Thank you all so much for your kind words, feedback and ideas. My heart jumps with joy every time I get a message or see the amount of people who read a chapter.
And whether you're someone who reviews everything or only a few chapters, or even none at all,
as long as you're reading and enjoying what I write, that means so much!
Enjoy this new chapter.
Well, what had he expected to happen exactly? A hug, a kiss? Reciprocation? He knew it was more likely for his revelation of feelings to be rejected rather than embraced. So why did a part of him also felt a sense of relief aside from pained by her refusal.
He stared at the metal bars and pillars in front of him that made up most of the scoreboard's bedroom area. In his hands he held a rectangular shaped object. Dark grey of colour with a white sticker on the side. On the latter were but two things written in cursive, a word and a number. Autumn #3.
This was as close as he was ever going to get to see that particular side of her, which was one that should be reserved for the mouse she was in love with. Even if at some point in her past there were men who saw what they didn't deserve of her, Throttle did not want to be put in the same boat as those people.
People who had watched Izzy as if she was nothing but a seductive piece of flesh. He had crossed that line and he had enjoyed it on more than one occasion. But it was time to pull the plug. No more was he going to indulge in watching her perform in secret for his eyes only. Things were already difficult enough and there was no need to tempt fate more than was necessary.
He stood up from his mattress and lowered his eyes at the videotape currently resting within his hands. Taking a deep breath in, he tightened his grip on it. Fingers digging into its hard plastic, deeper and deeper until a loud snap sounded through the room. It wasn't completely ruined yet, there was still time to stop and fix those tiny cracks he had made.
But he had to keep going until it was completely destroyed. Something he should have done a week ago when Vinnie and him got rid of all the other ones, except this one. Spreading his finger, the object fell from his hands and hit the floor with a short clunk. One last look at the tape which contained one of Izzy's striptease performances, Throttle raised his knee and forcefully kicked his foot down.
Black pieces of plastic shot through the air and over the floorboards, scattering to different corners of the room. His chest heaved up and done slowly, the action hadn't cost him any form of energy physically, but emotionally he felt drained all the same. A secret this had been and a secret it would remain for all eternity.
A creak of a door opening caused Throttle to spin around in his spot. Caught, like a deer in the headlights, his eyes widened from behind his specs at the intruder a couple of feet behind him. However he calmed down as soon as he saw who it was. The youngest of his bros, Vinnie.
The white mouse closed the door behind him and stepped into the bedroom. His eyes roamed across the floor, resting on the individual pieces of dark plastic. He raised his head and exhaled through his nose. "I thought I heard something break."
Using his tail as a makeshift broom, Throttle already started to swoop the pieces onto a small pile near him. There was no way for Vinnie to put together what it was he had just so swiftly destroyed, but his demeanour probably gave more away than he wanted.
"Don't worry about it. It wasn't important." He assured him.
"You might want to try that again and make it sound a bit more convincing, Throttle."
Vinnie picked up a part of the tape from the floor, which wasn't completely made out of plastic. A sticky part of paper dangled from the small object he held between his fingers. Mn #3 it read. He walked over to Throttle and dropped it on the small collection of rumble the other mouse had already made.
"I'm not even going to ask what this is or why you had it in your possession. But I am going to ask you if anything happened while we were gone."
"And why would you ask me that?"
The white mouse crossed his arms. "Because of what I just almost witnessed had I opened that door only a little bit sooner. Though the scowl on Stoker's face was also a dead give away."
"I didn't realize it was in your nature to care about things that have nothing to do with you." Throttle countered.
His words were a bit harsh and he honestly didn't mean to. It wasn't Vinnie who he was frustrated with personally. It was the endless amount of questions and accusations directed at him and anything that concerned Isabel Davidson. Even if they were right on the money, he didn't need to be reminded of the fact he had or might have done something wrong.
