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Hope you're all doing well and okay. Hope you're all still enjoying this story.

Thank you all so much for reading and leaving feedback (ideas and kind words), it means a lot.

To those of you wondering about Vinnie and a possible love interest. It is planned, the plot is partially written and thus happening :) but I'm not revealing when or who, just know that it definitely is.

Enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter 5 - Secrets discovered

Chicago

Limburger Tower.

The two mice could see it perfectly from their current position, which was the very top of the building across from it. It was an impressive sight from afar, but that was all it was. The structure appeared sturdy looking to the untrained eye and they were way too many windows one might find. The letters LP carved out in the concrete at the very top of Limburger's establishment.

How many times had the mice destroyed it? None of them really knew.

Vinnie would give you an exact number, made up of course. Ultimately he would never be near the actual answer.

Modo could give a pretty good estimate, but that would mostly be based on the amount of times he'd watched the tower fall, with excitement obviously.

However, Throttle would try to actually calculate the number by recalling how long they'd been on Earth up until that point. Divided by the weeks and months an Earthen year had.

In the end all of their guesses would be wrong. There was only one who knew the correct number and that was Limburger himself. Actually, it were his bills that told him the story of how many times his precious tower had fallen down to the ground.

But today was not about destroying the Plutarkian's hide-out. It was about getting information or perhaps even stopping a certain fish from continuing with his plan, which was getting information on the location of the microfilm. But so far the two Martians mice had only been staring at Limburger Plaza. Still not sure what the next step in their plan ought to be.

Vinnie wanted to head inside more than anything. Make threats, claim for Limburger to stop what he was doing with whatever means necessary. A plan Throttle could find himself agreeing with, but there was something holding him back and that was possible consequences Vinnie's idea could cause.

"At this rate we might as well have stayed at the garage and watch another movie." The white mouse groaned with immense frustration as he leaned forward and rested his arms on the handle bars.

"I don't think you would have survived that. The scoreboard has never looked this...well, close to clean. Also you still haven't moved your bed." Throttle commented, reminding his bro how annoyed he was with having Vinnie's bed currently residing in the centre of their bedroom.

Vinnie waved one of his hands. "I like it there. Makes the room feel a lot bigger."

The other mouse rolled his eyes behind his spectacles and turned his gaze back to Limburger Tower. Vinnie was right though, they couldn't just stay here all night simply watching stinkfish's property. They had to do something. But they also needed a good plan. Throttle still thought jumping in there with their bikes, aiming their firearms and demanding Limburger to withdraw his twenty-thousand dollar reward was not the way to go.

"Let's just go already, Throttle." Vinnie was practically begging at this point. "You said we're going to do something when we left the garage."

"I know, I know. You can't blame me for worrying a little about us showing our faces. We know Limburger knows about the microfilm. He was on that buyers list we found in one of the files. But I don't want to draw attention to the fact that we are also aware of its existence, not to mention its contents."

One wrong word and Limburger could head straight for Mars. Throttle really wanted to be careful here. He understood Vinnie's desire and need for a full head on confrontation perfectly, but there were too many possible risk factors to take into account here.

"Well, yeah, I get that. But for all we know he could have met Sam Davidson at some point? He might even know the guy was Charley's brother. If that's the case, then you know...Fish can count."

Vinnie didn't have to explain what he meant with that. The message was clear. No matter what they would do Limburger would figure everything out at some point. He always did. Throttle crossed his arms and leaned back on his bike. Vinnie's argument was incredibly convincing and it seemed the white mouse wasn't done yet with telling Throttle of his other theories.

"Don't forget that the guy who'd kidnapped Charley is the only one who knew Morden was planning on meeting Izzy. Nobody else did. Therefore nobody aside from that goon could have pointed her out as a possible suspect."

"That much is obvious, Vincent. But we don't know for sure it was Limburger who sent agent Burrows to the Last Chance Garage. Morden's henchman could have done that as well."

