Chapter Text
Dr. Robotnik was a genius.
Five PhDs, an IQ of 300, and multiple patents for advanced robotic engineering unlike anything the world had ever seen before was all attached to his name.
A top secret government asset with revolutionary drone technology, Dr. Robotnik had been sent on multiple undercover and black-ops missions with a perfect success rate. ‘Mistakes’ did not happen to him. He was, by all accounts, perfect.
Ivo, however, was about to slam his head into the wall.
Oh, yes, genius, PhDs, perfect record, blah blah blah. None of that mattered one bit when he did something as stupid as reverse wiring the kinetic convertor in the engine he had been working on. And this time he didn’t even have ‘co-workers’ around to blame it on! Not even an irritating janitor was around to blame!
Swearing and muttering under his breath, Ivo raised his gloved hand and executed the sharp gesture that would activate the recording command for his personal logs.
“Robotnik. Personal Log Entry #742. Mobile Lab project delayed by 3.2 hours due to reverse wiring of the kinetic converter. The final design should allow the kinetic energy generated by the movement of the vehicle itself to convert into electricity that will power the planned lab.” He could have ended the log there, but his irritation at such a simple mistake got the better of him before he could help himself. “And why the hell is it that I’m only making mistakes when I finally get my own lab and no idiots to share it with!”
For years — years! — Ivo had been forced to share lab space with other government ‘scientists’ who were really just idiots who knew a couple of four-syllable words. Fighting for funding had been like fighting over scraps and trying to stake out a decent amount of lab space was like waging a miniature war daily. Nevermind he always won, it was still exhausting and a waste of time.
Ivo had sold his soul to the U.S. military back when he was only just considered ‘an adult,’ and now, in his fifties, he had finally managed to get his own private lab after years of begging and sabotage. And yet, somehow, he couldn’t even get through a month without screwing something up?!
A soft beeping drew his attention to one of his babies, the sweet thing floating in front of him and holding the wrench he had thrown in a rage earlier in one of its claws. When Ivo noticed it, there was another, higher beep, this one an identifier of greeting and delivery both.
Unable to help a soft snort, even as he was annoyed his babies could get his anger to drain away that quickly, Ivo took the wrench and set it back on the table. “Thank you, darling.” Turning his attention back to his recording, Ivo sighed and added on a quick, “Side note: if asked about the delay, blame Stone.”
Ending the recording, Ivo peeled off the sleeves of his jumpsuit, which was a necessary evil when working in the hanger and on the larger vehicles he designed, and let the top half fall around his waist. Lazily tying the sleeves together around his waist like a half-assed belt, and mentally saying farewell to the white tank-top he was wearing that would soon be covered in grease and oil and need disposal, Ivo returned to his work.
Even as a part of his mind worked on retracing his steps to figure out where he had begun deviating from his original design, another, smaller section, reflected on how quickly he had thrown in a joke about blaming Stone in his personal logs. Never in his life would he have thought he’d have an agent who was not only useful, but one he didn’t mind having around.
Agent Aban Lee Stone had been a, supposedly, active field agent for decades before suddenly being assigned to Ivo while he was healing from some severe injuries. Ivo hadn’t expected anything useful from the man, not when active field agents only cared about their guns and scars and couldn’t care less about learning how to read. Stone, however… Well. It was the first time Dr. Robotnik had been wrong about something.
Even with his injuries, which had actually been rather severe at the time, Stone had been the perfect assistant. Managing his calendar, responding to emails, attending meetings in his place and taking notes, and even bringing him coffee.
The whole time, as well, he had been perfectly composed. No sass, no arguments, no emotional outbursts. He had taken Ivo’s scoldings and then corrected any behavior that had been commented on. He had been as diligent and relentless as any of his machines and that had made Dr. Robotnik confused and Ivo curious.
Within the six months Stone was contracted to him, he had been the perfect assistant, to the point that Ivo couldn’t even fathom the idea of going back to the string of idiots that he had before.
