Biker Mice from Mars

Hard Luck Trilogy

Pt 3

What's His Frequency Karbunkle?

Chapter 3

It was Midnight in Chicago. It was an especially dark night too. The Stars and Moon, normally all but invisible even on a normal night due to all the city lights and normal pollution were now completely unable to shine thru all the dust and smoke hanging over the city like an oppressive blanket from all the heavy demolition work being carried out by the Limburger Industry Work Crews.

Plus, the Lights of the city blinking on and off like a demented pinball machine weren't helping to keep the darkness at bay either. Once again, the City had pretty much fallen for Limburger's line of Fish Baloney about the city power systems needing massive repairs. If anything could be said about Limburger, that was one Fish that had a golden tongue.

In the Quigley Stadium Parking Lot, 3 familiar motorcycles raced away into the dark city. Watching from the open loading door high up on the stadium wall, 3 figures watched them go. "I can't believe they left ME behind and they let Him take My BIKE!" Vinnie yelled while squirming around like a petulant little kid.

"It's your own fault Big Mouth!" Charley chided him while giving him her best You are and Idiot Vinnie Look. "You Almost got off the hook, but you just had to open your big mouth." Vinnie just turned and gave her his most innocent look. "Oh, come on Sweetheart, it was just a couple of jokes!" He explained, rather lamely. Even He didn't sound like he believed himself.

"Jokes?" She gasped. "You all but accused Modo's Little Brother of being a Traitor, and then insulted Throttle's ability to be the leader, yeah those were some jokes!" Vinnie fidgeted guiltily as he tried to think up an answer to this. "I mean, yeah, I mean no, but oh come on, you should be able to see the humor in it!" Charley just stared back at him with a disgusted look on her face, with just the slightest hint of a smile. She would never admit it to him, but she did love to watch him squirm like this.

"It isn't like I meant any of it, it was a joke!" He repeated, trying to convince both her and his self on his ill-worded jokes. The look she gave him pretty much let him know.

"Why don't you try to explain it to me again, I want to hear this. "She said with her arms crossed and taking a stance that looked like she was going to either bawl him out or laugh in his furry face, or both. Vinnie swallowed and quickly tried to think of how to say this without either of those things happening. He blew it.

"All I said was that with how the Little Blue Goofball screws everything up it as if he is helping Limburger and saying that the only smarts Throttle has right now are in his backside, that was just Funny!" He said while tilting his head and giving her his most disarming smile. He didn't stand a chance.

"I really should make you go sit in the corner." She said. "In fact, get back in your corner Squeaky!" and she pointed at the said corner.

"Aw, come on babe!" He whined. She just pointed to the corner again, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face this time.

Vinnie didn't miss the smile, and he took full advantage of it. "I am more than willing to go to My Corner, if you come with me, we could play Detention?" He said as he slowly edged closer to her. Charley's eyes grew as she watched him and started to step back but she wasn't fast enough. His tail whipped out and circled around her and he pulled her into a loose embrace.

They looked each other in the eyes. Charley's face turning a slight shade of red. Vinnie's smile grew and he leaned in closer. "If you don't like that game, we could always play something else, like Post Office?" He suggested while wiggling his one eyebrow playfully. "Or maybe Doctor and Nurse, you can be the Doctor!" He said while laying his charms on as thick as he could.

"I, I, uh, uhm…" Charley stammered as she weakly struggled against his arms and tail wrapped around her. He twirled his antenna around until they made a heart shape and he once more leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. "I've been bad, and I need to be… DISCIPLINED!" His Eyebrows wiggling naughtily.

Charley, her eyes nearly as big as saucers and her cheeks now a deep shade of red stared into his pink eyes. She took a deep breath and said. "Dently, if He isn't back in his corner in 5 seconds SIC HM!" The up until now, oddly built motorcycle had been quietly watching this display suddenly gunned its engine and jumped to defend his friend!

The Motorcycle revved its engine, making it sound like a growl and bounced up and down, and moved aggressively towards the White Furred Martian. "Hey, hey watch the boots, I just polished them!" Vinnie gasped as he let go of Charley and hopped away from Dently! "Good Boy." Charley said and affectionately patted him on his camera eye.