"Maybe. But believe it or not I do care about things that hurt my bros. Maybe I even care about Izzy's well-being a little, but most of all it's you guys. If you say nothing happened, then I'll believe you. Anyway, that's not why I'm here. I came to get you because Charley found something important."
Throttle furrowed his brow and turned around. "Found what?"
"The microfilm her brother had stolen for Morden."
::::::...::::::
In the meantime two women were seated quietly at the kitchen table, which was filled with cans of root beer and a couple of hot dogs. The cans were empty, most of them anyway and there were only a couple of dogs left. Those were for Throttle, who had gone off to his bedroom ever since Charley entered the main area of the scoreboard with a dark blue duffel bag.
It was the bag which had caused a silence to fall between the two friends. Not necessarily the bag itself, but what was inside of it. Charley had opened it earlier while she was waiting for Modo and Vinnie to arrive. She was expecting it to be something Stoker needed for the ship, when he came by to retrieve it at the garage earlier since Izzy had forgotten to. But what she found was not something she had foreseen.
What she discovered were clothes. Clothes too small for her Martian friends and some too feminine that probably none of them would wear except if their lives depended on it. Clearly these items were not meant to be used by Stoker or for patching things up inside of the ship. There was only one logical explanation for it and she confronted Izzy the moment she greeted her.
The conversation had not gone particularly well and the mice were clever enough to let the two women have their talk while doing business elsewhere. Throttle had already left for the bedroom and the other three were in the ship getting ready to make sure the computer would be able to read the blueprints on the microfilm.
After a couple of minutes things had calmed down between Charley and Izzy, but there was currently still a tension in the air as they sat there across from each other at the table, eyes lingering on each of their respective drinks. At some point their gazes met and it was Izzy who decided it was time to continue their discussion, because she for one was not about to give up until matters were settled.
"What would you do if you were me?" She asked her sister-in-law.
"That's different. I have actually been there and I have known the guys for much longer than you."
"Does that mean if Modo went back to Mars, you wouldn't go with him?"
Charley scoffed. "That's like comparing apples with oranges, Izzy."
Izzy placed her arms on the table and leaned forward. "But you would and I am willing to bet that you would still go even if you had never been to Mars or if you had only known them for a couple of weeks and had fallen in love."
"It is not safe. You're not a fighter like they are, you will only be in the way. Stoker has a job to do there. What will you do in the meantime, sit alone in a room and paint?"
"Not much different from my regular life, is it? Doesn't matter where I go as long as I've got a chair and an empty canvas."
The auburn haired woman sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. You know why I'm saying this. I'm not saying you're useless, I just don't want you to leave the safety of home for a barren wasteland."
"I understand that, Charlene. But I don't have a home here, not really." Izzy pushed her chair back and stood up. "I've thought this through for a week now and every time I come to the same conclusion. That I want to be at his side and learn about his world from up close. I am going because it is my decision."
Charley stared at her sister-in-law as she spoke. Admittedly, a part of her thought that Stoker had found a way to persuade Izzy to go with him to Mars. He was known for going the distance when he had his mind set on things, whether that was something of someone. But then again, Izzy could also be incredibly persuasive if she wanted something to go her way.
In that sense those two were hardly any different. Both headstrong, both stubborn and both had their way with charming others to make things happen without you realizing you were being manipulated. There wasn't much left for the female mechanic to do but give her consent and let matters run their course for now.
"I can't believe it doesn't even scare you a little." Charley shook her head with disbelief.
"Well, I don't mean to brag, but after having almost died more than once as well as everything else from the last year, things don't scare me as much anymore." Izzy replied firmly.
"In that case, let's go see how far along Stoker is with prepping the computer. Seeing as I can't change your mind." The latter part Charley mumbled softly under her breath as Izzy was already walking away from the kitchen.
::::::...::::::
Modo and Stoker both stood in front of the ship's main console, having checked the system more than three times to make sure it would be possible to read the microfilm without accidentally destroying its contents or worse, the ship's computer. But so far it all seemed to be in order and they felt ready to start checking what exactly was on those blueprints.
