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Chapter 21

Modo would have liked to have stayed with his mama and Ako and let her spoil the two of them for a little while, but instead he - grudgingly - hugged them both goodbye and rode over to the military base. Everything that had happened so far today had felt like some kind of surreal nightmare. When he reached the base and Carbine told him what she had to say, that feeling increased a thousandfold.

He could understand and accept that desperate sand raiders and rats were joining forces. He could understand and accept that one of Karbunkle's desert facilities had gone undetected all this time and now a weapon that should have never seen the light of day was being used against mice. But what he couldn't even begin to understand - and what he definitely couldn't accept - was the part about Ashlin somehow being involved.

He firmly denied the possibility of her having anything to do with what happened today, along with adamantly describing what kind of a person she was...but it seemed like the more he said, the more vilified she became.

Couldn't it be, Carbine argued, that Ashlin's father was part of the group of rats now allied with sand raiders? Modo had no way of knowing that, but he supposed it was possible. Then wouldn't it also be possible that, while she and her father were catching up on the last twenty years, Ashlin had mentioned one or two things about the ones who were currently closest to her - like Vinnie and his son? He didn't know that either since he wasn't there when she saw him, but he responded that he doubted she'd be that careless.

But supposing she had, and supposing that her father was indeed in cahoots with sand raiders, wouldn't it also be possible for word to have been passed along to them? Theoretically, yes. And the General continued to theorize ruthlessly. Didn't Modo and the others keep a large collection of different materials stored at Second Chance? Yes, they did. And could some of those materials be adapted for making weaponry, such as, say, explosive devices? Absolutely. And couldn't Ashlin get access to those materials? Anytime she wanted.

And what about the three of them? Didn't they have their own personal arsenals right at home? Of course - Tamerin and Charley-ma'am, too. So did a lot of their close neighbors. Couldn't it be possible for Ashlin to get her hands on them? Modo didn't see why she'd ever want to, but it probably wouldn't be too difficult.

Wouldn't she also have little difficulty taking those materials, weapons, and any other provisions she may have scrounged up, stashing them somewhere, and then letting her father know where they were once Tamerin-ma'am had taken her to see him last night? Again, he didn't see any reason why she'd do that. Her Generalship pointed out that it was entirely possible that her father had subtly convinced her to do it, no doubt assuring her that anything brought to him would only be used by him and his colony as a means of self defense against sand raider attacks.

Modo disagreed that she'd do that, especially without telling someone - and even if she tried to, it'd be awfully hard for her to do it without anyone noticing. Which led to him being asked if he knew exactly where she'd been for the last few days and what she had been up to. And of course he couldn't be sure on either count, since they'd barely spoken to or seen each other lately, up until she came in last night - which he admitted with a sinking in his chest.

He didn't want to believe any of it - Ashlin had told him just last night that her father hadn't asked for a single thing from her - but as far as Carbine was concerned, the fact that she had left early this morning was an admission of guilt. After all, what reason could she possibly have to disappear other than she must have known that the attack was coming and had fled for safety?

It was too much for Modo to take. Without bothering to excuse himself, he ran out of the base before he lost it and punched a hole through the nearest wall - or maybe he did. His mind was such a blur as he left he couldn't be sure of anything. He had a vague memory of someone handing him the map to the lab and telling him that Throttle had already gone ahead, and an even vaguer memory of mounting Lil' Hoss and taking off into the desert. Along the way his head cleared a little, slowly focusing on one goal: backing up his bro. He'd worry about the rest later.

During the long ride out to the lab his head cleared some more, and by the time he pulled to a stop at the base of the cluster of hills he was more than ready for a nice loud distraction, hopefully one with blazing lasers and large explosions. If he could plant his fists in a few faces, even better.

Parked outside the ruined door was two bikes; Throttle's and Tamerin's. Relieved that they had met up and his bro hadn't gone in alone after all, Modo left Lil' Hoss with them and headed inside. Everything was quiet and the room he found himself in was full of debris and shadows, but the only caution he exercised was readying his arm cannon. Anyone who dared mess with him right now was going to regret it - big time.