"No Fair, No Fair, your ganging up on me!" Vinnie yelled as he did a backflip up onto a table to escape the Wrath of Dently and keep the shine on his boots. "Oh, like if they had left your bike here instead of Dently, you two wouldn't be ganging up against me?" She shot back at him accusingly.

"Well yeah, but that would have been different!" He said back to her in what he hoped was a playful way. She didn't buy it and neither did Dently. "Corner Now!' She shouted while laughing. Dently helped get him in motion. A Metal Antenna shot up from his side and electrical bolts shot out, sending sparks flying around Vinnie's precious boots.

"Ouch, ouch stop it, I'm going, I'm going!" He bawled, as he hopped off the table and ran for His corner, but he didn't get there before Dently zapped him a couple of times on the tip of his tail and seat of his pants. "OUCH!" He bellowed as he took a flying leap to land on the stool in the corner.

"Ha, looks like you got some Smarts too!" She laughed. "Why don't you use them to think about what you did and keep those paws where I can see them, Mister!" Vinnie sat on his sore seat and tail and fidgeted while He rubbed his shocked tail and bottom. "Grr, everybody ganging up on me. It aint fair, I hate everybody." He angrily whispered under his breath as he stared into his corner.

Dently retracted his antenna and spun around and went and looked out the big open door into the dark city night. Charley walked over and stood by the odd machine and looked out with him. She put her hand on his tank and tried to comfort the emotional machine. "You don't need to worry about him, Modo and Throttle will look after him, they won't let anything happen, He will be fine." She said while trying to put as much comfort and confidence in her voice as she could.

Dently swiveled his camera up to look at her and weakly wagged his tail fender and he then turned and looked back out the doors. She got the impression he appreciated her sentiments, but he would still worry, nonetheless. Charley just smiled sadly at the funny machine and stood there and looked out the door with him. She could also do with a very cold root beer.

The 3 Mice in question were currently speeding down some of the side roads of Chicago. They were making their way into the Industrial section of the City. Especially the part where the rented warehouse that Limburger was using as his HQ was located.

"For Gosh Sakes Hard Luck, will you at least TRY To be Careful!?" Modo gasped as he rode alongside his Little Brother, who was wobbling all over the lane he was in. "I'm trying, I'm trying!" Hard Luck stammered as he fought for control of the Red Cycle, which was beeping exasperatedly at the way it was being driven.

"Whose bright idea was it that I ride Vinnie's bike and not Dently again?" Hard Luck whimpered as he wobbled around on Vinnie's red cycle, which was acting just as nervous and unhappy with this arrangement as Hard Luck was. Modo wanted to point out it was Throttles idea. A Two-part idea really. The First part is that Dently was not the stealthiest of machines as far as any of them could tell, and the 2nd part. To Teach Vinnie a lesson after the way he got mouthy in the hideout earlier.

"You NEED to Calm Down!" Modo suggested as calmly as he could, which was not easy. Hard Luck had almost fallen off the cycle twice now. Heck, He had fallen off once but Modo managed to catch him before he splattered all over the pavement.

"I can't help it, its been a really long time since I had to actually drive, uh I mean a really long time since I rode on another bike!" He gasped as he nearly clipped a passing truck.

"Just relax and try to be care… NOT THAT BUTTON!" Modo yelled! Hard Luck pulled his left paw back like it had been scalded! "Ahh, what button, what button, I didn't touch it, I won't touch it!" Hard Luck gasped!

"It was nothing, don't worry about it, it was just the button for the… rear…missile...launcher." Modo weakly stammered. He kept telling himself he was way to young to have a heart attack. Modo looked up with a twinge of jealousy at Throttle who was keeping a good solid street block's worth of distance ahead of them. After what happened to him the last few days, He couldn't really blame him.

The Red Cycle made several angry bleeping noises, it was not any happier with this current arrangement than its reluctant rider. "You behave yourself." Modo said while waving a finger at it scoldingly. "If your owner knew how to behave himself, you wouldn't be in this mess!" Modo told it. He felt kind of silly having to act this way towards a Motorcycle. It should be old enough to know better. Unlike Vinnie, he thought to himself with a smile.