"Shall I get everyone before you place the film in there?" Modo asked his former leader.
The other mouse didn't reply immediately, for he was more eager to just get on with it. With or without anybody else. His curiosity regarding the film was immense, if it hadn't been for the secrecy surrounding it nor the willingness for Samuel Davidson to risk his life for it, he probably wouldn't have given it much thought. But just as he was about to tell Modo to go ahead, he straightened himself and glanced over his shoulder.
"They're already coming."
And sure enough both Charley and Izzy made their way into the vessel. Modo arched an eyebrow but didn't give it much thought. He stepped aside to let Izzy through and then took another step back in order to make room for Charley to stand next to him.
"Did it work?" The female mechanic asked and Modo nodded.
"We think so, time to give it a shot." He replied.
Stoker reached into his pocket on the inside of his vest, pulling out the microfilm with his thumb and index finger. Unbeknownst to the hazel mouse, another object made its way out of his pocket in its own accord. An object light of colour, folded and almost as light as a feather. It fell to the ground in a slow drop, like a leaf falling from a tree.
"Time to pop this thingy in there." He smiled broadly as he opened a small compartment in front of him and carefully placed the film in a tray. As soon as he shut it, the computer began to produce various sounds. High-pitched bleeps and low hums. The screen in front of them changed and a couple of files showed up.
"We're here! Did you find anything yet?" Vinnie's loud voice came up from behind them followed closely by Throttle.
"We're about to." Stoker replied as he sat down in the pilot seat and began to type something on a small keyboard on his left armrest.
One of the files opened on the screen, showing what looked like a picture of some sort of schematic. Lines scattered in a pattern, linking with circles and other types of shapes. Dots, numbers and letters. There was so much to see, but what did it mean? Not everyone who was currently inside the ship knew what these drawings meant. But two of them did and it was Throttle who spoke up first.
"It's a scanner."
"Not just a scanner." Stoker interrupted, excitement clearly visible in his voice. "It's an orbital long range scanner."
He pushed himself out of his chair and stepped closer to the screen. His eyes roaming from left to right, up and down. Without warning he clapped his hands together and let out a yell of victory. He turned his head to look at all of them, but his bros in particular. This was a device that could protect Mars forever from incoming enemies or unknown species from other planets. Not just in this galaxy, but light years away.
"We'll be able to locate ships from afar before they even get the chance to reach our planet! No more surprise attacks. We'll be able to identify them, what types of vessels they are."
He was positively filled with joy and he wasn't the only one. Modo and Vinnie shouted out just like he'd done and high-fived each other as well as Throttle. Charley and Izzy looked at each other, the first understanding the guys' elation a bit more. But it was clear this was good news indeed on many levels.
Only the female mechanic didn't smile as they did. Because in the back of her head, she remembered her brother's request he'd written in the letter. To destroy the microfilm as soon as possible. Now that they finally knew what was one it, she could continue with fulfilling Sam's plea. But that was also immediately the one thing that could prevent her from destroying it.
She watched all of her friends celebrating what they'd just discovered. They wouldn't let her destroy it, she was sure of it. The chances of Stoker parting with the schematics would be zero. Charley blinked and her eyes landed on Izzy. If anybody would be able to get hold of that microfilm without rousing suspicion, it was her. But would she?
"What's on the other files?" Vinnie asked pointing at the screen. So far they'd only opened one of them, there were still two left. Who knew what was hidden inside?
Stoker went back to his chair and opened the second folder. Another picture popped up, but these were handwritten. Squiggly words. It was definitely a list, a list containing about twelve names. It was unclear if they were ranked, put in a certain order. But that wasn't what caught Charley's attention as she quickly had begun to read the names as soon as the list showed up.
"Do you all see that fourth name?" She suddenly said.
"Well I'll be damned." Modo's eye glowed red.
"Why am I not surprised." Vinnie replied as he too recognized the name Charley nodded at.