Not to mention, there was no way Stone would survive as an active field agent. He should have been behind a desk years ago with how good he was at it, and with those puppy dog eyes and bright smiles there was no way he was that effective in the field. Hell, it was a surprise he had survived as long as he had!
He had been ready to dig up some blackmail if Walters refused to transfer Stone to him permanently, but when he went to yell at the man, he found out Stone had already requested to stay with him. And that was after Ivo had started giving him ridiculous orders just to see if he would follow them!
Walters had been reluctant to assign Ivo a full-time agent that had been one of their top field operatives, or so the old coot had lied to try and guilt him into dropping the matter, but had relented in the end with some persuasion and light threats. After that, after Stone became his, things- Well. They didn’t change, but it had become… more?
Stone was still the perfect assistant, but slowly he had started becoming the perfect lab partner. When they still shared a space with other idiots, Stone had been quick to help him secure enough space for his work and to aid in gathering tools and parts for him when he was focused on a specific design. Hell, he had even helped increase his funding! (As if Ivo hadn’t noticed the way Stone had gone around blackmailing and threatening the other scientists like an over-eager guard dog intent on pleasing his new master.)
As if all of that hadn’t been enough, Stone had gone and become his- Sycophant? Henchman? If he were a different man with a different life, he might have used the term ‘friend.’ Luckily, he knew better.
Either way, his agent had gone and started losing his stone-faced composure around him. Over time, his controlled reactions had become admiring looks and his neutral expressions had become full blown smiles. After that, there were slips of rolled eyes and sassy remarks and smirks.
All of it eventually turned into looks of awe and gushing compliments and an understanding of his work that no one — no one — had ever seen before. (Stone may have been the only person to ever see the humanity in his work. For as much as he loved his machines and extolled their virtues when compared to the human race, there was a reason they were so responsive — why they had so much personality. There were faults in humanity, but there were trace amounts of good as well.)
Now, two years later, Agent Aban Lee Stone had become a part of Dr. Robotnik’s world. He was as integrated as the rest of his machines, a subroutine that hadn’t been interrupted since it had first been established. Worse (better?), he had become a part of Ivo’s world.
Eugh. Even his thoughts had become more soft and mushy since Stone had begun working for him. The man was lucky he made such good drinks.
“I’m back, Doctor.” Ah, speak of the devil and all that. Ivo didn’t even need to look over his shoulder to know that Stone was standing there with that eager look, the work tablet Ivo had made for him last year and secretly been updating every few weeks, and a cup of coffee. “I have notes on the latest meeting involving Project 32-B, your upcoming schedule, and a drink since you’ve been in the hangar for the better part of the morning and afternoon and have so far refused to ‘waste time’ by eating.”
“You know, there can be such a thing as being too efficient.” Ivo pushed up his goggles to rest on his forehead and spun around in his chair, pleased he was in time to see Stone’s rolled eyes and exasperated look that he quickly tried to hide behind some vapid customer service like smile.
“I don’t believe in such a thing where it involves you, Doctor.” Uh huh. Shaking his head at those big brown puppy dog eyes staring at him, Ivo scoffed and held his hand out. He wiggled his fingers until the drink was, rightfully, pushed into his waiting hand.
Taking a sip, and already feeling his shoulders relax at the familiar warmth and perfect taste, dammit, Ivo looked back up with another scoff that was much more obviously feigned, “Drop the act, sycophant, there’s no one around to see all that sass you hide.”
“Who says I’m hiding it?” Stone sassed back, as predicted. “It isn’t my fault this entire base is composed of those who don’t have listening skills past that of a fourth grade level.”
“Fourth, huh? Generous today, aren’t you?” Ivo hid his smile behind another sip, annoyed that he wasn’t even upset that talking to Stone had gotten rid of whatever lingering annoyance he had leftover from his earlier fuckup. What an irritating, perfect assistant he had been cursed with.
