Oh, dear Vinnie. Open mouth, insert foot.

Chapter 3

The three mice whirled at the sound of her voice from the doorway, where she leaned wearily against the door jam. Her ears drooped in fatigue, and her antennae were almost flat against her head, proof of exhaustion. She wore a dark blue tank top since her fur kept her too warm for anything else, and a pair of black low-rider jeans that sat so low on her hips it was almost indecent. "Do you really think that?" she asked, in surprise.

"W-well, I-ah, um, well you know," Vinnie stammered, unable to stop his bright blush.

She smiled at him. "Thank you, Vinnie."

"Charley-girl, you shouldn't be up," Modo fussed, setting down the tray and moving to her side. "You need to be restin'."

"But I'm fine," she protested, even as he took her arm and gently led her over to sit at the table. "Well, I'm starving, but I'm fine."

"Modo's right, you just went through a lot, Charley," Throttle said as he got her a drink. "Let us take care of things while you recover, okay?"

"Thanks, boys, she smiled. "But I really do feel fine. I gotta ask though, how do you guys walk with these things?" She lifted her tail to eye-level. "I nearly tripped over it twice coming down stairs."

"You have to keep it up around your knees," Vinnie said helpfully. "Try wrapping it around your thigh until you get used to it."

"Good idea," Charley said. "Any other useful hints for me?"

"Mind your ears," Modo answered. "You probably never had to think about it since your regular ears are so small, but now you might get them caught in something. So be careful, alright?"

She blinked at him. "You're right, I never would have thought of that. Until I caught one in a door or something. Thanks, big guy." And with that she leaned up and kissed his cheek. He blushed bright red, muttered something about rewarming her food, and hurriedly turned to take care of that.

Charley giggled and turned to Throttle. "So, any leads on Karbunkle?"

"We haven't had a chance to go lookin' for him, but now that you're feeling better, we can start," he replied.

"You're not sayin' to leave her alone," Vinnie said in alarm. "What if she gets sick again? What if that demented deviant tries to come after her? We'd be too far away to help her"-

"Vinnie, I can take care of myself!" Charley exclaimed.

"Yeah and that worked out so great last time!" he shouted.

Modo and Throttle both winced and took a few steps back to avoid the nuclear fall-out that was sure to come, when they heard a strange and unwelcome sound. A tiny sniff, followed by a hiccuping breath. Charley's green eyes were filling with tears, and a few spilled down to leave trails soaking into her cream-colored fur as her ears laid completely flat against her head.

So much for him thinking I'm a badass. She angrily wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. "You don't have to be a jerk about it," she said in a hurt voice. "I know I always have to be rescued, and I know that you guys are getting tired of always having to save me. But I really can take care of myself, dammit, I did just fine before you came along. And if you would recall, I've saved your sorry tail a time or two, so I really don't want to hear it.

"Modo," she looked over to the grey mouse, "I'm sorry you went to so much trouble, but I'm really not hungry anymore." And with that, she slowly got up from the chair and made her way back up to her room.

There was almost total silence for a few seconds before Vinnie groaned and put his head in his hands. "I know, I know big fella," he said through his hands, "you're gonna pound the crap out of me."

"Damn straight," Modo said firmly.

"Man, Vin, do you ever think before you talk?" Throttle asked in some amazement. "That was a record even for you. Since it seems like we can't leave you two alone for a while, Modo, you stay here with Charley while genius and I go scout out for any traces of Karbunkle."

"Will do, bro. Right after," the large mouse cracked the knuckles of his left hand, "Vinnie and I have a nice little chat."

The sounds of a loud ruckus downstairs just made Charley sigh from the bed. She wiped away the stubborn tears that she couldn't seem to make stop falling. She was never the type to cry at the drop of a hat, so why the waterworks now? A knock at the door made her turn. "Come on in, Throttle."

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked as he opened the door and came in to sit beside her.

"You're the only one that knocks like that," she said, a little hiccup betraying her state of crying.

The tan mouse looked rather awkwardly helpless at the sight of her tears, and frantically started patting down his jacket and pants. Rummaging through his pockets produced a few wadded up tissues that he immediately handed over to her, silently thanking Modo's Mama for teaching her boys to always be prepared for a girl's tears. She took them with a nod of thanks, cleaning herself up. He smiled slightly at that, and then his face went serious. "You know he didn't mean that."

"Yeah, sure he didn't," she said ruefully.

"Charlene." She straightened up a bit at that. He never used her full name unless he was being very serious. "We all know you can fight just fine, and you've proved that more times than I can count. And we do not get tired of rescuing our friend. The reason you get kidnapped at all is because of us, that we brought you into this war. If anything, its our fault that you're always in danger"-

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," she said firmly. "Not only because its the right thing to do, but because you three are my friends. You're more than that, you're my bros. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you guys now that I have you."

He gave her a geniune smile now. "Thanks, Charley. And you know we're gonna fix this, right? We're gonna find Karbunkle and make him pay for hurting you, and then he's gonna fix you back to human."

