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Stone squeezed his eyes shut and took a few deep breaths. Robotnik had been back less than an hour and already he was treating Stone like his subordinate again. Stone had hoped that maybe Ivo would see him as an equal now, especially after all he’d done with The Mean Bean and hiding in plain sight in Green Hills and following his instructions to the letter and-“No. You know what? I’m done with this.” Stone blurted out, completely interrupting whatever Robotnik was rambling about. He hadn’t really been listening. “You would always rant and rave about how dependent I supposedly am on you, but I’ve not only survived close to a year here on my own with you gone somewhere in space, I’ve thrived. But look at you right now,” Stone laughed coldly, “your first day back on Earth and where do you go running? Me, Ivo. Me.”Robotnik stood in silence, staring at Stone like he’d just wronged him in the most heinous way possible. “Now, that is no way to speak to your superior,” he said, trying to defend his pride. Stone barked out a laugh, “Neither of us are government employees anymore! Which means I am no longer your subordinate, so you have no excuse to treat me like one. We’re equals now, Ivo. Whether you like it or not.”Another mini staring contest ensued between the two men. Knuckles didn’t break the silence, either, and both men seemingly forgot he was even there. “If you want to stay with me, you’re going to treat me like a goddamn human being. No, scratch that, you’ll treat me like one of your prized badniks, since you place them higher than humans.”“Holding a grudge never helped anyone, Stone,” Robotnik sneered, still clinging to the idea that Stone would back down. “Shut your goddamn mouth before I clock you in the jaw so hard you’ll need dentures.” Stone had his hands clenched into fists at his sides.“I may not be your superior in a chain of command, but you shall treat me,” Robotnik was cut off by Stone’s fist being formally introduced to his jaw, exactly as threatened. He stumbled backwards, holding a hand to his face as he stared slack-jawed at Stone. Stone stepped forward, fists still clenched, and Robotnik took another step backwards. The poorly masked fear in Robotnik’s eyes gave quite the boost to Stone’s ego. He cornered Robotnik and grabbed him by the mouth, pulling him down and getting in his face. “Listen here you insolent piece of shit. I did exactly what you asked of me; I followed your instructions, ingratiated with regular human society. But after a while, I found your instructions were lacking. I began to deviate from them, improve upon them. I got all of your tech back, I built everything you see around you right now. All on my own. I don’t need you. I’m better than you, Ivo. Letting you stay here and use the badniks to capture Sonic may as well be out of pity. One more slip up and you’re gone. Understood?”Stone kept his grip, Robotnik not having answered yet. “I asked, do you understand?” Stone asked again, raising his voice and shaking Robotnik’s head around a bit. Robotnik made a small noise of understanding, and Stone pulled his hand out of Robotnik’s mouth, wiping it on Robotnik’s jacket before walking away. Robotnik just stood there, in shock at having his own maneuver used against him. “For future reference, I won’t hesitate to manhandle you again,” Stone said as he walked back with an ice pack for Robotnik’s jaw. Robotnik just snatched the ice pack, slamming his free hand down on the holographic map in the countertop. “Damage my technology and I’ll damage you.” Stone said bluntly, glaring at Robotnik. “Understood.” Why was Robotnik afraid of Stone all of a sudden? What in the hell are these emotions? “So, I see you stayed in Green Hills,” Robotnik tried to start a friendly- or really any- conversation. Sitting on Stone’s living room couch in near silence had become painfully boring. “Yeah? What’s it to you?” Stone replied as he walked in from the kitchen. “What is with this attitude, Stone? I would’ve thought you’d love to see me back on Earth in front of you.”Stone sighed deeply. “I do love that you’re back, really. But, you disobeyed a plethora of direct orders from higher ups- which cost me my job- you disappeared into space because you were outsmarted by a goddamn hedgehog, and you weren’t the kindest person to me before you disappeared, either.” Stone let the silence hang for a moment. Yes, he liked that Robotnik was mean to him, but it was a chip he could play right now. “So, yeah, I’m not exactly the happiest man on earth to see you again.”“I see.” Robotnik kept his gaze on the floor. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish getting ready for work.”“You seriously can’t close up shop for one day?”