Hey you all!
It's taken me awhile but I'm back again!
It's been super hectic and then also it took me a long time to write this chapter, to get my creativity back... But I'm so glad that I finally got over the major major writer's block since I love writing this story and I'm so super grateful for you all out there reading it, too! It just wouldn't be any fun to write this for myself...
Please have fun reading this chapter and like always feel free and encouraged to write a few lines after reading, I love reading your comments!
Thanks so much to all of you who have been reading and reviewing and giving me so much energy to keep me going!
A very special thanks to Vlaatjee who's words kept me going as I was very stuck with this story. Thanks. I mean it. And go read her stories if for some weird reason you have not yet done so... They ROCK. BIG TIME.
Peace,
SpaceFlora
The Good, The Bad and the Rebels
Chapter 29
Crazy Doctors and Genius Mechanics
As the day was slowly starting to turn into evening, Throttle came back to the HQ with Maico and Haden. They rolled their bikes in through the big garage doors and parked them neatly amongst the rest of the bikes. Throttle took off his helmet and slowly got off the bike combing his long hair a few times with his fingers. Harley had been working with some of the bikes and now got up and wiped her hands to a rag.
"Any luck?"
"Nope... No sign on our little runaway girl..." Throttle stated and was to head towards the main hall but then quickly glanced around the garage.
"Charley ain't here?"
"Nope."
"Where is she?"
Harley only shrugged her shoulders back.
"How should I know, I ain't her babysitter..."
Throttle glanced at her but then shook his head feeling a bit irritated. They had been out there in the desert looking for Mina for many hours, he was hungry and tired and did not want to face that kind of attitude at the moment. But he didn't say anything, just placed his helmet on the table nearby and continued his walk out of the garage, his footsteps echoing a little from the corridor walls. He had been wondering why was Harley acting so strangely around their Earthling friend, not that he had even seen these two being in the same room with each other... It was strange even for not seeing them two working together since for all he knew they had the same interests and the same passion for machines, they should have a lot to talk about... But right now he didn't have the energy to get into it. Anyway, Charley hadn't said a word so...maybe it was nothing. Maybe.
As he was walking through the main hall he spotted Major Rig lying there on the hospital bed, still tied up. Throttle had been meaning to ask why was their so-called-hostage been rolled out here instead of been in the infirmary but things had been kind of hectic. So many things had been neclegted while more urgent stuff had come up... But as he saw the man lying there again and now glancing at his direction, seemingly pissed off and maybe even for a good reason, he cleared his voice and asked one Fighter near-by.
"Why is that man out here? Shouldn't he be in the infirmary?"
The Fighter glanced at Rig's direction and just shrugged his shoulders.
"Ask the doc..."
Throttle raised his brow at this remark.
"Aprilia did that?"
"Yeah, well, apparently even our sweet doc's got a line that's not to be crossed..." The Fighter joked and Throttle let out a laughter but headed towards Major Rig's direction.
"Major Rig... You're enjoying a little change of scenery, hu?" Throttle drawled as he reached the hospital bed, abandoned there in the corner of the hall, with the patient.
"That doctor's crazy! Pushed me in here without a reason!"
"Is that so?" A slight smile appeared on Throttle's lips as he only thought about what that said scene might have looked like as it was hard to think that their sweet little doctor could get so riled up that she would actually throw a patient out of the infirmary. She took her doctor's ethics quite seriously.
"Well, knowing the doctor she must've had a good reason to escort you out..." Throttle chuckled lightly but Major Rig only turned his angry face away from him.
"Yes, she's a crazy woman! That's her reason...!"
Throttle let out a sigh but then went to the other end of the bed and snapped the locks off the tires and then pushed the bed back to the infirmary with a few rapid and powerful pushes, making the bed sway and shake.
"Wait, what are you doing?! Don't take me back! I don't want to be near that psycho lady...!" Rig cried swaying on the bed, too but they were already gone through the infirmary doors and Throttle rolled the bed in its' place and snapped the locks on the tires, turning to face Beretta and Aprilia who just looked back at him, both having cups of tea on their hands.
"I think you might have lost a patient..." The tan furred male joked.
"No we didn't..." Aprilia muttered back, glaring at Major Rig, who again tried to free himself from the ropes but couldn't. Throttle gave him a look and let out a sigh.
"We can't keep the man tied up to a bed the rest of his life..."
"Thank you! Finally someone's making some sense in here!" Rig huffed a little out of breath from his wiggling. Throttle gave the two medics another look.
"Think his leg's fine?"
"You mean the leg you busted?! Yes, it's fine, thank you very much of your very late concern! Now let me go!" Rig growled.
