Hey guys!...(crickets chirping)...yeah...mad at me for not posting?...ok...(offers up chapter 20)...consider this my peace offering...
...anyway, ENJOY!
"Anybody home?" Vinnie called as he dropped down into the wrecked ship.
Modo dropped heavily to the sloping floor behind him. The two mice quickly surveyed the room.
They were surprised to see a human and a green Martian back near the cockpit. Two little girls were huddled against the wall on their right, partially hidden by some loose cargo. Another Martian was standing by the door, gun in hand.
It looked like the only one who might be hurt was the green mouse, though he seemed more scared than anything else, if the sobs were anything to go by. The human looked up from the green mouse he was trying to sooth.
"Timing couldn't be better bros!"
Vinnie and Modo froze in their tracks. The voice was Throttle's!
The smile on the human's face faded. He looked down at himself, then back at them and sighed.
"I forgot." He whispered. "Vinnie, Modo. It's me, Throttle. Karbunkle's machine switched our species when it dumped Angela, Tiffany, and I on Mars."
Modo slowly moved closer.
His eyes widened as he took in the garnet eyes barely visible behind the green shades, the jet black freedom fighter tattoo on his shoulder, and the nuke knucks adorning his right hand. "Could it…?" he murmured. He shook his head. "Take th' bandana off." He said grimly.
Throttle frowned, but did as he was told, untying the knot and pulling the red bandana off his neck.
Relief washed Modo's face. "Yeah, it's Throttle." He called back to Vinnie.
"Yeah it's me, but how'd you…?" Throttle gestured, confused.
Modo tapped his collar bone. "Locket."
Throttle looked down at his chest. The silver locket he'd taken to wearing since he'd come to earth shimmered faintly in the dim light against his skin. Normally his fur and bandana hid it from view.
He shook his head. "You need to tell me how you knew about that later." He motioned to Crucible. "Right now we need to get him to Charley."
Modo grabbed the blanket off the bunk and wrapped it securely around Crucible's shaking form. "What's wrong with him?"
Throttle shook his head. "Don't know. One minute he was scaring the scales off the stink fish, the next he's crying and babbling about something happening and make it stop."
"Weird." Vinnie scooped Tiffany up. "Come on! Let's get you and your sister out of here!"
"Modo, get Crucible out and onto a bike. Buck, you get the parts. I'll get Angela. Hurry, the sooner we get Crucible to Charley the better!" Throttle snapped the instructions off quickly, already gathering up Angela and following Vinnie towards the rift.
Modo wrapped the blanket more firmly around Crucible, who was now shaking, as though in extreme terror or cold, and hefted him up into his arms like a bride or a small child.
Buck had already located the two green boxes of radio parts and was standing by the rift, waiting.
"Captain's always th' last one off." He explained sheepishly when Modo cocked his head in question. "I'm not a captain, but I'm the pilot, and I figure that's close enough."
Modo nodded and quickly climbed out. The bikes were outside, ready and waiting. The Gila Monster's had already posted themselves in a perimeter around the ships landing site.
Modo and Buckshot stared in horror at the body of the Plutarkian lying outside the ship.
The body looked as though it had been frozen in mid convulsion, and the features were contorted into a look of such agony. And the eyes were now clear, blood red. Modo silently hoped he would never have to tangle with whatever had done that to the fish.
No one deserved to die like that!
Vinnie leapt aboard his red racer, settling Tiffany in front of him.
Throttle shook his head. "I wish my bike were here. It's gonna get crowded on your bikes bro's."
An engine rumble sounded in the distance. Vinnie laughed. "How's the saying go? Ask and you get or something like that?"
Modo chuckled as he climbed aboard Lil' Hoss and settled Crucible sidesaddle on the seat in front of him. "It's ask and ye shall receive! And I think you're right."
A silver and black bike whipped around the corner at full tilt, in a sliding turn that would have made even Vinnie jealous! It then proceeded to come to a dead stop in front of Throttle, kicking up huge clouds of dust.
Throttle laughed and patted the bike's headlights affectionately. He quickly climbed aboard. "It's great to see you to girl, but we'll have to hold off the reunion till later, we gotta get back to the garage fast!"
The bike rumbled in disappointment but revved her engine, as though to say get on already! She'd already spoken with the other two bikes and scanned Crucible. She knew something wasn't right.
