The call came during the sandstorm.
A Freedom Fighter from another area, Cagiva, contacted them urgently. She had been expecting to talk to Mace and was vaguely surprised when he was joined by Stoker.
"What's up Cagiva?"
"We've heard rumours of a Plutarkian Tug Transformer located in Tharsis Rise Volcano. You're closest. Care to check it out?"
"A Tug Transformer?" Behind Stoker, Carbine was thinking at a rapid pace. "They want to pull Mars out of orbit and send it to Plutark?"
"Exactly." Cagiva looked grim. "It's just a rumour right now, but we need to know and stop it if we can. It'll take our Freedom Fighters two or three days to get there, but you're close. Think you can handle it Stoker?"
Stoker looked grim, but nodded. "Yeah. Leave it to us. We can deal."
"Great. Give us a call if you need us. We'll be there as fast as we can." Cagiva signed off and Stoker stared at the blank screen for a moment. Being the leader just never got any easier…
"To battle Freedom Fighters!"
The cheer went up from the Freedom Fighters, all ready to fight for their planet.
"The moment the storm's over, we go see what all this is about. I hope it's just a rumour… but we can't take that chance."
Mace smirked. "I'll look at the helmets; make sure the radio links are working alright."
"Thanks Mace." Stoker turned to Harley. "Think you can make sure the bikes are battle ready?"
"I'm already on it."
"And you'll stay behind,"
Harley glared at him. "Stoker, I know I'm just a mechanic, but I can help!"
"No. You and Mace stay, we can call if we need help. We might need it after this fight." Stoker went over to her, his hand hovering over her shoulder but not quite daring to land. "You'll do best to stay here and prepare – and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."
"Stoker…" Harley looked at the floor. "This is a war and you need everyone you can get."
"Exactly. You put them back on their feet. We need you healthy." Abruptly, Stoker turned and shouted to the other Freedom Fighters. "Hope you're getting ready!"
"We were born ready!" Vinnie wrapped his tail around Carbine and pulled her close. "How about a kiss for luck?"
Carbine grinned. "I get the feeling the Vinnie luck will never run out!" Still, she kissed him directly on his lips, in full view of everyone. Vinnie blushed slightly as the other Freedom Fighters cheered and cat-called them.
"And with that inspiring image…" Throttle smirked at his friends. "Let's rock…"
"…And wait for the storm to finish," said Vinnie.
By the time the morning arrived, the storm was over and the Freedom Fighters were ready to head out and find out the truth about what the Plutarkians were up to. Mace returned their helmets, smiling slightly. "There shouldn't be any more problems."
"Wasn't aware there were problems to begin with," said Carbine as she accepted hers, giving Mace a grin to show she appreciated the help.
"Yeah, well…" Mace watched as the Freedom Fighters rode out, his smile hardening into a smirk. "You don't know anything – rookie."
Harley watched them leave, a worried frown on her face. "Mace – you ever get the feeling that something's gonna go wrong?"
"Nope," said Mace confidently. "I get the feeling that everything's gonna go according to plan."
At Tharsis Rise, there were angry words being exchanged.
"WHAT!?!" Stilton waited for the all-terrain vehicle to stop before lifting Limburger by his lapels. "You set a trap – without consulting me?!"
Limburger gasped for breath, managing to choke out his words. "Karbunkle – quickly!"
Karbunkle, in his own vehicle, motioned to the creature beside him to get out.
"You see your Rancid Regalness…" Limburger was dropped to the ground and continued his toadying at boot level. "I've even arranged for this to assure your victory!"
"This?" Stilton turned on Karbunkle. "I told you there were not enough to ensure success!"
It was that moment that the Freedom Fighters arrived, blasting at both the Plutarkians and the Sand Raiders who had been commissioned as the protectors of Tharsis Rise.
Initially, the Freedom Fighters did well, demolishing gun towers, blasting the Sand Raiders, avoiding the shots that headed their way. It was a dream. Everything was going as it should, the Freedom Fighters being in control and the Plutarkians forced into retreat.
"Well, don't just stand there!" Limburger shouted at his latest acquisition. "Do something!"
Nodding, his fighter headed into the fray.
