Biker Mice from Mars
What's His Frequency Karbunkle?
Hard Luck Trilogy Pt 3
Chapter 2
It was approaching Dusk in Chicago, and Modo and Charley were heading towards the Scoreboard Hideout to meet up with the guys. Thanks to the Big Mouse's help at the Last Chance today, Charley had gotten all caught up on her repair jobs and made a nice bit of extra money. A chunk of which was now going to be spent on snacks and sodas for the now 4 hungry mouths she was responsible for feeding.
After their discussion earlier in the day, things had remained kind of quiet while Charley worked on the vehicles in the shop, and Modo either ran errands for her, went and got parts, or generally did all the heavy lifting in the shop (He was like having her own personal forklift) the conversation in the shop had drifted to lighter topics, but she could tell he was thinking over what had been discussed just as much as she was.
They pulled into the Quigley Stadium Parking lot. Charley was riding in Lil Hoss's sidecar holding onto the snacks and sodas. "Get ready Charley Ma'am the jump is coming up." Modo said to give her a heads up. She nodded and increased her grip on the food to a near-death grip intensity and she closed her eyes and ducked down into the sidecar as far as she could.
Modo noticed this but didn't say anything. A crooked smile popped up on his face, he just shook his head and hit the remote for the upper loading bay door on the Scoreboard the Mice used as their secret entrance. Modo then activated Lit Hoss's jets and they shot up into the air, and at the last second, he cut them, and they glided in thru the open door. He pulled to a stop with just a hint of a sound of screeching tires. "Top Floor, everybody out!" Modo said in a loud bark.
"WOW!" Charley gasped as she sat upright in the sidecar, with her eyes wide open behind her helmet's visor! Surprise plastered all over her face. "What, are you hurt, was that too rough!" Modo gasped as he looked down at her with concern! "Are you ok?" He asked her! "What, huh, oh no Modo, that was a perfect landing, really smooth!" She said to him quickly to reassure him she was ok. "I just forgot what it was like to ride with someone who isn't an Insane Showoff!" Modo let out a deep rumbling belly laugh at hearing that.
"I should ride with you more often." Charley said while winking at him. "Anytime Lady, anytime." He said while blushing and blinking back at her. He tried to wink but that is kind of hard to do with just one eye. He gallantly helped her out of the sidecar and grabbed some of the groceries. "Hey guys were home!" Modo shouted out. No response greeted him. "Hey, where is everybody!?" He yelled out again. They both removed their helmets and moved into the quiet hideout.
Charley looked around. The Hideout had pretty much gotten repaired since the Slime Mold Attack. Everything structurally was back in place. Heck, even most of the normal mess had kind of been cleaned up. Almost a miracle for the Martian Mice Masters of Making Messes. They moved into the eerily quiet (for them) scoreboard.
They looked around. Everything looked normal. Throttle and Vinnie's bikes were parked in their normal spots, quietly and patiently awaiting their master's next call to action. Lil Hoss rolled over to them and they all bleeped at each other in that friendly way of theirs. They were just as much a team as their said owners.
Walking deeper into the hideout the TV could be heard playing softly over by the couch. The Sports Announcer was reading off the latest sporting highlights. Just audible over the TV a slightly muffled snoring was drifting up from the couch. She and Modo walked over into the space between the TV and the Couch. "Oh My!" Gasped Charley as she embarrassedly turned around and covered her eyes with her hand.
"Throttle, wake up Bro!" Modo called out to the sleeping mouse on the couch. "Huh, what?" The Tan Furred Martian muttered as he jerked his head up out of the pillow his head had been buried in. He blinked at them with blurry red eyes as he tried to focus on them. "Modo, Charley, I uh, didn't hear you come in." He mumbled weakly as he groped around trying to find his glasses.
"Uh, bro." Modo said stumblingly as he pointed down towards his friend. Throttle shook his head to loosen the sleep from his brain. He was laying on his stomach and had to twist kind of awkwardly around to look up at them. "BRO!" Modo practically yelled and gestured even more urgently with his metal finger!
