Karbunkle creates a ray gun that turns our beloved bikers into ordinary Earth mice! With no bikes, no weapons, and a missing Charley, how can they get out of this one?
Disclaimer: I don't own BMFM, sadly.
Chapter 1: Changes
Modo tapped the side of his helmet, trying to fix any possible damage that might have occured. "I don't get it," he said to his bros, "our radios work fine to each other, but I can't get Charley-ma'am. You don't think something's happened to her?"
"Aw, c'mon, she's probably rolled under a car and can't hear the beep," Vinnie said. The way his tail was nervously twitching belied his casual tone. "Soon as we get these bank robbers taken care of, we'll go check on her, right Throttle?"
The tan mouse nodded. "Right. But first things first. Look sharp and stay low. Chances are those scumbags have hostages." The mice were responding to a early morning call sent out by Sweet Georgie Brown about a bank heist in progress. Since they had to skip breakfast, Vinnie had tried calling Charley to ask if they could come by later for some chow. But there hadn't been any answer for the last ten minutes.
They rolled up to the building, smoke pouring out a large hole in the wall where Limburger's goons had crashed through. "A'ight youse peoples, just hand overs the loot and only one of ya's gets hurt."
"Greasepit," Modo muttered. "I'm really begining to hate that guy."
"Easy bro," Throttle said. "Helmet Run number 4. Lets rock and ride!"
They rushed through the wall, the bikes shooting any debris out of the way. Several people huddled to one side of the wall, and as the mice walked in, most of the hostages looked glad to see them. The frightened tellers were just starting to hand over the bags of money, but on seeing the three bikers, one girl twisted around and swung the bag with all her might at the criminal's head, knocking him out cold. She then jumped down under the counter, dragging the other girl along with her. "Don't worry, the bikers are here," she said to her friend. "Everything will be okay now."
"You know, I thought they were just some urban legend," the other girl said as the sound of laser fire rang out. "But seeing them now," she leaned up on her knees to get a quick peek of the action, quickly squatting back down as a large crash rocked the building, "you know they can't be human."
"I told you," her friend replied smugly. "And I agree with Kathy from accounting, the white one's hot, I don't care what species he is!"
"Amen, sister," the other girl replied gleefully, "but give me that tan one any day." Both women swooned like schoolgirls over the thought.
Throttle held up one goon to pitch out the wall. "Is it me, or does this seem a little too easy?"
Modo sent three more out with one arm. "Yeah, where's the villain saying stupid stuff? I almost miss it."
"Who cares?" Vinnie said, gleefully tossing another goon into a wall. "I just want this over with so we can get some grub, I'm starving!"
A sudden blast from a ray gun made the mice duck for cover. "Youse mices ain't won yet," Greasepit said as he fired a huge laser cannon all over the room. He got in the luckiest shot of his life, and actually managed to hit Modo's leg. the grey mouse jerked badly in response, but couldn't cry out as a brilliant flash of light nearly blinded everyone in the room. When the spots cleared from their eyes, the bikers couldn't see their bro. Anywhere.
"Modo!" Vinnie shouted, scanning the room wildly. "Bro where are you?"
"He's right here's," Greasepit said giddily as he held up what appeared to be an unconscious normal Earth mouse. Closer inspection would have shown that his right eye was patched, and his right front paw and leg were made of metal. And two very tiny antennae on his head. The head goon shoved the mouse into a small cage on his belt. "And youse about to join him real soon!"
"What did you do to him?" Vinnie said in horror. Horror quickly turned to fury, "You bastard!"
"Vinnie no!" Throttle shouted.
Too late, the white mouse was already charging, aiming to snatch the cage from the villain. Greasepit fired wildly to slow the Martian down, but Vinnie just dodged, his quicker speed and agility clearing him of every shot. Vinnie couldn't help his mocking grin, "That's the sorriest shooting I've ever seen! You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn"--
Except the one shot that bounced off the security mirror on the ceiling, shooting the ray straight at the back of the white Martian's head. The brilliant light flared again, and a small white mouse with metal on the side of its face was left out cold on the floor.
