Dark secrets

by kklo

Frank who was calling himself Dr X is rentlessly pursued by the evil general Triuc McDann who was likely the first EVIL martian mouse ever penned down . Another nice collaboration with Ylla, who was not involved when I re-wrote the story slightly.

2. Dark secrets, part II

Note: I do not own the Bikermice From Mars universe nor any of the characters featuring in the original show. The characters you do not recognise from the original show were created by me – except for Virekka and Zuel who were originally created by Ylla K and borrowed with permission. The original story was a co-effort between YK and me and while YK later expressed not to be further associated with the works credit still ought to be given rightly. This story contains some swears and the unsettling story makes it unsuitable for persons under 16 years of age.

Dark Secrets, Part 2

Written/rewritten 1997-2000 kklo

The trip to Mrs Davidson's little farm took 1h and 35m. About 30 quicker than usual, but the bikes were on at an unusual high speed this time. Charley had a knot of ice in the stomache the whole trip and thought time went by slower than ever, what if Frank held her mother captive and everything was just a huge lie? What if it WAS true and they would find her mother and Frank dead? What if…?
"Look there!" Vinnie's sharp boyish voice interrupt her mental activity.
On the courtyard, someone was waiting for them. A male dressed in normal blu jeans and a shirt of flanell, with long wavy hear and dark eyes.
"Thank heavens you are here at last! I've never thought that I would be glad to see you!"
"So what'ss so important and why did you make us come to listen to you?" Vinnie didn't like Frank, it was obvious.
"I understand your anger, Mr. Vincent. I hope you can be lenient with my earlier behaviour when I played my game."
"GAME? YOU CALL MUMMIFYING US A GAME?"
"Call it whatever you want then. To me, it was nothing but a game. My life was a game, evertythin was a game. I wanted to stretch all limits. Or more like it, Dr. XM wanted to test the limits. I can admit that I suffered from some kind of schizophrenia back then."
"Yeah, yeah! That's what they always say to place the blame on someone else!"
"I also understand that you don't have much confidence in me. I really do. But, you'd better listen to what I have to say, a little fable about your planet."
"We're listening." Throttle said causally.
"Come inside the house. I think Mrs. Davidson wants to say hi to you...and..." Frank looked nervously at the sky. "...I would feel better if we were under a roof."
"Okay, come on."
Throttle acted as a true leader only sometimes, so whenever he did the others listened without complaints so they followed Frank into the hallway where Mrs. Davidson met them.
"Hi Charlene, and hi boys. Go and sit down in the living room and have your talk."
"Joyous! I'm back in the house I grew up in and someone's gonna tell me a story! Don't I feel all grown up inside?"
Her mother smiled and said, "I'm going to make us some food. During the time listen carefully to what Frankie has to say.", then left and disappeared into the kitchen.
"So, what's the hot story?" Vinnie asked sarcastically.
"If you for example want to hear about where your beloved Harley is, you'd better keep your mouth shut and cock up your ears!"
"What loved Harley? Charley's my babe!"
"Better ask her what she thinks about it first. Anyway... My past I hell of a mess so we'll save that for later when time is not as short as it is, but I think this needs some explanations. See, a few years ago when I was still living on Earth as a teenager was my main-hobby to supervice different computer-systems all over the world. Back then I lived in a simple little flat and had a lousy computer-job and all the illegal intrusions made life a little bit easier to bear. Once, I discovered that NASA had an open gateway from their webservers and made my way through their firewalls and finally got into a really interesting part of the network that kept contacts with satellites. I was amazed and immediately began to explore it properly. Really, it was a great thrill to have broken into their systems."
"Yeah, right! Someone like you can't even break a straw!" Vinnie interrupted and Frank gave him a glare.
"And your stupid comments are very disturbing, it tickles in my hands to shut that big mouth you have."
"You can't hit the broad site of a barn, forget about me!"
"We'll see about that. Either keep your oversized gaphole shut or I will make sure you do, plus that you won't be able to stand straight for a week when I'm finished. We have a deal?"
"YOU HAVEN'T BEEN STANDING STRAIGHT YOUR WHOLE LIFE!"
