Hey you guys...

At first; thanks for the reviews.
I just keep saying it, you have no idea what that means to me.

Secondly; I'm sorry it took me this long to update this story.
Life is crazy at the moment.
Hope you guys are still with me.

And now, without further ado, the next chapter.
Enjoy and feel free to leave a review.
Always very much appreciated.
Till next time, my friends.

Later!

Chapter 31

While Vinnie was still mumbling angrily to himself because of Pip's sudden departure, Throttle focussed his attention on the humans that were holding them at gunpoint.
Even though he too had about a thousand questions about why Pip was gone, he knew now wasn't the time to worry about that.
Right now, they were in trouble and he needed to focus on trying to get them out of their plight.
As his gaze wandered over the people that were surrounding them, he counted at least ten men and four women, including the woman that had lured them into this trap with her superb acting.
The child was standing behind her, peeking at them with still that disturbing smile on his face.

Throttle had to admit, it was a smart and clearly effective way to let people lower their guard, especially with the child, making it easy for the rest of the group to sneak up on the unfortunate souls that still had the decency to help a fellow human being in need.
After that, it was nothing more than child's play to pull a gun on them and thereby place them under their control.
He knew that these people did what they had to do to survive, these were desperate times after all, but frankly, it was hardly an excuse.
But when his gaze landed on the man who had ordered them to raise their hands, he somehow got the nagging feeling that this wasn't just about surviving.
It was about power, too.
To be in control.
And that made him dangerous.
Very dangerous.

"What do you want?", Throttle asked the man, assuming that he was the leader of this small but apparently dangerous en devious group of people.
His voice was calm and authoritative, for he knew it was important to show the man that he wasn't impressed by him.
That he wasn't easily suppressed either.
That he wouldn't bow to someone like this man.
This man, that allowed to use a child as bait.
That alone said enough about what kind of man this person was.
Boundless.
Crazy.
Perhaps even insane.

The latter now looked at him with his greenish eyes, lifting his hat with his right hand so he could scratch his head, thereby revealing a greasy and grey-colored head of hair.
"Everything", he eventually answered the question, probably dropping a silence on purpose, to show Throttle that it was him who was in control.
And unfortunately, for now he was.
Perhaps the tan-furred mouse didn't bow that easily, he still wasn't exactly in control of the situation right now.
Oh, how much he hated it...

Charley, who stood a few meters away from him, made a soft sound and Throttle glanced at her, only to see the somewhat worried look on her face.
"Everything?", she asked, the same worry also clearly audible in her voice, a thing he could understand.
The man's answer might be short, but it was alarming at the same time.
And even though he knew that Charley was perfectly able to take care of herself, there was just something about these people that triggered his need to protect her. Something about these people felt wrong, perhaps even disturbing and she seemed to feel it too.
After giving the human female an almost invisible but reassuring nod, to let her know that he would never allow them to hurt her, he looked back at the man with his bionic eyes narrowed behind his glasses.
"What do you mean with everything?"

Perhaps it was a stupid question, but it at least bought them some time.
He just needed to keep them talking.
It was all he could do right now.
Luckily, the man went along with it without hesitation.
Too bad that his answer made things even more troubling.

"Well, as the word suggests… everything. Your weapons. Your bikes. Your food and water…", he summed up and Throttle shook his head in disbelief.
He might not know much about Earth and its inhabitants, but he had learned in the short time they were here that humans took 'survival of the fittest' a little bit too seriously.
Why not work together instead of stealing from each other?
Why not unite instead of turning against each other?
They were in this together, after all.
Honestly...

And apparently, this wasn't about the bounty.
Well, that's a first.
Perhaps it should be a relief.
But it wasn't.
Because now the question of where this was about remained unanswered, which made it even more difficult.
Unpredictable.
Throttle didn't like unpredictable.
Unpredictability costs lives, most of the time.
And losing someone under his watch was something he would never forgive himself.
Never.

But as it turned out, the man wasn't finished yet and when his greenish eyes landed on Charley, it soon became clear what his true intentions were.
"...and your clothes…", he added slowly as he gave the human female a meaningful, perhaps even appreciating look, revealing a set of rotten and yellow teeth by curling up his lips into a devious smile.
The rest of the men now started to smile as well, while the women just stared at the ground with a blank face.
Charley visibly paled and to say that it fired Throttle's anger like a missile was an understatement.
Perhaps a nuclear bomb came closer.

