Chapter 10

As he and the others crested the top of a hill, Throttle paused and took a moment to scan the wide, open desert below. The afternoon sky was clear, the horizon bright and a little hazy. The air was warm and smelled of dust and old exhaust. It was a perfect afternoon to head out looking for trouble - or to bring somebody else trouble - but one tiny thing kept the day from being completely flawless. Instead of sitting behind him, her sinewy arms wrapped around his torso and her fingers pressed into the fur of his chest, his mate was riding with her younger brother.

He glanced over at them, Jayce's flashy red-and-black bike glinting in the sunlight, but Tamerin had her earring scanner switched on and was too busy squinting into the distance to notice him. Looking forward again, Throttle revved his engine before starting down the hill. The other two bikes followed him closely, and just before the rumble of the three engines blended together in a unique, loud harmony that drowned out pretty much everything else, his sharp ears picked up the sound of Vinnie releasing a long, content kind of sigh.

Throttle couldn't help looking over at the white mouse with a grin as the bright red bike kept pace at his right, knowing exactly what was on his mind. This was the way things should be - the way they were meant to be. Riding out in the open wind, carefree and with no restraints. No war. And no worries.

Well, almost no worries.

They rode across a flat, relatively smooth expanse of ground for a while, but there wasn't any sign of trouble. No fresh tracks, no debris, no tell-tale columns of smoke in the distance. Tamerin continued to scrutinize every dip, slope and mound for any sign of heat or recent activity through the blue beam across her eyes - when she wasn't grousing at Jayce to quit screwing around.

The young thrill-seeker kept making sharp turns, or putting on sudden bursts of speed, or turning in a circle just for the sake of sending a cloud of sand flying. Throttle simply chuckled at his behavior...because he and Vinnie were doing the same thing.

"I'm glad we're taking this job so seriously," the former general muttered.

Jayce snickered and sped up again. "You sound a little tense there, Tam."

"Have you ever had an erection for an entire week?" Tamerin asked testily.

"Ummm...no. Can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am that I have not."

"Then you don't know the meaning of the word 'tense,' little brother."

Throttle cast her a sympathetic look, and she flashed him a tired smile - right before Jayce deliberately rode over a large mound of sand, making them bounce violently. Tamerin gritted her teeth and managed to hang on, but he almost knocked her clean off that time. Throttle again lamented that it wasn't him she was riding with, because he had an extra appendage that would make darn sure her sweet little bottom stayed on the seat where it belonged.

"Sounds like you could both use a distraction," Jayce noted.

As he spoke, he looked over at Throttle, his grin cheeky and full of challenge. Throttle narrowed his eyes slightly. "You got something specific in mind?" he wondered.

Jayce let out a laugh and gave a toss of his head; Tamerin grimaced and leaned back as his long hair slapped her in the face. Apparently, since they could heal broken bones and other severe injuries in a matter of days, Imeerans didn't worry about safety features like bike helmets.

"You even have to ask?" said Jayce, gesturing to their bikes and to the vast, red-brown desert surrounding them.

"Tempting," Throttle admitted, "but a race wouldn't be very fair to you. Your bike isn't equipped with an AI."

"Some of us don't need one," Jayce responded crisply. "My own intelligence is enough by itself."

Tamerin made a snorting sound. "You better watch it, little brother," she warned. "You're treading in dangerous territory."

"Too late," said Vinnie tartly, reaching up to tap the button on the side of his helmet that digitally activated the protective visor. Throttle mirrored the gesture as he pulled up alongside him - while Jayce suddenly let out a careless laugh and took off like a shot without warning, sending a spray of sand bouncing off mouse and bike alike.

"A little more practice and he'll be as annoying as you," Throttle commented, as he and Vinnie sped to catch up.

Vinnie rolled his eyes and went faster. Throttle couldn't see her face, but he was pretty sure the ripples of annoyance he felt from Tamerin signaled that she was rolling her eyes, too. He imagined that if he could hear her thoughts right now, they would go something like, 'Well, yippee. I'm surrounded by male posturing.'