"What is it?" Throttle asked then let out a loud "ACK!" when he remembered he didn't have on any pants. He had been asleep on the couch while laying on his chest. Thankfully, he did have on a pair of shorts. Granted they were bright red with orange hearts, Carbine had given them to him one night. He also had a bag of ice laying across his backside being held in place by his tail!
He reached down and grabbed a large towel up off the floor, and he scrambled to move into a sitting position where he was now sitting on the bag of ice and wrapped the towel around his lower half. He bit back an ouch noise as he settled his sore seat on the ice.
His face now the same shade of red as his shorts he looked up at Modo and the back of Charley's head and let a humbled laugh out.
"Heh, heh, uh Hi Charley, Modo." He weakly laughed and waved at them, the embarrassment practically burning on his face. "Hi, Throttle." Charley said without turning around because if she did, she would probably collapse into a laughing fit, sure she would feel bad about it, but it would still happen.
"What's going on?" Modo asked with a sigh while shaking his big head. "And where is Vinnie?" A shout came from the far side of the Hangout. "I am over here!" Vinnie yelled at them from a distant corner. A corner where he was sitting on a chair and facing said corner.
Charley took her hands off her eyes and looked over at the White Mouse. "What are you doing over there?" She yelled back. Throttle answered her with an angry growl. "He is Grounded!" Modo and Charley looked at each other, then at Vinnie's back then at Throttle on the couch, who had managed to recover some of his dignity at this point.
"It Wasn't My Fault!" Vinnie yelled back, sounding very much like a petulant 12-year-old. "You want to make it a full week!?" Throttle yelled back sounding very much like the frustrated parent. Vinnie let out a howl to now sound like a whiney 9-year-old. Charley nearly fell over trying to hold in another burst of laughter.
"Now what happened?" Modo asked sound much like the flip side of the parental coin. The parent that just walked into another fine mess. "And where is Hard Luck?" Throttle looked off to a side, his embarrassment climbing a notch or two. "What Happened is that the Thumbtack Incident happened again, and Hard Luck is in his room."
"Again, how did it happen again?!" Gasped Modo incredulously. "Wait, what happened again?" Charley shot out. "And what room?" She added looking around. The Hideout was basically just a large storeroom itself, there were no other rooms! Modo pointed over his shoulder. She followed it and saw Dently setting in the corner adjacent to the one Vinnie was in. "See those cabinets next to Dently, that's Hard Luck's room." Modo told her with a sad sigh.
Dently, at seeing Charley, started bouncing up and down and making rumbly noises, acting exactly like an excited puppy at seeing someone it knows. Charley could not help but smile and wave at the silly machine. "Again, how did it happen AGAIN!?" Modo asked this time with more directness in his voice. Throttle squirmed uncomfortably on the bag of ice as he tried to formulate his answer.
"It aint my fault!" Vinnie yelled out again from his corner. "One more word out of you and I swear, you are grounded for a full week, and I mean 7 days, not 5!" Throttle yelled back with an edge in his voice. Vinnie could be heard snarling thru clenched teeth as he forces himself to remain quiet.
Modo let out a loud irritated gasp and looked at Throttle again just more sternly. Throttle didn't look up at him but started to tell him anyway. "Hard Luck was trying to glue his helmet back together, and Vinnie wouldn't' stop pestering him." He told them. "They all but started fighting like squabbling sand saber guppies, and I went over to break it up, and well, Vinnie wouldn't let up and Hard Luck fought back, and things got out of control and the glue started flying and... "He said before he just stopped talking as he tried and failed to suppress a shiver.
Charley looked up at Modo. "Boom?" She asked him. Modo just nodded his big head up and down. "Boom." He said. "And on that note, can you fix my pants, Big Guy?" Throttle asked while he pulled his pants out from behind a cushion. They were practically ripped to shreds, and Charley was sure she could see a couple of thumbtacks still sticking out of what was once the seat of said pants.