His entire body tensed as his fur bristled and he clenched his teeth as the anger spread through his body.
A low growl vibrated deep down in his chest and if he wasn't so blinded by this maddening anger that was simmering under the surface every minute of the day, it would've scared him, for it was a sound that told him that he was very close to losing control.
It was a sound that belonged to primal instinct, an instinct that was built into his DNA, whether he liked it or not.
Perhaps Stoker was right.
Perhaps she was, indeed, his soulmate.
Why else would he react like this?

"You stay away from her, you piece of shit…", he started with another growl and he did a few steps forward, the fact that he was being held at gunpoint already forgotten.
But no one was allowed to look at Charley like that.
No one.
He would rather die than to let this man look at her like that, let alone touching her.

But a young guy with blond hair that stood close to the tan-furred mouse took a step forward as well and used the back of his gun to hit him in the stomach.
"Stay where you are, rodent!"
A vicious pain made Throttle bend over, soon followed by a wave of nausea that almost washed him away and he gasped for air, holding his hand on the sore spot.
He hated to admit it, but the guy just did a number on him.
Dammit.
"Throttle!", Charley called out startled as she took a few steps into his direction, but one of the men grabbed her by the arm before she could reach him.
"Where do you think you're going? The boss wasn't finished yet…", the older man smiled as he looked down on her while his friends grabbed Modo and Vinnie who had come into movement at the same time Charley had done.

Charley struggled to free herself, her green eyes fixated on Throttle, who was still standing bent over with his hands resting on his knees to give himself the time he needed to recover from this mean hit.
"Let me go!"
But the man was too strong, and not even Charley, who was the queen of martial arts, could wriggle herself out of his tight grip.

Vinnie, however, did succeed in yanking himself free.
Not only because Martian Mice were ten times stronger than humans, but he already had enough anger in his system because of Pip and therefore, there wasn't much needed to let him explode.
There never was, actually, so hitting his best friend right before his eyes was more than enough to do the trick and he launched himself at the guy who was responsible for hurting his bro.
"You just made a big mistake", he growled as he raised his fist, but before he could take his fair share of retribution, all hell broke loose as the whole group of humans
came into action as well.

It was hard to follow what exactly went down at that moment because a lot of things happened at the same time.
Modo managed to free himself as well, but when he tried to reach Vinnie to help him, five men threw themselves on him and the grey-furred mouse dropped on his knees with gritted teeth and a glowing eye.
Although he too hated to admit it, not even he was up to the weight of five fully grown human beings, though he tried everything within his power to get rid of them.
But they fought back in the way they had lured them into this ambush.
Dirty.

This basically meant that they pulled on every part of his body to keep him down, including his ears, fur and even worse; his antennas.
And since the antennas of a Martian Cave Mouse were beyond sensitive, he almost fainted when one of the men grabbed them to pull his head down.
But that didn't stop the grey-furred giant.
No, it only slowed him down.
Unfortunately for him and the rest of his group, time wasn't really on their side.
But he would rather die than to give up.
And so he did what befits a soldier.
He fought.
And there was only one thing that was able to stop him.
Death.

Meanwhile, Vinnie succeeded to throw one punch at the guy that was still under him, but right when he raised his hand to hit him again, two other humans grabbed him by the arms and pulled him off their friend.
"Get your fucking hands off of me", the white-furred mouse spat out angrily, but much to his surprise, the men were strong.
And as he had the element of surprise to yank himself free only seconds ago, the humans were now prepared and so, strength wasn't enough.
Not this time.
There was only one thing to do.
It was time to get creative.
And it just happened to be that he was.
Creative.
Duh.

Clenching his teeth, he raised his tail, all ready to use it to get him out of this, in his opinion, humiliating situation but apparently, he wasn't the only one creative around here, for one of the men grabbed his tail before he could do something and wrapped it around his hand like a rope.
Perhaps that wasn't that bad, but while he was doing that, he put way too much pressure on the vertebrae and Vinnie let out a groan in pain.
As his nose wrinkled in anger, he lashed out with his right hand that was now free, but the other guy grabbed his wrist before he could hit the target.

