reneggadetinkerer | INBOX FOR escordvi

Then they aren't one of mine. As I'm sure you're aware I've been on my best behavior so as not to incur any murder or forced lobotomies.

[Look, it's late, he was woken up, and he doesn't feel like playing nice.]

[He examines the picture a little closer.]

Hmph. They're "everywhere?" Define "everywhere." Is this an invasion force or simply a garage sale that's gone off the rails?

I suspected they weren't. Unfortunately. [He doesn't expect otherwise with their behavior. Stay grumpy, he doesn't care.]

I've traveled to several islands and visited towns. Their numbers are few at the moment, but they have been present and causing problems where I've been. [So not contained to a single island.]

What sort of "problems." If they have a directive, they'd be executing that. Unless they've gone completely awol. If you've been to several islands you must have noticed a pattern, otherwise you wouldn't be wasting my time, correct?

[He grumbles as he makes the effort to sit up. He's up now, time to get some coffee.]

[He thinks about it. Because honestly, he see robot, he wrecks. Everything else is an afterthought. Were they after anything?]

They went after the people. Taken or killed. Found others taking resources.

So you don't know anything.

Fine. Where are you right now.

[He groans irritably. He knows enough that this is a problem..]

Outside. [....He doesn't mean literally outside the building Eggman is in. He means somewhere outside the known base.]

Would it kill you to be more verbose?! At least turn on your location, I'll just track you!

[A beat.]

And which one of you personal assistants was supposed to go out and get more creamer?! I will melt you down and turn you into a lawn gnome and then smash you with a hammer!

[He scoffs at that. He had to be really desperate to give the doctor a means to track him. Instead, he'll send him several photos. The first is taken somewhere outside the main town of Eltrut. Quite a distance by far off the buildings appears. The next is of Eggman's base, closer, but still taken somewhere outside of it's perimeter. The last, a photo of a road that has a sign and splits into two. A landmark Eggman can use to know exactly where he is. Between the his base and the town, closer to him, along the main road.

He'll still have to look around if he chooses to come out and find him. Settled underneath a tree with the decommissioned robot.]

Well, that's one thing you and I have in common, Shadow. We're both a fan of making things difficult for people we can't stand.

[Fortunately, all Eggman has to do is pull the metadata of the photos. He scoffs to himself. Honestly, the idiots who designed these didn't even take into account that the photos contained data, did they? All these fools wandering around taking pictures of their cakes and posting them to social networks. If he wanted to, he could track anyone he wants just by the worthless photos they took!]

[Bah. Now he's awake and angry because young people really should be more aware and adept at cybersecurity.]

[If he ruled the world, this wouldn't happen.]

[Regardless, Eggman pulls the metadata, takes a thermos of annoyingly black coffee, and sets out to meet Shadow.]

[It takes about a half hour before the good doctor makes the scene.]

Alright, you Moody Malcontent, where are you? It's the middle of the night! Don't you know I have better things to do??

[Excuse you, he's just very old fashion.

Shadow remains where he's posted, observing the doctor for a moment, the area around him to be sure it's just him. Once he's certain Eggman was alone, he'll make himself known by sending a chaos spear. It isn't directed at him, but hits the ground to his left. You can come over here where he's stationed with the robot.

The robot sparks feebly, but it will not return to life. Mechnical fluids are leaking out from it. It's crystal core is cracked, turned gray without power. One could work out it's power source easily enough, similar to those crystals found on the island where people were held prison. Structurally, while it's construction is mostly what one would expect to find in a machine, there were some parts that seem more organic.]

[Eggman jumps and yelps at the Chaos spear.]

Wh...It's too early for such blatant acts of aggression!! You summon me out here just to harass m—

[Eggman's attention is drawn to the robotic corpse by an errant spark, causing him to abandon is previous complaint in favor of this new stimuli.]

[He walks over and kicks it sharply before squatting to get a better look.]

Peh...I'm insulted you thought this was one of mine.

[He reaches into the cavity of the robot and rips out the lifeless crystal. A thought flashes in his mind.]

...Turo?