But it was a lot more than that. Jayce had issued a challenge not just to his skill as a rider, but to the very integrity of his bike herself, and that was not something he was going to take lightly. As if she could sense what he was thinking, she suddenly gave a little purr beneath the roar of the engine, as if to say, 'I'm ready.'

Smiling to himself, Throttle gave one of the handles an affectionate squeeze. Jayce didn't know who he was messing with.

Vinnie seemed to be having the same train of thought, staying close to Throttle instead of trying to break ahead and show off. When the right situation arose, even Vinnie would chuck proving - or at least acting like - he was the best in the name of a little Martian unity.

They poured on the speed together, but Jayce still had a good lead on them. He suddenly veered off course, cutting so sharply around a rocky hillside a rider of lesser skill would have wiped out. Jayce must have spent more time cruising around out here than Throttle thought, because he knew exactly what he was doing and where he was going. Plus he already had plenty of practice traveling on rocky, uneven, and crumbling ground, since the surface of Malteria was even more challenging to navigate than Mars.

Throttle was starting to wonder if he and Vinnie didn't have their work cut out for them after all - and then something happened that wiped any thought of competition and pride right from his mind. It struck him so sudden and hard he almost lost control and went sprawling headfirst into the sand, but with a shaky breath, he managed to straighten himself out again.

It was like a jolt of electricity focused right in the center of his chest. As out of the blue as it had come, he knew the feeling anywhere: fear. It came and went in a flash, but it made him forget about the race and jerk his head around, hunting with his eyes for some sign of danger. Because he had known Tamerin for almost six months now, and he had never felt something like that from her before. Even when heading straight into danger, the former general always stayed calm and clear-headed.

He wasn't sensing anything from her anymore, and he didn't see, hear, or smell anything unusual, but that sudden stab of panic had to have come from somewhere. He had unconsciously slowed down while he tried to figure out what the heck was going on, and he sped back up again as he focused his attention on his mate and her brother. Jayce had turned again and was heading up a steep slope in the ground, one that Throttle recognized immediately. It rose a good ways into the air before abruptly breaking off at the top, forming a straight drop on the other side. It was rocky and dangerous below, and there was a ravine not far off.

With a loud whoop worthy of Vinnie, Jayce pushed his bike's speed to the limits as he shot to the top of the slope and seemed to take off straight into the sky as he vaulted from the edge. By the time Throttle and Vinnie reached the slope Jayce's bike had vanished from sight - and that was when Throttle knew for sure that something was wrong.

He and Vinnie were only about halfway up when the atmosphere around them suddenly changed. Something was missing, and it took him a second or two before he realized what; he could only hear two bike engines. Jayce and his engine had gone completely silent.

Throttle saw Vinnie frown out of the corner of his eye and knew he had also figured out that something wasn't right. They both applied more speed and shot over the edge, angling their bike wheels carefully as they gauged the rough landing. When they hit ground, bouncing sharply and skidding, he didn't see anything at first.

He didn't see anything at all, in fact. The rocky, craggy ground looked deserted, and as he shut his engine down, he didn't hear a thing except for a faint whistle of wind in the distance. Vinnie pulled to a stop beside him and switched his helmet's visor off, and he frowned as he squinted for a moment. He suddenly sat up straighter and pointed. "There."

Throttle turned his own visor off and pushed up his specs. Lying on the ground a few feet away from them, looking as sad and dejected as a machine without an AI could look, was Jayce's bike. There was no sign of its rider - or of Tamerin. Throttle frowned hard and concentrated on their bond, but he couldn't sense anything from her. Just that vague feeling of touching that was always there when she was close by. He suddenly wondered if that feeling was still there even if she was unconscious, because there was a good chance a landing like that had knocked them both out.

Still frowning, he put his specs back in place and started to dismount - and then the unmistakable sound of a blaster firing cut through the air. There was no time to react; Throttle saw a bright flash, and then he felt the impact beneath his feet as the laser beam struck the ground, close enough to the front tire of his bike to singe the rubber. The reverberations were enough to knock him off balance, and he turned the momentum as he fell into a dive and rolled across the rough ground, hopefully to safety.

