Chapter Text
“What do you mean a room?” Robotnik snarled into the phone. “Stone snores. You’re going to have to put him up separately, he can assist me from next door. Wait. What?”
Stone winced. He had a pretty good guess what the doctor was being told and he didn’t expect it to go over well at all.
“Are you insane, of course he’s going, he is absolutely going!” Robotnik was stomping around the lab furiously, flailing like he wanted to fight the air. “Stone is my assistant and I need assistance! And- and security! What about security, he’s supposed to be my bodyguard, you want me to get killed down there? What? Oh... oh certainly, of course that will be fine. Mm-hm. You can just assign me a couple of military meatheads and dropouts from secret agent school and we’ll see whether I even survive to the end of the meeting! That’ll be great! What other good news do you have for me? Let me guess: I’m flying commercial and in a middle seat and my suitcase has a weight limit!”
He listened a moment, howled into the phone once more in apoplectic fury and then threw it across the room.
Stone went and retrieved it. He hung up while the travel liaison was still stammering pointlessly. He sighed and held it out and wondered whether a joke would help. Maybe yes – the doctor would probably appreciate an excuse to keep screaming, burn off some more of the rage. “So… suitcase does have a weight limit?”
He braced up for the storm.
But oddly… Robotnik’s eyes narrowed and he spoke quietly. Almost thoughtfully. “No. No weight limit.”
The doctor insisted that he stay for dinner. Since they now had logistics to cover, since they weren’t going to be seeing each other for the next few days.
The doctor poured the post-dinner coffee. When Stone stood up afterwards his head spun, and the doctor was smirking at him and his heart lurched and he-
He awoke very uncomfortable. His knees throbbed and he had muscle pain, cramping, in his legs and neck from lying in an uncomfortable position. He moved to fix it but he couldn’t move.
He jerked hard, jerked against-…
The panic brought him awake all the way and he worked to figure out his situation. He was in a moving vehicle. He was tied up. Specifically: he was curled into a fetal position in a small compartment, walls on every side and beneath him, arms and legs bound. And he couldn’t yell in protest about it because his mouth was stuffed full and taped shut.
He breathed hard through his nose to check and, okay, so far so good on that score. But his mouth was completely sealed off, so if that changed he was in actual danger of suffocation. He had to stay calm, somehow.
“Hello there, Stone!” Movement above him – the doctor. He twisted to try and look up. Twisting made it harder to breathe, and he soon subsided. Fingers scratched at his cheek. “I can take this off for you if you’re quiet. Kay?”
He nodded yes as best he could. Robotnik peeled at first, steadily… and then halfway through lost patience and ripped the rest of the way.
“Mmmmn!” he yelled.
“Hey.” Patting him on the cheek. “I said quiet.”
He worked his jaw and tongue, and identified a cleave gag with a big knot of fabric in the mouth. He could breathe some around this, and yell around it a little if he tried – but that would make him an idiot, probably invite the tape back. He nodded and stayed quiet. Twisted again to look up. What is going on, he tried to ask with his eyes.
“I told you,” Robotnik said, “You’re coming with me. If it’s any consolation neither of us is traveling in style; the plane is so old and so cheap the cabin’s not much better than the cargo hold anyway.”
He was serious. Dear god the doctor was serious.
“Nn-nn!” he insisted. Panted hard through his nose and then looked up. “Ahh?”
“What – air? Come on, I designed this case myself. You’ll have better air quality than the rest of the passengers. You’re welcome.”
He snarled around the gag: this was not funny.
“If you want I can knock you out, though,” Robotnik offered, and held up a needle.
“Nn-nn!” Stone squirmed and shook his head as violently as he could. Pure terror talking, really; he would have nn-nn’d anything; and he regretted the refusal almost immediately as the lid of the case came down and he heard the click of locks.
“Suit-case yourself, Agent.”
Not. Funny.
Then he heard a thump-thump. Robotnik patting him. “Enjoy your flight!”
TBC.
Edit: deleted previous note because it’s now clear that I had no idea whatsoever where this story was going when I began it.