Hey! This one's from me, I caught the episodes for 'Back to Mars' on youtube and had to write this. And dear RocknRide, I haven't forgot the other half of your story. (Darn writer's block) Please forgive it being so tardy.
The First Bout of Anger Management
It was three days after they had arrived back on Earth. Three days after that disastrous trip to Mars to try and have Limburger tried for war crimes, only for the Biker Mice to be charged with treason, sabotage, spying for the enemy, and aiding and abetting the enemy. Not exactly the welcome the boys had been expecting. Thankfully, they'd gotten that mess cleaned up and helped bring a substantial amount of water back to Mars. So all's well that ends well, right?
Not quite.
Throttle had been rather moody and silent for the last few days. Not that anyone could blame him. Coming back home after five years off-world only to be tried for war crimes you were framed for by your worst enemy, would ruin anybody's day. Coming back after five years to the woman you'd been religiously faithful to, only to have her accuse you of betrayal and try to kill you; now that was enough to ruin your whole year.
Vinnie and Modo, recognizing an infamous 'Carbine moment' when they saw one, had steered clear of their tan-furred bro for while. They figured that he needed time to not only process what happened, but to come to grips with his own girlfriend believing such terrible lies about him, without letting him defend himself. (Personally, Vincent was all for Throttle dumping the general and helping his bro find a nice girl that didn't know what a cannon was, let alone how to fire one. But that might have been just Vinnie.)
Throttle had been downright snappish since they'd got back, and finally Modo and Vinnie had cleared out of the Scoreboard and went over to Charley's to hide out for a while. The mechanic, who'd finally managed to recover all the work she'd been behind on, had called them giant pansies and insisted they go back to the 'board to try and help their bro. Both Martians had promptly called her suicidal; Throttle might have a fuse a mile long, but he had a nasty temper if you managed to finally make him ignite. And currently, he was ready to blow at any minute.
Charley sighed, and kicked both Mice out. She told them to ask Throttle to come see her, that it was important, and to bring some heavy metal tapes that he liked best. The mechanic promise it would help. The two exchanged confused looks, but did as she asked.
An hour later, a surly Throttle had arrived at the garage, Charley nowhere to be seen. Cheez, if she'd wanted him here to badly, she could at least stick around until he came! He heard her call for him from the backyard, and went to see what she wanted. She was unloading a large crate from the back of her pick-up truck, and he went over to help her. They carried it to the side fence of her yard, and she grabbed a crowbar to open it. He cocked an eyebrow at the sight of more than a hundred cheap, glass, jelly jars. "What's all this for?"
"Therapy," she said promptly.
"What?" he said flatly.
She picked up a jar and hefted its weight in her hand. "Therapy," she repeated, suddenly throwing the jar with all her strength at the wooden fence, where it shattered very nicely. She got out another jar and handed it to him. He just looked at her like she was crazy. Charlene shook her head. "Throw it," she said.
"Charley, this is stupid"-
"THROW IT!"
He threw out of startled reflex, shattering it loudly against the fence, and she handed him another. "Keep throwing until you feel better," she said simply, walking off to sit on the hood of her jeep. "Trust me, it works a lot better than a punching bag."
Throttle looked down at the jar in his hand and, feeling ridiculous while he did it, threw it against the fence. Glass exploded from the impact and fell to the ground. He grabbed another jar. Suddenly, one of his favorite metal bands started playing, and he turned to find that Charley had put one of his tapes into the jeep's newer cassette player. "Keep going," she said firmly. "And think about what's been ticking you off while you do it."
"Yes, ma'am," he grumbled, and threw another jar at the fence. It was a bit more satisfying this time, and he grabbed another jar. What ticks me off, eh? How about being bossed around by women that think they know everything-SMASH!-even if they mean well-SMASH!
He shook his head from that thought. Charley was just trying to help. She was still being bossy, but she didn't really mean anything by it. Still-SMASH, SMASH, SMASH!
"Now you're getting it!" she called over the sound of the music. "Feeling any better?"
