Dragonmen, Dragonmen, From Whence You Came?

By A. Fleury

Any characters from Archie or DIC are naturally (c) To them and Sega, of course.

The others, well, they're mine. So there!

"Ok, class, now listen!" The small commander banged his fist on the table. But it was Elwood's irritated gaze that made the class quiet.

Elwood was the leader of the robotics lab. He stood a good tall height, and was barrel-chested, although his slow and dull demeanor denied that. He was about as violent as a cute fluffy lamb.

"Ahem." The commander regained his authority, or so he thought. The laboratory workers merely did not want to suffer from one of Elwood's long and grueling lectures.

"First, you take the SWAT's dome off, being careful not to damage these blue and red wires."

"Uh, duh, we're the robotics section, I mean, I think we know how to take apart a stupid SWATbot!" One of the smartass workers grinned.

"Shut up," said the commander firmly. "I know you know how to dismantle one, but have you ever installed new modification chips before?"

The worker shrugged, then shook his head.

"Then shut up, and watch. Alright, you remove the motherboard here, but leave in the powercell."

"But won't that erase the motherboard's memory?"

"Precisely. The new moddie chips restores all of that, and improves it greatly. These SWATS will be more smarter, my friends. You know the hedgehog's diversions?"

"Not really," the group said. They worked in their labs all day, and never got to see much of the main workings of the city, terrorist attacks included. They rarely saw their leader, the glorious Robotnik.

"Well, anyway, these improved SWATs won't be falling for any of those stupid tricks anymore."

"Yeah, sure. Let us work on some real robots for a change."

The commander turned his baleful eyes on the unruly worker.

The worker was quiet.

The others giggled.

"NOW! You take your little solders there, and carefully solder the moddie chip onto this section of the motherboard. Of course, you must remove this old chip first."

"AW, that's such a pain..."

"That's why Robotnik's having YOU do it," The commander had a laugh of his own, and the workers sighed.

"Yeah, cause you got such other important things to do, eh, Snively?"

"That's 'Commander Snively' to you, you maggot! After soldering it into place, you..."

"Put the motherboard back in, and rehook the power cell," said Ludmilla, one of the few female scientists in this department. She was slowly inching her way closer to Snively, who was starting to look a tad nervous.

"Yes, very good, uh...Ludmilla."

"Ludsy-wudsy, and Snively-ivvy," muttered the impertinent worker, and the group broke into uproarious laughter.

"Enough," said Elwood in his bored voice. "Show your superior his proper respect, and quiet down."

Snively nodded, putting on his arrogant face, but the class snickered. "Proper respect, right."

"I could turn you into the robots you work on, so don't you test me," the commander said, icily, then turned his attention back to the SWAT. "After rehooking the power cell, uh...Heh," he laughed nervously; Ludmilla was quite close to him now. "Ahem...you put the dome back on, reconnect the head to the body, and voila."

"Great."

"Oh, but it is great." Snively grinned viciously, then stooped down to pick up a box. He poured it out onto the lab table, and the class gasped. Several hundred moddie chips scattered the table.

"We have to do all those?!"

"No."

They sighed.

"You have to do fifteen more boxes of that amount."

"WHAT?!"

Elwood sighed. "Well, group, I suppose we should be getting busy."

The unruly worker poked Snively in the chest. "Real funny, shrimp. You expect us to waste our time on these SHIT-bots! We have other stuff to do!"

"No, you have to do whatever Robotnik tells you to do, and he's telling you to do this. So I really don't think you have a choice."

"That really blows!"

Snively shrugged. "Welcome to Robotropolis."

Sometimes Robotnik wished he wasn't so fat.

He wiped his pudgy hands off on his colorful outfit before returning to his task, skimming aimlessly through files.

Sometimes, he wished he was strong, bulging with muscle.

Oh, to stretch out leathery wings like the creature he was staring at now.

There was a picture of a dragon on the screen before him.

He wished suddenly that he could be lean and muscular, and have wings like the dragon...but still retain his human form, and more importantly, superior intellect.

But that wasn't possible.

He thought maybe he could try to graft the dragon parts onto one of his officers. His android, Packbell, perhaps?

Naw. Packbell was vain. He thought he was perfect already. 'Well...he is', thought Robotnik, '**I** built him after all!'