"Please,-" Vinnie scoffed. "Listen to me, Throttle. If that goon really cared about Morden's death, he would have come for Izzy himself after he found his boss dead. So, why show up now when there is a twenty thousand dollar reward all of sudden for a simple golden tip?"

Vinnie had a good point. There had been plenty of opportunities for Morden's henchman to come after Izzy himself. Throttle uncrossed his arms and grabbed the handle bars of his bike. The more he thought about it, the more logical it seemed. Vinnie could very well be on the money about everything. Was this the result of watching all of those James Bomb movies?

"You're right. The only thing we have to do is make sure that Limburger doesn't find out that we, or Charley, knows about the microfilm. We have to somehow keep that a secret for as long as we can."

At the word secret, a shiver went through Vinnie's body. Secrets, secrets. He was getting rather fed up with anything that had to do with keeping things from others. Alright, in this case he agreed. But there was still another matter on the white mouse's mind. Seeing as they were alone right this moment, now was as good of a time as any to confront Throttle with what he found out earlier.

"Speaking of keeping things a secret." Vinnie said as he sat up straight. "There is something else I need to talk to you about."

Throttle didn't like the way his younger bro was looking at him. A look of disappointment or disapproval even. He wasn't sure what that was about, but an uneasy feeling settled within him.

"Okay. I'm listening." He replied.

The young mouse cleared his throat. "I, uh,- I know it was you who helped Izzy that night."

Immediately Throttle's stomach flipped, but he kept his emotions hidden with a straight face. "Helped her with what?"

"Find the microfilm Charley had hidden and have Izzy bring it to Mars."

The two mice stared at each other, but the leader's silence spoke volumes. What the tanned mouse didn't understand was how Vinnie had figured it out. He couldn't have known it for that long. If Vinnie had been awake that particular night when he helped Izzy, surely he would have confronted him earlier about it?

"When did you find out?" He wondered.

"Does it matter?" Vinnie countered.

"Fine. How did you find out then?" He didn't mean to sound defensive, but he did. He had lied to Modo and Charley about being involved with it. They still thought Stoker was the one who had stolen the microfilm.

"I found a letter in the bedroom. Remember how I broke your bedside table?"

Throttle's mouth twitched. He remembered. What a mess the room had been when he walked in and found Vinnie's bed in the centre, where it still was at this very moment, and his own mattress on its side on top of the small broken table.

"Right, and it didn't occur to you to not read it?"

"It did,- after I had already read it." Vinnie shook his head. "But that's not the point, man. Why didn't you tell me?"

He looked genuinely hurt and Throttle felt incredibly guilty all of a sudden. He didn't really have a good valid reason, apart from the fact that it was easier to not correct anyone on their suspicions of it being Stoker. But he could have told Vinnie, that much was true. Although Vinnie was one of the worst secret keepers out of all of them.

"It was safer that way." He said instead. "Izzy and I searched the apartment extensively and as quietly as possible. As soon as we found where Charley had hidden the microfilm, Izzy took it and left." Throttle shrugged as if it wasn't something to make a big deal out of it.

"That's it? You didn't tell me because the less one knows the better?" Vinnie frowned. "I would have been more than willing to help, Throttle. I wanted that orbital scanner on Mars just as much as you and Stoker did."

The other mouse groaned and removed his glasses to rub between his eyes. "You're right, Vinnie. I am incredibly sorry I kept it from you."

When he placed his specs back, he caught Vinnie staring at him. Thankfully with a more calm expression than before. But then Vinnie narrowed his eyes a little bit.

"Be honest with me. Was helping your last attempt of showing Izzy how you feel about her?"

It was no secret to any of his bros the impact Charley's sister-in-law had had on him during her time in Chicago. But what none of them knew was that he didn't have to show Izzy how he felt anymore.

"She knows." Throttle replied.

A silence fell and Vinnie blinked rapidly a couple of times.

"Say what now?"

"I told her. I told her everything."

