I'll keep it short today everybody, but thank you all so much for giving me your thoughts and feedback. I am seriously overjoyed every time I read your words.

Lots of things happening, some of secrets revealed in this one. Which means a slightly longer chapter than the last one.

I hope you can forgive me... and that you will hopefully appreciate it :)

Enjoy!

This was all such a big mess. How had she let it get this far? There was really no point in backtracking and figuring out where she had gone wrong. After all, there was no option to change it now. And even if she had done things differently, wouldn't the outcome still be the same?

Stoker would probably tell her it wouldn't have made a difference. But not even his imaginary voice in her head could calm her down.

Aside from Vinnie, nobody else knew about Sam's past. But it was probably the reason why Charley had been taken by Morden. Though Izzy still did not understand why. It had been over a year since her husband died and almost a year since his debt was paid. Was she missing something here? A logical explanation or reason for Morden's sudden appearance?

Izzy opened her eyes to glance at the bike riding next to her and Throttle. Nobody was controlling it. A sentient vehicle. Aliens from Mars. Anthropomorphic mice with telepathic like abilities. Even though she knew it was all very real, there were times she still thought she was dreaming. Quickly she closed her eyes again and tightened her grasp around the tanned mouse in front of her.

As she held onto him, Throttle couldn't help but let his tail wrap itself around the woman's delicate frame. Her strong hold around his waist gave him a tingling sensation inside his body he hadn't felt for a long time.

He couldn't hold her in the same manner, so his prehensile tail would have to do. If anything he wanted to make her feel comfortable sitting behind him. But it was obvious that even being there was enough of a hurdle to overcome for her.

"I think we're almost there." He said to her. "Perhaps the others have found Charley already?" Throttle tried to sound hopeful, but he honestly doubted the others had gotten to the female mechanic. If they had, they would have surely tried to contact him by now.

Izzy dared once more to look around them, but soon noticed something about the road they were riding on. Mainly that it was all wrong, this wasn't the way to Morden's location. He had told her she would know where to find him and there was really only one place she could think of. A place she never thought she would set foot in again.

"Throttle, we're going to wrong way."

What did she say? He didn't think so. This was the same direction Stoker and the others had gone towards. How was Izzy so sure that they were going the wrong way?

"According to the radar, the location of Charley's truck is right over there." He leaned aside a bit so Izzy could look at the blinking dot on the dashboard.

Perhaps it was the direction in which the car had gone to, but it was the opposite of where they were suppose to be going. She didn't understand it. Why would Charley be all the way over there while Morden was a few streets back from here? Had he taken Charley some place else? He couldn't possible know about the tracking device on her car, could he?

"Charlene Davidson? Did I not mention she's here with me?"

"Charley?"

"You know where to find me, Mrs Davidson."

Even thinking back to their conversation sent chills up her spine. Izzy shivered and Throttle slowed down until they came to a full stop on the side of the road. He kept one hand on the brake, as he moved his other to rest on top of Izzy's arms.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"On the phone, Morden told me Charley was with him. I happen to know where he might be, but,-" She pointed at the small screen. "It's not there."

"Where do you think she is?" Throttle frowned, surprised she knew where to find Charley's kidnapper.

There really was more going on than he knew. Of course part of the thrill was to head into a situation and not really knowing what you were going to find. Only this time it was different. There was a life on the line, someone who meant a lot to all of them.

"I think she might be at a place called,- Dreamland."

That sounded incredibly made up, but now was not the time for jokes. "Dreamland?" He repeated.

Izzy nodded. "It's a,- club. I know it rather well and it's the only place I can think of where Morden might be. But he could very well be lying about having Charley there with him."

This was a predicament. Based on her words, there were two places Charley could be. At this club or around the area of where her truck was. Throttle had to think this through for a moment. He removed his hand from Izzy and clicked on his visor to pull up a map.

His bros were already at the location of Charley's truck. Him and Izzy were only a minute away from this Dreamland place. Seeing as all of them were already split up, the most logical choice was to search in each respective area.

