Chapter Text
Dr Ivo Robotnik, in his humble opinion, was always destined for greatness.
He was the most brilliant scientific mind in the last century- no, in the last millenia!
And as such, it was his moral obligation -his destiny- to mold the world to a better image, his image!
The world would be brought to its knees, and then to a brighter, more prosperous future under his leadership, and nobody would stand in his way!
NOBODY!
However...
No matter how many times he tried to conquer this world of simpletons or which different means he employed to do so, each and every one of his plans were constantly foiled.
All because of that-
-GODDAMN-
-HEDGEHOG!
That stupid rodent somehow kept managing to worm himself into his machinations, more often than not armed with some unexpected power up his quills to outclass his carefully designed machines.
It was all so FRUSTRATING!
And he thought he had finally done it this time, too! The experiments he conducted with the Phantom Ruby in the past, alongside previous data of Shadow’s Chaos Control allowed him to build a transportation module that would allow his machines to teleport at his command once installed.
After doing so he could devise and execute his plans far more effectively, and even keeping the surprise factor! The strategic value was considerable, and the possibilities were endless!
And that little, meddlesome pincushion had to appear at the worst time possible. As always.
Come on! He hadn’t even finished the device yet, and Sonic was blasting through his front door, throwing those infuriating puns of his and wrecking his stuff before speeding away as rapidly as he appeared.
“Sorry I can’t stay for long, doc, but I’m in a hurry. See ya!” the rat said in the distance.
The whole ordeal resulted in a blinding explosion that left his spaceship stuck, his machinery inoperative and himself utterly disoriented amidst the the smoke and rubble.
It took Eggman a few hours to regain his bearings, and even longer for the ringing in his ears to go away.
Thankfully the damage done to most of his robots was not too significant, so he could restore his systems with minimal repairs.
The ship wasn’t moving anytime soon, though.
Depending on the location where he crashed there could be bandits -or worse, agents of authority- inspecting the site. He had to move. Fast.
After whipping out the hard drives of the spaceship’s computers and disposing of what he could not transport he made to the nearest settlement he could find, hid his equipment in an abandoned building and started exploring the streets in hopes to determine his location.
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What he found left him baffled.
Not only he was in an entirely unknown metropolis (which was completely impossible), but from what he could see the only intelligent species there were humans.
No talking bipedal animals nor ancient creatures from legends lost to time. Only humans.
It seemed that he was in an entirely new dimension, one unknown to him, where humanity suffered some sort of evolutionary mutation.
Many of the people on the streets sported very obvious physical alterations, and some details gave away the fact that the ones who didn’t also had some sort of... ‘quirk’, as they refer to it (seriously, who was the absolute imbecile that decided such a name for the literal next step of human evolution?).
Some of those very subtle details were the posters of many heroes on every wall he could see, the humongous amount of screens showing other others’ feats and the ones patrolling the street in colourful spandex.
(He may or may not have seen a kid sneeze fire near him, but that’s not important right now!)
...Seriously? Was ‘hero’ the only occupation avaliable out here? This is ridiculous!
He went from having to face about ten superpowered heroes at worst to being in a world with ten times (potentially more, this is only one city after all) possible nuances!
And to make matters worse, after some checks he concluded that he didn’t gain one of those powers upon entering this dimension (of course not, that was more up that blue bastard’s alley), so no more tools to compensate for the difficulty increase.
At least he doesn’t stand out that much anymore...
Whatever! When has Eggman given up when facing adversity, after all?
Never, that’s the answer!
He didn’t give up when Eggmanland was destroyed, or when he discovered that his archenemy’s energy level was constantly increasing,and he was definitively not going to abandon his ambitions now!
He will rebuilt his empire and mold this new world he found himself in to his image, and nobody will stand in his way, regardless of these new heroes!
...But he had to gain a new identity and a stable source of revenue first, and (even though he didn’t have a clue about how to do the first) he knew exactly how to get the second one.
“Yes” he muttered to himself “Let’s start with that, then everything will goo much more smoothly”
With renewed confidence and a plan in mind, he straightened his dirtied clothes and marched back towards the outskirts of the district (Musutafu, he thought was it’s name), into the abandoned warehouse he took refuge in.
