HARDSHIPS

Disclaimer: I do not own Rick Ungar's Biker Mice series, or any of the characters.

Author Note: Constructive criticism is always welcome. Suggestions for the story are welcome, too.


CHAPTER 7

...

'' Don't scare me LIKE THAT!''

Primer couldn't help but giggle at her '' sister's'' reaction to her sudden reappearance. Her demeanor was filled with curiosity as she regarded the human-woman who still looked very flushed and rumpled up by Gyro's ministrations.

The young female mouse could tell why the big, mouse-rat hybrid would have become so enamoured by Charley.

She remembered studying about '' earth folk '' in school when she'd still been a free mouse and could say that this human was far more beautiful than any of the ones she'd seen on the study- film. And the eyes were especially stunning; the hypnotically bright green eyes that gave you the vision of two emeralds blinking at you from the scarce light in the room. And they weren't just beautiful. Behind them was intelligence and strength of mind that Primer admired; but also compassion, kindness and loneliness. Fear and uncertainty, too.

Primer inwardly shook her head. She would have to tread this whole subject with Gyro lightly with Charlene.

'' Sorry about that, Charley.'' she said softly, a small amount of playful humour in her voice.'' Didn't mean to make you jumpy.''


Charley raised her eyebrows when her name was spoken by the delicate looking Martian who had reappeared from the darkness of her cell. She tried to remember, but was unable to take stock of when she'd actually exchanged names with this young mouse.

For a moment she wondered how the young Martian had figured out her name, but then she suddenly remembered the mind-tricks this female had put her under; thus the question was quickly scratched off her list.

But another question remained...

'' How is it that you know my name but I've no idea what's your's?!'' Charley said with fake cheerfulness. She couldn't help but feel somewhat upset that neither of them had made the initiative to really introduce themselves.

She uttered a long sigh, shaking her head slightly. '' Maybe it all comes back to the whole '' being inprisoned for such a long time you end up forgetting that introducing yourselves was an important factor in making friends''. she thought.'' Or maybe its because when in captivity you end up holding the important things about you locked up in a mind-box that will not be opened to enemies.''

'' Or maybe its both combined. She trusts me, I can tell, but I doubt she'll tell me about her former life just yet.'' Charlene thought sadly, looking down at the thin mouse who had made the effort to climb up the side of her cell to speak with her.'' I can't afford to loose my patience on her or she'll clam up.''

'' He likes you!'' the young mouse said again with a wry smile on her face.'' I can tell your trying to hide behind a facade of denial, but the truth is that you did enjoy him doing hand-sex with you, girl.''

Charley gave an exasperated groan and looked away from her ''sister'' who was looking at her intensely from behind the bars.

'' He doesn't like me.'' Charley scoffed out with a nervous laugh. She ran a shaking hand through her short, pixy styled auburn hair.'' He's a sex-addict! That's what HE IS!''

She laughed for a moment before saying: '' Besides, what was up with that harsh grabbing and pulling me up and then almost choking me? Not to mention you getting your head pressed into the bars?''

'' My name is Primer.'' the young mouse spoke up out of the blue, wriggling her hand up from behind the metal-bars. She gripped the human's hand tightly in her own.'' And yes, Gyro is a sex-addict and rough in his actions. But he really is a good guy once you get to know him.''

She smiled at Charley's incredulous expression and said: He means no harm but because he rarely socializes with others he comes out a bit socially- retarded.''

'' Gyro?'' Charley spoke in her head thoughtfully, looking away for a moment .'' So that's his name.''

'' You know, What Gyro did to you today is something he's done to me countless of times during my life in captivity.'' Primer continued, her vine-red eyes staring intensely into Charlene's emerald green ones when said human spun around to face her with a surprised expression.'' I might sound terribly uncouth when I say this, but the hand-sex he had with me really helped stave off the memory of '' bad sex'' with the other...''

'' Sex-addict.'' Charley cut in with a sudden smirk.'' And as I sit here sounding totally uncouth, I'll admit that I did enjoy it more than the ''disaster sex''with that bulbous Sand-Raider. Why deny it now after I heard your admission.''

Primer burst out laughing at the words, and Charley's voice soon joined her's. Their laughter, though stiffled by the hands they held over their mouths, could still be heard echoing against the walls of the chamber.

