A/N: Another flashback chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer

I own nothing but plot, OCs and fictional events.

Chapter 16

Flashing Back-Part II

Geronimo's Perspective

The Rodent's Gazette building, New Mouse City, Mouse Island

1020 hours, July 11, 2011

3 days before Expo

It's been almost a year since my childhood best friend was killed by that fiend. I and the rest of the gang had worked part time as both news hunters at The Rodent's Gazette and as Interpol operatives every time we had a lead on his location. But each time we made a raid, he escapes somehow and walks away. We managed to rank our way up the agency from probationary agents to special agents in a matter of months after we joined.

It was in the middle of another summer, and I've been sitting in my office at The Rodent's Gazette, gathering daily scoops from the internet while Thea scours New Mouse City on her pink Ducati for news.

Benjamin and Pandora was there to accompany me at the office's lounge while awaiting any news from the General Secretariat of Interpol.

I was giving up on searching news either local or international. So I opened up a new tab on the browser and straight to Interpol's website. If Thea was here catching me doing that, she'd explode. She hates it when I involve Interpol in the media business.

Just when I was going to click the 'most wanted' button, Thea shows up from the door, with her pink helmet on. I quickly closed the tab I just opened and it switched to the previous tab. She took off her helmet, approached my desk, and sat on it.

"So, how much have you got?" she asked, referring to the scoops.

I scratched my head. "None. You?"

"Plenty. I just attended the live press conference about one of NMC's cargo ships being sunken at the Ratlantic Ocean. The city's Marine Transportation Department's spokesman said it hit a coral reef."

"Good, we have a statement. What about sports?"

"I went interviewing one of the NMC Squeakers' players at their hotel. He said that his leg injuries were just a minor setback. He'll heal before the team's next game in Vienna, Austria."

"Cheddariffic! Send them to the editorial staff." I then focused my attention at my computer screen.

Thea began to look concerned. "Geronimo? Are you okay? You seem a little bit...unfocused."

"Un-unfocused?" I stuttered. "What are you talking about?"

I knew that she was reading my mind by just looking at my troubled face expression. "You've been at that Most Wanted list at that site again, haven't you?" she squeaked, frowning.

She knew because she's caught me doing it, several times.

"Almost..." I said sheepishly.

"I don't care, Geronimo!" she said, standing up and raising her voice. "The one time I asked you not to go to that site, you disregarded it anyway!"

"I know, Thea... I'm really sorry! But..."

"But what? We've been losing to The Daily Rat ever since he died and we could barely defend our title of New Mouse City's most famouse newspaper! Get a grip, G! I know that you need to catch him but right now, put that aside and focus on what's important!"

She struck my nerve at that sentence.

I stood up. "Don't you dare talk about what's important! I know my priorities!"

"What are they then?"

"Ugh, you don't understand, Thea!"

"I COMPLETELY understand how you're feeling right now-"

"Then why are you interfering me from catching his murderer?!" I've never raised my voice to her in my entire life, this was the first time.

I didn't even notice that our nephew and his friend were there with us.

"Because we need to keep The Rodent's Gazette alive! Our reader count has gone down, Geronimo! We used to have a million of them! Now? Just a few hundred thousand!"

I got up to her snout. "We could climb back up Thea! But the chance of catching him is just once in a lifetime! We miss it, we'll never find him again!"

I didn't even notice the mouselings scampered out during our argument.

"Look, how long did it took Grandpa Shortpaws to make The Rodent's Gazette famouse?!"

"That's not the case, Thea!"

"Yes, it IS! Why would you think that there's something more important that The Rodent's Gazette?"

"My friend's murderer is walking free out there and you're saying that that's not important?"

"No!"

"Then why won't you help me, Thea? Ask yourself this, what if Professor de Mousus got killed, huh? I'd abandon all my work just to help you, solve the case and catch the culprit! Why wouldn't you do the same?!"

"I AM! But now I'm doing what's important for us, not just me!"

"Same here, Thea! I'm not doing this to avenge him! I'm doing this for the safety of the public! Why don't you try walking a mile in my shoes, Thea! And feel how YOUR paws burn right after, just like what I feel right now!" She didn't have an answer to defend her part of the argument.

I looked away. "If you were really my sister, you'd help me..." I really regretted saying those words.

She gasped and recoiled, taking steps away from me. Her purple eyes immediately teared up and she started sobbing. Her ears turned down. I knew that I had left a scar in her heart.