Soon thereafter, the man who still held his tail placed his right foot in Vinnie's knee pit, thereby forcing the young mouse to bend the knee.
His friend quickly joined in and they both used their weight to push Vinnie on the ground.
And with his tail being held like this, there wasn't much the white-furred daredevil could do to stop them.
Not if he wanted to keep his precious tail intact. Which he did.
It didn't make him less angry though.
No, he almost exploded out of his fur right now, and he kept wriggling to get the men off of him, determined to win the fight, just like he was used to.
He would never say it out loud, but Pip was right about one thing.
He was such a bad loser.

At the same time, Throttle was finally able to continue his way towards the leader of the group, his teeth gritted, almost seeing red because of this all-consuming anger, but right before he reached him, the feeling of cold steel pressing against the back of his head made him stop dead in his tracks.
"Don't move", a female voice whispered in his ear.
But no one was ever really allowed to tell him what to do and so, he swirled around, already raising his hand to grab the gun that was now pointing in his face but he then heard a loud click at his right and again, he froze.
Somehow, the sound gave him goosebumps and when he glanced into the direction of where it came from, his heart just dropped.

"Tell your friends to stand down or she's a goner…", the woman from the road warned him, holding a small handgun against Charley's head and Throttle saw how her finger already softly squeezed the trigger…
"No! Don't shoot her! I'll do whatever you want, but please… don't shoot her…", he breathed in a wave of panic, triggered by the thought alone of losing Charley and he quickly signed to his bro's to cease their resistance.

They both listened without hesitation, even Vinnie, who sometimes had some trouble listening in the heat of the moment, being overwhelmed by adrenaline.
Modo usually listened without too much difficulty so that was nothing new.
But they both not only stopped with what they were doing because they were soldiers that obeyed an order without questioning -well, most of the time in Vinnie's case, that is-, but also because they knew just as well that these people weren't kidding.
Therefore, Charley's life was on the line.
But that didn't mean that they liked it, for they didn't.

Especially Vinnie, who now lay on the ground, pinned down by three men, had a really hard time with staying where he was.
"You better let her go, or I…", the young mouse growled between clenched teeth, but the leader of the group already burst into laughter and thereby cut off his threat before he could finish it.
"Oh, shut up. You're not really in the position to make threats, now are ya?", and he turned his head to look at Charley again.
"Now, where were we?"

Again, that smile appeared on his face, that smile that made his fur stand up and Throttle clenched his fists, fighting to remain where he was, but it was hard.
Very hard.
All he wanted was to grab the man and wipe that smile off his face, to hit him until he stopped breathing, all because of the way he looked at Charley.
He had no idea what would happen if the man decided to touch her right in front of him, the thought alone took his breath away, but what could he do?
They were holding a gun to her head.
They would kill her if he didn't do as they said.
Fuck.

Who were these people?
What happened to them that made them like this?
Not even the women stood up for their fellow female human being.
No, they just stood there, one of them even holding the gun to Charley's head for fuck sake.
This was crazy.
Was he really able to just stand here and watch them hurt their human friend?
His friend?
His… Charley-girl?
By the gods.
He had no idea what to do.

While he was having his inner battle, he saw the man slowly making his way towards Charley and his heartbeat rose to an astonishing level.
"No, please… leave her alone", he panted as he took a step forward, he just couldn't stop himself.
Well, actually, he hardly noticed that he did.
But the woman who held Charley at gunpoint did and she pushed the weapon even harder against her auburn-colored head.
"Don't even think about it. One more step and I will pull this trigger, trust me" she snapped at the tan-furred mouse.

'Trust me.'

He didn't.
Trust her.
He did, however, believe her.
The look on her face told him that she was capable of anything.
And so he came to a halt again, his body shaking with anger.
Goddammit.
He had never felt this helpless before.
Never.
His bionic eyes darted over to Charley and the despair grew even bigger when he saw the look on her face.
Like him, she clearly already knew what was coming, but instead of using her skills to free herself, she seemed to be completely frozen.
Maybe it was the gun against her head.
Maybe it was the sight of the guy that walked over to her, lust written upon his face.