His nephew, maybe? The thought made Robotnik almost laugh out loud. What would his skinny little lackey look like with big wings and muscles? It was just too hilarious.

No, he wouldn't work at all!

He turned his eyes back to the dragon picture. Wouldn't it be wondrous to have a humanoid dragon warrior to fight on his side! It would be incredibly powerful. He could even roboticize it for extra strength and endurance.

'I like this idea. Very much.'

He stood up and went down to one of his laboratories, checking through viles of body samples he'd collected from Mobians over the years. There were eyeballs, skin samples, fur samples, bone fragments, and the components of life...eggs and sperm.

He went through the viles slowly, grinning madly when he found a vile of Dragon eggs.

Now, to find DNA of a male Overlander. He searched through, but couldn't find any at the moment.

"No matter. I'll get the proper combination together soon enough. First, I must work out the schematics of such a project."

"Alright, group, any questions?" Snively was patrolling the room, smirking at the group who were just getting started on the new installations.

"No."

"Yeah, this sucks."

"That's not a question."

"Ok, then why does this suck?"

"You tell me, I'm not doing it." The small commander laughed.

The worker threw a moddie chip at Snively, who caught it and threw it back onto the table. "Knock it off, and start working."

Snively circled around Ludmilla's table, and she looked up, smiling. He tried to beat a hasty retreat, but was hemmed in by Elwood, who happened to stand right in his path to berate the unruly member, who was still throwing the chips around.

Snively tried to smile at the Swede fox, but it came out as more of a grimace. She grinned at him, fluttering her eyelashes. "I vill be very hungry after all this vork," she said, shifting one of her coiled braids. "Vill you join me for dinner?"

"Well, uh...you see," the commander laughed nervously. "I really umm..."

"Oh, c'mon Snivvy." The brat leaned back and poked the commander in the back. "Give it a go. You might even get an after-dinner treat, if ya know what I mean."

Snively scowled, while Ludmilla put on her best sex-kitten expression. It was somewhat of a scary sight.

"I'd, well, like to, Ludmilla, but you see, I'm well...uh... busy. Yes. Very busy. You understand."

The fox nodded again, pouting. "I understand that you cannot make time for poor Ludmilla." She looked dejectedly down at the severed SWAT head on the table before her.

"Aw, hurt her feelings, you meanie."

The commander glared at the brat. "Shut up, you."

There was the sound of static as the COM speaker in the room switched to on, then Robotnik's voice blared. "Packbell, Snively, report to the command room at once! I have an idea to discuss with you."

"Wow, he sounds riled up."

"He never gets excited. This must be a hell of an idea. Excuse me, Elwood."

The tall dog stepped aside so Snively could pass. Ludmilla stood up and followed.

"Where are you going?"

"I vant to hear the idea."

Snively eyed her. "Really. I think you should stay here."

"No, no. I vill make up the vork later."

"Fine." Snively sighed. "Let's go."

"So...I will combine Human and Dragon DNA.... When they are grown...turn them against the Freedom Fighters." Robotnik finished his idea in record time, only three times did he stop to gloat and laugh evilly.

"That's great, sir," said Snively.

"Yeah, wonderful." Packbell, the android 3rd-in-command, didn't seem impressed.

"It will be my greatest accomplishment," growled Robotnik, ignoring the doubting looks of his two commanders. They didn't have the vision he had, he mused. They never saw the glory of his ideas...

"So, Doctor, where ya going to get the DNA? The human DNA, I mean." Packbell lifted a questioning eyebrow.

Robotnik shrugged. "I'm sure there is some in my archives somewhere."

Packbell looked at Snively. Robotnik turned his eyes upon the small human also.

"I really don't think so," he said.

Packbell laughed wickedly. "Your large lady friend here could help you out in getting some DNA, Snivvy. If she didn't swallow it all, that is."

Ludmilla looked crafty.

Snively looked disgusted. "You're sick, Packbell."

"There really isn't any need for that," Robotnik chuckled. "I'm sure I'll find some in the archives...besides, you know a strand of hair or skin sample is all that is needed."

"Yeah, but it's sooo much less complicated with the fresh male components," said Packbell, flicking his tongue at Snively.

"Knock it off!"

Ludmilla laughed.

Robotnik addressed the fox. "What department are you from?"