"What does that mean? When did that happen?"

Throttle rather not remember. It had been difficult and painful. But if he hadn't done it, things could have escalated. That was what happened if you were Martian and fought the call. As if going against something within his nature. Ultimately he was glad it had happened, a liberating moment to finally confess how he felt.

"It happened right before you caught me smashing that videotape of Izzy. The one we forgot to destroy?"

"I'm sorry, 'we forgot'?" Vinnie frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"The one I deliberately hid." Throttle corrected himself.

"Oh, that tape." The hint of sarcasm in the white mouse's voice was obvious. "Yes, I remember...wait,- that was over two weeks ago."

Vinnie cocked his head and then his eyes widened. "You told me nothing happened?!"

"That was true. I told her that I thought about her all the time. That I couldn't think straight when she was near me. That not thinking about her hurt me more than any bullet has ever had."

"And you call that nothing?"

"If something had happened, would I be standing here? Alive? Stoker would have made sure of that."

Vinnie bobbed his head. "Good point. So she rejected you, huh?"

"Yeah, Vincent. Clearly she did." Throttle didn't want to talk about it.

Vinnie couldn't believe what he was hearing. So much more had been happening than he realized. He could also hear the hurt in Throttle's voice. Vinnie knew very well how difficult being in some sort of love triangle could be. And he had been in one twice. First with Harley and Stoker back on Mars. Then with Charley and Modo on Earth.

Love wasn't easy. He knew this first hand. It hurt like shit. Vinnie had lost the love of his life and then another chance at love. However, he could accept the latter one easily. Modo deserved happiness and he had truly found that with Charley.

Vinnie felt no need to interfere there. Well, no need was a big word, but he could handle it. Just like Stoker had given him space when it was clear Harley wanted Vinnie and not the rebel leader. But that was something he didn't want to think about right now.

It was clear to him now that Throttle, on the other hand, had been struggling for a long time, almost suffering, and Vinnie actually felt bad for his older bro. If he'd realized it had been that bad, perhaps he could have been a little bit nicer to Throttle about it. Maybe even help him in some way.

Being Martian wasn't always easy, especially when it came to their biological urges. The way their senses worked was on a whole other level than that of Earthers. Everything was experienced more intensely. And when it came to love, that was the one that could knock you off balance the most.

Actually any emotion they had was experienced more intensely. Love, anger, jealousy, lust, grief. But to see it happen to Throttle, that was unexpected. He was the one in control. Logical, calm and collected. Vinnie wondered if Carbine's absence had anything to do with his older bro breaking underneath the pressure of their emotions.

It made Vinnie wonder about himself. Because was not having Harley around a valid reason for why he'd fallen for Charley at one point? He still wasn't entirely sure about that, but perhaps that was exactly why Throttle had fallen for Izzy? Vinnie tilted his head back and looked up at the sky.

Man, he really needed to hit something or someone. Anything. All this sitting around had already irked him, but now reminiscing about feelings and such was rattling his cage.

"So, any ideas yet on how we're going to go from here?" Vinnie asked and he lowered his eyes towards Limburger's tower. "Or are we staying here until the sun comes up?"

"No. But we're not staying here and we're not going back to Modo and Charley either." Throttle quickly added before Vinnie could protest.

The white mouse jolted upward and flicked his tail. "Going in?"

"Going in." Throttle nodded as he put on his helmet.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"Let's rock,-" Throttle closed his visor.

"And ride!" They both yelled in unison.

The Last Chance Garage

About two hours had passed since Carbine contacted them and Modo was reflecting on the conversation they'd had with the General. Stoker and Izzy had arrived on Mars safely. Unfortunately they hadn't sought any contact with Charley or the rest of them, but at least they were okay.

Modo couldn't blame them for taking their time. There was probably a lot going on back on Mars now that the highly respected Stoker had returned. The grey mouse could only imagine the welcome home party the rebels would give him. But meeting Izzy would be the icing on the cake.