'' Oh, god!'' Charley groaned out as she finally stopped laughing. She brushed away the bangs of auburn hair that had fallen over her eyes.'' What a damaged pair we are!''

'' Yeah, definitely. I actually wanted the Sand-Raiders attacking my village to hurt me to the point where I could possibly avoid getting shipped off to their leader.'' Primer commented with a giggle, but her crimson eyes suddenly showed pain.

Charley nodded with a grimace.'' I tried that very same approach, too. I even tried escaping a few times but..''

She indicated her broken thumb that had been wrapped up in a soft leather strip..'' every attempt I made sent me back into the frying pan.''

Primer gave a sad grin.'' When I was taken forcefully from my village,'' she said softly,'' I faught like hell to get away but every attempt I made was futile. I was fifteen years old when I had to go through my first experience at ''rape''.

The corners of Primer's mouth twisted into a grimace and her snout received deep frown lines.'' The dog didn't even know how to kiss properly, let alone stick his organ in me and make me ''come''.''

Charley shook her head in disgust at the revealation that her ''sister'' had been but a child then. And thirteen years in captivity?!

Shaking with suppressed anger, Charley reached out and enclosed her fingers around the young mouse's who had suddenly begun to cry silently.

'' Earlier when I mentioned that Gyro can be socially retarded,'' Primer squeaked out miserably,'' the same thing could be said of myself. I no longer sugar-coat my words like I used to and I speak my mind bluntly. And that's a problem because I might insult someone without meaning to cause hurt.''

Primer leaned forward, pressing her face into the underside of Charley's forearms and felt the other's hands tighten around her fingers. The touch was so comforting. She felt safe and able to let out all the frustrated, hurtful feelings she'd bottled up in her mind for so long.

Never had the mouse been able to muster up the courage to open up to Gyro like she was doing with Charley. She hadn't felt comfortable admitting how she'd felt about perhaps not fitting in with society when it was undeniable that he might never, even if he tried, be able to fit in with Martian- society.

'' I'm... not the kind of w-woman my grandmother or uncle imagined I'd grow up into.'' she whimpered and pulled away slightly. Tears fell unchecked down her cheeks as she looked up into her ''sister's'' green eyes.

'' You are still their family,'' Charley said softly, reaching out to stroke Primer's thick hair that felt like a combined texture of silk and the sort of down- hair you find in earth mammals,'' and they'll still love you no matter how different you are from what they remember.''

The mechanic listened to the mouse utter a sniffle and watched her bury her head back in her hairless forearms.

'' Poor thing.'' Charley thought compassionately, continuing to stroke the other's hair.

The less than enthusiastic reaction from the young Martian was enough to make the young human come to the conclusion that the mouse's family must have been very conservative, indeed, for Primer to be feeling so down-spirited.


The two were so deep in what they were doing, that they failed to notice that their slaver had stopped snoring and was sitting up in his chair; was staring at his empty plate and goblet with a very disgruntled expression. His men, and the rats, had also awoken from their slumber and were waiting for his reaction with distinctive grins on their faces.

They loved to see violence being dished out to those unfortunates not following the Raider's rules. Well, they loved the violence when his fury wasn't aimed at any of them.

Charley, who was unaware of the change in the atmosphere, was greatly startled when someone slapped a booted foot to the ground just a centimeter's width from her broken thumb.

Crack!

''AAHHH!''

Charley winced at the scream that erupted from Primer's mouth.

The boot- sole had come down on top the mouse's wrist and had evoked that scream of sudden pain from the grey furred mouse. She immediately released her hold on Charley's hands and tumbled out of view.

The human swiveled around to glare at the Sand- Raider leader, with the wooden leg, standing over her menacingly .

The Sand-Raider snapped his fingers together and Charley found herself being violently grabbed and pulled towards the center of the chamber amidst the raucous laughter from the ''peanut-gallery'' of raiders and rats.

Charley's jaw clenched when she found herself chained to the middle of the room the second time that day.

She could hear the somewhat rough but feminine voice of the rat woman in the crowd, but did not hear the low, husky voice of Gyro joined in the crowds mirth.