Or maybe Throttle was just naive to think that she could fight her way out of this.
Maybe it was his own fear that was trying to make the impossible possible, simply because he was failing to protect her.
Because while standing there completely powerless, he suddenly realized that he had made a critical mistake by showing his emotions.
And now they knew that she was his weakness because she was.
It was a fact.
A fact that the man was about to use against him.
Against them all, because they all three cared for Charley.
Perhaps each in their own way, but they cared.
Throttle knew men like him.
They thrived on taking what wasn't theirs.
This man was no different, sadly enough.
Power.
Control.
Everything...

Beg.
All he could do was beg them not to hurt her.
Some soldier he was.
"Please… don't hurt her…", he whispered, not able to speak out loud because of the lump in his throat that was there all of a sudden, squeezing his throat without mercy.
He cursed himself for being this emotionally unstable, but strangely enough, it seemed to snap Charley back to reality.
At least, that's what he thought, but he could just as easily be wrong.
He wasn't thinking straight, after all.
But whatever it was, it made her suddenly blink a few times before she looked him straight in the eye.

The moment their eyes locked, Throttle's legs went numb and he almost dropped on his knees, completely overwhelmed by despair and anger when he saw the glance in her eyes.
Fear.
She was scared.
Scared like a little Martian Deery Deer, just like she had been when Max was angry with her.
It reminded him of that day in the factory, that awful day, when he had killed a person in cold blood for the first time in his life, but that wasn't what made him upset.
No, it were these humans that made him beyond angry.
He cursed them for triggering this old pain, pain that was supposed to stay on the shelf in Charley's head, eating dust.
She should never have to face this, ever again but they just forced her to.

By the Gods, if only he could take her in his arms.
If only he could show her how he felt about her.
That he would do anything to protect her.
At the same time, it reminded him of his failure, for he knew he was.
Failing her.
Failing to protect her, to keep her safe and now here he was, begging this cruel man to leave her alone.
Goddammit.

Pip had tried to warn them, for fuck sake.
She had known that something wasn't right.
He should've stopped Charley.
He should've done everything within his power to stop her.
But he hadn't done any of that.
And now here they were.

Movement on Charley's right caught his attention and Throttle reluctantly broke eye-contact, only to see that the man now reached the person that had captured his heart the moment he had laid eyes on her.
It cost him all his self-control and beyond to remain where he was, for he knew that right now, there was nothing he could do.
If he did, they would shoot her, he knew they would.
They would kill her, right before his bionic eyes.
There was no way that he was able to survive that.
Oh, man.
He couldn't lose her.
He just couldn't.

"Dammit, just tell me what you want! I'll do anything but leave her alone!", he burst out in another wave of this excruciating panic that almost washed him away.
But the man ignored him.
He just ignored him, as if he wasn't even here.
The tan-furred mouse grinded his teeth as he clenched his fists when the anger came back in full force without mercy.
Without warning.

Or perhaps it even went beyond anger.
It was a feeling that was already familiar, for he had felt it before.
Again, it felt as if he was back in the room at the factory, when Max tried to reach Charley with that insane look on his face, holding a knife in his hand that was covered with Modo's blood.
His bro's blood.
A vicious headache.
A click.
And after that, nothing but darkness.
Cold and lonely darkness.

In the meantime, the man was obviously unaware of what was happening inside Throttle's head, because if he would, he wouldn't have done what he was about to do.
Or maybe he would've done it anyway, for he seemed to be completely fearless.
In control.
As if nothing could get to him.
As if he was immortal.
As if he was God himself.

With that awful smile still on his face, he reached out his greedy little hands.
"Now lemme see what you're hiding under that jacket of yours…", he mumbled almost excitedly.
Charley tried to back away, to avoid his hands, but the woman was still holding her in place.
Perhaps even more to the point, she was still holding the gun against her head and therefore, there was nowhere to go.
Nowhere to hide.

When Charley realized that there was no way out of this, she looked up at the blond-headed woman, a pleading and perhaps even disappointed glance in her green eyes.
"Please. Don't let him do this. Just let me go…", she whispered, but the woman already turned her gaze the other way, her face completely blank.
It was clear that it wasn't the first time that this happened in front of her and she seemed to lack the will and power to intervene.
Charley opened her mouth again, knowing that this woman might be her only chance to get out of this horrible situation, but then she suddenly froze, for she felt something that told her she was too late.

