Running...
The room was dark. Throttle sat in the wicker chair by the window. He was waiting, it was almost 10 PM, he would be here. That biker, he would pull up, stop in front of the house, and leave after a few seconds. Throttle was running it over in his mind, who it could be, who would want to just roll up and stick for five seconds and just leave.
"You are paranoid." Charlie knelt down by his chair. She ran her fingers over his shoulders. He didn't relax like she hoped.
"No I'm serious, I think someone is casing our House." Throttle looked around and sighed, he'd set his bike on constant scan to make sure nothing bad was going down. His brown eyed girlfriend just waved her hand and stood. She grabbed her date book for the next mornings work and started to look over her appointments at the Last Chance garage.
"I think he's right Charlie." Vinnie stepped out of the kitchen, he was living with them for the time being, a heavy mid western storm had taken out the scoreboard at Quigly field. "That doesn't look right on any radar." Vinnie was cleaning his blaster, he liked to see his face in it. "There." Vinnie whispered. He looked out and saw the bike approach, stop, look, and than leave. "what is with that?" He lowered his blaster.
"I don't know," Throttle turned to them. "But it bothers me." He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.
"Bothers me too." Vinnie set his blaster on the table. "Did that little lady of yours record anything Throttle?"
"Not sure Vinchenzo, but I'll check it out in the morning." He got up grabbing his keys and jacket and stepped over to Vinnie. "All is quiet now, lets hope it stays that way." Lets get some sleep, Modo will be here in the morning." he hung his coat and keys at the door. "We can talk about this over breakfast."
"Sounds good." Vinnie nodded and looked back out of the front curtains. Charlie smiled at him, in the five years she'd known them she felt as if she had watched Vinnie group up. As the mice had found love and paired off, Vinnie was left alone in it all; and for it, he was stronger.
"Night Vinnie." Charley kissed his cheek.
"Night sweetheart." he turned his head and smiled at her. Stepping away from the window he sighed, twisting his tail and letting it pop from his backside to it's tip.
"I hate it when you snap your tail." Charlie shivered a bit. "It's creepy."
"Sorry, it's just something I do." He decided it was best he went to his room and got some sleep.
Charlie went through the rest of the house turning off lights as she went. Making her way down the hall, pushing open the door of her bedroom she clicked on the light. Throttle was behind her quickly shutting the door and clicking the lock shut. "Not taking any chances huh?"
"Nope." He smiled and removed his vest tossing it aside. "Locking all the doors and windows is the best idea."
"All right, I guess it's a harmless precaution."
"Exactly."
"Any thoughts on who it might be?" Charlie started to brush out her hair, and putting it up in a bun.
"I have a few ideas, but none of them seem to be realistic." he sighed and turned looking at their large bedroom. He knew it perfectly, and that was just fine by him. He removed his glasses and set them on the nightstand, and though this made him almost blind he could still manuver the room with ease. He looked up hearing the faucet of the tub turn on in their bathroom. Charlie was a sucker for a late night bath. He smiled. "Don't be too long."
Charlie appeared in the doorway in a towel. "Never..."
Throttle sat down on the edge of the bed, and sighed gently. He was making a mental decision in his mind. He was deciding if he should go into that bathroom and sit on the floor by the tub. He did it a lot, he loved the smell of honey, and lavender. How soft her skin got in the water.
-BANG-
Throttle's head shot up. Charlie quickly turned off the tub. She was still standing next to the vanity wrapped in a towel.
-BANG-
"THE HELL!" Vinnie was in the hall, and trying to get his pants back on. "I hate this!
Throttle struggled to get his shades back on and moved to the bathroom. "Stay put." She nodded and nelt down in the bathroom. Throttle was certain of her safty, the bathroom was in-closed in the house and had no windows. He unlocked the door, and grabbed his matian blaster from his belt hanging at the door. Vinnie was next to the door holding his blaster and nodded to Throttle who made a hand gesture for Vinnie to follow him.
-BANG-
"That better be a raccoon." Vinnie wispered behind him, snapping his belt buckle in place.
"It's absolutely in the garage, but that is not raccoon, that's a gun." Throttle moved into the kitchen and unlocked the back door and pulled in the door and used the kitchen brick to hold it back. Throttle looked out the small window in the door and nodded to Vinnie and clicked the screen open making his way outside.
"Quiet now who ever it is, they are in the garage." Throttle motioned for Vinnie to flank around the garage, Throttle crept up on the side door. There were three vehicles inside, Vinnie's bike, Throttle's bike, and the Pick up. Throttle could see the small Motorcycle outside. The driver was inside the Garage, taking shots at the vehicles.
Vinnie motioned to him. Throttle held up a hand and started to count down with his fingers at two he nodded the two mice turned, entering the garage. "Hey!" The individual still covered and unable to be seen was ripping wires out of both bikes and he grabbed two small silver boxes from the bikes and pushed past the two, dodging the blaster fire from Throttle and Vinnie. The masked biker jumped onto the bike starting it up and making his escape. Vinnie and Throttle started making shots at the bike, but it was no use, he was getting away.
