Hey there!

Thank you so much for the reviews! :D

So, I had to overcome a huge writer's block before I was finally able to finish this chapter.
BUT... victory is mine.
I hope you guys like it.

Enjoy and feel free to leave a review when you're done.
Till next time, my loyal readers.

Later dudes!

Chapter 17

'Now what's a party without a few good booms?'

The front wheels of the bikes touched the ground at the same time and with roaring engines, the three brave warriors of Mars threw themselves into chaos.
The four trucks -all equipped with a most deadly machine gun- also came into movement, still firing at the mice who, in turn, avoided the bullets with ease.
Throttle tried to catch a glimpse of the faces of the people who manned the heavy artillery, dying to look them in the eye to find a clue about their true intentions, but he quickly saw it was a waste of energy.
They all had their faces covered with a red and white checkered scarf, shades and a black hat, giving them total anonymity, much to his annoyance.
Their clothes were pretty much all the same, army-green with black combat boots, but Throttle didn't believe that these guys were part of the US Army, simply because their attack was too well-executed.
Besides, if he had to believe Charley, the US Army had fallen a long time ago now.
The only thing their appearance disclosed was a well-trained body and, as he already had seen right before hell broke loose, they were all armed to the teeth.
These findings added together leaded Throttle to only one conclusion; these guys knew the ropes.
Well, unfortunately for them, he and his bro's did too.

"Split and hit, boys. Let's take them out, quickly and efficiently", the tan-furred mouse ordered and he focussed his attention on the truck in the middle.
After pushing a few buttons on his dashboard, weapons came out his bike as he zigzagged his way to the truck in order to avoid the hail of bullets coming from the top.
More than a thousand questions raised in his head and since he couldn't read their faces, there was one question that prevailed.
Who were these guys and why did they attack so violently?
Although he would love to just ask them, he knew they were way past that from the moment that missile made impact.
They had tried to kill him and his bro's.
They had tried to kill Charley.
Oh yeah.
The time for talk was definitely over.

"I can't remember inviting you guys to this party. But, lucky for you, I'm a reasonable mouse. So here's a little welcome gift", Throttle smiled and he pushed another button.
"Try it. It's to die for…"
A missile left his bike with a sizzling sound and disappeared under the truck.
The guy on top seemed to know what was going to happen and tried to jump off, but he was too late.
The explosion made the big vehicle fly into the air as if it was nothing more than a feather of the Martian Volly Vulture dancing in the wind and after a few spins, it landed upside down with a loud crack.
It was clear that it was no longer a threat and Throttle shook his head as he drove further.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Rule number one of party crashing; blend in with the crowd. Everybody knows that."

Meanwhile, Modo drove towards the truck on the left, his eye glowing red.
He wasn't really sure why they were now suddenly fighting the humans instead of helping them in their fight against the real threat here; the Plutarkians.
But, he was a soldier and did what he was trained to do.
Stand his ground and fight back.
As he made his way closer to the truck, he raised his bionic arm, expecting the lethal weapon inside to pop out in one smooth movement, like it always did.
But instead of the soft and familiar zooming sound, Modo suddenly heard a terrible squeaking one and he narrowed his eye in confusion as he looked at his arm.
Only to see that the blaster got stuck halfway out.
"What the…"
This had never happened before and his confusion distracted him more than he could afford right now.
"Just. Come. Out. Already. You. Stupid. Thing!", the grey-furred giant growled annoyed, shaking his arm with every word with all his strength -which must have been a ridiculous sight-, but it was no use.
The gun was stuck and by the looks of things, it wasn't going to move either.

His bike suddenly beeped loudly and he looked up with a jerk, seeing that he was about to crash against the big truck.
"Oh momma!"
Gritting his teeth, he threw his entire weight to the right and hit the brakes. With loud shrieking and burning rubber, his bike made a 180.
Modo almost lost his balance, but he managed to get his bike back upright and he hit the accelerator again.
"Well, as my old grey-furred momma used to say: 'The real magic happens when you start to improvise'."
So, after creating enough distance, Modo pushed a button on his right handlebar and two small rockets flew out of the back of his bike.
But, small or not, they were strong enough to blow up the whole cabin of the truck, including the ones inside and the gun on top.
"And, as always, she's right", Modo smiled, patting his bike lovingly on the side.

