Hey you guys...

Thank you so much for the reviews.
Glad to hear that you still liked the chapter, despite the silly part at the beginning.
But I guess SpaceFlora is right, the show did have a lot of these scenes.
I must say, I enjoyed writing it, but it somehow felt a bit too silly for this story, ya know?
Then again, humor is a very important ingredient for every story, no matter how dark it is.
Anyway, it's done and now it's time to move on.

Enjoy the next chapter!
Feel free to leave a review once you're done, it always helps me, but no pressure, of course. :)

Later guys!

Chapter 27

"I uh… Ahum... Well, you just proved your point, Charley-girl", Throttle started as he still stared at the unconsciousness girl lying at his feet, scratching the back of his head a bit sheepishly.
"I guess none of us should judge a book by its cover…"
He then glanced at the human female, who was standing close to him with a big and smug smile on her face.
"Obviously. Ha, the look on your faces is even better than I ever expected", she chuckled, shaking her head in amusement.

It was so good to see her smile.
And all of this suddenly didn't matter anymore.
All that mattered was her smile.
Her twinkling green eyes.
That awful frown nowhere to be seen.
And he knew; he would let himself be taken down by a woman every day if that meant he could see her smile again.
Man, he got it bad, alright.

"So far for revenge…", Modo mumbled a bit disappointed as he sat down on his bike, his bionic fingers rubbing the scratches on the side.
But no matter how much it hurt him to see the damage, he couldn't make the one responsible pay.
Not anymore.
She was a lady, after all.
And he would never hurt a lady.
Never.
"We'll fix it, Modo. One day", Charley reassured him with a warm smile, patting his arm.
The grey-furred mouse gave her a grateful look in return before turning his gaze back on the young girl.

Throttle did the same and although seeing Charley smile made it all worth it, he still couldn't stop himself from feeling a bit… embarrassed.
Embarrassed that this girl, who couldn't be much older than Vinnie, had been able to give them the quantity of trouble like she had done.
They were Freedom Fighters.
Tough, by war hardened soldiers.
How was it even possible that a girl had managed to bring them down?
Not just one but two times.
This girl, that was hardly more than a child.
Really, this whole thing bordered close to humiliation.
A bruised ego…

Speaking of which, there was a certain someone in their company that was uncharacteristically quiet and his bionic eyes now wandered over to his white-furred bro, who was still sitting on his knees next to the girl, staring at her as if this was the first time that he saw a human being.
But it wasn't the first time.
Obviously.
Either way, there was clearly something going on in the complicated head of the young mouse.
If Throttle had to guess, he probably just needed some time to process this uh… manhood degrading defeat.
After all, this had to be very painful for the arrogant and self-assured adrenaline junkie that dragged an ego bigger than the entire universe with him everywhere he went.

Charley seemed to notice the same thing, for she pulled on Vinnie's ear to snap him out of whatever it was that kept him busy.
"You're unusually quiet, macho mouse. Cat got your tongue?"
The young mouse blinked a few times before he looked up with a bit dazed expression on his face.
"What's a cat?"
Throttle narrowed his eyes behind his glasses when Vinnie didn't whine about her pulling on his ear, for he usually would've.
His body was his temple, after all.
Hm.
Something was up.
Without a doubt.

When Charley didn't respond quickly enough, Vinnie's face darkened and a nervous glance appeared in his two-colored eyes.
"Wait a minute... This isn't like that whole spider thingy, is it?", he asked suspiciously as he already looked at his body, searching for something that -probably- wasn't there.
"Ya know, when I asked what a spider was and you were like; 'that is' before pointing at it without giving me a heads up about how nasty that thing was and I almost blew your heads off because of it…"

"How could I possibly forget?", Charley chuckled, clearly thinking back at that moment back in the bomb shelter below her garage.
But when she saw the deathly glare Vinnie gave her, she grew serious again.
Or well, that's what Throttle thought.
It turned out to be a little bit different.
"But no worries, Vin. There are no cats near and they're a lot less scary than spiders… Although they do eat mice…", she added with a frown, ticking her index finger on her chin as she thoughtfully turned her gaze up to heaven.

