Note to readers: I rated this story T for now, because there are not much mature themes on my story (after all!). But I think I have to up the rating later. We'll see (:

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And now for the lovely reviewers!

Joyfull Scroll: Hm.. No, I don't think Marnia is related to Charley, nope.. 

tracy250989: Hihi, thanks :D It was hilarious, wasn't it?

Seven Degrees of Sin: Thanks for the heads up! I'm trying really hard not to make her Mary-Sueish towards the end :D She's going to have a big role in helping the mice win the war, but she's not exactly going to 'fight.' (btw, I love your bmfm stories, both are very good! You should write more!)

Out from Under

Chapter 6

Stoker was standing on the balcony of the FF HQ. It had been calm for many months now. The Plutarkians hadn't attacked any of the borderline villages for a while now. Not a single hostile attempt at the mice for weeks.

Just.

Too.

Calm.

'The calm before the storm', he thought as he crossed his arms against his chest and surveyed the view.

--

"Oh man, I'm jumping OUT of my SKIN if there are no battles soon!" Vinnie complained to his bro.

"You know Vinnie, hearing you say that almost makes me think you don't want the war to end" Throttle said tiredly while he fixed something on his bike, his back to Vinnie.

"Er.." Vinnie started, but was stopped by Modo who had appeared to the garage, "Vinnie's right. It has been way too quiet for quite some time now. The stink faces must be up to something."

Throttle cleaned his hands to a rag and threw it away sighing angrily. "You guys are right. Has Stoker said something?" he addressed his question to Modo.

"Yeah, he's thinking about sending couple mice there to take a look and report back." Throttle nodded.

Two young mice girls walk past them and give the guys a wink. "Hey boys," they coo to them as they walk a sexy hip walk. Modo blushes while Throttle just smiles and says them a hello too. The girls' eyes ran them all up and down and make a suggestive nod. Then they disappear behind the corner.

"Wow.." Modo just says and rubs his head to chase the dirty thoughts away that had just bobbed up there. "You know Modo, this makes me wonder that why on Mars didn't Vinnie say something to those lovely ladies?" They both turn to look at the mouse in question.

He is coolly leaning against his bike and giving his bro's a grin. Then, pointing at the entrance of the garage he says, "That's why."

As the boys turn their heads they see Marnia walking to them. Giving all of them a smile she wonders what they were talking about. Vinnie goes to her first and pulls her into a hug. "Hi there, Beauty" he says and covers her mouth with his. She's all too happy to give kiss him back too.

Modo and Throttle starts to whistle and then make coughing sounds as the kiss lingers on and on. A little out of breath their friends end their kiss. "Hello there, Handsome" she purrs back to him.

Suddenly a high-pitched noise starts to blare inside the garage and the red warning lights start to rotate as well. Marnia feels Vinnie tense up, and she can see the same transformation in Vinnie's bros as well. "What is it?" she asks in awe.

Vinnie lets go of her and turns to his bros. "Plutarkians" they all say in unison before heading for their bikes. Other freedom fighters are already piling inside the garage and running to their bikes. Marnia walks beside Vinnie who had already hopped on his bike.

"Stay inside, you'll be safe here" Vinnie tells her and takes his helmet. Marnia nods, a little scared by the fact that he's going out there. Before putting his helmet on, he reaches for her and they share a quick kiss. Pulling away from her and putting his helmet on he starts his bike.

"Go whip some tail!" she yells so he could hear her and smiles. Vinnie grins, "You're my kinda woman!" Then he accelerates and leaves the garage to join the other freedom fighters in the fight. She stands there for a while and watches his retreating back until she can't see him anymore.

Finally she left and headed for the med bay. If she was right, there would be hurt soldiers and freedom fighters soon. She just hoped Vinnie and his bros would not be among them..

--

Broken limbs, severely hurt eyes from blasts, large bleeding grenade and shot wounds, bleeding cuts, detached body parts and blood.. So much blood.. Marnia screwed her eyes shut. Somehow she had managed to stand there and help the doctors and other nurses. She wondered how her mother had managed to keep her cool in these situations.

A hand touched her shoulder and she opened her eyes. "Are you all right, babe?" his silent voice asked in a concerned tone. She turned and threw herself into Vinnie's embrace. "I am now," she mumbled against his warm chest.

He hummed in content at her words and tightened his hold on her.

