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He’d been away for too long, he knew that. But even with all the control that Robotnik had over him, Stone was first and foremost an agent for G.U.N. It was rare for them to send him on solo missions these days. But it happened, and Robotnik always let his displeasure known when it did. He was supposed to gone for a month, far too long in his opinion. But when he was called back from the mission two weeks early, he didn’t feel any relief. He only felt dread. Nobody would tell him what was happening. But any time he caught someone’s eye, they seemed to stare at him with apprehension before turning away in a hurry. As if they were expecting him to go berserk at any moment. Stone kept his eyes trained forward as an agent led him through the corridors of the base. He wasn’t familiar with this one. While he used to travel in his past, ever since he’d begun working for Ivo, he’d been fixed to one base permanently. Something he enjoyed, he didn’t have time to ‘acquaint’ himself with new people every other month. Didn’t have the time to pretend to care for people that he knew would end up dying sooner rather than later.
The unfamiliar area set him on edge. Why weren’t they taking him back to Ivo? If something was wrong, he should have been brought straight back to the lab so he could fix it. Instead, he was being treated like some sort of threat. It sent off alarm bells in his head, but he couldn’t quite place where the ringing was coming from. What protocol was this? Stone’s eventually brought into a room filled with screens and people. It’s overwhelming, but he tries his best to read as much as he can as he walks past various stations. There isn’t much, but one thing in particular puts him on edge. They all had Robotnik’s file pulled up. Those familiar eyes stare down at him with contempt as he reaches the front of the room. It sends a pleasant shiver down his spine. But the unease did not leave. Robotnik was not in the room, and if Stone were to guess. He wasn’t in the building either. The options were slowly narrowing themselves down bit by bit. And the ones he was being left with did nothing to ease his worry. He tries to catch someone's gaze. But they still refuse to look at him. Patience run far too thin, he snaps.
“Is anybody going to tell me who pulled me off the mission?”
“I did.”
The voice comes from behind. And Stone turns around much faster than necessary. Commander Walters stares at him with the same apprehension as the agents. But there is something else in his eyes that puts Stone on edge. More than he already is.
“Commander?”
“I’m sorry to do this on such short notice, Agent Stone, but I’m afraid this matter is quite urgent.” Walters steps up to the main monitor. Typing in something that brought up a new file that Stone had yet to see. “Just under one week ago, Doctor Robotnik was taken by unknown hostiles.”
Stone felt his heart sink into the deepest pits of his chest. Missing? A week?! Why had they waited so long to inform him of this? It was his job to keep the doctor safe, and he had failed. Failed the man that he loved more than the earth itself. More than the universe. And they expected him to just be fine with it. Stone felt something thrash about within him. Some snarling, biting thing that demanded to be set free. To save the doctor.
“What do you mean a week?! I should have been brought back the moment that you knew he’d been taken.”
Walters had the decency to look guilty. And the agents around them turn away from the conversation with forced disinterest. Had none of them offered to go in his place. Could nobody else be trusted to bring back the doctor? Did they even care that he might be-
“The mission you were on was too important; we couldn’t rush the task of finding a replacement for you.”
Too important? Nothing was more important right now than making sure that Ivo came back alive. Unharmed. They were wasting time. He needed to leave, now. With each second he wasted, the chances of Ivo being safe lowered dramatically.
“He could be dead!”
“Agent Stone, you need to calm down.” Commander Walters snapped.
“Where is he!?”
“Agent, I said you-“
Stone lurched forward. Grabbing the commander by his collar to drag him down to his height. Around the room, he could hear the other agents switching the safety off on their guns. Pointing them at him with deadly aim. But he didn’t care. Walters didn’t seem scared; he didn’t even seem angry. If anything, the older man stared at him with sympathy. But sympathy was useless. With a snarl, he tugged him closer.
“I’m not going to repeat myself, Commander. Where the hell is he?!”
-------
In all his time of working for G.U.N, Robotnik had been kidnapped a grand total of three times. And all of these times happened before Stone was even assigned to him. They had all been sloppy and unimpressive. And he had always been rescued by the end of the day.
It had been a week since Robotnik had been kidnapped from his recent field test. And he was slowly beginning to run out of hope. He wouldn’t admit it out loud. No he was too stubborn for that. But the pain was slowly breaking him apart. His captors were cautious; they never did anything too daring. A few of his fingers were broken. He’d been punched almost everywhere. And a small knife now sat in the meat of his shoulder. Placed there just half an hour ago. Even the zip ties (He was still pissed off that they didn’t buy proper bindings for him; he demanded respect.) had dug into the flesh of his wrist. Ivo wasn’t going to be able to wear his control gloves for a while once this was over. If it would ever be over.