As his bro's took care of the trucks on his left, Vinnie sped towards the one on the right.
When he was up to speed, he let go of the handlebars and grabbed the two small bazooka's that now came out of both sides of his bike.
They weren't that big and awesome as the one he had lost during their getaway, but hey, it were still bazooka's.
And bazooka's made big booms.
"Hey there! I'd like you to meet my dates! This is De…-", he snickered as he aimed the right bazooka. "-...and this is Stroy", and he now aimed the left bazooka too.
"Why they're called like that, you ask? Well, because together, they destroy! Bwahaha!", and Vinnie pulled both triggers.
As soon as the missile's left both weapons, the white-furred mouse made a sharp turn to the right by using his weight to prevent himself from getting caught up in the upcoming and by him created explosion.
That would be so uncool.
Right after he'd passed the truck, it literally exploded into a million pieces and the force almost knocked him off his bike.
But that didn't spoil the fun.
No, it only made it even more enjoyable.
The adrenaline level in his blood was now high enough to chase away that awful restlessness and he finally felt alive again.
"Alright! Vinnie van Victory triumphs again!"

"Three down, one to go. Let's make the most of it", Throttle's husky voice was heard over the radio.
"Aaaooow, music to my oversized ears!", Vinnie howled back.
"Let's claim our victory, Biker Mice style", Modo rumbled.
They all three drove straight towards the last truck as they fired a rocket and with the biggest boom of the day so far, the truck flew away.
Modo waved at it with a smile on his face.
"Toodles!"
Vinnie popped a wheelie and made a few spins on his rear wheel, almost exploding out of his fur of excitement.
"AAAAAOOOWW! Oh yeah, I just luh-ove a spectacular ending!"
"Well, that can be arranged", a strange voice came over the radio.
"Huh?"

But before they had the chance to figure out what was happening, a deafening explosion close behind Vinnie made him fly off his bike.
And since he wasn't prepared for this at all, there was nothing he could do to turn his fall into a more controlled landing.
With a loud crack, the right side of his head hit the ground first and he slid over the asphalt a couple of meters before he came to a halt.
"Vincent!", Throttle called out startled and he turned his bike, but suddenly, another group of humans came out of every side street.
On foot this time, but it didn't make them less dangerous and the tan-furred mouse had no other choice but to turn tail when they all opened fire.
"Modo, check on Vinnie. I'll keep them busy", he ordered over the radio when he saw that the grey-furred giant had a clear path to their fallen comrade.
"On it."

When he was close enough, Modo jumped off Lil' Hoss even before she skidded to a halt.
"Vinnie, Vinnie, are you okay, bro?", he asked worriedly as he kneeled next to the white-furred mouse who lay on his stomach on the dusty asphalt.
The latter moaned and slowly pushed himself up.
"Ugh, I'm fine. Let's hear it for helmets. Probably saved my skull."
He already tried to stand up again, but his legs gave out from the moment he put some weight on them.
Lucky for him, Modo had some fine reflexes and he caught his youngest bro right before he hit the ground again.
"Whoa, easy now, little bro. You took quite the knocking."
"The whole world is spinning, Modo, you see that?", Vinnie asked a bit dazed, pointing a trembling finger in the air.
Modo shook his head and lifted his bionic arm.
"How many fingers am I holdi… WHOA!", he suddenly called out and the young mouse almost jumped out of his fur by this sudden and unexpected volume, but the grey-furred giant gave him no time to react.
"Your eye! What happened to your eye?"

Vinnie blinked a few times.
"My eye?"
But then the words dawned on him.
"What?! Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?! Is it still there? It's not gone, is it? Is it?!", he demanded a bit panicked as he opened his visor, suddenly overwhelmed by the fear that his eye was gone.
Which was ridiculous, because he still had perfect vision, even though the world was still a bit shaky.
Besides, eyes didn't just vanish into thin air.
Not that he was an expert in losing eyes, but he figured that would be accompanied by both pain and blood, which were both absent.
Still, seeing Modo's shock made him more than just jumpy for this was his handsome face they were talking about.
Which had already taken enough beating for the rest of his -hopefully long and with action-filled- life.
Right before he could touch his face, Modo grabbed his hand and pushed it down.
"Don't touch it."
"Modo, you need to tell me what's going on, man!"
"It's… white. Your eye is white."
"Huh?"

