Hi everyone!
I'm back! So sorry for the very long wait.. I'd like to thank you all who have been reading and commenting this story... But I won't talk long as I've kept you waiting long enough! So... Here's the next chapter... Hopefully you all like it and as always, feel free to leave a comment!
Take care and cheerios!
-SpaceFlora
The Story of Rebellion and Hope
Chapter 21
Modo carried a big heavy crate that he was only barely able to hold in his lap due to its dimensions which was saying a lot as Modo wasn't exactly a small mouse. He placed it carefully in the cart, behind the humans' sandtrack. After the task, he leaned on the cart with his elbows, looking at the never-ending dunes around him. The small dust particles that were always lingering in the air itched his face and he rubbed his cheeks to his arm. He looked behind him.
"You know, Ah saw a bird."
Vinnie was dragging a similar crate through the red sand, leaving a deep trace behind, and after getting to the sandtrack himself, he leaned his back against the cart with a little panting.
"Well, I've seen a lot of birds here, too, bro…" He wiggled his eyebrows and crossed his arms, looking clever. That comment only made Modo a little bewildered while staring back at his younger comrade and trying to think what the young male was talking about only to see those wiggling eyebrows before it finally dawned on him and he turned to look at the dunes again in the early morning light.
"Ah meant a bird with feathers and wings…" He elaborated with a slightly bored tone, wiping his cheeks and forehead again. One would think one had gotten used to the everlasting dust on this planet, but it never got any less annoying.
"Whoo, sounds sexy…! Me like!" Vinnie's eyes only sparked an eager shine.
"Ah'm not talkin' about girls but the birds that fly and lay eggs!" Modo turned to his bro again who dropped his arms at his side, the excited gleam all vanished.
"Talk about a flop…"
"Ya don't think it's even a bit interesting to see a bird as they all should be extinct by now?" Modo lifted his eyebrow. Vinnie shrugged his shoulders and kicked a rock.
"Yeah, watch me giddily jump from the excitement…"
Modo shook his head and wiped his face on his bare arm yet one more time before he turned to walk towards the tent again.
"Why am Ah even sharing these things with you…"
"I'm wondering that too, Big Guy." Vinnie sighed back and Modo only rolled his eyes. To be called "Big Guy" or "Big Fella" sometimes just annoyed him, he had a name too… His name represented who he was, not his height. But he usually just let it fly. Mainly because calling on it wouldn't change a thing.
"But if you'd tell me the bird had boobs…" Vinnie started again.
"You're sick." Modo mumbled walking in front of him.
"Sick or creative?" Vinnie smirked following him, his eyes staring at the grey male's large back.
"No, there's definitely something wrong with your head." Modo concluded, not willing to change his mind. He opened the tent door but as he incautiously stepped inside, he nearly tripped on the red-headed woman who was just putting down more stuff to be taken with them when they'd leave, just there in front of the tent door. Modo had a nanosecond to process what was to happen and he made a swift and agile move that would put many ballerinas in shame to avoid falling over the poor woman. But even after this skillful move Sophia still got frightened as it looked like the gigantic mouse alien was to topple down and take her with, and she screamed, causing Modo and Vinnie to startle and cover their sensitive ears. Sophia was startled by their startle, and she quickly pressed her mouth close, to avoid maybe screaming more but she stared at Modo with a fearful look her big brown eyes wide open, the eyes red and puffy from all the weep work and the broken glasses now perching on her nose again. The big grey let out an exhale, feeling his heart pounding a little faster, hearing a light ringing in his ears now thanks to Sophia's pipes.
"Sorry, ma'am, didn't see you there…" This was to become a habit for him to nearly trip on the little woman at every turn.
The red-haired physicist only gawked at Modo, the same scared look on her face Modo had seen practically every time she had looked at him and he tried hard not to get upset as the woman obviously just waited for him to murder her in any given second. He knew his size usually gathered attention and even staring and pointing, something he had quite gotten used to over the years, but goddess, give him a break, he hadn't even lifted his finger on Sophia's presence! The woman turned around and quickly rushed away from the scene, not wanting to stand this close to the nearly 7-foot-tall alien or his shorter sidekick.
"Just great, now my ears ring again…" Vinnie tried to make the noise stop by shaking his head which did not work. Life in the warzone wasn't a quiet job, every missile flying by was as loud as pressing their ear against a giant amp the volume turned to max, so it was fair to say their ears had been ringing as long as they could remember. But the ringing came and went and now, thanks to Sophia, it was there again. But the white-furred male suddenly stopped his actions and a wide smirk appeared on his face while staring in the other direction, where a certain auburn-haired woman was packing her stuff.
"Well, speaking of babes..."
"We weren't speaking of them..." Modo muttered.
"We were, just outside! Pay attention, Big Guy, will ya?!" Vinnie snorted like everyone could follow his up-and-down rollercoaster train of thought.
"Time to test my suave ways with the ladies…" He snickered and was off. Modo crossed his arms and shook his head.
"Suave or just persistently annoying?!" He hollered after him but Vinnie's hearing was selective as always while rushing to help the female engineer hailing from Earth with her packing, even if she had not asked for it. But Vinnie couldn't help it, her scent just kept calling his name and he was not the one to dismiss a lady's call, not even if the said lady had not actually voiced her desire to have his company.
