So for the first time in my life, I have managed to write a couple of chapters AHEAD of time. Which is great cause I now have a few spare in case I don't have time to write again for the next few weeks.

Thank you to my guest reviewers:

Wolftattoo

Eve

Ladydaisys

Ride on!

Charley had been lying awake for a few hours now. She just felt restless. Reasoning that she wasn't going to be able to get any sleep anyway, she got up, grabbed her shoes and threw her blanket over her shoulders. She opened her bedroom door as gently as possible, wincing at the slight creak but rolling her eyes when three sets of resounding snores where heard from down the hall. Something's never changed, it seemed, as all three of the bros seemed to sleep like the dead in the present as much as they did in the future. Charley paused as she reached the front door. She was already starting to think of this time as her present. When did that happen?

As she headed into the garden, she looked up and spotted Earth.

It seemed almost a distant memory now. The adventures she had with her bros were all so far away, and yet, Charley knew she had to keep her head on her shoulders. Her bros were depending on her. Whether they knew it or not.

She sighed and shivered a bit as a breeze caught her arms, when suddenly she felt something poking into her back. Something that felt very similar to the barrel of a laser gun. She gasped and tried to turn around, but the barrel was shoved even harder into her back.

"Not one more move." She heard a familiar voice whisper. Her eyes widened as Primer moved into her peripheral vision, wielding a laser pistol, aimed right at her chest. The female mouse had a glare on her face unlike any Charley had seen before. "If you dare make a sound, I won't hesitate, I can promise you that." She turned her head ever so slightly to see Rimfire with a glare just as fierce on his face. Primer finally came to a stand-still directly in front of her.

"We know you're hiding something, Miss Davidson, if that's really your name." She announced. "You are going to tell us the truth, or else…" she let the threat hang in the air as her finger moved from the trigger guard to the trigger. Charley's eyes widened as she glanced between the twins. Rimfire poked the barrel into her back again.

"Forward, move it." She obliged, waiting for Primer to move out of her way before walking in the direction Rimfire was steering her in. The cave entrance became smaller and smaller till they reached the edge of a cliff, about 2 miles away. Charley stopped a few feet from the edge and dared to look behind her. Both of the twins had their guns trained on her, although now, Primer seemed a lot less certain than she had before. Rimfire, on the other hand, did not share the same hesitation. "Now, tell us the truth."

Charley weighed her options. She could continue to act innocent, but Rimfire was a smart kid. If he suspected her already, she had to have slipped up somehow. And for both of them to react like this, whatever she had done must have sent them on edge. However, they hadn't gone to Modo. Which meant that they were either uncertain about their suspicions, or they thought their uncle wouldn't have listened to them. Either way, it meant the bros didn't have a clue about what was happening. She closed her eyes and dropped her arms, turning around to face them.

"So what gave me away?" She said softly. She watched as Primer flinched violently while Rimfire stepped ever so slightly in front of his sibling, hatred in his eyes.

"So you admit it! You're a Plutarkian spy!" he roared. That stunned Charley.

"Wait, what? I'm not a Plutarkian spy! I would never work for those stinkfaces. What makes you think I'm their spy?" Rimfire wasn't backing down, but this time Primer stepped up.

"You told me you overheard Modo and Rimfire on the comms." The girl growled. Charley raised her eyebrow.

"And that makes you think I'm a spy?" she countered.

"The last time I spoke to Uncle Modo was three months ago." Rimfire grunted. Charley froze, then sighed.

"Well, I guess there is no point in hiding it from you then." She looked up at the teens and held out her hands. "I'll do you one better. You can both have a look through my mind. I know you Martians have that mind-linking ability. Once you've seen that, I'll explain everything." The Martian teens both glanced at each other, before Rimfire slowly approached her gun still aimed at her. Charley dropped her hands and bent down a little so Rimfire could lean his now glowing antennae against her head.

It felt different than the times Throttle had shared his mind with her. Mainly because she was the one doing the sharing this time around. So she focused on her memories of the bros. From the first moment she met them, to the last time she had seen them in her time. She even showed a vision of Rimfire and the times he had been to Earth. She tried to keep the flashes as brief as she could, but seeing them again brought tears to her eyes. It was over in moments as Rimfire choked on his breath and retreated, dropping his pistol in the process. He gawked at her, fighting to catch his breath. Primer seemed conflicted between comforting her brother and keeping her gun trained on Charley.

"Rimfire?" She finally whimpered, unsure of what was happening. Charley turned her gaze to Rimfire, who's shoulders sagged as he turned to his sister.

"Put the gun down, Primer. She's not our enemy. But, you still need to see that." Charley breathed a sigh of relief, but prepared herself again as Primer shuffled up to her. A few moments later and Primer was also gasping for air, whilst Charley now had tears running down her face.

"What…what was that?" Primer asked in a small voice. Charley sniffed and wiped her tears away, before sitting down on the ground. She gestured to the mice to do the same, and slowly they sat down across from her, staring at her intently.

"I've…got a lot to explain to you two…"

"So…that's about it." She finished, the two mouse teens staring at her, eyes wide.

"You're…really from the future?" Primer murmured. Charley shrugged, chuckling nervously.

"I'm pretty sure I just spent the last two hours explaining that yes." Rimfire shook his head violently.

"I just…this is so weird! I mean, time-travel?" He exclaimed, clearly struggling to process what was happening. Charley winced, thinking back to her and the bros adventures in both medieval England, and the time of the dinosaurs.

