Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story and to DinoDragonMaster.
The Accused- Chapter 4
Suddenly, the vidscreen on Throttle's bike flashed on. A holographic image of General Carbine appeared on the screen.
"Biker Mice! Come in, Biker Mice!" She said.
"Hey, babe!" Throttle said.
She gave him a dirty look.
"Is that how you always address your commanding officer?" She asked him.
Throttle secretly grit his teeth.
He hated it sometimes when Carbine went into military mode. He hadn't forgotten how their own military was deceived into protecting a city that was deserted. How their own government sold the planet from under the noses of the Martian Mice population. The only one who discovered the truth about this conspiracy was Stoker. He then told Throttle and the other Freedom Fighters what was going on. Carbine had gone on the side of the Freedom Fighters. She was determined to stick by them even if it meant being arrested and standing trial. She was now their leader and knew she had to be a strong leader, but she sometimes let her job go to her head.
"Sorry, General. What's up?" Throttle replied.
"I'm arriving on Earth in ten minutes. Look sharp!" She said.
...
Within minutes, a large Martian Cruiser artived on Earth driven by Rimfire. Carbine stepped off the ship.
"I didn't crash it this time." He noted, landing it in the middle of the street. Rimfire hit a button on a remote control rendering the ship invisible.
"Rimfire!" Modo exclaimed, on seeing his nephew exit the ship.
"Hi, Uncle Modo!" He replied, grinning.
With his attention distracted, he unknowingly loosened his hold on Elena. She began sneaking away.
"So, what brings you to Earth?" Charley asked Carbine.
"I'm on the hunt for a murderer and a suspected war criminal. According to my contact, I was told she would be coming here to Earth. I want you guys to keep a lookout for her."
"Would this be her by any chance?" Throttle asked, restraining a struggling Elena in his arms. He held the young woman's under his arm. He placed her on her feet.
"Hello, Elena." Carbine said.
"Carbine." Elena said, staring at the general with a look far from friendly.
'''You know her?" Vinnie asked.
"Of course, I do. She's Harley's cousin."
Vinnie couldn't believe it. In the short time, he and Harley were together, she never mentioned any family. All he knew about her was that she was their army's medic. Someone who applied bandages to the wounds of hurt soldiers and provided other medical aid.
"If Mace had never taken her...maybe...I would've had a chance to know more about her." He thought.
"You're under arrest for the murder of Armada, son of Ambassador LeDuff. You're also under arrest for crimes against Mars including divulging secrets and other top secret info to our enemies." Carbine told her.
"Well, I see you haven't changed a bit. Still jumping to conclusions without getting your facts straight." Elena said.
"Hmmph! Look who's talking!" Vinnie said, sarcastically.
"All I'm saying is: I'm not the traitor. Armada is or was."
"You committed murder. Someone saw your bike leaving the scene of the crime. Armada's body was found nearby a jagged dagger sticking out of his abdomen."
"It wasn't my dagger. I didn't stab him. I slashed him with a ninja star. There's a difference."
"He's still dead and you're going to stand trial for his murder." Carbine said, pointing a blaster at her.
"I didn't kill him."
"You just told us a while ago that you did kill him." Throttle told her.
"I thought I did. I wish I had." She blurted out.
"You murdered a diplomat's son. This was no run-of-the-mill kid. His father is Ambassador LeDuff. He is one of Mars' most important liasons to other planets."
"So just because he was some big shot's kid that gives him the right to go around raping girls and selling out the planet to the highest bidder?" Elena questioned.
"What? He couldn't have done that, could he?" Carbine looked at Throttle in shock then at Elena.
Elena spun around kicking the blaster out of Carbine's hand. She then knocked Rimfire out of the way.
The young soldier had just taken his and Carbine's military issued bikes off the ship. Elena got on Carbine's bike and rode off.
"Stop her! She's getting away!" Carbine cried out.
...
Meanwhile at Limburger's Tower, Lawrence Limburger sat at his desk, hands on his head. He had just received a call from Lord Camenbert, the High Chairman of Plutark. He threatened to cut off his funding again. Limburger begged and pleaded for another chance to redeem himself.
"I have to have money!" He wailed, "I beg of you!"
"You have till tomorrow morning to bring me the city of Chicago or else say bye-bye to your funding!" He screamed.