Vinnie paled under his fur and he slowly rose on his feet.
"They… they eat mice, you say?", he asked as he pulled his bandana, clearly not reassured by this news.
Throttle wasn't sure what to think about all this either, but when Charley looked back at Vinnie with twinkling eyes, he immediately knew that she wasn't serious.
Which was probably a good thing.
Mice eating creatures didn't exactly sound like music to his oversized ears.

"Yeah, they do. But given your size, I think you got nothing to worry about. But it's just a thought, so you better keep your eyes open, macho mouse", and after winking at the confused white-furred mouse, she walked over to her bike.
Vinnie stared at her back for a moment with his jaw dropped and a worried look on his face.
"What do ya mean, 'given your size'?", he eventually managed to bring out.
"I mean, if that's supposed to make me feel better, it ain't working, sweetheart..."

Throttle quickly coughed in his closed fist to cover up the chuckle that escaped his mouth.
Despite his whole macho mouse image, Vinnie could be so naive and gullible sometimes.
Not that he knew what a cat was, but looking at Charley's face, it couldn't be that big of a deal.
When Charley didn't respond, the white-furred mouse looked back at the biker girl at his feet and his face expression changed from worried to blank in only the blink of an eye.
"Ugh, never mind. Can we go now?", he grumbled as he looked at his bro and leader.

The tan-furred mouse studied his face, but it gave nothing away.
Well, the only thing that stood out was the almost pleading tone of voice.
He clearly wanted to get the hell out of here, rather sooner than later and Throttle wondered why that was, for he knew it wasn't about the cats.
Not anymore.
But he didn't ask.
The chance that he would get an answer that actually made sense was almost non-existent, especially with Charley within earshot.
So, he let it go for now.

"We can't just leave her here, man", Modo answered Vinnie's question before Throttle could and the tan-furred knew his bro was right.
Despite the trouble she had given them, they couldn't just leave her here to die.
That went against everything they were.
Vinnie, however, wasn't convinced.
Quite the opposite, actually.
"What? Of course, we can! Especially after what she did to us", he protested as he mounted his bike.
After putting on his helmet, he looked at Modo with fuming eyes.
"Besides, she should consider herself lucky that I didn't blow her head off. So, I'm gonna ask it again; can we go now?"

The grey-furred giant straightened his back as his eye flickered red a couple of times.
He was clearly not amused by Vinnie's bluntness and Throttle could understand where he was coming from.
This was harsh, even for the white-furred loudmouth.
There was definitely something eating his tail.

"No, we can't go. Not until we've figured out what to do with her, because we ain't leaving her here, in the middle of the road. That ain't right, bro, and you know it."
When Vinnie opened his mouth to protest again, Throttle cut him off before this thing could get out of hand.
"Hate to say it, but Modo is right, Vincent. We can't just drive away."
The white-furred mouse snorted in annoyance and folded his arms, his tail lashing through the air with a soft zooming sound.
But, as usual, he just didn't know when to stop.
"I don't see why not… I mean, she tried to kill us. Not just one, but two times. So why on Mars wouldn't we just drive away and leave her behind to rot, huh? That's the least she deserves. If she was a man, we would've and you know it."

"For your information, she didn't try to kill you, but to taser you. Either way, I suggest you guys come up with a plan, as in, now, because we're about to get company", Charley interfered as she pointed at the small town in the distance.
Throttle followed her finger and saw a group of people coming their way.
Apparently, they had finally discovered that they had been played and that their price was one that got away.
Took them long enough.
But even though they weren't exactly a match for them, Throttle had no intention to waste their time and energy on these people who allowed themselves to be led by their greed.

