Ch. 3 Other plans
The sun shone brightly upon the malevolent city of Robotropolis. The city was not worthy of such brilliant glory. Well, Robotnik was complaining. He mumbled several curses at the golden sphere before he pressed a button for the blinds to close.
He turned to the main console, and watched once more the video feed of Sonic as he saved the old ferret from the new car. Turning from the screen to peer out at his city, he cursed luridly for several moments. That damn hedgehog. He hated him more than the rest.
The overweight scientist was not having a good life.
As explained before, his resources had been spent during the war with the Freedom Fighters. His nephew, Snively, had deserted him and migrated to another country. He had been wise to do so, after Robotnik's apparent defeat. Robotnik, for the past two years, had been spent gathering resources (in secret, naturally) that would return him to his former strength. He wondered why the rodents had not over-run his city and destroyed him once and for all.
What were they waiting for, he wondered? Was there the possibility they still feared him?
He twisted his mustachioed face in anger. Blasted Freedom Fighters! Blasted Sonic, most of all! If not for them, and him, Mobius would have been his a long time ago. He hated them, hated them all, with all his might. They plundered his city and caused him trouble to no end. Why, the blasted rodents had had the impudence to build a city right next to his! He swore several times more.
"SIR, NEW VIDEO FEED THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST," came the computerized voice, as the monitor flashed.
"What now?" he grumbled. He had concealed cameras dotted about various points in the city. It had taken a lot of ingenuity (and a touch of genius) to have a 24-hour watch on that city. The chair he was sitting in shifted his unwieldy body to the screen. He watched with interest, this time, as that same 'blasted hedgehog' entered a jewelry shop. He watched with increasing disbelief, as the blue rodent purchased what appeared to be, on closer inspection, a twelve-karat diamond ring!
What in the name of all that was robotic was that blue rodent up to!?
"Hm. What about that other video feed?" he muttered to himself.
He tapped in several commands and the other video feed played once more. He noted that at the end, the senior ferret had given Sonic two pieces of paper. Zooming in at maximum, he read the tickets. VIP passes to Cliff Dome! This was getting very interesting indeed. He guessed correctly that the two incidents were tied together. He cropped a screenshot of the old video feed and processed it in the main frame. Within moments he had Luciano Parazzi's life laid out before him. Grew up in another continent. Came into money early in life. Married, has two daughters. Following his parents' example, he had migrated to a foreign country (this country) after things had settled down and built the Cliff Dome, which was now the highest-ranking, most prominent restaurant for two thousand miles. He was a very wealthy man in terms of money and land ownership.
Less than half an hour later, he had slotted the pieces of this mystery concerning Sonic, the restaurant owner and jewelry store into place. He knew exactly what would happen next. He also knew that Sonic had a sweetheart…
Robotnik smiled. It was not with humour. What if he were to intervene…