A hand.
A hand that took the zipper of her jacket between its dirty fingers.
The characteristic sound of a zipper being unzipped that broke the deadly silence.
A deep sigh, coming out of Charley's mouth without her noticing as she stared at the hand that now slowly opened her leather jacket.
When it was halfway, she slowly raised her hand, as if she wanted to take the hand between her soft fingers, one last attempt to stop this madness, but another muffled sound made her stop again.
Like in slow motion, she turned her head to look at Throttle and her eyes grew big when she saw him reaching for his gun.

In response, she shook her head in an attempt to let him know that she didn't want him to take the risk, but unfortunately, the tan-furred mouse wasn't exactly in the land of the living right now.
He was miles away, his mind clouded by anger and hatred.
Modo and Vinnie saw it too and they shared a worried look, for they both knew that this was about to get out of hand and there was nothing they could do about it.
Nothing but bracing themselves, to prepare themselves to jump into action when hell would break loose, which was only seconds away.

Well, maybe they could do a little prayer while they were at it, a prayer that they all would make it out alive.
If they were religious, that is.
But they weren't.
And so, all they did was watch.
Watch how shit was about to get real.

Throttle's fingers enclosed the cold metal of the gun in his right leg holster, his gaze fixated on the man that was touching Charley, but right before he could pull it out, a zooming sound was heard.
Charley's auburn hair moved at the right side of her face by a sudden but soft gust of wind.
Soon thereafter, a soft thump.
Everyone froze, for both sounds were somehow familiar, especially in this order, but they all couldn't name it.
Not yet, that is.

Modo was the first one to move again and he looked at Charley, who stared at the man in front of her with her eyes wide open, her breathing shallow.
As he watched the scene, the grey-furred giant narrowed his eye, for something wasn't right.
The man was too quiet, all of a sudden.
He was standing too still.

It was then when he suddenly noticed a few small red spots on Charley's face, but before he could figure out what it was, the man fell backward and landed on the asphalt with a loud bang.
That took Vinnie's attention as well, and Modo saw the young mouse lift his head out of the corner of his eye.
In fact, it was now the entire group, both human and Martian, that stared at the man, some in total shock, some just surprised.
Or maybe it was the small and perfect hole in his forehead that took their attention.
Or the small trickle of blood that now made its way down to his ear like a tiny river.

Whatever it was, they all needed some time to comprehend what was happening here, but then, the same sounds were heard.
And this time, it was the woman who held Charley at gunpoint that fell down to never rise again, her already empty eyes wide open as they stared up to the sky.
Again, a deadly silence followed, but it didn't take long before the penny finally dropped and one of the men that was holding Modo took a deep breath.
"Sniper!", he yelled with a breaking voice and his panic immediately riled up the rest of the group.

With a scared look on their faces, the humans scrambled back on their feet, but they weren't the only ones who came in action.
No, the mice immediately used this moment in their favor.
It was their only chance, after all.
Vinnie threw his legs in the air and used his hands to push himself up.
While he was airborne, he grabbed both of his ray guns and when he landed on his feet, he already opened fire with gritted teeth, too angry to make some snappy line.
These people had crossed a line and now they needed to pay.
Big time.

Modo soon joined the firefight, but instead of ray guns he used his arm cannon and one by one, the humans went down.
The chaos was immense, such a contrast with the deadly and almost suffocating tension leading up to this moment.
It was enough to make Throttle snap back to reality and after blinking a few times, he already forced his body into movement, giving himself no time to recover from the cold that had darkened his heart for a moment.

Knowing that his bro's had the situation under control, he made his way over to Charley, who had dropped on her knees the moment she realized that the man was dead.
He wasn't sure why.
Maybe she was relieved.
Maybe all this forced her to relive certain things.
Things he wished she had never experienced in the first place.
The need to protect her from this cruel world grew even stronger, as far as that goes.
And so he marched over to her, stepping over a few dead bodies without turning his gaze away from her.
He even did a few steps to his left to avoid one of the men landing on him after a well-aimed shot of the youngest member of their team, determined to let nothing stop him.