"Thea, I didn't mean to say that-" I said, tuning my voice down, in hopes of her not being upset, but cut off.

"I have a heart, Geronimo! It's delicate like a silk cloth and you just TORE IT APART!"

"Thea, please..." I tried to grip her wrist but she was quick to yank it away.

"I know how it feels to lose a friend, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE A BROTHER!" She stormed out crying, bumping into the mouselings who were listening to us the whole time from the hallway.

"Thea, wait!" I tried to stop her and reached out my arm out of the office, but she ran fast to her office, slamming the door shut.

I really felt bad about myself. This was the first time I saw her cry, and it was all my fault. I couldn't live with myself knowing that she was upset because of me. I honestly never meant to question our sibling relationship, it just slipped out of my mouth!

I hung my head in shame. "Sigh... What have I done, Benjamin? She's the only sibling I have. And now, I've broken her heart."

"You really shouldn't have said that last sentence, Uncle G," said Benjamin.

"I know, but I didn't mean to! It just...came out of my mouth! I guess I was just speaking my mind...a little too much of it in fact..."

"Let her cool herself down for a moment. Then go cheer her up in a few minutes," Pandora suggested.

I took her advice and decided to cheer her up after 10 minutes.

10 minutes went by...

"Hey," I started, opening the door about a crack wide, sticking my snout in. "Would you mind if I came in? I've brought a wheel of cheese as a peace offering."

She sobbed before she could answer. "Is it Brie?" She wiped he tears away.

"Your favorite..." I pushed the door wider so I could come in.

It was pink all over in her office, the walls, her chair, her sofa set she sat on beside the door at the lounge, with the only exception for the floors and desk. The floor was white carpeted, and her desk was wooden with a mahogany vernier finish.

I closed the door with my left unoccupied paw and set the wheel of cheese on a plate on Thea's low coffee table in front of Thea and sat on the same sofa next to her.

"I'm so sorry I acted so rough on you earlier. I should have never brought in our family relationship into the argument. Forgive me."

"I'm sorry too, Geronimo. I should've never been so selfish for the Gazette. You're right, catching him is important. And friends always come first. Either alive or dead."

"I'm flying to Los Angeles tonight. The Secretary General contacted me. He said he received a complaint. The reporter was given a death threat by him, if you know who I'm talking about."

"Who did he try to recruit this time?"

"Hisham Sidik, a firearms researcher. He invented a cartridge type that would explode if it misses a nearby target and acts as an explosive incendiary round on impact if it did hit its target," I explained. "He wanted to recruit Hisham to be his weapons inventor so that they'd have more advanced weapons. Hisham declined, and now, he's going to need our protection for the upcoming Weapons Expo in LA and the General Secretariat puts me in charge as head of security. You and the others could sit this one out while I go alone."

"No, I'm coming with you," she insisted.

"Are you sure?"

She put on a faint smile. "Yeah. Siblings always look out for each other's backs."

I smiled back. "Thank you, Thea. A C-130 will pick us up at Angorat International at eight. Don't be late."

Angorat International Airport

2001 hours

"Uncle G, why can't we just take the Metamouse?" asked my nephew as all of us approached the aircraft at the runway with our carry ons.

"Because the Metamouse isn't that fast enough to get from here to Los Angeles in a night. This particular aircraft has been modified to fly at longer rages and at faster speeds." I faced Thea, who walked beside Benjamin. "Thea, how fast can the Metamouse fly in passenger jet mode?"

"About five hundred-six hundred knots?"

I turned back to Benjamin. "Not to underestimate the Metamouse but this C-130 on the hand, has extensive use of carbon fiber on its bodywork and uses even more powerful turboprop engines which allows the aircraft to travel at thirteen hundred and eighty knots, enough speed to break the sound barrier but just twenty knots less fast than Russian supersonic prototype fighter jet, the Su-47 Berkut..." I paused because a sudden fear entered my body, "...which I'm beginning to be uncomfortable of after reminding myself."

"Don't worry too much, big bruv," Thea said, reassuring me. "The thing doesn't have any windows, you'll feel like nothing's happening...maybe except for the takeoff and landing,"

We got onboard the Lockheed, strapped in and the doors to the cargo bay closed up.

The plane was taxied to the runway. With the permission to takeoff from flight control, the rotors spun as fast and loud as ever. Takeoff had never been so rough... Soon, we were in the air on our way to Los Angeles.