He was about to roll his eyes when he realized that he wasn't as irritated with her as he was five minutes ago. "Yeah," he said in mild surprise. He looked back at the fence, and his tail unconsciously pulled the crate of jars closer. "Therapy, huh?"
He threw another jar. SMASH! How about for the flat I got last week-SMASH!-stuck waiting for half an hour because Modo couldn't find the stupid tire-SMASH!-and how Vincent never shuts up about that race he won-SMASH! SMASH!-and how Modo never shuts up about his Momma-SMASH!-for Rimfire always getting into some kind of trouble, all to be some kind of hero and not understanding a damn thing about what you have to give up to do it-SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For loosing Harley and Vinnie's grief-
SMASH! SMASH!
For Mace being a spy and not knowing it sooner-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For Stoker being captured and making me the leader-
SMASH! SMASH!
For being stupid enough to crash their spaceship into the freakin' scoreboard during a game-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For falling for that damn hate ray of Evil-Eye Weevil's-
SMASH!
For every time they were never there fast enough to protect Charlene like they should-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For all their time in Plutarkian prisons-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
And Limburger being here on Earth-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
And Brie!
SMASH!
And Parmasanga!
SMASH!
And Provalone!
SMASH!
For letting Karbunkle get away all those times-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For the time in Karbunkle's lab-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For Modo's arm-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
Not protecting his bros-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For Vinnie's face-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For being too drugged up to tell something was wrong with Stoker back on Mars-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
For Carbine-
SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!
For the arrest-
SMASH! SMASH!
For the guards mocking them outside their jail cell-
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
That they had a jail cell at all!
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
Charged with crimes they would NEVER-
SMASH!
EVER-
SMASH!
EVER COMMIT!
SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!SMASH!
He didn't know when he started shouting his thoughts, but he was now. "For Carbine ever thinking we could just turn our backs on Mars! For thinking we would ever forget everyone that died and sacrificed for us to survive, for our world to survive! How she could ever think that I would betray her, our home, our families, our world? ! How could she ever think I would work with Plutarkians? ! Work for Karbunkle? !"
The crate lid went flying, breaking against the stronger wood of the fence.
"How could she ever, ever believe that I would do such a thing? ! Does she even know me at all? ! And she didn't even ask me! She didn't even ask if it was true! She just went along with everything those fragging geezers said! How could she do that to me? ! How could she? ! I loved her! How could she betray me like that? !"
The crate itself was now in pieces about the size of mulch, having been pounded into the ground after Throttle had ran out of jars and then shattered the wood with a punch from his Nuk-Knuks. He panted hard, his entire body shaking in the aftermath. His shades had fallen off in his fury, and Charley quietly walked over and picked them up. She slowly came over to his side and gently slipped them on his face. He took the bottle of water she offered, swallowing it down in greedy gulps. With slow movements, she took his hand and pulled him into the garage, leading him up the stairs to the living room so he could collapse on the couch. He was still shaking and panting, his eyes unfocused.
Charley hoped she'd done the right thing. If anything, he looked worse than when he'd first come over. She gently cupped his cheek in her hand so that he looked her in the eye. "Are you alright?" she asked softly.
Every muscle in his body quivered like he'd fought for hours on end and his tail twitched jerkily. Sweat dripped off his body and his antennae hung low on his brow, his ears drooping against the sides of his head. His insides felt like someone had knotted him up and then pulled him apart and then stuffed it all back in. He was a thousand times lighter than before, relieved of a poisonous pressure and anger that he'd never known was festering inside him. But for all his release, he was somehow a bit sadder at the same time. Realizations were sifting through his mind, but right now his thoughts were blurry and too quick to catch on to. It took a minute for his eyes to focus enough on her to give her an answer.
"Never felt better."
Thank you all so much for all the entries into my BMFM Quote Challenge. I still have a few that I'm working on with a few other authors, but they should be up soon! For anyone that hasn't sent anything in yet, don't worry! I can post them to my story, or you can post them on your own. In fact, I'd love to see more BMFM authors for our fandom. Our furry bros need all the love they can get!