Modo's bike Lil Hoss bleeped at its mechanical friend encouragingly, the red cycle made a few electronically sounding huffy noises and tried to settle itself down. Trying to do the same for himself, and his little foster brother, Modo tried to change the subject to anything else.

"So, uh, how long have you had Dently now?" Modo asked him. "How long have I had Dently?" Hard Luck said as he suddenly thought about it. "Oh, Fromage, uh, I mean Cheese, uh, that is I think it must be something like…. oh gosh….15, 16 years?" Hard Luck said as he thought about it and hoped his big bro wouldn't notice his use of Bad Martian Language. Modo did notice but decided to not say anything about it. This time.

"Oh wow, that is a really long time, that is almost as long as I have had Lil, Hoss…WAIT A MINUTE, What Do you Mean 16 Years!?" Modo yelled as what Hard Luck said sank in. "You Aint Been Gone That Long!" He turned and stared directly at him with disbelief all but bursting out of him.

"Uh, uh, uh, that uh, is, uh, I muh, mean eh, it juh, just Feels like a, uh really long tu, time!" Hard Luck nervously yammered, and he reached up and set his battered old helmet's visor to solid so Modo couldn't see his face. Modo's eye grew large and glowed red as he stared again at his Little Brother. He scowled and thought hard about what he had just heard and how he should respond to it. What they should have both been doing was paying attention. Luckily for them, their bikes were. Lil Hoss and Red let out a series of loud beeping noises anxiously trying to get their rider's attention. AHH STOP HARD LUCK STOP!" Modo yelled! "Huh, what, oh cheese!" Hard Luck gasped as he realized that he accidentally set his helmet's visor to Full Solid, and he literally couldn't see past the end of his nose!

He blindly reached for the Red Bike's Brakes but was a second too late! KARUNCH! Hard Luck and the Red Cycle crashed into the back of Throttle and his black cruiser! "OUCH!" Bawled Throttle as his sore rump bounced up and down on his bike seat!

Sadly, the extra pillow he had on the seat did little to soften the impact. Throttle jumped off his bike, and while rubbing his sore seat of his now rather threadbare-looking trousers, he turned angrily and yelled at his two comrades. "What are you Morons doing!?

"Sorry, sorry, it was all my fault, oh I am so sorry!" Modo embarrassedly gushed at the Tan Mouse. "What's going on, what happened?" Hard Luck gasped as he blindly looked around. He still hadn't changed his helmet's visor setting. Modo quickly glanced over and then back at the fuming Throttle. Modo laughed nervously and stabbed out a metal finger to try and turn off Hard Luck's Helmet, but it wasn't working and in a near panic Modo just punched it.

Whack went Hard Lucks Helmet and his head as it bounced around until he grabbed it with both paws. He shook it a couple more times to clear it and saw a Concerned Modo and an Angry Throttle staring back at him. He of course panicked. "AAAAHH!" He screamed and started punching buttons on the Red Bikes control panel! "REVERSE, WHERE IS THE REVERSE PLEASE GO INTO REVERSE!" Red refused to budge.

"Stop It!" Modo snapped and smacked Hard Luck's paws away from the buttons with his metal hand! "Ouch!" Squeaked Hard Luck and childishly started to blow on his sore paws. Throttle turned and now glared right at Modo. He was making a 'He Is Your Brother" face at him. Modo just sadly rolled his eye and made an 'I know, I know' face back at him.

Modo reached over with his cyborg arm and yanked Hard Luck off the cycle. "Get off there before you hurt yourself or anybody else!" Modo snarled. Throttle looked down and kind of smiled. "Oh, if Vinnie sees that, you are both going to get hurt." He pointed at the front of the red cycle.

"Oh FROMAGE!" Modo and Hard Luck chorused as they looked at the little finger-length scratch on the front of Vinnie's beloved bike. Modo looked like he wanted to puke, and Hard Luck nearly passed out. Modo jumped off his bike to inspect the damage more closely. "It aint that…BAD!" He said sounding like even He didn't believe that. He shuddered to imagine how Vinnie would react when He saw it. He really didn't want to be in the room when it happened that was for sure.

