Bartleby the Prisoner

 

Synopsis: Doctor Robotnik has Bartleby arrested and attainted for treason, and the aristocratic mink is denied a court hearing so he can prove his innocence; his family, the MontClairs, are also stripped of their lands, properties, money and titles. At the same time, the Sonic Underground must destroy a ruby mine with rubies so high grade, they can power lasers powerful enough to melt through solid titanium. Sonic wants to give at least one ruby to a jeweler and metalsmith so a crown can be made for his future queen, Amy. When Sonia learns that Bartleby was arrested and is condemned via an act of attainder (that is, punishment without trial) to roboticization, she knows she has to help him. Inside his holding cell, a la Katherine Howard from Earth, Bartleby requests the roboticizer's platform so he may learn how to stand on it and make a good impression in his final moments. Bartleby and his family are stripped of their lands, property, money and titles; they even join him in several holding cells. Before being transported by barge to his prison cell, he is stripped of his lavish clothing and placed in a Mobian equivalent to an orange prison jumpsuit.

 

 

 

Chapter 1—Bartleby's Sealed Fate

 

In Robotnik's fortress, he was at work signing acts of attainder against many aristocrats who he felt were working against him. When he came to one marked for a certain arrogant mink, he got an idea.

 

Later, at the MontClair mansion...

 

Bartleby was sitting in his drawing room. He was enjoying a cup of delicious rosebud tea, a favorite drink of his.

 

'Rosebud tea. One of the many pleasures of being a wealthy aristocrat.', he said contentedly. Suddenly, his doorbell sounded.

 

'Who on Mobius could it be at this hour? Oh drat, I'll have to get it myself.', he said begrudgingly. The doorbell sounded again.

 

'Patience, patience !' Bartleby said. But before he could grab the doorknob the door burst open, revealing a huge cannon. Flanked at each side were two SWATBots. One of them began to speak in its usual emotionless tone.

 

'Sir Bartleby MontClair. You are charged with treason to the Robotnik Empire. The grounds for this charge is that you are conspiring with the Resistance against him. It will be in your best interest to admit to these crimes and plead for his mercy.', the SWATBot droned. Bartleby became angry.

 

'Well that's outrageous!', he shouted. 'I am innocent of all charges and will never admit to these lies.  If there is any ground of truth in these statements, then it is because of childish ignorance and certain individuals with whom I was formally surrounded.  I also seek to state that I am loyal to Robotnik and would never wish harm upon him.  I will seek his mercy, but not by admitting to these treacherous lies!'

 

The SWATBot, uncharacteristic of its usual stoic nature, now sounded sad.

 

'That's up to Robotnik. Come with me.', he said. But then he grabbed Bartleby and roughly moved him into a waiting hovercraft. The hovercraft would take him to a waiting barge that would be Bartleby's escort ship to the infamous Tower of Mobotropolis.

 

When he arrived at the Tower, he was stripped naked of his fine clothing and put into a Mobian prison uniform. He was then escorted further to his prison cell. It was a dungeonlike cell with stone walls.  

            ‘How dismal !   Release me at once !   At least allow me a court hearing !’, Bartleby pleaded.

            ‘You’ll get no such reprieve MontClair.   As of now, all the lands, titles, deeds, and wealth you had, well, that’s mine.   I’ll have you robotocized soon enough but now I have bigger fish to fry.’, Ivo Robotnick said, as his gruesome visage showed up on a monitor bot rolling into the detainee cell.   

            ‘Release me !  Release me this instance !  I demand JUSTICE !’, Montclair said.  Seeing that only SWATbots were around to hear him, he sunk to the back of the wall and lowered his head into his knees, weeping bitterly.  

 

Chapter 2—Finding the Ruby Mine

            Meanwhile the royal trio were walking around a beautiful forest, chock full of trees, flowers, mushrooms and spectacular views from mountaintops encompassing the background, stretching beyond the horizon.    The triplets hiked up a hill and Sonia pointed to her GPS wristlet.  

            ‘According to our friend Trevor, this is the place !’, she said.

            ‘If this is Robotnick’s ruby mine, I’m a SWATbots’ granny.’, Manic said, unimpressed.

            ‘As I said before, Manic.  Not everything is what it appears to be.  Now if I remember the maps correctly, the mine should be right about here.’, Sonia said.  Just then, a drill started moving upward, pushing dirt to the surface, and revealing the massive mine below.    Sonia said that the rubies here were so pure that Robotnick would be weaponizing them.   

            Using an anchor, Sonic spelunked to the mine’s floor and invited his siblings to rappel as well, since the coast was clear.

            While in the mine, Sonia had a camcorder helmet to survey everything the mine had to offer; inventory, equipment, miner bots and defenses and the types of rubies Robotnick was mining.  

 

Chapter 3—It’s Worse Than We Thought

            Upon reviewing the analysis recorded by the camcorder helmet, Sonia could see the rubies were even finer in their karat than anticipated.    Manic happened to pick up a laser that was powered by a ruby.   It melted straight through titanium. 

            ‘Woah, that’s gnarly.’, he noted, a bit visibly shaken the gems were that powerful.  

            They were quickly met by Cyrus, a fellow golden hedgehog in the Resistance.   They boarded his drill and were given instructions on how to execute it and how to defend themselves once alerted to any threats.   

            ‘Just remember what I taught you, and you’ll be fine.   Trevor says he’ll meet up with you guys soon.   Good luck and Godspeed.’, Cyrus said as he walked away, keeping positive vibes and affirmations going in the back of his head for his friends. 