"Robotics, sir."

"Go back there and have your team get a growth tube ready. Packbell, you are to work with the team on this project."

"They don't know a whole lot about cloning," complained the android.

"Some of them do," said Ludmilla.

Robotnik nodded. "There has never been a proper cloning department....as I find robots so much better than flesh... you are really my only expert, Packbell. Work with what you have."

"Yeah, whatever." The android seemed less than pleased. "I would prefer to work on my own."

"You will oversee and have total command. I want this to be flawless, Commander."

"He doesn't want you molesting the clone either," hissed Snively..."Like you did with the last one..."

"Fuck that shit." Packbell gave Snively a shove. "That clone was hottttttt."

"Go now," said Robotnik, turning his interest back to the schematics he'd typed.

Packbell and Ludmilla left.

"Well, the lab session went...smoothly," Snively told his uncle. "They learn quite quickly....for Mobians that is."

"Good, good. In between working on the project, they can work on the SWATbots. Specifically the workers with no cloning experience." Robotnik rubbed his hands together and gave Snively a shrewd look. "And how far is progress on my 'gadget' in Warrior robotics?"

"Well, I haven't gotten there yet, sir. I'll check right now."

Robotnik watched him leave, then looked back at his schematics.

The warm wind blew over the forest, tinged with a hint of the cold winter to come. Leaves rustled. Some held onto their summer green, but most were succumbing to the fall, blazing orange, red, yellow.

Knothole was as fiery as the trees. The villagers laughed and cheered, toasting their sweet berry wine and dancing in the meeting square. It was the annual harvest festival.

This was a holiday that Robotnik hadn't taken away. Not even he, with all his power, could stop the turning of the seasons.

The main group of Knothole had celebrated earlier in the day, and now were crouching around one of the tables with paper and measuring instruments.

"This is perfect," said Sally.

"No...a slight modification here." Rotor took a ruler and drew a line on the paper. "There."

Sally nodded. "I didn't even see that."

"Why," asked Sonic, "do we need this? We already got an airplane."

"This isn't going to be an airplane, dufus." Sally said jokingly. "It's an aircraft."

"What's the diff?"

"It'll be more like one of Robotnik's hovercraft."

"Whoa, cool. Will it have all that cool stuff, like stealth-mode and stuff?"

"Well, it might not be that fancy..."

"Ahhhhhh."

"But, it will be very helpful in our missions. And it'll be a lot faster than the airplane."

"Puh. That airplane is sooo slow." Sonic still seemed interested. "It won't have any guns or nothing?"

"Probably not."

"Well, that's no fun!"

"It's not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be a tool to help us win the war!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Sally smiled slightly and turned back to the plans. Their attention was distracted as Antoine came from the meeting hall, holding two steaming platters of food.

"Theee food ees on!" he exclaimed, setting the platters on the picnic tables they'd set up.

"Great!" Sonic was out of his seat in a flash and standing in front of the food. "Where's the chili dogs, man?"

"I did not prepare any chili dogs, Son-eek..."

"Awwww..."

"...but my cooking partner may have what you want."

Antoine grinned as Bunnie came from the meeting hall with a steaming pot of chili, and a platter heaped with hot dogs.

"OH YES!!!"

The warrior robotics department was on the 34th floor. The leader of the group, Castor, was not too keen on the whole idea of cleaning up, so the floor was a mess.

Snively, being an immaculate sort, was disgusted at the sight of tools, nuts and bolts, oil spills, and assorted odds and ends strewn everywhere.

"For Gods' sakes," he growled, coming up being Castor, "do you ever clean this place up?"

"HEY! GET TO WORK OVER THERE!" Castor was busy bossing around his assistants.

"Castor."

"WHAT?!" Castor twirled around. "THE HELL DO YOU WANT? GET BACK TO...oh..."

Snively scowled. "Thanks. I'm deaf in both ears now."

"Quit whining, you fairy. What the hell do you want?"

"How's the project going?"

"Ah, yeah. That. A couple more days, it should be done. The prototype, anyway."

"Just a prototype?" Snively was astounded. "I thought you could do better than that, Castor."

"Shit, it ain't me! It's these lazy-asses."

"Same tired old excuses..." Snively nonchantly picked at his fingernails, which made Castor scoff and mutter 'fairy' under his breath.