"Oh, Oh Mama, I mean that that will buff right out…I hope." Modo said gently rubbing on the scratch with his left paw. Hard Luck whimpered pathetically. The Red Cycle was quietly growling its engine, its mechanical thoughts of revenge it kept to itself. Throttle ashamedly was enjoying watching Hard Luck and Modo squirm. Yeah, it made him feel bad, but just not at this moment.

Throttle stepped forward and spoke up. "Not to distract you two from your impending doom, but We're here." He said and jerked his paw up with his thumb stuck out pointing behind him. Across a big open grassy lot, a large well lit up Warehouse could be seen. The Warehouse was owned by the Harewood, Paulsen, and Ziering Inc. Limburgers New HQ.

Modo sighed and pulled himself up and reached out and grabbed Hard Luck by the scruff of his neck. "Come on." He growled and carried the non-struggling blue mouse with him over to where Throttle had walked by the lot. They all knelt behind the tall grass and Throttle pointed across at the warehouse.

"Ok Children, this is the plan so listen up." He said to them. The brothers chaffed at the jibe but didn't remark on it, they just gave each other guilty looks. "That warehouse is our objective, and the reason, which I am starting to seriously rethink, we left Vinnie behind is that we need to sneak in unnoticed so we can figure out what the Big Cheese is up to." He said to them. They both grimaced at the rethink bit.

"In case either of you was wondering, especially you Modo, the reason we don't just go blasting our way in and whipping tail all around is that that Warehouse don't belong to Limburger but to some Poor Citizen that he has suckered into letting him use it." Modo and Hard Luck just nodded.

Throttle continued and looked directly at Hard Luck. "This is where you earn your keep." He said. "Charley seems to think you got some experience sneaking around and breaking into places, is that true?" He asked the Blue Martian, with a heavy hint of doubt in his raspy voice. Both Modo and Throttle looked directly at Hard Luck. He just got a sick look on his face but slowly nodded his head yes.

"Ok, you guys stay here and stay out of sight, and if we aren't back in an hour, go get Vinnie and Charley, she at least should be able to figure out what to do, got it? Throttle said while looking at their bikes. All three made their electronic beeping noises and backed silently into a deep shadow. Throttle came close to making a joke about leaving Modo, and Hard Luck here and taking the bikes instead but he kept it to himself.

Hard Luck looked at Throttle and then Modo, and a look of tense apprehension took hold on his face behind his helmet visor. "I, I shouldn't do this, Modo, I shouldn't be here." He said sounding in a near panic.

Modo leaned over and wrapped his big meaty left arm around the smaller mouse's shoulders and hugged the shivering brother of his. "You got this Lil Bro, I got faith in ya, and I will be right here the whole time, nothing will happen, I won't let it!" He said with pure strength and confidence in his deep voice. Throttle just nodded. "Yeah, He is right, we will both make sure nothing happens. "The 2 warriors smiled at each other and then at Hard Luck.

They both put their fists out and connected knuckles and waited for Hard Luck to take part in the old Freedom Fighter Pre-Mission Ritual. Hard Luck looked at their paws then down at his own, and he looked like he was going to be sick. He looked back up and into the two positive smiling faces looking back at him.

He practically crumpled and bit back his fear and slowly raised his left paw and put his up next to theirs in the circle. "Yeah, that is my little bro!" Modo said as supportively as he could! "You are a member of the team now!" A hint of pride in Modo's voice. Throttle just noticed that the more supportive Modo got the paler Hard Luck seemed to get but he once more kept his thoughts to himself.

The silence continued and they all dropped and began army crawling across the grassy lot on their stomachs. Thankfully with their helmets on, they didn't need to worry about their very red (or silver metallic) antenna popping up and giving them away. They made their way stealthily to the tall chain-link fence around the perimeter of the Warehouse.

They moved to a dark shadowy section and popped their heads up to take in the layout of the area. The Fence was tall. Really Tall! A good 40 feet from the look of it, and it had vicious-looking razor wire coiled around the top of it.

The Martians were good jumpers, any of them could clear 10 to 12 feet from a simple jump, and close to 20 with a running start, but 40. Yeah, they couldn't clear that. Clearly, Limburger had made some alterations to the Warehouse's security. No wonder why.

