Hey you guys!
So, I would like to very humbly thank you all of you out there who have been reading this loyally. And a very special thanks to Vlaatjee, Wolftattoo and Margarite987re who have very dutyfully reviewed and given so much thought to this story! Really, I would have not made it this far without you all out there!
So, next I would also very humbly apologize for taking nowadays so long to upload new chapters. I've been very stressed and when stressed my mind doesn't work so well so it has really taken a long time. I have so much things alredy ready in my head and I from now on try to also be more dutyful when it comes to write this story furthermore...
I sincerely hope that my lack of not uploading too often isn't making it too difficult for you all out there to follow this sometimes a bit messy storyline...
But, I've managed to write another chapter for you all.
Hope you guys like it.
Have a fun summer!
-SpaceFlora
The Good, The Bad and the Rebels
Chapter 30
Throttle's Plan
"...so, you think that the Plutarkians are behind all this?" Stoker asked Throttle via the VidCom but turned his gaze towards Radius and Simson as well as they were sitting next to him in this little nook in the monastery. Radius was sitting his back straight, his long military service shining through him but the two others were more relaxed even if Simson had to sit carefully his other leg raised on top of the other, slightly leaning to his other side as his tail was only a stump wrapped in gauze after the accident that nearly took his and Modo's life and the stump hurt like hell if bothered. But miraculously this rebel rat leader didn't let his nearly-gone-tail bother himself too much.
"It just gotta be like that, coach..." Throttle answered knowing that he didn't actually have any proofs to back up this hunch, only his gut was telling him this, and well, his gut had been right in many occasions during his relatively short but adventureous lifetime. This whole mess they were in right now had a very particular stench and to his nose it smelled like plutarkian. Stoker nodded, rubbing his chin but heard a sigh coming next to him.
"Well, I don't know about that... I mean the Plutarkians left the planet, remember? And we haven't had any sights on them in a few years..." Radius was not that convinced about this theory.
"Not seeing them doesn't mean that they're not around... I mean, take Mace... We never see even a hair of him and for all we can tell he's been masterminding many things lately..." Simson muttered but gave them all a look.
"I mean... We can only suppouse...We haven't got hard evidence to even prove that...Only thing we've got is that your little doctor girl could smell him while hallucinating..."
"Mindwalking." Stoker corrected and Simson gave a smirk back.
"Well whatever, you antennaheads are weird.." The rat pointed his antenna-less head. The three of them heard a clearence of voice as Throttle saw it better to continue before they would go sidetracked from the main discussion.
"I've thought about this a lot...And first I thought it was only our own rotten government that just wanted us Fighters dead as for some kind of a revenge or for a precautionary act...But we have to remember what the history has taught us and remember what happened during the war... Mace is still out there and I don't think he's got any good memories of us... He worked for the Plutarkians back then so who says he's still not on their payroll?" Throttle took away his glasses and cleaned them using his red bandana but didn't let that interrupt his flow.
"As we came back to Mars, you Stoker contacted us straight away and told us that the government had tracked down former Freedom Fighters and even if you had tried, you had not managed to get in touch with any of them since that, except the ones we rescued from the secret desert base... I think it's safe to say we are not likely to find them anymore, the rest of the Fighters, and even if we did..." Throttle suddenly closed his mouth and looked like he was pondering something but then let out a sigh and put his field specs back on.
"...they're likely to be dead. All of them." Stoker ended that sentence and a silence fell over them. Throttle cleared his voice again and gazed down for a brief moment, nodding. Stoker leaned back on his seat, his look becoming grim, like he would have been full of hope to find his brothers and sisters and proteges alive until this moment.
"Look, Stoker... I'm sorry but... I think we can't have too much hope to ever find our lost brothers..." Throttle gave his mentor a look who only nodded back, his look casted to the floor.
"Yeah, I know you're propably right... I mean, you three were gone for three years, a lotta shit has been happening behind the scenes during that time... I think I just thought that in the end I would find them..."
"I'm sorry." Throttle answered quietly.
"May their souls rest in peace. Where ever they are..." Stoker muttered and Throttle nodded back.
"May their souls rest in peace." Throttle's hoarse voice repeated but suddenly heard steps running towards the hall and he glanced around and saw Charley who was practically still dragging Aprilia with her, running towards them.
"We found Lil' Hoss! We found her!" Charley hollored from far-away but as she came closer she stopped running and her face was beaming as she let go of Aprilia's hand who looked like this intense sprint had took a toll on her and the blonde female stopped on her tracks and inhaled deeply, leaning to her knees but Charley was already walking to Throttle and explaining the same time.