"Please guys STOP! No fights in here! We must hurry to go through this" Charley tried to avoid the scuffle.
Frank gave Vinnie one last glare before he continued.
"Alright, I had the access so I got linked up to the satellites and looked around in their databases until I all by a sudden found something very confusing. A radio-signal that was very close to the signals between routers, small packets with data which were sent out in short electric pulses. First, I just catched up the packets and checked them out. Most of them were obviously encrypted and I let three of my computers work parallelly all day and night for a few weeks to try to find the encryption-algorhitm. Finally, it looked like I had found the key so I connected myself to the satellite again and catched up the new packets with information only to reailize that they were written in english. I assumed that it was NASA whom talked to spaceships and satellites, but the texts were more complex and I began to realize that what I had discovered was some alien system. The Martian Army System. They have a wavelength where they send out their data and the satellite had probably just hooked up on it by accident.
When I had cracked the encryption-key could I read and send data to the system, I was standing before the next big problem: how should I be able to get into it without having any idea what kind of operating system it was, possible open gates in and so on." He took a paus. "I hope you can follow because I have a habit to get too technical sometimes."
"It's okay." Modo said before Vinnie had a chance to say anything.
"Well, the choices I had was either to load some program to repeatly attack the login sector using different attacks. It's effective but visible. My other choice was to try to catch up incoming signals on that wavelength and see if I could find a login. Snatched up one the same day, broke into the mainframe and began to make myself at home. It was easy."
"Huh! Beginner's luck!" said Vinnie.
"Enough!" Frank stepped up and nailed the white mouse with his eyes. Vinnie fell down on the floor and held his head with both hands.
"Hurts doesn't it? I told you to shut up. Understand?! SHUT! UP! Okay?"
The awful headache disappeared as fast as it had come into Vinnie's head. The mouse shot a toxic look at Frank that said you're gonna pay for this pal!
"That was only a warning, I can do much worse if I wish so keep quiet and listen before you piss me off again."
Vinnie sat down and fought an urge to strangle the man in front of him. Frank noticed it but ignored him and sat down.
"Shall we continue now? All set?"
"Go on." Charley was interested in the story, she wanted to hear the end.
"Skipping all the details, let us just get to the point that McDann is behind the bad security in your networks. Unfortunally, for him, I found his private folders with his diaries and logbooks. I read them of course, it was amazing."
"And?" Throttle asked.
"Well...it was horrible. I can't find any better word for it. He had lists over people who were going to be assassinated or jailed, as if I had dived into some old magazine with the Schutz Staffel's lists from the 30s and 40s."
"Uh, Schutz Staffel?"
"Yea, SS, you know, Adolf Hitler's private elite-army."
"Uuh, okay…" Modo looked puzzled.
"There were also documents over his affairs with the Plutarkians. He has been selling your planet out for years and got real wealthy at the same time."
"McDann is a big and important leader. How can we be sure that you're making it up?" Modo wondered.
"You can't be sure. I can't prove anything as things are right now. I haven't expected you to believe this, there are very sensetive secrets."
He took a pause before he continued.
"Many of the documents also involved other plants such as Earth. He has planned to invade some places on this planet and gain valuable minerals, metals and similar things. Back then, as the teenage I was, it scared the hell out of me. I left without cleaning up my visit properly, that's my biggest mistake ever but I just wanted to get out of it. My nightmare begun."
"What nightmare?" asked Charley.
"Since I didn't clean up my traces as should could they see that someone had been sneaking into the most sensitive areas. They tracked me down. After all, I knew that McDann let the Plutarkians into the system to get all info about the FF's and army's movement, that's why you never could win the war. They were always one step before you, the only thing that prevented you from a total failure is that you're such awesome fighters.
But I wasn't, so when they finally attacked my little lanky house, I was not prepared.
"What happened?" asked Charley when she noticed the pause in the story.
