Happy new year everyone!
So, first of all, I want to thank everyone out there again who has been reading and reviewing and faving this story! Welcome on board new readers and lots of hearts to all of you who have been sticking with this story from the start even if it takes sometimes a long time for me to update it. Like now, I just realized I've been hatching this chapter for two months, oh man...But, as it's suitable for these winter times to quote the movie Frozen, it's time to "let it go, let it go... Can't hold it back anymore...!" There you go, you got that earworm for free XD (lil' side note, I actually never saw that movie, only heard that tune literally everywhere..)
Thanks, Jbrichards77 for your comment, I guess we have to wait and see what happens in that Charley/Vinnie/Harley triangle, or will it even be a triangle...? Maybe there will be added even more Earthlings/Martians in that equation...I mean there's also Stoker who has a thing with Harley... but we'll see :) there have been some subtle insinuations between some of the characters already...
And finally, extra special love to Vlaatjee and Flowangelic who have been supporting me so much... It always makes me smile so hard to read how much you've been enjoying this story, and to have that kind of feedback from writers such as yourselves, it's truly an honor. Thank you.
This chapter became a little longer again but it's only fair... It's been too long since the last update...And like it has been with this story's characters before, when they start to talk, I can't shut them up XD but I also somehow feel like I shouldn't even disrupt them if they start their dialogue, they need to interact the way they want to...It's like they have a mind of their own, I'm just typing, not really in control...Sometimes writing is a weird experience.
Anyway, hope you guys like it and like always: feel free to comment! I always like to hear what you guys think :)
-Peace,
SpaceFlora
The Story of Rebellion and Hope
18.
A little fearfully Charley stabbed her fork into the vile-smelling heap of meat that was unsophisticatedly splashed onto her plate. She took a careful bite and first let the taste set on her tongue before realizing it was a mistake as the burnt rotten taste of it spread inside her mouth. She quickly added more speed to the chewing and finally, with shuddering reluctance, she swallowed it down. She hastily glanced around to see other people's reaction to the Martian cuisine but found out she had been the brave one to try the offered food placed on the paper plates salvages from the debris. Charley didn't know what she had been expecting the Martian cuisine to taste like but she had not been prepared for what she had just eaten. Her green eyes quickly scanned the big Martians that were enjoying their meal opposite to them, and they didn't seem to mind the taste or the smell that came from the food. Maybe it was normal. Maybe they just had disgusting food here Charley thought in her head while gulping water from her cup, trying to get rid of the taste that now seemed to be stuck in her mouth.
"Not bad, Big Guy..." The ginger-furred female nodded, seemingly appreciating this food as she took a bite of the meat.
"I mean, Saber Squid is disgusting in itself but you've managed to make it less disgusting."
"Thanks. Ah guess…" The big grey Martian male answered while eating his food with a good appetite. And as it was looking from Charley's perspective the Martians were all seemingly in a hurry to eat, like they'd not eaten in days… Or maybe they used the same tactic as herself, to eat as fast as possible to prevent them from tasting the food. Go figure, Charley thought as she glanced at her side where Evelyn was examining one strip of meat in front of her eyes.
"So...this meat...is from the squid?" The blonde scientist asked carefully. They weren't really on that amiable level with the aliens where they would just chew the fat about the weather and whatnot. Every sentence they uttered to these creatures brought the humans' eyes immediately to examine the aliens, trying to figure out if their perhaps silly questions would trigger the aliens to grab their guns and shoot the people's heads. Not maybe the best mindset to chit-chat.
"Aha." Harley answered while chewing the food, at least not now looking like she would start popping heads off anytime soon and Eve breathed a bit more relaxed.
"You told us it's fresh…?" The biologist then asked a little dubious as the meat smelled like it's been dug from the grave. She turned her look on Charley whose little queasy expression made Eve even more reluctant to try the food, even if she was curious as hell. And also hungry as hell. They've not been eaten in ages. Well, not since early this morning when things were looking a lot brighter and alien-free. She seriously debated whether it would be better to die of hunger or get food poisoning and diarrhea and then die. These past 12 hours or so had brought questions into their heads they had never thought of asking.