Modo shook his head again and then turned his attention back on this massive pile of stuff the humans were going to bring along and that was to be packed to the sandtrack still.
"Ah guess Ah'm just gonna do all the heavy lifting then…" He mumbled. No surprise there.
"Didn't ya say pack lightly?" He muttered while Stoker walked over to him, and he too evaluated the number of things the humans apparently considered "essential".
"I think I did?" The older male wondered out loud, scratching the scalp underneath his thick long ponytail.
"Even my whole clan ain't owning this much stuff…" Modo mumbled as he turned to give his mentor a studying look, watching as the older male was rubbing and pulling his slightly taller chin fur with his fingers looking thoughtful. Throttle too walked in on the scene and whistled at the mountain of stuff in front of them.
"Yeah, the humans sure love their stuff, that's for sure…" The tan male rasped, playing with a toothpick between his teeth but Stoker only snorted at this as he took one bag from the pile to examine the content further. He unzipped it and peeked inside, after which he let out an amused murmur while lifting a pair of small red panties from the bag, and once his comrades standing next to him figured out what they were looking at Modo immediately averted his gaze.
"Not sure you're allowed to go through their personal things…" Modo cleared his throat.
"Not even…if the said things were made out of lace?" Stoker smirked and dangled the red lacy underwear on his index finger.
"Ah don't think the fabric choice has anything to do with the rule…" Modo muttered, feeling how his cheeks gathered color to match the red panties, trying to look anywhere else than what his mentor was practically shoving his way, intentionally.
"Didn't know you were such a prude, Big Guy…" Stoker talked, teasingly and gave Throttle an amused glance and the tan male answered with a smirk while leisurely chewing the toothpick.
"Ah'm not. Just don't think its polite to go through their personal stuff..." The big male glanced around him, hoping no one was watching their disrespectful actions right now. Well, Stoker's disrespectful actions that Modo was now unwillingly participating in.
Stoker waved his other hand which was panty-free.
"Hey, mudpuppy! I only check their stuff for any illegal stuff. So, they won't be smuggling any contraband, ya know? I only do my duty as a Martian Citizen who wants to keep this planet safe." Stoker said placing his other hand on his chest but even his own face couldn't stay straight.
"Yeah, you're one dutiful mouse, Stoker." Throttle's hoarse voice chuckled back.
"Right." The big male drawled, not buying it, keeping his eyes strictly on anything else than on Stoker's actions.
"Like these…" Stoker continued, smirking and swinging the panties.
"Can cause a lotta trouble, if ya catch my drift…"
"Yeah, Ah catch your drift…And Ah hope it's not contagious…" Modo let out but then lifted a big crate, deciding work was the better choice here after all.
"If you'll excuse me, sir… Ah'll rather not be any part of…this." The burly Fighter stated and merely nodded towards the panties and left the tent with a big crate in his strong arms again.
"Suit yourself, Big Fella! Just saying, any morals that high surely raises the blood pressure as well…!" Stoker mused after him but jolted as Harley appeared on his side.
"Well, didn't know Dr. Stoker was in the house…"
Throttle cleared his throat and only nodded towards elsewhere.
"Imma head…that way…" And he left the scene as quickly as he had come.
"You know I'm a real health enthusiast, H." Stoker answered Harley's statement while watching where Throttle headed but turned to give the female mouse a charmful smile, throwing the panties back in the bag but not unnoticed by the female Martian. Harley's blue eyes followed the panties' fly route back to the bag and she made a bored face.
"You're an enthusiast alright but I'm doubting health is the thing you're promoting…" Harley drawled but raised her eyebrow.
"So, the humans can keep their tacky underwear whereas we must live in our bloody rags until we can just peel them off our bodies… That's fair."
"Hey, just say if you wanna nick the panties…" Stoker lifted an eyebrow, his voice dropping to a lower register and Harley felt that low rumble in her chest and she hastily glanced elsewhere to not fall into his charm. She wanted to feel she wasn't that easy but didn't know who she was trying to fool…
"They've touched an alien bum, no thanks." She muttered back.
"Shame. Might've been just your size." Stoker drawled and gave her a quick look from head to toe.
"Well, ain't you an expert, figuring that out so fast…" Harley answered, her eyes meeting his again.
Stoker shrugged one shoulder.
"What can I say, I have a gift…"
"No, what you guys have is a one-cell brain that can only habit one thought alone…" The ginger-furred female threw him a glance.
"I would say that's more of a curse than a gift." She whispered with a smirk.
"A curse, hu? Maybe a nice cleansing will help with that...Wanna join?" Stoker raised his eyebrow and it was very obvious their little conversation had turned into flirting, even if a weird one.
"What you'll need is a good brainwash, Stoker... Since that mind won't get clean in any other way..." Harley's voice was only a husky whisper and the words tingled very pleasantly on Stoker's body and a small growl escaped his throat while regarding the female Fighter.
"Luckily I like it dirty." He answered.
Harley let out a small laughter but bit her lip.