"It was a friday afternoon and I was alone as usual. I had a hard time to make friends as you surely can remember." He practically begged for her eye-contact and got it. "I had some pets back then, three budgies and two rabbits. My best friends. I was in the kitchen trying to make a dinner when the door exploded with a load noice. I whirled around and dropped the stuff I had in my hands at the sight of the martians who pointed their guns at me and then he came walking inside, McDann. The old butcher, with a grin that could be the grimreaper's. I recognized him immediately and he kinda recognized me too. I remember what he said…
'So my boy, we meet again don't we? I had NO idea that it was you who was in and fingered on our secrets! Actually, I thought we just had some idiotic Earthling to deal with, how wrong one can be huh?'
I didn't reply because I was kind of stunned. Seeing HIM after all those years was the biggest shock. I'd never thought they would be able to find me again. He went on: 'You got away last time, unbelievable, but this time you won't my boy, prepare for the fall.'
One of the soldiers chained my hands and dragged me outside. I wondered why the others dawdled until the first flame exploded through one of the windows. The others came walking out of the house before it was covered by the flames.
I could hear the pets scream inside, then all that was sounding was the raging fire. All I had had vanished and McDann laughed sardonic at my despair."
He got silent, stared on the floor with a grave and tortured face-expression as he remembered the losses. Nobody said anything until he continued.
"It was a very heavy loss, the biggest after my parents. Especially the loss of the pets. You know, when you have them for long do you develop a close relationship even if they are just animals. Their precense meant much to me and watching and hearing them die like that was the most crushing of all, I couldn't believe anyone could be so cruel towards them who had done nothing.
What I though didn't matter to the martians who had come to get me, they dragged me down to a spaceship and left. Once again, I was a prisoner and the travel ended on your homeplanet where I was put into custody.
It seemed like I had reached the end and there was no possible chance that I could have fleed, but I did. Since I am not really human do I possess sides normal humans don't. You got a demonstration recently. Well, I was shocked when I arrived and they put me into a cell, but when I came to my senses I got an adrenaline rush and something clicked in my head. Honestly, I can't remember what happened, all I know is that I found myself running into the desert against a safe dry death."
"How did you survive out there?" Throttle couldn't help but wonder, even their most professional scouts couldn't stand the deserts for longer than two or maybe even three days.
"Good question. Normally doesn't anyone survive there without water for more than one or maximum two days. But I ran into that abandoned laboratory the same day. They must have left it in hurry or else they hadn't left so much of the working things. Actually, it was pretty complete and working. Even had a rather big water-reservoir so I could go on for a few months. Also found packet food to eat. Monotonous alright but I had no choice if I wanted to live so I stuffed it into my mouth by force three times ó day."
He made a grimace of disgust.
"Since I have this natural talent for building things had I the fusion-generators repaired so I got electricity at last, it solved most of my other problems when I could begin to use their transporters to go back to Earth and get different things to eat, but I swore that time would I get my revenge. Times went on and the place had grown into a hi-tech lab, I discovered an interesting dimension I named XZ-451. All dimensions have names and numbers, this one was undiscovered so I had to name it so I could refer to it if needed.
McDann was still chasing me but had no clue where I was, so he called those witch-sisters Virekka and Zuel for help, they are from the Andromeda stars. He actually won their confidence and somehow explained that I was a dangerous madman he needed to stop, that I had murdered lots of his citizens etc etc etc. I should have known that he was aware of me watching their databases, he put up false information about the witches and I did the fatal mistake to invite that Zuel for a talk about his lies. Of course, she believed I lied and got pissed off. Very badly pissed, so I got to choose between saving my life and get rid of her or let her kill me. I choosed the first and tricked her into the dimension portal.
Then I began to blackmail Virekka and you know the rest."
Frank leaned back and look relieved.
"It's been taking a long time, but that's the story gentlemen."
The mice and Charley were quiet for a moment.
"Hm. That's an interesting story and I just hope you're telling the truth, cause if you aren't, you'll be worse than dead." said Throttle in his usual calm, thinking voice.
"YOU can't do anything to me, so save you threats for someone else. Why do you think I'm here? Why do you think I'm here to warn you? You know too much. We all do."
"I'm not threatening you, I'm telling you the facts. If you are wrong, Triuc McDann will kill you for spreading such horrible lies about him. If you aren't, we all are in great danger."