You're not above collaborating if it works in your favor. [Said pointedly. So he's not completely out of the woods yet. He raises a brow when he mentions a name. A familiar one.]

...What does he have to do with this? [He remembers their first meeting, how crystals started to form on his body when he was caught in a dark memory. So he can see a possible connection, but how does Eggman come to bring up Turo?]

He doesn't. I sneezed. You misheard me.

[He waves Shadow off as he stands and pockets the crystal.]

I'm not above collaborations but doing so will make me a prime target for your retribution, wouldn't it? Do you honestly think I'd tip my hand with these half-finished embarrassments? Now you're just reaching.

[...] So you won't be speaking with him after this?

[He knows what he heard, and it's odd behavior for him to just deflect like that. Unless the intention was to misdirect.]

A pretender then. In that case, looking into their creation and where they came from shouldn't be an issue for you.

[There's certainly something unique about these. It looked more like the machine parts had been attached to something more organic, if one were to look underneath the casing proper. More cyborg than actual robots. Various shards of crystal can also be found within it's headpiece.]

I fail to see how any of that is your concern. And for that matter, why should I? You don't give me orders, Shadow! Just because I've been neutered technologically doesn't mean I answer you mangy mongrels!

[He glowers over his shoulder at Shadow before he returns to the corpse, roughly reaching in and tearing out relevant components with little care for the creature they're attached to.]

Bah, make yourself useful will you? At least haul the corpse back to my workshop.

[Damn defensive much?]

I'm lacking leads. You brought up a name. I'll speak with him myself then. [If he's connected to this, he needs to know. He doesn't believe Turo is, but Eggman doesn't need to know that. His behavior when the professor was brought up is just curious. He did give him a chance to talk to them, and that's as generous as Shadow can get.

He looks to the mangled robot for a moment. Growling under his breath, he proceeds to lift the machine.]

Don't bother! All you'll do is get in the way and break things! I'm sure you'll take one look at the man's work and decide to destroy it because it got your quills in a bunch.

[Eggman begins marching off in a huff.]

Fine, I'll look into this, if only because I'm sure you'll try and frame me by painting me as the culprit. That's all you rodents seem to want. Honestly, you don't even wait for me to come up with any good plans. There's an order to these things, you know! It's part of the sequence!

Why do you care what I decide to do with him? [He's not destroying your stuff, not at the moment. So what does it matter to him if he wrecks Turo's place? Unless they're both up to something together.

...

Surely Turo would report to him if something were amiss.] Preventing those "good" plans from happening is the point. [Because nothing good ever comes from Eggman.] There aren't many robotics experts that are criminals like you. People would have come to their own conclusions without our intervention. [....So he's doing the doctor a favor by bringing attention to these robots now???]

Pah! Just like everything else about your genetic makeup, your logic is tragically flawed. Your assertions of criminality can only be backed by a conviction, and the last time I checked, you flea-bitten fools have yet to put me on trial. No, you'd rather just be judge, jury, and executioner. Such stalwart heroes. Your options are either murder or forced lobotomy.

I may be evil but at least I don't pretend to be something I'm not. Not if I can help it.

[He blatantly ignores Shadow's questions about Turo because all of this nosing about is getting on his nerves. Honestly, the nerve to ask for help and then get on his soapbox about morality?]

[He trudges back to his warehouse compound and opens the main door.]

Throw it anywhere on the floor. Try not to destroy any of my things. Then you can stop bothering me.

[The place is crawling with miniature Radniks, working themselves until their gears strip to keep the place up to Eggman's standards. He's certainly been busy, there's some fresh charts and schematics up. Looks like he's very interested in where Elah went off to. And he appears to be working on a personal submersible.]

I don't recall ever claiming to be a hero, doctor. [He is the Ultimate Lifeform. He is not bound by any rules or alignments. He does what he deems is necessary. Even if it turns the world against him.

There's a heavy thud once he enters the warehouse, setting the machine down on a open patch of ground. He is choosing not to destroy anything as he looks around the lab. The radniks...still acting harmless. Some investigating the new robot friend he brought back with curiousity. He'll walk around, eyes locking onto the schematics for a submersible.]