But as Throttle realised earlier, he would be heading into a blind spot. Izzy would have to tell him a bit more about this so called club and Morden. Once again he clicked on his helmet, removed the map and opened his visor at the same time. He'd have to find a quiet spot for this. Without telling Izzy he started the engine and rode off into the back of an alleyway.

"Throttle? What are you doing?" The woman asked him as they came to a second stop.

The tanned mouse removed his helmet and turned his body around to look at Izzy properly. "Look, I know we're on a tight schedule here, but there are a few things I need to know before we enter this club you mentioned."

Izzy widened her eyes. "We?"

"Don't tell me you actually thought I was going to let you go in there all by yourself, sweetheart?"

Truthfully, she had no plan at all. Which was probably a recipe for disaster in itself. "I guess not." She simply replied.

But what if her showing up with Throttle, his features hidden or not, gave Morden all the reason he needed to hurt Charley? It was so much easier if she had been on her own. Nobody else to think of, to keep safe. Now she had Throttle with her, which meant she felt obligated to keep him out of harms way as well.

"Babe?"

All of that endearing name calling those Martians did all the time wasn't doing her any good. Stoker called her beautiful, gorgeous,- sweetheart. Even Throttle had called her that. There were too many distractions to think clearly.

"Throttle," She began, her voice cool and distant. "We really don't have time to delve too deep. The only thing of real importance is that Morden doesn't like to be taken for a fool,- I honestly don't know what we will encounter in there."

Throttle stared at her. There was an easier way. A way for her to tell him what he wanted to know. He wasn't sure how she would react given that the last time somebody touched her she passed out. He licked his lips and placed his hands on her arms, making sure that she couldn't remove them from around his waist.

He still needed her permission. Stoker had touched her on accident, which was perhaps part of the reason they were both shocked by the experience. Throttle didn't really understand what happened there. His coach was a trained expert when it came to connecting and strolling through one's mind.

But Throttle was no rookie either. He'd connected with Charley the first time they met and that had been as easy as walking through an open field.

"Do you trust me, Izzy?" He asked her.

"I beg your pardon?" She blinked.

"Trust me." He said again as he moved closer, rubbing his thumb across the skin of her arm. "Show me this place. Think of it in your mind. You said you know it very well. I'll only need a couple of seconds,-"

Throttle watched as the woman's eyes suddenly shot up towards the antennas on his head. It was evident she realised what he wanted to do with her. He could feel her tense up.

"But with Stoker,-"

He shook his head. "That was different. An accident. I'm aware of it happening and so are you. With Stoker, neither of you were expecting it."

Though to be perfectly honest, Throttle wasn't sure if it would be any different. It was a guess on his part. He inhaled deeply, savouring the taste of her fragrance. Until once again a trace of Stoker's scent made an appearance.

He couldn't stroll through her mind if his emotions were clouding his brain. He fought the urge to let out a guttural growl. "Please, trust me?"

Izzy closed her eyes and nodded. "Alright."

Throttle took a deep breath, something he normally never did when he was about to connect with someone. This time was different. Different than a mouse, different than Charley. Focus. He leaned forward and touched her head with his antennas.

Dreamland. Red lights. Jukebox. Music. A Stage. Silver poles. Candles. Tables. Bar. Dark red curtains. Velvet cushions. A man with dark hair slicked back.

It was Izzy who broke the connection by slipping away and falling against his chest. Throttle opened his eyes and noticed his hands had moved on their own accord and were now wrapped around the woman's body.

His chest heaved up and down. Not necessarily from what he'd seen, but the realization of how that place could be connected to the girl in his arms. He'd watched more than enough James Bomb movies to recognize what kind of place it was. Dreamland was a stripclub.

"Dear, Goddess,-" He muttered under his breath.

"Is that enough?" Izzy breathed softly against him.

At least she hadn't passed out on him. He gave her body a gentle squeeze and nodded. "More than enough."

His bike suddenly emitted a sequence of beeps, somebody was contacting him and he was pretty sure it was one of his bros. They were probably wondering what was taking him so long. He carefully pushed Izzy back and got off Charley's motorcycle.

The transmission was sent from Vinnie's bike. "Throttle here."

"Hey, man. Where the heck are you? Stoker's already here." The white mouse shouted. "We found the truck, but Charley is nowhere to be seen."