"The machine worked! I tracked her down! I can't belive it actually worked...!" The smile was quickly wiped away from the Earthling's face as she saw the grim faces on Throttle and also on the three males with whom he had been apparently having a VidCom call.
"...oh, sorry...Am I interrupting something...?"
Throttle was already to open his mouth but Stoker beat him to it, having suddenly a gentle smile on his lips.
"No, no, Gorgeous... I think we could use some good news..."
Charley was a bit hesistant still to continue but as her eyes fell on Throttle he could see the same encouraging smile on him as the tall tan male was now leaning to his seat.
"I knew you could do it, Charley-Girl!"
Charley blushed a little and pointed behind her.
"Well, Aprilia helped me and..." She gave a look behind her back but didn't see the short doctor anywhere but as her eyes searched the room she could find the female sitting by the longer table, still a bit out-of-breath. A small smile appeared on Charley's lips.
"Aprilia helped me..." The auburn-haired mechanic started again and turned her gaze back to the four males.
"...and we detected Lil'Hoss. She's still sending these faintest signals but just strong enough to be found using the best satellites you guys have..."
"That's great news, Charley-girl..." Stoker nodded approvingly, some of the sadness now cleared away from his face but the hurt and sorrow could still shine through his gaze and even if Charley didn't know what type of a call he had just disrupted, she could sense that there was something heavy lingering in the air and her eyes searched for Throttle again like to make some sense what was going on and to make sure he was okay but the tan male only cleared his throat and gave Stoker a look.
"Let's have a small break and I can talk to the girls about their findings and in the meantime maybe one of you could fetch Riot? I need him present as there's something I've been working on and need to ask from him..."
"I go." Stoker already got up and left, seemingly grateful to get just a little bit alone-time to clear his head after the heavy start of this VidCom call.
Throttle ended the call and got up and showed Charley to come and sit infront of the long table to share the news once again and get a deeper understanding what it really was that the mechanic had found.
"Are you sure this is the right time to discuss about this...? I mean, I think this can wait a bit..." Charley tried as she lowered her voice but felt Throttle's warm and strong palm on her shoulder, gently guiding her to sit down by the table.
"Hey, if Modo finds out we didn't treat this matter as the number one priority we've got us a big trouble... Besides we had to have a small pause anyway..." Throttle sat down by the table as well and glanced at Aprilia's direction who had seemingly gotten her lungs to work again and her big brown eyes were looking back at him.
"How are ya doing, doc?"
"Fine...and even better now that Modo's bike's safe...!"
"Well, don't know about that just yet... Chances are the bike's pretty far away... I don't know just when and how we're gonna get the bike back..." Charley seemed a bit hesitant to call this a big triumph just yet.
"Let me see the coordinates..." Throttle said and Charley gave him the piece of paper where she had written them down.
"Well..." Throttle then pondered a second.
"Vinnie and Modo currently are patroling according to Stoker, so maybe we could check where they are and see if it matches these coordinates even the slightest...It's a small chance but..."
"They are doing what? Modo's doing what?!" Aprilia suddenly snapped out of her delightment and her voice became sharp enough to make Throttle wince slightly.
"Stoker send them to patrol..."
"Modo just got back from a surgery! He should be in bed to recover!" Aprilia raised her voice.
"Whoa, easy there doc... I'm sure it's only this relaxed joyride across the desert I mean, since we got back to Mars, we really haven't had the time to really get some time to just ride the red sands and inhale the cool desert air... I'm sure they're both fine... Anyway, Stoker told me he gave them two strict orders to stay close to the monastery..."
"Strict orders?!" Aprilia snorted and got up.
"Like that would mean anything! You guys don't listen to the orders even if your life would depend upon them...!" The fair couloured female stormed out of the hall. Charley looked after the female but glanced back to Throttle who got up as well but headed to the monitors to feed the coordinates to their gps systems, not really bothered by this little outburst.
"You think I should...maybe...?" Charley carefully got up as well and followed him not really sure if she should follow Aprilia instead or not but Throttle didn't seem to put too much thought for the blonde female's anger.
"She'll come down... Trust me, angry girlfriends are nothing new inside the Headquarters...Now, let's see where do these coordinates take us..." Throttle started to write down the coordinates to the computer.
"Ever thought that the girlfriends might have a good reason to let out some steam every once and awhile while being stuck with this much of testosterone...?" They heard a husky voice and Harley walked to them.