"The leg's just fine..." Aprilia muttered glaring at the man. Beretta intriguingly followed this exchange of words before she then suddenly realized something and turned her look to meet Throttle's shades.
"What you mean we can't keep him tied up? We can't let that man loose! He's a crazy person and will kill us all while we sleep...!"
Throttle nodded back, giving a light chuckle.
"Well, check his leg again to make sure he's good to leave the infirmary, I will find a room where we can keep him..."
"How about some food, too?! I'm starving!" Rig raised his voice.
"Well, personally I've found out that people are a lot more chatty when they're hungry... And also as we do have food ratios here, we all work very hard to earn that food, too...So, do you feel like you'll finally give us some information that'll turn out to be valuable to us?" Throttle crossed his arms, waiting, while giving Rig a look but this only snorted back.
"I don't have to tell you shit!"
Throttle nodded back and turned to leave.
"Fine... Maybe you're not hungry enough..."
"This is torture!" Major Rig hollored after him and that made Throttle to turn around again and his raspy voice got deeper.
"Do you think that they're keeping better care of General Carbine in whatever rotten cell they're keeping her in?"
Major Rig only glared back his eyes gleaming with anger.
"Thought so too...Atleast you've got a soft bed...Be lucky that we didn't leave you out there dying, gods know you weren't that generous for our lost brothers..." Throttle mumbled back and while leaving the infirmary he gave Aprilia a last look.
"You inform me if he's making any trouble, not that you're not apparently capable of dealing with him yourself..." Throttle flashed a quick smile and Aprilia only nodded back.
"Will do..." The blonde doctor looked after Throttle but then turned her head back to the Major before feeling a light touch on her shoulder.
"I can check on his leg..." Beretta told her and Aprilia gave her a smile back.
"Thanks..." She then gave the clock on the wall a look.
"Oh, shit... I was meaning to have just a small break.. I have to leave, I'm helping Charley to build this thing..."
"What are you building?" Beretta asked but Aprilia only shrugged her shoulders back.
"I'm not entirely sure myself either... I'm just the assistant..." She blurted out and hurried out of the infirmary.
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Throttle walked back to the main hall and towards the bigger VidCom screen and nodded at Haden who was just dusting off some sand off him from their ride out in the desert.
"Can you connect me with the Kasei Valles monastery? I need to talk with Stoker, and the rest of them too..."
"You've got a plan, chief?" Haden smiled back while tapping a code using the VidCom's controls panels.
"Yeah. I've got a plan." Throttle answered while sitting down infront of the screen. Haden nodded approvingly.
"Right on, brother..! Finally! Let's get this party started already!"
Throttle nodded and then placed a heavy folder on the control panels and Haden just stared at the big file.
"...that's one big-ass folder you've got there, bro..."
"It's a big-ass plan I've got, too..." Throttle only answered while leafing through the pages.
"Maybe I was too eager to call this plan "a party"... That folder is screaming for "work"... " Haden mumbled back and Throttle nodded back.
"Yeah, well we've got work cut out for us all, alright...It's not easy to save an entire planet..." Throttle cleared his throat.
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"So, what are ya saying, bro? You found God?" Vinnie snickered as Modo only huffed back.
"Nah, it was just a weird experience, 's all..." Modo scratched his neck a little awkwardly after he had just shared his little incident back at the monastery with the monks, the chanting and the statues of the gods.
"I bet it was... Was there a choir of angels, too?" Vinnie chuckled pleased with his own joke and Modo gave him a slightly irritated snort back.
"Don't be daft, angels don't exist..."
"Well, neither do gods so there ya go..." The white furred male nonchalantly stated back driving the truck they were using while cruising around the desert. They were using this Army truck Radius' men had stolen from the Army as their little patrol vehicle. Modo gave him another glance, riding the shotgun, but then concentrated on these vast sand plains outside the truck windows again. They hit a bigger pothole and the truck jumped up and down as did Vinnie and Modo inside the cabin as well.
"Damn it, Vin, can't ya drive a bit slower? This ain't a dirtbike, ya know...?" Modo grunted while sitting more comfortably again but Vinnie only huffed at this.
"Slower? Ha! I don't do slow! I'm the speedmaster of this galaxy!"
"Ladies must love that..." Modo muttered the corner of his mouth slightly twitching but Vinnie didn't pay too much attention on this remark of his trucker buddy as they were cruising along and anyway, he's mind was already somewhere else.
"So, what's up with those clothes, man? Ya look like a naga farmer..." Vinnie snickered referring to the traditional clothing Modo was still wearing as his own clothes had gone tattered beyond repair due to his nearly drowning experience.