Modo picked up the beat-up garments and made an unconfident face. "Cheese, Bro I dunno, I mean I can try, but I can't promise anything." Throttle just sighed. "Whatever, just thanks Big Mouse." Charley trying to take all this in just turned and started walking towards the cabinets and Dently, who wagged his rear wheel fender as she approached.
Charley smiled at the jumbledly jalopy and patted him on his camera eye. She knelt and knocked on the cabinet door. "Hard Luck, are you in there?" She asked quietly. She still wasn't sure she could believe he was hiding in a cabinet. That just seemed so … Mousey! A few seconds went by until a quiet reply came from behind the small door.
"…yeah." Hard Luck squeaked. Charley sighed. "Are you ok in there?" She asked, the thought of her parents seeing this and laughing for some reason went thru her head. "I'm fine." He said in another timid squeak. At this point, Modo stomped over and knelt by the door. He rapped his metal fingers on the door. "Hard Luck get out of there!" He barked. "I don't wanna." Hard Luck replied with a slight whine in his voice.
A look of barely contained parental style frustration crossed his big gray face. "I swear Hard Luck if I have to ask you again…" He snarled but couldn't keep a smile off his face as Charley all but snorted out a laugh at all this.
"All right, all right I am coming out, cheese!" He moaned and slowly pushed open the door. He was crammed in there like a sardine. His knees were under his chin and his arms were pinned to his chest, and he had a very ashamed look on his blue face. Hard Luck slowly looked up into Modo's face and suddenly the table got flipped.
Hard Luck looked at Modo and his face went from timid to almost angry in a second. "What did you do!?" He said with a deep tone of accusation. "Huh, what?" Modo gasped, with a nervous look. Hard Luck shot out of the Cabinet causing both Modo and Charley to jump back a few steps.
Hard Luck pointed a finger right into Modo's nose. "Don't you give me that, I know that look, that is your I tattled on Hard Luck Look, that look got my backside whooped by Mama more times than I care to remember, and you can stow that that's your own fault malarky!" he rattled off at his Big Bro.
Modo stammered a few nonsense noises as he tried to think up a reply to this line of questioning but wasn't having any luck. Charley and Dently watched this back and forth with rapid interest. Hard Luck turned and stared right at her, then back at Modo, then back at Charley. "You, what did he tell you, what did you tell her!?" He snapped at the still perplexed Modo.
"I, I, that is I…" Modo spluttered as Hard Luck continued to glare up at him. Charley was kind of amazed at how fast the roles in this scenario got reversed. Modo had started out to be the Parent and in the blink of an eye he was acting like the small child being put on the spot by an adult.
"Don't you even try to lie to me, you know you can't…." Hard Luck started to accuse Modo when he looked once more at Charley and his Big Brother. A look of realization crossed his face, and all the strength seemed to drain out of him. "Uh, I am, that is, I uh, I am going back in my room." He faltered as he stooped to crawl back into the cabinet. "Oh No, You Don't!" Barked Modo and he reached out with his mechanical arm and grabbed Hard Luck by the belt around the back of his pants and lifted him up into the air.
"Gaak, whatchyadoinletmego!" Hard Luck wheezed as He found himself losing touch with the ground in a rather uncomfortable way. Modo carried him over to the TV area and dropped him heavily onto a vacant folding chair. "Oof!" Huffed Hard Luck as he landed. Charley just shook her head again at how fast the roles got flipped again.
"You are gonna sit there where I can keep an eye on you and behave yourself and that's that!" Modo rumbled as he dropped his seat heavily onto the couch next to Throttle, who let out a muffled grunt as he bounced up and down on the ice. Charley and Dently moved over to join them. Hard Luck squirmed around on his chair as he reached back and tugged on his bandaged tail. "I hate it when my tail gets bunched up in my pants like that." He groaned feebly.
