Finally! I was on a little vacation and wasn't able to write anything but luckily had all the time to think! So, here's a new chapter!
And I want to thank you all for your reviews and kind words and the very fact that you guys are reading this little story of mine! Thank you all!
I actually had a dream about the next chapter so hopefully I'll be a bit quicker with uploading that one here! In the meantime, enjoy!
-SpaceFlora
The New Dawn of the Red Planet
Chapter Eleven
Secret Base
There was a clatter and a piece of metal along with a couple of screws fell on the floor, one of the screws rolling under the monitor Rimfire was currently repairing.
"Damn it...!" The young male cursed loudly and knelt down, trying to find the tiny metal piece. He didn't notice his uncle coming into the main hall.
"Ah guess we need to talk..." Modo started with that warm and rumbling voice of his while taking a seat next to where Rimfire was working. The boy gave his uncle a glare back and got up to fasten the backside of the monitor with screws.
"I'm busy..." Rimfire answered. His hair was messy and his pants were dusty from crawling on the floor.
Modo studied him and then took a more laidback position in the chair.
"Fine, then Ah talk and ya can listen... "
Rimfire got the backside of the machine closed. He played with the screwdriver in his hand, looking at it, carefully avoiding his uncle's gaze. Modo observed him a bit further and then opened his mouth.
"Ah'm sorry."
Rimfire nodded while looking down at the floor again. He then gave a sigh and sat on top of the monitor. After a little pause, he cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry, too, Uncle Modo...I shouldn't have questioned you or stood up against you like that... It wasn't respectful..."
Modo looked at his now a bit flustered looking nephew and nodded back.
"Well, Ah guess the actions from my part weren't that exemplary either... It wasn't right to lose my temper like that...Your Grandmommah would've given me an earful for that one..." Modo scratched his neck. A smile acrossed Rimfire's face and he gave a nod.
"Yeah, Grandmommah always says that silence is more powerful than a racket..."
"She's right, as always..." Modo smiled back but then hunched forwards, looking for the words.
"It's just... Ah only try to look after you, you know that. You're my nephew, Ah've seen you grow from a baby to this young man...And although Ah still tease ya and call you a kid, Ah know you ain't a kid anymore. Ah just don't want ya gettin' hurt..." Modo rumbled his ears drooping a bit.
"I know..."
"Look, Ah do trust you and Ah think you're a good Fighter. But this time's different. We're only a few left, we don't back up an entire army of Fighters behind us and we don't know what waits for us out there. Only thing we know is that we're outnumbered. Big time."
"Then you should take me with, there'll be at least one more of us...!"
Modo shook his head.
"You're a bright kid, Rimfire. You've got a future ahead of you, you're still young. If something happens to me out there..."
"C'mon, nothing's gonna happen to you, Uncle Modo...!" Rimfire protested and got up.
Modo shifted a little and he cleared his throat, staring at his hands. After a brief silence the grey giant then raised his look back on him.
"Like Ah said, Ah know you ain't a kid anymore. So, Ah'm talkin' like a man to man here... If something happens to me during this mission, during this whole time... Ya make sure the family's safe and well. Okay? Ya keep your grandmommah, your mother, Primer and Aprilia safe."
Rimfire only stared at his uncle. He tried to process what he had just said to him and what he had left out. The young male then nodded back and finally got his voice back.
"I will. Don't worry."
Modo nodded back, got up and spread his arms and raised an eyebrow at the young man infront of him.
"So, we're cool?"
Rimfire gave a laugh and nodded, giving his uncle a big hug.
"Yeah, we're cool."
Modo patted him on the back and was to leave the main hall but then turned to his nephew again.
"Oh, and Ah'm waiting a call from your mother... If we already have left for tonight's mission then could you take it? It's about Aprilia..."
"She's alright?"
"Ah don't know." Modo answered, quickly becoming slightly lost in his thoughts.
"But inform me as soon as you hear from her, okay?"
"Okay." Rimfire nodded back.
x
x
It was 1 a.m. The base started to rumble as it rised upon the sand dunes again. The trio was getting ready for their mission. Vinnie packed up more flares and put on a black longsleeve. It was cold during the night time on Mars, even if you had fur. Throttle cleaned his glasses once more and put them on. They looked so worn down, he needed to find a place pronto that could maybe repair them. He put on a dark hoodie and on top of that his black leather vest. Modo was talking with Rimfire about something while putting his dark blue hoodie on again. Their new guns were tucked into their leg holsters, tightened on top the red camos they wore. Their bikes shone like brand new, equipped with new gun systems that Harley had been working on.