He had designs to sketch, robots to repair and many, many preparations to make.
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...Turns out the new identity issue was solved faster than he anticipated.
After entering his refuge he found out someone else was already in the building.
“There you are” said a figure in the shadows “I guess you are the one who left here all these machines, am I right?”
‘Note to self: set up proper security measures for the base. This is a rookie mistake!’ He berated himself It seemed that in his haste he only locked the door -with a rusty and old lock, mind you.
(What? He wasn't working with a lot of resources)
“Who’s asking?” he answered to the stranger while slowly reaching for the pistol hidden in his waist.
“Woah, whoah! I wouldn’t do that If I were you, buddy” However, the man noticed his intentions and got a few steps closer to Robotnik.
Now he could get a better look at the intruder before him: His mouth, which was notably missing a tooth and holding a lit cigarette at the moment, was contorted into what seemed to be an amicable smirk, but his friendly expression and dirty grey hair clashed with the calculating gaze of his perpetually narrowed eyes.
None of that was really important, though. What really mattered to him was the gun aimed at his face in the hand of that man.
...He didn’t like this situation in the slightest.
It must have showed it on his face, for he slightly lowered his guard “Hey, relax. I just wanted to talk with you”.
“About what?” asked Eggman, interested. Perhaps... Perhaps this was an opportunity to accelerate his plans’ progress.
Seeing his compliance, the man finally (finally) stopped aiming the gun at him and spread his arms, as if trying to point at the whole interior “I was planning on discussing a deal I had with some people when I noticed these little gadgets you have here, so I took a look and I’ve got to say I am impressed with the quality.”
“And while I could simply steal them” He would search him through land and sky and obliterate this buffoon if he dared “I believe it would be wiser to form a business relationship with you, so I could acquire more in the future.”
That... was actually a good idea.
Considering the situation, this businessman’s businesses were most probably anything but legal.
He could work with that.
“...Fine. Which of my machines are you interested in, mister...?” He said, to which the man pulled out a paper from his jacket.
A note, he realized, he went through all his inventory and wrote a note with everything he wanted and there was more than he expected.
“Giran.” the man answered casually, as if it were less a fake name made to protect his true identity and more his real self.
Well, he could understand that to some degree.
“Eggman.”
“Well, mister Eggman” he used the name given to him so naturally, he must work regularly with villains “Is any of these machines available for my acquisition?”
“Most of them are.” When inspecting the lis he noted that the majority were discarded weapons for his robots, so he didn’t have issues with selling them. However there was no way he would give away Metal in any capacity, and he couldn’t for the life of him understand why anyone would want Orbot and Cubot.
...He wouldn’t give them to him, though.
“Don’t worry, we can make an arrangement” Giran didn’t seem too bothered with his disagreement, though “Now, let’s talk about numbers. How much do you ask for the ones you are open to sell.”
It was his time “I don’t want money, Giran. What I need is slightly more specific than that.”
“Then you are lucky you are with the best broker in the district.”
“Well, then.” Eggman started.
“Firstly I’d like to keep this warehouse as my space, and I plan on installing security measures to avoid more intruders from getting in” he could swear Giran’s grin widened ever so slightly. “So if you could spread the word of this area being off limits for... meetings It would make my life considerably easier” He would like to avoid disposing of more bodies than he needed, thank you very much.
“Alright, Consider it done” the broker answered.
“Good. Now I also need a new identity...” He technically didn’t exist in this world, so he needed one as fast as possible.
“That is also manageable.”
“And about 30 blank blueprints.” That way he could start with his new designs.
Giran’s expression quickly changed to a very confused one “...That’s it?”
Mmmmm... It seems he overestimated the cost of a fake identity.
“Consider it a gesture of good faith, so our business relationship has a strong start” He wouldn’t look like an idiot, though.
The broker composed himself after hearing that “Alright, partner, I can get what you ask for” he then lend him a phone “I will be back in a few days with the items you requested. I will send you a message with the meeting place an hour before. It’s a pleasure doing business with you”
“Likewise.”
“Until then. See you later.” Said the broker after living the building.
...An opportunity like the one that appeared before him to solve so many problems jus a few hours after understanding what he needed?
Bless his luck!
Wait, that’s the main reason he’s left stranded here.
Curse his luck!