"She's right, we need to get off the road", he agreed with the human female and as he looked back at the young girl lying on the street, he made a decision.
"Modo, pick her up. We're taking her with us. Once we're out of the danger zone, we'll decide what to do with her."
The grey-furred giant saluted before doing what he was told and Vinnie shook his head in disbelief.
"Sure, let us bring the girl who trapped us like rats…", he muttered under his breath, but he then fell silent again, realizing what he had said just now and he shot Modo a nervous look, but by the looks of things, his older bro hadn't heard him.

He frowned, but then the look on his face changed from nervous to smug and the left corner of his mouth curled up.
Clearly, he had an idea and judging by the look on his face, it was a bad one.
Throttle saw it happen, but he wasn't fast enough to stop him.
"She trapped us like rats, bro…", the young mouse repeated himself a bit louder and this time, Modo did hear him, because he froze right after picking up the girl.

The smile on Vinnie's face became even more self-satisfied when he noticed that he had pushed the right button.
Of course, he had.
The big guy hated rats from their scummy line to their rotten core.
A thing Vinnie wanted to exploit for his own gain, which was beyond selfish, even for him.
"Like stinking, faithless, cowardly rats… And you still wanna bring her with us? Come on… Where's your self-respect, bro?"

"Vincent, enough!", Throttle snapped at him as he kept a close eye on Modo, who was still standing with his back towards them, frozen like a Martian Deery Deer in the light of the two moons of Mars.
"I'm not sure what's eating your tail, but the decision has been made, whether you like it or not, so suck it up and shut that poisonous mouth of yours while you're at it, will ya?!"

Provoking the grey-furred giant as Vinnie had done just now was a dangerous thing.
Too dangerous.
The worst part was that if he would give in to his anger, that was waged by his hatred for rats, hatred that was now stirred up by Vinnie, he would probably do something he was going to regret later on.
The guilt would be too much and therefore, Vinnie was crossing a line.
Big time.

For a moment, nothing happened.
Everyone was staring at Modo, some worried, some hopeful.
But then, Modo's body relaxed a bit and Throttle let out his breath, knowing that his older bro had managed to get himself back under control.
Good.
Luckily, there were still people in this company who did have some self-control.
Charley walked over to Modo and laid a hand on his arm.
"Come on, I'll help you get her on your bike."

Throttle's face softened and his heart made a little dance in his chest when he saw the warm glance in her marvelous green eyes.
She was so kind.
Always willing to help.
She was the sweetest and friendliest woman he'd ever met.
Too bad she would never be his, for he had made the biggest mistake of his life and that was holding onto something that wasn't good for him.

He quickly shook off these unpleasant thoughts and while Charley helped Modo, he walked over to Vinnie and laid a hand on the windshield of the cherry-red racer as he looked Vinnie straight in the eye.
"You will not pull a stunt like that, ever again. Not under my watch. You're off the map, Vincent and if you don't wanna end up alone, I suggest you change course immediately."

He closed his mouth with a clap, making his teeth chatter and Vinnie narrowed his eyes in confusion.
Which was totally justified, for the last part wasn't supposed to come out of his mouth.
His young bro had no idea that he was perfectly aware of what was happening between him and Charley and he intended to keep it that way.
For now.
Who knew what was going to happen if he would confront his rebellious little bro with the fact that he knew?
It could only get ugly, a thing he wanted to avoid by all means.
And yet, he just blurted out these words, these harsh words, without thinking.
Way to go.
Man.

But before Vinnie could ask what he meant by them, Throttle gave him one last warning glare as he knocked his fist on the windshield a couple of times before he walked away, leaving a confused white-furred mouse behind.
When he mounted his bike, he saw that Modo had managed to find a way to bring the biker girl with him without having the risk of her falling off his bike. She was sitting in front of him, leaning against his torso and his tail was wrapped tightly around her waist to make sure she would remain where she was.

