Disclaimer: I don't own any of the BMFM characters. Victoria is mine.
So far, so good. Thank you to the readers who have already taken an interest in my fanfic. Please comment/review; these are very helpful. I hope you guys keep enjoying it.
Chapter 3: Re-match
It had been about two weeks since Vikky joined the team. Most of the time, she would hang back with Charley and work on fixing her bike after eight years of not being ridden. Of course, Charley was working her magic by adding a bunch of hidden weapons and the like. Vikky, though, she sometimes would slip away from the group and go to the guest room to look over her file with Fred. She was careful to keep the record out of sight from the others. Vik didn't want them coddling her because of what happened, but even she knew that they heard her scream from her nightmares.
The first night was the hardest. When she woke up to someone shaking her, Vikky nearly shot them, since now she sleeps with her laser close at hand. But as soon as she realized that it was her brother, she let go of the laser and held onto him. By the time she calmed down, it was nearly two o'clock in the morning. It had been like that every night for the past two weeks. Only last night, it had been Modo who got to her first.
She couldn't say that she was upset, I mean, they had been and still were close. But it felt different when she was being comforted by the grey mouse. "I'm sorry," Tori said, softly pushing away when she noticed who was holding her.
"There's nothing to be sorry about, Kiki," Modo started as his metal arm rested on her shoulder. Vikky's breath caught in her throat when he used her pet name. She hadn't realized how much she missed it. Smiling softly to herself, Vikky leaned her head against his real shoulder and held his arm tightly. "Your safe now Kiki, we won't let that monster retake you." The grey mouse seemed to almost vow to himself as much as her. Nevertheless, it made her smile.
Coming out of the warm memory, Vikky closed the file and tucked it where none of the bros would just stumble upon it accidentally.
"C'mon Fred." She said to the mutant, and he jumped onto her shoulders like a monkey. Walking downstairs with him like that, Vikky entered the garage to find all of her bros and Charley working on Lil' Darling. "What's going on?" The three mice looked up at her rather briefly before glaring at Fred. They still didn't trust the mutant, and she couldn't blame them. He was Karbunkle's creation, after all.
"Modo's bike got hit by one of Limburger's diggers. Nearly crushed the poor girl," Throttle said to break the uneasy silence.
"If it hadn't been for me, he would've been too," Vinnie stated rather boldly. Crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against his red racer, he relaxed a bit. He didn't trust Fred, but he did trust Tori.
"You mean like how you managed to break your arm at ten?" Tori jibed at her brother before moving over to her own bike. Charley had finished putting in the new guns into the Ducati style bike. Fred jumped off her shoulders and went over to one of the benches with his favorite hammer and started hitting himself in the head with it.
"I think your Lil' sis just called you out Vincent. You gonna take that?" Throttle chuckled while leaning on the handlebars of his bike.
"I'm the Vin-man bro, and I don't take anything from anyone. For the record Vikky, I was saving your tail when I broke my arm," Vinnie said, absently rubbing his left forearm.
"I would've been fine if you hadn't gotten in my way and slowed me down," his sister shot back as she pulled her helmet on.
"And where do you think you're going?" Vinnie asked.
"I heard that Chicago has some awesome jumps. I'm going to go see them for myself." Vikky turned her eyes on her brother. "Plus, I thought that it would be a good start to our re-match," She said, starting up her bike and smiling at the purr she gave. "I've missed you too. Now let's go for a ride," Vikky told her AI. She didn't wait for her bros as she peeled out of the garage towards the north side of town. Vinnie and Throttle were close behind. Modo had to stay back to take care of Lil' Hoss, but the siblings always needed a third party to settle the close calls.
"Ok, you two, you know the rules. Ride hard, and the loser buys the winner root-beer and dogs for a month. And as a bonus, the winner gets bragging rights for three months. Deal?" Throttle laid out the terms a smile plastered on his face.
"Deal." The van Whams said in unison.
As the three of them drove towards an unfinished construction area, the siblings kept throwing psych phrases at each other, though none of them worked on the other. The river was on the other side of the construction zone, and there was a giant billboard with Limburger's picture at the top of the unfinished building. "Oh, now this is gonna be fun," Vikky chuckled to herself. However, she felt a cold block of ice drop into the pit of her stomach. Seeing the coy and menacing grin staring at her like it so often had before brought back far too many memories that she didn't want to think about.
"Tori, Tori, Victoria!" Throttle was practically yelling her name threw the helmet com-link. Blinking rapidly, Vikky was only able to stay straight because her bike had taken over driving when she zoned out. If she hadn't, Vikky would've fallen behind.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm here. What's up?"
"You phased out, everything ok?" The tan mouse asked.
"Just thinking about blowing up that damned billboard before we leave," She stated coldly and truthfully. Well, partially true anyway. They got to the gate of the construction zone, Vinnie shot off the padlock, and they all drove to a starting point.
"Well, stop thinking about it, and let's go!" Vinnie was getting anxious and pumped up for the upcoming challenges.
"Calm down, Vinnie," Throttle said in a teasing voice knowing how much it irked the speed demon to have to wait. Using his helmet's tech mods, the tan mouse scanned the area and managed to map out a route that would satisfy both of the siblings for their adrenaline high. "Ok, here is the route for this first challenge. First to the finish wins." He sent the routes to the two white mice and waited till they confirmed that it fully downloaded before starting his count down. "On your mark," both bikes revved to life. "Get set," there was a little anticipation jolt forward from Vinnie's red racer. "GO!" The siblings took off following the path that Throttle had set up. It allowed them to take alternate routes when the original was too narrow for two bikes. It also led to many jumps that any amateur biker would've choked at, but not these two-speed demons.
They took to every jump, every sharp turn, almost colliding once or twice as they continued to climb the work-in-progress building to the top floor where the ugly billboard stood. "Remember, bro, no complaining when you lose!" Vikky yelled at her brother as they were reaching the last stretch of their race. They were on separate beams going straight up where Throttle was waiting for them. He had taken a short cut to the end.
"Whatever runt!" He shot back. But he spoke too soon. Victoria hit the select red button that turned on the rockets of her bike that gave her the speed boost she needed to leave her brother in the dust. When she reached the top, she let out a victory laugh similar to Vinnie's before shooting Limburger's face off the billboard and landing next to Throttle.
"The win goes to Vikky. Dang Vincent, she just got back is already schooling you like old times," The tan mouse laughed at his younger bro's pouting face.
"I demand a re-match!" Vinnie yelled, slamming his fist on his bike's dash.
"Don't worry, Vinnie," Victoria teasingly consoled her brother. "This is just level one. Maybe I'll let you win the next round. Maybe," It was clear that she wasn't planning any of the sort.
But it was too late to do anything more. The sun was setting, and Vinnie needed to tend to his bruised ego. At least that was the plan till they saw the grease pack heading for the oil refinery.
