Several months passed and the military came by four or five times, always asking questions about where their little morpher could be.

And every time they came Modo made sure that Throttle and Vinny were hidden upstairs in the small panic room that was more like a bomb shelter built into their house. The same room he and Vinny used to play in as little kids.

However there was one time that Throttle was seen by one of the soldiers who promptly demanded to know who she was and why they hadn't seen her before. Momma Maverick had been on the brink of panicking when Modo smoothly and calmly shut the soldiers down and introduced Throttle as his younger brother, whom had a weak body because he'd been born sick.

Momma immediately sensing that it was the only out that they would get- agreed with Modo and told the soldiers that Throttle had been born with a low survival rate and as such, she kept him close to home where she could take care of him.

Still the soldiers were suspicious of their Throttle and even went so far as to try and kidnap her once while she had been walking to school with her brothers and wound up with Vinny instead.

Although how that had happened exactly Momma Maverick would never know.

All she knew was that after Vinny had been grabbed Modo escorted Throttle back to the house looking mighty P.O'd, and grabbed his father's gun. As well as a military issue knife and told her that he was going hunting and that he'd be back by dinner time as he slipped out the door.

Momma sat there with Throttle, going about her daily routine while trying to reassure her daughter that everything would be okay. But Throttle didn't believe her. Which was fine, she supposed. She was a terrible liar anyways and her fears were plainly showing in her expression and her actions.

Luckily, despite being more jaded than a child should be- Throttle was made of sterner stuff than she was and in the end it was she who tried reassuring Momma Maverick that Modo wasn't the type to break his promises.

Finally about the time Momma Maverick finished cooking dinner and was starting to set the table, the front door opened and Vinny came running in looking a little bit roughed up and latched onto her waist with his arms and his tail and started talking a mile a minute.

"Mom, your never going to believe what happened! Modo shot twenty soldiers- sniper style, down THERE, from the ridge overlooking the base and then snuck into the base and took one of the higher ups prisoner! And he even stabbed him with dad's knife to show that he meant buisness and- and-"

Momma blinked at her white furred son and wanted to ask where her eldest son was but she couldn't get a word in edge wise. Just what did he mean by Modo aimed 'there'? But most of all she wanted to know where her other son was.

Worriedly she looked towards the front door which was still wide open and noted that Throttle was standing there, peeking around the corner. Her tail twitching a little bit at the tip as her ears flattened against her head as she stood there, seemingly waiting.

Finally after a moment or so Modo's mussed, shirtless, dust covered grey form walked through the door with his fathers gun slung over one shoulder and his knife hanging from his belt. Modo looked across the room at her as he patted Throttle on the head and smiled.

"Hi mom." He said happily as he gently shut the door before striping the gun and kinfe from his person before scooping Throttle up in his arms and walking over to Momma Maverick and kissed her on the cheek. Momma Maverick breathed a small sigh of relief and kissed her son on his cheek before he could pull away, earning a scowl from him to hide the flush under his smokey grey fur.

"I'm glad that your home son."

"Yeah, me too." Modo said awkwardly as he set Throttle down in a chair at the dining room table and then walked into the kitchen to wash his face and hands. He'd meant to wash them before coming in due to the little bit of dried blood on his hands but had forgotten that the lake that he and Vinny used to play in had started to dry up, leaving nothing but mud in the wide crater like space.

So the kitchen was as good a place to wash as any.

"So how did you get away?" Momma Mavericks curious sounding voice asked from somewhere behind him. Modo turned his head a little bit and looked at her, he hadn't noticed before but his mother's eyes were red rimmed.

"Have you been crying mom?" Modo asked as he turned off the water and turned to face his mother.

"Isn't it a mother's job to cry when she might not see her sons again?"

"You're evading the question." Modo said in a tense tone, strongly disliking the fact that his mother had been sitting here crying for him and his idiot brother.

"So are you-" She pointed out softly before asking again. "So how did you get away?"

"I found a series of secret abandoned tunnels that run under the base. I used those to move from one place to another and to even enter the base and capture one of the higher ups."

"If they saw you-"

"They didn't. And even if they did, they currently have twenty men who will all permanently be singing in soprano." Modo said with a cruel smile before shrugging his shoulders and saying cheerfully. "Besides, I'm planning to go back every day for the next month and put the fear of god into them for messing with my family."

Momma Maverick gaped at her son for a moment before he placed his fingers under her chin and gently closed her mouth then brushed past her as she thought, Oh my. Those poor soldiers were all going to be reduced to bundles of nerves before Modo was through with them.