The grey-furred mouse caught his gaze and gave him a small nod to tell him that he was ready to go.
And when Throttle saw that Charley was all good to go as well, he started his bike and put on his helmet.
"Okay, people, let's ride."
When he drove past the black bike of the girl, he shot a rope out of the back of his own bike and it whirled around the handlebars so he could take it with them.
After all, friend or foe, good or bad... one does not leave a bike behind.
Never.

…

After driving for about thirty minutes, Charley broke Throttle out of his thoughts as she pointed at something on their right.
"There's a barn there. It looks deserted. Maybe we should stop there and wait until the girl wakes up", she suggested calmly.
After taking a good look at the strange-looking building, the tan-furred leader nodded and whistled between his teeth.
"Break-time at three o'clock, bro's", he told his two closest friends who drove behind him and Charley, both awfully quiet.

As they took the unpaved road to the barn, Modo finally opened his mouth again.
"You banged her up pretty good, Charley ma'am", he mentioned, referring to the still unconscious girl on his bike.
"She's still out like a light."
Charley glanced over her shoulder with a guilt-ridden look on her face.
"Maybe I overdid it…"
"You did everything just right, thank you very much", Vinnie told her shortly with a face like thunder and the human gave him an investigative look before she focussed her attention back on the road again.

Throttle almost felt the confusion coming out of her pores, which was a logical response.
Even though she knew them for only a few weeks now, it was well known that despite his temper, the white-furred mouse usually was the happy note of the group, always finding a way to see the good things in bad things, always trying to stay positive.
To see him this cranky was clearly new to her, as it was for Throttle.
Well, it wasn't the first time that Vinnie showed them his less attractive and charming side, but this felt different than the other times.
More intense.
More... real.

"Don't mind him, babe. He'll come around. He's just upset about being defeated by a woman", the tan-furred mouse said to Charley, but he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.
The human female only gave him a small smile, but it was enough.
Because the cold that had been simmering in her eyes right after when he had made that awfully bad decision was now gone.
There was still a certain distance.
But that was okay.
That he could handle.
The cold, however…
That was a different story.

Charley was the first one to reach the barn and when the three mice stopped next to her bike, she was already standing in front of the door.
But when she laid a hand on the handle, a tan-furred hand stopped her from pulling the door open.
"We oughta be a bit more careful, Charley", Throttle told her with a friendly look on his face, his voice soft and he pulled out his gun.
His bro's did the same and the tan-furred mouse held up two fingers.
First, he pointed at Modo before pointing to his left.
The grey-furred giant nodded and soon thereafter, he disappeared behind the left side of the barn.

Throttle gave the same signal to Vinnie but then to his right.
The young mouse didn't nod, but did what he was told anyway.
Even he knew that some things were more important than their personal differences.
Like to not be killed in an ambush, for instance.
When his bro's were both out of sight, Throttle looked down at Charley, who was now holding a gun in her hand as well.
"Ready?"
"Ready", she confirmed determinedly.
Throttle pressed his back against the wall next to the door and after taking a deep breath, he slowly reached out to the handle.

But before he could put his furry fingers on it, the door already flew open and his heart skipped a beat as he aimed his gun at whoever it was behind the door, his finger already on the trigger.
Charley's reaction went even a step further, for right after the door flew open, her hand lashed out and she punched the person squarely on the nose.
"Ouch! Charley-girl! What the hell was that for?!", a high-pitched voice broke the loaded silence and Throttle let out his breath as he lowered his gun, happy that he didn't suffer from an itchy trigger finger like some of them.
Even though he was still not pleased with Vinnie's behavior, he would never forgive himself if he would blow him up to smithereens.