"Just remember that I know where you are all the time thanks for the tracking system. Well, I know at least where your bikes are, make sure you're with the bikes... Call immediately back in the base if something goes wrong." Stoker told them and they saluted back, laughing a bit, joking around, getting their adrenaline levels rising. They revved their bikes and the room was filled with thundering noise and as soon as the door slid open and they took off, Stoker, Harley and Rimfire looked after them, leaning against the thick door frames made out of steel, shaking their heads, looking out into the desert night.
"C'mon, folks, let's get our hands dirty with the mind control machine." Stoker then patted the other two on their backs as they got inside and the door closed again and the building started its' slow, rumbling way back underground.
x
x
Three bright headlights casted their light on the endless looking sand desert towards East. Vinnie revved his bike and for a brief moment he past Throttle.
"C'mon, I thought we were in a hurry...! You two drive like 80-year-olds!" The white furred male waved his hand at his two bros. Throttle and Modo shared a look.
"Here we go again..." Throttle rolled his eyes but with a smile curling up on his lips. Vinnie only snorted and left to do his fancy stunts a little further on the road. Modo snickered.
"Yeah... We should take him out and play more often..." He agreed.
But they'd missed Vinnie's energy and his way of easing up the atmosphere while driving towards the danger. They were also relieved that he didn't seemed so gloomy anymore about Charley, even though they knew he missed her and more. They also knew what types of texts they've been sending to each other. Throttle and Modo hadn't told their younger bro that Charley had installed the messaging system to each of their bikes and that every text that was sent to Mars and every text sent back to Earth... was to be read in each of their bikes...
They heard the white furred male's cries of victory.
"The cries of a lovesick puppy..." Throttle sighed smiling.
"More like a sabre squid on heat..." Modo mumbled back as they heard Vinnie making noizes further on the road.
x
x
"You should call the police..."
"No."
"Oh, yeah, right...'Cause that's what the normal people would do in this situation, my bad, sorry..." Beretta sighed while leaning to her palm.
"I'm not sure the police could be trusted..." Aprilia talked and gave the clock on the wall a look. Even though it was way past midnight and she was kind of sleepy her mind was raising so fast she knew she wouldn't get any sleep for a while.
"You're that paranoid?"
"No, I'm not paranoid! Well, only a little but that's only because someone just scared the shit outta me...! And because someone tried to tail me!" Aprilia was even herself a little surprised for her outburst but then again, she had been scared. And the simple fact that she didn't know what was going on just gave her an extra reason to be worried and scared.
"Fine...Okay, don't freak out on me here now but...You gotta ask yourself a question...How far are you willing to go...for him?" Beretta asked trying to look her into the eyes directly.
"I do this because I believe in the Fighters, because I know what's right. I may not no exactly what's happened but it sure feels like something terribly wrong..."
"Does anyone know your whereabouts?"
"General Carbine does. I phoned her but she doesn't know where I am, only the fact that I'm hiding somewhere..."
"General, hu? So, you don't trust the police but you called the Army? Interesting twist but okay... She can help?"
"She's a friend..."
x
x
"Hey, there, look!" Vinnie pointed a spot. They all zoomed in with their nightvision visors and there was indeed something going on. A truck and a couple of men. They had just arrived near the area after a few hour's bike ride but were now hiding behind the sand dunes, lying on the red sand, observing the area.
"Oh, man... Hardly any resistance..." Vinnie whined looking at the figures in the darkness.
"Can you see any signs of entrances...?" Throttle asked and they looked around the area until Modo finally pointed towards a place.
"There! Ah think there's a slight opening...There seems to be something metallic under the sand, maybe it's a doorway..."
The others saw it now too.
"Okay, let's take the coordinates and..." Throttle began but Vinnie protested.
"Can't we just go there and take a little look...? A tiny one, not even a proper look but a glimpse?" Vinnie pleaded.
Throttle gave a sigh, that man was really suffering from the action withdrawals, alright. But Stoker had told them to be careful and only take a better look at the area and then come back to plan out their attack. This was not to be a suicide mission.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." Throttle thought out loud but even to get the tan furred leader thinking of the possibility was all that Vinnie needed.