When he stopped rolling, he cast a split-second glance over his shoulder, and when he didn't see any sign of Vinnie he faced forward and rolled again. Another shot fired, but it was somewhere far behind him. Chunks of rock dug into his palms as he pressed them to the ground, and hunkering low, Throttle did a quick scan of the area and quickly spotted cover: the remains of what looked like a clunky sand raider vehicle, lying on its side.

Not thinking twice about it, he dove forward, skidding across the jagged, uneven ground and resting his back against the lopsided hunk of metal. His ears were straining for any sign of activity around him - not that they needed to, when that blaster fired again. The sound was huge, and it echoed through the ravine; had to be a laser rifle. Raiders loved those, so there had to be at least one out there, and when a pair of smaller weapons fired in response, he guessed there was a couple of rats, too.

And then he picked up another sound - scrabbling, right on the other side of his hiding place. He heard rapid breathing as a figure quickly crawled forward, coming around the corner to his left. Body tensed and ready for a fight, Throttle whipped out his blaster and aimed. And then a familiar mane of snowy hair and a shiny red jacket came into view.

"Looks like we rode right into a, uh, situation here," Jayce noted as he took cover beside him.

"So it would seem. Where's Tam?"

"Where else? Out there kicking ass and taking names. In that order, of course."

Shots fired again, one of the beams ricocheting off the edge of the fallen vehicle and making it shudder. Cautiously, Throttle eased himself around and poked his head up, just far enough for him to see over the side of the vehicle. He saw another one lying in the distance, almost at the edge of the ravine. He heard movement and saw a couple of rodent shapes moving on the other side of a group of rocks, and just before an all-too-familiar odor touched his nose, he saw a bony, scruffy-looking raider poke out from behind the other broken vehicle and fire the rifle again, aiming toward the rocks.

Grimacing, Throttle scooted back down again. On his list of the worst things he had ever smelled, sand raiders ranked third or so, right behind stink-fish and cheese. It was like how an Earth dog smelled when they were both filthy and soaking wet, only worse.

In the distance behind him he heard the rats muttering and swearing for a moment. Then he heard something to the right, and when he peeked out again he saw a white shape poking out from behind a chunk of stone jutting up from the ground. Laser fire was exchanged between the white figure and the rats, and then another white figure - one with long hair - joined in.

Throttle settled back again, tapping the barrel of his blaster against his chin and thinking. "Looks like there's only three of them," he mused.

Jayce scooted closer to him, his garnet eyes gleaming oddly. He looked almost giddy. "Come on, we can take 'em."

Throttle cocked an eyebrow at his sudden burst of enthusiasm. "Where's that solemn decorum you generals are supposed to have?"

"I'm off duty."

More shots fired. As big of a sound as it made, that rifle didn't sound like it was going to hold up for much longer, and the rats' weapons didn't sound like they were doing much better. He could almost smell the desperation and rage passing through the air as the two races exchanged more fire. This had nothing to do with the four of them. They had, as Jayce had put it, simply rode into the middle of a situation.

Under other circumstances it would be different, but given how desperate - crazed - both races were becoming, he thought it was best for them to stay low and join together, and then...

Throttle's train of thought was abruptly derailed by the sudden roar of a bike engine firing up, followed by the crunch of tires on rock and sand. Jayce let out a holler and vaulted over the side of their hiding place, leaving a dent in the already battered door. "Hey, you asshole, come back with my bike!"

Or they could just run out into the open and start firing at everything in sight while yelling at the top of their lungs. That worked, too.

Throttle was just about to haul himself up and join the furious Imeeran when he heard a faint whistling sound above his head, like something metallic was flying through the air. A second later something bounced with a clunk off the side of the vehicle and landed next to his foot.

It was unmistakable, from the rod-like shape of its handle to the cylinder shape of the core, complete with a row of blinking lights accompanied by a rapid pinging sound. Aw, shit.

Gritting his teeth, Throttle grabbed the handle and drew his arm in a wide arc, pitching the grenade back the way it came with a cry of, "Fire in the hole!"

There was a thump as the grenade hit the ground in the distance, followed immediately by an explosion that made his ears pop. Rock and debris pelted the side of the vehicle and a red-brown cloud of dust flooded the air, along with a growing cloud of black smoke.

