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It wasn't entirely uncommon for Stone to not be around for a while. Ivo was unfortunately quite aware of how little it meant that Stone was his agent on most days. G.U.N took him away more times than he could count at this point. Did they not have enough other agents without assignments to leach on for these instead?
So, no, when Stone didn't return to him that night, he wasn't concerned. (A lie).
Ivo was pacing in his room. He kept telling himself it was just taking longer than expected. Stone always told him if he wouldn't be back by nightfall. For him to not say something, just what had happened?
He tried to reason with himself. Maybe there was no signal where Stone was currently at? That happened before. Maybe he wasn't able to get a hold of him for that reason. Maybe he was actively in the mission and obviously couldn't stop to tell him anything. It wasn't like Stone was obligated to tell him stuff about the mission. It was something he chose to do. Maybe he just didn't want to do it this time?
But yet, for some reason Ivo felt a very sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was very wrong here.
He kept pacing, hoping that something would come up and explain what had happened to Stone. Ivo hoped dearly that the something would simply be Stone finally coming through that door. There was a very persistent voice in his head telling him that wasn't going to happen. He tried to brush it off but it wouldn't stop.
As it got later and later, Ivo only grew more worried. There was no reason Stone would have not returned or told him he was going to be late. He had to have had a chance to say something to him by now. No mission was this long. At least, he hadn't ever had one be this long for Stone before.
His phone dinged. Ivo quickly picked it up and looked. It was an email from G.U.N. Not a very normal time for an email from them. Something was very wrong here.
Ivo opened the email and read it. His eyes grew wider the more he read.
Dear Dr. Robotnik,
It is with great displeasure that we must inform you that Agent Stone among others have been caught on their latest mission and are being held hostage.
Rest assured, we are working effortlessly to fix this situation. Please be patient and we assure you we will have the situation resolved in a few days. Negotiations will begin soon.
Regards,
G.U.N
Ivo dropped his phone onto his bed and clenched his hands into fists. How dare they? A simple email? His agent was a hostage and that was the best they could do? Couldn't even come to fucking see him themselves to deliver the news?
Ivo stormed to his desk and started typing away. He was finding where Stone was. A few days to solve this? Fuck no. His agent was not being a hostage for a few days. If they weren't going to actually take this seriously then he would.
Negotiations? Like that was going to work. Given the normal type of groups this branch worked with, this was not going to be something that easily solved by asking nicely for a compromise. Someone was going to get hurt before that worked.
It only took him a few minutes to find what he was looking for. The location of where this mission was at. And then a few more searches later, he found exactly the situation and location of where the hostages were at.
Good enough for him.
Ivo left his room and made his way quickly out and into the streets. He hid off to the side and then called some of his badniks to come to him. Four appeared shortly after. Ivo looked at them for a moment and then began to head in the direction of the location.
Thankfully, it wasn't that far away all things considered. It allowed him to walk there and not have to risk taking a vehicle. That would make it a lot easier of a time to be spotted by those he didn't want to be seen by. Which was everyone. Neither side needed to know he was doing this.
Ivo found the warehouse that was the current location of the standoff. He could see a lot of G.U.N vehicles and the likes surrounding the perimeter. What a threatening way to negotiate.
He slid past into an unguarded exit. After looking around to make sure the coast was clear, he slowly opened the door and entered. His badniks flew low beside him, silent as could be.
Ivo glanced at his phone. He had the exact location of Stone on it. Perhaps not the proudest thing, but he had put some tracking on some of Stone's belongings. It was coming in useful. He'd be thanking him when they were done.
The warehouse was buzzing with activity. Ivo had to be very careful about his every step. There were enemies everywhere. And he wasn't exactly armed properly for this besides his badniks. Maybe he had been in a little too much of a rush.
Ivo crept down the halls, slowly getting closer to the signal location. He was entering the back of the warehouse now. There were a lot of side rooms around this area. It was hard to keep yourself straight. At least with this tracker, he knew exactly where he needed to turn.
He paused at a turn. The signal showed Stone should be right around the corner. This was going to be the most dangerous area. Who knew what was keeping an eye on the hostages.
"Still won't make a sound? Ugh, you're the worst for this ransom video." A voice spoke up.
"This guy gives me the creeps." Another said. "Look at him. He's bleeding in more places than he isn't and he hasn't made more than some grunts."
"Come on. Let's go find someone who can actually give us what we need. Since G.U.N won't agree to our demands, we got to give them a reason to."
There was a sickening sound of a punch of some sort.
Ivo held his breath as he heard footsteps approach his location. He took a few steps back. Looks like he might have to engage.
Two members of the group appeared. Both were equally as startled to see Ivo there. Ivo reacted quickly, calling on his badniks and silencing the two before anyone could be alerted to his presence. The two fell quickly and silently. At least he had made a very good silencer for his badniks or else half of the warehouse would have probably heard that.
Ivo moved quickly. Who knew how fast those two might be noticed as being missing. He needed to get out of here.
He turned the corner and was faced by a gruesome sight. Stone was tied up in a chair, slumped limp in it. Blood covered his body as well as the floor. His clothes were torn in many places. Overall, he looked one step away from death.
"Stone." Ivo was at his side quickly, gently nudging him. "Hey... can you hear me?"
There was no response. Ivo checked for a pulse. Thankfully there was one. It was feint, but it was still there.
The four badniks floated around the two, almost as if they were concerned as well.
Ivo cut away the restraints and got Stone up into his arms. The man hung limply in his grip, not reacting at all to the movement. Ivo tried to keep himself from thinking too hard about it. Stone was fine. He was just unconscious. He wasn't going to die. They just needed to get out of here.