Shaking the thought off, Ivo kicked his chair out from where he had been working and let it roll towards Stone. When there was hardly any space separating them, Ivo hopped to his feet, kicked the chair off course just enough to where it wouldn’t knock his assistant to the ground, and then, in the same motion, spun around Stone to continue his path and stride up to one of his holo-screens. Hands on his hips, Ivo called back, “Alright, hit me with it, Stone. What’s the damage of everything?”
When no answer was immediately forthcoming, Ivo frowned and looked back. Stone was standing in the exact same place he had been since he entered the room, but the gaze he now had trained on Ivo was- Well.
While things had become comfortable between them, there was that.
Every so often, like in that moment, Stone would look at him. Sometimes it was similar to his usual admiring gaze, but with a small change to make it feel heavier. Other times, Stone’s expression would be neutral as it had been at the start, but Ivo could feel the way he was watched and followed.
And rarely, but growing more often, Stone would look at him like that. When he looked at him like that, Ivo was at an uncomfortable loss.
Genius he may be, but Ivo was well-aware of his shortcomings in the more emotional aspects of humanity. He was well-versed in telling when people were trying to get into his good graces or, more often, when they wanted to rip his face off, but beyond that? Well. Reading faces wasn’t exactly his forte.
He had gotten good at reading Stone over the two years they had been working together, but he wasn’t proficient. Not yet, anyway. Especially when Stone was annoyingly ‘stone-faced’ when it came to his emotions most times. (Ivo did know that, whenever that look was shot his way, Stone always looked like he was asking for something. Surely he had to know that Ivo would say yes if he just asked.)
Luckily, Stone snapped back to his usual efficient self before Ivo had to drag him out of whatever spiraling thoughts he had decided to trap himself in. He was smart enough to not apologize for the lapse of silence unless called out on it, so instead he just smiled and opened another file on his tablet.
“Shall I relay the damage before or after the fallout of the E-7 line of Badniks and their new stun baton testing?” Stone’s voice was smooth and professional as always, but Ivo didn’t bother to hide his cackling at the mischievous spark of glee he saw in his perfect little assistant’s eyes. Stone was, wonderfully, as much of a bastard as he was.
“What fallout?” Ivo finally scoffed when he got his breath back. “They were stun batons! Those lazy agents should be just fine!” Sure he had cranked the volts up after hearing Stone’s complaints about the unit that would be testing them and how immature, lazy, and racist they were, but it wasn’t like Ivo had to disclose all of his testing paramatours. “Did any of them die?”
“Not permanently," Stone said evenly enough that Ivo couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious. If he was serious, then the agent was still alive! No harm, no foul! “Unfortunately, most of today’s updates are a lot less interesting.”
Ivo waved a hand for him to continue, absently listening to Stone relay whatever notes he had taken after going through his emails and attending meetings in his place. Honestly, where was Stone back when Ivo was first starting with the military? He could have been so much more productive over the years! Nevermind the fact he was twenty years Stone’s senior and the man had likely still been in diapers when Ivo started his military contract, Ivo still could have used him as a distraction!
Shivering as his body cooled down in the brisk air of the lab now that he was no longer welding or working, Ivo doubled back to where he had been sitting and grabbed the drink Stone had brought him. A couple of swallows both warmed him up and had him absently licking up a stray drop at the corner of his lips.
When he registered the silence, Ivo took his chance to ask, “Forgot to ask, but what’s today’s drink of the day? Wait, before you tell me.” Ivo took a longer, slower sip, mulling over the flavors. There was a bitter twist with the steamed milk that was softened up by a perfectly-brewed espresso. “Latte with… pear?”
“Apple.” Ah, damn. Odd for a summer drink, but perfect after a long day’s work in the hanger as his body decided to remember it couldn’t hold body heat or maintain a decent internal temperature worth a damn. Stone was, as usual, disgustingly perfect in choosing what Ivo would like. “Shall I add it into the rotation?”