"Hey, laugh all ya want, but there are so much room in these rags! Ah can feel my blood circulation in my legs again..." Modo joked back. Vinnie only snorted and hit his thigh in these skinlicking biker jeans.
"I'm personally more interested in showing my studly figure not hiding it!"
Modo only chuckled at this and a small silence fell inside the cabin but ofcourse it didn't last long.
"This is boring, man! Why we had to take the truck?! It takes forever to drive this piece of shit across the desert...!" Vinnie whined but Modo wasn't too concerned.
"Somewhere ya need to be?"
"Yeah! Alive! I need to feel the air and the wind! Not be stuck inside a damn metal cage! I was born free!"
Modo huffed lightly.
"Well, Ah told Stoker when he told us to go do this lil' patrol ride that Ah ain't ridin' another bike than my own...Guess this was his way of tellin' me that he doesn't care whether we crawl out here to do our patrol as long as we do it...Look out!" Modo suddenly saw this sand dune right infront of them and Vinnie quickly turned the wheels and the truck was about to fall on its' side but just in time it bounced back on its' four tires and the both males hit the roof and the walls of the cabin before the truck came to a stop.
"Hm, this is a tricky machine..." Vinnie pondered rubbing his chin but Modo only gritted his teeth and touched his sore antenna.
"It ain't tricky if ya just drove it more carefully!"
"Careful is for losers!"
"Oh yeah? Well, Ah just escaped one near-death experience and ain't looking for a sequeal so Ah'm gonna use this the rest of the trip..." Modo mumbled and put on his seat belt. Vinnie snorted back a little offended.
"Where's the trust, bro?"
"Better safe than sorry..."
"That's one of the lamest lines ever. Who came up with that anyway? Better safe than sorry? For what would you be sorry for? For having a little fun? Geez...But you're all crippled now so I'm gonna let it slide that you're using the sissy belt..." Vinnie thought out loud while starting the engine again.
"Ah ain't crippled! Just a bit under the weather..." Modo snorted back and absent-mindedly let his flesh fingers search the bandage underneath his loose shirt. The bandage felt moist again although he had dutyfully changed it before taking off to this wild ride. The stitches on his ribs were still leaking fluids and blood. In a normal world he would still be in the hospital, lying on the hospital bed, popping painkillers but unfortunately this was not a normal world and not a normal life... Man, he should've asked some pain meds from Dr. Shelly...
"Stop touching it, bro! It'll get infected...And I'm not gonna take ya back to a hospital...Those places creep me out..." Vinnie ordered after seeing the big grey male poking his hurt ribcage area.
"It itches..."
"Whiney, whiney... What I'm itching is to get my hands dirty! Where are all the goons when one needs them anyway? I mean, wouldn't ya just love to have some action right now?!" Vinnie sighed his eyes back on the road, well on the sand.
"No, not really..." Modo drawled, looking out of the window again. The sun was about to set and slowly the scenery was turning darker by the minute. It was beautiful out here. On a moments like this Modo really remembered how much he had missed the homeplanet. Even if the planet was mostly ruined by now, it still was their home. He would not ever trade this planet for anything. Modo inhaled deeply and leaned more back still letting his eye wander on this red desert. It was peaceful, well, it could've been peaceful...
"I know what'll cheer ya right up! Let's go more further away! Let's go to the border and hassle the Army goofs!" Vinnie got excited again, bouncing on his driver's seat.
Modo changed looks with the white furred male, not really buying this idea.
"What? No..."
"Oh, c'mon, bro..." Vinnie started his pleading.
"Just one quick dash! Quick quick quick!"
"We can't fight the entire Army just by the two us..." Modo mumbled back.
"Who said anything about fighting? Just a little, you know..." Vinnie tapped the steering wheel excitedly.
"No, Ah don't know..."
"We'll just tease them a bit..."
"No."
"Just a liiiiiiitle bit...?"
"What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you, man? You never said no to a good hassle before..." Vinnie muttered back, his excitement now deflated.
"We're on the same side, us and the Army, even if they don't realize that..." Modo explained although knowing it was kind of useless.
"Well, let's go there and explain it to them then... Biker Mice-style, ofcourse!" Vinnie gritted his teeth banging his fist against the steering wheel and the truck swirled a little and they hit the interiors of the truck again.
"Deimos! Who taught ya to drive anyway?!" Modo held his sore ribcage which was not atleast getting better in this death trap. Vinnie let out a laughter.
"Since when does one need to be taught how to drive, bro? C'mon... That's silly..." Vinnie chuckled back.
Modo let out a sigh and shook his head.
