Thanks for the reviews!

Aaand, here is another chapter, again! Since I'm in the hospital right now, I have a lot of time to write. It's a nice thing to do to kill the time.

Let me know what you think! :)

Chapter eight

Vinnie walked next to Carbine to her office. He looked desperately out of the window and saw his bro's leaving.
"Typical", he murmured and tried to push his annoyance away. Carbine stopped in front of her office.
"Okay Vincent. Inside are new members of the Freedom Fighters. They are all inexperienced and I want you to learn them everything you know. I know it's not a easy task for you, but please try to be serious. Their faith is in your hands."
Vinnie rolled his eyes. "No pressure at all."
Carbine give him a dirty look. "Oh and Vinnie? The next time you bring company in the middle of the night without letting me know, I will cut off something you really don't wanna live without", and she looked meaningful to Vinnie's pants.
Vinnie swallowed. "Yes ma'am."
He knew Carbine well enough to know that she didn't make false promises. He loved to provoke her, and disobeyed her to a curtant level, but even he knew when the limit was reached. This was one of those moments.

Carbine smiled to herself and walked into her office. Vinnie followed her and saw that there were four mice in the room. Two male and two female… He stopped death in his tracks. The girl with the green eyes was standing between the two male mice. Vinnie could only stand there and stare. She stared back at him, shock in her eyes. But then, a little smiled formed on her lips and she winked at him. Vinnie could feel his legs become weak.
Carbine walked to the four mice and turned around.
"Soldiers, meet Vin…", she stopped when she saw that Vinnie was still standing in the door opening, red cheeks and a little smile on his lips. She followed his look and saw a female mouse with a caramel colored fur and black hair. The girl was staring back at Vinnie.
Carbine added one plus one. Oh no, he didn't… she thought.
"Vincent! Care to join us?", she demanded.
Vinnie shook his head and recovered himself. With a cocky grin a entered the room.
Carbine sighed and continued.
"This is Vinnie. He will train you to become good soldiers for the Freedom Fighters. He is very experienced, so you guys are in good hands. He is also your contact person for everything you want to know."
The girl with the green eyes smiled a little when she heard Carbine using the word 'experienced'. Carbine saw it and decided to make clear that this behaviour was not allowed here.
"You! Stop swooning and behave like a soldier instead of a teenager high on hormones! This is war, no high school!"
The girl looked spooked. "Yes General!"
"Very well. I'll leave you guys so you can introduce. After that, training begins!"
The four mice saluted when she left the room.

Vinnie grabbed a chair and gestured to the newcomers they could take a seat too.
"Sit down. I am way too hangover to stand up longer than two minutes."
The four mice looked at each other and joined Vinnie at the table.
"Well", Vinnie started, looking at the four mice before him. "I want to know what your names are, your age and fighting experience. Oh, and your bike skills, very important."
He pointed at the mouse on his left. "You start, so tell me."
The first mouse was called Flint. His fur was black and the guy was huge. And well built. Well, not so good as me, Vinnie thought. The black mouse was 20 years old and had fighting experience as in boxing and bar fights. He could ride a bike, but that was all.
The second mouse was female and introduced herself as Gaya. She was 21 years old and had a tiny, slender built with light grey fur. She had no fighting experience and never rode a bike before. Vinnie stared at her.
"You're sure you're coming from Mars?" he asked with disbelief in his voice.
Gaya blushed. "Yes sir."
"Okay.. next one", Vinnie said, hoping that the other two were better than the first two. But it was a small hope, because Carbine already warned him that they all were very inexperienced.
The third mouse was with his 18 years the youngest. He had a normal built with small muscles. His fur was brown and he had a little mohawk between his ears. His name was Jake and he had no fighting experience. But he could ride a bike pretty good. Racing and stunting; he was the best. So he said.
Vinnie rolled his eyes. Right. He looked at the fourth mouse, the one he had in his bed last night and left scratch marks on his back.
"And what about you?", Vinnie asked, keeping his distance and making sure he didn't treat her differently. After all, it was just a one night stand, just for fun. He hoped that she felt the same way, otherwise things could get very complicated.
If the girl was startled by his nonchalant attitude, she didn't show it.
"Well, my name is Violet", she said in that sexy, husky voice. "I'm 19 years old and have no experience in the battlefield. I do know how to defend myself and I know how to ride a bike."
Vinnie tried to hide his shock that he shared the bed with a 19 year old girl. Talk about a stupid move.
"Okay soldiers. My name is Vincent van Wham, but call me Vinnie. I'm 26 years young and one of the best soldiers in the Freedom Fighters. Well, the best actually. Just came back from Earth with my bro's, Throttle and Modo. And now I'm stuck here with you guys, so you better do your best to improve and become good soldiers. The sooner this is over, the better for all of us, especially me. You really don't want to piss me off, so no whining. We start today with a workout in the gym. It's important to be in good shape, otherwise you will be dead before you even can spell battlefield. And, the ladies dig it!", he winked at Flint and Jake. They looked uncomfortable to each other. Vinnie smiled his trademark smile.
"Okay, any questions?"
He looked around the table, very satisfied with himself. Even he'd never done this stuff before, he nailed it. Pfff, did he doubt? He was the best after all.
When nobody said something, he jumped off his seat.
"Very well, let's go people."