 

 

Chapter 4—The Resistance Barrels Forward

            Before the drill and the hover ship could move any further, Sonic and Manic had taken a bit of a respite to make some chili dogs.   Sonic heated them up from the blaze off the drill’s thrusters and Manic cooked sweet chili behind the massive rig. 

            ‘How’s that chili coming, bro ?’, Sonic asked. 

            ‘Needs a bit more heat.’, Manic stated, honestly.   Trevor pressed the button and a bit too much heat emanated from the thrusters, giving Manic more of an acid punk look.

            ‘Whoops.’, Trevor said, chagrined.

            ‘No worries.’, Manic laughed, liking his new, edgier look.   

            The resistance enjoyed a tiny snack together before going forward.   All the while, defeating every defense that Robotnick had built for the mine, Bartleby was only biding his time in holding as bait for the Sonic Underground to come and release him, even if he had wronged Sonic so horribly.    Sonic felt that even Bartleby deserved a chance to explain himself.   

            In the midst of fighting off Robotnick’s drones, Sonic could see live feed coming in from the camcorder helmet.   It  had been wired with wifi and access to all stations and the station it was tuned into was going to broadcast Bartleby’s roboticization.   

            ‘We need to go back, make a yooey !’, Sonia said, once she heard just how awful Bartleby’s peril was.   He might have been her ex, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t about to save her friend from a fate worse than death.   

            While fighting against the drones, Trevor’s ship got blasted from the sky, but he had hit the eject button just in time.    The pod fell into a raging stream below.   Trevor called in a hailing frequency.

            ‘What are you gonna do, just leave me here ?  We have an unfinished mission !’, he reminded them.    Just like that, Sonic and the crew stopped momentarily, and he secured himself with a bungee rope off a craggy precipice, looking over the rapids below.

            ‘Water !  Why is it always water ?!’, he complained.    Overcoming his aquaphobia, he leapt over the edge with a holler and Trevor grabbed on.   Sonic spun upward to get them both back into the drill.

            ‘Hey, Trevor !  Welcome aboard, make yourself at home, man.’, Manic said as Trevor recollected himself and sat down.

            ‘I’m just glad to be anywhere but the rapids !’, Trevor said, with a chuckle.   

 

Chapter 5—And the Mine Comes A-Tumblin’ Down

            From their viewscreen, the triplets could see a massive cash of rubies ahead of them, including a ‘master ruby’.

            ‘Either that’s the master ruby Robotnick’s searching for or a disco room.’, Sonia quipped.

            ‘I’ll bet on the master ruby.’, Sonic retorted, tongue-in-cheek.    They arrived without any problems from the opposition and Sonia used the master ruby to destroy the rest of the unmined rubies surrounding them.   The pressure was so much that they had to escape quickly.   A geyser that followed brought them to the surface.   Trevor and the boys started celebrating, but Sonia took off on her own.

            ‘Oh, great…she’s running straight into a trap.   Well, Trevor, gotta juice.’, Sonic said as the two followed Sonia, only to end up ahead of her.

 

Chapter 6—Bartleby Faces a Near Death Experience

            Motivated by a cauldron of emotion gurgling inside them, they began to play a song while they fought back.

Justice callin’

Tyranny fallin’

We’re not gonna take it anymore

A hero comin’

Better start runnin’

We’re gonna even up the score

You’ve cheated the people, told them lies

Now you have to pay the price

You should've known

Good always wins

 

            In the process of fighting Robotnick and his henchmen, they saved Bartleby from being fully robotocized.   Only his legs were mechanical.   He fought back bitter tears of this punishment, but he considered it karma for what he had done.    He would still have to explain himself to Sonic but he knew that blackmailing, undermining, backstabbing, none of this was noble.   He had been doing all he could to save his family’s (well mainly his own hide).   Now he had to live with the consequences.    Sonic thought perhaps he could never trust this traitor ever again but when he saw his tearful explanation, he knew there was still goodness within him.

            ‘We’ll work this out somehow Bartleby.  Take some time, think over your actions.  If you still want to remain a Freedom Fighter, there’s a spot open for you.   Someday you’ll get to see Mobotropolis as it was intended.   For now, I think it is best you take your leave.   I’ll let you say your goodbyes though.’, Sonic said, mercifully.  

 

 

Epilogue

            Bartleby had been reduced to a commoner, which meant he would have to build his empire from the ground up.   It was a harsh lesson for him to learn, but being the entrepreneurial mink he was, he would find his footing soon enough.   The only transportation he could afford was a typical yellow and black hover taxi.    A hover ship would’ve been too rich for him to afford at this time.  

            ‘I personally think that the troubles of this world don’t amount to a hill of chili dogs when compared with your friendship, Sonia.’, Bartleby said, romantically.   He still harbored a flame for the fuchsia hedgehog, and it was more than apparent.   She had already let him down easily, but the two were still friends.

            ‘Listen, if you don’t take this hover taxi now, you might regret it.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but forever and the rest of your life.  Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.’, Sonia said, referencing one of her favorite old noir films of Hollywood Earth’s ‘golden era’ Casablanca. 

            ‘That’s our sister !   You’re quite the Freedom Fighter !’, Sonic said, as he looped his arm around his sister affectionately. 

            ‘Guys, I think this is the continuation of a beautiful friendship.’, Sonia responded as the trio walked back to their van parked in the richer part of town and moseyed into the sunset.    They didn’t know what tomorrow held for them, but with the possibility of Bartleby joining the Resistance, they might have more Freedom Fighters in their league bolstering the Resistance movement, and a free Mobotropolis was almost close enough to grasp. 

 

To Be Continued…