Buck hurried forward and packed the boxes into Throttle's saddle bags. "Hurry on ahead, one of the human's offered to give me a lift, but he says his bike probably won't be able to keep up with the A1's."
Throttle nodded, plopping a helmet on Angela and pulling on his own. "Got it. See you at the Last Chance Buckshot." He grinned. "Try to stay out of trouble."
Buckshot stepped back and gave him a cheeky salute. "Yes sir!" he laughed.
"Charley!" Vinnie called as they rumbled into the Garage.
Charley hurried down the stairs. "Here! I…" she froze at the bottom of the stares as her eyes settled on Throttle, who had lifted Angela off his bike and was currently helping Modo convince the sobbing Crucible to lay down on a workbench.
Charley shook her head and grabbed the first aid kit. "What happened to him?" she asked, setting the kit down beside Crucible on the bench.
Throttle quickly explained about the mouse's apparent breakdown and blackout during the crash and detailed the events leading up to this second meltdown. This one seemed to be more serious, as it had already lasted several minutes longer than the one during the crash.
Charley brushed Crucible's hair out of his face and pressed her hand to his forehead. After a moment she moved her hand and pressed her fingers against his throat. A suspicion was worming it way up from the back of her mind.
"Throttle, do you know if he's got any allergies or asthma?"
Throttle shook his head. "No. Carbine asked before we left to make sure he didn't eat something here that'd hurt him or walk through a cloud of pollen and choke."
Charley frowned. The mouse wasn't hurt, yet he was by this time very obviously in pain.
Her eyes widened as her mind suddenly recognized what it was she was looking at. "Oh good grief!" she exclaimed. "Vinnie, run into the kitchen and get a rag and a bowl of cold water!" She hurriedly pulled the blanket off of him as much as she could. "Guys, help me get this off him, now!"
Throttle and Modo hurried to help. "What's wrong with him Charley ma'am?" Modo asked, laying the blanket across Charley's hydraulic lift.
Vinnie came running back in and handed Charley the rag and water.
Charley hurriedly wetted the rag and dabbed the dripping cloth across Crucible's face and forehead. "I think he's having the Martian equivalent of a panic attack." She answered grimly, moving on to the base of his skull and his neck.
The mice looked at each other in confusion. What the heck was a panic attack? They turned their attention back to Charlie.
The cool cloth seemed to be helping. His eyes began to lose their faraway look, and he seemed to be more aware of his surroundings.
He grimaced, his crossed arms tightening around his chest as he sobbed and panted brokenly. "..have to…have to….no..Stop!.."He whimpered. He began trying to curl up. "…hurts….help me…"
His voice sounded very much like that of a small, lost child. It tore at the hearts of all who listened.
"Shh. Shh…" she continued her ministrations with the damp cloth. "It's ok." She said softly, soothingly. "It's ok. You're safe here."
She dropped the cloth into the bowl. "Would you like to sit up?" he hissed in pain, but nodded. She lipped her arm underneath him and helped him into an upright position, swinging his legs off the edge of the bench. "You keep saying it hurts. Where? Where does it hurt?" she asked gently.
He unfolded his arms jerkily, his eyes still faraway and slightly glazed over. He pressed his hands flat to his chest. "..here.." he panted. He was still shaking uncontrollably.
Charley nodded and rubbed his back soothingly. "Has this ever happened before?"
He shook his head. "…before..today…no."
Charley nodded. "Ok." She grabbed the wet cloth, pushed his head forward and laid it across the back of his neck. "It's ok. The pain's normal. You're having what's called a panic attack." She pressed her hand flat against his chest. "Look at me Crucible. I need you to breath. Control it. That'll ease the pain."
He nodded, and tried to draw in a deeper breath, but he couldn't do it! He was still too worked up.
And his failure was only making it worse!
"Relax Crucible, it's ok. It's ok. Breath in through your nose, try and hold it for a couple seconds, then blow it out your mouth." She moved around in front of him and gently lifted his chin, though by no means forcing him. "Look, at me. I'll do it with you ok? Just follow my lead. Breath." She took his shaking hands in both of hers. "You're not alone."
He gave a jerky nod, and she gently brushed the tears off his cheeks. She showed him how to breath, and at first he had a great deal of trouble with it.
