Planet: Mars

Location: Serene Monastery

Time: 7 Hours since the Battle of Tharsis Rise

Mace could not hold his glee as he watched the Plutarkian ships fire upon the Serene Monastery. Oh, he had waited patiently for this day, and it was finally here. He couldn't wait to see the look on those pathetic monks faces as their walls came crumbling down around them. One of the Sand Raiders quickly approached him.

"Are ya sure 'bout this, Deep Pocket? Even for a Monastery, this place seems awfully quiet."

Mace rolled his eyes. "I've been working with these pathetic mice for the last 2 years. Trust me, instead of a sanctum, we'll find a war room." He stated flippantly, as a final blast broke through a wall. He eagerly entered the hall of the Monastery, followed by the Raiders… and paused.

It was…empty. The furniture remained, but everything else, and everyone else, was gone. The shelves were devoid of the Mice's precious texts, and there was no trace of a single monk's hood anywhere. His ear twitched when he realized he didn't hear anything either. Even during their prayers times, the monks had never been dead silent. It was eerie. Something was up.

He looked down to the floor of the hall, where the Freedom Fighter mess hall was only three floors below. A thought crossed his mind and he spun to a raider who held four grenades on his belt. He roughly grabbed one.

"Give me that!" he snarled, pulling the pin before tossing it into the middle of the room. As expected, it demolished the floors beneath, opening the ceiling to the mess hall. After the debris and dust settled, he and the Raiders began securing ropes to the pillars and propelled down. There were echoing thuds as they landed, and Mace's eyes widened as he took in the scene before him.

All of the computer monitors were destroyed, nothing would be salvaged. All of the Freedom Fighters important documents and hardware were missing. Most importantly, The Freedom Fighters were missing. There was no gunfire, no obnoxious battle cries, no roaring engines, nothing.

"No, no, no!" He growled, racing to the garage. He skidded to a halt when he reached the empty room. They were gone. All of them. They had been tipped off! He howled in frustration.

None of them noticed the single biker in the violet and silver helmet propel down on the rope, and approach the one monitor that remained, hidden in the corner of the room. Inserting a cable and connecting it to her helmet, she quickly typed in a few key instructions before disconnecting the helmet once more, and oh so inconveniently started the self-destruct protocols on the computer's software.

Planet: Mars

Location: Freedom Fighter Alternate Post 14

Time: 8 Hours since the Battle of Tharsis Rise

Throttle was panicking. He was without his sight, only Carbine's arms around his waist, the feeling of Lady's handle bars and the sound of her engine grounding him. He had given up fighting his bike only 10 minutes ago, it was clear he was not in charge of this ride. The bandages around his eyes were slowly getting soaked from his tears. Every bone in his body told him Charley was in danger and there was nothing he could do about it, again. His mind had been foggy from the damn anesthetic, but he was certain that Charley had been there, and worse, she had been left behind.

He could hear Sweetheart, Lil'Hoss and Purpose riding along beside him. It had sounded like his bros were all struggling with their bikes not listening to them, though Stoker had seemed to accept it far quicker than them.

Lady took a turn, and he felt the terrain switch from flat to sloped. They must have arrived at Alternate Post 14. He leaned his weight forward a little, the sensation of travelling uphill making him uneasy in his blind state. He felt Carbine's arms tighten around his waist, and he released one of the handlebars to place a grateful hand on hers. He could feel the moment they entered the cave when the cool night air was replaced by an even cooler shadow. The bikes rolled to a halt, and he heard the sound of multiple guns being cocked. He gasped and froze when Carbine's arms pulled away, not feeling the least bit better when she gently nudged his arms into a surrender position.

"Easy, bros." he heard Stoker breathe soothingly, as well as the muffled motion as Stoker likely removed his helmet, "It's just us." Deducing that they were surrounded by Freedom Fighters, and not enemies as he had originally feared, he moved to remove his helmet as well, clumsily finding the straps and undoing them as Carbine shifted to do the same behind him.

"Stoker?" Harley's voice called out from somewhere to his right, and he heard her gasp. "Vinnie!" The sound of a gun being holstered once more was followed by a few thudding footsteps and the thud of a helmet. Harley's voice was muffled, probably because her face was now buried in his bro's neck. "I was so worried about you!"

His bro chuckled; a lot gloomier than he knew his bro to be. "Oh, I'm fine, Sweetheart. I told you I'd never run out of -" Vinnie was suddenly cut off as he let out a muffled squeak, and Throttle heard the twins mock gag while the rest of the Fighters cheered lowly. Throttle couldn't help the small smile that crossed his face at the image entering his mind of what could possibly be happening beside him. His bro deserved happiness, especially after how hard he worked with Charley to…

The reminder made him wince as he stood, trying desperately to find his balance in his new dark world. He felt two sets of hands grab him. His ears pulled back, not liking the sensation of not knowing who had approached him.

"Easy, mudpuppy." He heard Stoker murmur, his hands leaving his shoulders. He felt him tugging at the bandages around his eyes. "Let's take a look." He felt the bandages slowly loosening and dropping from his face, yet he kept his eyes shut, fearful of what would happen if he opened them. "Throttle, I need you to tell me what you see." He heard footsteps approaching and felt a hand land on his shoulder. From the size and weight, he guessed it was Modo. Carbine took hold of his hand and squeezed. He tried to ignore the mutterings of the other Freedom Fighters around them. He slowly opened his eyes to see…

…nothing.

His vision was reduced to light and shadows. He couldn't make out any distinguishable shapes or colors. Then he heard something that made his heart stop.

"Weren't his eyes blue before?"