The only human they'd ever met before was Charley. He recalled Rimfire telling him that Charley had been the talk of the rebel base for weeks. Thinking about that now made him proud and Modo smiled a little. If only they knew that she was his now. Maybe he should have asked Carbine to contact his nephew for him as well, then he could have told Rimfire the good news of finally having found someone he was going to spent the rest of his life with.

Modo leaned back and placed his feet on the table on which the radio was standing. He'd been coming down to the garage every half an hour to double check if there had been a missed call, but so far no luck. Even if Carbine had promised she was going to get Stoker to contact them today, who knew if that was actually going to happen.

He still couldn't believe it though. Stoker was planning on resigning. Modo could understand the decision, it was bound to happen in the far future but he was pretty sure the reason for it happening now was because of Izzy being there with him.

"The others are in for a big surprise..." He muttered under his breath.

With Throttle and Vinnie currently at Limburger's tower, Modo had nobody else to share this information with. Sure, he'd talked with Charley about it, but she wasn't a Freedom Fighter and couldn't fully understand the impact this change of dynamic would bring amongst the rebels.

Somebody was going to have to take Stoker's place one day. Throttle had always been the most obvious choice, at least that's what they thought. But they were on Earth. If Stoker was going to appoint Throttle as his successor, they'd have to go back to Mars. Modo would finally be with his family again. His mouth twitched and formed a smile. His momma would surely like Charley, he was certain of it.

He honestly couldn't wait to tell Throttle and Vinnie of what Carbine had told him. Modo raised his right arm, stretched it and then removed his feet from the table. It was getting late and Charley was currently upstairs in her bedroom. She really wasn't feeling all that well. All those headaches which plagued her and those fatigue spells. She also looked rather pale lately. It was probably the flu or something. A rather icky Earthen illness which happened once or twice every year.

As Modo got up from the chair and was about to head towards the living room, a familiar noise sounded behind him. He swiftly turned his head and saw the light blinking on the radio's monitor. The grey mouse jolted forward and grabbed the microphone. At that same moment a deep voice came from the machine.

"The most handsome mouse in the galaxy calling Earth. Anybody home?"

"Receiving you loud and clear. Good to hear your voice, coach." Modo replied with a grin. "Already got word from Carbine you arrived safe and sound."

"She already gave me an earful more than I can count today. Not contacting you rookies being one of the reason. Also, there is somebody here eager to talk to a certain girlfriend of yours. Any chance she's around?"

Modo wasn't sure if that was a possibility. He paused and looked up at the stairs. He could go and check, but she'd been so tired that he was reluctant to disturb her. Still, she had told him she wanted to hear from Izzy.

"Lemme get her, I'll be right back."

He dropped the microphone and rushed up the steps as quick as he could. Once he reached the living room, his eyes searched for Charley only she wasn't there. With a frown he twitched his nose and caught her scent coming from the bedroom upstairs.

"Charley, Izzy is on the radio. Are you awake?" He made his way towards the door and placed his hand on the knob. But just as he was about to turn it, Charley yelled at him from the other side.

"I'm coming! Don't come in here!"

Modo frowned at stopped. Don't come in here? "Are you alright?"

"Fine!" Her voice sounded muffled as if she was standing at the far side of her bedroom.

Modo didn't like this at all. He was about to ignore her wish and open the door, when all of a sudden he could hear her coming his way. With one quick step he moved aside as Charley appeared in the opening. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were puffy. Modo looked her up and down. She seemed nervous. Had she been crying?

She threw him a small smile. "You said Izzy is on the radio?"

He looked at her, rather confused. "Stoker, actually. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." She replied as she walked past him with long strides.

It took Modo a couple of seconds to try and grasp what just happened. But he couldn't make any heads or tails of it. He quickly threw a glance into the bedroom, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Without giving it too much thought for the time being, he followed her back to the garage.

Hope you guys enjoyed! Until next time.