When he finally reached her, he immediately kneeled next to her.
"Are you okay?", he breathed as he gently took her chin between his furry fingers and with caution, he turned her head to make her look at him.
She followed his movement without hesitation and when she met his gaze, it was again the fear that struck him like lightning.
It cut right through his soul actually.
Therefore, his next move wasn't thought out.
No, he just acted without thinking, something that didn't happen that often.

But it was purely instinctive.
Which was good, for now.
If he had known beforehand what he was about to do, he would've backed down.
Scared to lose control.
Scared to do something wrong.
Scared to be rejected.
But now, there was no fear for the unknown.
Now, all that mattered was her.
That she was scared.
She needed him.
And so he gave himself to her, simply by pulling her in his arms.

She stiffened at first, but when he gently but protectively wrapped his arms around her beautiful body, her muscles relaxed a bit, telling him that he was on the right path.
He bowed his head and buried his nose in her auburn-colored hair, sniffing up her scent almost sneakily.
Goosebumps spread under his fur when her delicious scent caressed his nostrils and he too was finally able to relax.
"It's okay. You're safe now. I'm here…", he whispered, again, without thinking as he lovingly rubbed her back and he closed his eyes when he felt her warmth under his fingers.
Finally…
Finally he was holding her.
And he finally felt complete.
Whole.
He was whole again.

A sob escaped Charley's lips and when the soft sound reached his ears, it was guilt that chased away the great feeling that came with holding her.
Like it always did.
It always chased away the good things.
So it wasn't really a surprise.
It would be strange if it wasn't there.
Like he was missing a limb or something like that.

After taking one last breath of her marvelous scent, he reluctantly untangled himself so he could look her in the eye.
She looked back at him with watery eyes, the sad glance telling him that he was right.
Clearly, this whole experience had triggered something in her, something that wasn't meant to be triggered and it broke his heart.
"I'm so sorry that I couldn't protect you…", he said softly and he tucked a strand of hair behind her tiny little ear.
Tenderly.
Affectionately.
"It should never have gotten this far…"

But instead of blaming him for his mistakes, which was her good right, she shook her head.
"It wasn't your fault, Throttle. I should've known better, especially in these times…", she whispered with a slightly husky voice and she reached out to him before resting her hand on his cheek.
His entire body shivered under her touch and again, he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling she gave him.
It made him feel safe, somehow.
Connected instead of wandering alone.
Man.
He had never felt like this before.
It literally took his breath away.
What a woman...

In the meantime, Modo and Vinnie had done a good job to take down the people who weren't fast enough to escape their fate.
Or who were stupid enough to use the chaos to their advantage, thinking that would be enough to take down the two Martian males.
Which was both ignorant and predictable.
And it gave the two mice no other choice but to take action in order to protect themselves.
Both Vinnie and Modo didn't like to kill, but sometimes, war forced them to.
As it did now.

Silence descended upon the battlefield and as his one eye wandered over the dead bodies, Modo lowered his arm with heaviness in his spirit.
Such a waste...
But he knew well enough that these people had made their choice and thereby had sealed their fate.
They had chosen to be like this, to use the war to seize power and now, they got what they deserved.
Still, being their executioner was a heavy burden to carry, mostly because these weren't the first people he had killed.
No, there were many Plutarkians and Mountain Rats that had died by his hands.
Or perhaps he should say; by his bionic arm.
Either way, this was a part of war he would never get used to.
It just wasn't in his nature to kill.
And every life he took was another scar on his soul.

Eventually, his gaze landed on the kid and his heart became even heavier when he saw him sitting next to the dead body of his mother, trying to get her into movement.
"Please mom, wake up…", the small boy sobbed as he shook her shoulder, tears streaming down his face.
The grief that was audible in the boy's voice made Modo's ears droop, including his -still sore- antennas and sadness washed over him.
Oh, momma…
If these people hadn't almost violated Charley, he would've blamed himself for making this child orphan, but the thing was, they did.
Attack Charley.

Therefore, this wasn't his fault.
Or Throttle's.
Neither was it Vinnie's fault.
They just did what they had to do to survive, to protect those they cared for, but that didn't make it easier.
Quite the opposite, actually.
And the fact that it was the mysterious sniper who had taken her life didn't ease his pain either.
No, he still felt responsible.
Like he always did.

