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Just a normal day at G.U.N. An extremely incompetent agent spilling his filthy coffee on Robotnik. His new shower-bathtub which is to replace the previous one which served as a crime scene has not yet arrived. Incompetent delivery person. Obviously he only had one shirt left in his laboratory, luckily it was there.
And to top it all off, Walters decided to take HIS agent one morning to train some little rookies who had just arrived. More young people who still suck their thumbs and who don't even know how to hold a pencil, and the government is going to put guns in their hands. The doctor knows that Stone is fully qualified, certainly the best qualified G.U.N agent according to him, but that is no reason to take what belongs to him.
No music, no robot could calm the annoyance Robotnik felt. So for a good laugh, he decided to judge the new kids that Stone was going to have to put up with. Entering the G.U.N database and finding the files he was looking for was as easy as opening your eyes. He is convinced that it would be simple even for a primary school student. The government should seriously consider reviewing their protection system…
9 files were now at his mercy.
First information: all men. Well done parity.
Average age: between 20 and 25 years old. Like he said, kids who don't know how to hold a fork. Was it also at this age that Stone began his training?
The photos of the 9 young men are displayed in front of him.
“Oh come on! They look like rugby balls! I want to kick them with my foot to send them off the field!”
They definitely look like children who were torn from their mother's arms too soon. Even if Robotnik doesn't really know that feeling.
Each includes a short description of a few lines on their background and their studies but this interests the doctor very little. They were much too young to have anything interesting to say about themselves and they were, of course, much less intelligent than him.
It was obvious that they weren't going to make it to the morning that Agent Stone had planned for them.
But the doctor was not satisfied. His curiosity would have liked to see Commander Walters' file, but he doubts that his file from the age of dinosaurs could have been digitized. What other file would be interesting to see?
Agent Stone.
The doctor therefore begins his search of the personnel files. Each file is titled by the rank and name of the person. But surprisingly, Stone wasn't there. While the files go back to Commanders whose death and retirement Robotnik had learned of. The database was therefore old enough to include Stone's file. But still not Walter.
The doctor had to think a little more. While walking through the database, he saw a large “confidential” file. If Robotnik couldn't find Stone's file, maybe he could at least put some closure on some interesting and compromising government stuff.
Stealing this folder is just as simple, once opened it has many other subfolders about projects, accidents and others. Some were, he admits, a little better protected. While wandering through the names of the files, he comes across what interests him. A folder named “Agent Stone”. Weird. Why is his agent's file here? Are employees that stupid that they lose employee files in other extremely important files and never realize it?! It doesn't surprise him in a way.
The doctor double clicks on the file to open it. This one is a little different. A textual document is present there, certainly the basic presentation of the agent like that of all other employees. As well as another document entitled “Stone Family”. Even stranger…it is stipulated to agents never to talk about their family. This detail aroused Robotnik's curiosity even more, so he began his search with the “Stone Family” document.
The document in question was an investigation report.
A shiver ran through Robotnik, he was sure he was starting to read something big.
The first lines, which served as an introduction to the report, summarize very well the nature of this document: “Report on the murder of a family in Canada. Family made up of two parents and three children. 4 dead and 1 survivor.”
If Robotnik understood correctly so far, and obviously he understood, this report was exposing to him how (probably) Stone's family had been murdered. And someone had survived. He felt like he was reading the beginning of a news story about a murder in a small, isolated countryside. In short, he resumes reading.
“Both parents of the Stone family: Hady Bassem Stone - Father, 45 years old, bank employee - Dead - Body found with his throat cut in his armchair
Marwa Nour Zeina Stone - Mother, 40 years old, cashier - Dead - Body not found, suspicion of dissolution in the family bathtub
Naël Stone - First son, 19 years old, unemployed - Dead - Presence of alcohol in the blood, Body found in his room, one bullet in the head and one in the heart
Yara Dina Stone - Second daughter, 16 years old, student - Dead - Body found in the kitchen, a hole in the back which pierced the heart, did not pass to the other side
Aban Lee Stone - Last son, 14 years old, student - Alive - Found hiding under his bed upstairs - Passed out when the police intervened, no memory of the events but shows no trauma”
Firstly, he had just learned his agent's first name and that he was the youngest of siblings with an older brother and an older sister.
Second, wow, the doctor was speechless. So here is the story, the beginning anyway. The context. The appetizer.
Such violence. And losing your family at 14. Robotnik could almost feel empathy for Stone. If he hadn't fixated on the circumstances of Stone's mother's death. The coincidence is still striking. 3 days earlier he saw his agent murder someone and his investigation led to the possibility that Stone dissolved the body of his victim (still unknown) in his bathtub (which is why he is waiting for a new one). And a day later, looking into Stone's past, his mother died the same way...
Until some time ago, it was impossible for him to imagine blood on Agent Stone's hands. With his dazzling smile and his puppy dog eyes, how could we imagine that this man, much less intelligent than him, was capable of doing harm? Even if he works under the orders of the great Doctor Ivo Robotnik.