Throttle started firing his laser pistol, trying to drive Greasepit away so that he could get at least one bro back. The villain fell back, nearly shooting himself as he fell on his rear in the muck he oozed out. The tan mouse scooped up the tiny mouse, whistling to call the bikes to blast him out of there. But there was one problem with that.
Dozens more of Limburger's henchmen swarmed the building, too many for Throttle to take on and still protect his bro. They rushed him, bearing him down to the ground with kicks and punches as he curled around the white mouse in his hands. The bikes outside beeped and screeched as they were chased by dunebuggies, keeping them away from their riders.
Greasepit got back to his feet as the thugs pulled a nearly blacked-out Throttle from the floor, his hand still holding his bro protectively. The goon hefted the ray gun proudly. "Da boss'll be so proud. Three lil' mousies in one lil' cage. Life's good." He fired the gun, and when the light faded, a tan mouse with what looked like tiny little glasses perched on his muzzle lay next to the white mouse, twitching in unconsciousness.
&
Throttle groaned as he blearily opened his eyes. He blinked hard to try and clear his sight, reaching up to adjust his shades. The sight of a tiny paw made him jerk back. What the--
The sound of his own confused squeak brought back the memory of the fight at the bank. He looked over his new body. Just like a regular Earth mouse except for his antennae, but somehow his shades and bionic eyes had made the change with him. But none of his clothes had, how weird. And apparently his voice was gone too. I can't talk? he tried, but got nothing but squeaks and chirps. Nope. Guess I don't have the necesary parts to do it in this form.
He glanced around, seeing that he was in a large veternary cage with a thick lock on the gate. He then nearly started squeaking in joy as he spotted his bros and raced over to the other mice on the side of the cage. Bros! You guys alright?
The grey mouse stirred, soft chirps slurring a bit before getting clearer. Wha...What's goin' on? He tried to focus and nearly got the shock of his life as he saw his new form. What in the name of Mars is goin' on?!
Throttle tried to get his friend to listen to him, but by the confused look on his face knew that he couldnt' understand. The tan mouse growled to himself. He couldn't understand his bro either. How were they supposed to get out of here if they couldn't communicate enough to work together? He steeled himself a moment before pouncing, pinning the stunned grey mouse long enough for their antennae to touch.
Modo nearly threw him across the cage, so completely rattled by his friend's actions that he actually swore. What in the hell are you doin'?!
The white mouse jerked awake at the noise, took in the situation, and started shying away from the two obviously crazy Earth mice.
I had to connect us somehow, came Throttle's dazed response. He managed to get back to his paws, his balance not quite all there. Unless you figured on gettin' a lot better at charades.
Modo panted a bit in anger before he calmed down. I know ya had to do it, but I still don't like it. Mindwalker or no, you're supposed to give a guy some warning before ya do somethin' like that.
A Mindwalker was unique amoung Marian Mice, capable of connecting not only to their clan members, but to other mice as well. They could forge links for telepathy or mental blocks to portect secrets or memories. Most were used in court, to help learn the truth of different crimes. But during the war, their skills had gone to interrogation, spying, and interpertation. So many of them had been killed throughout the conflict, that some Martians now feared they would die out. That was one of the reasons Throttle had two of the best fighters the Martian resistance had to offer with him. To his eternal embarassment, they were sort of his 'guards.'
Sorry, Throttle said, rubbing his now bruised ear. He glanced over at the small white mouse that seemed to be trying to blend into the background. He's not gonna like this.
Can ya blame him? Modo said. After what Karbunkle tried to do to him, I'll be surprised if he even lets you close enough to try.
You gonna help?
Yeah, if nothin' else to help calm him down after it, the grey mouse said. The two mice began to slowly walk toward Vinnie, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. The white mouse crept backwards until his back met the cage wall, his body tensing to either attack or run. A breif fight ensued, the tan mouse eventually making enough of a contact with his antennae to establish the connection. Then both grey and tan mice had to hold onto their bro for all they were worth as he nearly went crazy in surpressed memories of trauma and pain from Karbunkle's lab. When he finally calmed down, he smacked his tail across the back of Throttle's head. His mental voice rang with deadly sincerity as he bit out, You suck.