Completely caught up in his thoughts with the additional emotions, the grey-furred giant was unaware of the woman that now sneaked up on him from behind.
Perhaps that wasn't that bad, but the gun she held in her hand was.
And as she tiptoed closer to him, she raised her hand and pointed the deadly weapon at Modo, her finger already on the trigger.
A smile curled her lips, as if the victory was already hers, even though it wasn't.
Maybe she was very close, yes, but not close enough.
And clearly not aware of the white-furred mouse that now popped up next to her and pressed the barrel of his ray gun against her head before she could claim victory.
"Drop it", Vinnie ordered her with a raw voice as his thumb reloaded the gun with a loud click.
"If you wanna keep your brains, that is…"

The woman froze, so did Modo before he swirled around, already raising his arm by reflex and just in time to see the woman drop the gun before she raised her hands.
The fear on her face somehow affected the big guy, although he wasn't sure why.
After all, she had been just moments away from planting a bullet in his head, but it was the look on her face that told Modo this was maybe the only one from the group who still had a living conscience.
That made her different.
And different was good.

His eye caught some movement close to her head and his fur bristled when he saw Vinnie placing his finger on the trigger, probably still planning on taking her down, even though she wasn't a threat anymore.
Not because he enjoyed killing, no, it was simply because he tended to get a bit carried away in the heat of the moment, his judgment clouded by adrenaline.
Or maybe he was just angry because of what these people had wanted to do with Charley, a feeling mutual with Modo's.
Pip's sudden departure probably didn't help either.
Or perhaps it wasn't just her departure.
Perhaps it was Pip herself that was bothering him in both presence and absence.

But it didn't really matter right now.
All that mattered was to stop him from killing this woman, for Modo suddenly came up with an excellent reason to keep her alive, if he may say so.
"Vincent, don't. We need her", he therefore said calmly but decisively as he already walked over to them.
Vinnie wrinkled his nose but lowered the gun without asking too many questions.
Well, he only asked one, to be exact.
A fair one, too.
"For what?"

But Modo ignored him and when he reached them, he grabbed the woman by the arm, a little less polite than he usually would do and dragged her with him.
She struggled to get free, but of course, she wasn't a match for the normally friendly mouse that was like a castle so big.
"You take the child and get the hell outta here, you hear me?", the latter told her, not at all impressed by her attempt to get free and he pushed her towards the kid.
The woman stumbled a few passes but recovered balance pretty soon and ran to the child with her knees bent and her head low.
"Come on, Neil, we need to go…", she breathed as she took him by the arm, but Neil wasn't ready to leave his mother behind.
"No. We can't just leave her here! She needs to wake up!", he cried as he threw himself on the motionless corpse, his small body trembling from weeping.

It was without a doubt a heartbreaking sight, how the woman tried to take the very upset child with her, fear written upon her face, for she was probably scared that the mice would kill her if Neil wasn't coming with her at once and who could blame her?
After all, she had no idea that the two Martian males were actually the good guys here, that they were just mad because they had tried to hurt their friend.
That they killed to not be killed.
That they killed to protect the ones they cared for.
That she and her people had backed them into a corner, forcing them to use violence.

For a moment, the two brothers in arm watched the gut-wrenching scene but then Vinnie let out his breath.
"I'll handle this", he told his friend with reluctance before he made his way to the two human beings.
When he reached them, he kneeled down and placed his gun under Neil's chin, thereby forcing him to look up.
When he had his attention, Vinnie cleared his throat and leaned even closer.
"Lemme tell ya something about your precious mother, kiddo. She's dead. Stone dead. A goner. That means she will never wake up, ever again. And here's a little word of advice; if you don't wanna join her, you better start running."

Some might say that he was being harsh.
Or perhaps even insane.
That his spirit and mind were dulled by the war.
It had to be.
Why else would he do this to a young but perhaps not so innocent child?
He must be lost.
A lost cause.
But little did they know.

Modo knew.
He knew that his young bro was just doing the one thing no one ever really wanted to do, simply because it was beyond tolerable.
It was all about crossing limits that weren't meant to be crossed.
But if there was one mouse who could do the job, it was Vinnie.
It all had to do with his character.
Mostly, he tended to be a bit on the selfish side.
Therefore, he didn't easily feel guilty, a thing he was more than aware of.
That made him the perfect candidate for scaring a kid without having countless sleepless nights as a result.

