Memories Come Back- Chapter 3

More memories flooded Zoe's mind like a rushing wind...

She remembered the day she met the Biker Mice. She watched them battle Limburger's goon squad. During the fight, Vinnie's helmet came off. Zoe couldn't believe it.

Here was a five-foot tall white muscular mouse with red antennas protruding out of his head and half of his face covered with a metal mask thrown to the ground in front of her. The muscle bound adrenaline junkie got right back up and put his helmet back on. Then he got back on his bike and got back into the fight. Within minutes, he and his two bros beat up the entire goon squad.

Throttle and his two friends quietly approached Zoe.

"Are you okay, Ma'am?" Throttle asked her.

Zoe twisted her purse strings into her hands tightly and began swinging her purse at them.

"Keep away, you-you-" She began.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't break a nail. We just saved your life." Throttle said, trying to calm her down.

"It's okay, miss. We won't hurt you." Modo said, gently.

"We're the good guys, sweetheart." Vinnie said.

"It's true, Zoe. They're not the enemy." Charley told her, hand on her shoulder.

Zoe slowly put down her purse.

"I don't believe this. I was just saved by giant hamsters?" Zoe asked, staring at them in awe.

"Mice, ma'am." Throttle sighed.

"Man, they never get it right." Vinnie complained,"I mean how hard is it to remember that we're mice?"

"Mice?" Zoe asked.

"Mice." Modo replied, chuckling.

"Where'd you guys come from?"

"Mars." Vinnie replied.

"Mars?"Zoe asked, in total shock.

"Mars." Throttle replied, chuckling.

"As in the planet Mars?"

"Exactly." Throttle replied.

"Don't look so confused, Zoe. I said the same thing the first time I met these guys." Charley said, giggling.

"Mice. With antennas, biker clothes, and motorcycles?" Zoe asked, fingering one of the antennas on Modo's head.

The touch sent a slight shiver up his spine.

"You forgot studly bods, Sweetheart." Vinnie grinned, posing his muscular build.

"Is he always this full of himself?" Zoe asked, rolling her eyes.

"Uh, yeah. Always." Modo replied, laughing.

"So, why are you guys on Earth?" She asked.

"To stop Lawrence Limburger from doing to Earth what he did to our planet. Here, I'll show you." Throttle explained.

The ends of Throttle's antennas glowed with an unearthly red glow. He projected his memories of Mars' invasion from the Plutarkians into Zoe's mind and she saw them as plainly as Charley saw them the day Throttle mindmelted with her.

Zoe soon realized they were like people. Her fear of the mice went away and it was replaced with pity and compassion. These poor creatures had their planet invaded and many of their people were exterminated. All they wanted was to be left in peace but she saw they were willing to fight to protect their families as well as their homes. She began caring for them just as Charley did.

The mice were glad to have made a new friend and Zoe was very easy to please. She and Charley got along great. They were like sisters and best friends.

...

Zoe saw more memories coming into focus...

She, Charley, and the Biker Mice approached City Hall on their bikes.

"Wish me luck." Charley said.

"You can do this, Charley-girl." Throttle told her.

"Yeah, we have complete faith in you." Modo said.

"If anybody can talk to His Honor, you're the one to do it." Vinnie joined in.

"Thanks, guys. That means a lot to me."

"I can accompany you if you like." Zoe said, "Two voices might be able to get through to him than one."

"Or five." Vinnie said.

"Thanks, but three muscle bound bikers might be a little intimidating to him. It'll be better if Zoe and I went in." Charley replied.

"Intimidating? Hello? Aren't we the ones who saved his tail that time the Big Cheese kidnapped him and held him prisoner at the scissor factory?" Vinnie asked.

"After I went undercover and found out where Limburger hid him." Charley replied.

Charley remembered that time well. It was the Biker Mice episode The Reeking Reign of Head Cheese. Limburger had Greasepit and two of his Goon Squad dress up and pretend to be the Biker Mice. They broke into the mayor's office and kidnapped him.