The only person he could rely on now was Agent Stone. He could only hope that he’d returned from his current mission. Ivo had believed he was too important of an asset to lose. G.U.N. needed him for his drones. But Stone was away on a mission, and no one else had come for him. His agent had been taken away from his side for a pointless fucking mission. A mission which he had been told about the same day Stone was sent off. As if Walters was afraid he’d do something to sabotage them…. He would have, but that’s not the point. He never believed for one second that his machines would fail to keep him safe, but having Stone by his side was the additional failsafe he needed to feel relaxed. Ivo had become reliant on someone else, something his past self would have mocked him for. It was a fact that G.U.N. would exploit the moment they figured it out. It wasn’t like his relationship with Stone was a secret. But they all believed that Ivo was using Stone for his own entertainment. And Ivo. Some days, he couldn’t get himself to believe that Stone loved him at all. The days when he called him a sycophant, a barnacle. Someone clinging to him so they could get a taste of greatness. Stone would come for him. That was a guarantee. But for what reason, he did not know.
As if on cue, the sound of gunfire filled the air. A sudden commotion beginning on the floor above him. Ivo listened as the shouts and yells grew louder as more people were alerted to the danger. And he listened as one by one those yells stopped as they were picked off. Eliminated by precise shots that stood out from the frantic gunfire from his captors. The fight didn’t last long, and soon Ivo was returned to the silence he’d become accustomed to. It hadn’t taken his agent more than a few minutes to take out his captors. His rescue had been simple. And yet Ivo had been stuck here for a week. He could hear something shuffling about. Most likely Stone. And he knew he should call out to him to speed up his rescue. It would be the smart thing to do, and he was a genius. But he felt tired. Tired in a way he didn’t know was possible. Ivo tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling with a strange hollow feeling settling in his chest. Of course, it was Stone. Stone was the only person who could be bothered to deal with him. All these morons so determined to take from him again and again. With every year he spent at G.U.N. he lost more time to work on his own projects. It was unusual, but this feeling almost felt… familiar.
The door to his makeshift cell slammed open with a bang. Greeting him with the sight of his agent, panting and covered in blood. Dark brown eyes darted across the room searching for danger before settling onto him.
“You’re late.” He wheezed out past the pain.
“Doctor.”
Stone stared at him in horror for a brief second before rushing over to his side. Blood was splattered across the height of his cheekbone. And some delirious part of him wanted nothing more than to wipe it away. But he was exhausted, and all he could do was slump his forehead onto Stone’s shoulder as he allowed himself a moment of relief. It was finally over. His eyes closed without his permission as a shudder ran through him. Ivo could feel Stone shuffling about and soon his hands were free from the tight grip of the zip ties. His agent took hold of his wrists. Gently rubbing the circulation back into his limbs while being careful of the shallow cuts that now circled each arm. It wasn’t as bad as he thought, but it was still annoying.
“Do you think you can walk?”
Instead of replying, Ivo tried to push himself out of the shitty wooden chair he’d been sat on for the past week. Immediately, his legs buckled. A mixture of exhaustion and pain renders them useless. Stone was there to hold him up. Stopping him from falling back down onto the splintering wood below him. Damnit. Couldn’t he keep at least one piece of his dignity? Obviously not as before he knew it, Stone had lifted him into his arms. One hand placed steadily under his knees while the other rested firmly against his back. At least his Agent gave him the peace of not talking to him while he was being carried.
The relief when he saw the mobile lab waiting for them outside the building was indescribable. He didn’t have to suffer through this humiliation for long, it seemed. The door opened with a small hiss, and he was soon flocked by a small group of badniks who began to perform medical checks. Ivo shooed them away. Making them back up into the lab so that Stone could get him inside faster. His agent brought him over to the small pull out bed they kept tucked away in the mobile lab. Lowering him with care before walking away to gather up his medical supplies. Most of the Badniks followed the agent around. Chirping at him with curiosity as Stone darted from one place to another. But one stayed at his side, the red lens staring down at him with a despondent energy. It wasn’t long until Stone was dragging a stool over. Placing his supplies next to Ivo before settling down on the seat in front of him. His agent placed some painkillers into his hand before offering him some water. And Ivo downed both of them without a second thought. Dark brown eyes roamed over his body, quickly landing on the knife still lodged in his shoulder. His agent grabbed the handle of the blade, bracing his other hand on Ivo’s shoulder just next to the injury.
“This is going to hurt.”
“I’m not an idiot, Stone. Just get it over with already.” He had meant to sound angry, but his voice just came out in a hollow tone.