Flint, Jake and Gaya left the room. Violet hesitated, but then asked: "Can we talk?"
Vinnie looked down at her and walked to the door.
"You guys go the gym, we will be right there."
He closed the door and slowly turned around.
"Well, this is awkward", he smiled. Violet smiled back. "Tell me about it."
She looked him in the eye, but saw nothing from what she had seen last night. He almost had a cold look in his eyes.
"Ehm, what about last night?", she asked. Vinnie looked at her questionly.
"What about it?"
Violet narrowed her eyes. "Well, about what happened? Duh."
Vinnie sighed. "Look Violet, what happened last night, was nothing more than a so called one night stand. It was fun, but nothing more."
Violet glared at him. "So, nothing more? You are sure about that?"
Vinnie nodded. "Of course I'm sure about it. Definitely nothing more. This mouse is not on the market. I know that is very disappointing news for you, since you're not the first. But you have to deal with it, just like everybody else. It was nothing more than a little bit of fun." His chest tightend when he saw a hint of pain in her eyes. But he had no choice. He vowed to let nobody ever come close to him again. She deserved better (how ironic he was the one who said that). It was for her own sake. And his.
"I see…", Violet slowly nodded. "And why are you not on the market? Do you have a girlfriend?"
Vinnie's eyes turned cold. "That is none of your business" and he opened the door. "This talk is over. Let's go."
Violet followed him, deep in thoughts. She was sure there was much more last night then just a little bit of fun. She had seen it in his eyes. She had felt it when they had sex. But for some reason, he kept his distance. She promised to herself that she was gonna find out what that reason is.

When they arrived at the gym, the other three mice were waiting for them.
"Allright soldiers, let's get this show on the road." Vinnie gave them some exercises and when they were busy, his mind wandered off.
How could he be so stupid to sleep with an 19 year old girl? And now she was in his group. So far his idea of anonymouse sex. He sighed and looked at Violet. She was beautiful and moved with the grace of a tiger. It made him think about Charley. Oh, how much he missed her. He could feel his anger flame up again and he clenched his fist.
Why, why, why?! was all he could think. Why her? She didn't deserve any of this. Why didn't he tell her how he really felt about her? Now she's gone and he never was gonna get the chance again to tell her how much he cared about her. How much he loved her. The pain in his chest twisted again and it felt like he was getting a heart attack.
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his arm. Vinnie looked up and saw green eyes.
"Vinnie, are you alright?", Violet asked with a worried look on her face.
Vinnie couldn't stop stare into those beautiful, green eyes. He suddenly felt the urge to cry. But then he realized what was happening. He shook Violet's hand of his arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you not with the rest of the group?"
Violet gave him one more glance and turned around. Vinnie let out his breath and tried to focus on his task.