"Oh, c'mon, just a little spin around the base...A very discreet one, they won't even notice we've been there...! It'll be all smooth and safe!"
"We pack all the smoothness and safetyness of a triggered granade..." Throttle talked back but was surprised to hear Modo jump in to the conversation.
"Well, we're here already, we might as well take a closer look..."
Throttle gave them both a look.
"Fine, we'll just have a little ride around the area to get a better look, let's try to make it quick...Let's ride!"
They hit the accelerators and got off and over the sand dunes, towards the secret base but once they'd appered behind the dunes, suddenly a machine rised from the sand that looked like a massive machine gun.
"Oh-oh, bros...I think it wasn't us that got the glimpse of something..." Throttle talked through the radio installed to their helmets just before the machine started to spit bullets like a downpour.
"Ahahahahah! Action, finally! Oh, sweetheart, come here! Lemme show you how a real mouse kisses!" Vinnie yelled while firing back.
"Manouver no. 37, bros!" Throttle shouted and they split and started to circle the machine gun as it was spinning around, trying to hit them. They fired back and tried to dodge the bullet rain while at it. The machine gun spin and fired like a sprinkler as the bros were shooting the base of the gun, trying to blast the thing. Slowly the big gun started to sway and finally collapsed on the ground, making an explosion. They stopped their bikes infront of it, opening up their visors.
"That's it? This was kids' play..." Vinnie crossed his arms feeling disappointed but then a siren went off and they got startled.
"What's that?" Modo winced at the high-pitched voice.
"I think they want to play some more..." Throttle answered as they looked behind them and where they had seen the entrance was now flooding out soldiers riding bikes, dressed to their combat uniforms, racing towards them.
"What, they're gonna challenge us on bikes? Ahahahahahah! Eat dust, sweethearts, 'cause the baddest motorcycling mammajamma's here...Awhoooooo!" Vinnie cried, closed the visor, accelerated and popped a wheelie before the red bike was already attacking the bikes, Throttle and Modo behind him.
"Bros, aim at their tires and bikes...! Avoid hitting the soldiers!" Throttle ordered. Modo was trying to avoid the gunfire aimed directly at them, quickly changing weight on his bike.
"Ya sure?! These ain't really trying to avoid us!"
"Positive! We don't want to leave a trail of dead people behind...!" Throttle answered.
"Manouver number 20, bros!" He ordered while the soldiers on their bikes were getting closer and closer and just when they would've nearly collided into each other the three bros turned on their afterburners and jumped over them then quickly turning their bikes around and starting to fire the soldiers' bikes from behind.
"Hope you guys like it hot...!" Modo bellowed.
"...'cause we're bringing the fire! Burn, baby, burn!" Vinnie's cry was a hoarse shriek. A thick smoke was beginning to cover the whole area while the burning tires littered the sand along with the damaged bikes. Then suddenly there was a high-pitched whoosh sound. The bros immediately knew what usually caused that kind of a noise.
"It's a rocket launcher!" Throttle shouted as they quickly changed their direction and just barely were missed by a rocket that blew up. Rocks were flying over them along with red sand while they tried to cover themselves and then another swoosh was cutting the air.
"Retreat, now!" Throttle shouted and they quickly accelerated and speeded up while they felt the rocks and sand hitting their backs and helmets again after yet another explosion.
"Oh, man...This really kills my image..." Vinnie whined while they were driving fast away from the base area, followed by a big bunch of soldiers on their bikes.
"Ah donno, bro...Try to take this as a compliment..." Modo checked behind him.
"Yeah, not everyone gets this kind of treatment...C'mon let's try to lose the tailers!" Throttle affirmed.
x
x
"Rimfire?"
"Carbine-ma'am."
"What are you doing in there?"
"Uhm..."
"Forget I asked..." Carbine rolled her eyes but then tried to look behind Rimfire, to find familiar faces.
"Is Throttle there?"
"No he, Vinnie and Uncle Modo took off a couple of hours ago... Why are you calling this time of the night, General?"
"I'll have some information on the matter they're digging at the moment...Uncle?"
Stoker sat beside Rimfire, flunging his arm around the young man's shoulders.
"Hello, girl...! What goods do you have to tell us? And how does your dear employer feel about you babbling away their secrets?"