"Lawrence Limburger?" Izzy read out loud. The name was unfamiliar to her, but it seemed that everybody else knew fully well who this name belonged to.
"He's a Plutarkian." Throttle told her.
"One of the most well-know fish faced scumbags of the Milky Way." The white mouse added.
"No wonder Morden wasn't shocked when he saw us." Stoker grumbled. "Almost all of these names are alien and also known enemies of Mars. Plutarkians, Snorks, Catatonians,- Oh and look, Rats."
As all four mice went on discussing multiple names from the list, Izzy turned her eyes to Charley who didn't look half as surprised as she did, but there was a look of worry adorning her face. One thing was for sure, Morden had been aware of there being other species in the galaxy aside from the people of Earth. Which made Izzy wonder what else he might have known.
The importance of this microfilm was finally explained. How or why Morden had this in his possession, before her dead husband had nicked it from him, was still a mystery. Apparently this device was something wanted by a lot of people, or aliens, if she had to be specific. No wonder he wanted it back more than anything. And Sam had risked his life for it to make sure Morden never got it back.
Why? Why would he go through that trouble? Revenge? For what Charles Morden had done to him, maybe even for what he'd done to Izzy? Although, Sam hadn't known about her working for Morden at Dreamland, had he? She averted her gaze from the screen and narrowed her eyes, her mind working overtime on that particular thought. Had Sam known about what she'd done for him?
As she pondered, her eyes roamed the floor and then they suddenly stopped when something odd caught her attention. There was an object lying on the floor, a couple of inches away from where Stoker stood. It was small. Folded it would seem. Obviously it was a piece of paper. But it hadn't been there earlier, not to Izzy's knowledge.
"I take it the numbers behind each of their names is the amount of money they're willing to pay for it?" Modo noticed.
Throttle crossed his arms. "Possibly, I mean fish-face's number has been crossed through and there's a higher amount behind it."
Izzy bent down and picked the paper up from the ground as the others kept on talking. A note? A letter? Rumble? It could be anything. She opened it up and began to quietly read the slightly messy handwriting.
"This right here, this will change our lives on Mars as we know it. Can you imagine the advantage we'll have if we are able to build this device?" Stoker looked at his bros expectantly.
All three of them agreed with the former rebel leader. This was something their planet desperately needed. There was no way they were going to let anybody else get their claws on this piece of information. If any others had this machine at their disposal, the most dangerous of species in the galaxy would be given such an advantage that entire planets could be destroyed. That was something they couldn't let happen.
"I bet we could do it." Throttle replied with confidence. "I mean, as far as I can tell. You're more of an expert than I am, it doesn't even look that difficult."
"It's not, which is annoying. Makes me wonder why on Mars we've never thought about approaching a scanner this way." Then he paused and rubbed his chin. "There are probably some components that will need a lot of alterations. But I'm positive we can do it."
Stoker leaned forward and opened the compartment which held the film, picking it out of its tray, he glanced at it up close. "You've caused a lot of trouble. But we're going to put you to good use." A grin appeared on his face and he air kissed the object before placing it back in his vest.
"Does this mean you're planning on taking these schematics back to Mars?" Charley turned her head towards Stoker who blinked at her with minor confusion.
"I thought that was obvious, beautiful?" The mouse replied. "You understand what this means for us. For our fight or in case another species shows up ready to start another war with us."
"No, no, I get that. But I thought we agreed, you were going to check what was on those prints and then I would be able allowed to destroy the film?" She reminded him.
He honestly could not recall ever making such a promise. In fact, he was sure of it. And even if he had said something along those lines, they no longer mattered now, did they? There was no way that he was going to let his female friend destroy these schematics.
"Modo?" Stoker looked at the grey one-eyed mouse, who also looked surprised if not a bit shocked at hearing his girlfriend saying she wanted to get rid of the film.
"I don't understand, darling. Did you really make a deal with Stoker about doing this? I mean, I sure you discussed something,-" He quickly added as Charley threw him an angry glare. "But we can't destroy these. Mars needs this, love."