"I mean...You killed it..? Outside? There's now a dead Martian squid right there outside?" She asked, her head spinning, her eyes darting towards the tent walls hoping she would have x-ray eyes and see what was happening outside. What kind of messed-up secrets this planet still was to reveal to them?
"Yeah, the corpse is laying there outside if ya wanna check the vitals, Sweetheart." Vinnie stated while stuffing food into his mouth, making it a real task to understand what he was saying while food crumbs dropped to his lap as he tried to shovel more food down his throat even if his mouth still was a little occupied chewing the last ones. He had figured out that when concentrating on eating, he could to some degree avoid the enticing female smells around him that had made him act a little stupid lately, so he ate. A lot. Also, he was fucking hungry, so it was a win-win.
"And it would've been a lil' inhumane to grill it alive..." Modo gave a shy smile back, trying to crack a joke and maybe ease the tense atmosphere that way. Of course, he didn't succeed as the humans only stared at their plates, still not too willing to make eye contact.
"Right, yeah...inhumane..." Eve nodded, studying the meat, her eyes big in awe and desperation. And yes, she was actually very curious to see the corpse of the said animal. What did that say about her, she didn't know.
"But like seriously, Modo… Did you season this or what? It's the most less-disgusting saber squid, I've ever tasted. What did you put in this..?" Harley asked still curious. Sabre squid wasn't thriving in these otherwise dark times for no reason, it was because usually mice as well as the other Martians tried to find anything else to eat before settling for this giant animal that looked as unpleasant as it tasted. She gave the female mechanic from Earth a look who had just tried the meat and who looked like she had not enjoyed the tasting. Well, Harley only concluded that food could taste different when coming from a place where one could actually afford to choose what they ate and when.
"Love." Modo chuckled back but as Harley turned her doubtful blue eyes on him the large-framed mouse let out a snort.
"Fine. It's salt."
"Same thing, man..." Vinnie chewed his mouth open, giving an excited guffaw.
"I love salt!"
"Hate to interrupt lunchtime with business matters, bros but I have to show this before the Army gets here..." Throttle quickly wiped his mouth clean and took the humans' camera out from his pocket, and searched for a photo from it a good minute as there were so many of them stored in there before he finally let the camera circle amongst the Fighters.
"Look who visited our new friends here..."
Harley looked at the photo raising her eyebrow.
"Well, well, well..."
But Vinnie snatched the camera eagerly from her, deciding it had taken long enough.
"Hey!"
"Lemme see…! Oh…! Well, hello!" Vinnie let out an enthusiastic cry, his eyes sparkling with new excitement while Modo looked over Vinnie's shoulder to see the photo as well and his nonchalant expression quickly changed to gloomy as he scrunched his nose and his eyes narrowed.
"I take it that you guys are familiar with those tracks..." Throttle muttered returning to his eating. Modo huffed, hatred oozing from his voice.
"Well, Ah know when Ah see the tracks of a good ol' rat! Don't know why Stoker wants to fight alongside them...Ah respect the guy but Ah'm havin' a hard time figurin' out that one..."
"Sorry…?" Noah asked feeling like his hearing had betrayed him.
"Rat?"
"Yeah." The Fighters all answered in semi-unison, all of them forgetting there were people present who didn't know that there were also rats living on Mars.
Vinnie chewed food, his mouth partly open, shaking his head.
"Well, if the rats were here then surely they've informed our great leader since they're all good buddies and all..."
"Yeah, well, yet another thing to ask from Stoker… Also, did he say anything about our stay here?" Throttle asked giving Modo a look who seemed a little clueless.
"Like what?" Modo asked after carefully swallowing his food first.
"Like does he want us to stay here and how long exactly…?"
"Didn't ask…" Modo replied a little apologetically as it had never occurred to him to ask that. After the long wait to get a word somewhere in between the shouting and the list of profanities that had rolled out from their Commander's mouth regarding their very elongated decision to call him, Modo had kind of forgotten why he was calling Stoker in the first place.