Throttle hopped out of hiding and into the heart of all the confusion. Through the murky haze he saw the shape of a scrawny rat scramble by, running in retreat as the rifle blasted at his heels. Throttle fired in return, then continued to move forward, squinting into the thick cloud of smoke and dust. Somewhere to his left amid the sound of Jayce's bike fading in the distance there came another explosion, followed by a familiar biting smell of heat and ozone; Vinnie had chucked a flare at somebody.

And then Throttle saw something that made his heart stop.

He was peering through the dust toward the spot where the sand raider had been hiding, but instead of the foul-smelling creature, he saw Jayce. The other vehicle must have gotten caught in the explosion, because there was metal and iron debris scattered everywhere, some of it red-hot and steaming. Jayce was crumpled back against the jutting stone Vinnie had been hiding behind earlier - and there was a metal rod stuck in his chest.

It wasn't just stuck - it had impaled him completely. As Throttle stared, frozen in shock and horror, the young Imeeran grunted and tried to move, but the rod was embedded firmly in the rock behind him. The front of his black shirt turned even darker as it became rapidly saturated with blood, and his handsome face was twisted in pain.

Or maybe it was annoyance. Throttle was having a hard time telling which.

"Dammit," Jayce muttered, grunting again as he tried to muscle the rod free. "This wasn't part of my plan."

Throttle could barely believe he was still conscious, yet he continued to struggle, even though the more he moved the more blood flowed. Throttle heard crunching, but he wasn't sure if it was the sound of the rod grinding into the stone...or the crackle of broken ribs. His own chest constricted in sympathy pain.

His hunt for the sand raider forgotten, he started to take an uneasy step toward the prone figure when he heard another engine fire up. It gave his heart the hiccups all over again, and he was so surprised he spun away from the gruesome scene in front of him. Because he knew the sound of that engine better than any sound in the universe.

The dust in the air had thinned considerably, and he was easily able to make out the shape of his own bike racing off into the distance, hot on the tail of the rat who had swiped Jayce's bike. If it were anyone else they would never have been able to get away with it, but since Tamerin was his mate, and he had freely given her permission to take a ride whenever she wanted to...

Footsteps crunching on the dirt as they hurried toward him made him tear his eyes away from the sight of his bike riding away without him. Vinnie was hurrying over, looking disgruntled. "Damn rat got away from me," he muttered.

He stopped when he reached Throttle and studied him with a frown. "What's wrong?"

What indeed, Throttle echoed dryly to himself. He looked out at the horizon again, but he could barely make out the retreating shapes anymore. Sure, he trusted that Tamerin knew what she was doing, but...it was still extremely tempting to grab Vinnie, throw him on the back of his bike and chase after them together.

Instead he gave himself a shake and turned around again. There were other things here that needed to be taken care of first...but when he looked over at the rock, Jayce had vanished.

The rod was still planted firmly in the hard stone, slick and shiny with fresh blood, but the Imeeran was nowhere in sight. Someone else was, and he scrambled for cover when he realized he had been spotted. Scowling, Throttle took off after him, but the raider careened recklessly toward the ravine and went sliding over the edge. Even from a distance, Throttle could hear the raspy, watery way he was breathing, could sense the fear pouring off him. Raiders were known to be heartless, selfish, and devious - not to mention pudgy, thanks to their ordinarily indulgent lifestyle.

It was kind of strange to see one that was so thin he was skeletal, and obviously in bad health. Even more obvious was that he didn't want to tangle with a strong, healthy mouse. Throttle almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

The sound of his bike engine nearing made him turn around in relief, noting that Tamerin had brought her back safely and without a scratch. She had gotten Jayce's bike back too, and she rode it while the Martian one followed behind her obediently.

"The rat got away," Tamerin reported as they pulled up next to him and Vinnie. "I think I gave him a good scare, though."

Speaking of scares...Throttle could tell by the funny look she gave him as she hopped down that she had picked up on his mood. "What happened?"

Throttle wasn't sure what to say. Technically, Jayce winding up skewered was his fault. He sure hoped that Imeerans were every bit as resilient as he had been led to believe.