"Anyway, we got strict orders to stay close to the monastery...It ain't safe out here for us..."
"Safe? Sounds like a certain someone is too scared to make a fuss..." Vinnie tried to manipulate the situation slyly.
"No... Unlike someone Ah don't constantly need a distraction!" Modo lashed out and Vinnie's ears flattened momentarily before perking right back up again.
"Oh, you're no fun..." Vinnie huffed.
"Fun? We can't just go to the border and show ourselves! These guys are looking for us! With guns and dumdums! And they're the Army so they'll shoot first and ask later so Ah won't have the chance to plead for your insanity..." Modo drawled, not really believing why it was always this hard to knock some sense to his younger bro.
"What ya mean we can't? Got the truck right here, baby! So, let's go already!" Vinnie raised his voice, totally ignoring nearly everything the grey furred male just said.
"We are using the Army's truck, too, so we could just sneak right in there!" Vinnie continued his plan.
Modo only raised his eyebrow at this.
"When have ya ever sneaked into anywhere?"
"Well, I've sneaked out of a lots of places..." Vinnie talked and Modo turned his look back on him and Vinnie noticed this and shrugged his shoulders.
"But those stories are not for your conservative ears, my friend..."
"Ya think Ah'm conservative?" Modo chuckled back.
"Well..." Vinnie drawled looking out of the window while the truck bounced a little again.
"You do have pretty old school ways when it comes to the women...But hey, no judging, I guess not everybody can be blessed with the call of the wild!" Vinnie then flashed a charming smile and Modo nodded back, chuckling a little.
"Well, Ah'm afraid your wild days are over too, bro... You're with Charley-ma'am now. In case that slipped off your mind..."
Vinnie cleared his throat.
"Well, Charley knows that this tiger cannot be tamed!"
"Ah think that if she were here she would tie your mouth close with your own tail..." Modo talked back and Vinnie clearly seemed a bit unease with this conversation but continued his bravado anyway.
"Well, the good ol' ball and chain might suit ya but it ain't my look!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Modo gave his younger bro a glare.
"Meaning that you might like it being in a tight leash but I don't..."
"Ah'm not in any leash!" Modo growled back but Vinnie let out a laugh.
"Sure you are! And if askin' me you're missin' out a lot! But hey, again, not judging..."
"Missin' out what exactly? Flirtin' with other women?" Modo snorted back. Vinnie gave him a quick look and then only chuckled.
"Well, ain't no harm in flirtin'...Gee, is this the chastity police calling from the 50's..."
"Just don't think that's appropriate behaviour..."
"And that is why you're conservative, bro! See what I did there? We came a full circle here!"
But Modo only shook his head, not feeling the same thrills.
"Being faithful is not conservative. It's what's right." He argued back.
"Wow-wow, Big Guy! Who's throwing in big words now? Who said anything about not being faithful?" Vinnie asked cluelessly. Modo let out a sigh but before he could answer Vinnie beat him to it.
"All I'm saying is that I think love should be based on freedom. It's not healthy to be locked away...!"
"Well, sure... But that doesn't mean that you could act the way you please..." Modo growled back.
"Ain't that the exact meaning of freedom?" Vinnie tried his luck and smirked.
Modo only glared at him back and the white furred male only widened his smirk.
"Don't push it..."
"Gods, lighten up, bro... See, this is why we can't ever talk about politics..."
"This ain't politics..."
"Sure it is! The politics of love! The only real politics! The only politics that matter!"
"Right..." Modo muttered and looked out of the window again but they hit another big pothole and they bounced in the cabin again.
"Gods damn it, Vinnie! Do Ah need to take the wheel to get us alive from here?!" Modo grunted and Vinnie only chuckled.
"What? Just because I hit a few bumps..."
"Hopefully we'll still have this tin can in one piece when we head back... Radius will kick both of our asses if we trash this truck, we still need it..." Modo muttered back, listening a little worryingly how the truck sounded after been mishandled by Vinnie's exuberant driving skills.
"That man sure is a drag...You can clearly see what the Army does to a man's will to live..." Vinnie wondered out loud but let out an exasperated grunt.
"C'mon bro, let's head it to the border! Stoker don't even have to know! We just go there and shake the ground a bit!"
"The only thing shaking here seems to be the busted exhaust pipe..." Modo muttered back a bit worryingly, turning the side mirror to see the back of the truck more clearly.
"I'm only trying to cheer you up, bro! C'mon... Let's go have a tiny little peek of what's going on at the border...What d'ya say?" Vinnie gave Modo a look but as it seemed that the big guy was not to be persuated still Vinnie amped up his offer.