As if on cue, he had only taken a few steps forward when he heard movement just ahead of him. His eye caught sight of a figure standing in the darkness with their back to him - which was just the angle he needed in order to see the thick rat tail. Gritting his teeth, he raised his arm until his cannon was level with the back of the figure's head. "Hands up and turn around," he ordered gruffly. "Nice 'n easy."

The figure let out a quiet gasp of surprise - like they hadn't been expecting anyone else to be here. And instead of following his instructions and turning around slowly, they whirled to face him with their hands pressed to their chest. Modo blinked once, then let his arm lower back to his side. An ache of sadness filled his heart. "Ash...what on Mars are you doin' here?"

The petite Martian let out a nervous laugh. "I could ask you the same thing. How'd you even find this place?"

"Long story," Modo responded dully. "And I think the story about how you found this place would be much more interesting."

"It's - kind of complicated," she said vaguely, fidgeting her hands. With a frown, Modo trailed his gaze over her as she continued to fidget. She was dressed funny - almost combat-ready, with brown camo pants, combat boots, and a baggy, long-sleeved jacket that hung past her hips. His frown deepening, Modo realized that Ashlin was holding the front of the jacket shut.

She started to say something, but Modo was already striding forward. Ashlin let out a startled yelp as he reached out and gripped both her wrists; she dropped the sides of the jacket as he jerked her arms away from her chest. He then grabbed the front of her jacket and whipped it open - and saw the boxy contraptions strapped to her belt. There were at least a dozen of them, each one equipped with coils of wires and digital timers.

Time bombs.

The ache in his heart growing, Modo slowly released her jacket and lifted his gaze to her face. "Oh, Ash. What are you doin'?"

Ashlin smoothed her clothes with a sheepish look. "I, uh, can explain."

"You'd better," Modo said dryly, "and not just to me. You're under military suspicion of havin' beforehand knowledge about the attack this mornin'."

Something strange flickered across the small Martian's face. "Attack?" she repeated sharply. "What attack? What are you talking about?"

"The sand raiders who tore through our territory today, and kidnapped Vector, and-"

"What?"

The word was practically a shriek. "Are you kidding me? Forget this place then, we need to-"

She made a move to bolt for the door; Modo hastily grabbed her shoulders, stilling her. After giving her a quick explanation about the attack, Vector, and how the lab here was discovered, he quietly told her, "They think your father is in league with them. They think he helped the raiders set this up - and that you helped him."

Ashlin's expression went deadpan. "Why would they think that?"

"They say rats and sand raiders are workin' together now," he responded grimly. "Workin' together against us mice."

For a moment Ashlin only stared at him. She gave her head a shake, her eyes never leaving his. "My father and the others - they don't work with or against anyone. They don't have any reason to."

"Oh?" said Modo. He gestured to the explosives still strapped to her belt. "Then what's this about? The only thing I can figure is that they sent you here to blow this place up now that they've taken all they can - so anythin' left over can't be used against them later."

Ashlin's eyebrows drew together. "Wha - no. No one sent me, and no one from my father's colony would bother taking so much as a footstool from this place. Believe me, they're not in need of anything."

She paused for a second, then rushed on. "And why would anyone assume he and I were involved in what happened today?" she asked, her tone turning sharp. "Just because he's a rat - just because I am? Does that automatically make me a suspect for everything bad that happens around here? Is that what you think?"

Modo gave his head a shake. "I don't know," he said quietly. "I don't really understand what's goin' on here, or why the military thinks what they do."

"I'm not asking what they think," Ashlin told him, "I'm asking what you think."

Her dark eyes were hard as they searched his face. "Do you really think that if I had any idea something like this was going on, I wouldn't have told you the second I came home last night? And you say Vector was kidnapped?"

Modo nodded.

"Do you really think," Ashlin repeated, her voice lowering, "that I would have anything to do with something that might end up hurting a helpless child? Do you actually believe I could be capable of something like that?"

She fell silent, obviously expecting him to answer as her eyes continued to bore into him. Modo didn't say anything right away as his mind suddenly took a look back over everything the two of them had been through together since they first met. How much she loved all the orphans she and Tamerin used to care for and how much it had broken her heart when she thought Ako had died. How she was willing to trade her life to save any one of them - and how she had traded one of her body parts to save him. And he knew she would have given more than that if she'd had to, without so much as hesitating.