Slowly but surely his breathing slowed.
His shaking began to ease.
A sudden rumble of motorcycles outside as the Gila lizards pulled up caused his breathing to jump back up into high gear.
The extremely odd appearance of the Gila Monster didn't help in the slightest.
"It's ok. It's ok." Charley soothed.
Inside her mind she was running through a list of expletives trying to find the worst word with which she could describe their timing. Stay calm. She reminded herself. You have to stay cool and collected for him. Or else you could set the whole panic attack off again and make it even worse! So she continued to coach his breathing, and reassure him.
Most of the Gila's, including the Gila Monster, went outside to wait or returned to the crash site to relieve their friends. Buckshot settled himself on Charley's hydraulic lift, and watched with rapt attention.
Once Crucible seemed to have calmed down somewhat, she began to question. "Crucible. Do you want to talk?" he nodded. "Remember, it's your choice. You don't have to tell me if it's going to get you worked up again. Whatever you want to tell me. Ok?" he nodded again.
"Ok. What set this off?" she asked gently. "Is it something in the present, or is it something from your past?"
His breathing hitched, and for a moment she thought they were going to have to master his breathing all over again!
But he brought himself back under control. "Both." He breathed. He bowed his head. "I've killed….I swore I'd never do it again…but I did..I did it without a thought!" The tears started again in earnest, but his breathing remained steady. A good sign.
Charley hopped up on the bench beside him and slipped an arm around his shoulders. "You did it to protect a friend. There's nothing wrong with that."
Crucible shook his head. "No one deserves to die like that…"
She gently pulled the Martian close, letting him cry on her shoulder and take comfort in her presence. After a few minutes the tension seemed to leave his body. His crying became softer and his shaking eased until they were practically non-existent.
It was with a start that the watching mice realized that he'd slipped away into a sort of half sleep.
He began to fall forward, but Charley caught him and leaned him against herself once more. "He'll be all right. Everyone has their breaking point, and apparently he has enough emotional baggage that killing the Plutarkian was enough to push him over the edge. He'll sleep for a little bit. I think he'll be a little more ready to talk once he wakes."
"Never heard of this before on Mars." Modo said. "It common here on earth?"
"Common enough with humans." Charlie answered grimly. "Its been known to show up in some of our animals to though. Usually some really stressed out show dog or race horse." She added, giving an inelegant snort to demonstrate what she thought of the owners of such animals.
"How'd you know what to do sweet heart?" Vinnie asked worriedly. "You ever had one?"
Charley smiled and shook her head. "Nah. I've yet to let anything push me that far. But one of my best friends had this problem a lot. Her mom showed me what to do so I could help Sandra when her mom wasn't there to do it."
She shook her head grimly. "I thought Sandra's were bad. Compared to what Crucible just had, Sandra's was a cake walk!"
Buckshot leaned forward curiously. "What causes 'em miss?"
Charley frowned thoughtfully. "From what Sandra's mom told me…something, real or just in their minds, scares the crap out of them and their body starts dumping adrenalin into their systems in spades. If there was a real danger, that would be ok. But where do you run, how do you fight back when what's scaring you is all in your head? To the victim, it's very real! They'll start shaking, maybe overheating…They either start hyperventilating, holding their breath, or they have trouble breathing in. They're not getting enough oxygen and their heart's going a mile a minute, so their chest starts to hurt. If the pain's real bad, they think they're having a heart attack or dying, and that makes them panic even more!"
She shook her head sadly. "It can be a really vicious cycle."
"So what're the do's an' don'ts?" Throttle asked.
Charley thought about it for a moment. "The biggest thing is to stay calm. If you panic, you're only making it worse. If their chest hurts, that's going to be one of the bigger things on their minds, and you need to get them breathing better as soon as you can. Once they've calmed down a little, try and get them talking. Don't judge them, and don't stick your own two cents into it. Just be a listening ear, and keep reassuring them. To them, this is real, so don't put down their fears. Just keep telling them it's ok. Don't try to restrain them, and whatever you do, don't leave them alone!"
The mice nodded. It made sense.
"Some people get really irritable before and during a panic attack. We got lucky today. I'd hate to have a rampaging mouse in my garage!"
Reveiw! Cyber cookies for those who leave their two cents on the counter for me!