"Screw that. It takes time to get these things right. I mean, Robotnik knows that."

Snively raised an eyebrow.

"Don't give me that look, you pansy. I'll have it done..."

"In a few more days. So typical of you, really. To slack off. You really are a pathetic son of a bitch, Castor."

"You fuckin' fag! Who the fuck do you think you are, coming in here and saying this bullshit to **me**?!" Castor gave Snively a hard shove, sending him stumbling backwards into one of the messy tables. His flailing hand swept nuts and screws and computer chips aside, adding to the chaos of the floor.

Snively pushed himself back up. "I could make you pay dearly for that." He let loose a fierce snarl.

"Oh yeah right. You ain't got the balls. Those little things are all shriveled up, aren't they? All curling inside that pussy stomach of yours. Heh, I bet they're bluer than ole Sonic, eh?" He laughed meanly.

"I...I...you..." Snively could only stammer for a few moments, which then turned to a little squeal of anger, and a large intake of breath. A long and probably explicit-filled barrage would've taken place, had not Pollux, one of the researchers, interfered.

"I heard about that cloning project," he said in a neutral tone. Both Castor and Snively looked at him. The latter had his chest puffed out, and his face was mighty red. He looked fit to kill, which almost brought Pollux to the verge of laughter. Castor was already there; grunting and cackling.

Snively exhaled, the air coming out of him like a pricked balloon and shrank back to his twiggy self again. "The dragonman project?" he asked. His voice was very soft and controlled, but trembled with the rage underneath.

"Yeah, that," nodded Pollux. He raised a hand to scratch his shock of brown, white-tipped hair. "I maintain the power plants, you know, and I know this is going to suck a hell of a lot of energy from them."

"Yeah, so what?" Castor was working off a last few laughs.

"So, Robotnik better not blame me about flickering lights or slower production and stuff like that."

"Oh boo hoo. What if he does?"

"I'm saying he'd better not."

Castor poked Pollux in the chest. Pollux grimaced; that was one thing he couldn't stand about Castor. Always shoving and poking.

"Quit being a whiny little girl, Pollux, you fairy."

"Are you so insecure in your sexual orientation that you have to accuse everyone of being gay? Just afraid to think that you might be the 'fairy' and not everyone else?"

"Don't start with your stupid psychological shit." Castor growled and shook his head. "I'm a real man, and a real man can tell a fairy when he sees one."

"You see them in your bed a lot, I suppose?" sneered Snively.

"Yeah, I see you in there, begging me to fuck you up the ass, and I kick your perverted ass outta there."

Pollux laughed, although the language was beyond his taste. Snively scowled and narrowed his eyes, obviously trying to think up something to outdo Castor's insult.

"Now, now, Castor," Pollux giggled. "I bet you and Snively are more "friendly" than you let on."

"Say that again? You pussy, only a fag laughs like that. Oh tee hee." Castor leaned over and pinched Snively's nose. The human screeched in indignation. "I bet you love this pointy snauze, eh, Pollux? You love it ramming right up that fag ass of yours."

Castor flattened down his ears as the screaming and insults came descending upon him.

"Geezum, this stuff is heavy!" Dulcy the dragon grunted as she carried a large piece of scrap metal.

"Ya'll are tellin' me!" Bunnie walked with her robotic arm behind her, dragging another large piece. "Rotor, ya lazy bum, git out here an' help us!" She dropped the scrap outside the lopsided workshop with a loud clang.

"Yeah yeah." The walrus grumbled, but his eyes were excited as he came out of the workshop. "Man, oh man, is this gonna be great. I just hope I can build this thing."

"Ah Rota' dear, ya'll can build anythan'."

He looked at the pile of scrap metal. "Is that all of it?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Good! Now bring it inside."

Bunnie and Dulcy exchanged looks, but could do nothing more but grumble. They were the two strongest in Knothole, and always got saddled with the heavy work.

Once the scrap was inside, Rotor hooked the blueprints up on a clothesline above his workbench for easy reference. He threw open his cabinets of tools, digging some out and throw them onto the bench.

Bunnie shook her head. "What a mess."

Rotor squinted at the pile of junk he had to work with, then rubbed his hands together and bellowed, "Ok, everyone out! You can go get Sally for me, I might need her an' NICOLE's help...oh, and uh, tell Sonic I might need some tips from Chuck too."

