Rain backed away from the bear like man in overalls with a disgusted look on her face. She'd never seen such a dirty person before! It was like the big goon did nothing but roll around in dirt, grease, oil and muck all day, every day since the day he was born.

"Mr. Limberger wants to buy your garage-" He said as he held up a crumpled and filthy looking piece of paper that she could only assume was a legal document of some kind.

Rain shuddered and shook her head no. She didn't know who this Mr. Limberger was or even why he wanted her garage, but she wasn't selling. It wasn't that she loved or even disliked the garage that her grandparents had bought for her. It was more like...well she had this bizarre personality quirk that prevented her from handing over the property and such that she owned.

It was weird because she had no problem sharing her stuff. Like clothes, cars, tools, food, the apartment, her money exct.

But when someone had the audacity to demand that she give something up without asking nicely, it triggered some dark part of her mind, and gave her the nearly over whelming desire to randomly destroy what it was that she was being demanded to give up.

"He's willing to pay you twice what it's worth-"

Again Rain shook her head no and yelped when she nearly tripped over her own feet. The guy closed in on her and grabbed her arm, jerking her almost violently back against him and wrapped his arm around her neck. But he was at least three feet four inches taller than her. So instead of simply holding her in place to prevent escape, the big goon wound up hanging her by her neck and choking her.

She made a strangled sound and kicked her feet, trying to get him in the shins while desperately fighting for air. She was starting to black out when she heard what sounded like a motorcycle ride up. Seconds ticked by and everything was slowly fading to black when she became vaguely aware of someone saying, "Hey jerkwad. Let the girl go."

A second later she was dropped by the greasy goon and lay on the cold concrete floor coughing and wheezing and trying to catch her breath. She was unaware of the scuffle that occurred. Or the fact that her savior's two friends came busting through the far back window of her garage, she heard the glass break and the voices of two distinct males who helped and chase off the greasy guy that had been hurting her.

She was however aware of a pair of strong hands gently gripping her shoulders as someone spoke softly to her. Asking her if she was okay, if she was in pain, did she need anything to drink, was she going to be sick. She shook her head slowly, wincing slightly at the soreness in her neck and used one hand to massage the bruised tissue before looking up at the person and blinked at her own reflection staring back at her from the glass visor of a dark black and green biker helmet.

A biker? A biker had come to save her? Seriously?

Since when did the bikers in Chicago save kids from being choked to death? Weren't most of the bikers in state more interested in drugs, stealing and killing people? To her knowledge there was no such thing as a boyscout biker.

"Ah. Thanks." She rasped as the biker let go of her and moved back a little bit. Not so far that he couldn't grab her if he needed too, yet not so close that she might feel like she was suffocating.

He was being cautious. She realized after a moment or so as she looked around her garage and first noted the oil and grease stains and made an irritated sound in the back of her throat before noticing the two other guys standing a few feet away.

Both were big. Much bigger than the greasy guy had been. She figured that one- The tallest guy in the midnight blue helmet with what looked like a metal arm and a blue breast plate covering his chest, stood at about six foot eight. The guy next to him...looked like he was wearing a pimp coat. He was covered in nothing but flour white fur with green colored bandoleers across his chest. He had a blood red helmet on his head and his arms were crossed over his chest, his head tilted to the side a little bit.

She got the feeling that the two were studying her as much as she was studying them. Which they probably were. Maybe to figure out her street worth so that they could sell her into prostitution. She blanched a little bit as the idea crossed her mind and gave them a pitiful looking smile and said, "Uh look if you guys want to trash the place or steal anything not nailed down, then go ahead. Just let me grab my cell phone and leave in one piece okay."

All three bikers didn't even bother contemplating her request before they shot her down. "No." The guy next to her said softly. Rain flinched never the less and looked at him like he'd just struck her.

"Nope." Said the giant in the midnight blue helmet.