"We would need our bikes to jump that. "Throttle said matter of fact. Modo thought for a second. "I could toss us over it!" He suggested while flexing his muscle-filled arms. "I am sure you could big guy, but I aint sure my pants could survive the trip." He said with a sly smile and patted his thigh.

His faded blue pants were now crisscrossed with Dr. Frankenstein-like stitching. Also, the big patch that was covering his seat which was made from a Chicago Nubs Sports Jersey, which unfortunately was striped red and gray. "I didn't have that much time, and I had to work with what was available." Modo said simply.

"The Fence is electrified." Hard Luck said. Modo and Throttle almost jumped. It has been so quiet they almost forgot about him. "How can you tell?" They both asked at the same time. "I can feel it." He said plainly. Throttle and Modo exchanged silent glances but didn't refute the comment.

"I could burn thru it?" Modo suggested while motioning with his arm cannon. "Won't work." Hard Luck whispered. They looked at him. "It would interrupt the type of current going across it." Once again, they had to take him at his word. Maybe it was a good thing they brought Him instead of Vinnie.

"We need to find a way in." Throttle said and started looking up and down the fence line. Using the zoom function on his helmet he spotted a double gate meant for large vehicles. "It's got a camera on it." Hard Luck said. Throttle almost asked but he noticed that he could hear Hard Luck's antenna sparking and could tell Hard Luck's Battered Helmet's Energy Visor was shifting thru all kinds of spectrums. More than his had apparently. Way more.

Before He, or Modo could say anything, two small slots slid open on the top of Hard Luck's helmet and the tips of his antenna extended up out of them. "There is a small Mouse-sized, erm I guess Man-sized gate next to the big one, but it has an electronic lock on it." He said slowly as he stared down the fence.

"So, the old Lock Picking Tail Trick isn't gonna work I take it?" Modo grumbled questioningly. "Probably not." Chuckled Throttle in a raspy whisper. "Gimme a minute." Hard Luck moaned. He crab-walked over to the fence and slowly leaned towards it till his helmet all almost touched it, and then he shoved the top of his helmet into the fence.

Modo made to jump forward and grab him but Throttle reached out and held him back! "Wait, Big Guy, I think He knows what he is doing!" Throttle said, not really sounding like he believed what he just said himself.

Electrical Energy flowed from His antenna and down his metal spine and back to the fence, where it waved across it and towards the gates. A few seconds went by and suddenly sparks flew from the lock and the gate snapped open! Hard Luck popped off the fence and on to his butt. "Ruh, RUN!" He gasped. Throttle and Modo each grabbed him by an arm and took off at a bolting run and carried him down and thru the open gate!

Once they got thru it, Hard Luck awkwardly pointed towards a dark section back the way they came. Not saying anything they rushed in that direction. "What about the camera?" Modo asked. Hard Luck shook his head and groaned. "Got it stuck in a loop, cheese these analog systems give me a headache, they're so stubborn." He said as his antenna stopped sparking and receded back into his helmet.

Once again Throttle and Modo just silently exchanged glances then started to make their way across the open yard. "STOP!" Hard Luck yelled; they all most fell into a heap. "WHAT, WHAT, WHAT!?" Modo gasped trying to look in every direction and pointing his arm cannon like he was having a spastic fit!

"Thu, the primitive earth junk was the security on the fence, but the good Plutarkian stuff is in the yard." He told them. The 2 Freedom Fighters froze in their tracks.

Hard Luck had regained a bit of his strength and stood up. He put his paw up to his helmet and fiddled with some hidden buttons on its side. His visor once more flashed thru a lot of colors. Greens, yellows, purple,s, and violets. Hard Luck slowly scanned up and down the yard in front of them.

"OK, here is the deal." He said and pointed at the seemingly empty yard in front of them. "There are motion sensors and ultraviolet laser grids all over it, and hidden gun ports in the ground." He said while pointing at the invisible objects.

"I dunno bout you, but I need a new helmet." Modo said. Throttle nodded in agreement. "There is a security console on the wall of the warehouse, but I can't interface with it from here, but I can probably turn all this off if I can get to it. "Hard Luck told them.

"I am open to suggestions." Throttle said. Modo nodded.