It was Denel who saw him first, zooming over to him and stopping. "Lost your bike? Jump on the pillion. We can stop these fish faces yet…."
Her words were cut short as he back-handed her, knocking her clean off her bike and dislocating her jaw in one movement. Denel landed on the ground, writhing in pain.
Ignoring her, he continued on. The fight was still ongoing, no one realising that Denel was down until Shrapnel spotted her.
"Oh no, Denel!"
He raced his bike over to her, taking no notice of the one who had caused her injury – until he got to close and was clotheslined from his bike, a blow that felt as if his windpipe had been crushed.
Stilton was getting in on the action, not trusting that Limburger could deal with it, blasting at the Freedom Fighters. And he was a good shot too, lethally good in the case of one of the Freedom Fighters, Cordite, who had her front tyre shredded out and a laser put through her back as she fought to keep control. The bike fell and its rider rolled off, bleeding out, hidden mostly by the smoke and noise of the fire fight.
Vendel covered Phantom as they tried to go after Cordite and see if there was any hope, Vendel returning fire as Phantom took a pulse and shook his head. "No use. She's gone. Stilton's gonna pay for this…"
Angered, he didn't notice Limburger's new pet until Vendel was suddenly thrown from his bike by a laser beam hitting the machine. Phantom turned and pulled his gun on the newcomer, finding himself in front of the tallest creature he had ever seen. As Vendel rose hurriedly, the shooter reached out and slammed their heads together, seemingly with no more effort than it took to clap ones hands. The pair fell into the dirt beside their deceased associate.
Limburger's pet turned its head and looked at the fight, noticing a group of three Freedom Fighters that had still not been taken down…
Stoker had taken charge of one of the Plutarkian all-terrain vehicles after disposing of its original drivers and was heading his way.
"We're outnumbered five to one!" he shouted into his helmet radio. "We've been set up!"
There was no reply.
Stoker tried again. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
Nothing. The helmet radios were dead. None of the Freedom Fighters could hear each other.
But that would mean that Mace deliberately disabled them – he's a spy! And he told the Plutarkians to expect us! This is a trap!
Meanwhile, certain Freedom Fighters were having the time of their lives. "Like we always say," said Throttle with a grin. "If you can't stop the party…"
"CRASH IT!" shouted Vinnie and Carbine in perfect unison.
They headed back into the melee, splitting up to cause further damage.
It was Throttle who noticed Limburgers new pet before the others. He gaped, pressing the button on his helmet to speak to the others by radio. "Vinnie! Vinnie! Bro, you won't believe…"
The radio was dead. Cursing his bad luck, he opened the visor on his helmet to shout to his friend…
And was hit by a laser, which missed him directly but landed in his bikes path. He was thrown off, the light burning through his eyes, rendering him almost blind.
Dimly, he realised there was something running down his face. He thought his eyes were watering, until he reached up a hand and realised that tears were rarely sticky and viscous.
He was haemorrhaging.
"THROTTLE!"
Vinnie saw his bro go down without seeing what it was that caused him to fall. He stopped blasting on the gun tower and rode as fast as he could to Throttle's side. "What the…?"
And then he saw the figure advancing on him and his eyes grew wide.
"Modo?"
Confused as he was, Vinnie refused to fire on Modo – his bro – but he could see that Modo was changed. Both his arms had been replaced by metallic parodies and both his eyes glowed red. It wasn't so much Modo as the cyborg version…
Modo opened fire.
Vinnie's bike was hit, throwing Vinnie from the seat and landing him on the floor. A moment later, Modo was upon him, bouncing his head on the ground. His helmet protected him to a certain degree – but Modo had a hard hit.
Vinnie lost consciousness.
"VINNIE!"
Carbine rode as fast as she could over to the tall grey mouse, whom she had never met, opening fire and aiming her laser at him. For some reason, Vinnie hadn't taken him down – but she would. No one hurt Vinnie. No one.
But Modo dodged her fire, both his arms aiming forward and blasting. Carbine continued her advance, determined that nothing would stop her getting to Vinnie – and then she felt a searing agony throughout her tail and fell off her bike, gagging as the pain made her want to vomit.
She looked back at her tail. It wasn't there.