"If you're checking coordinates then you could check those coordinates Mina left us the same time..."
"Already checked those...They're pointing twenty kilometres away from Brimstone City...But the satellites only showed that there's this old warehouse, nothing more..."
"Oh, well, maybe it's just a sad excuse to try and distract us..." Harley wondered.
Throttle nodded but consentrated on his task again. Harley crossed his arms and stood there, looking at the computer screen but carefully made her gaze to fall on to her side where Charley was standing.
"You can go to check if Aprilia's fine, she seemed pretty shaken up... We can handle this, civilian." The ginger furred female then blurted and Charley gave her a look. It seemed that the Earthling was to say something back but suddenly changed her mind and closed her mouth.
"Yeah. Why don't I do that..." She muttered back.
They heard the Earthling's boots echoing in the hall before a silence took over the big room they were in, only the clicking sounds were to disrupt that silence as Throttle was writing down the coordinates.
"Not cool..." Throttle's voice then suddenly pierced the air. Harley's ears twiched and she leaned closer the monitor.
"You found something?"
Throttle pushed a few more buttons but then straightened his back and turned around to face the shorter female.
"I mean you, Harley... You might wanna check that attitude of yours, Charley's one of us, she's family, and she means a lot to me and for Modo...and for Vinnie."
Harley didn't know why he had kept a small pause there but crossed her arms and shook her shoulders.
"We should not give someone special treatment just because someone's an alien... This is the Freedom Fighter's Headquarters and she is not a Fighter. We're not sharing our tactics and work with the civilians, you know that..."
Throttle let his gaze study the female infront of him a few more seconds before he turned back to the computer to continue the typing.
"Well, maybe we need to make some changes around here then..."
"What's that suppouse to mean?" Harley asked but then the VidCom came alive again and Throttle left the computer to join the call.
"You can take the lead here, Harley, search the coordinates and come tell me as soon as you find the place..."
"Got it, chief..."
Throttle sat down infront of the VidCom again and cleared his voice.
"Fellas..."
He then nodded to Riot the monk who had joined them as well.
"Cousin."
Riot only made a little bow with his head.
"Okay, first things that I wished to talk about with you all is that there's a great urge to merge our troops..." Throttle started.
"Yes, as I've said already my men are fighting alongside with you..." Radius started but Throttle shook his head.
"That won't be good enough. There are now too many separate groups and we can't have any "us" or "them" mentality around here... We need to merge...Our units must become one unit." Throttle told Simson and Radius but then gave Stoker a look.
"I mean... I think I'm speaking for the both of us here, coach, that we can fight only as one team here..."
"Sure. That sounds sensible." Stoker smiled nodding, knowing that his ptotege was not really sure about his position in the Freedom Fighters ranks just yet. Sure he had asked him to be his follower as the leader of the Fighters but nothing had been announced yet. Simson nodded approvingly to the idea.
"Well, us rebel rats will fight until the end, brother. And I don't care about the labels... There are worse titles than being a Freedom Fighter...!" Simson nodded but Radius cleared his throat.
"Okay, gentlemen... Let's pause a bit... You want us all to become Freedom Fighters?"
"Well, why not? You should be thrilled for such an upgrade to your status, Lieutenant!" Stoker smirked back.
"Ex-Lieutenant...And no, I don't consider that being a guerilla fighter looks too pretty on one's curriculum... " Radius corrected and glanced at Stoker who only crossed his arms behind his neck.
"Not maybe pretty but bad-ass..."
"You're not in the Army anymore, Radius...Why not become a Freedom Fighter? If you're gonna fight alongside with us with your men and against the government...That's pretty much who you would be anyway. A freedom fighter. A guerilla soldier." Throttle tried to talk but Radius only shook his head and scratched his neck.
"I'm not the Army anymore but I can't just join the Freedom Fighters, I mean.. You guys... You're just..."
"Too cool?" Stoker guessed with a charming smirk and Radius sighed.
""Well... Boys... As a professionally trained soldier I'm not totally thrilled about your, er...ways of dealing with things..." Radius started and Stoker made a snort next to him.
"You mean fighting back...?"
But Radius wasn't done yet and he turned to Stoker and started to list things with his long white fingers.
"You're load, obniouxiously self-confident, too reckless and too hard to control, you all carry illegal guns and I'm sure none of you have a lisence to carry the guns you're holding..."
Throttle and Stoker gave each other a silent look.
