Chapter 12.

After a couple of calls, it was arranged that Stoker was going to come to Earth in the Stalkers ship and take Spectre back to Mars and try to locate any members of his family or clan, and see if there were many remnants of his home village left.

While initially mad at him for stealing their precious root beer and using it as a form of ammunition, they soon created a new game which took off pretty quickly. It was a variation on one of their favourite pastimes 'Brodies and Bottles.'

"Ready, Vinnie?" Spectre asked.

"Yup!"

KER-CHUNK!

Vinnie set off the mark in a flash, his boosters burning as he raced to catch up with the bottle of root beer that had been ejected from Oblivion's grenade launcher. The new city bypass had a four and a half mile stretch that was perfectly straight, so before it was opened to the public, the bros thought it would be a good idea to 'test' it's construction.

Pushing Sweetheart's roaring engine to its limit, Vinnie chased down the bottle, closing the gap as it started to lose altitude.

Gravity pulled the glass vessel down.

Vinnie was so close.

At the last moment, he reached out and caught the neck of the bottle and yanked the handlebars, causing the bike to do a sideways skid. He saw the tyre marks left by Throttle, passed them and stopped about five metres from the 'T' marked on the road in chalk.

"Yee-haa! Ride 'em cowboy!" he yelled, before activating his helmet com. "Hey bro! Just kicked your kiesta! Ha ha!"

"Great," Throttle grumbled to himself.

"It's ok, bro. I'll beat him for ya," said Modo.

After a minute or so, Vinnie was back, sculling his root beer in celebration of beating his leader. Modo stepped up to the line.

"Ready, set..."

KER-CHUNK!

Modo took off much like Vinnie, but stopped short as he watched his bottle collide with a familiar ship that was coming in their direction. He turned back to try and warn the others, but instead of crash-landing, the ship landed gracefully on the new road.

"Can't be a man driving that thing," noted Charley.

A ramp that formed the belly of the ship folded down and two figures walked out.

Stoker and Carbine.

After the greetings were exchanged, Carbine seemed content to stay close to Throttle while Stoker went over to talk to Spectre.

"I did a bit of research before I came here, but most of the records are sketchy, pal. I'm afraid I can't tell you much," Stoker said.

Spectre shrugged. "That's ok. I appreciate your efforts."

"The next lot of Freedom Fighter punks to be trained won't be in for another month or so. If you want, I can take you to where you used to live. I'm from around that area as well."

Spectre looked at the aged warrior. He nodded. "That would be great. Thank you."

Soon, it was time to roll. Throttle and Carbine gave each other one last hug and kiss while Stoker shook hands with his former protege's. Charley and Spectre took a step back from the action.

"I never really thanked you properly for saving me that night," she said to him.

Spectre shook his head. "No, I should really be thanking you. You saved me. From myself. Plus, you fed me and clothed me. You did what no one else did for me for most of my life."

Stoker whistled, showing it was time to leave. Charley and Spectre hugged each other.

"If this little terrier ever gets damaged, you know where to bring her," Charley said.

"Thank you."

Throttle, Vinnie, Modo and Charley watched as the ship (most likely piloted by Carbine) took off and headed back to their home planet. A planet of red sands, swirling deserts, and Mice.

Vinnie lay back on his bike. "Well, guess I won Brodies and Bottles, huh?" he smirked.

Almost immediately, he was tackled the the other three standing on the highway.

*

Limburger stood in a poncy little maid outfit and mop. As part of his punishment for failing to bring the renegade who destroyed many lives in Plutark, he was forced to make up the entire sum of the reward by cleaning public bathrooms, and park benches in clothing that really didn't suit him well at all. He was also informed that he wouldn't be getting of Planet Earth until all its natural resources had been stripped from its soils.

"I will have my revenge on you meddlesome mice, once and for all," he repeated his mantra to himself, hoping the time would pass just a little bit quicker.

*

It was a few days after Spectre had gone back to Mars. Three motorbikes were patrolling the city around the oil refinery.

"Say, bro...That night where you tried to set a new record from Charley's place to the scoreboard," Modo asked. "How did you go?"

Vinnie looked sheepish for a moment. "Uh, I didn't make it."

"What was that little look for? Hey, that's right. You were getting beaten up by Charley-ma'am. Why was that?"

"I...uh..."

"Is there something you're not telling your bros, Vincent?" Throttle joined in the conversation.

They stopped at a red light, and no way of getting out of this. While Vinnie's mouth hadn't said a word his face told a thousand of them.

"Spill, Vincent," said Throttle.

"Ok, ok," he paused for effect. "Me and Charley are going out."

A series of woots and high-fives went around, before something crossed Modo's mind.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Vinnie looked pensive. "I didn't think you guys would approve."

Throttle put his hand on his shoulder. "It's ok bro, we're cool with it. In fact, I've won my bet with Modo that it would happen before Christmas this year."

"What?" Vinnie asked incredulously.

The light went green and Modo and Throttle rode off laughing. Vinnie made to take off after them, but stalled his bike, adding to more laughter of his friends.

T

H

END.