Stone frowned. But he did as he was told, pulling the blade clean from Ivo’s shoulder. Tossing it to the side before putting pressure on the wound. He did little more than wince in response. A mixture of exhaustion and adrenaline stopping him from truly feeling the pain. His agent worked in silence. Patching up the various wounds that Ivo had been graced with over his week long stay with his captors. Ivo could feel those brown eyes glancing up at him occasionally. As if waiting for something. Each touch he gave became longer, more lingering. The warmth of Stone soaked its way into his skin. Until eventually, Stone was just resting his hands on Ivo’s shoulders. Lightly digging his thumbs in, he traced soothing motions over his skin. The silence in the lab was unusually heavy as they sat there. With only the familiar hum of electricity breaking the emptiness.
Ivo was numb, any relief or fear that he should have felt. It just wasn’t there. He should have been bored out of his mind staring at the floor of the lab, but instead, he felt nothing. His mind frighteningly empty. He could barely feel the way that Stone was touching him. His body was not his own, and his mind was a prison. And no matter how much he wished it, he could not care. The world was slowly becoming distant, his vision fading away into a fuzzy blur. He had almost died. That should have scared him; that was the logical thing to feel right now. Yet Ivo wasn’t sure he was feeling anything at all. He’d been left behind; he was always left behind. That was the way his life went, just one big continuous line of people passing him on when he became too much to handle. He didn’t matter. He was just a tool. A piece in their system. Nobody would miss him if he were gone-
“Ivo?”
A hand cupped at his cheek, wiping away a tear he hadn’t noticed falling. He wanted to move, to reply, but no matter what he did, his body didn’t cooperate. He was stuck, still so far away, but the touch was warm. It offered him solace from the quiet cold of distance.
“You need to come back.”
This time a pressure against his head. And brown eyes staring into his. Brown like the coffee he drank every day. A swirling galaxy of concern and sadness. Ivo recognised these eyes; he knew he did. But every time he tried to draw up a name, his mind fell blank. There was only one thing he could clearly think. Mine. This one was mine.
“Don’t go where I can’t follow you.”
Stone. Yes, that was right, Stone. Loyal, obedient Stone. The man who refused to leave his life for reasons that Ivo couldn’t fully comprehend. This man was a mystery to him. He’d said so much- claimed so much. Yet Ivo never knew what to believe. He blinked, another tear falling from his eyes. Stone had come for him. Stone had missed him. He must have. Why else would he have come? Why else would he have stayed? Because G.U.N. ordered him to? He was a valuable asset after all. He blinked again, his fingers twitching against the smooth surface below.
“Ivo?”
A hand slipped into his, squeezing the trembling fingers (When the hell had he started trembling?). Ivo squeezed back. Not as tightly as Stone. But enough to prove a point. He was here, he was back. As much as he wished he wasn’t. He was alive. And with his life came pain. It hit him all at once as his body and mind fell into one. Ivo gasped. Eyes scrunching up as every injury made itself known at once. If this is what it felt like with painkillers, he was glad he hadn’t been all here when Stone had first rescued him.
“You’re alright, Doctor, just breathe.”
He knew he needed to breathe! At least that’s what he wanted to say. But Ivo was too busy biting back the urge to yell. His vocal cords hurt enough as it was; he didn’t want to add to the strain by yelling. No matter how much he longed to. Instead, he, reluctantly, followed Stone’s instructions. Focusing on breathing past the sudden sensation of his body returning to him. The warmth of Stone holding onto him. Pulling him close until Ivo could hide his face against his agent's shoulder. The hand that was not currently holding onto his own slipped into the soft strands on the nape of his neck. And Ivo was helpless to anything but relax into the sensation. Inhaling the faint traces of Stone’s cologne. If he had more energy, he would have returned the affection. He would have kissed at his neck or looped an arm around Stone’s waist to complete the embrace. Anything to escape the dull sensation in the back of his mind that threatened to return.
Instead, all he can do is take. Take Stone’s affection, his warmth. As he shudders and cries against a man he truly doesn’t understand. And Stone continues to give. Holding him closer, tighter. Whispering affections in his ear as Ivo works through whatever this was. He makes it so easy for Ivo. Guiding him along what he needed without ever having to ask. Like Stone had his every need memorised, stored away in the back of his mind so that he could be the best for Ivo. He knew he would need to go in for a briefing sooner rather than later. G.U.N. was not patient, and they’d want to know why he’d been kidnapped in the first place. What they’d asked and what Ivo had shared.
But Ivo was a selfish man, and for now, he would continue to take all he was being offered.