Somehow she found this fact extremely comforting; even as the Raider sauntered over to her with a grey bone held in his greasy, furry paw.

Charley was forced to look up when the dog's sausage like fingers went under her chin and lifted her head up forcefully until they were almost nose to nose.

''You actually thought that you'd be able to get away with having done this?'' the Raider said as he lifted the bone up to the human's eye-level.

The '' dog ''really stank something awful. Grease, sweat, ale and terrible dental health made for a very vile odor that made Charley want to gag all over this ''creature'' whom she'd found to have forcefully taken Primer's innocense when she'd still been a teenager.

Charley just stared at the piece of bone with a calm expression on her face, though inwardly she was feeling anything but that.

''Freaking bastard!'' she thought angrily.'' Poor Primer was practically starving and I hadn't eaten since this morning.''

'' You really Think I'd let this matter rest?!'' the dog groused out as he ran a finger across Charley's rosy pink lips and laughing lowly when the human flinched violently.'' Well you are wrong, Dolly; that was my dinner you ate. My meal of delicious Saber-squid that is very hard to come by in these times. The Martians don't seem to care that Mars is being reduced to an almost dead, hot desert planet. Otherwise they would have already done something serious about it.''

'' So it was Saber-squid.'' Charley briefly noted the seemingly unimportant fact, before opening her mouth.

'' Well, unless you haven't noticed, stinky,'' she groused out, unable to hold back a biting retort,'' even us sex-slaves have to eat sometimes so that we don't wither away thanks to your staveless appetite for ''fun''. And as for the Martians not doing anything, your dead-set WRONG! THEY ARE TRYING TO SAVE THEIR HOME- PLANET THE BEST THEY CAN! SO STOP TRYING TO HINDER THEIR EFFORTS IN EVERY TURN AND THINK ABOUT ACTUALLY HELPING THEM INSTEAD!''

Her shouted words, heated and laced with sarcasm and bitter contempt, had the Raider suddenly seething with anger at this female Earther who had had the nerve to insult him every time she opened those beautiful lips of her's.

Their home planet?! Their's? It wasn't just the mice that lived on Mars! It wasn't just those wretched rodents that owned the planet!

And how dare she suggest that his people should make the effort to help the Martians when it was their kind that had driven his people out of the land that was once theirs, and into the wastelands where they'd became the dreaded Sand-Raiders.

His kind, and the rats were ''trash'' in the eyes of the Martians.

The leader's yellow eyes smouldered as he suddenly gripped the human's chin tightly between his fingers and ignored the shrill, pained shriek in his sensitive ears when he yanked the woman's face closer to his.

'' You are one feisty creature aren't you dolly?!'' the Raider spat out maliciously.'' But your ignorance towards the Martians is stunning. Trustworthy, fun loving Freedom Fighters?! Bah! The Martians history isn't all flowers and good-will, Dolly.''

Charley felt her heart slam into her throat at these words. What did she know about Martian history? What had Throttle told her? Or Modo? Vinnie?

She had to swallow hard as her throat constricted.

She knew nothing to note about the Martians history and now she had to wonder what sort of '' contemptive'' feelings the mice held towards ''other kind'' that shared their planet. Was it really the mice that decided to get rid of competition for food, water and shelter, or was there something deeper that brought down the ''anvil'' and sealed the hate between the three races?

She could lividly remember the day she'd first met the Biker Mice from Mars.

'' A rat?! My mama raised ''no stinking rat! UNDERSTOOD?!'' had been spoken with such steely anger that it had brought shivers running down her spine and raised the fine hairs at the back of her neck.

She had been honestly scared of Modo back then. And it had been one of the reasons why she had been only a hairs-breadth away from smacking Throttle across the face with a crow-bar when he'd approached her, asking if she'd been hurt.

But before Charley could tentatively enquire what the Raider knew about the past history between the different species, the said Raider released the hold on her chin and swung the grey colored bone up and then across the mechanic's left cheek.

An audible ''smack'' was heard when the bone made contact, and the force of the hit violently jerked the human's head to the side.

'' UNH!'' Charley moaned at the new, sharp pain in her cheek and neck. She kept her head in the position it had been violently jerked and coughed out the small bit of blood in her mouth.

But the Raider wasn't done.