Then the screen went black.
"What am I going to do?" He moaned, "Every time I attempt to strip mine this miserable planet those wretched Biker Mice show up! If there were some way to rid me of those bothersome moles."
Suddenly, there was an emergency signal. Limburger pressed a button on his desk to see a lone biker scaling up his building on a motorcycle. The Biker Mice were pursuing this biker. They were right on their tail.
"Cabunkle!" Limburger screamed into his vidcom.
"You bellowed, Your Rotund Overripeness?" Carbunkle hissed, as the face of the deranged doctor appeared on screen.
"We have a mouse infestation. How are you going to get rid of them?" He asked.
"Well, when one has rats, you build the best trap possible. And I have just the thing." He replied, pressing a button as a strange contraction opened up like a flower. Unfortunately, the device had razor sharp spikes on all its sides.
Limburger and Carbunkle cackled fiendishly.
...
"Stop, Elena!" Throttle called after the biker. Carbine was riding behind Throttle.
"Give up or be taken!" Carbine called out.
"Not a chance!" Elena called back.
Suddenly, a big metal claw came out of the side of the building. Elena felt it grab her and yank her off the bike. The bike went sailing over the edge of the building and on to the street below. The mice stopped and raced over to the edge to look over and down onto the street below.
A couple of teenagers, two boys no more than twelve, were skateboarding. Each one was taking turns doing tricks on their boards. The failing bike hurled to the ground at breakneck speed towards the two boys.
"Those kids are in danger! " Throttle screamed.
"Kids, get outta there!" Modo yelled down to them. But the building was too high up for them to hear him.
"We have to help them." Carbine said.
"On it!" Vinnie said, racing down the side of the building.
"C'mon, baby. You can do it." He coached his bike.
She beeped and activated her jet propulsion propelling the bike towards the two boys. One of the boys happened to look up and pointed at the falling motorcycle. The other boy looked up at his friend then saw the motorcycle. Both boys froze with fear. It was about an inch from them when Vinnie grabbed them with one arm and riding away as the motorcycle crashed and exploded into a fiery pile.
"He saved them." Elena said, surprised.
"It's what we do." Modo said.
'Why should he care? What are they to him?" She asked.
"Innocent kids who don't deserve to be hurt." Throttle replied.
Elena didn't know what to say or make of all this. She had convinced herself that Vinnie was a monster. Someone who deserved to die. Could she have been wrong about him? She lost everything. So had he. Was it right to make him pay for the sin of what one person did to her?
Throttle's words left her with a lot to think about.
He stopped his bike and the boys got off.
"Whoa! That was so cool!" One boy piped up.
"Yeah, again!" The other boy cheered, fist in the air.
"When you're older, little bros." Vinnie told him.
"Ya mean it?" One of the boys asked.
"Biker's honor." He replied, giving them the peace sign of the forefinger and middle finger both up on both hands.
"Ride free, citizens." He said, riding back to Limburger Tower.
"Hmm. There goes my transportation for the next six months." Carbine sighed.
Suddenly, the mice found themselves caught by giant metal claws. They and their bikes both were hoistered into the air.
"My dear general, that's the least of your worries." Limburger said.
Modo tried firing at the claws with his laser cannon. He didn't even make a scratch on them.
"Plutarkian Steel! Gotta be." He spat out.
"Well, that steel is scrap metal!" Throttle shot at the claws with his blasters.
"It's Reinforced Plutarkian metal. Not good." Carbine said.
...
Vinnie looked up to his friends being dragged by metal claws.
"Bros!" He exclaimed, "Gotta jet there, pronto!"
He landed on the roof to find them gone.
"When I find that stinkfish, he's gonna be grilled cheese!" He yelled.
...
'Welcome to my parlor,' said the spider to the fly.' And it would seem I've caught several." Limburger mused.
Throttle, Modo, Carbine, and Elena were chained together and suspended over Carbunkle's deadly spiked mouse trap.
"Yeah, well it ain't over till the fat hallibutt sings!" Throttle said.
"Gotta a plan, bro?" Modo asked.
"No Hands Manuever Number Two." He replied.
"Whatever you macho meatheads are gonna do, do it now or we're all mouse shishkabob!" Carbine told them.