“Your obsession with finding the ‘perfect’ drink is concerning, Stone,” Ivo pointed out like the hypocrite he was. As always, he could see the struggle Stone went through to not roll his eyes. It was hilarious. “And of course add it to the rotation! It’s delicious!” This time, Stone did nothing to temper the way his lips curved into a smile. “Well? Keep the news going!”
Diligiant as always, Stone resumed his reports of the day. As they so often were, they were boring as hell. Another reason to be grateful that he had Stone to throw at those dull meetings and read those horrendous emails. He had much more important work to do, after all! Although, no one could fault him for a small coffee break. (Him. Taking a break! Oh, his past self would be horrified. His past self could also die unhappy, Ivo had good coffee to drink.)
As always, Stone finished with his conclusion of, “I also took the liberty of breaking down all my notes into overviews and sending that and the full notes themselves to the server for later retrieval as needed.”
“Thank you, Agent Stone. Disgustingly perfect and organized as always.” Ivo said it like an insult, but he was well assured by that point that Stone could hear the not-so-hidden praise in his words.
“Of course, Doctor.” Ah, and there was that big old goofy smile of his. Truly, it was a good thing he had Ivo to keep him from going back to ‘field work’ or whatever G.U.N. used him for. Poor puppy would have been put down in seconds. “If that’s all, I’ll-”
An alert chimed from Stone’s tablet before he could finish, Ivo frowning as he recognized it as the tone for ‘if you ignore this alert we will cut your funding.’ Never a good thing to hear on a day that had been shaping up to be a decent one. The only thing that made it slightly better was Stone’s grumpy expression as he looked down at the alert himself. He never quite had the right words for it, but the closest he did have was that seeing Stone’s puffed up cheeks and pouty lips made Ivo want to bite him.
“Apologies, Doctor, but it seems that Walters had summoned us for a meeting.” Ugh. And there went his good mood- “In twenty minutes.”
Ivo blinked slowly. He then looked down at his filthy jumpsuit, sweat-soaked tanktop, and the grease and oil that was smeared across patches of his skin. He then, very reasonably, screeched.
“Now?!” Struggling to unwind the sleeves tied around his waist, Ivo started shouting, “Stone! Get me my coat! And a washcloth! And some sanitizer! And Walters’ geriatric head on a plate!”
Thankfully, they were professionals.
Within twelve minutes Ivo was striding out of his lab in black slacks, a nice button-up, and a nice jacket that conveyed his menacing and appropriately evil aura. His hair was slicked back sharply, his mustache curled to perfection, and his shitty white lab coat was, thankfully, left behind since he didn’t need it while outside the labs. All that topped with his favorite accessory of Agent Stone trailing after him like his shadow and keeping up that blank expression that had initially irritated Ivo in the beginning of their work relationship.
Now, it was a delight to see the way the government’s little sheep cowered and skittered away from them. They looked at Ivo like the mad genius he very much was, thank you, and they looked at Ivo’s puppy like he was a wolf with bared fangs. Even some of the actual security looked away when Stone glanced their way!
Yes, Stone had originally been assigned to Ivo as an assistant with self-defense skills to help him in a security situation blah blah blah, but Ivo had never seen those so-called ‘skills.’ It didn’t matter, either way, as Stone’s competence as an assistant more than made up for anything. And who knew, maybe he did do a couple of self defense courses or something. Ivo never looked at his file, not when he thought Stone would be useless as every other assistant before him. (And it wasn’t like he could look at it months after he first got Stone and realized he was staying. He had his pride! Besides, there was probably nothing too important in there.)
Either way, stalking down the halls and terrifying everyone who came across them softened the irritation that came from needing to go and have a face-to-face meeting with Walters. And, idiot though the man was, he at least had enough brain cells to not keep them waiting and immediately call them in when Ivo slammed the door to his office open.
