Scrambled -- An Honesty is the Best Policy Story w/ Eggman

Chapter 1

Violet eyes watched boredly as the Doctor made circles around what they guessed was his latest invention, or at least what invention he was working on at present. He held a wrench in his hand and was inspecting every bolt in the thing to make sure they were all tight. 

"I didn't come here to inspect that thing. 'Cause I have no idea about things like that. I'm an author, not an inventor like you, remember."

Eggman looked up from his machine with an agitated expression. "I am aware of that. Of course it's not this glorious specimen of ingenuity that you've come here to assess."

Honest smiled a cat smile as the Doctor turned away to resume his bolt-tightening. "So you know?"

This recent partnership with the fair-haired feline had been a maddening one. It was hard to compare it with any of his previous experiences. First of all, the roles were entirely swapped this time around.

This must be how Infinite felt, Eggman thought as he struggled to turn his wrench without hitting his knuckles on the metal of an unfortunately placed cog. And the Deadly Six, and Lien-da, and-

Second, Honest had always evaded falling into that trap since the very beginning, and yet here he was, diving headfirst into hers. There was something about the way she had negotiated it with him. He just couldn't say no despite every fiber of his being yelling "no! Don't listen to her! It's a trap!"

Unless it wasn't something underhanded like a trap. Honest had already held up her end of their bargain.

Oh, no. It's those thoughts again. You were tricked!

"Are you okay, Doctor?" Honest asked from her perch atop a pile of scrap, a camera hanging from a strap around her neck.

Doctor Eggman jumped and dropped his wrench which made a loud echoing noise on the metallic floor. He turned to look at her with a face of pure bewilderment.

Honest covered her mouth with a hand as she laughed. "You do know. Just not everything. Good." She slipped off the pile of scrap carefully so as to not cut herself on a sharp piece of metal and started towards the machine and the bewildered doctor crouched behind it.

I knew it! I knew it was a trap. I wasn't wrong!

"You have your teaching job back. Is there anything else you would like?"

Anything else? Well, there were some things… No. This was a trap.

That's what he would be doing if the roles were switched, after all.

"No," Eggman lied. He wouldn't be tricked.

"Okay, then. Just remember, my resources, unlike yours, are endless. But back to the matter at hand-" Honest stopped and laughed. "I feel like you right now."

The doctor's mustache went limp at that statement. "Tell me about it."

"I'm just here to check up on a very valuable character of mine. One who doesn't yet know of his value. And to take pictures!" She held up the camera that was hung around her neck for emphasis.

"Of me? Is there something you haven't told me?" Doctor Eggman asked, slowly standing up.

"It was meant to be a surprise," Honest told him, smiling as if she were doing him a huge favor. "I'm writing a new story. I'm calling it Scrambled, and you're it's main character."

---

9:15

The clock ticked steadily onwards. However, it felt to the Doctor as if the secondhand went around twelve times before the minute hand would move one tick. Maybe the clock was running out of battery? How long had it been since he replaced the batteries? Eggman couldn't remember, so maybe that was it.