The rest of the day went on quietly. Vinnie tested their battle skills, bike skills and physical health. Conclusion was that there was a lot of work to do.
When it was diner time, Vinnie dismissed his group.
He walked to the cafeteria and saw Modo and Throttle sitting by a table in the corner. Vinnie grabbed some food and joined them.
"Hey bro's, how is it hanging?"
Modo and Throttle greeted him back.
"So, how was the patrol?", Vinnie asked while stuffing some food in his mouth. "Did you miss me?"
Throttle rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like the flu", he joked.
Modo snickered. "Patrol went fine. That stinkfish didn't see us and we explored the area. Tomorrow we will attack them. They don't know what is coming to them."
Vinnie whined. "Ahhh man, I miss out on everything."
Modo and Throttle patted him on the back.
"How is your group, Vin man?", Throttle asked.
"Terrible. They suck on everything. I'm stuck here forever, fading away without any action. It's boring!" Vinnie stuffed more food in his mouth.
"It can't be that bad, right? When they improve, you can take them outside." Throttle tried to cheer Vinnie up.
"Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen", Vinnie complained.

Throttle took a closer look at Vinnie's face. Something was not right. He knew they all agreed to wait until Vinnie was gonna talk out of himself, but he couldn't stop himself.
"Are you okay, Vinnie? After everything that happened?", he asked with a worried look.
"I'm FINE Throttle, how many times do I need to tell you that? It takes a lot more to take the Vin man down", Vinnie said with a arrogant look on his face, but his ears drooped a little, revealing that he was everything but okay.
Throttle sighed. "You know you can talk to us, Vincent. We are your bro's, your family."
Modo agreed. "Yeah little bro, there is nothing you have to be ashamed of. We all are sad because we've lost Charley."
When Vinnie heard her name, he gritted his teeth.
"There is nothing to talk about!", he snapped.
Throttle decided to push him a little bit further.
"That is not true Vinnie and you know that. It's not healthy to keep everything inside. When are you going to understand that there is nothing wrong with showing your emotions? It's not gonna make you less macho, if that's what you think!"
Vinnie slammed his fist on the table and jumped of his seat.
"ENOUGH! I LOVED her, you know!? And now she is GONE, and I didn't even tell her how much she meant to me. And on top of it, she died.." Vinnie's voice broke, but he recovered himself. "She died because I failed on her! It's my fault, alright?!"
He couldn't breathe. The lack of oxygen made him feel dizzy.
Throttle held both hands before his body. "Vinnie calm down, before you give yourself a heart attack. We know, alright? We know that you loved her. And she knew too. And let me tell you something; she loved you too. And..!" Throttle pointed a finger to Vinnie. "It was not your fault she died, Vincent."
The whole cafeteria was fallen silent while Vinnie's outburst and everybody stared at them.
Vinnie slowly walked backwards, shaking his head. "I can't do this, not now, not ever." and he turned around and stormed out.

It remained silent for a few moments, but then everybody started whispering to each other. Throttle kicked hard against Vinnie's empty chair.
"God dammit, that stupid, macho, egotistical and stubborn mouse!" he growled out of frustration.
Modo agreed. "Do we need to go after him?" he asked.
Throttle shook his head. "No, better let him calm down."
Modo sighed. "We shouldn't have provoked him like that.."
"Maybe not. But now we know a little of what is going on in that stupid head of his". Throttle took a few breaths to calm down.

They didn't saw Violet sneak out of the cafeteria right after Vinnie. She had sat in the cafeteria while Vinnie's outburst. She had seen how tense he'd left the room. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but she had a pretty good idea. He had lost someone he loved and blamed himself. That explained his self destructive and distant attitude. Violet knew he wanted to be alone, but she couldn't resist him. She never had the feeling he gave her. Last night was incredible. Violet felt tingles in her belly when she thought about it. He was rough, but gentle at the same time. And indeed, very experienced. She smiled to herself. She would do everything to make him hers.

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