And then he took a look at the stricken face gazing so earnestly up at him, unshed tears glistening in her dark eyes. Since moving with him to Mars she hadn't cried once. She'd grown misty-eyed a handful of times, but she hadn't come close to completely breaking down and sobbing - until now. He could tell from the tightness in her face, the way she was bracing herself, that she was seconds away from collapsing in tears - and he knew that it was his fault. It was his suspicion that was causing her so much hurt.

Suspicion of what? he reminded himself. That the same sweet girl who wept beside the ocean and blamed herself for something beyond her control could, for any reason, be responsible for placing a child in danger?

Modo looked at her a moment more - and then reached out, grabbed her by the shoulders and clutched her tightly against his chest. "No, darlin'," he whispered. "I don't believe any of it. Not for a single, solitary second."

Ashlin let out a shaky breath and clung to him with a sniffle; Modo quickly lifted her face and, his own eye cloudy, brushed her tears away until her eyes and face were dry. He then pulled her close again, wrapping her in the safety of his arms and wishing he could keep her there forever. "Don't know where those guys get their information," he mumbled, "but when you disappeared this mornin', I didn't know if..."

He trailed off, but Ashlin lifted her eyebrows curiously. "If what?" she pressed.

"If you were comin' back," he forced himself to say. "I was afraid that maybe you decided you'd had it with us mice and wanted to give livin' with your father a try."

He wasn't sure if his words would make her angry, or hurt; instead her expression softened, and she reached up to cup his face in her hands. "I already told you," she murmured. "I know where I want to live - and I know where I belong. And that's right here with you. You're all that matters to me - not what anyone else says or does."

Smiling, she tenderly smoothed her hand over the back of his head. "I promised you just last night, didn't I? I'm never going to leave you. Not for anything."

His heart aching - this time with love - Modo took hold of both her hands and kissed them, then rested his cheek against her fingers as he gazed at her adoringly. But when his eye drifted lower and rested on her belt, he furrowed his brow in puzzlement. "But what about where you disappeared to today? And what's up with..."

He let go of her hands and gestured vaguely at the explosives; Ashlin glanced down with an awkward chuckle. "Oh, right. I only meant to step out for a second - I swear."

Her eyes met his again, her loving smile apologetic. "I was going to head right back in and make you breakfast before you woke up. But my father told me when I saw him last night that he and the others were moving on, so...I ran out before sunrise to say goodbye."

She glanced down at her belt again, tugging at one side to adjust the bulky weight of it. "While I was out there I overheard my father talking to Poi - one of the other rats about this place. They spotted another group of rats uncovering it and knew it would only lead to trouble, and...well, my father has a lot of pull, but some of the others don't completely trust me on account of me being half mouse and all. So me blowing this place sky high has sort of become my initiation."

The thought made Modo frown. "Don't think your father should've suggested you take on somethin' this dangerous," he muttered.

Ashlin's smile was soft and shy. "He didn't. He wasn't even going to mention it to me, but...I butt in on the conversation and volunteered."

"To prove yourself to the others?" Modo wondered with another frown.

She shook her head. "I'm not doing this for them. Or for my father. I only have one reason for wanting to do this, because the thing is, I never forgot a story a certain someone told me, and...I was kind of hoping to spare him from reliving the memories."

She didn't say any more, but she didn't need to. He saw the way her eyes shifted briefly to his right arm before returning to his face, and that one short glance explained it all, even if she hadn't said a word. With a throbbing in his heart and tears flooding his eye, he pulled her into his arms so fast and hard she let out a little yelp as her feet left the floor.

"Ash, my sweet darlin'," he whispered as he pressed his face into her hair, "I love you so much - so very much."

Relaxing in his arms, Ashlin smiled as she laced her fingers behind his neck and lifted her face to brush her nose against his. "I love you back," she whispered in return.

Modo cupped the back of her head in his hand and kissed her long and hard before gently setting her to her feet again. Straightening her jacket, he said, "Let's get you home."

Brow furrowing suddenly, Ashlin glanced behind him at the open doorway. "Aren't Tam and Throttle here?"

"Somewhere. They're together, so I'm sure they're fine."