Modo's eye glowed red and he stared at him and reached down beside the couch and pulled a large satchel up. It was his sewing kit. He took a pair of reading glasses out and put them on his snout then pulled out a couple of long needles and some thread and set to work on Throttle's trousers, His one glowing eye never drifting away from his nervously squirming little foster brother.
Dently rolled up next to Hard Luck and Charley walked over and sat down, far more demurely on the couch on the other side of Throttle who made sure his towel was wrapped firmly in place. Charley had her hand firmly over her mouth to keep herself from laughing at the scene to try and not embarrass at least 2 of the gathered Martians. It seemed to her that Families on Mars weren't that much different from their counterparts on Earth.
What joviality there was in the room suddenly evaporated when on the TV the News went from Sports to a view of another Street being demolished by Plutarkian Machines. Things got even uglier when Lawrence Limburger's Vile Face appeared on the screen.
This got a chorus of Hisses and Boos from everyone watching. Limburger continued to smile anyway. He went right into the speech about his wonderous plans for how he was solely taking on the herculean task of rebuilding Chicago, and his Glorious plans for its Future. More boos and hisses. Throttle waved and shushed them when Limburger started talking about something new.
"…and as you are all so sadly aware of the recent misfortune that has befallen our fair municipality over the previous few weeks, more and more restorations are needed than were previously anticipated." He said in that smarmy and condescending way of his. Nobody was as good as spreading it out like that Fat Fish.
Limburger leaned in closer and stared directly into the camera and put on his most charming smile. Throttle had to shush the room again when a couple of gagging noises were made. "And as I have so recently advised the City Officials, and the State and Federal Institutions, Chicago's Power Systems have suffered several damaging events during the recent crises." He said while feigning sadness for the audience. "Therefore as previously promised, Limburger Industries will also be taking that Gargantuan Task of repairing this as well, and I just want to assure EVERYONE that is Watching, that it will be a MASSIVE ELECTRICAL Undertaking that will solve ALL of Chicago's Power Issues." He all but snarled while staring malevolently right into the camera again.
Suddenly the lights in the hideout started flickering on and off almost as if on cue. The TV also flickered on and off yet somehow Limburgers Deep and Disturbing Laughter seemed to continue unabated. "Oh, you don't think he would…" Charley gasped, not wanting to believe that even the Fowl Fish could be that bold. Modo shook his big head. "I wouldn't put it past that Heavy Halibut.' He growled.
"Limburger is brazen enough to do anything, especially now when He all but has the entire city eating out of his filthy finned hand, and he is pretty sure we can't do anything to stop him." Throttle said with the irritation in his voice loud and clear. "Vinnie, get over here!" he called out. "You are on time out from your time out!"
"All Right!" Vinnie cheered out, and he jumped up off his chair and did several flying spins as he flew thru the air to come to a landing on a vacant chair, landing in a relaxed pose.
Throttle, Modo, and Charley rolled their eyes at this display of aeronautical showing off. Hard Luck just stared at his mismatched feet, appearing to be lost in his own thoughts. "We need to talk about how we can deal with what Limburger is doing." Throttle said to the small group.
"Before you guys got here, Me and the Flying Lucinda here brainstormed on just how we could do that." Throttle said. Vinnie leaned forward and started punching at the air. "I suggested we find the diseased mackerel, whip the tails of whatever Goons he is hiding behind, and then beat the curt out of him till he fesses up to whatever scheme he is scheming!" The White Furred Martian practically yelled out, apparently impressed with his genius-level of strategic tactical planning.
"And that is when I decided we would NOT do something stupid like that and would in fact do the complete opposite." Throttle said matter of fact. Vinnie let out a disgusted snort as his ego took a swift kick. "So, what are you saying the plan is Chief?" Modo asked while he continued to sew up the pants in his paws.