The old man didn’t bother standing to greet them, so Ivo threw himself into the chair in front of the desk larger than the man’s ego. Agent Stone, perfect little henchman, stepped into place behind him and kept that blank, unnerving expression of his aimed at Walters.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Robotnik, Agent Stone. Thank you for coming over here on such short notice.” Walters said it like they had a choice, which made Ivo very reasonably scoff as loudly as he could. The strained, brittle smile on the old man’s face made Ivo feel only slightly better. “We have a covert mission that needs accomplishing with as few people assigned as possible and, of course, you two were at the top of our list.” Yeah, right. More like they were the only ones competent enough.
“Cut the crap, Walters, and tell us why we’re in the principal’s office today,” Ivo cut in, grinning gleefully at the dark look in Walters’ eyes and the edge of a smirk on Stone’s face. “Your perfect honor roll students couldn’t get the job done?”
He half-expected Walters to drag the whole thing out, but was intrigued despite himself when the commander opened a drawer, dropped a heavy manila folder on the desk, and spoke bluntly, “Nelson Thorndyke. Have you heard of him?”
Flipping through his memories of names he bothered to remember, which weren’t many, Ivo finally rolled his eyes. “Does it look like I bother to remember every name that I come across? Stone.”
“Nelson Thorndyke is CEO and founder of Thorndyke Industries.” Stone was quick and prompt as always and Ivo had to resist the urge to say something inane like ‘good boy.’ “They’re a software company based in Japan that, as of the last public projections, holds 52% of the world’s computer market.”
Ah, right. That Nelson Thorndyke. He was a businessman more than anything, but Ivo had kept an eye on things once the software had started consuming the public market. There was no hidden danger to it, yet, but Ivo made sure to keep it far away from his own systems. Public projections, though… “And the actual number?”
“67%,” Stone said promptly, knowing where Ivo’s thoughts were going, as always, and giving him the information he needed. (Another reason to hate Walters, seeing as he had tried so hard to take Stone from him. Finders keepers!) “It has yet to gain traction within North America, but some smaller companies have switched to their software.”
“Oh for-” Cutting himself off, Ivo rolled his eyes hard enough to make sure it was seen as he looked back at Walters. “Seriously? You drag us in here because you’re worried about some foreign software malware?”
“Worried isn’t quite how we would put it,” Walters said, that vapid smile on his face that he so liked to hide behind. “The United States Department of Defense, however, is concerned that there is a chance for the software to be used negatively against its users. With so much of the software now being used, this could cause quite the disturbance worldwide.”
Agent Stone was the one to ask the question, tone much more neutral than Ivo would have been able to manage. “And the United States Government?”
As expected, Walters’ smile grew tighter. “It is not a concern of theirs at this moment in time.”
“Blah, blah, blah.” Kicking his booted feet up off the floor and onto Walters’ desk, Ivo grinned sharply when the man didn’t even try to scold him. He was that desperate, then. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Good ol’ Uncle Sam doesn’t want us fucking around with some big shot in another country. You and your big shot generals don’t trust like that, though. So you want my tech to spy on him so if he goes rogue you can say America found out first and knew it was coming! Am I right?” Waiting until Walters’ opened his mouth, Ivo cut back in with a grin, “Don’t bother answering that. I know I am. Oh, and a super secret bonus: half the government doesn’t approve of this so we’d be going behind their backs as well.”
The room was silent around them before Walters finally sighed and flicked open the folder, spinning it around to show a picture of- A kid?
“Chris Thorndyke,” Walters said. “Son of Nelson Thorndyke. The family travels often, but we’ve isolated a time where you’ll be able to tag the son with little to no exposure to Nelson Thorndyke. Seeing as you two are still contracted to attend public functions on the behalf of the government, the less you’re seen or recognized on this mission, the better.”
“Wow,” Ivo drawled out, dropping his feet and leaning in despite himself. “Already acting like we’re gonna take it, huh?”