LAX (Los Angeles International Airport)

June 12, 2011, 1207 hours

We were just exiting the airport's parking lot and rode in an Interpol-sponsored Dodge Charger. I didn't want Thea to drive because she speeds over 60 miles an hour, which is too fast for me. So I insisted that I drive.

We approached our hotel building near the venue of the Weapons Expo. All we had to do is to drive straight for a block, after we wait out the traffic light we stopped at.

"Alright," I started, "...at the expo, the guests are mostly of people from militaries from around the world. So we're collaborating with multiple agencies. Also, this is the chance to finally capture him."

"Are you sure that he'll show up?" asked Benjamin.

"He made a death threat against a firearm's researcher lately after he declined his recruitment. He's attending the expo and needs our protection. So I'm sure that there's a huge chance that he'll show up."

The light turned green and I shifted gears, going from N to D. We drove to the hotel and checked in to our rooms, and settled in.

Two days later...

LA Weapons Expo, LACC

0831 hours

We were disguised as part of the audience of Hisham Sidik's presentation. I wore my black suit for Interpol assignments and I just met NCIS Assistant Director Leon Vance, who was assigned with other agents to protect the guests who attended. We communicate through our earpieces and check in every quarter of an hour for a status update.

"Uncle G, can I leave?" said Benjamin, sitting beside me.

"Leave? Why would you want to leave in the middle of an assignment?"

"It's getting kinda boring..."

"He entrusted us to protect him!" I whispered, a little loudly.

"There's like over a hundred other Interpol agents in here! Pleeeaaase?" He then looks at me with those puppy eyes.

I've never been so guilty.

"Fine. Go to Starbucks, it's a half block away and I'll signal code red on your smart watch in case I need you."

"Sweet! Thanks Uncle G!" He got up and scampered off to the buildings exit.

Two hours later...

It was going all so well in the convention center. The presentation ran without any distraction or lag, and everyone was safe. But alas...

That was the problem.

"Looks like he won't be here after all," Thea said from behind me.

"Well, at least the people here are safe-" I was cut off by the sound of gunshots echoing in the main hall, coming from the entrance. Strange, guns weren't allowed to be fired in the main hall. Then I realized...

It was him.

"WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS HISHAM SIDIK?!" demanded the man with the British accent.

I know that voice anywhere. It was fresh in my mind. How he looked like, how he sounded like, how he acted like...but then, he was wearing a scarf with a lower jaw of a skull printed on it.

More shots were fired, scaring the guests and making them scatter for their lives.

I signaled code red on Benjamin's smart watch. "Thea! Go evacuate Sidik and his family! I'll confront him face to face-" I was cut off by an fellow Interpol agent grabbing my shoulder.

"Sir! Sidik and his family has fled on their own! I saw them run into their Panamera!"

That's when my mind clashed decisions. Should I avenge my friend? Or should I protect an innocent person which prevents the world from being in danger?

I knew I had to do the right thing. "Thea, evacuate the guests! I'll go after Sidik and his family!"

"On it!" she obeyed.

I exited the hall through the backstage door and rushed to my car in the open parking lot. I quickly got in, started the engine, and kicked into reverse and then into drive, because I parked the car forwards.

I chased after the family down the street with the distance between us about a quarter click away. We were speeding past traffic and running through lights at about 126 miles an hour.

Just when I was catching up to them, the worst thing that I could possibly imagine happened in a blink of an eye.

The V8 Porsche exploded into orange flames coming from the fuel tank at the back. The force of the explosion was so powerful that it had flipped the car on its roof vertically. Glass shattered during the explosion and when it landed, shrapnel sprayed into my windshield, giving it tiny cracks until I could see what's in front of me. Finally, it dragged along the road a few feet in result of the moving force acting upon the car.

I immediately pulled the handbrake of my car to avoid driving with a damaged windshield. I swerved to the right but kept moving straight because I countersteered quick enough so I couldn't crash to the sidewalk. I stopped at an angle just enough to see the burning white Panamera through the driver window.

I stared blankly at the vehicle getting licked in the blaze, breathing heavily from the adrenaline rush.

I couldn't accept what happened at that moment. Knowing that I've failed to avoid them getting into harm's way just haunted me. I laid my head down on the steering wheel, thinking. I banged the wheel hard with a loud frustrated 'ARRGGHH' uttering out of my mouth...

A/N: a lil short but we will come back in the present day in the next chapter.