"Something we should have been doing from the start of all this instead of moping around with our tails tucked between our legs." He sighed sounding slightly annoyed with himself. They all leaned in, except for the distracted Hard Luck. "Recon" Throttle told them. "Awesome!" Vinnie said happily. Ready to get back into action.
"COVERT RECON Vinnie." Throttle snapped. "Which means You aren't going." Vinnies eyes nearly popped out of his head. Charley imagined his metal headpiece was the only thing that kept his cranium from exploding at that moment.
"WHAT!" Vinnie all but exploded. "What do you mean I aint going!?" He yelled as he jumped up to his feet. "I gotta go, we're a team, I can do this, I, I …" He shouted as he tried to finish his sentence. Throttle leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms and stared up at his irate ally. "Vinnie, you don't even know HOW to spell Covert."
Vinnie pointed angrily at his leader, with his lower jaw working up and down, trying like mad to come up with a reply to that comment, but so far, he was not having much luck. "Need I bring up any of the Attempted Covert Missions that got Messed Up during the War on Mars?" Throttle said while giving his young compatriot a certain look over the top of his glasses.
Vinnie once more valiantly tried to think up a response to this and reclaim his battle prowess, but a deep blush broke out across his furry face, and he simply crossed his arms and sat back down, grumpily growling to himself. Modo turned and looked at Throttle.
"I take it this will be a 2 Mouse Mission, just like the old days?" He asked with a slight smile, enjoying the frustration on Vinnie's face, and recalling some of those old outings during the bad old days on their home planet.
"You got it, big guy, once you get my fatigues fixed up, and it gets good and dark, me and you will sneak over to that warehouse I saw on the news earlier and scope out Limburger's activity as best we can." He said and held up his paw in a fist to which Modo bumped his paw against it.
"And just what am I supposed to do while you two are off having all the fun?" Vinnie whined. "You are going to wait here like a Good Little Junior Freedom Fighter and be prepared to be our back up and come running to our rescue if things get tough, I know you love doing that." Throttle said with a smile as he gave his young friends' ego a slight boost.
Vinnie nodded and leaned back on his chair. He did love to play the part of the Hero Charging to the rescue, not that he wanted his bros to get into trouble, not without him anyway. Why should they have all the fun?
"I saw it on the news earlier that Limburger is holed up in a rented warehouse, so we will check it out and see if we can figure out what is going on inside somehow." Throttle said as he watched with a smirk as Vinnie's ego was slightly smoothed over from the jibes it took earlier.
"Hey, if you guys need to be sneaky and get in and out without being noticed you should take Hard Luck with you, He is good at that kind of stuff!" Charley said hoping to add to the military planning of this mission. "WHAT!?" Shouted all 4 of the Mice! Charley was surprised at this response. She started to regret saying it.
"I don't think that is a good idea!" Hard Luck, Throttle, and Vinnie spouted out almost in sync with each other. Modo put down his sewing and several looks crossed his big face. Sadness and Uncertainty vying for dominance.
"You can't seriously be considering taking that useless goofball with you over me!?" Vinnie shouted out as he jumped up off the chair. Anger clearly showing on his face. "He is right ya know!" Hard Luck said quickly. "Hey, don't you talk about my little brother like that!" Modo growled out in defense. "No, no he is right!" Hard Luck cut in with!
"He aint even a real Freedom Fighter, He never fought in the War, how could you trust him with anything!?" Vinnie snapped back at Modo! "Willy is right, I never did either!" Hard Luck said butting in again! "Yeah, even he agrees with… VINNIE, My Name is VINNIE!" He bellowed when he caught the name mistake again. "You useless dork, I wouldn't even trust you with being backup!"
"Stop yelling at him and calling him names Vincent or your gonna make me Mad!" Modo Growled his eye starting to glow He stood up to his feet and threw his sewing back on the couch behind him! "No, Varney I mean uh. No, He is right, I am useless!" Hard Luck said taking Vinnie's side but was pretty much ignored by everyone!