Dang it. He was honestly hoping they would have contacted him with slightly better news. He glanced over his shoulder at Izzy, who was able to hear everything from where she was sitting.

"Have you guys followed her scent yet?" It was a long shot, at least it would be for him. But he knew both Vinnie and Modo would have a higher shot in trying to locate her.

"It's slightly obstructed, but I think we could give it a go." Vinnie replied. "We'll be going on ahead with searching for her, if you don't mind."

"I won't be joining you." Throttle said and quickly continued before the others could protest. "Izzy is with me, she thinks she knows where to find the guy who took Charley. We don't know if she's with him or where you guys are. But we'll let you know as soon as,-"

"You took Izzy with you?!" Stoker's voice boomed through the transmission all of a sudden. "Are you out of your mind?"

His reaction did not come as much of a surprise. On the one hand Throttle could completely understand why Stoker was angry with him, but then again he also had no right because neither him, nor Vinnie, nor Izzy had even bothered telling any of them about this dangerous man called Morden. If they had been aware of his existence and possible threat earlier, they could have prevented all of this from happening.

"You rather I left her at the garage, like you did?" Throttle countered. Perhaps it wasn't fair to say, he knew Stoker would do all he can to keep Izzy safe. But in this case, his former coach had made a mistake in leaving her there.

"We're going to a club called Dreamland. Contact my helmet frequency if you happen to find Charley. Throttle out." He let out a deep breath as he turned the radio off. They'd delayed long enough. It was time to start operation 'find Charley.'

::::::...::::::

Stoker was positively fuming on the inside. Being told off by Throttle was something he did not care for, whether or not the mouse was right. The three mice stood next to their bikes and Charley's truck, slightly unsure of how to proceed next. Throttle and Izzy were going to look for Charley elsewhere and they were still here, with only a faint scent belonging to Charley to guide their way.

But it was better than nothing and Modo was more than eager to begin the search. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air surrounding the driver's seat of the truck, trying to block the unfamiliar scent which hovered amongst it.

"Anything?" Vinnie asked.

"Give me a minute, will ya?" Modo growled with frustration.

Stoker stepped forward and placed his hand on the grey mouse's shoulder. His mind already set on taking a different path than his two younger bros, but he was going to help out before walking away.

"Focus your senses on Charley, all of them. Not just your smell, but your vision, touch and hearing. Think of the sound of her voice, the touch of her skin,-"

For a minute there Vinnie thought the older mouse had lost his marbles. What on Mars was he talking about? But even though Modo thought the same thing as Vinnie, he was more than willing to try anything in order to find the girl he liked.

He thought of Charley's laugh, whenever one of them did something clumsy, her sarcastic comment whenever they called her babe. How she'd thank him for always checking in on her when something bad happened.

He thought of how warm her hand had felt when he held it with his. How soft her touch was when she rested her head against his shoulder that time she fell asleep on the couch.

He thought of the reddish hue on her chestnut hair whenever the rays of the sun shone on her. The greenish-blue colour of her eyes when she looked up and smiled at him.

The only thing he now wished he could pull from his mind, was the touch and taste of her lips. But that was still a mystery to him, one he was planning on solving as soon as all of this was over.

There it was. Modo opened his eyes and had to blink twice for a second, thinking his eyes were deceiving him. He could swear he saw some sort of shimmery cloud swirling around Charley's truck. A thin veil of light silver. He noticed a trail of it trickling towards one of the buildings next to them.

"I see it,-" He gasped, still not believing it.

Stoker clapped his shoulder. "There you go, big guy." He smiled broadly.

"See? See what? What do you see?" Vinnie asked with confusion.

"I think it's Charley's scent." Modo said, though it must have sounded as if he had gone insane.

There was no time however to explain the details to the youngest mouse. However, Stoker was very proud of Modo at the moment. Speaking of pride, it was time for him to leave the scene and let the two rookies take care of finding Charley. He had other business to attend to.

"You boys go and find her. I'll join Throttle at this,- club or whatever." He said aloud, raising his hand and saluting the other mice.

"Wait, you're leaving?" Vinnie turned his head, his brow furrowed with disbelief.