"The yard is one big net, and a bunch of rays is going straight up, but there is a small path thru em, so, (sigh) if you throw me thru it Modo, I can turn all this off. "Hard Luck said but not sounding like he actually Liked his own suggestion.

Modo looked down at his little brother. "Throw you?" He asked. "Are you sure about that?" Hard Luck turned and gave him a tired look. "Well, unless you can sprout wings…" He said in a tired and sarcastic tone. Modo refrained from making an Aint No Bats in the Family remark and reached out and picked up Hard Luck with his cyborg arm.

Hard Luck laid out flat and put his arms out like wings, while he balanced on the palm of Modo's cyborg hand. It looked like He was getting ready to throw a furry blue paper airplane. Hard Luck fought to keep his balance and then let out a quiet whimper. "Do it!" He squeaked. Modo pulled back and threw him!

Throttle was impressed as he watched Hard Luck fly thru the air. He was doing it with far more grace and agility than he would have given the accident-prone klutz credit for. He twisted and turned like a bat using radar! Then Hard Luck was thru the rays and started falling towards the concrete walkway around the warehouse.

Both Throttle and Modo made ouch faces as Hard Luck bellyflopped onto the hard surface with a painful sounding crunch! They watched for a few seconds starting to worry until Hard Luck slowly and painfully got to his feet and wobbled his way over to a small console on the wall. He messed with it for a few seconds then quickly gestured for them to run towards him. They booked it across.

They joined Hard Luck by the panel and a side entrance door. Modo patted Hard Luck on the back, almost knocking him off his feet. "You are doing a great job little bro; you are good at this sneaky stuff." He said with obvious pride in his voice. "Yuh, yeah I, I got a lot of practice at it." He said kind of sadly.

"Ok, Ladies, the time for family bonding can come later, it's mission time." Throttle said after making his little joke. "And I do have to agree with Modo, you do seem to know your stuff Hard Luck so, you take point." He almost couldn't believe he said that.

Both Modo and Hard Luck stared back at him. "You heard me." He said and pulled his blaster out of its holster and got it ready. Modo popped his arm cannon up and got it ready for action too. Both looked at Hard Luck, who nervously looked back at them, then almost reluctantly took one of his own large hand blasters out of its holster and clumsily fumbled with it and got it ready, almost dropping it once.

Throttle sighed inwardly. He kept the thought that one reason he wanted Hard Luck to go first is that he didn't want Hard Luck behind his behind with a loaded blaster. Once Bitten, Twice Shy as the old saying goes. He pointed to the side door and nodded for Hard Luck to open it.

Hard Luck let out another unconfident-sounding whimper and moved to the door. He played with the little keyboard on the electronic lock and it suddenly clicked, and the door slid open. Behind it was a very dark room. Hard Luck jumped thru it, Modo right behind him. Throttle followed pausing only long enough to close the door behind them.

The Mice moved single file down a long hallway, passing locked doors on either side. Ahead of them was a large double wide metal door. Hard Luck slowly pushed one door slightly open and popped his head out. Above him popped Modo, and above his popped Throttle. All 3 pushed the audio sensors on their helmets to the max. Even with that and their Nature Provided big ears. None of them heard any sign of movement in the large dark space in front of them.

Activating their helmet's low light features, it made it somewhat brighter to them. All around them were stacks of huge boxes and crates. They could also see the outlines of Large Plutarkian Earth Movers and other odd alien machines.

"If this is Lard Butt's HQ, he don't seem to be doing any HQ-ing in it." Modo whispered. "Yeah, I noticed that too." Throttle whispered back. Hard Luck just whimpered quietly to himself but didn't say anything. They could hear is antenna starting to spark again. They moved stealthily past the large boxes and into the main warehouse.

Throttle pointed to some large metal stairs going up to a couple of wide catwalks running alongside both walls up by the ceiling. At one end was an elevated office. Throttle pointed at it and they made their way to the stairs.

They got right into the middle of the huge floor when blindingly bright floodlights snapped on! All 3 mice stopped dead in their tracks, their eyes reeling from the bright lights! "GREETINGS MY DEAR DESPICABLE DORMICE!" Limburger Bellowed! This was followed by the sound of several weapons being pointed at them from all around!

To Be Continued!