"He isn't even your real little brother, he hasn't been thru the same kind of thing we've been thru together I am more of your brother, I mean, that is, I got more right to go than he does!" Vinnie shouted almost saying something he would really have regretted.
Modo Glared back at him, very much trying to reign his anger in. "Is that what you are so upset about, the fact that you think I care more about him than YOU!? The Giant Gray Mouse shot back at his young hothead friend.
Vinnie tried to think of how to respond to that without digging his own grave any faster than he already was. Charley was shocked into silence by all this. She had Never seen them get this upset at each other! Hard Luck had slipped off his chair and was hiding behind Dently, he wanted no part of this, and was ashamed to be the cause of it.
"PHWWWEEEEET!" Went the near Deafening whistle that Throttle let loose to get everyone's attention! He stood up off the couch and stomped his boot down hard, it cracked like a gunshot. Everyone turned to look at him. All attention was squarely focused on him.
"Everybody Calm Down!" He shouted. "Here is what is going to happen!" They all looked at him. "Me, Modo, and …(uncomfortable hesitation) Hard Luck are going to go check up on Limburger, You Vincent are going to Stay Here and Be ready to Back Us Up if Needed, and You are going to Cool Off and APOLOGIZE to both Modo and Hard Luck for what you said and I don't want to hear one SQUEAK out of You, You Got ME!?" He shouted. "Same goes to you Modo!"
Modo and Vinnie looked at each other, shame showing on their faces like Street Lights. "Gee Big Guy, I am, I mean I didn't mean to say, that is I don't…." Vinnie stumbled in saying. Modo just sadly smiled and leaned in and punched him lightly in the arm with his cyborg arm.
"Ah, we know you don't really mean any of that stuff, we forgive ya, don't we Hard Luck!?" Modo said and looked down at the Blue Mouse cowering behind his motorcycle. Hard Luck just let out a timid whimper.
"Now that we got that out of our systems, Vinnie go back to your corner and cool off, Modo take your Little Brother and try to get him ready to go, and Charley, make sure Vinnie does at least try to calm down, OK?" Throttle sighed as he looked around the little group.
They all stared back at him. "What?" He asked. "Uh, Throttle…." Charley said quietly, her face starting to blush. Vinnie bit down trying to stop a smirk. Hard Luck whimpered from behind Dently, sounding like he was to blame for this as well. "Uh, Bro." Modo said slowly while looking at Him. "What is it?" Throttle asked again.
"Your Towel." The 3 of them said in unison and pointed down. Throttle looked down at his feet. He saw the towel pooled around them. He then saw his bright red shorts with the orange hearts on full display for everyone in front of him. Charley had put her hands over her eyes again. Modo and Vinnie was totally unable to keep the smirks off their faces now.
"ACK!" Cried out Throttle again. He put his knees together and crossed his hands in front of himself as they did in those old cartoons when this kind of thing happened. "Uh, ha, ha." He laughed weakly. "See, a good laugh, that is what we all needed, a good laugh." He said not sounding like he believed what he just said at all. He quickly reached down and yanked the towel up and He fell back onto the couch and tried to cover himself up again.
"Oh man. "Vinnie sighed and he turned to return to his corner. "Come on little bro, let's go get you kitted up." Modo said and he reached down and picked Hard Luck up and carried him off towards their bikes and gear. "This is a bad idea; this is a bad idea." Hard Luck whimpered over and over to himself, his antenna sparking wildly.
Charley moved over to stand next to the couch and Throttle. He sat there ramrod straight and stared straight ahead. "I am sorry for causing that Throttle, I really didn't mean to cause any trouble like that for you and the guys.
His head slowly turned to stare at her. "Uh, Throttle, are you OK?" She asked. The way he was looking at her was kind of freaking her out. "Needles." He wheezed.
"What?" Charley questioned. Not getting his meaning. "Modo's Needles, I sat on them!" Throttle gasped. "OUCH!" He yelled.
To Be Continued