Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

Breaking Point	By : CearaIvory Category: +S through Z > Sonic Views: 829 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic Underground or the Sonic the Hedgehog characters, nor am I making any money or profit off of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
AN: This story btw is not meant to be some grand epic. It’s meant to be more a drama like Downton Abbey.

Chapter 4

Bartleby bent over an engine as Rotor came over behind him. “Hmm, you’re doing very well. I’ll admit, after seeing your soft hands, I was unsure you’d be able to do this but six months later, you’re my best student. Won’t be long, you’ll be ready to open your own garage.” He joked. He looked out the window as he heard a terrible sound. “Ooo… sounds like a dying engine…”

Bartleby chuckled as he finished up the engine he was on. “I’m on it doctor.” He went outside and gasped as he recognized the van pulling up and the green hedgehog hopping out.

“Sonic! I have told you a million times! You do not use any part of the van for heating up your chili dogs!” Manic shouted. “Seriously, you’d think you were doing this intentionally.” He said as he pulled a sack from the under the hood.

Sonic grinned sheepishly as he got out. “I just… I didn’t think just under the hood would hurt.” He admitted.

Bartleby chuckled as he came over. “Hey guys. You sound like you need a mechanic. You came to the right place.”

Manic glared at his brother as he came over. “Yeah, I really just need to get it on a lift…. Wait…” He looked over the face before him. Blonde hair with a smear of oil on one side of his head and wearing salmon coveralls with a nametag of Smith on it. “Smith? No… Bartleby? Is that you?”

Sonic joined his brother in staring at the mink in shock. “By the source. What happened to you?”

Bartleby laughed. “Isn’t it obvious. I needed a job and we needed a place to live. Rotor hired me and gave us an apartment above the shop. Come on in. I’ll take a look at the engine myself. May I see your keys?” He took the keys from the shell-shocked Manic. With practice, Bartleby backed the van into the second garage and onto the lift. Getting underneath, he gaped for a few moments. Coming out, he looked at Sonic. “I’m not an expert on engines yet but I know not to put a bag of chili dogs under the hood.”

Rotor watched the three talking familiarly. “Do you three know each other?” He asked politely. He knew from talks with his pupil that most of their former acquaintances were not good ones. He looked at Bartleby to indicate that he had only to ask and he’d boot them out.

Bartleby nodded. “Oh yeah, Rotor, these are my brothers-in-law. Sonic and Manic Hedgehog. May I have permission to do the work for half the labor costs? You can take it from check.” He knew they didn’t have much money.

Rotor chuckled. “No problem Bartleby. And no, I’m not going to cut it from your check. Family discount applies here.” Bartleby nodded and dove back into the engine. “So are visiting or is this some crazy coinkydink?”

Sonic put a hand behind his head. “Both actually. A friend of sis told us she was in Acorn. We wanted to make sure she was alright. And tell her of what’s going on back home.”

Manic laughed. “Yeah, she didn’t say that he was working as a mechanic. It’s quite a jump I’ll tell ya. This guy was Richie Rich back home.”

Rotor nodded. “I can believe it but you’d be surprised. Look at him. He takes to that engine like a duck to water. If only I’d known him as a kid, he would have been building his own cars by now.”

Bartleby’s laugh echoed from inside the van. “Is it honestly that surprising. I did watch Robotnik working on his gadgets. I remember for my third birthday, he got me a model train kit that you could see through. He taught me all the names of the parts. The superheater tubes for instance. Then he… He took the whole thing apart and taught me how to reassemble it and make it use electricity instead of steam…” He smiled as he reminisced on his childhood. Before he could get too nostalgic, his face became hard and angry then transitioned back to pleasant and happy. “Sorry…” He threw himself back into his work. “You should go upstairs. I’ll be up at quitting time.”

Sonic watched the mink with sympathy and nodded. “Sure Bartleby… take your time...”

Manic looked back as they found the stairs to the next floor. “Wow, that is not a happy person.”

Sonic nodded. “He’s been disillusioned… He’ll recover but… it’s still rough. Poor guy…” He knocked at the door with the name Smith on it.

The door opened as black eyes gazed out at them. “Sonic! Manic!” Sonia hugged them both happily. “What are you doing here?”

The boys each hugged her with joy dripping from their eyes. “Sonia! You’re alright!” They both cried excitedly.

The triplets cried together out of joy to be reunited. “I hoped you guys would eventually find me. We couldn’t risk a letter to our location.”

Manic nodded. “Mindy told us you were in Acorn. We know you couldn’t send us anything.”

Sonia led them into the apartment went straight to the kitchen where she made a platter of chili dogs and tea. “So, how is everything going with you? We’ve been following Robotropolis’ revitalization on the news.”

Sonic smiled. “It’s amazing. Robotnik is suddenly powerless. He hasn’t even come out of the castle except the one time at the start. Sleet and Dingo even dumped the fat ass. They’re staunch allies when they want to be.”

Sonia laughed but quickly sobered. “But look… whatever you do… Don’t talk about Robotnik… He’s still very hurt by that whole episode. He has nightmares about it… Damn, that asshole… What he did to us was bad enough… But he never fooled us into thinking he cared about us.” Somehow that seemed worse.

Manic looked at the door. “Don’t worry sis. We won’t bring him up. He told us a little of his childhood downstairs but we could see that he is not doing well. But tell us what’s going on here? You seem happier… and you seem… brighter, almost glowy…”

Sonia giggled. “Oh, I’ll tell you when Bartleby comes up.”

Seeing the boy completely becoming lost in the work in an attempt to hide his emotions, Rotor put a hand on Bartleby’s shoulder. “Bartleby?”

The mink stood up, wiping his face as if to wipe away the soot. “The engine is totally shot… it takes a Yoken XD-49. I don’t think we have any in stock though…”

Rotor shook his head. “Bartleby, come here. You need to sit and relax. You’re upset…”

Bartleby shook his head. “No I’m not. I won’t let him continue to haunt me.” He wiped his face with a rag desperately. When Rotor looked at him, he nodded. “I just can’t talk about it yet. It’s too raw still…”

Rotor took the rag away. “Then don’t talk. But don’t run either. You’re allowed to be hurt, to feel pain…”

The mink shook his head. “No, I can’t. If I let myself get too vulnerable then I could be hurt again. Sonia is the only one I know for sure won’t break my trust. I’m sorry…” He stood up. “I’ll go order that part…”

The walrus sighed. He needed to break through his student’s defenses. Before they became too hard to allow anything through.

AN: Uh oh, we may have some trouble in paradise.
- 4
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Breaking Point