I'm sorry bro, the tan mouse said, regret coloring his voice. But we have to work together to get out of here, and we can't do that if we can't understand each other.
Doesn't matter. You suck, Vinnie growled as he slowly got to his paws. He stared at Modo's arm and quickly brought a hand up to his face and felt his mask still in place. What? How did this stuff stick and not our clothes?
No idea, Modo said. Maybe because they're stuck to us, not just hanging on like clothes?
Who knows? Throttle said. He headed for the cage door. For now, we need to figure out the basics. Who?
Limburger, said Vinnie.
Throttle nodded at the obvious, Now for the 'what?'
We've been turned into Earth mice, at least, I think that's what they had in mind, said Modo. Don't think it worked right.
Thank the gods, Throttle muttered. So, How?
Not a clue, Vinnie said sourly. I had no idea there was tech like that anywhere in the universe.
Probably some kind of DNA scrambler, Throttle said. But an instantaneous one. Now all that leaves it is the where.
Take a wild guess, Modo said as a huge turnip shaped head came into veiw. "Awake, are you, my new little lab mice?"
&
Karbunkle chuckled gleefully to himself as he polished the muzzle of his ray gun. His newest invention couldn't have worked out more perfectly. The transmogrifying ray could turn any living creature into another living creature, no matter what their original DNA structure. He'd already turned Fred the Mutant into a tree and back to his...er, normal self four times without any damage to the initial DNA integrity.
And now the first test run on Martians was a blazing success. Those bothersome mice were now just that, mice. Little, defenseless, Earth mice. Soon, the Plutarkians would pay beyond his wildest dreams for the technology that could reduce any living opposition to mere insects, literally. No more shelling out money to buy land or resources when they could just transmogrify an entire planet's population. The scientist sighed dreamily to himself. Life was good.
Several squeaks and rattling from the cage made him come over to see what the commotion was. "Awake, are you, my little lab mice?" he wheezed. The squeaking went silent as he lifted the cage to see them better. "Aww. I would say, how cute, but I'm looking forward to dissecting you too much to have such sentiments." He grinned as the three mice shrank back a bit from the cage door.
A beeping on his computer made the mad scientist turn, setting the cage down. He clicked on the incoming message to see his employer's fishy visage. "Karbunkle."
"Yes, your cheesiness," he said.
"You're not trying any other experiments on our malforned mice, now are you?"
"Not yet sire, but if you want to watch later on"--
"No, no, I don't want you to do anything to them, not a single thing, not just yet."
The scientist was so stunned that he rudely blurted out, "Why not?"
The Plutarkian just smiled, lifting up a cage of his own. "Did you forget our other new little pet? I think we should arrange a play date for them, don't you?"
Karbunkle found a smile at that idea. "Yes, indeed, your cruelness. A brilliant idea." he turned that evil grin on the mice as the comm clicked off. "You boys will love what we've got in mind for you next. A shame I won't get to dissect you myself, but I think I can make do with what your new friend will leave behind."
A moment later, Limburger strode into the room, a quivering cage in his hand. Karbunkle reached over, lifting the mice's cage and carrying it over to a large plexiglass box, dumping them out with a hard shake.
They landed in a heap, slowly untangling themselves as they looked around. Anybody see a way out? Throttle asked, scanning the box.
Nope, Modo said. He tried punching his metal paw through the surface to get some grip so he could climb up, to no avail. He even tried his laser cannon, and got nothing. Sorry, bros. My cannon's shrunk too much, I can't even get a decent charge out of it.
Not your fault, Vinnie said. But just let me get close enough to that rotting fish, I'll bite his hand off. All three were dilberately ignoring Limburger's long winded schpiel about how he'd finally won, they were doomed, the usual blah, blah, blah. It was when they heard the hissing, growling, and snarling coming from the cage he carried that they suddenly paid attention.