"...all I'm saying is that if we are to be one unit... Things have to change a bit. Soldiers need discipline, they have to take orders and follow them. War is not a giant party! It's war! We need to be professional about this!"
"Sounds boring." Stoker yawned at this.
"There is no harm to apply useful things and tactics even if you didn't come up with them yourself. I don't know why you're so scared of showing that you might have actually some faults in your tactics as well, Stoker..." Radius' voice was strict as he gazed this old and renowned Fighter.
Stoker turned his brown eyes to meet Throttle's specs as he pointed the Lieutenant with his thumb.
"Is it too late to ditch the Army?"
"You were once part of the Army as well, in your younger days! In the days when you were still sane...!" Radius raised his voice, and his always collected behaviour started to crack a bit.
"Only time I was delusional was when I still marched along the Army's orders!" Stoker raised his voice as well and Throttle heaved a sigh on the other side of the VidCom.
"We need them, Stoke... And Radius, we are very glad that you and the loyals of Carbine have chosen to fight alongside with us. Together there are close to eighty of us all. But we need to merge, who cares what we're called?"
Radius let out a sigh and thougth for a second but then nodded.
"...Okay... You're right, it doesn't matter what we're called...Might as well become The Freedom Fighters..." Radius said but shook visibly with some built-up disgust for the whole idea.
"So, you keep on telling that we have to merge and become one unit and all... Planning to join us here anytime soon? Or is it maybe safer for us to start practising there on that side of the border in the no-man's land?" Simson asked.
"Our fight is there inside the Mouse Territories. We need to be there..." Throttle explained.
"But where can we fit this big of a crowd?" Simson asked. Throttle smiled and gave Riot a nod.
"Well, that's where you're coming into the picture, Riot..."
Riot nodded and smiled back.
"Our humble home is your home as long as you need."
"Wait... So, you're planning that us Fighters would have our Headquarters inside the monastery? Again?" Stoker asked a bit surprised to hear this plan.
"Sure, I mean why not? Let's face it, our enemies are thinking way too highly of us to even think that we would ever do a stunt like that again... Also, the Kasei Valles are far away from any habitation and from the Brimstone City, we could be in peace, noone would even think to look us from there...To buy us some time we can let them think that we're outside the borders still. We can try and use the tunnels to get us across the border. It's worth to try anyway even if it has its' own risks as well..." Throttle explained.
"You're sure it's okay for us staying in here? I mean it can get a bit crowded after awhile..." Stoker asked Riot who only nodded back.
"We have big storage spaces outside the monastery, carved into the mountain, under where this monastery is placed, but they have stayed unused... They might suit your needs though."
"Okay...Sounds good...We could go and check on those after this call..." Stoker smiled and radiated with sudden joy as he got excited again. Throttle nodded.
"Okay, well, the next thing would be to get us from here to that side of the border...We must pack everything useful here and abandon this place, maybe try and destroy some evidence if the enemy finds their way here... We have Mina still wandering somewhere, she might babble the coordinates here..."
"Speaking of coordinates..." Harley then appeared next to Throttle.
"Hello, H! You just keep on getting prettier day by day!" Stoker greeted the mechanic who only smirked back, slightly annoyed though.
"Sure, that's all we girls are here for... To look pretty... That's our secret weapon to fight the bad boys..."
"Well, you could seriously knock them dead, Gorgeous!" Stoker winked and Harley rolled her eyes and placed a paper infront of Throttle, on top of the monitor.
"I searched both of the coordinates, Lil' Hoss' and then double checked the coordinates Mina left... That's not a surprise that a tunnel leads to where Lil' Hoss is but that's a surprise that a tunnel leads to the warehouse in the desert as well... Kinda weird to have a tunnel dig by the rats to lead to a deserted storage out there that close to Brimstone City, hu?"
Throttle took the paper and studied the coordinates.
"Well, maybe our lil' runaway tried to tell us something after all..."
"Any updates on what was that rest of the note about she left?" Stoker asked but Throttle only shook his head.
"Nope, nada, coach, noone's heard of this gal called Titania..."
"Oh..." Stoker got to say before Radius suddenly made his posture on his seat even more straight.
"Titania?" He asked a frown on his face.
Throttle raised his eyes to study the ex-Lieutenant behind his specs but let him continue.
"There's a Major in the Army called Titania... Maybe she's the same one as this?"
"Could be? She's a loyal to Carbine?" Throttle asked but Radius shook his head.
