New Blood.
Chapter 7: Waiting.
"No stay away!" Vincent screamed as he struggled against the arms holding him down, "Get off me, please!"
"Easy Vincent," Stoker grunted with the effort of holding the young mouse down, "what you're seein ain't real kid!"
"Damn it Vinnie, it's just us!" Modo almost pleaded as he tried to hold the smaller mouse without hurting his friend any more than he already was. "There's gotta be somethin' we can do! He's gonna hurt himself!"
"Can't we give him something?" Throttle suggested trying to pin Vinnie's legs.
"Like what?" Stoker asked, "We don't even know what they gave him! You heard what Kim said, there wasn't enough left in that syringe to figure out what it was."
"And even if there was," Kim piped up dodging a thrashing tail, "we'd never get it analysed in time to help."
"The drugs Bane uses are best left alone." Mai told them wrapping her arms around herself unable to take her eyes off of her brother.
"Left alone?!" Charley cried nearly in tears, "Look at him! At this rate he's going to have a heart attack! Can't we sedate him or something?"
"We could risk killing him if there's an interaction." Kim squeaked as Rimfire pulled her back before a white tail could catch her. She smiled in thanks, "All we can do is make sure he doesn't hurt himself and wait till he burns himself out."
"But that's cruel." Charley shook with the effort she was making not to break down.
"Don't I know it?" Mai replied. The screaming gradually reduced to whimpering as he began to run out of energy and only his head thrashed weakly, tears streamed down his face. Charley rushed to his side again to resume mopping his brow with a damp cloth uttering soothing words as she did so. The three older mice stood back but didn't go too far in case he set off again.
"Charley?" The human's eyes snapped towards Vinnie's when he uttered her name, "Charley?!" His breathing came in gasps as his eyes tried to focus on his human friend.
"Vinnie its okay," she rested one hand on his chest and another on the unmasked side of his face, "you're safe now no one's going to hurt you." He leant into her touch and tears slipped from his eyes.
"It's not real." He stated reluctantly moving his face away from her hand again, convinced he was dreaming again, "Another dream."
"No, no Vinnie," she moved as close as she possibly could returning her hand to his face, "it's real!"
"Promise?" one hand weakly lifted to cover her hand on his face.
"I promise Vinnie. You better get some rest hotshot," she smiled as best she could, "get some sleep and you'll feel a lot better."
"Don't leave me alone." He pleaded with a hint of panic that also showed in his eyes.
"I'll be right here Vincent." He smiled at her and closed his eyes. No one spoke until his breathing had evened out and he had slipped into slumber.
"You okay Charley?" Carbine asked her friend who had yet to move.
"I honestly don't know Carbine." She sighed before trying to pull away but Vinnie's grip held firm on her hand. She looked pleadingly at Modo who took the hint and brought over one of her more comfortable chairs so that she could sit next to him. She had made a promise and she wasn't about to break it.
Xxx
"How!" Bane yelled throwing a computer monitor across the room he occupied, "Why do they always manage to slip my grasp?!" He growled at Limburger who cleared his throat nervously.
"Perhaps, my friend, a little help is in order." At the mouse's questioning glare he backed away a few steps then carried on, "I have access to a transporter and can teleport in villains from all over the galaxy. If of course you have the funds to pay for them."
"Oh I have funds," Bane replied, "and I think you have a point, but I am not hiring any of the pathetic idiots you tend to hire! I want to hire them myself."
"Very well," Limburger replied, "um, does this mean you will take care of the other mice once and for all?"
"If that suits my goals then yes," Bane growled grabbing the stink fish by his collar and holding him in against the wall, "and don't ever try to tell me what I should do! Is that understood?"
"Yes sir!" the Plutarkian squeaked.
"Good!" the black and red mouse threw him across the room and went to the remaining computer where he began to create a link with some old contacts he knew. The screen flickered and the image of a white skinned humanoid that had lizard like features appeared, "Scry." He greeted.
"Hello Bane, it's been a while." She replied nodding, "Something I can do for you?"
"Mercs, I need mercs who don't care who they waste." He grinned at the sudden gleam in her eyes.
"A men, women and children deal huh?" she asked knowing the answer but wanting to clarify.
"Something like that." He grinned.
"Still the same girl?" she crossed her arms.
"Yes but she has friends and I will need fighters who can deal with the best of the best." He clarified, "how soon?"
"Well that depends on how many you need handsome." She leant closer to the screen seductively showing off her cleavage, hoping that he would require her more quickly.