Walters didn’t respond, which, rude. He just shifted the picture aside to show a piece of paper that Ivo already hated just from the few snippets he caught. “The requirements needed for a surveillance device that will be able to attach to the son, detach, and then move around to enter Nelson’s offices without notice both when he travels and when he’s at home in Japan.”
“Oh, yes, just tell me to make a piece of technology that doesn’t exist,” Ivo snapped, crossing his arms.
“So you can’t do it?” Oh, fuck off!
“Of course I can do it, who do I look like?” Snatching the paper on the ‘requirements,’ Ivo read it over and started running calculations and basic blueprint outlines, a quarter of his attention staying on Walters as he kept info-dumping.
It was basically tag the kid without getting spotted, show up at the place where the kid would be alone besides some house staff and a bodyguard since his parents would be out wheeling around town, and don’t get caught by foreign governments or their own government. Definitely illegal, but that was often Ivo’s favorite type of mission.
“If I may, Commander Walters?” Stone’s voice had Ivo pausing his calculations, attention snapping to his assistant. The man had stopped taking notes and was now looking at Walters’ with that blank, unnerving expression he had in the beginning — and still had when he was looking at someone that wasn’t Ivo. “You mentioned that the location will be an event in which we’ll be able to ‘blend in.’ What event would that be?”
Ivo was not good at reading people. He had never bothered to try and learn, either. What was the point? Still. Even he knew when Walters was asked a question he didn’t want to answer.
“Go on then, Walters,” Ivo said, tone as annoying as possible to goad the man on. “Tell us what stupid little kiddie event we’ll have to pretend we actually want to be at.”
Silence. One, two, three- “The Station Square Comic Convention.”
“The what?!” The Station Square- Comic Con?! Walters was making them go undercover at the biggest fucking gathering of nerds and losers to stalk a kid?! Okay. Deep breaths. He could get out of this. “Well, I hate to say it Walters, but it looks like it won’t work. That’s only, what, a couple weeks away? Tickets probably sold out months-”
“Tickets, hotel accommodations, and airfare have all been arranged.” Oh, motherfucking-! “The event begins this weekend-”
“It’s Tuesday.” Oh, that was Stone blurting out obvious information and interrupting Walters, huh? Damn. It really was that bad. “Ah- Sir. Is it really such a good idea to execute an off-the-books mission with such a limited window of time? Especially considering the technology that Dr. Robotnik will need to invent-”
“Oh, I have absolute faith in you two, Agent.” Bastard. “I do heavily recommend-” Which meant he was ordering them. “-that you two wear what the kids call ‘cosplay.’ It will help you blend in and hide some more of your… distinguishing facial characteristics.”
Walters looked at Ivo’s glorious mustache and Ivo swore, then and there, that he would make sure it would not be obscured by a single hair out of pure spite. As it was, all of his curses stuck in his throat and he could only grunt out, “And if we say no to this insanity?”
“Then I believe we would need to revisit your contract, Doctor.” It was only the feeling and presence of Stone stepping closer that kept Ivo from leaping out of his seat, irritation turned to pure rage. As it was, it took a couple of shaking breaths and long seconds before Ivo managed to get a reign on his temper.
“Understood, Commander Walters.” Standing up, Ivo snatched the folder off the desk. He was well aware of how much of a leash his contract was, but that didn’t mean he didn’t rage whenever he felt it tightened around his neck.
Tossing the folder to Stone, who caught it neatly and tucked it under his tablet at once, Ivo stalked towards the door. He paused for just a second, just enough to glance back at Walters. The man was sitting at his desk, not having moved an inch, and met his gaze like he knew it would be coming. He likely did. Walters was an idiot, but he still had a couple brain cells.
As much as a small part of him wanted to rage and tear the man apart, Ivo didn’t need to. No. All he needed to do was whisper a soft, “Careful, Commander.”
The spark of unease and fear in the man’s eyes was enough to satisfy Ivo for the moment. That contract kept him leashed, after all, but it didn’t keep him muzzled.
Ugh.
Comic Con.