Well, the fact that he did it to protect Neil probably helped as well.
After all, there was still a sniper out there and since they both had no idea who that was, it was important to get the kid out of here, especially because the sniper seemed to be on the Martian team.
Ending someone's life was one thing, but killing a child?
That was simply unacceptable.

At first, Neil only stared at Vinnie with eyes big as saucers and he seemed to be completely frozen.
Knowing he needed a little bit more persuasive, the white-furred mouse got back upright and aimed his gun at a point closeby the kid's feet.
"Go!", he spat out as he pulled the trigger.
The laser hit the asphalt with a loud bang, leaving a small smoking crater behind.
That did the trick.
It always did.

Neil scrambled back on his feet with mortal fear written upon his face and he ran away without looking back, soon followed by the woman, who gave Vinnie one last glare before she took off and shortly thereafter, they were both out of sight.
Heaving a sigh, the young mouse lowered his gun, his ears a bit drooped.
Although Modo didn't really approve these kinds of methods, for now all that mattered to him was that it worked.
The kid was safe.
As far as he could be safe in this mad world.

So, instead of showing his disapproval, the grey-furred mouse glanced at his younger bro, who was trying to put his gun back in his leg holster, which somehow cost him some trouble.
Maybe it was because his hands were shaking.
Or because he just didn't have the patience to put it back properly.
Or maybe he was just being Vinnie.
Clumsy.

A smile curled Modo's lips and without any warning, he took the white-furred daredevil in a headlock.
"Modo!", the latter protested loudly and his gun clattered on the asphalt when his older bro pulled him closer.
"Hey, thanks for saving my sorry tail just now, little bro", Modo smiled -referring to the woman who sneaked up on him only minutes ago- as he rubbed his fist over Vinnie's head, knowing how much the young mouse hated this.
But it was the best way to compliment him. It was important to keep him a bit distracted.
All to prevent that already massive ego from growing even bigger.
And, as usual, it worked.
"Let… me… go... ", Vinnie grumbled as he now threw his weight around in an attempt to free himself, next to using both hands and feet to try to pull his head out of Modo's tight grip.
The grey-furred giant smiled again, this time with a cheeky look on his face.
"As you wish."

He immediately relaxed his arm and since Vinnie was using almost all his strength -including his weight- to get free, the poor guy almost flew backward like he was fired by a catapult.
After a few backward somersaults, the white-furred mouse ended on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs at the same time.
"Thanks, bro, really. You're always so much fun to be around", he breathed as he lay there in the middle of the road, his arms and legs spread like a starfish.
Modo made a small bow.
"Why thank you, Vin. Mighty nice of you to say that."

"I was being sarcastic here, big guy", the young mouse grumbled back, but then he lifted his head, a questionable look on his face.
"But seriously, who decided to save the day in my stead? I mean, there can only be one hero here and that position is already taken, man."
"Yeah, and you were doing such a good job", Throttle intervened, brought back to reality by his bickering bro's, although he was still holding Charley.
He somehow couldn't let her go.
Luckily, she didn't try to get out of his embracement either and so, they just sat there, holding each other tightly.
He wasn't sure what was changed, but for now, he decided to just enjoy this moment.

Vinnie glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, and the left corner of his mouth curled up when he saw the content facial expression of his friend and leader.
"I always do a good job and don't you know it", he then replied a bit high and mighty, knowing perfectly well that Throttle was being sarcastic as well.
"But seriously, who…"
But the sound of a motorcycle coming closer overruled his question and they all looked into the direction of the sound.
A sound so familiar, even if it was still new at the same time.

A black bike skidded to a halt close to them and the rider pulled off its helmet, revealing a messy-braided black-colored head of hair.
"Are you guys okay?", Pip asked worriedly as she looked around her a bit bewildered.
Modo opened his mouth, all ready to answer her question as the chivalrous guy he was, but Vinnie beat him to it in a less chivalrous way.
As expected, of course.
"Welly, well, well. Look who decided to show up after all", the young mouse snarled as he pushed himself up from the ground, his two-colored eyes fuming.
"And with such great timing…"
Modo shared a look with Throttle before he sighed a bit tiredly, raising his one eye to heaven.
"Oh momma, here we go…"