That didn't answer my question. [He didn't miss how Eggman started his ramblings about flawed logics and yadda yadda.]

You're right. I didn't.

[And he doesn't plan to.]

So, unless you have other business.

Or you brought creamer.

I've nothing more for you.

[Eggman moves to a console and sets the crystal down on a makeshift scanner. Something that will allow his machine to map its crystalline structure. With that, he sits heavily in his chair, facing away from Shadow.]

... [Uh-Huh. If he was expecting him to leave anytime soon, he isn't. Not often does he come to see what the doctor's been up to. So of course he continues to shuffle around behind Eggman while he works. Off course, he doesn't expect the doctor to have everything out in the open, but he may as well take note of what he allows him to see.

A few times he'll glance in the direction of Eggman, eyeing what he was up to with the crystal.]

[Eggman sighs a very dramatic sigh.]

What are you doing? Why must you insist upon snooping?? What more do you want??

... [He sits on one of nonfunctioning bots then. This is the current issue he's focused on right now. He isn't budging until progress is made. It also be foolish to leave the doctor after practically providing him with unknown tech.]

DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THIS IS GOING TO TAKE HOURS?! SHOULDN'T YOU BE OUT THERE HUNTING MORE OF THESE?!

If you want me to help you're better off bringing me more of the crystals! I don't care about the rest, it's all junk!

[It's not exactly all junk, but at this juncture, he's more likely to scrap anything from this machine out of spite for having to deal with it.]

You're wasting time flapping your lips. [He refuses to budge. Nothing can happen for hours, and Shadow will still be keeping his eyes on Eggman until results come. Not that he would absolutely trust it, but a means to track the doctor's progress remotely could get him off his back.

...] How many more do you need?

[Oh that's it.]

[Eggman spins around in his chair and crosses his arms defiantly.]

I refuse to take orders from the likes of you. You want my help? I help on my terms. You're the one who needs me, otherwise why would you even be here?? Goading me into keeping my good reputation won't work, I've already revealed myself as the despot genius that I am!

[He pushes himself to his feet and stomps over to Shadow. He knows the hedgehog isn't intimidated by him. In fact, Eggman is far outclassed here. He's got no army, no armada, no weapons capable of outright defeating Shadow.]

[But he's not about to be the stooge to a self-important genetic stew with a messiah complex.]

You want something. You've been asking questions. So, what is it? It's too early for this cloak and dagger nonsense and I haven't had my coffee.

[The fact he's not getting up from his own makeshift seat as the doctor approaches, says how much he isn't intimidated by the tall cartoonishly round man as he shouts at him.]

I simply can't sit here? [He's been letting the doctor do his work at his desk this whole time. Nothing has been destroyed, hasn't tried to convince him to behave in any way. And technically, he already has the fox on this as well and could have chosen not to bother with the doctor. So, why do this to begin with? The words are at the tip of his lips, but it won't come out, just because of who he's dealing with. Brows furrowing instead with annoyance at the very thought he was considering it that's the reason he's here.]

No. You can't. And you're quite lucky that I don't have the means to move you at this moment.

[His words are practically strained through gritted teeth. He's being looked down on. All because he's not a big enough threat currently.]

[Well, that will change one day. He already has so many irons in the fire. Especially a big, red, chaotic one.]

[Regardless, he whips around and he marches back to his console.]

If you want a means to track them, it will be easy enough. I just need to isolate the crystal's unique energy frequency. But it will take time to build, however.

[He is just sitting there. Vibe checking you. Either way, when was the last time the doctor was ever a real threat to him? He will continue to sit and observe, listening, crossing his arms.]

Hm. [It would quicken the search. Perhaps pinpoint where the main base of operation is.]

You're strangely less combative. Whenever you crash my compound, you tend to hurl threats.

Don't tell me you require coffee as well. If that's the case, you're the one who should have brought creamer.

Unless the Ultimate Lifeform takes his as black as his quills.

Would threatening you make you work faster? [What would be the point right now? He can't kill the bastard, and he was the one who initiated contact this time.]

I don't need coffee to do what's necessary. Coffee beans would suffice anyway.

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cw: implied rotting corpse

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