Charley couldn't believe Stoker just pulled Modo into this conversation, but it was obvious from seeing the look on everybody else's faces that none of the mice agreed with her on this. Actually, it had been a long time seeing all of them this happy together. When was the last time they caught a break regarding their home planet?
"Look, guys, I do understand. But Sam asked me to destroy everything, there's logical reason for that. The amount of planets, species, trying to get their hands on these schematics is immense. We shouldn't ignore the fact that it might be better to get rid of it, because then nobody can build this scanner."
"But it's not everybody building this. It's only us." Stoker assured her.
But Charley shook her head. "What if you build it and somebody steals it?"
For a second the others fell quiet. Even if she had a good point, it was impossible to change their minds. It would just be another thing to add to the list of things they'd have to protect from their enemies, but at least now they had a chance of beating all of their foes to the punch.
"Wait, what do you mean Sam asked this of you?" Throttle asked. "You only discovered this today, right?"
"There was a letter in the container which also held the microfilm. It was written by Sam." The woman explained, she was about to continue when all of a sudden Stoker interrupted her.
The hazel furred mouse looked around the ship but counted only four heads. "Where's Izzy?"
Five hours later
They searched high and low. All over Chicago and every possible location they could think of. After having ridden for more than five hours around the city, they still had found no trace of her. Modo search party consisted of Charley, of course, sitting behind him. And Vinnie riding next to them, as they went to place that Charley could think of where she and Izzy used to hang out.
Stoker and Throttle formed the other group, they stopped at locations where Izzy had recently been to their knowledge. Alas, it was all to no avail. She was officially missing and they had no way to contact her. They found her car at the Last Chance, which made things a little easier as that meant she was hopefully still in Chicago. But this also meant no option to track her down.
Back at the scoreboard, it hadn't taken them very long to discover what the reason was for her sudden disappearance. It was Vinnie who saw her last. The white mouse had been a bit surprised that nobody else noticed her going, but not entirely as all of them were so caught up with the discovery of the orbital scanner that even he had hardly noticed her leaving himself.
Had she not nearly bumped into him, he probably would have missed it. But in doing so, he noticed her dropping some sort of letter near his tail as she rushed passed him. It was the letter written by Sam, which Stoker had confiscated from Charley back at the garage.
"I can't believe this. I knew I should have torn that rotten piece of paper to shreds the minute I read it." Stoker angrily commented out loud as he slammed his fist against his leg.
"Hey, calm down. You couldn't have know." Throttle commented trying to reassure his former coach a little, even though he also felt incredibly worried for Izzy's well-being.
"Yes, I could have and I should have! I've been in her head more than once, remember? There's still hurt there, deep inside. She never got any closure for what he did,- sure, Morden is dead. But that doesn't change anything which Sam set in motion and that letter probably made it worse."
Throttle had to agree with him on that part. He read the letter after Vinnie found it and showed it to them, after he'd read it himself obviously. The one thing Izzy hadn't really known yet, but the others did due to the picture Modo and Vinnie had found in Sam's apartment, was that Sam had known about Izzy working at Dreamland. Perhaps not doing the time she was actually there, but he did afterwards as was stated in his letter.
There was no doubt in Throttle's mind that was the reason for Izzy running away. Hopefully she still nearby and only in need to find some sense of space to clear her head and nothing else. But she'd been gone for five hours and that didn't sit right with him. The fact that Stoker was on the verge of going into panic mode made it that much worse.
"We'll find her. We haven't looked everywhere yet." Which was true. There was one place on Throttle's mind and that was the place he'd met her for the first time. Underneath the pier at Chicago beach.
"I didn't even sense her leaving, Throttle. I'd always been able to sense her after I've,- we've,-" He let out a shuddering breath.
This was something he didn't really want to share with anybody else, least of all Throttle if he was being honest. The fact that he couldn't sense her anymore scared him.