Instead of nodding and heading outside, Ashlin looked down at her belt. "I should do what I came here to do before we leave," she noted firmly. "From what you just told me about what came out of this place, it's better off blown up."

Modo thought about the deadly weapons the rats had stolen and had to agree. "All right," he said. "But we should go find the two of them first. And let's take this thing off you, okay? It's makin' me nervous."

"Good idea," said Ashlin as he started unfastening her belt carefully. "They can help us place the charges, and then-"

She never finished. Because that was when they heard the scream, and then everything they were saying and doing in that moment was wiped from their minds.

Modo had never heard anything like it in his life - and when it was over he prayed he never heard anything like it again. It was the kind of sound that made every hair on his body stand on end and chilled him clear to the bone, until he felt like Death itself had brushed a hand down his back. It was like the worst forms of suffering had come together and formed a single voice, and he heard it echoing in his ears long after it stopped.

He continued to feel chilled in the silence that followed, and with a shiver he knew that that scream was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. Ashlin looked as frozen as he felt, her eyes wide as she pressed a hand to her throat. "That sounded like Tamerin," she said, her voice a breathless whisper - like she was scared to speak up.

Modo knew how she felt; he had to clear his throat to get his voice to stop sticking. "How could you tell?"

The scream had sounded female, but...it could have been anyone. He didn't want to picture what could have happened to Tamerin-ma'am - or whoever - to make her release a sound like that. He didn't think he could picture it.

Ashlin gave her head a shake, her eyes staring right through him. "That was her," she said firmly, her voice growing a little louder. "We have to find her."

Modo nodded mechanically. "Right. We should..."

He didn't know where to start looking, but Ashlin was already jumping into action. Pulling her personal data pad out of her pocket, she punched something into the keypad, then studied the screen for a moment. "She's right through there," she reported, pointing.

They rushed in the direction of the signal together, clinging tightly to each other's hand. Modo was all but blind to the rooms they passed through; the lab wasn't important right now. As the two of them hurried deeper, he only hoped that Throttle was already on the scene, rescuing his beloved mate from whatever horror made her make that hideous sound.

The interior of the lab was messy and confused, but Ashlin guided their steps easily, until she suddenly pulled to a stop in a long hallway. "There," she murmured, indicating to a doorway on the right.

It was every bit as silent here as it was everywhere else, and inside the room the signal was coming from a light was flashing in an extremely annoying way. Modo squinted as he looked inside; he thought he could see something - something on the floor - but he couldn't tell from here.

Before he could stop her, Ashlin had rushed past him, and as he hurried in after her he heard a clicking sound. The light went off completely, leaving them in complete darkness. "Any ideas?" Modo asked dryly. "I didn't bring any spare headlights with me."

"Hold on," Ashlin told him from across the room.

For the next minute or two he listened to a faint scraping, clinking sound, followed by a hollow clunk. A second later the light came back on - and stayed on. Looking satisfied, Ashlin turned away from the panel in the wall she'd just closed - and gasped sharply.

Modo followed her gaze - and felt his heart drop inside him. On the floor a few feet away from him was Throttle, lying on his back with his head turned to one side and his eyes closed, his specs absent. Tamerin was kneeling at his side, hunched over so her face was pressed to his chest.

Ashlin was already hurrying forward and was on her knees beside them before Modo caught up. As he knelt down next to her she struggled to pull Tamerin-ma'am up so she could look at her - struggled because her white fingers were clutching the fur of Throttle's chest so tightly, they ended up ripping whole clumps out by the time Ashlin managed to lift her by her shoulders.

She let out a sound of surprise as the sizable Imeeran slumped back against her, her neck and limbs dangling like a doll's. Her head sagged and landed on Ashlin's shoulder; the sight of her face as her hair spilled back gave Modo a chill. Her skin looked oddly dull, and there were dark rings under her closed eyes. Her normally white lips had turned ashy.

He expected Ashlin to start frantically checking if she was all right - but instead her attention turned to Throttle. The tan mouse looked fine to him - just unconscious - but Ashlin let her unofficially adopted mother slump forward again as she reached over to press her fingers to the side of Throttle's neck.