The leader snapped his ''sausage sized'' fingers sharply and immediately a long whip was handed to him by one of his goons.

Charley stiffened.

The whip had a nasty, sharp edge resembling a chain-saw and it had thin, very fine cords running from the handle up to the very tip.

She gulped as a feeling of dread washed over her.

Grinning maliciously, the Raider moved to stand to the human's left side and pressed a tiny button on the side of the whip-handle. .

Charley felt her limbs turn to jelly as the whip '' hummed'' into life with electricity.

Images of the hulking Pitt Boss she'd had the unfortunate honor to meet on Earth, fluttered into her head and she could faintly remember thinking (earlier that day) that getting cut and electrified by an energy-blade would hurt like hell.

'' But an energy whip will be just as bad.'' she thought, doubting that this insensitive brute would pull his punches, either.'' Oh, god this has to be ... the worst day of my life.''

Sweat was beginning to drip down her face; her widened emerald eyes were locked on the crude weapon as it was lifted up and above the Raider's head

The moment it swished down, Charlene pressed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth…

BZZZZ, SNAP!

THUD

The room was suddenly ricocheting with the sound of Charley's agonized scream as the whip lashed across her bare back, grating, burning and stinging as it penetrated through skin like a knife through butter; drawing blood, and yet cauterising the wound at the same time.

'' CHARLEY!'' a familiar, distressed voice cried out from under the platform.

'' Primer.'' Charley thought, recognising the young Martian's voice.

Gasping, almost sobbing from the burning pain in her back, she turned her eyes towards where she had heard the mouse cry out her name. Through the tears swimming in her vision, she could see that Primer had climbed back up the side of her cell and was now watching on with a very pained expression on her face.

'' Primer...'' Charley spoke out, her breath hitching in her throat somewhat. She knew that the young mouse would hear her even with all the rauceous laughter in the room,''... get out of sight.''

Swallowing hard as another sliver of pain snaked through her open wounds, she said more firmly: '' This isn't over yet and you know it! I don't want you seeing the rest, okay?!''

There were tears in Primer's eyes now, sliding down her eyes and dampening the soft fur of her cheeks. She seemed reluctant to do what she'd asked of her as she gripped the metal bars in a death-grip.

'' Primer,'' Charley spoke, with some exasperation leaking into her voice, '' listen to...!''

But she was cut off by the Sand-Raider's bellowing laugh.

'' Well, well, well. Guess I wasn't just seeing things when I woke up to the two of you whispering, Dolly.'' the Sand- Raider spoke maliciously as he lifted the buzzing whip above it's head. '' Seems you've managed to find a friend.''

Charley winced, almost tasting the bitter contempt in the villain's words.

'' Why not let her watch this.''

'' NO!'' Charley ground out through clenched teeth.'' She doesn't have to see this!''

'' Stay where you are, Martian,'' the Sand-Raider said, not listening as he lifted the hand holding the energy-whip,'' or the third time won't be the last!''

'' PRIMER, DON'T LISTEN TO... AAAHHHH!''

'' CHARLEYYYYY!''

The peanut-gallery of on-lookers were suddenly focusing their cruel laughter on the young mouse banging and pulling on the metal bars that prevented her from getting out.

'' I'm sorry. '' Charley thought in despair, her breath hitching in her throat. Pushing aside the pain, she focused on the young mouse who wore an expression that matched her's; like she could feel the grating, burning pain in her own body.

Charley's vision swam, making it tough to focus but she couldn't miss the look on Primer's face switch from pained to seething fury. The narrowed eyes looked darker than their usual shade and her small snout was bared; her teeth showing.

'' Primer, Go!'' Charley insisted firmly, locking her eyes with the young Martian just as the Sand-Raider raised the whip a third time. '' GO!''

But she wouldn't budge. As much as Charley had wanted to spare the young Martian from seeing the rest of the torture, her efforts had been for naught. Primer wouldn't listen to her.

Turning her face to the left she focused on the Raider smirking down at her; her own face baring as she steeled herself for the last onslaught of pain that would come soon enough.


End of Chapter 7

Author note: To those who wondered, the female mouse is Rimfire's twin sister and Modo's niece. I just wanted to picture her with different colored fur and eyes.