"Guys, I hate to break up your moment, but they have a tank", Throttle's voice interrupted calmly yet urgently.
"But Throttle, my eye…", Vinnie started to protest, but then his bruised brain processed the words.
"A tank, you say?"
His eye and the panic suddenly forgotten, the young mouse became aware of his surroundings again and he now felt the ground tremble under his feet.
Both him and Modo looked at their right, seeing that their bro was right.
Of course he was.
A battle such as this one wasn't a joke.
So wasn't this tank.
Vinnie narrowed his eyes, quickly connecting the dots and now understanding it was this specific tank that had blown him off of his bike.
He grinded his teeth in annoyance and pushed Modo away.
"No worries, bro. I'll take care of it", the young mouse growled and stumbled to his bike.
"No, you're not in the condition to…", but Throttle couldn't finish his sentence, because the humans now doubled their efforts to blow his head off, forcing the tan-furred mouse to focus his attention on them instead of stopping a certain white-furred mouse with a bruised ego from doing something stupid.
"Say big fella, I could use a little help here."
Modo jumped back on his bike and closed his visor.
"Guess they're ready for round two, lil' darling. Let's show them who really is the best."
His bike beeped back almost happily and with shrieking tires, they rushed over to Throttle to help him.

Meanwhile, Vinnie was already speeding towards the tank, giving it no time to fire again.
He was still a bit dizzy, but his busted ego forced his body to produce another shot of adrenaline, exactly what he needed to keep going.
"I'm the one who makes the big booms here, no exception."
Pulling back his handlebars, he fired his jets and his bike flew up in the air.
When he was right above the tank, he searched for the one thing that would make him able to take out this almost indestructible machine.
Apparently, tanks here on Earth were not that different from the ones he knew from the war on Mars and with his lips now curled into an almost devilish grin, he jumped off his bike.
"Stay close, sweetheart."
With a loud bang, the white-furred daredevil landed on top of the tank, already reaching for a grenade from his belt.
As he bend down to open the small hatch, the one and only entrance of the tank, he pulled the pin out with his teeth.
With loud squeaking, the hatch opened and the young mouse threw the now ticking bomb inside.
"Here, have a blast. My treat."

Right before he dropped the heavy hatch, he saw a glimpse of a shocked face, but he didn't feel the slightest remorse.
Nope, these guys blew up their chances at the same time their missile exploded in that store.
No one messed with the Biker Mice From Mars or endangered beautiful ladies such as Charley without paying the price.
Besides, they were the ones who had started this party in the first place.
And he had no problem with giving them what they wanted.
Vinnie whistled between his teeth and his bike pulled up next to the tank.
In one smooth movement, he jumped back in the saddle and quickly sped the other way.
"Three… two… one… boom", he chuckled darkly and indeed, the tank exploded right on cue.
"Ha! And, as usual, I have the last word. Or perhaps I should say; the last boom, muahaha."
Now that was being handled, the white-furred mouse turned his bike and focussed his attention on his two bro's, who were having both hands and tail full with the small army that tried to blow them to the seventh galaxy.
But before he could join the party, the same strange voice came over the speakers, sounding almost lazy.
"Hold your fire. I've got me a hostage here…"

Throttle's heart just dropped when he heard these words, for he already knew there could only be one the hostage and it weren't his bro's.
He looked over his shoulder to see one of the human's holding Charley, who was struggling to get free and his fur bristled in anger as he hit the brakes.
"Let me go, you big lummox!"
But of course, the man didn't.
"I suggest you surrender, otherwise her pretty little brains will be scattered throughout the pavement. That would be such a shame, don't you agree?", asked the voice with a drawl.
Throttle tried to see where the voice was coming from, for it wasn't the man who was holding Charley.
That was probably just a soldier following orders.
Then again, loyalty was one of the most dangerous opponents.
The tan-furred mouse clenched his teeth, knowing there was only one option for now.
They couldn't take any chances, not with Charley's life on the line.
"Lift them, partners."
"Ah, man. I hate it when this happens…", Vinnie sighed, but raised his hands.
So did Modo as he too heaved a sigh in reluctance.
"A very wise decision… Grab them."

