Chapter Text
There were days when Robotnik would gladly watch the world burn rather than be its rightful ruler and unwavering overlord.
Usually, such days involved a string of small seemingly unimportant setbacks or accidents that compounded into something so mind-blowingly infuriating that he considered building the world’s biggest weapon of mass-destruction and ending it all. He had an explosive temper no matter the quality of the day, but on really bad days his outbursts could easily become destructive in the literal sense.
The setbacks that plagued him ranged from minuscule things such as dropping his pen while trying to take notes on an important new project idea to more significant obstacles like one of his prototypes malfunctioning in the middle of a demonstration and severing some poor bastard’s finger off.
Most people took one look at him on such a day and scuttled away as fast as possible, knowing he was bound to tear into them if they got close enough to catch his attention. The only exception to this so far was his long-suffering assistant who was unlucky enough to be contractually obligated to be around him almost around the clock.
When he was in one of his moods, Robotnik resented this as well, and he made sure to do his best to make Stone crack under pressure, to push him past his limits and make him finally admit to not wanting to do it anymore. The only problem Robotnik had with this task was the fact that Stone had turned out to be a great deal more stubborn and resilient than he’d expected.
The calmness with which Stone received each insult and temper tantrum thrown his way made Robotnik wonder how Stone might look while being tortured in some inane way that unlucky agents were usually prodded for information when captured. Stone had to be good at it, Robotnik was sure of it. No one with that much patience and self-restraint could be lousy in interrogations. Out of the two situations, working for Doctor Robotnik was surely the worse one to end up in.
For some reason, Robotnik had yet to figure out a way to make the agent unravel and show the doctor a little bit of the real strength within him, even after a full year of Stone tagging along as his begrudgingly accepted assistant.
His failure to get a rise out of the agent when he was in a stroppy mood didn’t help the doctor manage his anger issues. On the contrary, it added to them, causing him to take out his frustrations on other people he knew he could grind down and humiliate with little to no effort. Usually that ended up being other agents and, if things got really bad, the higher ups that he was technically supposed to bow down to.
* * * *
It was safe to say things were currently pretty bad. Instead of just one bad day, the whole week was shaping up to be a series of very bad, no good, completely fucking terrible days, and it was only Tuesday.
It had all started with one of his control gloves short-circuiting on Monday morning. It caused the glove to electrocute him painfully until he managed to rip off the offending accessory and deactivate it for maintenance.
The incident had immediately made him grouchy and, perhaps more importantly, caused a snowball effect of bad by preventing him from working on his latest prototype in accordance with his planned schedule.
Stone had attempted to appease him with a well-timed latte decorated with immaculate art that depicted one of his egg-shaped drones. It had been a valiant but unsuccessful effort, because Robotnik had still been in pain due to the lingering cramping of his hand and the general irritation of having to give up on his plans.
Therefore, Robotnik had taken one look at the agent and the coffee in his hand and proceeded to berate him thoroughly for his mere existence on the planet as well as his lack of observational skills because how could Stone not see the obvious fact that his cramping hand was in no state to hold onto anything right now?
To his credit, Stone had at least had the sense not to point out that the doctor did in fact have a second hand as well, and that it was perfectly functional at the time. The only indicators that Stone had been affected at all by Robotnik’s outburst were the slight downturning of the sides of his mouth and a flash of disappointment in his eyes that the doctor caught due to how close he stood to the shorter man.
“Get out of my sight,” Robotnik had growled at Stone, clutching his hand to his chest and muttering about stupid assistants before turning around to get to work fixing up the malfunctioning glove.
From there, things hadn’t improved during the rest of the day. An influx of emails distracted the doctor from his work, prompting him to yell at Stone for failing to delete them immediately as well as threaten the destruction of his computer and the federal government itself.
At that moment, he hadn't given a damn about the fact that his funding was directly dependent on his cooperation with them. It was no surprise then that the doctor had been in a terrible mood the rest of the day and snapped at Stone whenever the agent appeared by his side with something to tell or simply holding another coffee.
