"Happy Birthday to You!" a cheerful Vinnie sang off-key. It was early in the morning at the scoreboard in Chicago. Vinnie's bad vocals were not music to the ears of Throttle, who was still asleep. He woke up at the sound of Vinnie's voice. Throttle, who was in a bad mood, was not as excited as Vinnie about his birthday.
Throttle grumbled and threw a pillow at Vinnie. "Aw shut up Vincent!" he yelled. "You sound like Fred the Mutant while he's being electrocuted."
Modo, who was awake in the bottom bunk on the bunk bed that he and Throttle shared, tried to counter Throttle's hostility toward Vinnie.
"Come on Throttle." Modo said playfully. "At least he's not trying to sing 'The Star Spangled Banner' again."
"Yeah, one $500 fine from the city of Chicago for noise pollution and disturbing the peace is enough." Vinnie said.
"Not to mention the fact that the fans down in Quigley Field threw almost anything they could get their hands on at you." Modo laughed.
"Hey, that's not funny!" Vinnie exclaimed. "I'm still trying to get those ketchup stains out of my pants."
"Would you two please shut up!" Throttle said fiercely.
"Well, it seems that someone doesn't want to face becoming older." Vinnie said defensively. "I guess everyone can't stay as youthful and handsome as me." he said while admiring himself in the mirror.
Vinnie's self-admiration was interrupted when Charley entered the room. She was holding a fancily wrapped present in her hands.
"Sweetheart!" Vinnie exclaimed while taking the present out of her hands. "For me?"
"You shouldn't have."
Charley grabbed the present back. "I didn't." she said. "This is for Throttle."
"I might wait to give him that present if I were you Charley-girl." Vinnie informed her. "It seems that our birthday boy is a little grumpy this morning."
Charley and Vinnie were soon joined by Modo and Throttle, who had gotten out of their beds.
"Good morning Charley ma'am." Modo said politely.
"Good morning Modo." Charley answered.
"Throttle!" Charley said excitely as Throttle approached them. "Here is your present."
Throttle smiled weakly as he accepted the present. "Thank you Charley, but despite what Vincent here told you, today is not really my birthday."
"On mars today is your birthday." Vinnie stated.
"Well, we're not on mars are we!" Throttle yelled and stormed out of the room. Seconds later, they heard a motorcycle engine revving up. Charley, Modo, and Vinnie watched him speed across the Quigley Field turf onto Chicago's streets.
"What's wrong with him?" Charley asked concerned. "Throttle doesn't usually fly off the handle like this."
"His birthday's always been hard for him since…" Modo said before he trailed off.
"Well, to be honest, it's hard for me too." Modo said, his voice cracking. He lowered his head and walked quickly into another room.
"Modo!" Charley called after him. She started to follow him but Vinnie extended an arm to prevent her from advancing.
"What's going on?" Charley asked Vinnie. "What's wrong with Throttle and Modo?"
"I probably shouldn't have hassled Throttle so much about his birthday today." Vinnie said sadly. "Especially since it reminds him of his sister."
"Throttle has a sister?" Charley asked in disbelief.
"He had a sister." Vinnie corrected her. "A twin sister actually."
"She died during the Plutarkian War."
"Poor Throttle." Charley said quietly.
"It gets worse." Vinnie said. "She was also Modo's wife."
Charley gasped. "Modo's wife?" she asked in shock.
"Yeah." Vinnie answered. "They hadn't been married for very long before she got killed."
"Oh no." Charley moaned. "Poor Throttle, poor Modo."
"Yeah, she was really special." Vinnie said. "She was one of the best of us freedom fighters."
"She also was a total babe, but never tell Throttle that I told you that." Vinnie warned. "Or Modo for that matter."
Vinnie and Charley stood quietly for a few minutes, each thinking about the fallen Martian warrior.
"How did she get killed?" Charley asked, breaking the silence.
"It was all the rats' fault." Vinnie answered. "That's one of the reasons why Modo hates rats so much."
"She was patrolling a Martian refugee camp that day." Vinnie explained.
"The rats blew up the camp with a series of high powered explosives late in the afternoon." "The attack was completely unexpected."
"We were off on another mission when we got the news from Stoker." Vinnie trailed off. "I've never seen Stoker so out of it, he really considered Throttle and Torque to be the children he never had."
"I remember seeing Modo just fall to pieces but Throttle just stood there, like he didn't hear what Stoker had said."
"I still don't think that he's really accepted that she's gone."