The leftover humans dragged the mice off of their bikes and roughly pulled off their helmets.
"Hey man, easy on the merchandise", Vinnie protested when the guy almost ripped off an ear in the process, but the human ignored him.
After tying their hands behind their backs, the human soldiers pushed the mice towards the pharmacy, where the same guy was still holding Charley.
"You got us now, so let the lady go. She's got nothing to do with this", Throttle hissed between clenched teeth, hardly able to control himself when he saw the gun that was held against Charley's temple.
"Whatever this is", Modo added, since they still had no idea what the hell was going on here.
"Nah. I'm not in the mood for graciousness today. I woke up feeling strangely resentful. That happens sometimes. It's nothing personal, though. Just business. Besides, she's got everything to do with this."

Throttle followed the sound of the cold voice and his gaze landed on a man who now stepped out of the pharmacy through the shattered window with his hands behind his back, as if he was taking a stroll on a sunny day instead of playing with lives.
He was about Modo's size and wore the same clothing as his comrades.
The only difference was that his face wasn't covered and a shiver ran down Throttle's spine when his bionic eyes locked with the deep-blue ones of the man who now stood next to Charley.
He was no mouse to frighten easily for many obvious reasons and to say that he was scared of the man might be overstating it.
Still, he felt a chill building up inside by looking into the ice-cold eyes and he knew this had to be the leader of this bunch of well-trained misfits.
Not that it clarified whatever it was that was happening here.
It only confirmed that they were in trouble, for he could tell this was no man one wanted to mess with.
Not even a mouse.

"My, my. That was quite the performance, I must confess. But it ends here."
The man seemed to be highly amused, which was weird given the fact that even though the mice were now his prisoners, he was the one who just got his butt kicked, after all.
Well, perhaps not weird.
Worrying came closer.
For there's one thing that Throttle had learned from previous experience, amused villains were the worst and most dangerous too.
It meant they were in control and even worse, they were highly aware of their role as puppetmaster.
"Who are you?"

The man smiled, revealing a sparkling set of white teeth.
"Usually I don't need to introduce myself. Everyone between the borders of Chicago knows who I am."
"Yeah, well, we're not really from around here, as you can see", Vinnie snapped at him.
"No. But she is", and the man pointed at Charley, who looked back at him with fuming eyes.
It appeared that the human female didn't like to get caught, but then again, who did?
"I've never seen you before in my entire life and trust me, I would've remembered your ugly face", she spat out as she still struggled to get free.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Throttle couldn't stop himself from feeling a bit proud when he saw her fire.
Unfortunately, it reminded him of someone at the same time, someone he didn't want to think about and he gave himself a mental shake.
Now wasn't the time to get all sentimental.
There were far more important matters to deal with.
How to get out of this precarious situation, for instance.

The man wasn't impressed by Charley's fury, well, not in a good way, that is.
"Such a temper", he smiled with a hint of admiration on his face.
"I now understand why Max was so crazy about you. You two were obviously a match made in heaven."
He might as well have dropped another bomb.
Charley stopped struggling from the moment she heard Max's his name and her eyes grew big when she looked at the man next to her, confusion written all over her face.
"You know Max?"
Throttle didn't miss the fact that the man talked about Max in the past tense, a finding that made him even more restless.
Apparently, this guy knew his facts, but how was still a puzzle to the tan-furred leader.
More questions started to raise.
Who was this guy and what else did he know?
What was he to Max?