* * * *
On Tuesday, Robotnik felt vicious right from the moment he woke up from his normally so refreshing three-hour sleep. He had spent most of the night working on the project he’d been unable to focus on the previous day due to his malfunctioning glove.
Leaving his mobile laboratory on a day like this was not ideal for anyone, least of all the people who would have the misfortune of running into him. His entire being radiated hatred at the world as he stalked the hallways of the government compound he was forced to frequent for countless meetings and endless bureaucratic nonsense.
In perfect accordance with Murphy’s law, the next very bad, no good incident occurred at that very moment. He was rounding a corner on the way to Commander Walters’ office when he collided directly with a person walking in the opposite direction.
The impact very nearly sent him flying on his behind on the floor, but by some miracle he managed to only stumble backwards before catching his balance. That was at least a lucky break, because there would have been casualties had he truly been toppled over by some government rube.
Stone, who had been trying to keep pace with the doctor’s long strides as usual, was there in no time, rather forwardly putting his palm on Robotnik’s back to stabilise him just in case. The only thing saving him from the doctor’s ire was the fact that he had someone else to blow up at right then.
His face twisted into an expression of unadulterated rage as he jabbed a gloved finger at the flabbergasted idiot in his way.
“You know, I ought to vaporize you in this instant, you pathetic excuse of a government dog. My status here outranks yours by such a margin that you don’t even exist to me. You will die and no one will remember you, because you. Don’t. Matter.”
With that, he darted forward with outstretched arms, wrapping his fingers around the man’s neck in a vice-like grip. For a few wonderful, cathartic seconds, he felt the man’s airways constrict satisfyingly under his gloves and watched terror replace confusion in his widened eyes.
Then, to his disappointment, he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his midsection from behind, insistently pulling him away from the target of his attack. His assistant was deceptively slight in his size based on the ease with which he dragged the raging doctor back, effectively preventing him from committing murder.
”Unhand me, Stone!” Robotnik hissed, sharply jamming an elbow at the agent in an attempt to get him to relent. Stone’s combat experience came in very handy in such situations, so he was able to block the move enough to maintain his hold on the doctor.
Robotnik was mostly upset at the lost opportunity to inflict some real pain because Stone pulling him back gave the open-mouthed moron time to slink out of his grasp and reach. Robotnik growled in frustration and glared daggers at the nameless government lackey.
”What the hell? You’re fucking batshit insane!”
The doctor wasn’t going to argue with a factual statement, but he was still furious enough to flash the guy a wholly malevolent grin.
”Oh yes, completely, and I’m going to make your life a living hell,” he promised, nodding slowly while he worked on prying Stone’s arms off himself. His assistant reluctantly loosened his hold on the doctor once he stopped clawing for the man’s throat like a rabid animal. His humiliated victim was already running away though, more or less sprinting in the direction he’d come from.
Robotnik shot Stone a pointed glare to signal that he wasn’t going to stoop down to the level of someone so not worth the effort, so there was no further need for intervention. He did squeeze his hands into fists though, gazing longingly after what he knew would have been a wonderful opportunity to let off some steam.
“Sorry, sir, but killing him here and now would have unpleasant consequences for you,” Stone said, his eyes meeting Robotnik’s when the doctor turned to his agent with a disapproving look. It was unlike Stone to get so directly involved in the doctor’s business with other people, and he didn’t appreciate being interrupted.
“Stone,” Robotnik said, low and cold, his full attention now on his unhelpful assistant. “If you ever prevent me from using my authority over these dimwits and jackasses again, I’m going to ensure that any career you have hoped to build is erased from existence.”
Stone nodded calmly like the threat was nothing new, but he didn’t vocally promise to never do such a thing again. Feeling antsy and dissatisfied, Robotnik huffed and grabbed Stone’s tie with one hand, using it to yank the agent closer so he could really emphasise his words.
“I want you to find out his information and background and get him fired to high heaven.”
That, on the other hand, was the kind of thing Stone had no qualms about handling for the doctor because it could be achieved without damage to their reputations. Smiling a little despite Robotnik’s persistent anger, Stone nodded. “Of course, Doctor.”