"No shit Sherlock." Frank sounded scornfully for the first time. "We're deeply into it already and I am not scared it's going to get worse, only worried for my fellows' safety. He rushes over everything to get to me. Do you two remember when I disappeared last time?" He asked and looked at Charley and Throttle.
"Yes, so?"
"Ever wondered where I went?"
"I did." Charley confessed, the mice looked uninterested.
"I ended up on an island in the Indian Ocean, lived there for eleven months in peace with only animals around me. I got a chance to find myself and think, consider what to do and not to. Then, it was done again. McDann somehow found me AGAIN and though I tried to hide in the forrest was I catched like a rat." He sighed. "He also attended to show me their new destruction-machine called Matrix. It turns living coal into silicon. They used it to totally destroy the whole island I had lived on, when it was finished nothing was left. Not even a blade of grass."
"He couldn't do that!" Charley exclaimed, imagining deer and birds turned to silicon and killed.
"Yes, he can! He he does it. Compassion has never existed in his world, he is the worst kind of tyrant. A real Hitler, a real Stalin whose goal is to enslave as many persons as possible and destroy all enemies."
"Oh, my god..." Charley was unable to stand the image of death that kept appearing in front of her.
"Now has McDann hurt me for the last time, next time I meet him he's going to die by my hand, even if it cost me my own life!" Frank's eyes flashed.
"No! We cannot do it like that, we must be wiser than him!" Modo interposed.
Frank looked at the grey with a horrible grin.
"Let's see if you can stop me, when we've got him! IF we ever get to him that is."
Mrs. Davidson entered the room and interrupted them.
"The dinner has been finished a long time ago now. Time to come and eat!"
"Come on." Charley said. "Mom cooked something that smells real good! We can decide all of this after we have eaten."
Her mother had made a soup for dinner and they all sat down around the table.
Frank sat side by side with Charley he said with a fair smile: "French onion-soup. It was a very long time ago since I ate something home-made actually."
"Well, if you hadn't messed around in NASA's satellites had you been able to taste it sooner." Charley said.
"I know. But then, if I hadn't broken into the systems, maybe many more mice would be dead and you wouldn't know anything about it. Remember that Triuc McDann doesn't care about if anyone dies."
"From what I heard from you, he is a tyrannical little creep!"
"Right. The only difference between him and Hitler is that little mustache."
"Hm, well, can we talk about this later? I really wanna sink my spoon into that soup!" Vinnie pleaded.
Frank sipped on the soup and said smiling: "Tastes excellent."
"That's my mom!" Charley beamed proudly.
They continued to eat in a grave silence and Charley looked at Frank who had sunk into deep thoughts.
I wonder if he's thinking of anything but how to destroy McDann.
Suddenly he raised the head, looker her into the eyes, then he looked at three mice and said: "Stupid me! I almost forgot to say, you have to forgive for my behavior last time we met. I really wish I could do something to make it undone."
"Um, that's okay, you're forgiven." Throttle assured before anyone else could say something stupid.
"He doesn't think so." Frank muttered and threw a glance at Vinnie
"He will, once he understands."
Frank snorted and was about to say something when a load bang from the front-door interrupted him.
Six martian army-mice rushed into the kitchen, armed to the teeth.
"Shit!"
"Throw all weapons to the floor!" One of the soldiers ordered.
"What did I tell you! I am no liar!" Frank said to them.
"SHUT UP EARTHLING!" one mouse yelled.
The attacking mice put some sort of energy handcuffs on the three mice, Charley and her mother.
"Please, it's me you want to. Let the other go. They have nothing to do with this."
"Too late, dear Frank have to understand that I can't let them live now, when you have told them the truth. I.e. you have signed their death sentences." Triuc McDann chuckled as he entered the kitchen.
"Oh, SO bad of us to break the perfect peace in here." he said, playing said. "Naughty naughty McDann!"
"SO IT REALLY WAS YOU!?" Throttle yelled in rage.
"Yes, who else? But does it matter to you now? You're all going to be terminated anyway. I think the back yard here is good enough for that."
"Huh?" Charley got out.