"Thought of anything to offer him to make him do it?" she asked in mild sarcasm. "He's not exactly the charitable type."

"How about the gift of still being alive?" the tan mouse said. "I hear he's kinda attached that whole living thing."

"Good idea," she said in approval. "But how are you gonna find him?"

"The goon squad's bound to be out at loose ends with the Tower down again. We find them, and at least one of them will know where Karbunkle is. You'll be back to human in no time." He and Vincent left a few minutes later, the white mouse gingerly putting on his helmet over his very bruised head.

Modo knocked on Charley's door. "Hey Charley-girl, is it alright if I come in?"

She came and opened the door, a small smile on her face. "Sure thing, big guy. What can I do for you?"

"Well, gettin' some food in you would be a great thing to do for me," he cajoled. "C'mon, girl, you need to eat. You think I can't see your tail shakin'?"

"Shaking?" She lifted it up to her eye level and to her surprise, it was indeed trembling with fatigue. Her hands weren't in much better shape. "Yeah," she said tiredly, "I see it." He led her over to the bed to sit down, his tail placing the tray of food he'd carried up for her in her lap. She ate as he looked over the jeans she'd scattered about on her bed.

"Were you lookin' for somethin' to fit your tail?" he asked. Normally, she kept her room fairly neat, so this mess was unlike her.

"Yeah, but nothing would fit right," she said, finishing off her third piece of toast with jam. "It hurt to tuck the tail in."

"It would," he said laughingly. "Our tails are a lot more sensitive than you think. Here, pick a couple of jeans and I'll fix them up. I can make a hole for your tail to fit through so you don't have to wear those-those, ah"-

"Hoochie jeans?" she said teasingly. "I know, they're a little low-cut, aren't they? But at least the tail fit over the top."

"Y-yeah, a little low-cut," Modo said blushing. "I'll get right on that"-

A loud knock from downstairs had both Mice up. "Who is it?" Charlene called from the top floor.

"You open?" A voice shouted from outside. "Ms Davidson, I really need my truck back today!"

"Mr. Ronstown? Yes, I'll be right down!" she called. She hurried to put on a work shirt as Modo looked at her incredulously. "And just how are you going to work?" he asked.

"Oh, I have an idea," she said hurriedly. "Go down and get me Vinnie's spare helmet."

To Modo's surprise, her idea worked like a charm. She would tell any customers that asked that Vinnie's helmet was a new prototype she was working on, and that she was testing it out for the day to work out any kinks in comfort or visibility before she would get the work patented. Her tail was kept wrapped around her hips as a belt for her low jeans. The grey mouse was rather stunned that no one questioned her about any of it.

He stayed and helped her work on the jobs that came in, and especially made sure that she ate. He kept giving her several small meals and snacks, mostly glasses of milk with cheese and ham, or turkey club sandwiches. Plates of hotdogs came later in the day, along with baked potatoes, cans of vegetable soup, and even more glasses of milk. They went through two gallons of milk in less than six hours, but she was always hungry for more. Thankfully, that slowed down as evening came, and the poor girl finally started to feel full.

Modo wasn't that worried about her appetite. "Its probably a good thing that you're so hungry. Your body just grew fur, bigger ears, antennae, and a full tail. A whole other limb! You gotta replace all the stuff your body used up to make all the new stuff, and eatin's how you do that." The Martian had also been making sure to give her a dose of multi-vitamins with every sandwich and glass of milk. Fats, proteins, calcium, and even iron were the easiest nutrients for her to get from food; it was all the other trace minerals and vitamins that she desperately needed to regain to keep her body going as it recovered.

The food and vitamins were making a visable difference in her appearance. Her fur shone luxuriously with health, her body loosing that sick, too skinny look as it regained the weight it need to help fill her breasts and hips. Her eyes were bright, the dark circles under her eyes had faded, and she was almost bouncing with energy now. Modo wondered if that was from her gaining a Martian Mouse's metabolism.

Later that night, a very frustrated Throttle and Vincent returned to the garage. They told the story over dinner. Limburger's men were shockingly easy to find, so Throttle suspected that they were set up for something. The goons were posted a few blocks away around the Last Chance Garage and had been told to report to the doctor when the hybrid 'mutant' started rampaging across the city. Apparently, according to the thugs, she wasn't supposed to turn into a Martian Mouse, but a flesh-eating monster! Charley breathed a sigh of relief that the doctor had screwed that up.

But even though the goons had the means to call Karbunkle, none of them knew where he was. When Throttle and Vincent got a hold of one of their communicators, all they could get out of the gloating scientist was that the girl only had a few days before the DNA combination went unstable. The bonds holding her counterfeit DNA would dissolve, taking the bonds that held her human DNA together with it. She would be dead, and nothing they did could convince the doctor to undo the mutation.

Without holding his life hostage, and without knowing where he was, the mice had no leads, and no choice. They'd have to find the means and get her to the nearest scientists available that could work on Karbunkle's level. They would have to find a way to get Charlene to Mars.