But the doctor thought, if Stone was really the culprit, he should have served years in prison or something. Then joining or being kidnapped by the government, something like that, to join a specialized assassination unit that had been blown away by the skills of its agent which far exceeded theirs. His machines were as capable as a hitman.
He therefore resumes reading the report, looking for an answer.
“No fingerprints were found at the 4 crime scenes. Only one weapon was found, a revolver which matched the bullets found in the body of the first son. Only the neighbor's fingerprints were found on it. He confirmed that the gun belonged to him. Simple alibis - said to be at home the night of the crime - but cannot be confirmed by anyone. First suspect”
Obviously they didn't suspect the 14-year-old! Especially if he shows signs of memory loss. But the doctor said to himself that, at this level, it was certainly a strategy by Stone to avoid appearing guilty. If that’s the case, he’s surprisingly mischievous…
“The Stone family had had an altercation with their neighbor a few months earlier. Reason: Mr. Addams could not stand seeing the three children playing in the garden and allegedly shouted at them to “go back where they came from”. The parents allegedly tried to defend themselves after their neighbor grabbed their daughter by the wrist.”
Robotnik rolled his eyes, sitting comfortably in his chair as if he were watching a soap opera. For him it was certain, the neighbor was an asshole. But inevitably not smart enough to murder 4 people in such a specific and complex way.
It was still understandable that the investigation mainly suspected the neighbor, all the evidence led to him. And he deserved a little suspicion.
“The suspect was apprehended and then taken into custody before his trial.
The man did not provide an explanation for the events, nor an alibi or motive. Based on the evidence, Mr. Addams was charged with premeditated murder and sentenced to 6 years in prison.”
So Stone had been completely sidelined. Robotnik knew the stupidity of the police but if he had been on the case he would have solved everything directly, of course.
Despite everything, he had to admit, the plan was very intelligent. And there was no doubt in his mind that Stone had to be behind it all.
Robotnik is a man of science and logic, but something deep inside him screams that Stone was the creator. And even if he would never admit it, he was not able to explain exactly what happened in that house.
Wanting to understand exactly what happened, he analyzes the file in detail. Along with the report, there were associated images, each showing the body (if found) as well as the location where it was found.
After analysis, for the doctor, the father was the first victim. Easy to startle but also easy to silence so no one is alarmed. A gunshot being too loud, the sister must have been the second victim. The death was quite strange, however. To make a hole from the back to the heart, he suspects something like a screwdriver but longer. The attack must have been done by surprise (of course) to hope that the sister would not scream.
This was when events were much less certain. He couldn't be sure when the mother was murdered, but if it was indeed disbanded, it must have been after murdering everyone. He therefore remains on his hypothesis that the big brother was murdered last. And getting a neighbor’s gun isn’t very complicated either.
How can a 14 year old child think of such a plan and execute it? If Robotnik considered himself unlikeable and far from being an angel, this child was close to... a demon.
An alarm sounded in the laboratory, it was 2pm Stone had just finished training the babies who joined the G.U.N.
Unconsciously, the doctor took a deep breath. He felt like he was preparing to face a large gathering. Even though he never felt an ounce of anxiety. For what ? The cockroaches in the room were too stupid to understand a single word he was saying. It is rather they who would be anxious to meet the great Doctor Ivo Robotnik.
“Hello Doctor! I’ll bring you your latte with Australian goat’s milk!”
He could smell the vice entering his laboratory.
The mistake was that this demon had one of the most beautiful smiles Robotnik had ever seen. Pink lips like a flower that would make a bee never want to return to the hive but instead stay foraging on this flower until the end.
Eyes full of stars when he turns to the doctor. If Robotnik could, he would become an astronaut to stay as close as possible to these stars.
If demons really looked like that, he understands that you are selling your soul to the devil.
“Stone! No need to tell me how the training went. Save your saliva for something really useful. And I have no doubt, they are all as incompetent as the others!”
Fortunately for the doctor, the distance between the door and his desk gave him enough time to close the investigation report.
Stone walked across the laboratory and posed the coffee on Robotnik's desk.
“You are absolutely right, doctor.”
"Of course I'm right, Stone! Have you questioned my intelligence perhaps?"
“Never Sir”
"Still happy. Anyway, focus on getting rid of all the emails that Commander Walters sent. I'm already surprised that he managed to turn on his PC..."
“Right away sir”. So, Stone smiled at the doctor one last time before disappearing into his own office. Somewhere in the laboratory, all alone, far from the doctor so as never to be disturbed by noise.
Before returning entirely to his work, Robotnik opened the second document which was to be a simple presentation of Stone before being under his orders. He expected extremely basic and boring information like his age at the time of writing the documents, his address, his position and section, and his education. Boring and useless information.
He double clicks. The document opened.
“Aban Lee Stone - 21 years old - Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering - Agent - Hitman”
Uh. So he really can feel the devil working next to him.