Ivo made his way out. He went back the way he had come, being extra cautious. With his arms occupied, he had little to defend himself with quickly. He needed to make sure he was the one taking others by surprise.
It was quite difficult to sneak around this way, but slowly and surely he inched his way to the exit he had come from. The cool air of the night felt nice. But, he had little time to take it in. He had worse matters to attend to.
Ivo slipped on past everyone once more and made his way back to his room. He'd send a message later that he had gotten Stone himself. He was probably going to get a lecture but that was on them for handling this situation poorly. He wouldn't have had to do this if they weren't taking their sweet old time with everything.
He set Stone on his bed and grabbed a first aid kit. He had no idea if it was going to be enough, but he had to hope. The wounds didn't seem too severe, there were just a lot of them. If it was just for a ransom video, they wouldn't want him dead after all.
Ivo got to work quickly, stripping Stone of his ruined clothes and taking in the full extent of the damage. It was worse than he thought but not as bad as it could be. There was certainly a lot of damage but none of it was particularly life-threatening at the moment. That was at least something.
He didn't know what he'd do if the damage was life-threatening...
...
Ivo collapsed to the floor after he finally finished treating all of Stone's wounds. It had taken all of the energy out of him. Having to do this all at midnight was not easy on his body in the slightest. But, he had done it.
Ivo let out a sigh as he forced himself back to his feet. He couldn't rest quite yet as much as he wanted to.
He went to his laptop and opened his email. He should probably tell everyone he had Stone before they actually did do anything about the hostage situation. As entertaining as it might be to have them running wild trying to find Stone, it wasn't worth the time.
Ivo was brief in his message. He didn't offer too many details about how he had accomplished such a thing. They could pry that information out of his cold dead hands. What he had done was not for anyone else to know.
He startled as he heard a groan. Ivo quickly turned around and went to the bed. Stone was squirming now, his face all scrunched up. Ivo assumed it was from the pain. He could only imagine what Stone was feeling right now. Those wounds had been ugly.
"Stone..." Ivo said softly. He reached a hand toward him, but stopped and lowered it. He shouldn't.
Ivo knelt down and waited. Stone was going to wake up soon, right? That was why he was making these noises. He was waking up. He had to be. He had to wake up soon.
The minutes went by with little more from Stone. There was still some movements at times, but he didn't wake up.
Ivo didn't know what to do. He needed Stone to wake up. He needed to see that he was okay. He needed verbal confirmation that he wasn't going to die.
It was pathetic, wasn't it? Being so emotional like this over someone. It wasn't like him at all. But he couldn't stop himself from feeling this way about Stone. He cared too much about him.
That was certainly not something he had ever expected to happen.
Stone let out another groan. Ivo glanced back over at his face. And then finally, his eyes began to flicker open. It took a few minutes for Stone to fully open his eyes and keep it that way.
"Stone..." Ivo whispered.
"Doctor?" Stone's voice was hoarse as he spoke. "Where... am I?"
"My room." Ivo replied as he leaned forward and placed a hand over one of Stone's. "You're safe now."
Stone took in the room for a brief moment. "What happened? How did I get here?"
Ivo hesitated for a moment. How did he explain this to Stone? Even Stone was probably going to think he was insane for the stunt he pulled. Unfortunately, he had to explain it. He couldn't leave Stone in the dark about his own rescue.
"I... came and got you myself." Ivo stated.
"You..." Stone stared at him.
"They were taking too long. I wasn't sitting around while they sat on their asses instead of did their job." Ivo huffed.
Stone cracked a smile. "Thank you."
Ivo stared at him. He hadn't been expecting that. Nothing more? Just a simple thanks for what he did? Stone wasn't going to call him insane for it?
"A-anyway." Ivo changed the topic. "How do you feel? I tended to your wounds the best I could. Had I brought you to the nurses, they would've caused a scene."
"Everything aches." Stone replied, slowly stretching out his limbs to check their status. "A bit of pain when I move but it's tolerable."
"Good." Ivo sighed in relief. "So, how the fuck did you get captured? Normally you're better than that."
Stone scowled at the question. "The group I was with were idiots. Simple as that."
"You'd think G.U.N would hire only competent people here." Ivo rolled his eyes. "They're going to have fun removing them. Negotiations are a stupid way to go with this."
"You're telling me."
Ivo paused. "Oh... right."
"It's fine. Didn't give them what they wanted." Stone said.
"But they hurt you a lot." Ivo said. "You managed to stay quiet through it all? Some of the wounds look like they hurt."
Stone averted his gaze. "I... just thought of you and how you'd be disappointed if I broke. It kept me focused."
"I think I'd understand. Torture isn't an easy thing to just sit through." Ivo retorted. "But, enough talk of this. I'm exhausted."
"We're sharing the bed?"
"Like this is the first time? I'll try not to jostle you around."
Ivo climbed into the bed. He laid down beside Stone and pulled the covers over the both of them. Stone shifted and laid on his side, facing Ivo.
"Thank you for the help. But, it was quite reckless." Stone said, moving in to hug Ivo.
"I... yeah, I know." Ivo sighed, cautiously returning the hug. "I just... panicked. I didn't like the fact I didn't know what was happening with you. I hate when you go away from me. Then I can't keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get hurt."
"I won't get captured again. I promise."
"You better not." Ivo warned before he pressed a kiss to Stone's head.
Stone let out a small laugh. "To think a few months ago you'd never have cared if this happened."
"It's not my fault your threw yourself at me like this." Ivo retorted.
"You fell for me too. It's not like this is one-sided."