"Oh, sweet ignorant Charley. I know everyone who sets foot in Chi-Town. Including your overbiting friends here", and he now focussed his attention on the mice.
"The Biker Mice From Mars…"
There was this awful pejorative tone in his voice that didn't elude the tan-furred mouse, but it was still confusion that prevailed.
It started to annoy him, actually.
"Look, you better stop talking in riddles, I…", but the man cut him off as if Throttle wasn't even there, his ice-cold eyes now twinkling in amusement and even worse, arrogance.
"Really, who came up with that name? I can't stop myself from imagining you waking up in the morning, looking in the mirror and then all seriously saying to yourselves: 'You know what would be a really kick-ass name? The Biker Mice From Mars!'", and the man burst into laughter, so did, as if on cue, the rest of his soldiers.

The mice, however, were far from amused.
As if getting caught wasn't bad enough already.
"Swell. Looks like our reputation is proceeding us, boys. Laugh all you want, but we do know how to kick some ass", Throttle answered meaningful, referring to the destruction behind them.
"Yeah, and if you hadn't stopped us, we would've won too", Modo told him.
"But my guess is that you already knew that. After all, why else would you lower yourself to taking a woman as a hostage, huh?", Vinnie concluded with a challenging look on his face.
But the man didn't stop laughing as expected, no…
Their words just made him laugh even harder and the white-furred mouse shared a confused look with his bro's, not amused by the fact that their macho talk didn't work the way it usually did.
"What the fuck is wrong with him?"
"I dunno. Maybe he's having a seizure or something", Modo shrugged.
"Looks like a case of very bad sense of humor if you ask me", Throttle mused as a thought popped up in his mind, one he didn't like but was true.
They weren't exactly in control of the situation.

It was Charley who stopped this madness, although not in the way one would expect it to be.
"Wait a minute... I do know you. You're the Boogeyman…"
The laughter stopped quite abruptly and the man turned his head towards the human female, who was staring back at him.
"I thought it were just rumors, made up by desperate people, but it is you, right?", she asked with a trembling voice, her bravado suddenly nowhere to be found.
That alarmed Throttle, but of course, someone else completely missed this pretty obvious warning signal.
"Okay, okay, hold up a second. Lemme get this straight. You're standing here, making fun of our name while your name is… Boogeyman?", Vinnie asked with a voice thick of suppressed laughter, clearly trying to keep his face in check.
But, of course, that failed and before the man could answer the question, the white-furred mouse already burst into laughter.
"You're joking me, right?! Boogeyman, oh gosh, of all the names, bwahahaha!"

Modo bit his lower lip, but unfortunately for him, his young bro had quite the infectious laugh and besides, the name was indeed beyond ridiculous.
So, whether he liked it or not, he soon joined the young mouse with his heavy and rumbling laugh.
Throttle too felt his lips curl into a smile, but he kept a close eye on the man.
He probably wouldn't appreciate his bro's making fun of him, but to his utter surprise, the human only shrugged.
"I go by many names. Truly uninspiring this one, I agree. I prefer my real name, but what can you do? People talk."
Vinnie was still laughing his head off, almost dangling in the grip of the human who was still holding him and for the first time since the man had revealed himself, Throttle could see a hint of annoyance shine through his mask of smugness.
So the man wasn't entirely in control, or so it seemed.
The question was; was he going to crack?

The answer to that question was definitely no, because the man recovered himself so quickly that Throttle suddenly started to doubt his vision.
Perhaps he just imagined it, for his eyes were still stinging.
In fact, it seemed to get worse by the day.
Such an unimportant detail for such a dire situation.
Either way, instead of telling the two laughing mice to shut up, or make them by hitting them, the big human male ignored them.
Which was probably even worse.
Scratch probably.
It was worse.
Way worse.

For it meant that he didn't take them seriously, a thing all three mice hated to the core.
Especially Vinnie, who's middle name was Provoking, stopped laughing pretty quickly when he noticed that the man was giving them the silent treatment.
In fact, the young mouse's mood switched from amused to annoyed with the snap of a finger.
Annoyed that this man, standing in front of them, still wasn't taking the bait presented by him.
Making the bad guy mad was a tactic he and his bro's -but especially him- had used many times already and it had proven to be a trusty one too, simply because angry people made mistakes much easier than the cold and calculated ones.
Unfortunately for Vinnie, they were clearly dealing with the latter here.
"Ugh man, you're no fun", he grumbled and if his hands weren't tied behind his back, he would've folded his arms.
He might even stomp his feet like a petulant child if Throttle hadn't once told him that it didn't exactly match with his tough exterior.

