Being the most rested out of the two of them, Charlie woke first, uncurling from around Vinnie and stretching. She glanced at the clock display and was surprised to find it was now three in the afternoon. A warning bell went off in her head and she tried to puzzle over why she should be alarmed at this news. The relevant information kindly made an appearance and filled in the blanks.
"The plane! Vinnie, the plane!" Charlie cried, scrambling off the bed and quickly shoving clothing into her suitcase, heedless of whether it was hers, or Vinnie's.
"You've missed it, Tattoo" a droll voice said from the corner of the dark room.
Charlie froze and turned toward the source of the voice. A figure leant against the door frame, pearly white teeth set in a cocky grin, eyes glancing approvingly over the mechanic's frame.
"How you doing gorgeous lady?" the unannounced visitor asked, walking towards her.
Charlie was dimly aware she was still in a state of undress but she didn't spare another thought for it as she launched herself at the visitor. Seizing the mouse in a hug, she laughed with joy at being reunited with her Martian friend.
"Carbine, how did you get in here? More to the point, how did you find us?" Charlie asked, motioning at a chair to the Martian and slipping on a pair of briefs and tank-top.
The Martian raised an eyebrow in surprise. "As to how did I find you, it wasn't hard considering you left your whole itinerary at the garage in case the boys got back early. As to how I got into your room, I learnt to bypass locks early on when I when I realised something about male freedom fighters."
"What's that?" Charlie prompted, curious to know.
"They are extremely sexist! Not every single woman is cut out to be a wrench jockey, and I for one was not going to stay home and darn socks while the boys were out having all the fun!"
Charlie grinned at the image of the feisty General, needle poised, ready to attack a misbehaving item of clothing.
"When did you get back?" Charlie asked, moving onto the next question she had.
"Yesterday evening. Throttle and Modo wanted to surprise you both and pick you up from the airport but when you didn't show, they went into major panic mode and went to make Swiss cheese out of Limburger's building, convinced he had captured you and was forcing you to smell his fishy armpits as some sort of sadistic torture." The visitor's voice was amused as it continued. "I tried telling them you probably just decided to stay an extra day, but they were too busy hollering 'rock n ride' to listen. So while they went off to frighten ole fish guts, I decided to do the logical thing and come looking for you here."
"Limburger is back?" Charlie asked in dismay.
Carbine smiled regretfully. "Not yet, but our Intel say says he will be soon.
Vinnie mumbled something in his sleep and began sucking his thumb. Their visitor cocked an eyebrow in the sleeping beauty's direction and snorted.
"Universe's Greatest Lover, my ass!" the Carbine mocked. At Charlie's questioning look, she merely shrugged. "That's what he crowned himself at college, claimed he could 'go the distance' all night."
Charlie rolled her eyes. "That sounds like our Vinnie."
"And talking about Vinnie, do you want to explain how this all happened? I get the general picture, but I want to know all the dirt."
"Namely?" Charlie asked, not sure she was ready to recount the weekend's embarrassing series of events.
"He any good?" Carbine asked, waggling her eyebrows.
"Alright, who are you and what did you do with the real Carbine!" Charlie demanded teasingly, laughing at the General's uncharacteristic audaciousness.
Carbine grinned. "I'm off duty sweetie, I save the hard core bitch routine for the grunts. Till I slip back into that uniform, you'll only be getting the real Carbine."
"I like what I've seen so far!" Charlie replied, enjoying this unseen, more relaxed side of her friend.
"Glad to hear it" Carbine said, giving her a saucy wink that caused Charlie to choke with laughter.
Charlie turned serious all of a sudden, looking pleading at the general. "Carbine, would you mind not mentioning this to Throttle and Modo? I know it's a lot to ask but I don't know how I'm going to broach the subject just yet, and I need some time to think."
Carbine smiled reassuringly at her. "My lips are sealed sweety. And that reminds me, we'd better get a move on. Got to get you back before my beloved and brother-in-law-to-be pull Chi-town apart looking for you."
"Brother-in-law-to-be? You mean…"
"Yep, got engaged on Mars. I wasn't going to let him leave Mars without some kind of promise that he'd be back, so I set an ultimatum."
"I'm so happy for you, Carbine!" Charlie exclaimed, before frowning. "But I can't believe you got engaged without us around!" she protested.
"Sorry honey, spur of the moment thing. But I could say the same thing about you!" Carbine reminded her.