"Are you surprised earthling?" he said and put his hand under her chin. "Aren't you smart enough to guess that I'm going to let my soldiers shoot you, except for Streds here..." he turned to Frank. "I'll please myself this evening to burn you to death over a slow fire! Okay, time to take care of you five." he pointed at the mice bros, Charley and her mother.
"You! You...!" Charley was so mad she was at a loss for words.
"Yeah, like the pretty lady said, you don't deserve to exist!" Vinnie growled.
"Aww, keep your big mouth shut for ONE time, Vincent van Wham. You have never showed too much intelligence and you couldn't do anything when Mace captured Harley and transported her to me!"
"Harley? What did you do to her?"
"Oh nothing. Forced her to create the Matrix, I think Mr. Elite here has told you about it. I gave her an ultimatum, work for me or an execution. She is pretty smart after all and is now one of my private scientists. Enough with the nice chit-chat. You better enjoy your last minutes in this world."
Charley gave Frank a quick look only to see that he was staring at McDann with eyes were filled with more hate than any mortal possible could generate.
"Oh quit it monkey! You know you can't save them!" McDann cackled but then the laugh turned into a scream when he fell to the floor holding his head. The soldiers were affected by the same thing and joined the screaming.
Frank grabbed the remote control for the handcuffs and released the two women and three mice as fast as he could.
"Must get out of here! I can't keep them like that for much longer!" He hissed and ran outside followed by the others.
On the field outside stood the martians spaceship parked and opened.
"Quick, in there!" Charley yelled pointing at the ship and they all ran up to it when another crowd of martian surprised them.
The only choice they had was to run in the different direction. Throttle whistled loadly and soon the three bikes appeared on the hill. Modo offered Charley's mother a seat behind, Charley sat down behind Vinnie and Frank behind Throttle.
"Let's get out of here!" Charley screamed with laserrays shooting above her head. On topspeed, the bikes rounded behind the hillsides and attacked the attackers with wonderful precision as usual.
"We can't stay here and going back to Chicago is out of the question! They will trace the bikes whereever they go!" Frank explained when the soldiers were knocked out.
"Yeah, I know. But where should we go?" Throttle said and turned his head, looking at him.
"Mars, my laboratory. We all need the things we need up there. It'll be safe for a while anyway and gives us a short while to take a break. Then we could contact the witches and you could try to convince them to give us a helping hand before McDann do the same thing."
"We CAN'T go to Mars! And we can't stay here.."
"Why not? That's our last chance!"
"Right!" Throttle confirmed and nodded.
"But, Virekka is gonna kill you!" Charley let out.
"Well, it's better that they kill me and you are safe than that I am alive and have your lives on my conscience!"
"Don't say that!" yelled Charley, who began to understand his situation. "No one deserves that!"
"That's not really true. I can survive this too with a little piece of luck, HURRY!"
"Okay, you're the man!" Throttle said. "Only, what are we going to do?"
"The ship is probably empty now so we return to it and take off immediately. It will take McDann a few hours to contact Mars and get a new ship. We'll have a short time."
"So let's do that! Only, what's Mrs. Davidson gonna do?"
"I have no idea. No idea. She's not safe here."
"Well, we can't take her with us!" said Charley and Frank looked at her.
"I don't know...but maybe...maybe she could hide in your garage...or wait here until McDann and the others have left?"
"Hm, I think we should hide her somewhere."
"I saw a small little house in the forest over there. Some kind of old garage. Maybe that would make a good hiding place?"
"Could be, let's try that." Throttle said.
"We should ask HER about what she thinks." Frank commented.
"Mom?" Charley turned to her mother.
"Well, I'll just be in the way for you and that garage is good enough to live in, I can hide there no problems."
"Done, then."
They rode to the edge of the forest and Mrs. Davidson got off Modo's bike and looked at them all.
"Okay, thank you, now go! Save the world!"
The mice nodded and Frank was quiet.
"Charlene." she called her daughter.
"Huh?"
"Take care of yourself! And take care of them..." her mother said in a loving voice.
"What about you?"
"Don't care about me, I'll be just fine here. Go, you have got a duty to perform."
"I'm sorry for pulling you into this chaos, Mrs. Davidson..." Frank apologized lowly.