"Right away, 'sir'," Dulcy said sarcastically.

They turned to leave.

"Oh and girls..."

"Yes?" They turned back, exasperated.

"Thanks for your help." Rotor smiled.

They grinned back. "Yeah. Have fun!"

"Oh, don't worry," the walrus muttered as he picked up a wrench. "I will."

Sonic looked around carefully. He turned in a full circle, even looking up into the sky. When he was sure he was alone, he pulled a piece of piping sticking out what looked like an ordinary pile of scrap. Not an uncommon sight in the large city of Robotropolis.

This was not an ordinary pile however, as a hidden door opened in the side. Sonic slipped in quickly. The door shut fast on his heels.

His uncle sat inside on a wheeled chair, a small microphone inserted in his ear. He held his hand over it. Sonic opened his mouth to greet him, but Chuck held up a hand. Sonic was silent.

After a moment, Chuck pulled out the microphone and laughed.

"Hey unc, what's goin' on?"

His uncle chuckled, patting his nephew fondly on the shoulder. "Jus' listening to these transmissions. It seems I stumbled upon this one while they're havin a fight."

He turned the volume knob up loud enough that they could both hear the transmission over the tiny microphone.

All Sonic could hear was yelling and screaming. He frowned a little; there were many obscene words mingled throughout the barrage. One of the voices sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't tell who it was.

"Man, what's going on!?" Sonic said, unbelieving, as one of the insults made its way to his ears. It was so outlandish that he burst into laughter.

"They've been going on like that for about five minutes now!"

They laughed for a while, but grew quiet when the arguing stopped.

The screaming voice that Sonic had vaguely recognized quieted and calmed, and he knew it as ole Needlenose. 'Boy, that guy's got a mouth as big as his nose' he thought with a snicker.

"Well, Pollux, you'd better figure out a way to balance those power outputs. I am not going to have shoddy lighting in my room because you're too stupid to do your job."

They heard an annoyed grunt. "Huh. Easy for you to say. It's a hard job maintaining those factories, what with the rebels always wrecking them." There was a sigh. "We just don't have enough resources to run everything at once...or at least run it nice and smoothly. I wish we did."

There was another sigh, this time from Snively. "Fine. Whatever. Castor?"

"I told you, the 'roaches' will be done in a few days, and I meant it, pansy-boy."

"Suuuure." The human was very sarcastic. "You do that, Castor. You do that."

They heard a few muffled curses, then the tramp of booted feet across the metal floors.

"What are the 'roaches', Unc?"

His uncle lost his amused look and turned serious. "Well, Sonny-boy, I haven't heard too much about them. But from what I gather, they're going to be 'bots to patrol the airducts. I guess Robotnik figured out that that's how you guys sneak in a lot of the time."

Sonic frowned. "Man, that'll make our job tougher."

They sat quietly for a few moments.

"Don't worry, unc, we'll come up with some way to wreck those things."

Uncle Chuck nodded, but was not reassured. "I'm sure you will, Sonny-boy. I just worry about you and the others. It's dangerous here, and gets more dangerous every day."

"Aw, we can handle it." Sonic smiled. "Ya know, I'm worried about you too, unc. You should come to Knothole, it's safer there."

"Yes, but we've talked about this before, and my place is here. It's dangerous for all of us, I'm afraid." Chuck sighed. "I guess there's no use worrying about it."

Sonic patted his uncle on the arm. "It's ok. We'll win."

His uncle nodded.

"But enough of this, huh? Rotor needs a little help on his new project."

"Ah yes, the aircraft." Chuck snapped out of his melancholy and slid on his wheeled chair over to his printer. He picked up a pile of papers and handed them to Sonic. "There, that oughta help him out."

Sonic leafed through the papers. None of it made sense to him. He saw a gibberish of numbers and complex instructions. There were a few pictures and graphs, but even these were covered in lines and notes. He shrugged. "I hope Rotor can understand this crud."

Chuck laughed. "I'm sure he can! Heh heh. Now, git outta here!" He checked the outside street with his hidden camera. "It's clear."

"See ya!" Sonic was out the door and gone in seconds.