"Twenty or so should do the trick," he replied licking his lips enjoying the sight, "provided they really are the best and I know the only one who can gather fighters of that calibre is you my dear."
"Give me a few days, five at most and I'll get back to you."
"I look forward to getting reacquainted with you Scry." His grin grew.
"As do I Bane." She signed off leaving the screen blank. Limburger had watched the exchange from the sidelines and was shocked to say the least. From what he had heard nearly all of his victims had been women and each victim had been interfered with in some way. Yet this woman seemed to be personally acquainted with him and lived to tell the tale, it was certainly a scrap of information to store away for a later date.
Xxx
Throttle sat in a chair just off to Vinnie's left watching his chest move up and down. It had become easier for Vincent after three days and the hallucinations had stopped the day before, but there had been no sign of him waking up since he had spoken to Charley that first night. He looked over at said female who had refused to leave his side the whole time, as she slept leaning on the back rest of the chair. Modo kept his place by the window, glaring at anything that dared to come too close to the garage. He looked to his right and watched Mai work with Kim to fix everything Charley had put off since Vinnie had been taken. They had stated that they were bored and persuaded Charley that they were more than happy to catch up on her work for her since they were eating her food. The protests from the mechanic had been half hearted and they had immediately set to work on every engine they could find. The other three were in the other room contacting Mars, Carbine was talking to her superiors with Stoker and Rimfire was making sure his mother and grandma knew he was okay. He jumped when Carbine placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.
"When do they want you back on Mars?" He asked placing his own hand over hers.
"Stoker's told them about Bane and was very . . . um . . . adamant that none of us were returning until the situation down here was resolved." She knelt down beside him to rest her head in his lap.
"Yelled at them huh?" He chuckled.
"He never was any good with authority figures." She snorted.
"Only those associated with the Martian army." He smoothed her hair and she looked up at him.
"Throttle, do I really have to point out that he was the authority figure in the freedom fighters?" She made a face at him.
"Exactly babe, he didn't have a problem with authority figures in that case cause he was the authority figure." He grinned at her earning a glare.
"You girls okay?" Rimfire asked Kim and Mai as he approached them with Stoker close behind.
"We're fine." Kim replied working on some wiring.
"Um, Mai." He waited until she looked up at him, "Grandma and mom say hi."
"They're still okay?" She asked genuinely surprised that the two mice had survived the war.
"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck not really wanting to pass the message he'd just been asked to relay, "Grandma says that you'd better come visit sometime soon or she's going to have your tail."
"I always like your grandma." Mai laughed.
"Tough old mouse that Rose, ain't she kid?" Stoker chuckled ruffling Rimfire's hair.
"Hey! Quit it!" The young fighter growled and made an effort to fix his now ridiculous looking hair. Kim giggled making him blush as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"You're hair looks fine Rimfire." Mai rolled her eyes at her friends' antics not really in the mood for flirting or messing around.
"He'll be okay Mai." Stoker assured her.
"He would have been better if I had managed to finish the jerk before all this could happen." She pulled on the wrench she was using one last time then threw it in the tool box. She then got up and went to the kitchen.
"She alright?" Throttle asked them.
"She's been worse," Kim replied as she tucked a strand of white hair behind her right ear, "she just has a tendency to blame herself for every little thing. She'll get over it."
"Why?" Rimfire helped her up off the floor then helped her put away the tools she had been using.
"She's always been like it," she explained, "at least for as long as I've known her." Kim bit her lip before she blurted out what she had wanted to say, which didn't go unnoticed.
"What else Miss Kim?" Modo asked watching her from the doorway.
"Nothing!" she said far too quickly, "Just a whole heap of guilt tripping, nothing else."
"Uh huh." Modo shook his head not convinced and returned his gaze to the window again.
"Charley?" All eyes snapped to the white mouse lying on the cot. Vinnie 's eyes were open again and looking around.
"Vincent?" Throttle got up to place a hand on his bro's shoulder ready to restrain him again if this was another bad dream.
"Where's Charley?" Vincent asked weakly focussing on his leader. Throttle smiled and moved aside slightly so that Vinnie could see Charley safely curled up in her chair wrapped up in a blanket. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine bro." He answered.
"It's you we're worried about lil' bro." Modo approached, "How you feelin'?"
"Did they hurt her?" he asked as if he hadn't heard Modo at all, never once taking his eyes off of her.
"She had a nasty bump to the head," Modo admitted, "but she's okay!" He added quickly at Vinnie's panicked look. "She's been real worried about ya bro."
"So long as she's okay." He murmured before his eyes roamed around the room more and stopped on Kim. "Who's she?"