"It's okay, I'll be fine." she answered and smiled weakly.
"I hope I'll see you again."
"Why not?" she said and started heading away.
"We have to hurry!" Frank told Throttle. "Before McDann and the others wake up!"
"Right! Let's go!"
They took of to the spaceship that still looked deserted and entered.
"All mice are gone, this is our chance!" Frank said and hurried up to the control room with Charley behind.
"Can you fly this thing?"
"Yes, I know. Not too hard to learn." He answered and pushed a few buttons. The spaceship's gates closed and the engines began to heat up.
"All that remains now is to type in the right position and the currently time on Mars." He started to type on the keyboard. "There we go, all done. I also cut off all radio-signals and links from the ship so nobody will trace us. We should be on Mars in half an hour or so."
"Are you sure it'll work?" Throttle asked, not without a little worry in his husky voice.
"Positive."
"Okay." Throttle said walking off.
"Look here Charlene." Frank said and pressed the computer's keyboard. "If you wanna see some of McDann's secret documents can I load some."
"Yes, do it. I really want to see what that creep had written."
Her old school-friend connected to a server somewhere on Earth.
"Just let's hope I haven't been kicked out from this one, I can't say that I own this one." He said and typed in a login but it seemed to work. "Alright, now we download the documents. Finished! Just lemme log out."
"Alright, so what do you want to see?"
"Can you show me some of the documents you read when you found these?"
"Which subject? There're a lot to choose between"
"Can you open, like, his...um, diary? Like a schedule of what he did and he's going to do?"
"No problems, here we go. Here it is."
Charley read the text. Line after line. The documents were very carefully written and well planned.
"What do you say Charlene? I told you."
"I know now, and I guess that, deep inside, I didn't believe you until they came into the house." she answered quietly.
Frank hid his face in his hands and said: "I'm so sorry...I have done so many dumb things to you all. Why did I do them? Why, why?"
"You did what you did, can we forget about that for some time? We have more important things to take care of."
"You're right. You were right on the collage too Charlene...when you told me to not be so depressive, you remember that?"
She tried to recall: "Yeah...I remember..."
He was silent for a while a remembered old times, then said:
"Well, it will be about 30 minutes before we reach our destination."
"We will be ready." said Throttle, who just had entered the controlroom.
Frank looked at Charley, looked deep into her eyes, but he couldn't keep eye contact.
With a fast move did he turn his head away. He also saw Vinnie's look at her and sighed again.
Vinnie didn't like what he saw and walked up to Charley.
"Is he annoying you, babe?"
"No, that's okay...only, don't call me babe because I am not!"
Modo recognized Charley's new reaction, and he saw the look Frank gave her.
He had a feeling that there was something going on between those two earthlings.
"Leave her alone Vincent. Frank will not hurt her, you should understand that by now."
"Hm, would you like to come over here and say that?" Vinnie snapped.
"Chill out bro!" Throttle was annoyed by Vinnie's behavior. "You don't own Charley. She does whatever she wants. Stop watching her!"
"Aaeh, shut up!"
"Vinnie, PLEASE act like a grown ma...mouse!" Charley muttered.
Frank didn't say anything. He was into very deep thoughts and it had surprised Charley if he had heard anything of the conversation.
"Yeah, sure, hon, whatever." Vinnie said in an egoistic voice.
Charley walked over to Frank.
"What are you thinking? You're so quiet."
"Um,huh, what? Well..." he answered. "I'm thinking of Carbine...I hope she's all right... But WAIT, I can check her out in the registers."
He quickly turned around, went to the computer again and worked a few secs.
"Okay...here we go...Ouh! This is NOT good!"
"What happened?" asked Charley worried.
"Well...it looks like she is missing...and a special warship too...hmm, that War ship contains a kind of transporter. No, not good at all."
"That ship wouldn't happen to be named Gallean, would it?" asked Throttle.
"I'm afraid it is"
Throttle got a scared expression on his face.
"What is that?" asked Charley.
"Um, well, actually I'm one of the few people who know about it and I'm not supposed to tell..." he started, but then he saw everyone's faces and sighed.