"Well, I should call him back...And also inform that the Army's coming and ask him what it is exactly that he wants us to do here...Beside having a picnic with the Earth people..." Throttle got up, giving the humans a quick glance before he walked towards the door and disappeared outside. The rest of the Martians as well as the humans all looked after him but then returned to their dishes. Vinnie took Throttle's half-eaten plate and started to munch away.
"Why haven't we ever seen any of these creatures you're talking about in our live footage from Mars? Why haven't we spotted you?" Noah asked, his food also untouched on the plate balancing on his lap.
"I mean… We've sent Mars Rovers here that send us data nonstop."
"Yeah, can ya like not do that? Stop flying the damn things here! All that extra work we have to do to get them stuck in the sand pits and mess up their signals and data..." Harley rolled her strikingly blue eyes. Noah observed her.
"You've...sabotaged the Mars Rovers?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. You disapprove? Do I need to remind you that this is our planet and we don't want you to litter it with your stupid little playthings... We kinda have more urgent matters at hand..." Harley muttered and slapped Vinnie's hand off her plate which was reaching for one of those white round desert radishes, and she popped one into her mouth herself and it made a loud crunchy sound. She stared back at Noah.
"You're annoyingly persistent with your hunt for the proof that there's life out here."
"Well, be careful what you wish for..." Noah answered with a lower voice and Harley scrunched her nose a little, that pleasant musky scent lingering into her nose again as she concentrated on the male sitting opposite to her.
"Obviously." She declared back.
"You sabotaged all the data?" Eve asked.
"All the data that matters… Never knew you would actually get in here...Not with those ancient-looking starships." Harley mumbled back.
"That "ancient-looking starship" is the latest wonder of engineering and includes cutting-edge high-tech equipment worth billions of dollars..." Charley raised her voice a little but Harley shrugged her shoulders, not impressed, not even raising her look.
"I've got more technology in my toothbrush."
Charley pressed her mouth shut before she felt a hand on her knee and followed the firm arm to meet Noah's eyes. He carefully stroked her knee, knowing that she got upset when people, or mice, belittled what she loved. He knew her so well and Charley's thoughts quickly shifted to why they ever broke up. But after she broke her's and Noah's eye contact her gaze met Harley's blue eyes opposite of her, now staring at her, and glancing the hand on her knee and the auburn-haired engineer suddenly felt her cheeks go red. Harley then changed her look on one of the big crates lying on the floor that had the shuttle's name written on it in big bold letters.
"Kinda funny you named the shuttle Conqueror...Were you expecting to take over the Universe? You hardly got on the next planet..." Harley deadpanned.
"Technically it is called Conqueror II..." The dark-haired Zack declared and Vinnie's ear twitched and he gave the man a little puzzled look in the middle of his eating when it usually was the only time he was somewhat quiet and only because of the amount of food he kept stuffing into his mouth kind of prevented him to breathe or move his tongue so he could shape words with it...
"What happened to the Conqueror the first?" He asked after he could swallow everything down. He took a big gulp from the second Coke can he had found, drinking it empty before letting out a loud burp and crunching the can, tossing it over his shoulder.
"Let's just say it didn't work so well..." Zack cleared his throat not expecting that his remark would lead to revealing even more hiccups in the humans' space travel history.
"Hm, pretty bold to name this one after a dud..." Modo rubbed his strong chin looking at the big photo of the shuttle that was miraculously still hanging on the wall.
"It wasn't a dud, per se…" Zack was surprised at how much power his voice still had, in these circumstances when they all should just shut the fuck up and pray for their lives.
"Well, did it fly?" Vinnie charmingly fluttered his questioning eyebrows.
"It took off...but exploded..." Zack cleared his throat again. This was not going so well. They were making complete idiots of themselves. To the aliens' eyes, they surely must seem like they were monkeys who waved two sticks in the hope to be able to fly.
"So, your shuttle might as well be called Fingers Crossed?" The white-furred male chuckled back, finding a toothpick to dig a small persistent piece of meat between his teeth.