The Big Cheese then took over as acting mayor. Greasepit was appointed Chief of Biker Mice found out about the frame up. But instead of wanting to find and rescue the mayor right away, they wanted to kick Limburger's butt. It was up to Charley to be the voice of reason and find the mayor herself. After finding out, she told the Biker Mice who rescued the mayor.

"Now, now." Zoe said, stepping between Vinnie and Charley, "I'm sure you both contributed to the mayor's wellbeing."

"Well, anyway, at least I got see how Charley-girl looks in a tight mini-skirt." Vinnie said, letting out an erotic growl at the memory.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, ya pervert!" Charley said, fussing at him while he chuckled.

"C'mon, guys, stay focused. It'll take a lot of convincing to get the mayor to leave the garage alone. But if Charley and I show him pictures we took of inside as well as outside the garage, he'll see it's an occupied area and by law can't be condemned. The only way it would be if it contained hazardous materials on the walls and ceilings."

"Hazardous?" Throttle asked.

"Like mold. But as far as I know, I haven't seen anything like that." Charley said.

...

Charley Davidson made her case by presenting photos taken in a huge manilla folder. Limburger was beaten again as the mayor realized that the Big Cheese wanted him to condemn a residential building as well as a business. He refused to listen to him anymore and decided to have Limburger investigated.

"This isn't over!" Limburger told Charley. He stomped out, glaring at the auburn haired mechanic as he went.

He cringed at seeing the Biker Mice from Mars outside on their bikes. They brandished their weapons in case he wanted to fight.

"Don't try anything funny, Hallibutt." Throttle told him.

" 'Cause these mice are packing heat." Vinnie said, holding up his lit flares.

"And we aint afraid to use it, You reeking pile of guts!" Modo said, aiming his laser cannon at the obese Plutarkian.

The Big Cheese saw his limo approach. He quickly got in.

"I'll get you, wretched rodents if it's the last thing I do!" He screamed out at the Biker Mice and their female companions.

"Well, you can try, Stinky," Throttle replied.

"But it won't happen." Modo said.

" 'Cause we're the baddest mammajammas in the universe!"

...

"Again we saved the day!" Vinnie crowed, when they got back to the Last Chance Garage, "This calls for a celebration!"

Vinnie was in one of his festive moods and decided to make dinner for his bros and their female companions. Problem was he was a terrible cook.

"So I'll just make some stew and-" He began.

"No!" Throttle, Charley, and Modo cried out all at once.

"What gives?" Vinnie asked, as they chased him out of Charley's kitchen.

"That isn't your gift, hotshot." Charley told him.

"You have many talents, bro. Unfortunately, cooking is not one of them." Throttle chuckled.

"Yeah, you aint fitting to come up in here and poison us." Modo teased.

"Hey, I do pretty good." He pouted, looking sad.

"Now, now. Leave him alone." Zoe told them.

"I'll help you with the cooking, Vinnie." Zoe said, placing a hand on his arm.

"You cook?" Vinnie asked.

"Some things are coming back to me. Come on, we need to buy some things at the grocery store."

After a huge shopping trip, Modo and Vinnie at Zoe's direction came back with a number of bags of groceries. Zoe was taking things out of bags. The Biker Mice and Charley saw 4 packages of raw steak strips, seasonings of different things, and a bag of white rice. Zoe had also purchased cookingware as well as silverware.

"You sure bought a lot of stuff." Throttle said.

"It's good to have the right materials. Now, all of you out except Vinnie. He and I need to work." Zoe told them, gently pushing them towards the dining room.

"You sure you don't need any help, Miss Zoe Ma'am?" Modo asked.

"Well, you could set the table with the new tablecloth and silverware I just bought." She replied, "You'll find it on the table." She replied.

Soon, she and Vinnie were alone. The white mouse was at a loss as he stared at the stove.

"What are we making?" He asked.

"First things first: you always wear an apron." Zoe had already tied on a dark apron. She handed one to Vinnie who put the apron on.