* * * *
On Wednesday, things escalated further. Robotnik had fixed his malfunctioning glove by Monday afternoon, but even days latere there seemed to still be some lingering tension in his hand, causing it to spasm occasionally. The sensation drove him crazy, and paired with the laundry list of tiny little inconveniences that kept coming, he was still not doing any better mood-wise.
For example, for some inexplicable reason, Stone’s shoes suddenly squeaked in a way that constantly grated on his nerves, and he snapped at the agent to go change his shoes unless he wanted to be thrown out of the lab. Stone went without protest, but Robotnik continued to find things around him that broke his focus.
By the afternoon, Stone had a twitchy, explosive Robotnik on his hands once again. The worst part was that they had been summoned to some relatively important meeting about potential budget decisions which could obviously directly affect the doctor’s work. Robotnik avoided acknowledging the existence of the meeting up until Stone simply wouldn’t let him get away with it anymore. The clock was ticking.
After Stone sidled up to his chair for the third time, trying to be polite and nonchalant about it and failing miserably, Robotnik couldn’t take it any longer. He threw his hands in the air and groaned loudly. “Fine! Fuck, fine, yes, the meeting. Go away, Stone, I’ll be ready to go in ten minutes.”
* * * *
Miraculously, they ended up only being five minutes late to the meeting. Robotnik flung open the door of the conference room with a dramatic flourish, strode in without a word, and took a seat with his face already indicating pure disinterest. Stone quietly closed the door behind them before sitting down next to the doctor as usual, focused on observing the room.
Robotnik tapped the table in front of him impatiently while pretending to listen to whatever was being said in the room. He cared about his funding in the sense that he needed it to progress his projects as well as his secret plans that even the government wasn’t aware of. That didn’t mean he had to enjoy the meetings, of course.
What felt like an eternity later, Commander Walters finally turned to Robotnik and requested him to speak about his next proposal. Robotnik sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn’t like explaining his ideas to these people. They had no imaginations, not to mention any real intelligence to speak of.
“Agent Stone,” he said, gesturing for his assistant to do his part. Stone nodded and placed a disc-shaped hologram projector on the table so that Robotnik could demonstrate his designs.
Robotnik clicked a button in his glove to activate the holograms, launching into a long-winded presentation about what he wanted to build next. He gestured wildly with his hands as he spoke and manipulated the holograms to show off details he’d added to them, skipping through different perspectives and versions so quickly that most people in the audience had trouble keeping up.
It was all going astonishingly well from the doctor’s point of view, at least until he was interrupted right in the middle of showing his most ambitious and technical idea. The most embarrassing part was that the interruption came from his very own assistant who was definitely not meant to open his mouth during Robotnik’s speech.
Robotnik paused and turned sharply towards Stone, his eyes widening incredulously.
“Did you just sneeze?”
Stone grabbed his own nose and fought back another sneeze before nodding sheepishly. “Sorry, Doctor—”
Robotnik slammed his palm into the table and stood up, his eyes glinting with a manic anger.
“Agent Stone, perhaps you’ve forgotten, but you are here only, and I repeat, ONLY here as a somewhat useful tool to hand me things and close the door behind me. You are not here to participate, and the mind-boggling fact that you think it’s A-OK to interrupt me, ME, in the middle of demonstrating my genius is, quite frankly, a new low, even for you!”
He paced around as he spoke and closed in on the agent towards the end of his spiel, jabbing a gloved finger in Stone’s face. He was tempted to grab the agent and shove him into a wall for good measure, but even just this verbal outburst was enough of a shock to everyone in the room that he managed to stop himself.
The look in Stone’s eyes was an odd one, almost defiant, which Robotnik was certainly not used to. He leaned down with his shoulders hunched, gritting his teeth together.
“Wipe that fucking look off your face, Agent,” he snarled.
“Doctor, please, could I request that we get back to the presentation?” Walters suggested, looking somewhat pained. “I’m sure the agent is very sorry for interrupting you.”
Robotnik glared at Walters too, but bit his tongue because he knew it would be a hassle if he blew up at the hand that fed him quite so blatantly. He glanced back at Stone and drew a slow breath before taking a seat in his chair again. The way Stone stared at him bothered him. It was like he could physically feel the agent’s gaze on the side of his head. That feeling made it more difficult to get back to his presentation, but he pushed forward despite wanting to storm off and flip off every last one of the fools gaping at him.