"Lets go after him." Vinnie screamed pointing out of the garage.
"Can't..." Throttle lowered his blaster, "He shot holes in all the gas tanks. Put your blaster away we have to be careful, there's gasoline all over." Throttle got furious, leaning down by the two motorcycles. "he took the AIs."
"Should we warn Modo?" Vinnie blinked holstering his blaster.
"Yes, go...tell Charlie she can come out...gonna be a long night cleaning this up." He sighed. "And get a hold of that Old Man if you can, our bike's are screwed..."
"You think Stoker will come out of hiding for this?"
"Not sure bro, but we need these bikes." He leaned down lowered his head, to see the bottom of his pick up. "Bastard shot my truck." Throttle kicked the tire.
"I'll get Charlie and give Modo a call." Vinnie turned and headed into the house. Throttle began to sniff around, the smell of the gas was masking a lot, however he was able to pick up the smell, of a cat. "Fucking cats should have shot out that bike's tire when I had the Chance..."
Modo arrived around 11:30 PM. He pulled up near the house and cut his engine and made his way over to the detached garage. "Whoa..." Modo looked at the mess. "Looks like you two had fun."
"Not really." Throttle had both motorcycles outside in the grass, away from the gasoline. Charlie had set him up with a spot light. Throttle was lying beneith the blue bike and pulled out a small chip. "We'll need your bike to read the memory chips from our bikes."
"Sure." Modo smiled. "No biggy" Modo helped Throttle up to his feet.
"It's those cats." Throttle started brushing the grass out of his fur.
"Not good." Modo sighed.
"Hey guys I am ready, modo if you and Little Hoss can help I would appreciate it." Charlie held a chain that was attached to the pick up. "Just pull her outside."
"You got it Charlie Ma'am, than we can read that chip Throttle." Throttle nodded and put his hands on his hips, he couldn't figure out what anyone would want with the AIs to the bikes, all the sensitive material the bike's held, were stored in the memory chips. Who ever took the AI components stole the body but left the brain. It didn't add up.
Charlie yawned, and looked back into the garage, she was going to have to work all night, and it made her upset. She shook her head and rolled up her sleeves.
Modo pulled the pick up slowly straight out of the garage. Vinnie had been in the driver seat and pushed on the break when he was far enough out onto the driveway. He tossed the shifter from Neutral to Park and held a thumbs up out the window. Modo shut off his engine.
Modo turned hearing a beep. He looked down to his right and a small screen appeared out of his arm. "Modo."
"General." He sighed.
"Let me speak to Throttle."
"Bro!" Modo turned and looked at Throttle. "You're up."
Throttle nodded and jogged over to Modo and looked down at the screen. "Stoker."
"What did you do now?" The impatient mouse asked.
"We were attacked so to speak, Vincent and I are two bike's short, Modo wasn't hear and his bike is intact."
"What was taken?" All business.
"The AI routing box." Throttle crossed his arms.
"The memory engram chips?" he looked directly to Throttle.
"We have them."
"I'll find you tomorrow night, put those bikes somewhere safe and keep the chips on you, I may be able to do something." the screen went blank.
"Well goodbye." Throttle slapped his hands together. "Ok kids lets get everything put away and secure, Modo go get Amy, you need to stay here tonight, we all need to be here when Stoker shows his little head.
"Oh the Old Timer's coming back!" Vinnie began to break dance on the driveway, which wasn't very good.
"Could I get some help?" Charlie appeared behind Vinnie. "I need a few more hands to get this gasoline off the ground."
"Of course." Throttle stepped away from Modo who left seeking out his love. Throttle walked past Vinnie who was holding himself up on one hand. "Ok Vincent lets help Charlie out."
"Kay." He flipped up onto his feet.
The group was whole and done locking down the garage by 2 in the morning. "Everyone get some sleep." Throttle said to them all closing the bedroom door. Charlie walked into the bathroom and pulled the plug on the tub, her bathwater was cold, and it was just way too late.
Throttle took off his vest and his glasses and put them away and reached in his dresser drawer for his black flannel pants. He quickly changed and smiled she was standing in front of him. "Can't sneak up on me girlfriend." She reached up around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Aw."
"Love you."
"Oh I love you too." he touched her hips and ran his hands up her nightgown and up to her shoulders. "Mmm, silk."
"Yes, very good, now wich one?"
"Green?"
"You always guess green." She laughed at him. "do I have a green nightgown?"
"I can wish can't I?"
"What if I told you it was green?" She blinked waiting for a response. Throttle let go of her and reached to his left and grabbed his shades off of the dresser, put them on, took one look, and took them off.
"that's nice." his voice was little more than a whisper.