"Might Fly." Modo added with a humored huff, catching the drift the young male was going for here.
"Still Trying!"
"Let's Hope This One Will Work!"
"Knock on wood!"
The two males laughed out loud, hitting their thighs while Harley shook her head amused.
"There died people in that crash..." Zack eyed the two males, his arms crossed, not amused a bit. Vinnie only shrugged his shoulders but Modo at least had the decency to clear his throat, averting his gaze.
"...that's...not good...Sorry. My condolences..."
"You think that...These rats...had something to do with the problem we had with our oxygen tank during the first night here…?" Charley changed the topic as her brain had thought of something in the meantime regarding the previous realization that there had been visitors, rats apparently, lurking around their space shuttle...and maybe even around their tent, who knows? The cable had looked like it had been cut...Noah seemed like not really following what Charley was implying here but Harley, who really didn't know what Charley was talking about was still bored by the whole idea.
"Yeah, that or maybe your equipment's just shit."
Modo cleared his throat again and gave Harley a glance under his brow who didn't appreciate this subtle way of telling her to shut up.
"What? You defend these guys now?!"
"There's no need to act rude, 's all." Modo answered as he still felt ashamed after laughing at the horrible accident the previous shuttle had endured. Aliens or not, these Earthlings were citizens of this Galaxy too and they should be treated with a little more respect than they currently have given them.
"Right." Harley nodded but stood up. She at least was not too interested in courtesy and etiquette. Those weren't taking a girl anywhere in this world. Politeness, in her mind, only placed a female in the kitchen.
"Maybe ya could tell it to them too since ain't that a bit rude to just crash in here and keep us from the battle that'll determine our planet's future? Don't hear an apology coming from their part...!" Harley pointed her finger at the humans while stepping away from this little gathering of different alien species.
"Ah'm sure they would much rather be anywhere else than here at the moment, as well..." Modo pondered calmly, not affected by Harley's behavior.
"Yes. Home." They heard a small voice and they all gave Sophia a look who was still sitting in the same place, not looking at anyone. Harley only rolled her eyes regarding the statement but Modo felt a pang of emotions go through him while hearing the little bit older woman stating the facts straight. Odd how two alien species could relate to something with a shared feeling of longing. Modo couldn't agree more. There was no other place he would rather want to be in at this very moment than home. He nodded silently, still aware of what kind of impression he had left the red-headed woman with his large frame and perhaps a little bit intimidating look, and didn't want to scare her again. But the woman's simple statement and the raw emotion in her voice had made Modo spiral into his own memories of his family. His heart had started to pound faster and he could feel his emotions rising up, his worry over his loved ones suddenly gnawing his intestines. Also, he was a very sensitive fellow and there was just something very touching about the way this red-haired woman had voiced her own longing for her family.
"Ya okay?" Vinnie's carefree voice asked beside him, picking his teeth with the toothpick and the grey-furred giant cleared his throat, swallowing.
"Yeah...Yeah."
"Looked like you were about to cry."
"Oh, so now you're payin' attention..." Modo mumbled.
"I'm always payin' attention! See these two beautiful eyes? They can see through every veil!" Vinnie made a few mystical swirls with his hands in front of his eyes.
"Ah'll be outside." Modo muttered and left the tent. Vinnie looked after him but shrugged again, turning back to his plate which was empty, as was Throttle's at this point and he looked over the twin metal heads' plates that were still untouched as they both had filled themselves with the cola they'd found.
"You guys don't mind if I help you finish your plates, do you?" The white-furred male asked but without giving the humans time to answer he grab their plates as well.
"You know how much energy it takes to be this dazzling of a mouse?" He took a bite of one of the meat slabs.
"Thism mhuch…!" He carelessly waved toward every empty plate around him, his mouth full of food again.
X
The hard wind hit Modo on his face as he stepped outside. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to cool down or more like slow down the thoughts running around inside his head. But as the wind only got stronger, he pulled up his bandana to cover his nose and mouth. He looked to his right where Throttle was standing looking into the distance, leaning against the tent pole with his other shoulder and arm, his bandana also pulled up.