The rest of the day, Robotnik sat hunched over his work and ignored his agent’s attempts to offer him coffee or suggest a break. He felt off his game and rattled. He couldn’t help thinking of the lab’s self-destruct button that was located next to the circuit breakers, momentarily fantasizing about the satisfaction of hitting it hard.
* * * *
On Thursday, Robotnik witnessed something unexpected.
He had been holed up in his lab all day, working away since he finally was able to without regular interruptions. He had even accepted his daily coffees from Stone, though somewhat begrudgingly, and only offered the agent a small grunt as a thank you without looking in his direction.
Naturally, there had been no comment from the agent, but Robotnik could still sense that Stone was not his usual self either. It seemed like the terrible week was in fact affecting both of them, even if the agent was eons better at hiding his frustrations.
Even the doctor had to admit to being human sometimes, however, and give in to the annoying basic needs of his body. Therefore, he took a small break to get out of the lab just as the sun was setting outside, frowning in confusion at the sight of his agent being outside as well. Stone was standing there with his back to the doctor, engaged in a lively conversation.
Robotnik did not recognise the man Stone was chatting with, but he saw immediately it was another agent from the way he was dressed. Suspicious, he approached the two men and stopped to stand behind his assistant, looming over Stone’s shoulder and giving the other agent an unsavory look. He was satisfied to see the unfamiliar agent’s face switch to an expression of trepidation.
“Agent Stone, having fun, are we?” As he spoke, voice purposefully casual, he slapped his palm onto his assistant’s shoulder and side-eyed him.
There was no nervousness in Stone’s eyes when he met the doctor’s gaze. Instead, he let out what sounded like a put upon sigh and nodded.
“Just taking my daily break. They’re in my contract,” he said equally casually, his tone carefully controlled. Nevertheless, Robotnik detected an attitude in the way Stone’s gaze lingered on him, as if daring him to prod further.
Robotnik made a face and shifted his attention back to the third person present, looking him over slowly.
“While you’ve been out here fraternizing, I have been sacrificing my precious time inventing new toys for you imbeciles. Oh and I don’t recall requesting a second assistant, by the way, so I’d like to know what the fuck you think you’re doing this close to my lab.”
He tightened his grip on Stone’s shoulder minutely, narrowing his eyes at the other agent.
“Mr. Robotnik—”
“Doctor,” both Robotnik and Stone interrupted immediately, making the agent stutter and then clear his throat before trying again.
“Doctor Robotnik, we were just chatting about, well, you know, the work and its… Uhh. Downsides.”
Robotnik grinned maliciously. “Oh, the work and its downsides, hmm?” he mocked, pausing to click his tongue, “I’m sure you know so much about the concept of work with that pathetic marble-sized brain of yours.”
The agent shook his head and opened his mouth again to respond, but Stone was faster. He placed his hand on the doctor’s wrist, turning towards him and drawing his attention once more.
“Doctor, allow me.”
Robotnik stared at his assistant in disbelief, not quite willing to accept that this was the third time Stone was interrupting one of his dressing-downs. His ultimate goal had been to get his agent away from this snooper, so he was somewhat pleased to have Stone’s attention back on himself. Intrigued despite his annoyance, Robotnik waited for Stone to continue.
His fingers still curled around the doctor’s wrist, Stone looked back at the other agent. “We’re very busy at the moment, and the Doctor hates interruptions. His work is also highly confidential, so it’s best if you take your leave now.”
Robotnik eyed Stone, a little disappointed by the lack of heat in his tone. Always so professional. He himself wanted to see the fear in the other person’s eyes when he intimidated them. Then again… perhaps it was nice to not have to waste his oxygen on another one of these government mutts for a change.
Robotnik paid no mind to the other agent as he headed off, instead focusing on watching Stone’s face with interest.
“I want you back inside, now,” he said after a moment, snatching his wrist out of Stone’s grasp before turning on his heel to stalk back to the lab.