"That I don't know... But I only got so little time to gather the ones I could get in-touch with, I'm sure there are a lot more still in the Army rows..."
"Can you maybe get in touch with her somehow?" Stoker asked.
"Well, I can try... But we have to make sure the calls are not traced back to here..." Radius wondered.
"Okay. Well, I see we've got ourselves a little plan here... We start packing things here and try to find the safest route and tunnel to use to get us that side of the border and to the Kasei Valles. Meantime you can go check that space under the monastery and Radius tries to find this Titania. How's that sound?" Throttle gave the four males a look and they nodded back approvingly.
"Great! I'll inform when we're ready to head out there!" Throttle nodded and ended the call.
"Talk to you soon!"
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"...that was a monumental leap! I mean all the girls swooned and men sighed for such a remarkable stunt...!" Vinnie was excitedly talking in the truck while Modo was concentrating looking at the scenery and trying to block this continuos babble out of his head. Not that he saw anymore so clearly what was happening outside as it was getting real dark now and only his own reflection was faintly shining back from the window against the black deserts.
"...then I took my weapons and turned around, still flying in the air! And I aimed and hit all the goons, one by one! What a victory! A truly a masterful execution! You should've seen me there..!"
"Ah was there, remember?" Modo only muttered back slightly irritated that again his bro was taking all the credit of the trio's work against the Limburger's goons back on Earth.
"Yes you were there but it was this Greatest Biker of All that saved the day!"
"Ah know, it's a priviledge to spend each day of the year with such a legend..." Modo rubbed the back of his ear tiredly. He then tried to look and see something in this darkness outside the truck.
"How long scenic route were ya planning on taking? We've been driving for hours and Ah still don't get even a glimpse on the Kasei Valles..."
"We were heading to check the borders, remember?"
Modo gave him a look.
"No... We were to drive a little bit further but to head back to the monastery, remember?"
"I'm pretty sure we agreed on heading to the border..." Vinnie wondered his brows frowning momentarily.
"No! Vinnie! How long have you been drivin' towards the border?!"
"Since...all the time? It's pretty much a straight road down there..."
"You need to turn back right now! We can't go there! The border's infested with the Army!"
"Here we go again! No trust whatsoever!"
"Trust?! There's like thousand soldiers there and only two of us! Even ya should be able to figure out that math problem!"
"Yes, but it's only the Army, bro..!"
"...and it's gettin' real dark soon!"
"What's the matter, Big Fella'? Scared of the dark?"
"No... Ah'm scared that ya are drivin' us both into a situation where we would be sitting there like two mice in the mousetrap!"
Suddenly the truck started to slow down and even if Vinnie tried to push the pedal to the metal the truck only rolled forward silently before coming to a stop.
"What the heck is wrong with this shit?" Vinnie wondered still trying to kick the pedal with his boot. Modo looked a bit baffled too but then turned his look on the gas meter next to the steering wheel and closed his eye in annoyance that just threatened to grow bigger inside of him.
"Vinnie... Please tell me ya checked that this truck was fueled before we took off..."
"Fueled...what...?" Vinnie asked but his ruby red eyes saw the meter also that was showing a small blinking red light. He then cleared his voice.
"Oh, fueled... Yeah..Er...Yeah, well...I er...No?" He then gave a sheepish smile to his right where he met the more brightly blinking red light coming from his bro's bionic eye. Modo just stared at his younger bro, silently, finding even no words... He then turned around and opened the truck door, hopped off the truck and banged the door close so hard the whole truck shook and the lock mechanism became slightly dented.
"Well, sorry... Gee... I didn't know it was my responsibility to check that...!" Vinnie snorted but his irritation changed fast to this slight confusion as he tried to think how to get them out of this situation.
"Don't worry, bro!" Vinnie then raised his high-pitched voice and hoped that Modo could hear that outside the truck as well but the big grey furred male had placed himself a bit further away, just to the place where the truck's headlamps' light was meeting the edge of the darkness that surrounded them. Modo was standing his wide back against the truck, his arms folded behind his neck, still as a rock, seemingly trying to calm himself down, trying to breath and count to hundred before he would do something he would propably regret later...
Vinnie rolled down the window.
"Don't worry, bro!" He hollored again.
"I'll just... find us the nearest gas station..." He thought out loud as his gaze fell on the vast, never-ending dark desert...
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And that's the latest chapter, folks!
Please feel free to comment and I'm sorry again for these longer breaks! I'm trying to find more time to write!
Until next time! Cheers!