There was a three inch stub where it should have been, the remainder lying in the dirt some distance away. One of Modo's blasts had been powerful enough to sever her tail from her body.
She felt weak, blood loss and shock keeping her down. But Modo didn't seem to care, passing by her to go after the rest of the Freedom Fighters.
And when the Plutarkians came to pick up the survivors and take them away, she was almost grateful. Someone had to end this agony… someone had to.
Stoker was lost.
There was no way to tell the Freedom Fighters that the grey mouse was not a friend. He was picking them off where ever they were. This battle was over – and they had lost.
And if Mace is the traitor – oh no, I left him alone with Harley!
Mind made up, Stoker rode away from the carnage, his heart heavy. There was nothing more he could do there – but the retreat left a bad taste in his mouth. He swore a silent oath to his comrades that he would be back for them, would rescue them any way he could. But defeat lay heavily on him and as he left, he was sure he could hear Stilton laughing.
&&&&&&&&&&&
Mace was acting strangely.
Harley glanced over at him several times as she worked on new inventions that would aid the Freedom Fighters in their future endeavours. He was standing over the communications desk and sniggering – at one point he laughed and smothered it. But – that had to be good news, right? The Freedom Fighters were winning!
But Mace had never acted this way over any of their other victories…
Eventually she could take no more. "Mace, what's going on?"
Mace glanced over at her, looking concerned – but Harley was suddenly sure that the concern was a sham. It was too filled with glee. "All the Freedom Fighters were captured."
"NO!" Harley ran over to the communications desk, where the information was the same as Mace had told her. "But how – why – they would have had to know we were coming!"
Mace's grin widened.
"You!" Harley backed away from Mace slowly. "You told them! You've been working for them all along!"
"That's right." Mace produced a gun from behind his back and advanced on Harley. "I've been getting a lot of Plutarkian Gold Gills for my information and this should give me the biggest payday ever! And, as the only survivor of Brimstone city, I can go to another Freedom Fighter camp and do all this all over again!"
Harley snarled. "You – shit! Call yourself a mouse! You're a no-good dirty rat!"
Mace shrugged. "I'm a mouse all right, but a rich mouse. And about to get a whole lot richer." Carefully, he trained the gun on Harley, going for a head shot.
There was a click from behind him. "Drop the gun or you're gonna be breathing through a big damn hole in your head."
"Stoker!" Harley had to refrain from clapping her hands as Mace dropped the gun to the floor and turned enough to see Stoker holding a gun to his head.
"Better. How long have you been telling the Plutarkians about us?"
"Since I got here," smirked Mace. "What are you gonna do about it?"
"Y'know, the Freedom Fighters practice non-lethal force." Stoker shoved the gun closer to Mace's head. "But since the Freedom Fighters ain't here…"
Harley held her breath as Stoker considered the gun and Mace. Surely he wouldn't…
Instead, Stoker used the barrel of the gun, slamming it down on Mace's head and rendering him unconscious. Mace crumpled as Stoker turned to her. "I'm the only one who came back. We need to get them free. Up for it?"
"I'm up for anything Stoker," she replied. "You should know that by now."
They were interrupted by a bleeping from the vid-com. Stoker ran over and flicked it on, hoping for an update on the Freedom Fighters – and was rather disconcerted when he got Chopper, Rimfire and Primer instead.
"Stoker?" Chopper took in the empty base in a quick glance and frowned. "You look trashed. Where's Throttle?"
"Throttle got caught in a fire fight. We don't know…"
"Throttle's no casualty! If he's a prisoner, we'll bust him out!"
"Hang on kid; let's be smart about this…"
"Hang on nothing! If you wanna help, fine, but I'm already gone. Rimfire, Primer, you with me?"
"All the way," said Rimfire behind her as the vid-screen went to static.
Stoker slammed a fist into the desk. "Dammit! Now we've got them to worry about. Remind me never to have kids. Come on Harley, let's get our bros free."
"Why, you're including me on a mission?" Harley teased him by batting her eyelashes.
"Well… I need you babe." Stoker climbed aboard his bike.
"What about Mace?" asked Harley, getting her bag of equipment and things she had been working on.
"Leave him," replied Stoker contemptuously. "We won't be coming back here again."