Charlie turned beet red and mumbled something about not being able to hold her liquor like she used to.
Carbine laughed long and loud, startling the slumbering mouse awake. He sat up and called Charlie's name, blinking rapidly as he focused on Carbine.
"Who you?" he asked incoherently.
"Rise and shine Cadet!" Carbine ordered in a gruff voice.
Vinnie's body reacted before his brain did and he was already halfway out of bed before Charlie was across the bed and wrestling him back down again.
"CAN'T WE JUST CUDDLE!" he shrieked in morbid fear.
"Carbine's here and you're still naked!" Charlie hissed at him.
Carbine bowled over backwards in the chair, in absolute hysterics. Vinnie scowled in her direction but took the clothes offered by Charlie. He continued to scowl as he demanded to know why the General was in their room.
"In short, the bros are back, looking for us and we've missed our flight so Carbine is giving us a lift back" Charlie explained as she finished putting their luggage together, periodically throwing items at Vinnie to pack. Carbine helped where she could, resisting the opportunity to tease Vinnie for Charlie's sake.
When they had checked the room for any miscellaneous items, they joined Carbine in the lift and headed out of the hotel foyer and to the ship. Charlie expected to have to hail a taxi, thinking Carbine would have parked it well out of sight but got the shock of her life to find the ship parked squarely in front of the hotel.
"Stoker couldn't find any scoreboards around" Carbine quipped at Charlie's flabbergasted expression. "Hey relax, people thought it was some sort of stunt for the hotel."
She ushered them inside the ship, showed them where they could sit and settled herself in the pilot's chair. Activating the com, she buzzed Stoker until she got a reply. "Stoke, I've got them. Meet you on board."
The com ended and they waited patiently, the women making idle chit-chat and catching up, while Vinnie spent the time glaring suspiciously at the pain killer bottle. Shrugging, he asked Carbine if he could use the ship's kitchenette. He found a root beer sitting in the cooler and opened it, popping four more of the tablets into his mouth before taking a swig of the soda.
Vinnie returned to his seat and felt the now recognizable lethargy wash through his body. In a few minutes he was once again sweating profusely, and a strong musky odour filled the ship's bridge.
Charlie paused in her conversation with Carbine and sniffed the air.
"Can you smell that?" she asked Carbine, taking another sniff.
Carbine sniffed the air and a strong tang of pure masculinity assaulted her nose.
Both women turned toward Vinnie.
Noticing he was the centre of their attention, his brow crinkled. "What?" he asked in bewilderment.
The women didn't respond verbally, but they unbuckled themselves in haste and their faces took on a predatory look as they started to stalk Vinnie. They didn't fight each other, but worked as a team, much as a family of lionesses will in hunting prey.
Vinnie, realising he was in big trouble, bolted from his chair, ran into one of the ship's passenger cabins and locked the door. He looked anxiously round for something to defend himself with. Spotting the room's com, he dialled Stoker's number, begging him to answer.
"Almost there Carbs!" a cheerful voice greeted him.
"Stoker!" a relieved Vinnie cried.
"Punk?" Stoker asked, surprised to hear the panicked young male on the other end of the com. "What's wrong? The ladies turn you down again?" he teased.
"I wish! Coach, they're trying to sexually harass me! Hurry, they need to be sedated or something!"
There was silence on the other end before Stoker's voice came back on, sounding lethal. "Punk, you'd better be serious about this. I won't have you saying things like that about Charlene or Carbine!"
"Coach, believe me, I wish I was joking!" Vinnie said, nearly in tears from trying to convince Stoker he wasn't playing some horrible prank. Outside the cabin, loud wrenchings could be heard, the sound of metal being pulled from metal. Feral growls drifted through the door as a crack appeared, and then widened.
A groan of metal and a loud snap echoed over the com, followed by male screams. Stoker accelerated from a fast walk to a flat out run, pulling his laser from its holster.
Charlie was first through the door, Carbine hovering back as if sensing Charlie's original right of claim. Vinnie climbed onto the bunk of the cabin to put distance between himself and the two women but Charlie climbed up onto the bunk and moved toward the cornered mouse, grinning the whole time.
"Come play with us Vinnie!" she cooed, moving slowly toward him.
Carbine moved to the other side and they sandwiched Vinnie in the middle of the bunk. Unspoken signals passed between the two females and they moved simultaneously, launching themselves from parallel projections at Vinnie.