“Have you considered, by chance, that the coffee shop isn’t wholly a front? That maybe I enjoy running it?” Stone asked rhetorically before walking out of the room. “TV remote’s on the coffee table. Knock yourself out.” “What is a tee-vee?” Knuckles asked after Stone had left. Stone returned, wearing a white dress shirt and a medium-brown pair of pants, to see Ivo hopelessly trying to explain both the tv itself and the remote to a very confused Knuckles, both of them becoming increasingly frustrated. “Come on,” Stone said authoritatively, interrupting Robotnik and Knuckles’ argument. “I am not sitting in the cargo area,” Ivo stated, standing next to the car. “We can’t risk you being seen. Either of you! Get in the back with the space,” Stone paused as Knuckles growled and glared at him. “Echidna,” he finished, and Knuckles nodded. “These windows are heavily tinted. No one will see me, anyway.” “My car, my rules.” The tone of Stone’s words, combined with the way he stepped closer to Robotnik, made the latter remember the threats from the previous night. “All good back there?” Stone asked with a shit-eating grin on his face as he looked in the rear view mirror. “Yes, yes, now drive!” Ivo huffed. He likely regretted barking that order so harshly as Stone floored it and he was thrown against the back door. “Okay, you two stay in the break room until close,” Stone instructed as the trio entered The Mean Bean from the back parking lot. “I’ll make sure my employees take their breaks outside or something.”“I understand we can’t possibly risk the citizens of Green Hills catching a glimpse of me, I really do, but,” Ivo trailed off, grimacing as he looked around the small, nearly empty room that Stone had just turned the lights on in. “If you don’t want to stay in here, I’m perfectly fine with you staying outside in my car.” Stone pulled his keys from his pocket and held them up. The second Ivo reached for them, Stone closed his palm and pulled his arm out of reach. “I keep the keys with me, though.”Ivo scowled, but walked into the small room and sat down in one of the two chairs. Stone felt his watch buzz as he prepared one of his first customer’s coffees, and glanced down at it. A text from Robotnik. “Is that that Wachowski imbecile??!” Stone rolled his eyes and went back to the coffee-making. From behind him, the man politely ordered another coffee, “for Wade.” Quickly after, another text from Robotnik flashed across the screen of his watch. “ARE YOU SERVING COFFEE TO THE MAN HARBORING THE…” the text trailed off, too long to fit on the small screen. Stone just sighed and continued ignoring the texts. Though, he did quickly tap around on his watch and arm the extra lock he’d installed on the break room door, to ensure that Ivo and Knuckles would indeed stay there. “What is the problem?” Knuckles asked as Ivo violently rattled the doorknob. “He fucking locked us in here!” Ivo yelled, finally giving up on the doorknob. “What was that?” Tom chuckled, slightly alarmed but not wanting to jump to outrageous conclusions. “Must have left the tv in the break room running,” Stone laughed as casually as he could, sliding the first coffee across the counter to Tom. “He’s out there, within arm’s reach of Thomas Wachowski. And he’s locked us in this pathetic excuse for a break room.” “Who is this Thomas Wachowski?” Knuckles asked, only serving to further irritate Ivo. “Oh, only the last known confidant of that blasted hedgehog,” Ivo grumbled, only half paying attention to Knuckles, instead rapidly pushing buttons on his gloves. “He has Sonic? The man out there?” “As far as I know. Yes.”“We must get out there!” Ivo barely had enough time to move away from the door before Knuckles had slammed himself against it. He barely left a dent. “Bright idea, my little friend, but if this is anything like my tech- which I highly doubt it isn’t- you aren’t going to damage it. Step aside and let the true maestro have a crack at it.” Ivo slipped his goggles down over his eyes, crouching down in front of the door as his glove’s mini torch fired to life. And then the door flew open. And the handle hit him square in his now-exposed forehead. He fell backwards, sprawling on the floor and just barely pulling his legs out of the door’s path as it opened the rest of the way. “What is your problem?” Stone glared down at Ivo. “Both of you!” He added, glancing up to Knuckles. “Robotnik said that the Wachowski man out there is the one with the hedgehog! We need to get to him.” Knuckles stepped past Ivo, who was now scrambling to his feet, headed towards the door. Stone hesitantly blocked the echidna’s path, tensing when Knuckles narrowed his eyes and balled his fists. “Stand down, Knuckles,” Ivo said confidently- arrogantly- as he pat the echidna on the head. Knuckles grumbled, but complied, releasing his fists and stepping away from the door. “Stone, would you care to explain why you served Thomas Wachowski coffee and just let him walk away?” Ivo asked, with the tone of a teacher scolding a child who’d been misbehaving. Stone returned Ivo’s sarcastically sweet smile, shifting his weight so he wasn’t leaning on the door jamb; stepping closer to Ivo. “Why yes I would, Doctor. You see, sometimes, rushing into things headlong with no plan isn’t the best decision. Sometimes, you need to play the long con. Get on your target’s good side or, more ideally, become practically invisible to them. Hide in plain sight, if you will. What the hell do you think I’ve been doing for the past ten months?” Stone let that hang in the air, the look of confusion and contempt on Ivo’s face doing horrible wonders for the superiority complex he’d inherited from the man himself.“I poured an obscene amount of salt into his coffee, if that makes you feel any better,” Stone added as he backed out of the doorway, pulling the door shut and locking it again. “It does,” Ivo said quietly, staring at the closed door, after a long moment.