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Chapter fourteen

Meanwhile, Violet had locked herself up in her room. She was tired after a night full with twisting and turning and no sleep. She felt sad and angry at the same time. She had opened up, told her story, even if she had vowed to herself to never talk about it again. And what did she get in return? Another rejection. See? Never talk to someone about what is bothering you. What's the point? Vinnie said it wasn't about trust, but she found that very hard to believe. Why did he refuse to talk to her? What was going on in his head? What happened on Earth that was tearing him apart? Violet sighed. She was starting to think that maybe it was for the best to give up on him. Apparently, it just wasn't meant to be. But still… There was still that little voice in her head who was telling her that she needed him. That they belonged together. That they were soulmates, just like her parents. Violet laughed without humor. Yeah… we all know how that ended. She slammed her fist into her pillow. "God dammit! What to do?"

Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door. Her first reaction was to ignore it. She wanted to be left alone. But when the knocking continued, she forced herself to stand up and she opened the door. She was very surprised to see Flint. She had never liked the guy and he also had been very clear about how he felt about her, which was not really positive. So, it was kind of a shock to see him standing at her door. A nervous feeling crawled up to her.
"What do you want?", she asked suspicious. Flint looked a little nervous too.
"I came to tell you that the patrol went wrong today. They were attacked."
Violet felt a pang of fear. Vinnie..
"Gaya is hurt. She is in the medic room. One other soldier died, I didn't know him. The rest is in Carbine's office. I think there is something wrong."
Violet felt relief when she heard that Vinnie was okay, but it quickly was followed by shame. She had became good friends with Gaya during their training.
"How bad is it?", she asked, scared to hear the answer.
"I don't know. She hit her head hard and is still unconscious."
Violet closed the door behind her. "I'll go see her, maybe there is something I can do." She looked at Flint. "Thanks Flint, for telling me this."
Flint shuffled with one feet over the ground, hands behind his back. "No problem. I… My behaviour before was wrong. Childish. I can see that now. And I'm sorry. I will try to make it up to you guys."
Violet gave a little smile and patted his arm. "It's okay, Flint. Thank you."

She took of to the medic room. When she walked inside, she immediately spotted Gaya in the corner of the room. She was lying in a bed with a thick bandage around her head, eyes closed. Her ears peeped out, drooping as far as the bandage allowed them. Her breathing was calm and regularly. Violet grabbed Gaya's hand.
"Hey Gaya, it's me, Violet. How are you feeling?" Of course, there was no response. A nurse came into view to check on Gaya's vital functions.
"How is she?", Violet asked with worry. The nurse looked at her. "She is stable for now. We have to see what the damage is if she wakes up."
Violet noticed that the nurse said 'if she wakes up' instead of 'when'. How was it possible that things went so wrong on her first patrol? What was going on? She could feel tension in the air. She really needed to talk to Vinnie. Violet squeezed in Gaya's hand.
"I'll be back, Gaya. Stay strong."
The moment the words left her mouth, a siren went off. The sound of it was so loud, that Violet covered her ears, feeling a hint of panic. The speaker that hang in every room, crackled to life. "We are under attack. Prepare for battle. We are under attack. Prepare for battle", the automatic voice repeated. Okay, Violet thought. Now it's time to panic!

Moments before the siren went off, there was a heavy discussion going on in Carbine's office. There was still no plan on how to stop the Plutarkians from spreading the virus, and the tension was rising. Throttle and Stoker were busy arguing, but were interrupted by the siren. For a moment, everybody froze at the sudden sound. But in a split second, they jumped into action. Vinnie ran to the window. He saw Plutarkians coming in the distant, marching to the base.
"Uh oh bro's… We got company!", he yelled, half excited, half worried. Throttle looked over Vinnie's shoulder out of the window.
"It seems that they are willing to do everything to defend their new weapon. Battle mode, bro's!"
Throttle, Modo, Vinnie, Jake and Carbine flew out of the office, right into chaos. They ran through the busy hallways. Soldiers who were ready to fight, joined them and the group ran to the big garage. The rest was fleeing to the basement for safety. Stoker stayed behind to coordinate things at the base.
Everybody jumped on their bikes. "Freedom Fighters, ATTACK!", Throttle shouted and the large group drove out in the direction of the Plutarkian soldiers. Everybody was worried about this sudden attack. Well, almost everybody.
"AAAOOWW, finally back in the saddle! Let's do this, bro's!"
They jumped over an hill. Vinnie pumped his fist in the air.
"It's tail whippin' tiiiiime!", he sang cheerfully and when they landed on the ground, all hell broke loose. The Plutarkians, surprised to see suddenly a big army of Martian Mice coming straight at them, opened fire.
"Let's fry these finfaces!", Throttle yelled and returned fire. The group split up, trying to surround the group of Plutarkians. Vinnie, very happy to finally have some real action, fired one of his newest toys. A huge rocket flew to the air.
"Fire in tha hole!", he yelled, laughing almost hysterically. The explosion was deafening and wiped out almost the half of the Plutarkian group. Even Vinnie was impressed. "Whoa, that's what I call a great entrance!", he laughed, zigzagging to avoid the shots from the enemy. Chaos, panic and disaster. He breathed in heavily. Yes, this was the life!

Everybody was giving their best in the fight and suddenly, all too soon if you'd asked Vinnie, it was over. The Plutarkians had retreated.
Throttle came to an halt and signed to the rest to do the same. "Is it just me, or was this way too easy?", he asked with concern. Modo nodded. "Yeah, I feel ya, bro. It felt like they even didn't fight back or something."
Vinnie, hyped up because of the adrenaline in his system, waved away their worries. "Bro's! Talk about a low selfasteme! We're the best! They never stood a chance!"
Throttle shook his head. "No. Something is wrong."
At that moment, there was the sound of an explosion nearby. They all turned their heads in the direction of the sound. When they understood what was going on, even Vinnie's head cleared.
"They are attacking the base!" Throttle revved his engine. "I knew it! This was all just a diversion, to lead us away from the base! Let's ride, bro's!"
Everybody followed his lead back to base. They pushed their bikes to the limits. How could we fall for this trick? Throttle thought, feeling angry at himself. Carbine, who was driving next to him, knew what was going through his head. She felt the same way. Since when were the Plutarkians smarter than them? What else do they have in mind? What could they expect further?

Vinnie, who was driving way ahead of the group because of his fast bike (and skills of course), first felt happy that there still was a chance to create more disaster. But when he flew over the hill and saw the chaos at the base, his blood turned cold. Violet…

Oh my... another cliffhanger! Hehehe. Please review! :)