"We're going to make a Chinese pepper steak with white rice." Zoe replied, "I'll work on the steak while you cut up green peppers and an onion."

Zoe washed and seasoned the steak and had it cooking. After she cooked it, she cut it up into strips and returned it to the large wok she had. Zoe also activated the rice cooker. She was in good spirits till she heard some sniffling.

She turned around to see Vinnie crying. The white mouse had just cut up a green pepper with a knife on a cutting board and now he was cutting up an onion. The white mouse was in tears.

"What's wrong, Vin?" She asked.

"Don't know. I-I'm just so sad!" He cried.

"Oh, Vinnie, you silly goose! You forgot to put the onion under a faucet of cold water so the stuff in it doesn't water your eyes. I'm sorry. I should have told you." Zoe giggled.

In spite of that little mishap,Vinnie and Zoe prevailed. Dinner came out great.

"Everything looks great, Zoe." Charley said.

"Tastes great, too."Throttle said, chewing a mouthful.

"Vinnie did really well. He's a natural in the kitchen." Zoe said, hand on the white mouse's shoulder.

"Thanks, sweetheart." Vinnie grinned at Zoe before sitting down and eating his plate of food.

"This mouse can cook!" He crowed, after taking a forkful of the pepper steak.

"Oh, mama! This stuff is even better than hot dogs!" Modo exclaimed.

Zoe smiled at her new friends watching them eat and praising the dinner. She sat down and joined them.

"I want to visit the address on that driver's license I found tomorrow." She said, "I know I must have family there."

"It's kinda strange though that they haven't tried to find you or even file a missing person's report." Charley said.

"Yeah, I would've thought they'd have been happy to have found you were safe."Modo said.

"I wonder that, too." Zoe said.

...

The next day, the Biker Mice arrived at an apartment building in a residential area of Chicago. The brownstones and yellow tulips growing in a nearby park seemed like a different world compared to the run-down neighborhood Charley came from.

"You sure this is the place, Miss Zoe Ma'am?" Modo asked her.

"1522 Crystal Terrace. It's the same one on the driver's license."She replied.

The Biker Mice had driven her there after she told them she wanted to see if she had any family. What she saw was a dilapidated building with the windows boarded up. It looked abandoned. The three bikers and their female companions looked confused.

"This place looks like no one's been living here for years." Throttle said.

"Sure looks super ancient." Vinnie murmured, looking around.

"Maybe you read the license wrong." Charley suggested to Zoe.

"I-I don't understand. Why would this place be on the license?" She wondered.

"You need help, miss?"

They looked up to see a very old man approach them. By his clothes, he looked like a janitor.

"Please. I need to know if a Zoe Sterling lives here." She asked.

"Zoe Sterling? " The old man asked, puzzled as his forehead wrinkled up, then it cleared up, "Oh, yes. She did once. But that was a long time ago. You a relative of hers?"

"Sort of. Do you know what happened to her?"

"Accident involving a tram. Was crossing the street when it hit her. She never had a chance. Poor girl died later in a hospital."

"A tram? Don't you mean a car?" Charley asked.

"They didn't have cars in the 1800's, child. Cars weren't invented till 1900-something." He replied.

Everyone gasped.

"The 1800's! You've got to be joking!"Zoe said, incredulous.

"I ain't." Then he looked closely at Zoe.

"Come to think of it you look a lot like her like you could be her twin." He said.

Zoe began backing away from him.

"What is this some kind of joke? This can't be true...It..." Zoe said.

She looked like she was about to faint. Then two strong hands held her up and supported her. One of hands which was gloved was around her shoulders. The other one, made of metal, encircled her in an embrace.

"It's okay, Miss Zoe ma'am. I got you and I won't let you fall." Modo told her.

"I need to find out more." She replied.

...

Soon they were at the local library. They pored through hundreds of newspaper articles.

"Man, this is boring! Where's the action?" Vinnie whined loudly.

The librarian who happened to be passing by with a pile of books on top of a moving cart put a finger to her lips and shooshed him.

"What?" He asked her, hands out and palms up.

