"Hello, rodent," Robotnik said.

Sonic stood at the base of a bronze circular throne, beneath the large mecha-human. Robotnik's black vinyl eyes shifted in his metal eye sockets. He curled back his red lips to reveal his teeth and gums.

"Hey," Sonic said. Every muscle in his body felt like it was ready to explode. Robotnik stood up from his throne and began to pace closer to Sonic. He towered a full five feet over him. "What's my name, Sonic?"

"Hey, Doctor Ivo Nikolos," Sonic corrected, gritting his teeth.

"How are you?"

"Mmm," Sonic shrugged.

"How's that uncle of yours and the mutated fox?"

"Good," Sonic quipped.

"Shame you had to miss the meeting last night," Robotnik said.

Sonic shrugged again. "Yeah."

He tried to keep his spikes from unsheathing. Robotnik knew why he had missed the meeting. He had to.

"It sounded like you had a nice chat with the queen and princess to make up for any lost social interaction." Robotnik said, nodding towards the back of the room.

Queen Alicia and Princess Sally stood in their places, watching. Neither one moved or spoke, but Sally's gaze had locked on Robotnik's face the minute she stepped into the room.

Sonic shifted his weight to one leg and lifted his chin. "You wanted some rings this month, right?"

Robotnik stiffened. "Why thank you, yes. But you're avoiding my comment, hedgehog. You expressed some strong feelings to her highness about our little arrangement, didn't he, your majesty?"

The Queen nodded her head once.

Robotnik stared at her for a second, then turned his gaze back to Sonic. "You should really be grateful. Remember? Every ring you give me I use to fuel my roboticizer. If I didn't have your rings, I would have to kill a Mobian, so I could harvest their Mobium, so I could use the Mobium to run my marvelous machine. This way, you are saving lives. I know protecting and guarding your fellow "people" means an awful lot to your little rodent heart."

Sonic's eyes spat with anger. "Yeah. Or you could just not use your machine at all, and that would save two Mobians—one to fuel it, and the one you'd use it on."

"Haha," Robotnik's jaw creaked. "Don't get too plucky with me. You will probably be one of those robots someday." He leaned forward. "Resign yourself to the idea."

Sonic rolled his eyes and glanced away.

"Now. You have my rings?"

"Yep."

Robotnik shoved his hand into Sonic's ring belt and hauled him forward. He unbuckled the belt and began to slip the rings off into his multi-hinged hand. "And you bestowed all of them to me and me alone?"

"Yep."

Sonic always bestowed the rings as fuel-only rings. That way Robotnik could indeed only use them to fuel the roboticizer. No missile weapons or bombs or force shields or anything.

As the rings touched Robotnik's hand, they flared a little, signifying that they had met their rightful owner.

Sonic had downsized each ring to coin-size and turned off their energy fluorescence so they wouldn't float on their own. So, when one ring slipped through Robotnik fingers as he counted, it fell to the floor with a "ping."

Sonic made a scooping motion with his pointing finger from behind his back. The ring shot back up into midair and stopped within an inch from Robotnik's face.

Robotnik jerked back. His eyes swiveled to Sonic, and the laser fluid in his red pupils brightened.

"Dropped that one." Sonic dared.

Robotnik curled his hand around the floating ring. He hesitated for a moment and a low mechanized "mmm…" rumbled in his chest.

At the back of the room, Sally closed her eyes and let out her breath between clenched teeth.

"You know, rodent," Robotnik finally said. "This arrangement has some personal benefits to you as well."

Sonic gave a wry grin.

"I full well remember all the damage you and your electricity-generating turncoat of an uncle did to me and Robotropolis before we made this little pact."

Sonic tensed.

Was this going to lead into last night somehow?

"You were an outlaw to me at that time. Like a pest that keeps breaking into a vegetable garden. If it hadn't been for our dear queen and this pact, I probably would have found some way to kill you. Your life was always in danger then."

Sonic glared ahead. He would have that life back for anything. He and everyone he'd cared about was free then.

"Your Uncle gave himself up to me," Robotnik reminded. "He knew he couldn't run forever. Shame you didn't take a hint from him. Can't you see, this arrangement has given you a second chance?"

Sonic's glare shot back up to Robotnik, but he did not say a word.

He was not going to talk about Uncle Sparks with him.

"Or are you already giving up on this second chance?" Robotnik began to put the rings into slots in his arm. "Are you still fighting me?"

This was it. Sonic's mind raced in a thousand directions, and, for once, he could not think of a single clever thing to say to get him out. He was going to be arrested. He was going to die.

Robotnik's eyes bored into him. "Don't worry. It was a rhetorical question."

Sonic waited for the mecha-human to pull a gun out of his robotic wrist, or for his laser eyes to suddenly brighten and blast at his face. But nothing happened.

"You know what I would do with you if it wasn't for this pact?" Robotnik said, as if it was an afterthought. "I would pick you apart. I would take you back to Robotropolis, slice you down the middle, and spend a good couple months trying to figure out what it is that makes you tick. You and your rings and your speed…I'd do a lot of things with you. If it wasn't for the pact."

Sonic's voice cracked as a snort escaped him. "You're still going to try."

Robotnik paused, and then a look of surprise crossed his features, as if he hadn't expected Sonic to be that intelligent. "Well…why yes." He extended a hand towards Sonic's head. "Yes, why else would I call you out here every month? So I can look at you, of course."

Robotnik tried to grasp a handful of Sonic's head spikes, but that was too far.

Sonic jerked back, yanking his head away and unsheathing his head spikes with a hiss. The spikes raked across Robotnik's underarm, tearing off the rubber coating on several of the fine wires that controlled his fingers. One of the finger tips suddenly sagged on its hinges, its wire cut.

Robotnik retracted his hand and turned to examine the wire.

Sonic realized what he'd done and he braced himself. He waited for the metal hand to try smacking into his face or gut, or for Robotnik to call for the whip.

But again, Robotnik did nothing. He only turned around and walked away, still looking at his hand.

Sonic glared after him.

Sally watched, her eyes round. She held her breath.

Finally, after what felt like a minute of silence, Robotnik turned back around. "Sonic…you've done your job for today, you can run home. In fact, what about you go and check on that grandfather of yours?"

Sonic felt all the blood drain from his face. He stepped back. "What'd you-" He stopped.

Robotnik bowed to the Queen and princess in the back. "Thank you, your highnesses, I don't think we've had any complications today…I'll look forward to seeing you at the People's Council this afternoon." He smiled.

Sonic kept backing up, his pupils contracting.

Not Grampa Chuck.

He had to get out of here.

He dashed about to the double doors, nearly tripping over the shackles on his ankles, away from Robotnik and audience room.

"Sonic!" Behind him, Sally strode forward from her place, marching towards him

"Sonic Ringweilder!" the Queen called, snatching Sally's shoulder.

Sonic forced himself to stop. He swung around to face her.

"Thank you, Sonic." The Queen's face was hollow. "You are dismissed."

A cynical frown crossed Sonic's face, but he meant the words. "Long life to you and the true king, wherever he is." He bowed to them. He gave a pointed look at Sally. "You too, Sal."

Sally stared, her blue eyes wide. She tried to mouth something, but Sonic turned on his heel and pushed through the doors.

Sally spun and fixed her gaze on Robotnik, her lips pursed together in rage.

The mecha-human watched the Queen, a soft light burning in his laser-filled eyes.