"You know the story." Stoker stared at the white mouse, his gaze serious and it was clear that this was not up for debate. "It's only fair right? Two mice, one woman." He winked trying to sound jovial.

He tapped on his visor, looked at the map and ran off, leaving Modo and Vinnie behind to deal with getting Charley. The hazel mouse knew they could manage without his help and besides he had his own woman to take care of.

The fact that Throttle had gone to the garage was one thing, but to take Izzy with him was the icing on the cake. Stoker had left her behind for a reason, but she was still going to yell at him for leaving her and also for not telling her about Charley being kidnapped.

Hopefully she'd forgive him the moment Modo and Vinnie would get Charley home safe and sound.

The grey mouse watched quietly until Stoker was finally out of sight before turning to the mouse next to him. "Perhaps it's about time you start telling me, what it is that you know exactly while we follow Charley-girl's scent into there." He nodded his head at a rather quaint looking four storey building.

"I don't know what kind of trick Stoker just taught you, but I feel left out. He better teach me once we're done with knocking the lights out of whoever it is that took Charley."

Modo couldn't agree more with the latter part, but he also kind of liked being the one of them who was able to see Charley's scent floating around the place like some sort of smoke machine with a search light.

As they were making their way towards the building, Vinnie began to explain everything Stoker had told him. About Sam's past. Who Morden was. The story was rather short or perhaps that was because he was only giving the big picture of the situation.

Sam was a gambler. Morden was a wealthy and powerful man who Sam had dealings with in the past, mainly about money, which he then gambled away. After Sam's death the debt he owed still wasn't paid and Morden turned to Izzy for the payment. Within a month or two she managed to pay off all of his open accounts to Morden.

Modo couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That is,- unbelievable. How come I'm the last one hearing this?" He hated being kept out of the loop, especially with something as important as this. He could only imagine how Charley must feel. But why hadn't she told him?

"If it makes you feel better, Charley doesn't know either." Vinnie said.

The grey mouse suddenly halted right as they were about to go inside. "She doesn't know about Sam's dealings?"

"Nope, nothing, nada."

Oh, momma,- She was going to be heartbroken. There was no way Modo could keep this secret from her.

"You ready, big guy?" Vinnie pulled his laser gun out of his holster and held his arm up.

Modo nodded, his eye glowing a bright red. "Born ready."

::::::...::::::

Her eyelids felt heavy and there was a pounding sensation on the right side of her head. It took her a good second to realise she was no longer in her truck.

Charley slowly tilted her head back and opened her eyes. At first everything was a bit fuzzy, but after blinking a couple of times her vision returned. She appeared to be in a room. It looked like a standard type of living room. There was a couch, a coffee table, a television, some pictures on the walls and a few bookshelves, though they hardly contained any books.

"Where am I?" She mumbled softly. Moving her legs to stand up turned out to be impossible, as if they were being held down. Charley looked down and found herself sitting on a chair and the reason why she couldn't move an inch, was because her ankles and her hands were bound to the piece of furniture with a rope.

Her pulse increased and she turned her head left to right. Was she alone or was there somebody with her?

An image of a car following her around the city sprang to mind. She contacted the guys and then smoke appeared all around her. Sleeping gas. That must have been it. Thank goodness she had been on the radio with the mice, who probably sprang right into action after the communication was lost.

She knew they would come for her. They always did, no matter where she was. Now all she had to do was make sure that whoever had taken her, wasn't planning on killing her.

A muffled flushing noise sounded a couple of feet away and Charley glanced over her shoulder at a door where it seemed to be coming from. Her heart pounded in her throat as the door slowly opened up.

She didn't recognize the man walking into the room. He had a dark scruffy beard, hair slicked back and a pair of sunglasses on his sharp nose. Was this the man who'd knocked her out?

"Someone is awake." The man said as he fastened his belt around his waist. "Have a good sleep?"

"Not really." Charley replied coolly.

The man shrugged, sat down on the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. He pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket. "Want one?"

Charley twitched her nose as he lit a rather thin looking cigarette and inhaled deeply. He blew out a puff of smoke before addressing her again.