A blast from the doorway hit Carbine first, a second soon following in Charlie's direction. They crumpled on top of Vinnie and he fell on top of the bunk under their combined weight.
"Vincent Van Wham, Baddest Mammajammer in the Universe, scared witless by two petite women!" Stoker said as he pulled Carbine off Vinnie, leaving him to deal with Charlie.
"One was bad enough old timer, I hardly want to tackle two of them!" Vinnie said, laying his wife on top of the bunk. He wiped the sweat off his brow and thanked his old mentor for saving his manhood.
"No sweat punk, I'll protect you from all the scary women out there, especially those evil little girl scouts."
"Ha-ha...Ass!" Vinnie muttered, strapping Charlie into the bunk. Stoker saw to Carbine and the two men returned to the bridge in silence. Stoker fired the ship up and made a typically male Martian take-off toward Chi-town, leaving gaping tourists staring at the sky in amazement.
Vinnie sat in the chair near Stoker and watched the scenery fly past. He refused to look at Stoker, who was scrutinising him every now and then from the corner of his eye.
"Want to talk about it, Punk?" his old mentor asked sympathetically.
Vinnie shook his head and folded his arms, staring resolutely out the ship's front screen. He mind was in a whirl as he tried to figure out what was happening to him. At least now he knew what was causing it. Changing his mind, he decided it wouldn't hurt to talk to Stoker about his problem.
"Stoke?"
"Yeah Rookie?"
"You still up for a chat?"
"I'm all ears" Stoker replied, waggling them to emphasise his point.
Taking a deep breath, Vinnie told him about the trip, beginning with when Charlie and he had first decided to go to Las Vegas. He skipped over parts he didn't want to tell the old freedom fighter, but left in enough detail so Stoker was biting his lip to stop him from laughing out loud.
"And you think the medication the doctor gave you is causing this aphrodisiac affect?" Stoker asked, disbelief in voice.
"Afro-d-sack…what?"
Stoker rolled his eyes at his subordinate's lack of familiarity with a dictionary. "You've been on this planet for years Vinnie and you're still as dumb as the day you were born. I thought you would know what aphrodisiac means, considering your obsession with the 'S' word!"
"What 'S' word? Stoker, you're losing me here!" Vinnie complained, trying to get his mentor back to the subject on hand, and off the totally inexplicable word game he wanted to play.
"S...E…X…" Stoker spelled for him.
"I AM NOT OBSESSED!" Vinnie bellowed, making a lunge at Stoker, remembering too late that he was belted in and winding himself against the restraints in the process.
Stoker rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, and I could win the Miss Universe competition!" he said sarcastically, batting his eyelids at Vinnie and blowing him a kiss.
"Not a chance old timer. One look at those hairy legs, and they'd send you right back to the zoo" Vinnie retorted wheezily, trying to breath through the pain caused by the restraints. He took a deep breath to add more insults but Stoker, noticing Vinnie was having trouble breathing, grinned to himself and quickly applied the ship's brakes, before hitting the thrusters a moment later. The effect caused Vinnie to slam into the restraints once again, resulting in another breathless period for the white windbag.
"Were you trying to say something punk?" Stoker asked, smiling innocently.
Vinnie only managed a wheeze or two, accompanied by a glarethat promised payback.
Stoker hummed under his breath and made a cheeky comment about 'how peaceful it was, and was Vinnie enjoying the quiet as much as he was?'
This was too much for the white Martian, who suddenly saw red. Unbuckling himself, he made a lunge for the older Martian, ignoring the fact they were several thousands of feet in the air. Stoker, caught by surprise, yelled at the younger mouse to stop but Vinnie wasn't listening. All the frustration, all the anger over the teasing he had received welled up inside of him and he reacted on pure instinct.
Between trying to stop Vinnie from choking him and keep the ship aloft, Stoker managed to work his laser free from its holster. Aiming, Stoker pulled the trigger, hoping to stun the younger mouse long enough to gain control of the ship. It had the desired effect as Vinnie's hands suddenly dropped from around Stoker's throat, his eyes crossed, a strange look came across his face and he fell to the floor.
"Serves you right punk, you should no better than to attack a pilot when he's flying a ship!" Stoker reprimanded him, fighting to bring the ship off its crazy flight path. When the ship drew level, Stoker turned slightly to check on Vinnie.
