"Try not to-AUGH DAMN, stop wrapping it up like that!" The Hunter bellowed, and hastily swatted Josh's hands away from his injured arm. The linen bandages he had been wrapping up the man's arm with plummeted to the tile floor.
"Well, I'm just trying to help out! You can't do much with that arm anyway." Josh bent down and picked up the roll of bandages off of the floor.
They had arrived at Josh's laboratory an hour before. Since then, the two men had been bickering constantly about the most stupid things: The lights were too bright, the air was too cold, the room smelled heavily of rubbing alcohol…frankly, Joshua was getting fed up.
"Listen, either I wrap this up, or you can risk it getting even more nasty than it is!" Josh went back to bandaging the reluctant Hunter's arm.
A few minutes later, the arm was completely wrapped up. The Hunter flexed it slowly, and smiled his ugly little smile. "Hey, it barely hurts anymore!"
"Oh, you wouldn't BELIEVE how many accidents I have tended to at this lab." Josh chuckled, and adjusted his glasses. It seemed that they did not fit quite right, as he was always straightening them.
The Hunter seemed to be deep in thought about something. "You invent things in this lab, right?" He climbed off of the steel table he had been sitting on, and turned to face Josh.
"Ummm. Yeah, but I'm not that good at it…the only things I can put together successfully are Tinker Toys!" Josh sighed, and tucked away the bandage roll inside one of his pockets.
"That wasn't what I had in mind. I want to find someone who can build a machine that can help us take revenge on Fang-"
The Hunter was cut off by Josh. "Who is this 'Fang' person?"
"Not person. Weasel. Fang is that weasel I was talking about. The one who killed your sister and gave me this!" The Hunter waved his injured arm.
"Ooooh. Continue, then." Josh decided he should shut up before the man got angry.
"As I was saying, we need some brilliant genius who can construct a machine for us to kill Fang with. You DO want your sister's death to be avenged, right?" One of those twisted grins snaked across The Hunter's face.
Josh nodded, but was unsure about The Hunter's intentions. He seemed very violent at the moment.
"Well, I don't know anybody like that, so do you?" The Hunter waited for a response.
Josh had to ponder this. Did he know anybody that met The Hunter's expectations? Nobody at the lab was really a 'genius', and very few were avid inventors. Just when he was about to reply with a no, Josh stopped. There was one person he had heard of that was always inventing powerful machines to stop a certain hedgehog…could he perhaps create one to stop a weasel?
"WAIT. I think I know someone who could help us." Josh started digging through the cabinets on the walls until he fished out a thick yellow phone book. With a heave, he slammed it down on the table and started to flip through the pages.
"You better not be making a prank call." The Hunter watched as Josh flipped to the page with R names.
"Don't worry…I know what I'm doing." Josh adjusted his glasses once more, and skimmed a finger across the list.
Roanoke…Roberto…Robinson…
"Here it is!" He lay his finger on the name 'Robotnik'. "Uhh. Do you have a cell phone?"
With a grumble, The Hunter handed his phone over to Josh. "Just don't break it. If you break it, I'll break your face."
In fear of having his face broken, Josh swiftly dialed Robotnik's number. There was a long pause as the phone rang. Time seemed to be at a stand-still.
After a while, a muffled voice picked up the phone. "Hello? Who the hell is this?"
Josh did not know what to say; this famous scientist had actually picked up the phone! "Err, this is Joshua Smith. Is this Dr. Ivo Robotnik?"
"Of course it is. Now then, why are you calling me? Are you a telemarketer? I have a lot of things to get done, places to go, and sights to see. I'm a very busy man!" Robotnik's voice barked back.
"Well, my friend and I were wondering if you could help us build a machine…and no, I'm not a telemarketer." Josh's voice quivered. What if he said the wrong thing?
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Robotnik's maniacal laughter broke out. "You think I would help someone I don't even know? Forget it!"
Just before Robotnik hung up the phone, Josh shouted at the top of his lungs. "BUT WE NEED SOMETHING TO DEFEAT FANG!"
Robotnik paused. "Oh really? Fang the sniper, eh? That changes things…he hasn't exactly been on my good side. Double-crossed me a few times, the dirty son of a bitch."
"So you'll help us?" Josh beamed with excitement.
"Indeed. Give me the directions to where you are at, and I'll be over there faster than a supersonic hedgehog."
---
Dr. Robotnik kept his promise. Within only a half hour, he was sitting across from the Hunter and Joshua at the table in the middle of the room. The Doc had brought a pad of blueprints along with him so he could show the other two men his ideas.
"How about this one?" Robotnik finished drawing a sketch, and revealed the drawing to his small audience. The sketch was of a giant ATM machine with bills and coins flying out of its slot.
"I lured him with something of value last time. He's a crafty animal, that one. I don't think he would be fooled again." The Hunter gave a bored yawn. "We have been doing this for hours."
"No offense Dr. Robotnik, but that looks kind of retarded." Josh tried to stifle a giggle.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" Robotnik turned a cherry red, and fumed at Josh's remark.
"Just go on to the next one and stop bitching!" The Hunter growled.
"Fine then." Robotnik whipped out his pencil again, and started on the next drawing. After a few minutes, he was done again, and he showed off the design. This one was of a robotic gun with eyes and arms. "Like it?"
"Okay, listen. Doc, we aren't living in a CARTOON world. We need something realistic; something that can actually look like something other than just a drawing." The input from The Hunter was true. Robotnik (or as some called him, Dr. Eggman) was someone who usually made his robots look more comical than terrifying.
"You people are just so damn picky! Alright, I'll do one more blueprint. One. Uno. No more, no less. If both of you don't like it, you guys are on your own. I saved this one for last for a good reason." Robotnik's eyes twinkled with an evil air. He started sketching like mad, trying to get his great idea down.
"Behold!" He held out the blueprint pad for the men to see.
The Hunter stared in awe with his mouth wide open. "Now THIS is what I had in mind! Brilliant!" He nodded and gave another one of his gruesome smiles in satisfaction.
Josh was hit with a wave of astonishment. Even though he was a scientist, he could have never concocted such a plan. "That's…awesome. Will there be any supplies we need to get for you to build this thing?"
Robotnik rolled up the blueprint and stuffed it in his pocket. "I have all of the things I'll need already back at my base…except one thing. The most crucial thing that gets the robot to work."
Josh and The Hunter looked at each other, and answered in unison. "And what would that be?"
"The life data." Dr. Robotnik headed for the door, when Josh stopped him. "Wait Robotnik, what is life data?"
"Please, just call me Doctor. Almost everyone does." The man laughed heartily, making his red coat jiggle. "As for life data, that is kind of a hard topic to explain. You see, life data is memories, thoughts, actions, feelings…anything about someone or something from the inside-out. That is why I'll need Fang's in order for this robot to work. One of you two will have to go undercover and get his life data for me."
The Hunter snorted. "No thanks. I already tried the whole 'undercover' thing, and Fang knows what I look like now." His glare turned to Josh, who smiled sheepishly.
"Uh, okay. I'll do it. But how do you propose I get his life data? I can't just lug a big machine around and ask him to cooperate with me!" Josh cried.
Robotnik waddled over to Josh, and held out what appeared to be a Polaroid disposable camera. "You don't have to lug around a big machine. I rewired this camera so that it captures the life data without being a pain in the ass to carry around. It is also cleverly disguised, yes?"
Josh nodded. He really had believed it was a camera!
"So listen closely, Joshua. Here is what you are going to do…"