"You don't have to worry about a thing. This will only take a couple of hours at most and then you'll be free to leave."

The woman blinked. "What?"

"You know, I hate repeating myself." He grumbled before taking another drag.

Oh, Charley had heard him perfectly. What she didn't understand was why she was there in the first place, considering he said he was going to let her go after a few hours. Did this have to do with the guys somehow? Usually when she got attacked, abducted or what not, it had something to do with her friends.

"If you're only planning on keeping me here for a short time, why go through all that trouble to capture me in the first place?"

"Trouble?" The man laughed out loud. "Compared to the rest of your family, you've given us the least amount of trouble."

He went quiet again, only this time Charley knew he was looking at her. His smirk told her he wanted her to react to his latter comment. One thing was for sure, this wasn't about the guys, he had used the word family. Her family to be more precise.

Sunglasses man stood up and walked around the table to the other side of the room. He took something from the wall and observed it for a second. "You know, it's funny. You look like him, though I can already tell you're not as stupid."

Charley had no idea what or who he was talking about. But she'd find out soon enough as he headed back to her, holding a picture frame in one hand and his cigarette in the other.

"Now, to answer your earlier question,- I guess telling you doesn't make much of a difference really and to be quite honest,-"

He crouched down and blew a puff of smoke in her face. Charley coughed and her eyes burned a little.

"Seeing your reaction will bring me some enjoyment for spending most of the day is this dump of an apartment."

"You're,- ugh,- making no sense." The female mechanic replied blinking the prickly tears from her eyes.

Even as soon as he shoved the frame in front of her eyes, Charley still could not make heads or tails of what he was talking about. She was familiar with the picture he showed her. It was a family photo of her, Sam and her parents.

How come this guy had a photograph of her and her family? Her eyes shot up and there was that smirk again clearly visible though his beard. "Where did you get this?"

"You really don't know about this place, do you?" He let out a chuckle as he turned his gaze around the room. "I'll give you another hint."

Again he stood up and set the frame on the coffee table before heading over to one of the bookshelves. He returned shortly with another picture and placed it on Charley's lap. The woman glanced down at it with squinted eyes. It was a bit difficult to see at first what she was looking at.

The main colour scheme of the print was a shade of red. In the middle there was a girl, her arms raised and holding her hair up while glancing seductively over her shoulder at the camera. It was a rather alluring picture and it took Charley a second to realise that she knew the woman in the picture.

It was Izzy.

A photograph of her family and one of her sister-in-law. Somehow she still couldn't put the two together or perhaps it was more a matter of not wanting to.

"Lovely, isn't she?" The man clicked his tongue. "I've seen her perform. Heck, I have even given her a dollar or two in the past."

"What are you talking about?" Charley asked trying her best to ignore his obvious words regarding the kind of scene the picture represented. It was her sister-in-law, there was no doubt about that. But when was this picture taken? Questions she was most surely going to ask Izzy the moment she got out of this little predicament.

For a moment a thought crossed her mind, that perhaps this was her sister-in-law's apartment. But that would make no sense. Izzy had been in England since Sam's passing of that she was certain. Besides why would Izzy sleep on her couch, if she had her own place to go to?

"Oh, come on, lady. You still don't know who this apartment belongs to?"

Charley averted her eyes and pressed her lips together in a tight line.

"Well,- belonged is the right tense to use." This time he barked out a loud laugh.

There was only one name that now sprang to Charley's mind, but that was as unlikely as Vinnie liking cheese. She didn't dare to say it and also had no desire to hear it from this idiotic buffoon.

The guy snickered and he reached out to turn Charley's face his way. "I guess you do know who I'm talking about. Surprise!"

"My brother died a year ago in a car crash." She replied jerking her head back out of his grasp. "If this was his house, I would have known."

"Unless that certain someone did not die and then did not want to be found."

Did not die? Charley shook her head. No. That was not true. Her brother would never do anything like that. He would not fake his death and he would definitely not keep his well-being a secret from her. Something warm and wet slid down her cheek.

"Hey, if it is any consolation, he is no longer with us. For real this time." Sunglasses stood back up and threw his cigarette bud onto the floor. He then reached into his jacket and pulled out a handkerchief.