His eyes were no longer blue. Meaning they hadn't just been damaged in the fight. They had been replaced. A Plutarkian, or someone working for them, had touched him while he was unconscious and taken something that was his. His eyes, the same he shared with his mother…His breathing picked up and he blindly reached forward.

"Stoke I…I can't see…" his voice broke. A hand caught his and guided it down to a warm chest in front of him, holding it there. The steady heartbeat beneath his palm soothed him.

"Shh, it's ok, Throttle." The General crooned, before shifting and calling out over his shoulder. "Alright, everyone, clear out. Give us some space." He felt Stoker's hands guiding him back and down, and he sat down on what he could only assume was a rock. He heard the sound of fidgeting and paused when Stoker touched his shoulder again. "Ok bro, I'm gonna shine a light into your eyes, let me know if anything changes." He jumped as a sudden bright flash entered his line of limited vision, moving side to side. First to his left, then his right. He swallowed.

"I…I can still see light and shadows but… but everything else is fuzzy. No colors or shapes." He admitted in a small voice. He heard Stoker lean back and more rustling before he felt something being slipped onto his face.

"Here, try my field specs. They have polarizing control and white-out visibility." He explained. After a few moments and some blinking as his eyes adjusted, he nearly choked on his breath when he finally saw Stoker kneeling before him. The General had a soft smile on his face as he witnessed the change. Throttle couldn't stop the tears flowing and collapsed into Stoker's arms. Stoker caught him easily, running a hand through his hair soothingly. "There ya go. We're ok Throttle. We're all ok. They didn't beat us. We made it out." Throttle merely sobbed in the General's arms for a few minutes before opening his eyes once more, the specs having shifted slightly. Vinnie and Modo were both kneeling behind Stoker, reaching out to their bro but no quite touching him yet. For the first time he noticed their own bandages. Vinnie's face was covered from the left ear down to his jaw, and Modo's right eye was also hidden behind wrappings. His exposed eye was a blood red, rather than the soothing brown it had once been. A quick glance downward showed the horrifying truth of the state of his arm. Now mechanical and reeking of Plutarkian. A strange shifting sound sent his gaze further downward, and for the first time he registered Stoker's new metal tail. He could see Carbine and Harley behind them, both in tears they watched. The twins were close by, Rimfire hugging his sister tightly as she hid her face in his shoulder. Throttle pulled back.

"We…we have to go back. We left Charley, we gotta go get her." He made to stand when Stoker grabbed his arms.

"No Throttle, we can't." Throttle gawked at the General. "Believe me, I want nothing more than to rush back there and get her out. But we gotta trust her to know what she's doing."

"Trust her!?" Carbine's growl made them all turn to her, her tears replaced by rage. "The only thing we've gotten out of trusting her is betrayal." Stoker launched to his feet, storming towards the female mouse, pointing at her chest before anyone else could respond.

"Watch your tone, Soldier. You have no idea what's going on with her."

"Are you sure you do, General?" Carbine snarled with mocking skepticism. "Well, her pal Mace kindly informed me that she left before the battle, leaving you and Throttle to be captured. Did she give you some bullshit excuse for why that was?"

"Hey! Maybe we should get some facts straight before you start shouting traitor!" Vinnie butted in, not able to help himself even as Harley tried to calm him down. He backed off when Carbine turned her wrath towards him.

"Or we could just face the hilariously obvious before she kills us all!" she turned back to Stoker. "That she's been playing all of you from day one-!"

"She left because I told her to leave." Stoker snapped. There was silence for a few moments before his shoulders slumped as he turned towards the cave entrance, his head bowed low in shame, crossing his arms. "After you came back with that computer memory module, we had words. I…said somethings I shouldn't have and…I told her to get out."

Shocked, Throttle pushed himself to his feet, recalling the state he had found the General in hours before. Stoker leaned against the entrance of the cave, looking out over the landscape. "I don't know what kept her from the fight, but I do know that Charley wouldn't have abandoned us willingly."

Everything was quiet for a moment as the situation settled on everyone. Vinnie broke the silence.

"When we confronted him before the fight, Mace implied that he did something to Charley. Maybe he sent some Rats after her, like he probably did to us when we went to get Carbine." Harley held a contemplative look on her face as she considered her boyfriend's words.

"Mace was probably counting on the fact that she wouldn't show up. We were starting to suspect a leak within the Resistance, and Charley made a convenient scapegoat." Throttle's fists clenched. Why that no good-

"Stoker, what did you mean by 'her time'?" Throttle was startled out of his thoughts by Modo's faint question. He noticed the twins looking at each other, as if having a silent conversation. The general turned his head to the grey-furred mouse, brow raised ever so slightly in confusion as Modo continued. "When Karbunkle got away, before Vinnie and Throttle woke up, I heard Charley say that Mace was gonna attack Headquarters, and you ask her if that's what happened in 'her time'. What did that mean?" Their answer was cut off by twin gasps.

"You know?" Everyone turned to Rimfire and Primer, whose wide eyes were locked on Stoker. Rimfire continued. "How long have you known? Did she tell you?"

"Six months ago. The night before she was poisoned."

Throttle was quickly losing his grasp on the conversation. Stoker and the twins were clearly aware of something he wasn't. "Whoa hold on!" he yelled, getting everyone's attention, "Would someone please explain what you three are talking about? What's going on here?" He muttered, his hand reaching for his head to stave off a growing headache. The twins shared a glance before looking to Stoker, who just sighed.

"Charley told me to tell them, and that you two would help fill in the blanks. Now seems as good a time as any. Best start with what you have. I have a feeling you know more than me."

I am really just throwing Throttle through the ringer, aren't I?

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