The younger mouse was curled in a ball, his hands tucked between his legs. Leaning closer, Stoker noticed two suspicious looking rivulets of water running from the corners of Vinnie's eyes.
"Hey now punk, I was just kidding!" Stoker said, patting the white mouse awkwardly on the shoulder. "I didn't know you were so sensitive about being a nymphomaniac, promise I won't tease you about it again."
Vinnie's eyes opened and he glared at Stoker. "I know what that word means Stoker!" he grated out between gritted teeth.
"Which word?" Stoker asked absently, his eyes straight ahead now as he saw their intended destination coming into view.
"Nymphomaniac!" Vinnie growled.
"And how, pray tell, would you know such a word even exists, oh my ignorant friend?"
"I overheard Charlie use it when she was talking to Carbine about some guy. She had to explain what it meant."
"You mean the girls were talking about you and you decided a little eavesdropping was in order."
"I wasn't eavesdropping, I was walking past the kitchen and happened to overhear a little of their conversation!" Vinnie protested.
"Uh huh, why don't you pull the other one punk, I'd like to have an even gait when I get off the ship today!"
Before Vinnie could come up with a scathing reply, soft footfalls could be heard coming toward him, stopping as he felt a presence pause close to the top his head.
"Vinnie, what are you doing?" Charlie's voice asked him.
Vinnie rolled onto his back, still cradling his hands between his legs. Caught off guard, he floundered around mentally for an explanation, not daring to tell his wife why he was currently in the position he was, and that he'd nearly caused early termination of their flight. "I'm…keeping my hands warm" he supplied lamely.
Charlie frowned, clearly not believing his explanation. "The truth Vinnie!" she insisted, but he only ducked his head into his chest and refused to look her in the eye. Exasperated, she stepped over her immobile mate to try and get some answers from Stoker. She stood at his side, waiting for him to acknowledge her.
Stoker turned and gave her a brilliant smile. "Hello beautiful!" he greeted her. "Feeling better?"
"Hi yourself Stoke" she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't suppose you want to explain why Carbine and I were strapped down in the cabin bunks, unconscious?" she asked.
"I stunned you both" Stoker said matter-of-factly, turning his gaze back to the ship's screen.
"Why?" Charlie said, refusing to be put off by this one sentence explanation.
Stoker bit his lip, glancing down at Vinnie. The white mouse shook his head from side to side frantically, pleading with the older mouse not to say anything.
"Sorry beautiful, not my place to say" Stoker said apologetically. Seeing the relief wash over Vinnie's face, Stoker couldn't resist getting in one more dig. "Ask the nympho if you want the full story!" he said, directing her with his eyes in Vinnie's direction.
Charlie turned back to her husband and stood over him, hands on her hips. "Vinnie, when we get home, we are going to have a long chat!" she promised him. Turning on her heel, she headed back to the cabin to check on Carbine.
Stoker looked down at Vinnie, who was still in the foetal position, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Better get strapped in rookie, we're going to be landing any minute" Stoker suggested.
"I'm fine" Vinnie said, refusing to budge from the floor.
"Your choice, I'm not going to baby you" Stoker said. He activated the com, alerting the other passengers of their impending arrival.
Charlie came racing back onto the bridge, skirted round Vinnie and quickly strapped herself into a free chair.
"How's the General?" Stoker said, allowing the ship to angle towards their landing point.
"A little groggy, but fine otherwise" Charlie replied, watching the screen. The architecture of Chi-town came into sharper focus as the ship approached the ground.
The ship banked sharply and then tilted frontwards, wrestling valiantly with gravity as its passengers were pulled forward against their restraints. Vinnie, the only one not belted in, slid toward the front of the bridge, still curled into a fur-ball (pun intended). He came to rest against the front of the ship, his legs braced against the metal wall.
Seeing what lay ahead, Charlie wasn't so sure she wanted to see the landing anymore. "Uh Stoke, isn't that the Quigley field scoreboard?" she asked hesitantly.
"Sure is beautiful lady!" he replied happily, a mad grin on his face.
Charlie closed her eyes and let out a less-than-polite word used for the act of procreation as the ship burnt a trail toward, and then through, the scoreboard. Fireworks followed the ship's progress into the scoreboard and the crowd watching the baseball game below went wild, thinking they were getting a free no-expense spared half-time show.