Chapter 3
A/N: CHANGE - I had to replace Vinnie with Throttle to make the third part of this series work, and somehow I always felt a Throttle/Charley pairing was more believable than a Vinnie/Charley one. So might be worth giving Chapter 2 another read.
Charley tightened her grip on the pistol, glad to notice that her voice sounded much more confident that she felt. Sending goons to her place this time of the night (or morning) was a new one for Limburger. She has never seen this one, so he had to be a new recruit. He was different from the previous lot Limburger came up with. Limburger had never been selective of who he employed, and she often gagged at the rank stench of his goons, many of whom could hardly hold a gun, let alone fire it. For the most part they were cussing, ill-mannered and loud. She had always been able to beat them off because she heard them coming long before they arrived. This one was different. He was much taller than most, easily over 6 feet tall and spoke softly and precisely. He smelled of leather and something else she could not place. Not your average Limburger goon, which made her more suspicious and slightly fearful. She wasn't sure what to expect, but when the man turned around everything she ever thought she knew, changed in an instant.
Throttle heard the girl inhale sharply, but kept his eyes trained on the gun. He did not expect this to go well, and wanted to at least try and dodge the bullet when the woman decided to start shooting.
"You're….a mouse." the woman said slowly.
'Yes, Ma'am. A mouse." Throttle confirmed.
"A mouse?!"
Throttle shifted. Was she deaf?
"Yes, a mouse." He repeated. "From Mars."
"Mars? A mouse from Mars?" The woman dropped the pistol to her side in surprise.
"A mouse, from Mars. Shot down by Plutarkians 5 days ago. We have no way back, and I need my bike fixed. I'm Throttle by the way. I would shake your hand but…..you know." He gestured with his head towards his still-raised hands.
"Wait, are you saying you're an alien? Not one of Stink Face's goons?" the girl's initial shock seemed to have subsided.
"Alien yes. Goon, no."
He jerked in surprise when the girl suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the open door behind them. She shoved him inside the building before slamming the door shut and switching the light off, leaving the room bathed in a soft glow emitted by a lamp in the far corner. The room seemed to stretch almost the width of the block and a massive roller door was visible on the far side of the room. Shelves and work benches were lined with the walls and the scent of motor oil permeated the air.
She caught him looking at her quizzically.
"You're an alien and the CIA hasn't shown up yet. My guess is the authorities don't know you are here?"
Throttle shook his head.
Charley slumped down onto an empty motor oil barrel and shook her head.
"This…is a lot to take in. Aliens…Mars…" her head snapped up. "Earlier…you said 'we'. There are more of you?"
Throttle lowered his hands, careful not to make too sudden moves.
"My bro's. Well, not blood bro's, but close enough. Modo and Vinnie."
"And where are they now?"
"Scouting for a place to sleep until nightfall. We can't exactly be seen in public."
Charley nodded absentmindedly. Throttle decided that the worst threat was over. If the woman was going to shoot him, she would have done so by now.
"Look, Ma'am. I need my bike fixed. I think the gyro's busted. I…eh….don't have cash though. I can't pay you now but…."
"Charley."
Throttle blinked.
"What?"
"My name is Charley." The girl got up and opened the roller door entrance of the garage. "Bring your bike so I can take a look."
Throttle didn't know what surprised him most, her skill as a wrench jockey or the fact that his temperamental bike allowed Charley to tinker with her innards. Martian AI bikes were well known for not liking strangers handling them, but in this case the bike actually seemed to enjoy the girl working on her. Once Charley had gotten over the wonder of an AI bike, she started on the gyro, and from there fixed everything that was damaged during the crash, using the time to get the full story behind the crash and how he ended at her garage.
This was Throttle's first encounter with a real, live human and despite the rocky start, he was pleasantly surprised. Charley was well spoken, and seemed to try hard to get her head around having a giant, man-mouse in her garage. She was pretty as well. Not as pretty as some of the human girls he saw on television on Mars, but close enough. Her auburn hair trailed past her shoulders, and she had alert green eyes that he suspected did not miss much. He was taken aback by how short she was, barely reaching his chest. Humans did not seem this small in any of the shows they saw back on Mars. Her skin was what intrigued him most. It was furless, but not slick like a Plutarkian's and not scaly like a Krogan's. It was dry and soft from the looks of it. He was dying to touch it, but pushed the urge down, realizing that it might be too intimate a gesture for someone who had no clue that life outside of her planet existed until an hour ago. He was so engrossed in studying her, that he did not hear her speak to him.
"Throttle."
He jerked out of his reverie.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
"I said, you speak English well." She looked at him questioningly.
Throttle shrugged. "Most Martians speak English as well as any humans, at least I think so. Aside from the physical differences, we are not that much different."
Charley raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, okay. We rely a lot on Earth technology and culture on Mars. We obviously have our own stuff going, but….circumstances have made some things like producing TV shows and music and so forth…..difficult, for lack of a better word. So we stream whatever we can from you, being much closer to you than we are to Jupiter. Hence the English and being familiar with most human customs."
"Circumstances?"
Throttle was quiet for a few seconds. "My planet is at war with another race, the Plutarkians. For years they have pillaged our resources, to the point where there is hardly anything left but dust and craters. Most of the population was wiped out or shipped off to Plutarkian prison camps. Not only did we lose our planet, but also our culture. Every single willing and able mouse that could be spared was drafted to the army, and things like entertainment and TV shows and music were forgotten. It seemed frivolous in a time when our very existence depended on fighting for constant survival. Generations were wiped out, leaving gaping holes in our society. We only realized too late. So we streamed from your satellites via airwaves. It was risky, but restored a sense of normalcy to those of us that was left." He cleared his throat and looked away. Talking about his planet's devastation was never easy."
"That is terrible! These Plutarkians, you say they invaded your planet? Stole your resources? Like water and mining?"
Throttle nodded. "Even regular soil. Everything. They demolished and ruined everything that made Mars the glorious lady she once was. Then one day they started getting less and less. The war is still ongoing, but there has been a change and we haven't been able to pin-point what it is exactly. Speculation is rife they may have moved on to…." Throttle noticed Charley had gone very pale. "Are you okay?"
"I think I know where these Plutarkians went."
Charley pushed a button on the wall opposite the section where she was fixing his bike, and the massive roller door on the far side started opening automatically. What he saw took Throttles breath away, and a sense of dread washed over him at the familiar scene of utter devastation in front of him. He came from the front of the garage earlier, and because the garage stretched the width of the block, this view was obscured when he arrived here. Ruined buildings lined the street behind the garage, with parked bulldozers and mounds of dirt littering the streets. This was Mars all over again.
Charley's green eyes were big in her pale face.
"They're here."
A/n: As stated before, I am telling my own story here. Sticking to canon characters, but trying to answer some of the many questions I had after watching the pilot episode and throughout the series (how come they spoke English etc.)