The man didn't seem to hear him, or he was still ignoring the mice, which was a very distinct possibility given his previous behavior.
"Anyway, all jokes aside… I came here to talk business. It has come to my attention that Max is no longer with us, may his lovely corrupted and wicked soul rest in peace. That means someone needs to take over his cases. And I assume that someone will be you, my sweet Charlene. But you already knew that this day would come, I guess. See this as a simple and friendly reminder."
Charley glanced at the man with a mix of anger, confusion and insecurity.
"My name is Charley. And what do you mean, his cases?"
"He didn't tell you", the man stated as he studied Charley's face with a frown.
He probably had thought that the feisty mechanic was lying to him about not knowing what was going on here, but not even Charley could play the genuine confusion which was now radiated by her whole appearance.
"Obviously."
"Well, then I think it's time that I properly introduce myself. My true name is Dante and I'm the ruler of the windy city of Chicago. My job is simple. You see, everyone who wants to settle down in this town needs to contribute and follow the rules, my rules, in order for the Human race to survive. I make sure that they do."

Modo narrowed his one eye, already knowing with which they were dealing with here, for this wasn't the first time that they stumbled across people like Dante.
"Using war and misery to seize power, huh? How noble."
"I've been called a lot of things, but noble isn't one of them. And I don't pretend that I am. I'm doing what no else dares to do, namely; bringing order in a world of chaos, which makes me unloved. But that's okay. I'm rather feared than loved. Makes ruling a lot easier. Less betrayal."
"And what has Max got to do with this?", Charley interfered with a trembling voice.
"As I was saying, everyone needs to do its part. This implies sharing food, weapons, clothes, you name it. Everything that comes over the border of Chicago is mine and I alone decide what happens with it. Max took the deal years ago already."
"What deal?"
"That twenty-five percent of everything that you think you own goes to me."

Throttle couldn't believe his oversized ears.
Modo was right, this guy took advantage of the war and not in a good way.
This had nothing to do with the survival of the Human race, merely his own survival.
He used the people, preyed on them in their weakest moment for his own purposes, too lazy to do his part by himself.
This man clearly only cared about himself and didn't even bother to be something else who he was to Throttle.
A power-hungry criminal.
And a formidable opponent, he needed to give him that.
Even though the game he played was beyond dirty, he'd played it well.
Smart.
Because it was general knowledge that when life took a drastic turn such as this one here on Earth, most people didn't know what to do.
They were used to someone telling them what to do, to walk in line, even though they hated it at the same time.
But despair was a strong emotion and this man named Dante had responded to this quite clever by taking the lead at the exact right moment.
He bought their loyalty by saving them, blinding them in the process.
And that gave him power.
A lot of power.

But not Charley.
And not because she had resisted this man, no, simply because she didn't know.
Max hadn't told her and when Throttle glanced at her, he could see that this fact bordered dangerously close to betrayal, a matter close to her heart.
He could hardly look into her sad eyes, to witness her realizing that everything with Max now seemed to be a lie, because if he had kept something this big from her, what else was there to discover?
Poor Charley.
The things he would do to just take her in his arms...
"So all this time… All this time, Max gave away our stuff? To… you?"
"Love. It's elusive", Dante only answered vaguely, still with a smile on his face.
But it didn't reach his eyes.
His ice-cold eyes…

Throttle shook his head.
This whole thing didn't make any sense.
At all.
There was still a piece of the puzzle missing here.
"If you only wanted to talk business, then why did you try to kill us?"
"There's a bounty on your head", Dante simply answered.
That was hardly the answer they expected and four mouths dropped as if on cue.
It would've been funny if they weren't in such a dire situation.
"A bounty?", the tan-furred mouse repeated confusedly.
"Yes, a bounty."
"A bounty?", Modo now asked, just in case he heard it wrong.
"A bounty."
"A bounty?", Charley breathed, her green eyes wide open in shock.
"If you guys are done with your little a capella session, I'm dying to hear who had the nerve to put a price on our heads", Vinnie intervened, curious and impatient as ever.