Charley put a hand over her mouth as soon as she saw it was Vinnie who stood on the doorstep.
"Oh my god, Vinnie, I'm so sorry", she brought out between her fingers before lowering her hand again, her green eyes still wide open.
"But you almost gave me a heart attack just now. Jesus, what were you thinking? No one ever learned you the meaning of subtlety?"
Vinnie narrowed his eyes, rubbing his sore nose.
"Hey, no swearing in my beautiful presence, doll! Subtlety, yuck, gross", he muttered with disgust written upon his face.
"Ugh, how much I hate that word…"

Throttle shook his head and after a quick look over his shoulder to learn that they were still alone, he pushed his young bro back inside
"I take it you came to tell us that it's clear?", he asked as he too stepped inside, looking around him.
"No, I came to tell ya that it's my grandma's birthday today, all right?", the young mouse snapped at him, even more cranky after Charley's blow.
This just wasn't a very good day...

"It's your grandma's birthday?", Modo asked a bit surprised as he looked up from the wall with all kinds of tools that he had been studying before the rest of the group came inside.
Vinnie's left ear twitched as he slowly looked at Modo, grinding his teeth in both annoyance and disbelief because of the stupidity of this question and Modo immediately took the hint.
"Never mind", he quickly said with a goofy smile on his face, scratching his neck and he looked at Throttle.
"It's all clear, bro."
"I figured as much", the tan-furred mouse replied dryly but a bit amused at the same time.
"Come on, let's get the girl and the bikes inside before somebody spots them."

…

"She's waking up."
Throttle leaned forward in the chair that they had found in the corner of the -indeed- deserted barn, studying the face of the biker girl who was now tied to one of the wooden poles that supported the roof.
Modo was right, she was showing signs of waking up.

Her head, that was resting on her right shoulder until now, moved to the left and by the looks of things, she tried to move her hands as well, which was impossible for they were tied up behind her back.
The girl seemed to realize that as well, because she frowned as she struggled a bit harder.
When that didn't work, she slowly opened her eyes, looking around her a bit dazed.
After blinking a few times, she gazed up, straight into Throttle's eyes and he leaned back in his chair in surprise.

Although he was now familiar with this strange phenomenon because of what happened to Vinnie's eye, it was still a mind-blown sight to see and he leaned forward again to take a closer look.
Interesting...
Her right eye was as blue as the sky on this planet called Earth, while the left one was as green as the grass in Sleepy Park back at Camp Hope.
It was peculiar and beautiful at the same time and Throttle got back upright again as he glanced at his young bro, curious about what his response would be to this discovery.
Again, he caught him staring at the girl in some sort of state of shock and the tan-furred mouse rubbed his chin, still confused about what it was that took his bro this off guard.

But a scraping sound took his attention and he looked back at the girl, who was now doubling her efforts to get free.
Which was, of course, no use.
After all, the mice weren't born yesterday.
They knew perfectly well how to tie a few knots that were simply impossible to untie, no matter how determined the prisoner was.
Eventually, she gave up and looked up again as she blew a strand of black hair out of her heated face.
Her eyes darted over the group to eventually land on Vinnie.
A glance of recognition flickered across her face and she arched a brow, giving her a somewhat arrogant expression.
"Didn't you tell me that bondage ain't really your thing?"

Her voice was actually quite a joy for the ears, with its lower tones and a slightly husky edge.
Her words, however, were the last ones he'd expected her to say and Throttle blinked a few times before exchanging looks with Modo, who shrugged a bit embarrassed.
Then, they both looked at Vinnie, who was still staring at her.
But it didn't take long before he recovered from whatever it was that was going on in his sophisticated head and he folded his arms with twitching ears and a challenging look on his young face.
"It isn't. But I never said I don't like it the other way around… doll."

His voice was deep, the high tones nowhere to be found and frankly, it worried Throttle a bit.
It gave him the feeling that he didn't have things under control, and with things he actually meant Vinnie.
He was clearly upset about something and it was general knowledge that when he was upset, he tended to do stupid things.
Unpredictable things.
A less pretty character trait.
Well, only one thing to do.
Take back control over the conversation.