"For your information, the Army's not behind this. I'm on the side of justice. And as a General I'm at the moment very concerned about justice been ignored."
Stoker huffed a smile.
"Yeah, I know. It's a bummer when that happens."
"Well, I came across some information that you might not know... I think I know whose the fellows after your rebel asses..."
"Oh? Do tell..."
Carbine shifted a bit uncomfortably on her seat but straightened her posture again.
"It's a secret division lead by this man named Major Rig... Well, he was a Major back in the days of war but since that he's apparently vanished. It has come to my knowledge that he along with his secret division have been doing the government's dirty job since the last war...And that they might still be doing that. I was given this photo of the the Major..." Carbine showed them a photo of the dark brown man with white hair.
"Hold on a moment..." Stoker said, print screened the photo and then showed her niece to continue.
"These are guys who are like ghosts, no data, no info found on any of them. I found also some old material from the Army's archives, it was a secret investigation on the Fighters, propably downloaded there unintentionally during the war, there were text files and photos that could put you all into trouble..."
"Yeah? Did we look good in those?" Stoker smirked back, causing his niece to roll her eyes.
"Well, they're gone now, sorry if I didn't get to print you all copies for your own wall of shame...Someone must've noticed me going through them...Anyway, if this secret division was taking orders from our last traitor government and if it's working nowdays aswell, for me that implies that in the current government there's someone who has a connection to our last traitor leaders. I think that if you can track down this Major Rig then you'll find the answers."
"Oh? Well, nice job, you sure have done your homework there, General... Now, why wouldn't you just jump to our side? You're already fighting against the rules, I see..." Stoker raised an eyebrow. Carbine only gave a half-hearted laugh.
"Yeah, right...And be buried six feet under like yourselves?"
"How d'ya know we were underground?"
"I didn't rise through the ranks just by blinking my eyelashes. You don't have any windows there and the reception bad to say the least. You also have sand all around the floors and in your hair, too, Uncle Stoker."
Stoker laughed and shook his head.
"You're good. Shame it gets wasted in the Army rows..."
"Goodbye, Stoker..."
And the VidCom went dark. Stoker lifted his legs up and crossed them on top of the monitor, going through in his head all the new information... Rimfire started to dial the coordinates to Modo's bike.
"What'ya doing, rookie?"
"I have to call Uncle Modo... Mother called before Carbine and they paied Aprilia's place a visit but she wasn't there..."
Stoker nodded, thoughtfully.
"I haven't heard anything from them, I guess everything's gone well...The bikes were already heading back..."
The VidCom was trying to make a connection and soon Modo's face appeared on it, they could tell he was driving the same time. He gave a look at them but then turned it back on the road again.
"Hello there, the reception's pretty bad, let's talk fast...We're on our way back...Just takin' a lil' scenic route..."
They saw Modo looking behind him and heard his two bros joking and laughing around him.
"Everything went according to plans?" Stoker asked, his arms crossed. Modo chuckled back.
"Yeah. We found the entrance but at the same time we did find some company, too..."
"What...?" Stoker got a bit alerted.
Suddenly a sound of gun firing was to be heard and Modo visibly manouvered his bike, dodging, looking back but then gave the little monitor on his bike a quick look.
"We're trying to lose them, don't worry coach...We're just driving around the desert..."
Stoker shook his head, no matter how detailed he tried to tell instructions to those three Fighters they always found a way to improvise. Modo then gave Rimfire a look who had remained silent.
"Did your mother call back?"
"Yes, that's why I contacted you... She said Aprilia wasn't home..."
"Wasn't home?!" Modo's voice got agitated and his expression immediately came flushed with worry. He looked behind him and then dodged something, rocks and sand flew all around and covered a bit of the monitor as well. A loud explosion was to be heard in the background. Stoker leaned towards the monitor.
"Do the manouver number 45, Fighters! That always works! And get your asses down here in one piece, you hear me?!" Stoker then commanded but then the screen went dark.
"Damn these reception problems!" Stoker hit the monitor and was to leave the main hall.
"Try to fix it somehow, will ya...?" He pointed at Rimfire.
"But what about Aprilia...? Maybe she's hurt somewhere?!" Rimfire tried to raise his voice after Stoker but the older man was already gone. Rimfire sat there a brief moment before he got up and ran to the garage.
