Stobotnik Role Swap AU

Stobotnik Role Swap AU

Been thinking through a Stobotnik role swap AU, trying to figure out their dynamic and what would change or stay the same. I think I finally settled on something I like and have a lot of thoughts about- Stone and Robotnik are still an agent and a brilliant scientist respectively, but the hierarchy of their relationship is flipped with Stone being the ‘boss’ and Robotnik as the ‘henchman’.

Thoughts:

Stone (before the movies and during what would be movie 1) is a highly-decorated & respected shadow ops and/or special ops agent

He rose through the ranks thanks to his many varied talents, tactical brilliance, and his dedication to & success in completing his missions no matter what stands in his way

Robotnik is the shadow ops Break-Glass-in-Case-of-Emergency scientist. He’s called on when nobody else can get the job done, but they try not to give him any more funding or resources than necessary bc they’re scared of his eccentricity, antisocial nature, and sheer brilliance

Robotnik gets promoted to being directly under Stone’s command at Stone’s request - I’m thinking either bc Stone is assigned to investigate the Sonic EMP from movie 1 (he has to intimidate/persuade the military generals to let him take a chance on Robotnik, a little like Walters did in movie 1) or because pre-movies Stone decides he needs a scientist to join his team permanently for ease of access to customized tech or something

If it’s the second option, Stone goes to Robotnik with a test task to see if he’s good enough (he actually wants to see how Robotnik operates, but also does want to make sure the rumors of Ivo’s brilliance are true). Robotnik does his thing, Stone is speechless and amazed by the results. Stone decides then and there he HAS to have Ivo at his side. ('Doctor... this is... you're incredible.' 'Of course I am. That's why you're here.')

Also, whenever they first meet, Robotnik goes off on a rant or insults Stone, and Stone is taken aback (and delighted) by how Robotnik isn’t scared of him- Stone’s gotten bored of people being too easily intimidated by his status and reputation.. even if that is useful oftentimes

Stone secretly and maybe only subconsciously wants someone in his life who he can drop the formalities with, someone who doesn’t care about his rank and career and past

Ivo realizes (but won’t admit) he is grateful to Stone for giving him a more of a chance to be himself and to finally have the resources to work towards his robot dreams

This first post is mostly about their backgrounds and how they met. I've got a bunch more thoughts I'm organizing and will post soon with same tags as this post

Also might write fic or make some art for this..