And so, he cleared his throat as his gaze landed back on the girl.
"You have given us a lot of trouble, missy", he started not unfriendly, leaning with his elbow on his knee.
"I'm sure you understand why we had to tie you up. You're quite the fighter."
The girl turned her gaze from Vinnie back to Throttle before she leaned forward -as far as her bonds let her, that is-, her two-colored eyes burning with rebellion and even something that came close to hatred.
"Oh, I understand, alright. You had to even the odds…"
An arrogant smile curled her full lips as she leaned back against the pole again.
"After all, if it wasn't for your pet, things would be the other way around."

Throttle narrowed his eyes behind his glasses when he heard this young girl call the woman of his dreams their pet, but he managed to keep himself under control.
Charley, however…
Charley was far from amused.
He couldn't really blame her.
The girl was just being downright degrading.
"Pet? I kicked your ass and you still dare to call me their pet?", the human female spat out with flaring nostrils and she did a few steps forward, her fists clenched.

It was Modo who stopped her before she could do something which she probably would regret later on.
Or maybe she wouldn't, but it was important to keep this situation under control anyway and letting Charley take out her anger on this girl who wasn't afraid at a time she should be didn't fit that picture.
Not even close.
"Easy, Charley ma'am, don't let her get under your skin. That's all she ever wants. Let's not give it to her."
"Yeah, down girl. Back in your cage", the girl snorted as she glanced at Charley from under her lashes, a look that was all too familiar to Throttle.
A certain white-furred mouse came to mind.
Hm.
This could get interesting.

"My my, quite the attitude you got there, young lady", he said calmly as he took off his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt, the paragon of restraint.
"I suggest you take it down a notch. Your current position can't afford such a big mouth."
Anyone who knew the tan-furred mouse would know by only hearing the tone of his voice that listening to him was the wisest thing to do right now.
But the girl didn't know him, and even if she had heard the threat that was hidden underneath his calmness, she obviously didn't care because she started laughing.
Laughing.

Throttle didn't know if she was either stupid or suicidal, or perhaps even both, but he knew one thing.
This girl didn't know a thing about respect.
"Or what, rodent? You're gonna kill me?", she scoffed, shaking her head in amusement.
Just when Throttle wanted to tell her that it wasn't necessarily him she needed to worry about, a low voice coming from behind him already answered that question.
"You really shouldn't tempt me."

The tan-furred mouse placed his customized specs back on his nose before he glanced over his shoulder at Vinnie, who was clearly close to his breaking point, a thing he had already suspected.
He looked back at the girl, who now had turned her burning gaze from him to his young bro.
"What about honor, huh? I thought there was no honor in shooting someone who's tied up?", she asked, still highly amused instead of being afraid like she probably should be.

Vinnie snorted as he shook his head, his snow-white fur bristled.
"I don't give a damn about honor, sweetheart. Not when it comes to people who cross me like you did. Revenge, however… revenge is something I thrive on…"
Perhaps it was his tone of voice.
Perhaps it were his fuming two-colored eyes.
Or perhaps his words just made impact.

Throttle wasn't sure what it was, but the girl stopped laughing.
She still wasn't impressed the way she should be, but at least she stopped laughing.
Which was good.
Because Throttle knew that this situation was about to get ugly, hearing Vinnie's voice had been enough to come to that conclusion.
If only she would shut that big mouth of hers...
"And what are you planning on doing? Melt me with your smoldering look?"

It was Charley who stepped up before Vinnie had the chance to react.
The human female jumped between him and the girl as she looked at the latter with fuming eyes.
"Enough! They're not the enemy here!"
The amusement on the girl's face vanished like smoke in the wind and anger took its place.
"Of course they are! Every alien is my enemy!", she spat out, already struggling to get free again.
The transformation was shocking, to say the least, and confusing at the same time.
"Hold up. If every alien is your enemy, then why do you work for the Plutarkians?", Throttle asked with a frown.