"Well, unfortunately, this one's calendar's fully booked already... So, you must just hold onto that dirt a while longer..."
She gave the hazel mouse a last look before she was to leave, deciding it was probably safest to just end this odd conversation before it got even odder but made one more turn to the bags and grabbed the red panties, showing them to Stoker.
"Anything this fancy should be used too; I'll use it as an oil rag! Consider it a favor to your over-stimulated macho hormones."
Stoker chuckled and followed her leave the tent while simultaneously taking his VidCom out of his pocket. He picked a number and waited for the call to be answered, the dots moving in the VidCom's screen, telling it was trying to find the connection. He got distracted as a high-pitched voice entered his ear canals and turned to look in the direction where Vinnie was helping Charley to pack even if it was quite unnecessary, and not least for the fact that Vinnie didn't know what to pack. He circled the place around Charley's bed, randomly lifting things to show to Charley.
"Do we take this?" Vinnie lifted a green hoodie.
"Uhm, no…"
"This?" Vinnie lifted a mug.
"No…"
"Hm…How about this?" Vinnie pointed to a folding chair.
"No!"
"This then?" Vinnie held a string that probably had escaped from the hoodie.
"No! Look, stop that! I can't think when you're constantly talking and moving around!"
Stoker inhaled, shaking his head. Apparently, even the folks from Earth did consider Vinnie a bit too much at a time. Then his call was finally answered.
"Hey…Rusty! Just calling to check on the situation... We're still stuck in here with the ones that dropped from space..." He joked as he left the tent to talk more in private.
Vinnie trilled his lips and sat on Charley's bed.
"Don't sweat it, Sweetheart! I'll just sit here and… be quiet as a mouse!" Vinnie threw a charming smile at Charley.
"Thanks, that is very helpful." The auburn-haired engineer made a face continuing her packing.
"Hey, I'm Mr. Helpful! Yup, that is me…" Vinnie smiled back but heard a snort coming from near the exit as Modo tried to lift another big steel crate that looked like even he had some trouble with lifting the damn thing alone.
"Need a hand there, bro?" Vinnie asked innocently like it hadn't been him ditching his bro in the first place to do all the work, moving the people's stuff outside. Modo made a grunt while trying to lift the big crate by himself.
"Nah, Ah can see you're busy…" The big male gritted his teeth as finally he got a good grip and with the help of his leg muscles was able to lift the heavy crate off the ground.
"Well, suit yourself, bro…" Vinnie leisurely fell back to lie on Charley's bed. He let his fingers touch the fabric of the blanket, admiring the softness. Then he bounced up right there in front of Charley who jumpily took a step back, staring at this weirdly enthusiastic male alien.
"You smell very good… You use some kind of special shampoo?" He asked and Charley only blinked at this very straightforward and odd remark.
"Hu?"
"It's like oozing from every cell on your body…" Vinnie wondered out loud, like this was a normal conversation while Charley self-consciously crossed her arms, not wanting anything to ooze out of her.
"I-I'm not…using anything special…" She answered but scrunched her nose a little to the alien's strong scent. These guys surely would benefit from a good shampoo scrub…
"You say it's all-natural?" Vinnie asked but then nodded approvingly and an appreciating smile crossed his youthful face.
"All right, well, high-five to you, Sweetheart!"
The engineer looked like she didn't know what they were discussing about, and she really didn't have a clue.
"If you don't take the blanket, can I?" Vinnie then randomly changed the topic again.
"Sure… I mean. Whatever." Charley stared at him. She hadn't known the young Martian too long but already she had figured out he wasn't exactly a stable one and maybe at this point it was a safe bet to give in to their every request. Besides, did she really need the blanket? Who could tell? Not these aliens at least as there had not been even a word from them about where the hell they were going to take the humans. Much more than a blanket, she would want to bring a gun… She wondered while her green eyes darted on the white aliens leg holsters where dangled a gun or two…or three…
"Thanks, Sweetheart!" Vinnie joyed but then took something off his wrist and gave it to the woman, placing it carefully on her palm.
"Here." He only stated as he grabbed the big blanket and carried it outside.
She blinked, looking at the odd red and chrome Martian doohickey on her palm. She had no idea what she was looking at but apparently, she had just received a gift or a trading item for her blanket. She changed her look to her bag.
"Oh, nice, more stuff to pack…" She sighed but was quite mesmerized by this piece of Martian technology now in her possession, even though she didn't know what the hell it was. She eagerly tried it on her wrist, quickly forgetting about her packing, and as soon as she did that, the little screen on the thing blinked in red and beeped and some weird graphics started to run on the screen.
"It's not a bomb, is it…?" Charley was a little alarmed, thinking if she should take it off and throw it as far as she could.
"Relax, human…It's only checking your vitals…" Harley muttered, shaking her head. She had returned to go through the humans toolbox again and now she took a hammer out and gave a good swing with it like whacking someone, before placing the hammer in her tool belt with a pleased nod.
Charley nodded but her eyes stayed on the screen, looking at all the data it now gathered from her, trying to figure out what all those weird hieroglyphs meant.
"It's in Martian." Harley stated understanding the silence without even looking in her direction. Charley nodded.