"Better be," she reached over turning the light switch and making them both blind.
Throttle froze. "shhh ..did you hear that?" Suddenly behind him the window shattered, in a knee jerk recation he pushed down on Charlie forcing her to the floor and landing over her. "Stay down." Throttle's heart began to race. "BROS!" Throttle became disoriented in the dark "Charlene I need you to find my shades."
"Ok." She said reaching around in the darkness. She found them, they had falled off of the dresser, she placed them in his right hand. "MODO! VIN!" Throttle screamed and looked back to Charlie. "I need you to army crawl into the bathroom and get into the tub.
"Throttle..." she looked at him "what is going..."
"Please don't argue with me just go!" he pushed her and she started moving. Another wave of bullets sprayed across the room. Throttle couldn't get a better grasp on the situation and followed her and motioned for her to get into the tub, he climbed in and knelt over her. "Just sit still." he said, looking down into her eyes. "We've gotta move."
"Promise I'll call the real estate guy tomorrow."
Throttle looked up he heard the bedroom door open. "Bro?" it was Modo.
"Bathroom." Throttle called out. He heard the footsteps coming closer and he raised out of the tub. "What was that?" Throttle looked out the door at Modo.
"No idea but it looks awful in here." Modo looked around. "We can't stay here anymore."
"Get Stoker on the phone and tell him we are gonna meet him somewhere, Charlie get dressed, and Modo get everyone else ready, we have to move as fast as we can." Throttle reached down grabbing his jeans off of his chair. "Also you me and Vinnie have to patch the gas tank on the truck. We need to get that fixed and the Bike's loaded and get the hell out of here."
"You got it Bro." Modo walked into the hall and met Amy and Vinnie,
"We leaving?" Vinnie looked up.
"Yes." Modo looked at him "get dressed and lets get out of here in a hurry."
"Throttle." Charlie was buttoning a shirt and looked at him "I have some epoxy putty we can use to seal up the tank."
"OK how long with that take?"
"Should be a quick easy fix until we can replace the tank." Charlie looked at him. "I did it to Vinnie's bike a few years ago remember?"
"Oh yeah." he grabbed his satchel bag. Charlie pulled out her overnight bag from under the bed. "Lets hurry." he reached back and grabbed her hand and lead her out of the room.
"Modo?" Amy was in the hall looking around, Throttle tossed his satchel over his shoulder and grabbed her hand too.
"He's outside with Vinnie, come on with us." Throttle lead the women outside. Modo and Vinnie had all the bike's loaded Throttle's and Vinnie's in the bed, and Modo's on a trailer.
"Vinnie!" Charlie tossed keys at him. "The shed."
"Is it ready?"
"Yes go get her, I don't care if Throttle sees."
"Sees what?" Throttle looked back at her.
"Your birthday present." she nodded "Hurry Vinnie I don't want anything to happen to it or to us." Vinnie jumped off the bed of the truck and ran out to the shed. Charlie let go of Throttle and ran to the garage and pulled out the epoxy putty from the garage and raced out to the truck. Modo was stiff as a board looking out into the black of the street standing next to his bike monitoring the surrounding area. An engine roared to life, and out from behind the house came a bright orange Harley. Vinnie rolled it around to the trailer and dismounted in front of Throttle and helped him roll it up and lock in place with strap locks.
Charlie crawled out from under the pick up and tossed the empty putty canister into the trash can, and ran back inside looking for her little red gas tank. "We'll have to stop somewhere to get more fuel." She opened the gas door and poped open the tank's cap and started to pour the 5 gallon bucket into the truck.
"Load up!" Throttle walked into the garage and grabbed his helmet and Vinnie's. "Lets go!" He tossed Vinnie his helmet. Modo took front passenger seat, Throttle took driver, which left Vinnie where he wanted to be, in the backseat between the girls.
Throttle started up the tuck and put it in reverse slowly and pulled away from the house. "this is no fun...Did you get a hold of Stoker yet Modo?"
"Yes, he's sent a location."
"Ok Like where?"
"Two hours south, you need to take interstate 57, lets get going." Modo was looking over the maps that Stoker had transfered to his arm.
"You got it." They had been on the road almost an hour, things were quiet; Modo, Amy, and Vinnie were asleep. "Still awake back there Charlene."
"You're awake, so I am." She spoke quietly.
"It's beautiful."
"Excuse me?" she was tired and he could tell.
"The Harley in the back, she's beautiful." He said, his face illuminated by the dashboard of the pickup.
"Been working on her for months now." she smiled.
"Sounds good." She could see him smiling "I like the Orange too."
"Just needs one more tune up." She smiled at him and closed her eyes with a yawn.
"Get some rest Charlie girl." Throttle moved his tail between the seats and into the back and wrapped it around her hand, he did this alot when they were seprated by short distances, and his hands were tied. She held his tail, and leaned back against the glass window, trying to get some rest.
To be continued...