--

The attack the Plutarkians had made left two mice villages filled with bodies. Adults, children, babies.. Some of the freedom fighters had joined in the operation of collecting the bodies and doing the Martian war burial to them; burning the bodies.

Harley and Marnia were there too, ordered by the chief doctor from med bay. Marnia had seen and heard the burial chants of the mice for the first time, and she found out that the chants didn't differ much from the hymns sang at her local church back on Earth.

As the fire licked the mummy looking corpses of the dead mice, she couldn't feel anything else except helplessness and hate. The cave mice had touched her heart in a way she never would've known. After the rocky start she had had, she had come to love this alien species.

And then there were the damned Plutarkians. The ones who had robbed her of father, Vinnie of his family.. Her fingers curled into tight fists.

Stoker had also told them about the bought off Martian government who almost gave everything to the Plutarkians on a silver platter. The army was no better. Clueless and stupid, they did everything their government told them to.

Harley came standing beside Marnia and gave her a tired smile. "We are almost ready to leave now" she said and laid her hand on Marnia's shoulder to give her some support. "Okay," Marnia whispered, "just give me a minute." Harley nodded and left.

Marnia inhaled and exhaled deeply but softly. Harley was right, it was time to leave. Turning she gave a slight yelp as she came face to face with Mace.

"Mace! Jeez, you almost gave me heart attack!" she exclaimed, wide-eyed. "Oh? I'm so sorry, but you have to come with me" the brown colored freedom fighter said.

"Uh, why? Where?" she asked, alarmed as she took a step back from him. Mace took hold of her wrist, "Because there is someone who needs medical attention, right now." He turned and dragged her towards the rock formation not far from them.

She had always been alarmed with Mace. He would, from time to time, eye her in a way she did not like. She hadn't told Vinnie about it, why worry him and make things more edgy around the base?

Turning her head back to see the other mice getting ready to leave, she thought about yelling something to Vinnie who was strapping a package to his bike. In the end she decided against it. How foolish of her..

Right after they had gone inside the enormous rock formation, Marnia looked around to see the one who she had come to help. Not seeing anyone she turned to look at Mace and opened her mouth, but seeing that the mouse had her at gunpoint, the words left her.

Mace chuckled at her astonished look. "Now, as you can see, there's no one here," he said and made a gesture with his hand to point that there was nothing, "Screaming for help won't help you either, this formation is a good sound buffer, not to mention we are too far from the ones who would try to help you."

She seethed in rage, even though it didn't help her one bit. Mace was right, there wasn't anything she could do. "Vincent will soon notice that I'm not there" she tried, but in vain.

"I know, that's why we have to work quickly" the mouse sneered. Noting the danger too late, she felt a hand grab her from behind. Then everything went dark.

--

"Hi Harley" Vicent said as the female mouse walked past him. "Hi Vinnie" she chirped back at him. "You haven't seen Marnia around..?" Vinnie asked her, knowing she and Marnia had come best friends from almost the day they met.

"Yes, I.." she started and turned to look at the small hill she had come down just now, "That's strange.. I just left her right there but now she's not there anymore.."

A dread feeling came upon him. Leaving Harley with his bike he jogged the short distance to the hilltop, his gun loaded and ready.

--

"Come on, we have to work quickly or otherwise one of those fucking bikers comes here.." Mace seethed. He knew all rats were slow and a bunch of slobs (even though he was one himself), but this was getting too much for him too.

Positioning the passed out girl into one of the bikes Mace ordered one of the rats to hop behind her and take her to the secret place they had found and claimed as their own.

Hopping on to his bike Mace went to the lead, "Follow me!"

Just as the two rats were about to go after him, a sound alerted them from behind. Taking a glance back they saw a white freedom fighter mouse enter. "Marn.." his sentence was cut short when he saw the rats and especially the one who had his girl with him.

"Hey!" he yelled and the walls echoed his voice.

The rats took the most obvious way. Getting their guns they opened fire at the Martian mouse. Vinnie rolled out of the way and returned fire. He couldn't shoot directly at the other rat though; he feared he might hit Marnia on the way.

The other rat went down with a yelp. Seeing what had happened to his friend, the other left burning rubber but still returning fire. Vinnie stood up and watched as the rat went on and took his girl with him. Not wasting any second he sprinted for his bike.