It was as if she'd blocked him, which could be an indication that they were still connected but he wasn't sure about that. Her scent was everywhere which made it difficult to pinpoint where she'd gone exactly after leaving the scoreboard.
"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. You've what?" Stoker looked at Throttle who stared at him with a frown.
"I bonded with her." The older mouse sighed.
At first Throttle just squinted his eyes a little, but then he blinked and his jaw dropped. "Wait, when you say bonded,- You're not talking about,-"
He didn't have to finish his sentence for Stoker turned his head away. "Son of a,-"
But in a sense, was he really surprised by what Stoker had done? Not really. It was something he and Carbine had never done, because Carbine thought it would get in the way during the war. Unfocused and overly worried for the others well-being. She had a point and he wholeheartedly agreed with it, but also he wondered what it would be like.
Throttle took a deep breath. There was no sense in getting angry about this. He hadn't been there when Stoker bonded with Izzy. Perhaps they had talked about it thoroughly and he had to give his coach the benefit if the doubt as he hadn't done so in a long time.
"Did it work?" He asked Stoker instead, referring to the fact that pair bonding meant you were also able to hear the other person's thoughts if they send them out.
To his surprise the hazel mouse nodded. "Unstable though. She doesn't always realize she's sending something and she only hears me if I'm near or if I'm practically shouting at her. Sensing each other is easier, I've noticed it working from a pretty good distance. But again, it's also fickle if you're not focused on the other person."
It was probably that way because Izzy was human and Stoker was Martian, as far as Throttle could tell. Hearing Stoker talking about it was interesting enough for him. Though in their current situation it wasn't something they could use to their advantage in locating the woman. They'd simply have to keep going at it the old-fashioned way. Riding.
"Let's go to the Chicago beach area. It's the last place I can think of where she could be." He suggested.
But Izzy wasn't there. They checked every pier and had even gone down towards the water's edge to find any sort of hint if she'd been there. But there were too many smells floating around and water wasn't a Martian's friend when trying to distinguish one's fragrance. It was another dead end and Stoker was really starting to lose it.
"We've got to find her. I need to find her. I'm not leaving this planet until I do. Damn that microfilm, damn Sam, damn all of it." The older mouse dropped himself next to his bike after they'd climbed back up the steps to the pier. His motorcycle bleeped soft comforting noises as Throttle crouched down next to Stoker.
"Do you honestly think Izzy is the type of woman to just up and leave like that?" He said to him.
Stoker tilted his head back and looked at Throttle through his visor. He thought for a second and then shook his head. "No. No, I don't think she would."
And he deeply hoped he was right. Already it felt like his heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. They weren't even really sure what was going on or what had gone through Izzy's mind after she'd read that letter. The moment she was gone and they figured out the possible reason, he was so afraid of losing her that he immediately had gone into a frantic state of having to find her asap.
"Me neither. Come on, let's contact the others and see if they've got some better news."
It was weird in a sense that Throttle was the one comforting the former rebel leader about his missing girl. Precisely because only earlier today he'd declared his own love for that very same person. But then again, he wanted to find her just as much as Stoker did.
He walked over to his bike and clicked on the radio. "Throttle calling Modo,- any update on locating our missing friend?"
He listened quietly as minor static sounded, but within a second is was replaced with the deep voice of a certain one-eyed mouse.
"Modo here. We were just about to contact you. We found her. We just arrived at the garage with her."
Stoker jumped up as fast as he could and leaned forward on Throttle's motorcycle. "Is she okay, is she alright?
"A bit wet, but in one piece. I'll tell her you're heading out way."
The static returned and Stoker let out a deep breath as he reached for his chest. "Thank you, Goddess."
The microfilm's blueprints are finally revealed...but will they make it to Mars?
Should those schematics be destroyed or should Stoker take them with him? You tell me :)
Also, Throttle destroyed the tape. Finally.
As for Izzy going to Mars,- well, we'll just wait and see.
Let me know what your opinions are on all of this, be safe!