Dante shrugged, as if that wasn't important.
It clearly wasn't for him.
Luckily, he did answer the question.
"Some big fish who pulls the strings from California. I believe his name is Lawrence Limburger. He offers a great amount of money to the one who brings him the Biker Mice From Mars. Dead or alive."
"So that's what this is about? Getting rich at the expense of your own people? The fish destroyed your planet! Why would you give them what they want?", Modo asked, his eye now glowing red and almost shaking in anger.
Next to rats, he hated traitors.
In his opinion, there was no difference between them.
But Dante shook his head, still calm and very much in control.
"I don't. Just as I didn't try to kill you. I was just curious to see you fight. I don't need money. I've got everything I need right here", and he spread his arms to strengthen his words.
"Besides, I don't work for the Fish-Heads. The only thing I'm grateful for is them killing my mother-in-law. Truly the most annoying woman I've ever met, I'm glad she and her incessant cackling are gone."
Charley and Throttle shared a quick look.
'Crazy', the tan-furred mouse mouthed.
'Obviously', she mouthed back.

"I can tell you guys were close. Now tell me, what would happen if we, hypothetically speaking of course, tell you to kiss your ass and go fuck yourself with that deal?", Vinnie asked innocently, still hoping to break Dante's armor.
"Then I'll destroy your camp, with everyone and everything still in it", Dante answered casually as he studied his nails, the paragon of a man who clearly felt invincible.
He then looked at the white-furred mouse, his face still giving nothing more away than smugness and arrogance.
"Hypothetically, of course", he added just as innocently.
Vinnie grinded his teeth in annoyance, but after a warning glare from Throttle, he kept his mouth shut.
Which was good, because the tan-furred mouse had a strong feeling that cracking this armor would only have one outcome and it wasn't just an ego boost.
No, it was much more deadly than that.
And it wasn't worth it.

"So. What's your answer?", Dante asked calmly as he now polished his nails to his shirt and Throttle stopped himself right on time from asking if he perhaps needed a nail file.
This man crawled under his fur and skin, and that usually didn't happen that easily.
But this attitude… as if he was joking them.
As if this whole war, along with the pain, the misery that came with it was nothing more but a joke.
It made him sick.
Still.
The tan-furred mouse had seen enough to know that the man was being deadly serious.
And he also knew that Dante had enough resources and people working for him that not even he and his bro's could stop him from keeping his promise if they decided to say no.
Who was he kidding anyway?
As if they had a choice.
The man was gambling with the lives of the people of Camp Hope.
Innocent lives.
There was only one move left for them.
Fold.

He looked at Charley, seeing that she was still conflicted about what to do, which was a bit weird because he knew she was smart enough to conclude what he had just concluded.
But if Throttle had to guess, she was still processing everything that happened here and most of all, Max his betrayal.
So, the tan-furred mouse looked back at Dante as he made the decision for her by simply following his instinct.
"We'll give you thirty-five percent if you promise to protect our camp as one of your own."
Charley's head jerked up and she looked at Throttle with a hint of anger on her face.
She probably felt passed over, which wasn't entirely incomprehensible.
But she was enough on points to not denounce him in front of the cruel man that stood next to her, at least, that's what Throttle concluded from her silence.

Dante tilted his head a bit surprised and eagerly studied the tan-furred mouse in front of him, who only looked back with a blank face instead of backing down.
Just when things started to feel awkward, the human male smiled again.
"You're smart. I like that. Okay. Thirty-five percent of your findings from your weekly recon and stock, every week. My men will pick it up every Saturday at 12 am sharp. In return, we'll keep an eye on things around your camp. Do we have a deal?"
And he offered Charley his big hand.
The spunky mechanic stared at it for a little while as her brains seemed to make overtime.
She then looked at Throttle, who gave her an encouraging nod in return.
Something changed in her eyes, as if the doubt just vanished, taking the glazed look with it and after taking a deep breath, Charley took Dante's hand in a firm grip, her green eyes now twinkling in determination again.
"Deal."