The growth tube was almost set up. Ideal for creating clones, artificial life forms, doing genetic experimenting and mutations. Packbell had to give this one a nod of appreciation, since he'd been born in one.

"It's looking good, my furry friends," he said to the lab workers.

Elwood bent down to pick a moddie chip off the floor. He set it on one of the tables amidst the others. "Cloning is not my field, Commander Packbell."

Packbell's red eyes were focused on the tube. "It's not cloning exactly. We're growing a new life form which will be made of a mutation from two species' DNA."

"What I meant, was that...any sort of creating life forms is not our department. We create robots, not life."

"Hey, now, I resent that remark." The android grinned, silvery teeth flashing. "Really, Elwood, I'm hurt."

"I can imagine." Elwood's dry demeanor made it hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"So honestly, you don't consider me to be a living creature?" Packbell's eyes were curious.

"I don't know what to consider you." A small smirk tugged at the corner of Elwood's lips.

"Puh."

"You won't have much help from us, aside from setting up the tube. We don't know too much about this field."

"You said that already." Packbell gave the robotics leader a strange smile. "But it **is** my field, so don't worry that sexy head of yours about it."

Elwood raised an eyebrow.

The door slid open.

"Welcome back, commander. Seems we won't be doing your modifications quite as fast as you wished," Elwood greeted Snively.

"Whatever." The small human didn't seem interested. "I'm not the one concerned with it, and apparently, neither is Robotnik anymore."

Packbell snickered and rapped his knuckles on the tube. "Really. He's too busy coming up with these fab ideas."

"Fabulous? It's ridiculous," Snively grumbled. "Not to mention stupid, and a waste of time."

"I think it's cool." The unruly worker leaned over a table near them, eavesdropping.

"You would."

"Why? It is cool. A big dragon dude with wings and crap, that's awesome!"

"It's the fruitiest idea he's come up with yet."

Packbell laughed. "Are you sure about that one? He's had some pretty bad ones. If I recall right, though, you were the one who had the stupidest ones."

"Oh sure..." Snively rolled his eyes. "Like your ideas work, Packbell. You've never had one victory."

"The whole city never has a victory," the unruly worker laughed crudely. "Loserville, that's what I'd call this place."

"Enough talk," Elwood said calmly. "We have work to do." He looked pointedly at the eavesdropper. "Go help them attach the cables to the tube."

"Yeah, yeah." The worker slipped back into the fray.

Packbell and Snively watched as the growth tube's setup was completed, then cast looks at each other. Packbell grinned. "Don't look so grumpy, Snively-ivly, really. This is gonna be fun."

"You were the one complaining before."

"Because I have to work with these dorks, but ya take what ya get."

Snively imagined Castor could come up with some sort of sick insult for that phrase, then shook his head. 'Since when do I want to think like Castor? The heathen.'

There was a slight whirring noise, then a chiming noise rang out. The workers all looked up at the clock and chorused, "Dinner!"

They filed out of the lab.

Packbell shook his head. "My, so dedicated." He gestured around at the lab. "They don't even clean up their mess."

"The lab's **always** like this, Packbell," Snively grumbled.

"Ah."

Ludmilla hovered around their table. Snively looked over at her rather nervously. Packbell snickered.

"Um...may we help you?" Snively finally said.

"Poor Ludmilla has no date for dinner." The fox looked pointedly at him.

"Sorry, I have plans," said the small human hastily.

She looked downtrodden. "I vill be very lonely by myself."

Snively averted his gaze to the pile of moddie chips on the table. "I'm sorry, I...uh...I'm very busy, you know."

"Yes," she sighed, "I know." She pouted, and sniffled loudly.

"GAWD, Snivvy, you're so mean," said Packbell. "Look at this poor lady." He put a friendly arm around Ludmilla. "You can put aside your 'big' plans and have dinner, can't you?"

Snively shot Packbell a murderous look, while slowly backing away. "Sorry. Really."

Packbell moved behind Snively in one smooth motion, stopping his escape. "Aw, c'mon, loverboy, don't leave the lady hanging."

"Packbell, I'm going to kill you," Snively hissed under his breath. "I honestly am..."

Ludmilla pouted further, looking so dejected that Snively heaved a big sigh. "All right, Ludmilla, ok. I guess I can postpone my...uh...plans."