"Well, better start prepping on my Martian language skills then…"
"Hopefully you ain't gonna be around that long…" Harley muttered and Charley gave her a look, wondering if the female wished the humans would eventually leave the planet or…just die.
"Got everything packed?" Noah walked to the human engineer, and she gave him a quick smile and nodded.
"Yes. Well, I don't really know what we'll face but… I tried to pack things that felt useful." Her green eyes then jumped on the tent door that flung open again and this hazel brown male with the presence of a warrior king stepped in again.
"What will happen to us, Noah?" She asked quietly, her figure behind Noah's taller and broader one but her eyes still seeing this alien leader standing there, talking to his comrades about something in their own language.
"I really don't have a clue, Charley." Noah sighed, looking over his shoulder as well, watching these big alien mice that looked like they'd been to hell and back and then wanting to go back again. Stoker turned his brown eyes to look at them back and Noah swallowed.
"We just have to go along and see what happens and maybe… we'll survive."
x
At the Camp:
The morning had come to the Camp also, although it was hardly noticed as the Sun didn't shine on these underground tunnels. One couldn't just wake up to the rays of sunlight shining through the curtains. So, in this cozy little apartment the alarm was suddenly bursting into a full ceremonious blast with annoyingly happy ringing sounds announcing it was a wakey-wakey time, and a pillow was thrown at it, causing them both to fall on the floor.
Sienna raised her still very tired face under her long messy hair as she tried to make her eyes work.
"No…No waking up…" She mumbled feeling like her whole body was protesting the whole idea of getting up.
"Ynh…" She only let out as she had already run out of any more intelligible things to say this fine early morning. She just had never been a morning person.
The lights suddenly got violently lit up in the room.
"Oh, you're awake!" She heard Modo's Mommah's chirpy voice talking, and she instantly sat up and looked around the living room where she had used the sofa as a bed. Well, the said sofa was only carved out of the rock wall and had colorful blankets and such to make it more comfortable. And it had been, to any Martian Cave Mouse standard, a comfy place to sleep.
"Hardly…" Sienna muttered and rubbed her eyes tiredly, giving her small VidCom a look and getting the kick on her ass she so desperately needed.
"Shit, shit, shit! I'll be late for work! I got the alarm wrong!" She hurried to put on some clothes but stumbled and then bounced on her one foot then changed to the other one, putting on her socks and dark boots, and finally slipped into her deep green colored tunic that had a big hood. The tunic barely covered her knees, but it wasn't cold in these tunnels, it was actually pleasantly warm. She hurried to the kitchen nook where this old grey dapper-looking female was making tea, Sienna's own burnt sienna-colored messy hair reminding of a birdnest that she tried to brush into a more sane-looking style while her foggy brain still stayed foggy.
"I'm just making breakfast, dear!" Mommah answered not looking bothered at all about Sienna's little out-of-place character or her swaying as her brains hadn't really waken up. The grey-furred lady had known Sienna for ages and already witnessed her chaotic morning persona so many times that she would not find it odd.
"Oh, I really can't stay for breakfast…"
"Breakfast is the most important dish of the day!" Mommah stated in a sing-songy but still matter-of-fact voice.
"Might be, but I'm late as it is….!" Sienna sang her own rhyme.
"Oh, no one's gonna die if you'll just eat a plateful of porridge, dear…" Mommah waved her hand.
"I dunno, the kids are pretty handful there…" Sienna wondered but felt her stomach rumble when Mommah lifted the lid to the pot where hot porridge was already perfectly cooked.
"When did you wake up?" The young female wondered but her focus turned to her hairbrush that had gotten stuck to her messy hair.
"I've been awake for a good hour or two…Take a plate, dear."
"I really can't stay…" Sienna sighed but Mommah shoved her a plate as an answer.
"Nonsense. You eat and that's that."
Sienna swallowed to this rather stern voice and sat down by the small kitchen table, the whole kitchen set was carved out of the rock, as well, as in a Martian Cave Mouse home one couldn't really re-furnish as most of the stuff was already carved into place in the making of the apartment. She sat down on this stool and felt a comfy pillow under her behind.
"If you insist…"
"I do insist. No kid goes hungry under my roof!" Mommah scooped a big heap of steaming porridge onto her plate and then pointed the plate with the ladle.
"Now. Eat."
"Thanks." Sienna sighed as it was very useless to argue with the older woman but was quite pleased to have this amazingly yummy-smelling porridge in front of her. She took a spoonful but before tasting her eyes darted to the screen installed on the wall that was showing the news. She let her spoon clank back on the plate.
"Have you seen the news yet?"
"Yes, dear."
Sienna made a face, of course she had watched the news already, she had been up for hours…
"There's news about the frontiers!" She reclaimed and Mommah came to watch the screen as well.
"Yes, Ah believe there was something…"
"The headline says "The Army has forced the Plutarkians to retreat from the Elysium Rise in a victorious battle…" It doesn't say anything about the Fighters…Well, no wonder there as the reporters are just kissing the government's ass..." Sienna scrolled the screen with her fingers, reading the comments before giving a guffaw.