The girl stared at him for a moment before she burst into laughter again and Throttle caught himself starting to feel a little bit annoyed.
"Now what's so funny this time?", he asked tiredly, drumming with his fingers on the armrest of his chair as he tried to contain his anger.
Again, she stopped laughing quite abruptly and she looked at him with eyes burning of hatred.
"I don't work for them. That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."
"Not so dumb considering you use nets made of Plutarkian Fiber Steel", Throttle retorted as he kept a close eye on her.

That caught her interest, he could tell.
"How do you know?", she asked as she tilted her head with a frown.
"Because we're fighting the fish heads for a very long time now. You should know that Earth isn't the first planet they invaded and if we don't stop them, it most certainly won't be the last."
She narrowed her eyes as she studied his face, probably searching for a sign that would tell her he was lying.
But he wasn't, so he wasn't worried that she would find anything.
"You fight them?", she eventually asked a bit hesitant, still with that confused frown on her face.
"Well, duh! Why else would they put a price on our heads, huh? Geez, and they say humans are smart", Vinnie interfered and the girl looked up with a jerk, her mouth in a tight line.

Seeing the way she looked at his white-furred bro, Throttle could tell that he had lost her again and he closed his eyes for a moment, cursing Vinnie for his big mouth and sense of bad timing.
"Did you just call me dumb?", she asked with an ice-cold voice.
"I guess I did, huh?", Vinnie smiled humorlessly as he studied his nails before glancing at the girl with a challenging look on his face.
A challenging look accompanied by anger and Throttle couldn't help himself but wonder again why the girl managed to get under his skin the way she did.
Of course, she was beyond annoying.
But was that really the reason why Vinnie was this upset?
Or could there be more to it?

"Why don't you come here so we can settle this, huh, tough guy? Once and for all", the girl snapped at him.
It was painfully obvious that she didn't like to be called dumb, but then again, who did?
The white-furred mouse rolled his eyes, not impressed by this empty threat.
"Oeh, I'm shaking. Well, maybe I would've, if you weren't tied up, that is."
"Who said I'm tied up?", she asked sweetly in return and everyone inside the barn froze.

But before they could only so much blink their eyes, the girl jumped on her feet, holding a knife in her right hand and without slowing down, she lashed out to the person closest to her, which happened to be Throttle.
Again, he thanked the Mothers of Mars for his quick reflexes and he ducked as he used his weight to let the chair fall backward.
The knife almost grazed his nose, but almost was the same as not in this case.

The moment the backrest hit the floor, he made a backward somersault and jumped back on his feet.
"I thought you searched her, Charley", he called out, still highly surprised by this sudden move.
"I did! Must have missed something", the human female answered shortly, her eyes fixated on her younger fellow human being.
"Obviously", the girl smiled smugly and now launched an attack on Charley again.

But this time, the human female was just a fraction too slow and the knife did graze her upper arm.
Charley froze and looked down at her arm, how the blood colored her blouse red before she looked back at the girl again, her green eyes fuming.
But the girl was already fighting off Modo, who would've succeeded to get her back under control if it wasn't for his chivalry.
He simply couldn't hurt her, that went against everything he was, so he tried to catch her without using too much force.

But unfortunately for him, the girl didn't back down from any opportunity to fight dirty, because she raised her right foot and kicked him right between his legs.
The grey-furred giant let out a moan as he fell on his knees, his one eye squeezed shut in pain and the girl raised her hand with the knife.
Throttle's heart skipped a few beats and he already made his way towards her to stop her from hurting his bro, his eyes wide open when he saw how her hand started its way down.

But then, a loud click pierced the deathly silence and the girl froze, so did Throttle and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"That's far enough, pretty lady", Vinnie growled between clenched teeth, holding a gun to her head.
"Drop the knife. Now."
She hesitated, but Vinnie wasn't in the mood for games and he pressed the barrel of his ray gun even harder against her head.
"Don't test me. Drop it. Now!"