"Sorry sweetheart, can't." The guy in the white fur pimp coat said sympathetically as all three of them reached up and unfastened their helmets and started to take them off. Rain paled a little more and made a soft frightened sound. Fearing that they were planning to kill her once she saw their faces or something and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from begging them not to hurt her.

She squeezed her eyes closed and bit her lower lip as they slowly pulled their helmets off. The three were silent for several heartbeats, wondering what the female was doing with her eyes closed when she muttered something under her breath and slowly looked at them then gasped, her eyes widening in shock under her long dark bangs.

"Oh dear god you're mice. M-Mutant mice? R-Really bi-big m-mutant mice." Rain stuttered in a slightly panicked tone. She never would have believed what she was seeing if she hadn't had the three standing right there in front of her.

And there was definitely no mistaking that they were mice. The big round ears, and tails that suddenly appeared from behind them, were both a dead give away. Well as much so as the facial features and the colors of their fur-

Oh god they had fur. She had simply assumed that the white one was wearing a pimp coat. It had never occurred to her that they were giant furry fuzzy rodents! And they walked on two legs-

She made a funny hysterical half laugh half hiccuping sound and not so subtly moved away from them. She was about five steps away when one of them appeared in front of her and wrapped an arm around her slender waist. She made another hiccuping sound and gripped his wrist with both of her hands and dug her fingernails into the soft fur covered skin but got no reaction from him as he carried her back to where she had been before and set her down in front of the tan furred guy who sighed and gave her a slightly pained look before saying.

"I really wish that you hadn't done that." As the gray furred mouse held out a length of what looked like a thin rope out to the tan furred guy who took the rope and before Rain could react he had both of her hands bound in front of her and then asked.

"What's your name doll?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that her name wasn't any of his business but stopped herself because she wasn't sure how he would react to being told to go fuck himself, and reluctantly answered him. "Rain. My name is Rain."

He tied an intricate knot and she frowned as he made a soft humming sound then said softly, "Nice to meet you Rain. I'm Throttle Thorin. The giant over there-" Throttle motioned towards the gray furred guy. "Is my older brother Modo Maverick. And the other guy over there-" Throttle motioned towards the white furred guy studying her tools across the room. "That's my younger brother Vincent Van Wham. We call him Vinny for short. Now. Next question, I need you to tell me where you live and who lives with you. Can you do that?"

Rain got an frightened look on her face and shook her head no. There was no way that she was telling them that she lived alone. There was no telling what they might do to her if she did. Throttle noted her expression and looked at Modo and Vinny, his expression never changing despite the fact that his brothers could pick up on how angry and sad he was on behalf of the girl as Modo stepped forward and lightly put his flesh hand on top of Rain's head and asked softly.

"Were you abandoned?"

Rain went as white as a sheet and Throttle snarled.

Fuck no, she hadn't been abandoned. She was an orphan. After seeing the shit that they had seen during the war, orphans were easy to spot. They were the ones who panicked when you asked where their families were because they always thought that the rebel forces were no different from the Plutark soldiers that had killed their families.

They were the ash covered little urchins in the ragged and torn clothes, their fur singed, wounds littering their fragile little bodies. He took a second or so to calm the seething rage churning in his gut and looked the girl over with a critical eye.

He didn't know very much about humans but he imagined that the girl was frightfully thin for her age and height. Her pale eyes were a vivid turquoise color that stood out in stark contrast between the dark circles under her eyes and the paleness of her skin. Her hair was a dark chocolate brown that hung to the middle of her back and was pulled into a thick braid, and her bangs hung in her face partially hiding it from view.

She was a pretty girl.

But she would be prettier if she wasn't so pale and sickly looking. Although he supposed that that was their fault for frightening her so. "Okay, sweetheart. Calm down. We aren't going to hurt you..." Rain continued to look unconvinced. Throttle sighed and scratched behind one of his ears.

"I guess we should explain who we are and what we're doing here."