"Ha, here's one commenting "fuck the Army, go rebels!" Sienna chuckled giving Mommah a look who only shook her head to her use of language even if it had been a quote, and she cleared her throat.
"Anyway…Let's see if I can find recent news about the Fighters…" She scrolled down the headlines before clicking one.
"Here's one… "Never-seen photos of the rebel soldiers! Are they too hot to handle?" Okay, I gotta click that…Let's see…Oh!" Sienna was a little taken aback when a muscular male suddenly popped onto the screen, in combat gear but without a shirt and clearly taken during a battle, the Fighter riding his bike and his body was showing remarks of the recent battles: cuts, scars, blood, bruises...The photo clearly had been taken without the object knowing about the paparazzi.
"Oh my…" Sienna stared at the screen and gave Mommah a hasty look who only raised her eyebrow not really caring for this kind of imagery. The young female clicked another photo before she could get an earful from Mommah but another shirtless Fighter appeared on the screen.
"Well, now, why don't they wear shirts, it's cold out there…" Mommah made ts-ts-noises shaking her head. Sienna went through the photos staring at them, every photo more male calendar material than the previous.
"I can't tell if this is a violation or just great reporting…" She talked silently as another male Fighter, now a white young dude appeared on the screen but unlike the others who had not apparently known they'd been caught in the camera, this one was posing to the camera, a rifle behind his neck, his arms hanging around it, in a cross-style pose, smirking, his camo pants hanging so low, one could see his well-built abs from top to bottom. Sienna raised her eyebrow.
"Oh, cmon! He's hardly an adult…Is this stuff even legal…?" She wondered but clicked another pic and this time she stopped to stare at this ginger-furred female who was sitting on her golden-colored bike in her body-hugging camo pants and top, like an action hero goddess. Sienna stared at the photo.
"There are women in their ranks? I didn't know that..." She studied the female's lean but muscular physique, feeling a pinch inside her while remembering just how many cupcakes she had destroyed last night. She did not look like a warrior princess, that's for sure she thought as she self-consciously stroked her thighs that weren't like the tight ones the female in the photo had, suddenly feeling like a lump of sandpotatoes. She cleared her throat and pushed these thoughts back and quickly tied her messy red hair into a bun, brushing the lone strands of hair away from her tattooed forehead. She quickly ate a few spoonfuls of porridge, already standing up before she rushed to give the old woman a quick hug.
"I really need to go…"
"Well, Ah remembered you were always late… Here, Ah already packed you a lunch." Mommah said and handed her a small container. Sienna felt her heart melting and her eyes became a little watery as she thanked her.
"I love you so much!" She hugged the old lady again and Mommah hugged her back.
"Love you too, dear. And tomorrow, you'll bring cookies to these poor little orphans."
"Do I need to bake them?" Sienna asked reserved as she was a horrible cook.
"Ah'll bake today while you'll be at work…"
"Phew. Wouldn't wanna give the little ones a food poisoning…We already need to deal with so much shit there..." Sienna muttered just remembering the great day when they'd ran out of diapers.
"Ah can always teach you to cook." Mommah offered.
"Modo already tried that. Even he thought I was hopeless."
"No one's hopeless, dear…"
"I got the kitchen on fire…" Sienna gathered a little apologetic smile.
"Oh, that reminds me… Ah still need to get the fire blanket…" Mommah thought to herself.
"Well, try amp up the insurance too if you plan on letting me into the kitchen…" Sienna snorted but then pressed the button and the steel front door opened to the well-lit hallway.
"I can get the fire blanket after work. Need anything else? Anything from the market?" The young female asked standing in the doorway.
"Maybe chalat… Ah need that for the dinner Ah'll be making." Mommah wondered and waved Sienna goodbye, closing the door, leaving Sienna standing in the hallway having no clue what the fuck chalat was.
"Great." She sighed but hurried along the hallway to get to the orphanage.
x
"30 minutes to go, people, hurry up! And might I suggest you start editing this pile of unnecessary garbage here since you've successfully exceeded my expectations on how much stuff you're able to pack in one hour as well as the maximum limit what we're actually able to take with us so…!" Stoker raised his gruffier voice, walking to and fro next to the massive amount of stuff the people had gathered there to take with them. Noah turned his attention on him and their looks locked briefly before Noah continued his task, packing medical stuff with the doctor Jeremiah. Stoker only continued to stare at the Captain of this human space crew, not done at all with him after the things he'd done to Harley…and the punk. No one harmed the ones he cared for and got away with it. Never. Not so luckily, he hadn't yet come up with what the punishment should be as the human had not acted in a rage or to be evil, just being plain stupid… And it was just very unfortunate to deal with the stupid.
"Remember to only bring the essentials! Not…whatever the fuck this is!" Stoker then continued his ranting and randomly lifted a see-through bag with bottles in it.
"That's my shampoos and conditioners, man! Gotta keep the shine and the lush curls!" Isaac announced waving his long blonde hair as an example.
"And with what you were gonna wash your hair? Water?" Stoker raised his eyebrow and as Isaac only shared glances with his doppelgänger Dylan, Stoker stepped in again.
"Lemme give ya a hint, blondies, it ain't water."
"Oh, shit." Isaac mumbled at this.
