Chapter Text
There’s a man outside the lab today, just beyond their front window. There’s been a man, sniffing around outside, for the past three days. Stone knows that this is standard operating procedure, but he can’t pretend like it doesn’t grate on his nerves.
“Stone, that nosy freak has been skulking around the perimeter of my property for ages now...” Robotnik seethes, each word gritted through tightly clenched teeth. Stone knew his boss very well at this point, understanding the intricacies of his perfect mind deeply and intimately. There were a vast array of things in this world that irritated or infuriated the brilliant Doctor Ivo Robotnik - Starbucks coffee, overpriced computer processors, overwhelming stimuli, slow walking people, stupid people, people in general - but the absolute worst offender of that category was anyone who dared to come near his precious stationary laboratory. His lab was his sanctum, a safe place shut away from the world, somewhere quiet and secluded where he could work on his machines in peace, without any interruptions from the dregs of humanity. Save for himself, of course, he thinks with a swell of pride, smiling for no good reason, even as the doctor scowls.
“Can’t we riddle him full of bullets for trespassing by now?” Robotnik grumbles, steepling his fingers and peering through the blinds. His entire face is pinched together in pure frustration, brows drawn and frowning so deeply that it looks like it’s been scoured into the depths of his very soul, and Stone can only wince sympathetically as he replies. “No doctor, I’m sorry. That’s the safety inspector, he’s with the Department of Defense. I don’t think the bosses would be too pleased with us if we did.” Stone reminds gently, inspecting the minute changes in his expression as he squints against the unfamiliar rays of natural light. Robotnik just sighs long-sufferingly in response.
“Don’t tell me what I already know.” He quips, but his words seem to lack their usual bite, as all his ire is currently being directed at their little visitor. “We could make it look like an accident.” He muses, hand on his chin. “It wouldn’t be hard.”
Stone doesn’t doubt that. He’s well aware that there are motion sensor bombs out there, and although none of them are live at the moment, Robotnik could easily bring them back online with the flick of a switch. It would be an easy explanation, too. They could just tell the Criminal Investigation Division that Robotnik had meant to reset the router for his gaming rig, but instead, he’d accidentally remotely detonated several metric tons of C4, and inadvertently smeared safety inspector guts all over the empty terrain. Whoops.
He’s sure the doctor would absolutely revel in such a spectacle, although a small part of him wishes he could watch the doctor do what he does best, destroying people’s lives indiscriminately with popcorn in hand, but it probably wouldn’t be worth the hassle in the long run.
“I know you wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of contesting another wrongful death lawsuit.” Stone soothes, pressing in just close enough to let the doctor know he’s there, without encroaching into his little comfort zone. The doctor didn’t appreciate anyone coming too close, at least while he was working. He stays forty-two centimeters apart, just how Robotnik likes it. “God. I hate it when you’re right.” He sneers, lip pulled back in sheer, unabashed disgust. “The pricks threatened to cut my funding last time. I won’t be able to afford my death ray next quarter if they do…”
“I recall, sir. They’ve had us on a tight leash since then.” Stone murmurs, and Robotnik just nods along miserably. He looks dejected as he reminisces on it, criss-crossing his arms over his chest like a pouting child. Stone shouldn’t find it cute - there’s probably something deeply psychologically wrong with him to find everything Robotnik does so endearing, but he just does.“Insufferable bastards said that if I was going to be careless and irresponsible, they couldn’t trust me to manage my research grants. As if I didn’t do it on purpose!”
Stone remembers the incident just as well as Robotnik does, albeit with a few more reservations in regard to his boss’s motives. That poor pizza delivery guy. He never knew what hit him.
“Well, the FEDs can’t know that, now, can they? Those undeserving leeches would never let us hear the end of it.” Stone sighs, growing weary at the mere thought of all the paperwork he’d have to file. He never minds having to pull an all-nighter at the lab, of course, but he’d rather spend his time with his beloved doctor a bit more productively than that. It was always better to keep Robotnik calm, soothe him, and cater to his every whim, and prevent the situation from escalating if possible. “Just let him do his job. He’ll be out of our hair before you know it.”
“I suppose…” Robotnik grumbles, harshly scrubbing at his eyes as he turns away from the windowsill. “Still, why has he just been poking around out there? Most of the crap actually worth inspecting is inside.”’
“I think he’s been directed to scope out the warehouses first. It usually takes a few days to do inventory, so I imagine that’s monopolized a lot of his time.” Stone muses, ducking down as he tries to take a peek outside for himself. He’s curious if it’s anyone he recognizes; he has a fair few acquaintances in the army, and he’s hoping that he’ll be able to ingratiate himself with them somehow, for the doctor’s sake. He barely bothered to memorize the names of the riffraff he trained with from his time in active duty, but sometimes, having connections had its advantages. He only gets a brief glimpse of the man in question - pacing in circles, furiously jotting something down on his clipboard - before Robotnik furiously yanks the shade down, nearly ripping it off the wall with the force of his motion.