She clapped her hands in delight. "Oh, thank you, my little dear...I vill meet you in my room at 8:00."

"Uh, wait a minute, your room?" Snively did not seem to like this idea.

"Oh yes, it vill be a candlelight dinner. I vill go get dressed and get the food ready. You vill enjoy it."

"Uh...right." Snively looked a little sick as Ludmilla grinned and left the laboratory.

Packbell laughed and slapped Snively on the back. The human ended up sprawled across the table, scattering moddie chips everywhere. "Oh thanks a lot, Packbell," he groaned, not moving.

The android snickered.

The small human rolled off the table, then dusted himself off. "I can't believe this. What did I get myself into?"

"Who knows, you might get some action."

"Do you think I want 'action' from her, Packbell?"

"Hell, I think you'd want action from whatever you can get." Packbell grinned his perverted smile. "It would be better than that ole hand of yours."

"You may play with yourself, Packbell, but I have no time for such things." Snively sniffed indignantly, then turned on his heel to leave. His foot slipped on a moddie chip and he crashed onto the floor.

"Bad day, I imagine?" Elwood had finished the last touches on the growth tube. Now he reached a yellow hand down to help up Snively.

"Yes, and it's going to get worse." Snively sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I have a headache."

"You'd better get going, you don't want to be late for dinner."

"Shut up, Packbell. Just shut up." Snively hit the touchpad that opened the door and strode out.

"AND CHANGE INTO SOMETHING MORE ROMANTIC!!" bellowed Packbell after him.

Elwood looked at Packbell, then at Snively.

Packbell looked at him.

"No, me and him are not having dinner together."

"Oh."

Elwood did not sound convinced.

Robotnik woke up from taking a brief nap. He yawned widely, blinking as he looked around the command center. Nobody was around.

He tapped into the COM link on his throne, contacting the laboratory where his lovely dragonmen would be grown.

He saw the laboratory. The leader of this particular lab, a tall yellow dog with very short brown hair and pale gray eyes, was bending over to pick up modification chips scattered all over the floor.

Packbell was leaning on one of the lab tables.

Robotnik tried not to notice that Packbell was staring at Elwood's rear as he bent over.

"Packbell," he said.

The android turned his head towards the COM monitor. "Oh, hello, Doctor."

"How goes the project?"

"The tube setup is complete."

"Very good!" Robotnik grinned.

"The lab workers seem to have some doubts."

"Now, that's not exactly true," said Elwood, straightening up. "It just is not our field, m'lord."

Robotnik always liked the way Elwood called him lord. But he was, wasn't he? He looked around the lab. "Where is Snively? I'm sure he had some wonderful things to say about my idea." Robotnik frowned, because Snively was always complaining about everything, and it could get very irritating sometimes. 'Especially since my ideas are brilliant.'

"Doesn't he always?" said Packbell.

"Excuse me," said Elwood, "but may I dismiss myself for dinner?"

"Yes, go ahead."

The dog nodded and left.

"Too bad I have to work with these guys," said the android, and Robotnik raised his eyebrow, sighing. Now even Packbell was complaining...

"They're all so tasty. It's very distracting."

Robotnik stared. "Really, Packbell. I never programmed you to be **that way**."

Snively stood outside Ludmilla's room, his nerves buzzing. 'I don't have to go', he thought to himself.

He'd had to ask for directions from one of the lab workers. He had no idea where her room was. 'And don't want to know.' But here he was.

There wasn't really anything to lose. 'Except for my dignity, of course.' But maybe if he gave into Ludmilla's little whim this time, she'd quit bothering him. 'Fat chance' he thought, and the word 'fat' made him think of Robotnik. Normally he'd be in the command center right now, working on stupid reports or watching surveillance.

"Anything has to be better than doing that," he said aloud, and entered Ludmilla's room.

Ludmilla's small room was set up very cozy. There was a thick rug on the cold metal floor, and the walls were covered with hand-knitted tapestries and blankets. She had a small round metal table in the room, and it was laden with food. It was just the regular ole crude the cook-bots made, but she managed to make it look quite elegant. The lights were off, and candles blazed from her dresser and the middle of the table.

Ludmilla emerged from the bathroom, patting her coiled braids. "I see you have arrived!" she exclaimed.