"Yeah. Say goodbye to the lush curls and say hi to the Professional Haircare Martian style that is 'sand in every crack' " Stoker muttered, letting his brown eyes scan the humans, feeling agitated and bored. His look stopped on this tall biologist who now suddenly had stopped her packing and she turned to him, looking like pondering something.
"Yes?" Stoker asked, impatiently.
"Just wondering… Do we take the seedlings and plants?"
"Sorry?" It was safe to say Eve had gotten Stoker's attention as he now was looking in the direction of this huge crate standing in one corner the woman was pointing at.
"Yes, well, they do have quite a cozy living situation in there now as there's water and air circulation but…it would be such a shame to just leave them here… " Eve started to walk after the male alien who took careful steps towards this huge crate, eyeing it a suspicion on his raggedy handsome face.
"And, I know you said no to the unnecessary shit but I don't really think that these plants go under the umbrella of eh, 'shit', I mean they're living things, right?" Eve talked walking after him while simultaneously admiring the male's behind…and tail.
"Stop talking." Stoker told her and Eve closed her mouth lifting her index finger.
"Yes, sorry…sir." She tackled but frowned, it felt weird to call the alien with such an article. The male did not really look like a 'sir', with that wild look of his. If anything he looked like he should be called 'daddy' ". Eve inhaled quickly as this thought popped into her head. She hit her temple, wanting to punish her brain.
Stoker wasn't concerned about Eve's antics but now studying the huge crate from every angle, thinking how to open it… Eve stepped closer and tapped one corner of it.
"Here's the lock system…"
Stoker gave her a look and Eve took a step back.
"Right. No talking. I'm gonna zip my mouth now."
Stoker pondered for a second but then touched the handle he now found and tried to push and pull. Finally, it clicked and the crate opened up, and immediately purple lights escaped from the crate and as the crate opened fully Stoker was met by the sight of a crate full of different plants and seedlings, so packed, although neatly organized, that it almost looked more of a small forest than a garden. Stoker let go of the door and just stood there looking at this piece of paradise in front of him, slowly rubbing his scruffy chin, staring at the green stuff, the purple plant lights changing the hues on his own hazel fur and red camo clothes.
Stoker was loss for words, miraculously, and Eve stepped closer again, she couldn't help it, she was too proud of a mom at this point.
"It's mostly different kind of lettuce and broccoli and beans but I persuaded to get some tomatoes and carrots, too… And some other stuff…I mean, we want to have a variety in our future diet, right?" Eve then stepped inside the crate and pointed a big orange round thing lying on the bed of greens.
"Say, have you ever tried a pumpkin?"
Stoker opened his mouth but closed it again, shaking his head, trying to think clearly.
"You okay?" Eve seemed a little alarmed.
"Is it the lights? The scents? Oh, are you sensitive to green?"
"Stop talking."
"Oh, yes, sorry…"
Throttle walked by Stoker's side, as he had witnessed the whole thing from further away, and naturally, this was very interesting to the Martians who at this point hardly had any living things on their own planet. Throttle gave a long whistle.
"Well, not seeing that every day on Mars…" His gruff voice wondered.
"I had forgotten what the color green looks like." Stoker muttered.
"It is pretty green." Throttle nodded.
"And the smell…" Stoker added, taking a deep inhale, the scents just filling all his senses.
Modo opened the tent door looking like he was very done with carrying all the crates and apparently doing all the work around here but then suddenly the scents from this garden crate hit his nostrils and he turned his head to see where the scents came from and joined his two comrades.
"What on Deimos' name?" The big male looked baffled, his mouth slightly agape, staring at the plants.
"Yo, that's sick…!" Vinnie exclaimed next to the big guy who jolted as he had not seen Vinnie suddenly appear behind him.
Harley walked to them, too, her big blue eyes wide open while regarding the plants.
"Oh, man… I totally forgot what it was I was angry with these dudes…! It is so…"
"Green." Stoker nodded, looking at the plants like looking at a loved one.
"And the smell…" Harley started, not even believing her own eyes or her nose for that matter.
"...so green." Stoker continued.
Zack was folding a hoodie to pack along and then nodded toward the crate.
"What's all that about? The aliens having some sort of a moment there?"
Noah gave the mice a look who all stared at the big open crate just exuding plants and greenery.
"Looks like they've witnessed God…" The Captain talked.
"Well, good to know that next time we need to distract them, we just wave a broccoli…" Zack muttered.
"So…" Eve was practically beaming for how big of an impact her babies had made. She clasped her hands together eagerly.
"Do we take them with us?"
That comment made the mice come out of their trance state.
"...how? The cart's full already…" Modo rubbed his strong chin and gave Vinnie a look.
"Not thanks to you, may Ah add…"
"What?!" Vinnie looked clueless about what he was being accused for here.
"We can just leave the humans here, take the plants?" Harley tapped her chin, pondering the possibility. In all fairness, they needed the plants more than they needed the extra mouths to feed.
"Wait…No, no, no…That's not what…" Eve rushed in.