She seemed to realize that he was beyond serious and the knife slid through her fingers, landing on the floor with loud clattering.
Her anger seemed to go along with it, for her shoulders slumped in defeat.
The look on her face changed, the hatred now replaced with something else.
Sadness.
Despair.
She suddenly looked ten years younger, making it even harder to believe that this was the same girl that kept getting in their way and Throttle wondered what her story was, for it was obvious to him that she had one.
An interesting one, too.

But he couldn't just ask.
Not now.
There were other matters that required his undivided attention first.
Like stopping a certain rash and reckless white-furred mouse with an itchy trigger finger from blowing her head off, for instance.
That seemed a bit far-fetched at first hand, for they all knew that even despite his temper and big mouth, Vinnie wasn't a mouse that killed without mercy whenever it pleased him.
Quite the opposite, actually.

But the tan-furred mouse didn't trust the look on his face.
There was just something in his eyes that made him even more unpredictable than usual and the tan-furred mouse still hadn't figured out what it was.
But he guessed it was now safe to conclude that this girl obviously did something to his young bro.
And it wasn't something good.
He also didn't lower the gun.
That wasn't good either.

"You can put the gun down, Vincent. She's unarmed and therefore no longer a threat", Throttle said softly, almost cautiously.
But, as expected, the white-furred mouse didn't listen.
He stared at the girl with teeth clenched and twitching ears and the hand that held the gun slightly trembled, he now noticed.
What on Mars was going on here?
"Vinnie… put down the gun."
It was if he didn't hear him.
As if he was in a trance.

The girl just stood there, breathing heavily and for the first time since they met, Throttle saw a glance of fear in her eyes.
So she wasn't fearless after all.
She obviously feared death.
But he had the feeling that it wasn't as simple as fearing the unknown.
There was more to it.
As if she had a purpose to fulfill before she could die in peace.

But whatever it was, it at least ensured that she kept her mouth shut, for she seemed to understand that her life was now hanging by a thread.
A thread held by Vinnie, her fate now in his hands.
His trembling hands.
Throttle shot Modo a worried look, who still sat on his knees, recovering from the sharp pain the girl's well-placed kick had caused.
The grey-furred giant shrugged with a slightly desperate look on his face in return, clearly standing in the dark here as well, just like his tan-furred bro.

It was Charley who eventually did a few steps forward before Throttle could stop her and she approached the young mouse cautiously yet targeted.
Vinnie didn't seem to notice her, for he was still staring at the gun in his hands, the gun he held to the girl's head.
When Charley reached him, she slowly reached out her hand and laid it on his white-furred arm.
From the moment her fingers made contact, a shock went through his body, but he still didn't lower the gun.
Neither did he look at Charley.

"Vinnie, it's okay. Put down the gun. She isn't worth it", Charley whispered soothingly as her fingers slid through the fur on his arm in an attempt to make him conscious of her presence.
Seeing her touching him like that made Throttle a bit nauseous, but he said nothing.
Of course, he didn't.
It would be beyond ridiculous if he would put the life of this young girl on the line because of something as dishonorable as jealousy.
Because of a broken heart.
He was a lot of things, but dumb most certainly wasn't one of them.
Neither was he selfish.
So, he just stood there, watching the scene with mixed feelings and an aching heart.

The silence was deafening, almost suffocating.
It pressed against his eardrums, causing a high beep in his ears.
Kind of like that awful moment of silence on the battlefield, the silence that came right before all hell broke loose.
But then, Vinnie let out his breath as he lowered the gun and suddenly, everyone could breathe again, the pressure that came with the fear of having no control now gone.

The girl closed her eyes for a moment, relief clearly written upon her face.
She even let Charley guide her back to the pole without struggle, where Modo was already waiting to tie her back up.
Throttle bent down and grabbed the chair to put it back on four legs and after taking a deep breath to calm down the whirlwind of emotions inside of him, he sat down again.

The girl looked up at him with those peculiar eyes of hers, but her anger was still nowhere to be found when she eventually opened her mouth again.
"So now what?"
Throttle adjusted his glasses before leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees.
"Now… Now we talk."