His mouth opened slightly as he eyed her outfit. She usually wore a long white labcoat. Now she wore a low-cut aqua colored dress with spaghetti straps. It swept down to her ankles, where white sandals resided. The tropical color contrasted very nice with her red fur. Jewelry sparkled on her neck, fingers and arms.

'Well,' he thought, 'maybe this won't be that bad...'

"It is good to see you," she grinned, engulfing him in a hug and her cushy body. She was quite a plump lady. She looked over his outfit. He'd donned a blue button-up shirt and a pair of gray pants, but hadn't changed out of his usual black workboots. He guessed it didn't matter...it wasn't like this was a date or anything.

She eyed the shirt critically, fingering the fabric in her fingers. It had a nice silky feel to it. He had every button done, and the collar looked like it was choking him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as she unbuttoned the top three buttons of the shirt, then stepped back, smiling.

"That looks much better."

"Um, sure."

"Sit."

He sat down.

She swept her dress under her graciously as she took her seat. "How vas your day?"

He nearly rolled his eyes. 'For God sakes, sounds like we're married or something.' He shuddered. "It was just fine."

"Let's eat," she said.

The food was some sort of meat loaf, with green beans on the side. It tasted unusually good.

"This dragon project is very interesting, isn't it?"

He looked bored. "I guess."

"It vill be very interesting to see the end result." Despite her large size, she did not eat rapidly. He found himself looking at her mouth as she chewed, quite delicately, white teeth flashing.

"Are they going to use your sperm?"

He nearly choked on a green bean. He coughed, raising his napkin to his mouth. "No!" he snapped. "They aren't. Can we please change the subject?"

She grinned. "Ok."

He shook his head irritably, even more annoyed that his cheeks were blazing hot. Dumb bitch. She said that crap to purposely embarrass him. Gave her kicks to see him squirm.

She reached for the bottle of wine on the table and uncorked it with a twist of her thumb-claw. The rich red liquid sparkled into his glass, then into hers. A drop fell onto the table. She soaked it up with her finger, then raised it to her lips. "Very good vine," she said. "Try it."

He sloshed it in his glass. "A toast...to the death of the Freedom Fighters."

She shook her head. "That is too mean," she chided. "Let's toast to something else. Our friendship."

He made a face, but lifted his glass to clink against hers. They were both silent as they sipped the heady beverage.

"So, Snively," she said, stressing the 'v' like she always did..., "do you like my necklace?"

The necklace was a 'Y' shape, a string of delicate colored beads that caught the light and glinted. The long arm of the 'Y' fell directly into her cleavage. It was almost like an arrow leading downwards to her rather generous chest. She didn't appear to be wearing anything under the dress, and although the room wasn't cold, he could see the form of the breasts very clearly. He gulped and she laughed throatily.

'She wore that on purpose,' he thought almost spitefully, as he looked away, cheeks scarlet in embarrassment.

************

Robotnik searched through vials in his largest laboratory. There was blood, hair, claw, and fur samples, and of course, eggs and sperm from various creatures. So far, he had not come across a vial of human DNA.

It was rather interesting to examine the vials, for he wrote down all information on them, down to the last detail. He held a vial of blood, and knew in an instant that it had come from a female rabbit, aged 22, who had diabetes and a heart mummer.

"Now only do I have to find the DNA, but I must make sure the specimen has no defects such as that."

He heard the door slide open and turned. Packbell entered.

"Hello, sir. Any luck finding the ole DNA?"

"Not yet. I have thousands of vials stored here." The fat man sighed. "I suppose I could have a robot do it."

"Yeah," said Packbell, hoping Robotnik wouldn't pick him. He had better things to do than help Robotnik with his screwy plans. 'Snively-ivvy's right about one thing, Ivo sure does have some crappy ideas. Speaking of Snivvy..."

"How about I bring an empty vial to ole Needlenose? He's having dinner with Ludmilla...in her room."

"Lud...who? Oh yes." Robotnik remembered the chubby scientist. He could just imagine her and Snively....ugh. "Thank you so much for that visual, Packbell."

The android chuckled.

"I don't want his DNA in it, anyway. I want this beast to be strong! I do not want one groveling, conniving little cell from that pathetic nephew of mine in this creature!"

"I see your point." Packbell grinned. "How bout I give you some?"

Robotnik scowled a little. "It has to be from a livin