"Hi! I'm Kim." She waved at him, "I'm a friend of your sisters."
"Maisey?" he tried to sit up but cried out when the wounds on his back pulled, waking Charley. "He was telling the truth?!"
"Vinnie, you're awake!" Charley rushed to his side again.
"Hey Charley," he smiled at her tenderly but thoughts of his sister tore his gaze away from her and to Throttle, "Where. . ?"
"I'm right here." Mai said from the doorway then slowly approached her brother.
"I can't believe you're alive!" He said as his sister reached him.
"Yeah well, I'm sorry you had to go through all that to find out." She sighed.
"Forget about it sis," he smiled, "so long as you're safe." He went to get up again, although he went a little slower.
"You need to take it easy Vinnie." Charley told him, "Your back was torn to ribbons and it's going to take some time to heal."
"Just what the hell did he do to it anyway?" Throttle asked having only seen glances of the damage when his bandages were changed.
"He uh. . . he. . ." Vinnie shuddered remembering the pain.
"It's okay Vinnie," Charley assured him, "you don't need to tell us if you don't want to."
"He's a monster." Vinnie frowned.
"What punk?" Stoker asked.
"Bane, he told me he was a prisoner put away for murder," he smiled at Charley as she sat at the end of the cot to give him something to lean against, "he said the Plutarkians thought the criminals there would be useful so they set them loose." He shuddered, "he's a cold blooded killer guys." He had been careful to avoid eye contact during his little speech but looked up to see their reaction. Mai and Kim didn't look surprised, but the rest of the room shared looks that were a mixture of shocked and worried expressions.
"The name rings a bell." Stoker said more to himself than anyone else, "but with how things are on Mars I doubt we can find any more about him. Not without the case records."
"And they'll be history by now." Carbine finished.
"How do you feel?" Charlie asked quietly as the others immersed themselves in discussing Bane.
"Sore." He replied leaning his head back so it was resting on her shoulder, "You?"
"Relieved." Charley rubbed his arms gently, "I thought we were going to lose you."
"Takes more than that to get rid of me!" He chuckled wincing from the pain it caused him. He frowned, "How bad?"
"How bad is what?" Charley asked confused noticing the mouse leaning against her tense up.
"My back," he replied, "It about the only thing I really remember from . . . you know?"
"Vinnie. . ." She didn't know what to say, his back looked horrible and there would definitely be scarring but the area affected was too large to do much about it, except cover it with clothing.
"Just tell me Charlie." He sighed glancing to make sure no one was paying attention to them.
"I'm so sorry Vinnie, it's pretty bad." Was all Charley could say as her grip tightened on his arms.
"Heh, I guess I better get used to the idea of wearing shirts then huh?" he grinned but it didn't reach his eyes, "Wouldn't want ta scare anyone." The grin faded ad his whole body seemed to slump.
"You'll be okay Vinnie," Charley wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed gently hoping to be of some comfort, she knew how much his image meant to him, "there are plenty of girls who think that scars are sexy." She whispered in his ears realising too late how suggestive it had been. A moment of shock before a real grin graced his face coupled with a sideways glance towards Charley. Her face went the colour of beetroot and she turned her face away wishing she could just disappear but knowing that moving too quickly might cause him to fall and hurt himself.
"That's not how I meant it to come out." She whispered hoping to all that was holy that none of the others had heard her slip.
"Spoil sport." He replied chuckling despite the pain it caused. Vinnie yawned suddenly feeling tired again. "How long was I out Charley?"
"About three days." She shifted so that he was a little more comfortable in case he wanted to drift off again.
"Man I feel like I haven't slept for a week." He sighed when he leant against her again, "I hate when I'm injured. I never have the energy to do anything."
"I think that's your body's way of telling you something." She chuckled returning her hands to his arms; she began smoothing the fur there.
"You don't have to sit with me Charley," Vinnie said already half asleep, "I must reek." Charley shook her head at him; she had to admit he had smelt better, he had looked better. But at that moment he couldn't help it and she wanted to be as close to him as possible after the worry of him not being there for so long. "Maybe one day I could tell him what he does to me." She thought knowing that was unlikely to happen any time soon despite what had happened.
"I want to sit with you and you rarely bathe anyway so what's the difference?" She waited for a response but soon realised she wouldn't get one when she looked down and saw that the white mouse had gone back to sleep. Smiling she glanced up to make sure no one was watching and kissed his left cheek, "Rest easy hot shot."
Another one! Yay! Hope you liked it!