--

Marnia woke up slowly. The ghastly smell of wet fur greeted her, and she tried to remember what the heck had happened. 'MACE!' she thought panicky and her eyes shot open in an instant.

"Well, well.. Look who just woke up?" Mace's voice greeted her from the darkness. She blinked to see more clearly, but he stepped into the light so she could see him.

"Wh.. Why? Why did you do this?" she asked with a shaking voice. She didn't understand why a Martian freedom fighter mouse would capture her.

"You, my dear, " he said and walked around her in a slow circle, "are very valuable to a person that I know."

"Me!? Valuable? To whom?" she was scared because she thought that she knew the answer. As she had feared, Mace said the name that brought chills down her spine.

"Well, Lord Camembert for one example," he said as he traced his fingers along the rim of her jacket's neckline, touching her skin on the way. She shuddered. "How about the whole Plutarkian army?" he finished and took his hand away. She felt better the second their contact was broken.

"I have never seen a rotten mouse before, but guess I have know" she spat angrily, finding strength to rail this man up, "You are doing this just for the money?"

Mace chuckled and then did something that left her gasping. He pulled off the mouse like face he had, and revealed the ugly face of a rat underneath. "You are a rat!?" she shout in amazement.

"Mm.. Yes I am. Now you know the truth. I'm not on the mice's side. I have never been. The Plutarkians told us rats that we could have this land to ourselves, after they were done taking what they want and killing off the cave mice population. For return, we fight beside them against the mice" he told her and stepped right in front of her, leaning towards her face. As he came eye level with her, he studied her features and clicked his tongue.

"You are a rare beauty. Now wonder that stupid, loony freedom fighter wanted you. He scored because he was with you from day one, isn't that right? I bet you fucked his brains out every night, huh? Or was it the other way around?" he taunted her.

She was seething with rage after he finished, and because she found herself tight into the chair very tightly, she spun her head and hit his with a crunch. "You just watch and wait you.. You stupid rat! When Vinnie finds out where I am.." she yelled in a shaky voice, tears in her eyes.

She yelped as Mace took hold of her face and pressed, hard. "You fucking bitch!" he shouted as he felt blood starting to drip from a wound on his face, "When I get back here tonight, you'll start wishing we kill you.." His last words were said in an angry hiss, and she trembled in the chair, swallowing back sobs that threatened to come.

The door was shut with a bang when Mace left. She huddled in the darkness for a while, then let the tears fall and the sobs came with them..

--

The trash bin received a powerful kick from a white mouse who was fuming. The bin made several banging noises before it stopped it's rolling in front of Stoker. The dent from the kick had made the trash bin useless. Pushing the bin to the side with his leg, Stoker came beside the white mouse.

Reaching for Vinnie's shoulder Stoker tried to comfort the mouse. "Rookie, don't worr.."

"Don't worry!? Don't worry!? How can I NOT worry!? My girl's out there as a prisoner! What if those rats do something to her?" he screamed and the garage echoed his words.

Stoker reached to grab the young mouse's other shoulder and turn him to face his mentor. "Get a hold of yourself, Vinnie! You're not helping yourself or Marnia! You need to be cool in order to see the clear picture here."

Vinnie stared Stoker straight in the eye with a furious look, but after a while he surrendered and sighed, his shoulders dropping. Stoker was right, as always.

"That's better," Stoker sighed, "I came to tell you about something though.. Something that might help you find Marnia"

Vinnie's hopeful look made Stoker smile. "I asked the tech guys to trace Mace's movements over the last couple days. Looks like when we were in that borderline village, he parked his bike inside that rock formation you told us about. From there he drove to an abandon base we have not used for years now. It's on Plutarkian soil. Mace has been going there and back here again many times."

Vinnie couldn't believe what Stoker was saying. "But.. But Mace is one of us! Why would.."

"I started question his loyalty after I saw that he had accessed some of our most important logs over the time. Not to mention sending some information from our servers to an unknown server, which the tech boys were quickly able to found out as Plutarkian."

Vinnie's face went from astonished to angry. "That.. That rat! Where is he? I'm going to.." Vinnie started and rolled up his sleeves.

"Wow, wow.. Hold it rookie!" Stoker's hands were holding him down, "Before you take down the whole building, might I suggested that you get your bros and tell the situation to them? You are going to need back-up there, because you are going behind enemy lines."

Nodding to Stoker, Vinnie left in search for his bros. Mace was going down, that was for sure..

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