"And now you see this is why we never go to the library." Modo chuckled.

" 'Afraid I got to agree with Vinnie here, Charley-girl. Going through paperwork isn't our thing." Throttle told Charley.

"It won't be long. Besides, if you three macho meatheads are bored with following a paper trail, go outside. Zoe and me will cover more ground."Charley replied.

"Don't need to look any further. Found it." Zoe said, holding up a newspaper.

She spread it out and they saw it: A story about a young woman run over by a speeding tram. It was dated June 12, 1893.

Then they saw the picture and gasped. The woman in the picture looked exactly like Zoe!

"This can't be happening! It just can't!" She cried out.

"I-I'm sure there's got to be logical explanation for all this." Modo said.

"But what? How can I have a driver's license and be existing in 1893?" Zoe asked, sitting dazed and looking at her hands, "Why aren't I old? What am I?"

"Our friend." Throttle told her, hand on her shoulder, "We'll get to the bottom of this. I promise."

"Thanks, guys." She gave them a small smile.

...

Zoe looked at Freem as he continued to fill her mind with her lost memories.

"It's my fault. I never should've taken someone who was so far back in history."Zoe said.

"But you learned something from your ordeal." Freem said.

"I made some good friends. That's what is important." She replied.

"It can't be as important as making a profit." Said a voice.

Both Freem and Zoe looked up to see two aliens approach them. They were dressed up as executives. Freem pulled away from Zoe.

"Greetings, Cousins."Freem said.

"It's Eon, Cousin Span." the male alien executive with sunglasses and in a pinstripped suit told him.

"Call me Freem. I don't reply to that name anymore."

"I will if you call me Eon."

"Otherwise known as "Giggolo One." Said the female alien with an ounce of sarcasm.

"And dear Sister Era." Eon said, without any enthusiasm, "Rude and insulting as ever."

"Who are they?" Zoe asked Freem.

"Don't you remember us, Future?"Eon asked.

"My name is Zoe." Zoe told him.

"You're Future and we're your siblings. I'm Eon. And the ugly stepsister's clone over there is Era." Eon said.

"Look who's talking: Four Eyes himself."Era said, sarcastically.

"I told you. My name is Zoe. Zoe Sterling."

"Really, Future. I think you're being quite childish." Era told her, "I mean it's bad enough you turn your back on your family and leave the company. But changing your name?"

"Did it ever occur to you she did it because she wanted to be different from you two. All you do is argue and be at each other's throats. Plus, kidnapping humans from Earth just to have a mad scientist for the company was wrong." Freem said.

"It was right. Besides, I thought my choice in Zachary Carbunkle was excellent." Era said, happily, "A true man of science."

"A psychotic creep that experiments on innocent creatures is more like it." Zoe said.

"She's got a point. Now my choice of Charlene "Charley" Davidson was ten times better. Plus, She was better looking. Gorgeous!" Eon muttered, dreamily.

"Hmmph. A young hussy who needs moldy mice to help her is no choice at all!"Era retorted, "Besides, the only reason you wanted her was because you had the hots for her!"

"If liking her is wrong, I don't want to be right!" Eon laughed.

"They're not moldy mice and Charley isn't a hussy!" Zoe said, defending them, "They're all fine, wonderful people and I won't let you speak a word against them in my presence!"

"Future, be sensible. Come back to the company. Papa Century misses you greatly." Era pleaded,"We all do."

"Sorry, but I have to live my own new life. In this new body." Zoe said.

"But as a human?" Era asked.

"Yes, as a human. I know the emotions are something I have to get used to, but I think I'm understanding them a little better."

"You're making a huge mistake, little Sister." Era told her, "You can't possibly hope to live as them."

"I think you're wrong."Zoe replied,"I have done it."

"Well, I'm happy for you if you're happy." Eon told Zoe.

"Thank you, Brother. That means a lot to me." Zoe said.

She now walked away from them towards Freem.

"Let us continue."She told him.

Freem's glowing finger touched Zoe's forehead.

...