"It's a special kind of ship. Even Carbine doesn't know about it. I got the information by an event, I can't tell you about. Anyway, that ship has the ability...or at least they think it does. No one wants to risk their life to test it. The ability to jump into different parts of space in seconds, only it needs a mind to control it. It is not part of our technology so the teleporter, as we call it, because we don't know how it works, cannot be controlled by our technology, only combined with it. And it needs some extremely strongminded and intelligent creature to control it."
"And you think that she's in there?" Charley asked Frank.
"Yes." he answered. "I don't believe in accidents. Hmm...they have some settings in that machine. Here I have some codes. We can decode them in my lab, and maybe find out where she is. We'll be on Mars in about 5 minutes."
"Great!" said Vinnie in a noncaring voice.
Frank looked at him.
"Are you sulking over anything Mr. Vincent?"
"Hm, listen pal, you wanna know what it feels like to have my fist in your face?" Vinnie was getting out of control again.
"Go ahead then muscleboy, just hit me."
"Too inferior!"
"Right. So you've finally decided to shut up for a while. And, may I add, don't threat me."
"Not any more!" said Vinnie and gave Frank a hard punch so he fell to the floor.
"That'll teach ya!"
Frank got up from the floor quicker than anyone had expected, with the anger glowing in the eyeglobes did he run into the white mouse, grabbed him around the neck and threw Vinnie into the floor with a resounding bang.
"The payment is reciprocated, pal!" Frank said while brushing some dust off his clothes.
Vinnie was about to get up and attack Frank again but this time did Charley block.
"Hey, sweetie, why are you trying to protect the scum?"
"We do not need fights inside of the team, Vinnie, please stop. And DON'T call me 'darling'!"
"Step aside Charlene. I will get take him on." Frank said.
"No!" she said sternly turning to him. "No fights!"
"Okay. I'll forgive you for this time punk!" Frank said to Vinnie, and his voice was now calm and cold.
"Huh!"
Modo and Throttle had watched the little scene and they didn't like what they saw. They knew that this could make problems in a sensitive situation. But, what could they do about it actually?
Talking to Vinnie wouldn't help and Frank probably woldn't listen to anyone but Charley.
She turned to him and asked gently "Are you hurt?"
"Nah, nothing important is broken anyway."
He gave Vinnie a quick gaze who looked as a thunder-cloud in the face.
Charley looked at him too and thought: "He is so jealous that he's about to explode."
Frank ignored Vinnie and said: "The ship is starting to take us down. We will be on the ground in half a minute."

The pinkish smoke slowly dissipated into the frigid air and the ship just stood there, unmoving, perfectly landed and unharmed.
Inside it a still form laid. It hadn't moved for as long as it was there.
Suddenly a coughing sound filled the tiny cockpit and Carbine sat up in her seat and looked around.
The more her eyes got used to the sudden bright light, the more what she saw felt strange and remote to her.
She looked deep and far, but saw nothing but the bare, yellowish landscape.
Then she tried to turn the controls back on, but they didn't listen, just remained there.
"RRAAAWW!" she screamed and hit the panel as hard as she could and shattered it.
A few seconds after she realized what she had done, a tear rolled down her face.
She waited a few minutes and tried to calm down and grab the situation properly, then she opened the door and climbed out.
Climbing down the ship she figured out why the ground was so level, the moment her foot touched it, the shoe melted and she started sinking.
Immediately, she pulled her foot out, but the shoe's outer and protective layer was already gone.
She looked down at where the ship touched the ground to see how it keeps from sinking and realized the strangest thing: the ship wasn't actually touching the surface, but levitating steadily right above it.
While she was looking over the desert she saw something, a sudden move.
"Carbine!"
Carbine's jaw dropped. Virekka came flying over the desert on some sort of a strange purplish bird.
"Dear Carbine, WHAT are you doing here? This is Andromeda, and NOT a place for mortal creatures. How did you end up here?"
" Virekka! Well...it's so...I don't know how to say this. It's sooo complicated, but Frank..."