Before he had a chance to gather his thoughts, Tamerin let out a scoff and brushed past him, marching over to where Vinnie had left his bike. Throttle looked over and saw, with considerable surprise, that Jayce had crawled over to it, like he had been planning to hop on. Throttle could tell by the way she was twitching that Vinnie's bike wasn't sure if she should let him or take off.

"You do realize you're bleeding everywhere, don't you?" Tamerin said dryly as she came to stand over her brother.

Grunting and panting, Jayce twisted around so he was lying on his back, propped up on his elbows. His pale hair was sticking to the sides of his sweaty face, and his ordinarily shadow-black skin was looking a little ashy. "Yeah, I kind of do that after I've had a metal pole stuck in my gut," he grumbled, coughing.

Lips pursed, Tamerin looked around and spotted the bloody rod still jammed in the nearby stone. "You're crazy, you know that? You really think you'd be able to steer the way you are now?"

"Hey, I helped make that bike with my own two hands," Jayce said defensively. "She's my baby."

"Speaking of babies...would you sit up already? You're going to get sand in it."

As she spoke, Tamerin dropped to her knees beside her brother and helped him up into a sitting position. She looked calm, but Throttle's stomach knotted when he saw the almost fist-sized hole near the center of Jayce's chest. It was still oozing blood and fluid, and he would swear he saw the faint hint of pulse-like movement.

If the sight wasn't sickening enough, the thought that he had created the explosion that caused this...

Tamerin suddenly looked up at him. Her expression was solemn, but her eyes softened. "He'll be okay."

Jayce coughed again as she returned her attention to him, and he leaned against her as she put an arm around his shoulders and carefully inspected his chest with her free hand. Jayce's eyes had turned glassy, and his breathing sounded moist and kept hitching in his throat. "Dammit, I had so many things I wanted to do today," he complained.

His face definitely looked more gray than black now, and there were deep grooves under his eyes as he grunted and winced. It looked like he was struggling - to stay conscious, Throttle suddenly realized. He was battling hard to stay awake. Tamerin patted his shoulder. "You're just going to have to wait until you wake up," she said crisply. "Now go to sleep already. You know I'll take care of you."

Jayce's breathing had turned slow and shallow, and with effort he raised his eyes to his sister's. He swallowed thickly before he spoke, his voice weak and barely above a whisper. "Don't tell Dee."

Tamerin shook her head solemnly. Jayce's eyes flickered and rolled back, until the garnet red of his irises disappeared and only the white showed. His body went slack.

Vinnie looked as worried as Throttle felt. "Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

"He's survived worse," said Tamerin.

Her arm still hooked around her younger brother's shoulders, she took a moment to gently brush his eyes shut before glancing around, then looked up at Throttle. "Can I have your vest?"

Throttle slipped it off and handed it to her wordlessly; she took it and, propping the unconscious figure in her arms against her knee, proceeded to expertly tear the soft black fabric in a back and forth pattern, until she had one long strip. Clearly familiar with battle dressing, she then wrapped it carefully around Jayce's bloodied torso, securing it snugly at his sternum.

Throttle looked at the makeshift bandage and swallowed thickly. "My fault," he mumbled.

His mate frowned and didn't take her eyes off Jayce. "You didn't throw that grenade."

"No, but I threw it back."

"Well, you can make up for it by letting him crash at our place, then."

As she spoke, she hooked her brother's arm around her neck and, like the muscular, five-foot-eleven male barely weighed a thing, pulled him so his torso was draped across her shoulders and stood. She crossed to Jayce's bike, carefully placed him over the seat in front of her, then hopped on, fired the engine up and started for home.

"This isn't quite how I thought the day would turn out," Vinnie commented grimly as he and Throttle hurried to mount their own bikes.

Throttle grimaced silently in response. They hadn't exactly accomplished anything out here. All they did was see for themselves that rats and raiders were trying to kill each other, and they weren't shy about firing at any mouse they came across in the process - which was nothing they didn't already know. Hopefully their actions here today had sent the message that they weren't going to get away with dragging mice into their little altercations, but...

He just hoped word of this didn't work its way back to the military ranks. Otherwise, he knew a certain General was going to give him a big fat 'I told you so' next time he saw her.