"Maybe we can get back to fetch this?" Throttle wondered taking his specs off and cleaning them, giving Eve a quick glance who seemingly had been eyeing him again. He raised his eyebrow and Eve was to quickly look away but couldn't as she was too mesmerized to see Throttle's eyes behind those specs at last. He had very nice brown eyes. Well, she finally was forced to look away as Throttle just kept on staring at her. Well, she started it.
"What if someone steals it?" Modo asked, his deep voice rumbling.
"Who?" Harley snorted at this.
"Rats?" The big male fired back.
"Well, ya came up with that awfully quickly…" Harley rolled her eyes.
"They do steal…" Modo stated, like pointing out the facts. Harley made a slow turn to face the big male.
"You know, Modo, for a sweet guy, you do have some racist qualities…" She lifted her eyebrow.
"Ah'm hardly the only mouse here disliking them..." The big grey mumbled back, knowing that Harley amongst many others had trust issues with the rats, too but didn't want to confront her directly by saying that.
"And Ah mean, by the looks of things, they've been here already!" Modo reminded the others of the rats' boot prints the humans had captured on a camera roll. And since the rats should have been on their side, it was weird that the rats had not told the Fighters about the humans.
"Who are these…rats? You talked about them earlier too..." Noah asked walking to them.
"I think you have more urgent matters to pay attention to than our planet's population…" Stoker answered, not wanting to get into the whole rat problem right now and not at least with these hairless aliens. The Commander of the Martian Resistance then unwillingly parted from the divine view of green stuff in front of him and turned to face Noah.
"You think you start to be ready, Captain?"
Noah wasn't sure he liked the tone the male used to refer to him as the Captain.
"Soon."
Stoker observed the male in front of him, crossing his bare arms.
"Five minutes."
"I thought you said thirty."
"What can I say, time flies when you're having fun." Stoker's voice sounded a little menacing but he still quickly gathered a smirk and Noah did not like that either. He was playing with him, or at least he wasn't taking him seriously. Or was it hate that shone through those dark brown eyes? But if this male hated them then why bother bringing the humans along… Why bother at all? Or did he just have a problem with him in particular.
"Why do I feel like you dont really like me?" Noah asked.
Stoker actually let out a sudden burst of laughter and Noah glanced behind the hazel male to see the rest of the alien gang and they were looking at each other with baffled looks.
"Well… It might just have something to do with the fact that you tried to eliminate my comrades…" Stoker collected himself in a very quick manner.
"What?" Noah asked not really following and Stoker only made a hand gesture to shoot his head and that only made Noah look even more bewildered before it actually dawned on him what this older Martian meant.
"Oh… You meant the stun gun I used…On these two?" Noah asked and nodded toward Harley and Vinnie. The white youngster only crossed his arms and snorted.
"That was nothing! Didn't even leave a mark! Amateur…"
"Stun gun, hu?" Stokers voice was calculative and low and Noah nodded a little cautiously.
"Yeah. A stun gun. And I only did that to protect my crew. I saw…something I didn't understand and acted out of instinct."
"To shoot and ask later?" Stoker raised his eyebrow, not that he himself hadn't done that.
"If you forgot, we just encountered aliens for the first time in our life! We hadn't even dreamed of the possibility of encountering alien life, not alone… of this size…" Noah mumbled and his look traveled from Vinnie and Harley to Throttle and Modo, the two tall and impressive-looking males that seemed to take so much room the tent in comparison felt very small.
"Have you even apologized?" Stoker asked and Noah's eyes met his again and he made a look that that had not even crossed his mind and Stoker sighed and rolled his eyes but Noah opened his mouth.
"What else could I have done?"
"Say hello?" Stoker asked and Noah didn't really know if he was joking or not and he sighed.
"Right. Did you just hear what I said?"
"I can hear even your heartbeat, don't think I miss a beep that comes out of your mouth." Stoker stated. Noah inhaled deeply and scratched his forehead.
"Fine…" He sighed and turned to Harley and Vinnie.
"I'm sorry that I used a stun gun on you…"
"See? It wasn't so hard, now was it?" Stoker had a wide smirk on him and Noah gave him a little suspicious look.
"So… Now…We're good?"
Stoker set his jaw and the smirk disappeared.
"Not even close but that'll do for now." He then turned around and made a rotary movement with his index finger.
"Now! Get moving! We're leaving!"
"Finally! Look out Mars! Vinnie VanWham is on its way to shake and rattle and save the planet!" Vinnie hollered and rushed outside.
Modo sighed and dropped his arms on his side, giving Throttle a look that told his bro he was already done with Vinnie's antics before the trip back to HQ had even started.
"It's gonna be a long ride back to HQ..."
Throttle snickered at this and patted the bigger male on his back.
"I hear ya, bro…"
"Can we just send him back by plane...?" Modo muttered walking after Throttle to go outside and get their bikes ready.
"It takes us at least twenty minutes to put our spacesuits on," Noah raised his voice to get Stoker's attention as apparently their little conversation about the time had been sort of dismissed.
"You won't be needing those." Stoker said and gave his VidCom a look, checking the time and their coordinates so he could inform the ones waiting for them back in HQ.
"I know you said that but all our data shows that's not the case…" Noah felt like he was walking on thin ice here even speaking right now as it felt the hazel alien was very done with him, but he had to. He was the Captain. Even if their space crew had turned into some kind of hostages.