"Yeah, I've had my fair share of that so, it's not that weird to me anymore. I blame the bros for introducing that level of weird into my life." She concluded.

"But then…why didn't you just tell them the truth? They may have thought you were crazy at first but, they would have believed you eventually." Rimfire asked. Charley winced and turned her gaze away.

"Did…did you not tell the bros…because of something in the future?" Primer asked. Charley glanced back at both of them. They were watching her intently, waiting for an answer.

"You both saw my memories. What did you see?" She inquired. They averted their eyes, looking to each other. Rimfire rubbed the back of his head, while Primer hugged her arms.

"Um…Vinnie had a silver mask covering the left side of his face. And Throttle eyes were…different." Primer listed. Rimfire sucked in a breath.

"And…Uncle Modo was missing an eye, and had a metal arm." Charley nodded.

"The bros go through a lot in the future. I'm hoping to either fix certain things, or avoid them completely." Rimfire gaped.

"Are you sure? What if it messes with the future somehow?" Charley bit her lip.

"I think I'm already changing the future just by being here, Rimfire. Regardless, my bros have been through enough. I need to do something." Primer shook her head.

"But, if you stop it from happening, what if they never reach Earth? Won't that make a paradox or something? And it's not like you have a TARDIS to go back in and fix everything if you mess something up?" Charley blinked.

"You watch Doctor Who? How do you manage to do that?" Primer blushed.

"I-I maybe watch it when it comes through on the radio waves, sometimes…" Rimfire chuckles.

"More like whenever possible." He whispered. Primer gasped in response while Charley chuckled. Primer pouted before turning back to Charley. She bowed her head, drawing circles in the sand with her finger.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, this war is gonna get bad. Worse than it already is. Where I'm from, the Plutarkians have caused a lot of damage. Most of your plants are gone. Mars' water is almost completely gone. Animals that are crucial to your ecosystem are on the verge of extinction." Charley looks back at the two. "I don't know the exact statistics or anything. I've only been to Mars once in the future, and back then it wasn't exactly a scenic trip. But from what little I do know, it's not good." She turned her attention to Primer. "I know you said you're not sure if you'll be useful to the Freedom Fighters, but your knowledge about plants will be a huge asset to them in the future. Especially since you know which plants are drought-friendly. You could start a garden to keep your most vulnerable plants safe from the Plutarkians." Primer's expression was pensive, till Rimfire nudged his sister.

"That's a great idea, Primer. You would be brilliant at running a garden like that." He assured with a bright smile. The young female blushed heavily, but had a small smile on her face. Primer turned her attention back to Charley.

"But Charley, why stay here on Mars? Can't you go back to Earth instead?" Primer asked. Charley shook her head immediately.

"That would present a whole other problem. I'm technically already on Earth. I was 18 in 1985, which is the current year on Earth." The twins looked at each other.

"So…you're stuck here?" Primer questioned. Charley shrugged.

"Seems that way." She said calmly. "Either way, I'm gonna do my best to keep the bros safe." She watched as the twins looked at each other, share a nod, and turn back to her now with determined expressions on their faces.

"We'll help you however we can, Charley-ma'am. That's a promise." Rimfire vowed. Charley smiled.

"Thanks you two. I don't think I need to tell you both that this stays between us, right?" Both of the mice shook their heads, and Charley grinned. "Great, now let's get back and get some sleep." They all got up from their seated positions, Rimfire gathered the pistols and they all started walking back to the cave. He suddenly paused, and spun around facing her.

"Wait, you've met me in the future?" he asked suddenly. Charley smiled brightly.

"Yep, and you make a brilliant Freedom Fighter." She admitted as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Rimfire beamed and air-punched, making his sister laugh as she joins in on Charley's other side. As they walked, they chatted about the ways the twins could help Charley out in little ways. They agreed to do regular check-ups on Amelia and Vinnie's grandmother, who Primer helpfully informed her was named Cynthia, whilst she was back at headquarters with the bros. Rimfire also promised to teach Primer all of the fighting skills he knew. Primer, in exchange, would start teaching Rimfire all she knew about the plant life on Mars, and start thinking up ways to preserve life. Once they got close to the cave, they all fell silent as they snuck back in to the house. Before she slipped into her room, she gave both of the teens a quick hug. Then slipped back into bed, thinking over the events of the past few hours.

At least she now had back up here on Mars. She wasn't alone in this endeavor anymore. As she was drifting off to sleep, Primer's words suddenly replayed in her head.

So…you're stuck here?

Charley's eyes shot open and she sat upright. Up until now, she hadn't considered herself stuck, per say. She had only been thinking about the ways she could prevent the bros from having those awful experiences. But the more she thought about it…

The bros were supposed to be on their way to Earth seven years from now. If she was still here on Mars, then…would they even leave Mars? Would she ever meet them on Earth? And even if they did meet her on Earth, eventually Limburger's exploits would cause her future…past…whatever self… to land here on Mars.

And what if she couldn't change the future anyway? What was the point of staying on Mars? Perhaps she should try and return to Earth. Pretend to be a long-lost relative or something. She would at least get to see her Uncle again.

But she couldn't do that to the bros. They had become her family, her world, in the course of three years. If she didn't do everything within her power to protect them, then that bond meant nothing.

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

Whether she was going to change the future or not, she wasn't going to make it off of Mars.

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