Her throat worked for a moment as she sat back on her heels and fumbled to pull off Tamerin-ma'am's wrist communicator. The next thing he knew, she was ordering someone on Malteria to prepare the transporter.

She hopped to her feet the instant she cut the connection. "Help me get them outside," she told him, voice trembling. "Help me get them outside now."

Modo didn't fully understand what was happening here, but the look of fear in her eyes was more than enough to get him moving. His heart pounded as he hoisted the two of them, one over each shoulder. As he and Ashlin rushed for the exit he couldn't help noticing that while he could hear Tamerin breathing shallowly, Throttle felt strangely still. Modo couldn't hear his breath, or feel the thump of his heartbeat.

But that was because he'd tossed his bro over his right shoulder instead of his left. That's what he was going to believe until someone told him otherwise.

The next few minutes were a jumbled mess. After getting outside they had to protect the two of them - and themselves - from Malteria's poisonous air before they could safely teleport over there. Then they had to rush down to the underwater city, where a team of medics were already waiting to whisk the immobile pair away to the hospital. Before Modo knew it, he and Ashlin were sitting down the hall from the room the two of them had been taken to, anxiously awaiting the report.

It was almost an hour before someone came to tell them that it was going to be a while yet before they would know anything for sure. They were both determined not to move from their posts until they heard something, but after another hour or so they decided to get up and briefly teleport back to Mars - just long enough to bring Michio back here with them.

Explaining to the young boy what was going on was hard, because they still weren't sure themselves. Michio asked a bunch of questions they couldn't really answer, then paced in agitation for a while before finally settling down and crawling into Ashlin's lap; she held him tightly and stroked his teardrop-shaped ears as she gazed sightlessly at the far wall.

Finally, after another long hour of waiting, little Doctor Deichan approached them wearing a crisp white uniform and a tired look on her pretty face. Modo got up, while Michio leaped to his feet. Ashlin remained seated, looking pensively down at her hands.

As Deichan-ma'm looked the three of them over for a moment, Modo thought the tiny Imeeran looked like she had just gotten back from a battle. She was more than tired; she was exhausted, and her shoulders sagged as she spoke. "You were right when you told us you suspected one of them might have been shot with some kind of toxin," Deichan began, her voice slightly scratchy. "We found it in Throttle's bloodstream - I'd never seen something so potent in my life."

"But he's okay," Modo said anxiously. "Ain't he?"

Deichan's nacre eyes studied him before she answered, looking more tired than ever. "His whole system was ravaged. We had to replace a number of his vital organs, but..."

She pulled in a breath and let it out slowly. "We were able to revive him. For now he needs to rest, but he'll recover."

Modo felt such a flood of relief it left him shaken, and he blinked back tears for a moment. "And Tamerin-ma'am?"

Deichan-ma'am hesitated, her gaze shifting to Ashlin. Modo looked over his shoulder at her, still sitting down and worrying the edge of her sleeve, and saw that she didn't look relieved at all. Her eyes were full of pain, and she kept swallowing thickly. Michio was watching Deichan, his face hopeful. "She's okay too, right?" he asked eagerly.

The petite doctor looked away and down at the floor. "Throttle was technically dead when she found him," she said quietly. "And now she's reacting like virtually every other Imeeran who's lost their mate. She's already moved past the first stage of shock; her body is shutting down."

"But he ain't dead," Modo protested.

"No - not anymore," said Deichan. "This is something that's never happened before. When one of our kind is put into a physical state where slipping away into restorative sleep and waking up again later is impossible, there's no way left to save them. There's never been a case of someone's mental bond being severed to the point where it becomes lethal to their mate, only to have the one we thought was dead revive - it's not possible, since only death breaks that connection. And now, it doesn't look like there's any way to signal to her body that he's all right."

So his bro was going to wake up soon only to have to watch his mate slip away until she was gone? That was too horrible to believe. "There must be somethin' you can do..."

Deichan shook her head slowly. Her expression had changed; she wasn't the solemn doctor anymore. She was an ordinary girl heartbroken over the thought of losing her best friend. "There's so much we still don't know about ourselves," she murmured, her eyes bright with tears. "We've tried endlessly in the past to wake someone who's succumbed to the shock of losing their mate. Injection with the serum we developed, external stimulation - everything from loud music to electric shocks...nothing helps."