"Army or not... These guys are working on the same side as Mace and he's the reason your bike's gone missin', bro..."
Modo glanced at his bro's direction his eye brow raised a little, a good sign that "he's listening".
"Just a quick ride, bro! We're already patroling and we might as well patrol more near the border, right? I mean, what's the worst that could happen, right, Big Guy?" Vinnie gave his bro another hopeful look and Modo finally nodded back.
"Fine... Let's take the scenic route back to the monastery... But not too close to the border!"
"You mean that?!" Vinnie's ears perked and Modo only shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure...Anyway, it's like ya said, what harm would it do to differ a little from the route..." Modo mused watching out of the window and feeling how the truck started to go faster as Vinnie got his excitement back.
"Yiiihaaaaw! Back on the road again!" Vinnie cheered and made his trademark high-pitched warcry and Modo covered his big ears as it sounded like the fire siren echoing in the cabin.
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"I did it." Charley blurted out a bit baffled herself. Then she jumped back on to her feet and screamed.
"I did it!" She did a small happy dance while Aprilia walked into her room carrying another cup of tea but stopped and looked at the cheering mechanic.
"You did what...?"
"I found Modo's bike!"
Aprilia was just taking a sip of freshly brewed tea but now inhaled the liquid to her lungs and started to cough wildly and Charley rushed to hit her in the back. Soon Aprilia got her breathing stable enough to heave in and out a few times, her eyes all watery from this fit and she looked up to this Earthling who still looked at her worryingly.
"You did what?" Aprilia asked again.
"I found Lil' Hoss... Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine... You... found... How?! I was gone only an hour...?! I thought we were still making the device..."
"Oh, that was a quick one to make once I found the right circuit board..." Charley waved her hand.
"Oh..." Aprilia's ears drooped a little seemingly a bit sad that she had missed this monumental triumph but her ears perked back up and she smiled at this furless alien.
"Well, maybe it was best that you had a peaceful environment to do your work, the last thing I wanted was to slow you down since I know how much Modo misses his bike, I really want him to get his bike back..."
"You didn't slow me down! You helped a lot...!" Charley answered and placed her hand on Aprilia's shoulder.
"You helped to saw that metal sheet!" Charley reminded and Aprilia let out a laughter.
"Well, you know... I'm good with the saw, comes with the profession..." Aprilia nodded with a smirk but noticed the confused expression on Charley's face and it dawned on Aprilia that the mechanic didn't get her joke and what's more her joke might be on the grimmer side and her own smirk quickly disappeared...
"...I've done amputations..." Aprilia nearly whispered, realizing how awful that might actually sound to the people who did not saw people's arms and legs.
"Oh..." Charley blinked at this and Aprilia only took another sip of tea to cover her flushed face with the big cup but luckily Charley did not get caught on to that subject and she turned around and waved Aprilia to come and see the device and sure enough, there it was, although still a few wires poking out, it looked quite a professional little device and it was beeping silently.
"Why does it beep?" Aprilia asked.
"Oh, it's just connecting with the Martian satellites..." Charley explained.
"So even if Lil' Hoss' is not responding properly it still sends these subtle signals that the satellites could pick up?" Aprilia asked and Charley nodded proudly.
"Very good! And yes, that's exactly right! I just needed to search these signals using the frequency all the Freedom Fighters' bikes are using... That was the hardest part, to collect those signals as they were so subtle... And even if we don't know the exact place where the bike is, we can follow these signals it has left like breadcrumbs and we could follow them!" Charley explained and Aprilia only shook her head amazed.
"Can't believe those guys don't constantly brag about you... That is so awsome not to mention genius!"
"Well..." Charley polished her finger nails to her shirt.
"I have my moments..."
"No, really, this is great!"
"You think Modo will be pleased?" Charley smirked at Aprilia who only gave a guffaw.
"Pleased?! Are you being serious? I think that if he hadn't already proposed me he would've married you instead just because you found his beloved bike!"
Charley blinked at this new piece of information.
"Wait, what? He did what to you?"
"Oh, no... I'm not good in keeping secrets..." Aprilia sighed for yet another person now knew about her and Modo getting engaged even if it was meant to be kept as a secret for now, because, well... Too much was happening right now.
"First he doesn't tell me about you and then he keeps his proposal as a secret! Man I really should punch that big knucklehead! Men! They're all the same, Martians or not..." Charley crossed her arms but then suddenly grabbed Aprilia by her hand.
"Well, that can wait, now c'mon! Let's go tell Throttle!"
Aprilia let out a small yelp as she had no other choice than to follow this stronger female who was dragging her after her and half of her teacup's content spilled on the floor.
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