"Let me dry those cheeks for you,-"

The door on the right suddenly flew off its hinges, literally, and hit the man right in the face. He fell back with a loud thud and got trapped underneath the wooden obstacle. Charley lifted her head and saw two of her best Martian friends standing in the opening.

"Nice going, Modo." Vinnie exclaimed keeping his laser gun aimed at unmovable door on the ground. "Hi, babe." He then winked at the woman tied to a chair.

Modo did not hesitate for a second. He rushed over to Charley and blasted the ropes around her wrists and ankles with his robotic arm. She fell forward immediately and the grey mouse caught her within his arms.

"It's okay, Charley-girl, we're here now." He whispered softly against her hair.

"Oh, Modo,-" She whimpered and buried her head against his chest.

Her wrists ached but her mind was too occupied thinking about what her kidnapper just revealed to her. Had he been lying when he said this apartment belonged to her brother? Her eyes landed on the coffee table where the framed picture of her and her family stood.

"I think the door might have hit him a bit too hard." Vinnie exclaimed as he nudged the leg of Sunglasses with his foot.

"Good." Modo growled as he pulled Charley upright. He cupped her face and rubbed a tear away with his thumb. "You don't know how relieved I am to see you." He whispered to her.

It seemed however that Charley wasn't really registering his kind and heartfelt words addressed to her. "Sam,- he is, he was,-" She couldn't find the right thing to say.

"Sam?" The tall mouse wondered why she was talking about him. Wait,- had the guy who took her told her about her brother's history? He couldn't just make the assumption that that was what she was referring to.

A loud whistle came from behind them and Modo glanced over his shoulder to see Vinnie lowering himself to the ground to pick something up. The white mouse wiggled his eyebrows. "Who is this beautiful, sexy,-" But then he paused and practically pressed the thin square shaped object against his nose.

"Is that Isabel?" His ears perked up and he flicked his tail. "Look,-"

Vinnie walked over to them and showed Modo the picture of someone that was supposedly Izzy. He almost didn't dare to look at it, his face felt warm all of a sudden as if he was staring at something incredibly private. There was no doubt about it, the scarcely dressed woman in the photograph was Miss Izzy.

"We should contact Throttle and tell them we found Charley-girl. Preferably now, before they get caught in an unnecessary dangerous situation." Modo said to his bro, who nodded.

"I'll contact him once we're out of here." Vinnie quickly folded the picture and placed it in one of his pockets.

Letting out a deep breath, Modo turned his attention back to Charley. She was shaking like a leaf, which concerned him a lot. They've dealt with situations such as these before and she never responded as frightened as she was now.

"We'll get you home, Charley." He assured her holding her in an even tighter embrace.

"Sam didn't die,-" Her voice was soft and hoarse.

Reluctantly Modo pulled back and cocked his head with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The woman nodded at the goon lying unconsciously on the floor of the apartment, still hidden beneath the door Modo had kicked in. "He told me Sam didn't die in the accident. That he,-" She paused and a sob escaped her throat. "He faked it."

Oh, dear Goddess. He could not believe what he was hearing.

Neither could Vinnie, who'd begun to wander around the room. There wasn't a lot to see, aside from a few books and Chinese take-away boxes. "Wait, so are you telling me that your brother is still alive?" He asked.

"I,- I don't know." Charley shook her head. "The guy said he was no longer with us. But he told me that this,- this was Sam's place." She squeezed her arms tightly around Modo's much larger frame. "I don't know what to think."

"This is getting weirder and weirder." Vinnie noted as he walked back to them. He placed his hand on Charley's back and rubbed her in a caring manner. "I say we get the hell out of here and meet up with Throttle and Stoker as quickly as possible."

Charley is safe! Hooray! But what is this about Sam faking his death? Or was Charley's kidnapper lying to her?

Throttle still doesn't know about Sam's past, but he does know a bit more about Izzy's past. Although, do we all agree with the method he used in getting this information from her? How will Stoker react?

Meeting Morden will happen in the next chapter as well as more secrets being revealed.

Hope you all enjoyed :) Let me know what you think!