cruel but frankly intelligent. So Stone was capable of doing such things…
This thought made Robotnik somewhat curious. It was visible in the movement of his mustache which conveyed his emotions, something only Stone had managed to understand.
Stone had been under his command for some time, not much, but enough to believe he knew enough about him. Even if the doctor is not that interested in his agent, and does not try to find out more. But if he was capable of such things and so quickly and cleanly, then maybe it just wasn't the first time he'd done it.
What was Stone capable of?
Robotnik desperately wanted to know more, he had to understand. Because not understanding, for the genius that he is, is an insult. There were always some shadows left, he didn't know who the person was murdered, why and where the murder took place. He would have liked to say that it was obvious, my dear Watson. But he’s a genius doctor, not a ridiculous detective caricature.
New quest: learn more about Agent Stone.