"Martian summers, hu…?" The tan male's raspy voice pierced the howling winds and Modo nodded, agreeing.
"Yup. So much for the pool parties and tan lines..."
"My mother actually got me shorts one time when I was a kid." Throttle chuckled and Modo gave him a bit curious look as it was rarer than rare when his friend talked about his family and they even had a shared childhood.
"When is there ever a time to wear shorts on Mars?" Throttle snorted but gave Modo a glance, sensing the uneasy feeling he had been left with inside.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." Modo nodded crossing his two strong arms. A harsh wind blew over them, making their ears flap and their antennae bend against their skulls.
"Just thinkin' about home."
Throttle nodded back. They shared a silence that lasted a little while. The Sun was beginning to set and the evening got darker by the minute.
"I'm sorry you didn't make it to spend some time at the Camp." Throttle then started, giving the taller and burlier male a look.
"Ain't your fault. Ain't anyone's fault." Modo replied but his expression turned to thoughtful for a second.
"Well, that ain't exactly true, it might be a lil' bit of the Plutarkians' fault..."
"Ya better beat their asses for that, bro..."
"Ah will, don't worry..."
Throttle snickered a little, which was also rare to witness nowadays. And Modo was actually glad to hear that since he was kind of worried about how serious Throttle had turned to these past couple of years. Not that war wasn't serious business but one could get their heads messed up if sucked into the dark void. But Modo had known Throttle for nearly his entire life, and he knew he had a strong mind. He could survive anything, Modo was sure of it. But it would be easy to cross that fine line in the soldier's head, to become this numb war machine. And Modo had to thank his family for keeping his own head straight. But as for Throttle... yeah, he didn't really think about the family stuff. Or if he did, he had stopped briefing Modo about it. And Modo wondered what was it that kept Throttle's head in check through all the horrors.
"If I could, I'd give you my vacation days, as well, you know that." Throttle continued.
"Ah know. Even if Ah would much rather see you spend them, bro..."
"I don't need any more battles…"
"If it meant that Ah would get outta this bloody desert, Ah would listen to my Mommah yell the rest of my life..."
"Now, now..Your mom doesn't yell..." Throttle scolded but with a smile.
"Fair point. She only has this disapproving look which is worse." Modo thought out loud.
"Oh, I remember that..." Throttle chuckled back and then took a few steps towards Modo and tapped the grey giant brotherly on his shoulder before continuing.
"Stoker said we should stick here as long as the Army does…If they'll ever get here, maybe they got lost..."
"Stoker's coming here, too?"
"Who knows what he's planning...Part of what makes us Fighters so triumphant is the lack of coherence on his part… You can't lose if the enemy doesn't know what you're doing..."
"Surprise is the key to beating the enemy..." Modo nodded.
"So's the bullet to the head." Throttle concluded.
"The Plutarkians won't rest too long after their defeat, though…" Modo wondered, his thoughts briefly on their last battle.
"Yeah...And there's still the question of what happened to our scouts. Stoker said they never came back..."
Modo nodded, thoughtfully turning his eyes to the dunes. A seemingly random thought came to his head.
"D'ya think there's somethin' odd about Mace?"
Throttle let out a laugh.
"Mace? Yeah... I've never figured out what Stoker sees in him... Never liked the mouse..."
"Ah encountered him returning to our post just a little before the Plutarkians ambushed us in Elysium Rise..."
"Coming back from where?"
"Wasn't too willing to share that detail...Was weirdly offensive about it..."
"Maybe he just has a girl..."
"On Elysium Rise?" Modo raised his eyebrow but his look was cast on the darkening desert. Soon everything would be covered in total darkness as there were no streetlamps, no big shiny billboards, no nothing. Not anymore.
"So she's a hermit, who knows..." Throttle shrugged but wasn't too on board with his own theory either. He had always had a weird feeling about Mace, there was something more than meets the eye with that weirdo. But one never went on accusing a brother, not without solid proof.