She blinked rapidly for a moment. "Their body just keeps shutting down, bit by bit, until they're gone."

Michio, who had turned quiet as he listened to all this, suddenly made a sound and turned away. He reached for Ashlin, who quickly gathered him into her arms and hugged him tightly. Modo watched the frightened boy cling to her and felt his heart break. "How long does it usually take?" he asked Deichan-ma'm quietly.

"It's never typical. Some hang on for weeks, even months...while some fade away in a couple of days."

She met Modo's gaze, guessing his next question before he finished opening his mouth. "She won't be with us much longer - her body is shutting down as fast as I've ever seen. You can't make someone live if they don't want to."

Her eyes clouded again as she looked past him at Michio and Ashlin before she turned away. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "There isn't anything I can do."

She fled to her office while Modo sat down again in a daze. Michio continued to cling to Ashlin, his face buried against her throat, but then he suddenly squirmed free and stepped back. He dried his damp eyes. "I want to see them."

Ashlin, whose own eyes were misty, exchanged glances with Modo. "I don't know if..."

Michio looked at her hard, his expression as determined as a ten-year-old's could be. "I want to see them," he repeated, voice firm even as it quavered slightly.

Neither one of them could say no - not when they both knew that it might be the last he saw his adopted mother alive. The three of them headed to a small room at the end of the hall, isolated and away from other patients. A male nurse was monitoring things and didn't say anything as they came inside.

The unconscious pair was lying side by side, in a set of beds placed only a handful of feet apart. They had both been changed into hospital gowns and looked as comfortable as possible against their soft pillows and tucked under their plush blankets. Even from across the room, Modo could see the rise and fall of his bro's chest as he breathed steadily, a sight that left him shaky with relief again.

There was a number of medical wires and tubes connected to Throttle's arms, each of them leading to the monitors beside his bed and to an IV-like stand containing clear fluid. The numbers and graphs on the monitor screens kept careful track of his vital signs, beeping quietly while constantly scrolling information.

Tamerin-ma'am's setup was less complex. She was hooked up to a lone monitor placed near her head; the digital graph fluctuated weakly from time to time.

Modo would swear the white-skinned Imeeran looked worse than she did a few hours ago. Her eyes and temples looked like they had sunken in a little, and the hand that rested on her middle looked frail. The skin underneath her fingernails had darkened to a splotchy purple.

Both he and Ashlin stayed out of the way while Michio suddenly hurried forward, heading over to Throttle's bed first. His dark eyes wide and anxious, he rested his head on his adopted father's arm for a long moment.

As he watched, Modo could have sworn the corners of the mouse's mouth twitched - like he was trying to smile in his sleep.

The nurse suddenly spoke up quietly. "We're letting the anti-toxin we had to flood his system with drain out slowly," he explained, "and after that the anesthesia should wear off. Waking up too fast might be too much of a shock, so we're making sure it happens gradually."

Michio nodded in understanding and straightened up again. Turning around, he moved slowly over to Tamerin's bed. Placing his hand over hers where it lay on her middle, he laid his head on her shoulder as his eyes watched her face. Forcing a smile, he whispered, "You hear that? He'll be okay."

He squeezed her hand tightly. "That means you can wake up. He's all right, so please...wake up, Mom."

Modo couldn't watch anymore. Turning away, he noticed for the first time that Ashlin had moved closer to the door, her back facing the rest of them. She was speaking quietly into Tamerin's wrist communicator, and when she turned around again she brushed a hand over her eyes. "I told her mother and Jayce. And I think Michio should stay here with him and Dee for now."

The gray mouse nodded silently in agreement. As much as he wanted to stick around and see his bro make a full recovery...he realized that this wasn't a place for him right now. He shouldn't be here when the ex-General's family came and saw the state she was in, or when Throttle woke up and had to comfort his frightened son. And he didn't want to see the look on Throttle's face when he was told what was happening to his mate.

Besides...he had his own family to take care of.

After the two of them quietly moved out into the hall, Modo drew Ashlin into his arms and held her close. "Come on," he said softly. "It's time you and I went home. We need to clear your good name."