"Frank?! EXCY!" Virekka's said curious. "What has he done now? "
"No NO NO!" Carbine said quickly. "He hasn't done anything...but he was captured by the Martian Army...and I released him."
"You did WHAT?"
"Um, I...freed him..."
"Bu...but, why?"
"Because...I had to..."
"Why? What happened?" asked Virekka getting off of her bird and stepping on the ship.
"Um, he's different now. He changed somehow..." said Carbine.
"What? What do you mean? Explain that please."
"Well, it looks like he's really not evil. He is just a victim of Triuc McDann's evil desires."
"Excy can NEVER be not evil."
"But Virekka, you have to understand. Triuc McDann is the one who has destroyed his life. Frank is not evil."
"Hm, okay, go on, I won't interrupt you."
Carbine started to tell her about when Triuc came back with Frank captured. How he had hit Frank, his threat and all other things she had heard.
"So... you know what?" said Virekka when Carbine was finished.
"What?"
"I think you are lying, girl."
"What? Why WOULD I!?" Carbine said upset.
"But, you see, your life is in my hands right now. I can push you and you will die in acid. So, be a good girl, and tell me what really happened."
Carbine looked in the blue female creature in her eyes.
"You REALLY think I'm lying about all this? I wonder WHY you think so. I have told you the truth and have nothing else to say. If you don't WANT me to make a lie and tell a false story which would be more comfortable to you."
"Triuc McDann would NEVER do something like that, ya know!"
"I'm surprised Virekka! If you saw how he treated Frank, and heard what he did with that island. You would hate him too. I can't really believe that he has manipulated YOU."
"NO ONE MANIPULATES ME!" Virekka thought, but said: "Well, you weren't there, so you don't know exactly what happened. Maybe Excy is just saying that to get out of trouble, you don't know that."
"Call him Frank instead, he does't want to be called Excy anymore. WHY did Triuc hit him when he told me about the island and that Matrix? If you saw the expression in Triuc's face, when Frank told me that, you wouldn't doubt."
"Pardon, did you just say MATRIX?" Said Virekka and he face expression changed suddenly.
"Matrix." Carbine repeated.
"As in a mercury-like form of nano-machines that converts all matter to silicon?" she asked, her face looked scared.
"Yes. That was what Frank said. Triuc used it to capture him, and then destroyed the island Frankie had escaped to."
"Are you SURE that Triuc was the one to use it?"
"Who else...he was the leader for that mission."
"And do you also know where he got it?"
"No, I don't know that. Maybe one of his private scientists created it."
"Like who?"
"I don't know, really. I don't know. He never told me about his scientists."
"Any ideas?"
"Maybe it was be the scientist Terrence, or maybe Kickstart, maybe Harley..."
"Wait, let me see..." said Virekka and put her palm on her forehead, closing her eyes. She stayed like that for about five seconds, then opened here eyes again.
"Nope, too great of a distance, can't see anything." she said, almost sorry.
"You have to help me. I can't return to Mars. I don't know what this place is. I was trying to find Throttle on Earth, but ended up here instead."
"Well, I can help you with SOME of that. First of all, this place is called Andromeda. Second of all, I MAY be able to help you with returning, but I have to get back here soon, so I can't help you help them." she said.
"Virekka, I think we need your help anyway. This is bigger than you know. Frank told me about how many mice have died and dies because of McDann. You have to help us. I don't know if we can stand against his powers alone."
"Hm, you know what? I'll have to come with you anyway to get you back, but once we get there I'll get a better look at the situation and we'll see, okay?"
"Thanks. Maybe you're our savior again." Carbine answered. "But, how are we going to travel back to Earth?"
"How did you get here?"
"I guess it was the ship that transported me here. I don't know what kind of ship it is, but I went unconscious."
Virekka thought for a while, then she got into the cabin and looked at the dead controls. She turned to Carbine. "What did you press?"
"Um, that!" said Carbine, pointing at the switch.
"Okay, get in." said Virekka, and Carbine got in the back seat. Virekka pushed the switch up and closed the door.
Suddenly pink smoke appeared from nowhere, the light was blocked and Carbine fell unconscious.
The ship shook a bit and ripped out, going at impossible speeds.

To be continued...