"You won't be spending too much time in the mercy of the atmosphere anyway… You'll be just fine." Stoker announced and the humans shared looks.
"Just fine or dead?" Noah snorted and Stoker turned around to give him one more look from head to toe.
"Well, that remains to be seen, doesn't it?"
Noah gave his crewmates a look and they all shrugged back, no one knew if this older male alien was just joking or lying about the Martian atmosphere being good for them, or maybe not good but manageable… But why would he lie at this point?
Noah gave his crew members a look.
"If we do survive out there without our gear, that'll be a miracle…"
"If we ever get to leave this place, that'll be even bigger of a miracle…" Stoker muttered, waiting by the tent door for the humans to try and leave the tent.
"Well, here goes nothing…" Noah sighed and as the Captain he was, he was adamant about leaving the tent first, to see what would happen if he stepped outside without the space gear, like Stoker had told them. He walked to the tent door and before it he took a deep inhale, feeling all the humans' eyes on him. He was to open the tent door but stopped when he heard the hazel mouse speak next to him.
"Well, you should probably wear your helmet…"
Noah felt his heart pounding in his chest and he closed his eyes, setting his jaw. He gave Stoker a look who was standing near, leaning against the tent wall, smiling back.
"Can you make up your mind whether it'll be safe for us to breathe there or not?! This isn't speeding things up, you know?"
"Fair enough. It's a little low on oxygen out there… Even we have to have our extra oxygen circling in our helmets to give us the oxygen boost we need every once in a while while being out there in the open… Its different when we're underground though, there we can breathe…"
Noah furrowed. Underground? Okay, well, let's not get into that now… He took his space helmet but stopped before putting it on and gave Stoker another glance.
"Our helmets don't have the oxygen circulation unless we put on the whole suit. The life support system is attached to the suit itself, not to the helmet…"
"I told you their equips were ancient…" Harley talked to Stoker while walking past him, out of the tent.
"Yeah, you told me but didn't know it was like a 'Stone Age' ancient..." Stoker mumbled, thinking. He gave Noah a look.
"Maybe in the future, we can come up with something else for your helmets…" He lowered his look to this big bulky blue space suit Noah was holding. The hazel mouse sighed, looking disappointed in a way, as these space suits looked just dumb to his eyes.
"Since that whole thing really is kind of an overkill… Your blood won't boil here, the radiation problem is really exaggerated on your part, and… well, that just doesn't look cool."
Noah only nodded and started to put on his spacesuit and advised the other humans to follow his suit. He had the slightest smile now etched on his chiseled face. Zack was by his side now putting on his own space suit and saw him smile.
"What's so funny?"
Noah only shook his head, not wanting to say anything when it was clear the mice could hear them talk, no matter how silently they'd whisper. But the reason he had now a small hint of optimism even if it everything had gone to hell…was because the leader of this alien group had talked about the "future". And it was the first time in many hours that Noah had even thought they'd even have a future even if he had tried his best to not show that to his fellow colleagues.
Suddenly the humans all jolted as loud music started to blast outside. Zack had stopped putting on his spacesuit and listened. He gave Isaac and Dylan a glance who only nodded smiling in approval, jamming into the music themselves.
"Is that Van Halen?" Zack asked raising his eyebrow and the metal twins banged their fists.
"Van Halen's blasting through the Martian deserts!"
"That's super cool, dude!"
Sophia sighed.
"I didn't know it could get any worse…"
Suddenly Vinnie's head popped to peek from the tent door, looking inside and straight at the humans and now they could hear the heavy metal music even more clearly blasting outside.
"Hey, Space Invaders, did you take your CDs with you, too? I saw there was a lot of great music there...!"
"That's hardly important..." Noah answered and Vinnie gave him a snort.
"Hey, if rock ain't important then you better check your priorities, man..." Vinnie shook his head and disappeared again.
Outside the tent Modo sat on his beloved Lil' Hoss who immidiately beeped an excited hello and Modo patted it lovingly.
Throttle started his black and chrome-coloured bike and revved it so much a thick cloud of red dust encircled them, while smiling widely at Modo who chuckled back, everyone eager to get back on the road. Soon it was just dust clouds and heavy metal that filled the whole area.
Harley drove her bike next to the bros and coughed when the dust entered her throat.
"Nice..." She muttered but smiled.
They had to wait for a good moment still before the tent door got opened again and first it was Charley to walk out dressed in full space suit and the mice only stared at her.
"He-heyy, Sweetheart! Nice outfit... Does it come with a pump?" Vinnie snickered as the suits to their eyes were very bulky-looking.
Charley heard him talk, well not so well as the glass in the helmet was thick but anyway, she wasn't interested in Vinnie's talk but seeing these gorgeous and cool looking motorcycles her heart just made an odd flip. The bikes were so beautiful she could've cried.
Stoker walked outside as well and smiled widely while seeing the dust cloud and hearing the bikes roar and the loud music blasting through the radios.
"Now this feels like home..."
He gave the rest of the Fighters a look.
"Time to head back and face the reality, comrades..."
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