“What a worthless goddamn reprobate…” Robotnik mutters, skulking off to a deeper, more isolated part of the lab. Stone follows in tow, hyper-aware of his surroundings as he tries to maintain a demure amount of space between himself and the doctor. He always tried his best to maintain a respectful distance during work hours - he knew Robotnik could get incredibly finicky when he was keyed up like this, so the last thing Stone wanted to do was invade his personal space. He likes having all his limbs attached, so it was best to play it safe when Robotnik was in this kind of a foul mood.
He retreats to the inner sanctum, weaving through a maze of mechanized hallways and bypassing bundles of tangled wires, before disabling the biometric lock on the room that held the lab’s hard drives, as well as his holographic keyboards and monitors. He cracks his knuckles, popping a few cricks in his neck, before wiggling his fingers over the keyboard in anticipation, ready to sit down. Ah, he must be in a programming mood. Stone can work with that.
He scrambles to prepare his tunes of anarchy playlist, maybe start whipping up a latte with extra foam in order to cheer him up, but before Robotnik can fully settle into his seat, they’re both startled by a security alert popping up on the control panel, followed by a sharp knock at the door. Robotnik’s head whips over to the entrance of the lab, absolutely fuming, and Stone immediately knows that he has to tread with extreme caution.
“That must be the inspector. I can get the door, if you wish, sir.” He says nervously, rigidly standing at attention as Robotnik’s bloodshot eyes dart over to him, subconsciously dissecting his every word, irises boring a hole through his skin. He can practically smell it smoking and sizzling. “You don’t have to stand up, I can handle it.”
“No.” Robotnik replies gravely, rising to his feet, a sudden wave of calm washing over his face. Stone’s stomach drops. He knows that expression anywhere. “I want to have a conversation with him.”
Welp.This guy better pray to every deity under the sun that he already has his will and testament sorted out. There’s no getting out of this in one piece.
“Stone, heel.” He orders, voice worryingly empty, but Stone just salutes, squares his shoulders, and marches in pace with him all the same. Robotnik glides through the halls with slow, measured steps, elegant and refined as he makes his way through the twists and turns of the compound, right back up to the front door. His face doesn’t betray a hint of emotion, but Stone knows better. This was just the calm before the storm.
“Now, agent, remain on standby.” He says darkly, voice dropping down an octave, each word a low rumble in his throat. There’s something about the pitch that makes Stone’s stomach stir. Half nervousness, and half butterflies.
Robotnik flexes his fingers, inputting a few commands on his control gloves. The Badniks that were lying dormant all around them in sleep mode all suddenly hum to life, bathing the lab all around them in an eerie blood red glow. The expression on the doctor’s face was one of manicured, well-maintained indifference, but Stone could see the fury boiling underneath. He was one minor inconvenience away from an attempted homicide, and Stone was likely going to have to bear the brunt of the consequences. This could only end so well.
“Try not to flay the skin off his bones, doctor. Please.” Stone knows it’s incredibly arrogant of him to speak out of turn, but he really doesn’t have the energy to handle the legal repercussions of his boss’s actions right now. He’s supposed to be able to rein the doctor in when he gets like this, even if he can only do so much. He knows that arguing with him when he was in such a state is a fruitless, borderline suicidal endeavor, but he’ll be damned if he has to clean human viscera out of the cracks of their tiles again.
“Insubordination, agent.” Robotnik sneers, scowling at Stone as if he were nothing more than dirt beneath his shoe. Stone’s heart freezes in his chest, with icy puncture wounds bruising against his ribs and stabbing into his skin. He loves the feeling of the doctor’s eyes on him, but hates the coldness in his voice, the utter disregard in his tone. “Know your place. I have no use for a lackey who disobeys me.”
“Yes, sir.” He bows his head, tucking his tail between his legs and shrinking in on himself. In a last-ditch effort, he gives Robotnik his best pleading look, gazing up at him beneath fluttering lashes. Robotnik makes an affronted noise in the back of his throat, forcibly wrenching Stone out of his line of sight. “Ugh, fine. I’ll think about it.”
That’s probably the best he’s going to get. Stone’s honestly a little touched that he’s considering it at all.
He watches with rapt interest as Robotnik brings up an image of the safety inspector on one of the security monitors by the entrance of the lab - a short, stocky man with a blond buzzcut and beady blue eyes, impatiently tapping his foot as he waits for them to open up. An unfamiliar face. Stone couldn’t care less what happens to him. Stone wonders if he already knows that he’s a sacrificial lamb, or if he was woefully unaware of his inevitable fate. Based on his sour, disinterested expression, Stone could only assume it’s the latter. Robotnik cracks his knuckles and wrings out his hands, disabling the Badniks trained on the door with a flick of his wrist - elegant and precise. His eyes are narrowed, concentration intense, it’s more than enough to give Stone shivers at the sight. As breathtakingly beautiful as he looks, he’s grown all too familiar with that sinister expression over the years, and that can’t exactly spell good things for their visitor’s future. He starts to unlock the door, and Stone gulps.
Well, this should be interesting.