Modo huffed and Throttle walked inside the tent again, giving him the last tap on his broad shoulder. He took a deep inhale, starting to feel more relaxed and his heart rate was back to its' normal before it all changed again as suddenly his portable VidCom blasted out a ringtone the volumes set to the max, informing an incoming call, and his heart jolted inside his chest again.
"Let the sky fall...When it crumbles...We will stand tall...Face it all together...!"
His hands trembled as he grabbed the hand-sized device from his pocket and his heart nearly bounced to his throat as he saw that the call was coming from home, from the Camp. Not sure why for some reason the signal was good on this remote part of the desert with a blasting sandstorm but not getting stuck with the details he rushed to answer the call.
"Sienna?!" Modo lowered his bandana even if facing the threat of inhaling and swallowing liters worth of whirling desert sand, his voice sounding more panicked than pleasantly surprised.
"Finally! A signal! Bless the goddesses! I've been trying to call you the whole week, mind you!" Sienna appeared on the screen, her dark eyes fuming but also doing a quick study of Modo, to check he was still in one piece and she made mental notes on all the new bruises she could at least be able to see via the small screen.
"Yeah, sorry, the signals out here are bad at their best..." Modo apologized and the continuous static between them confirmed that.
"Where are you?!" Sienna asked, trying to figure it out with the small clues she was been given, which was not much.
"On a desert, believe it or not..." The grey-furred Fighter couldn't help but joke.
"Cheeky." Sienna smirked and teasingly bit her lower lip and that small flirtatious act made Modo feel something flutter inside his stomach. To him, every time he saw her she looked even more gorgeous, with that thick burnt sienna-colored long hair, currently tied into a big messy bun on top of her head, strands of hair hanging around her face, partly covering her face tattoo, her dark eyes, that mouth that always seemed to have a small smirk there... Those lips...
"How are you, darlin'? How's everyone?" He asked while mentally trying to kick away any indecent thoughts that threaten to rise.
"We're all fine." Sienna answered with a warm reassuring smile.
"Ah'm glad to hear that..." Modo lowered his voice into a murmur and he could see Sienna's body react to his low baritone with a quiver. He was actually glad he couldn't use his scent right now or he would not be able to follow his own advice for Vinnie, to not let his nose get him into trouble, never mind there being a screen and a hundred miles in minimum between him and his girl.
But if he could keep his male urges inside him just and just when been months away from home, it took only a glance at Sienna to wash away all of his efforts. He was a young male himself and whether he liked to admit it or not, he had needs, too. And not just that, when talking to his girl, their connection only got stronger, it was like a string between them that pulled them towards each other and it made Modo's antennae hum silently.
"But did you know your Mommah moved?" Sienna asked suddenly and the trip Modo's body was on, hit a wall.
"Wait, what? Moved? From home?! Where?!" The desire and lust had immediately left Modo's body and now there was only rising anxiety knocking at his brain's door and his heart made another violent jump in his chest. At this rate, he would have a heart attack soon enough...
"Well, it's actually a very cozy little apartment..." Sienna hurried to explain.
"When did this happen?! Why d'she move?!"
"So, I take it that you've not been talking to your sister lately either..." Sienna carefully tapped her fingers together, cursing herself to have even raised the subject when knowing full well that any even remotely difficult news about Mommah brought her love on a brink of a panic attack.
"What sis has to do with it?"
"Well, she made a few good points about the old flat's size and..."
"She made Mommah move outta her home?!"
"The voice level, Modo..."
"Why Ah wasn't informed about this?!" Modo completely ignored her not-so-subtle hint to lower his voice and Sienna let out a pissed-off sigh and crossed her arms, leaning back on the couch she was currently sitting on.
"Okay, so maybe you're not aware just how frickin' pointless it is to try to get hold of you when you're out there?! Are we just supposed to be making smoke signals in the hopes for them reach you? Oh, wait, we should hire a plane and it can fly a damn bandolier across the sky!"
Modo immediately felt his cheeks burning and shame suddenly washed over him.
"Okay...Point taken..." He cleared his throat. Not his finest moment but sometimes the worry over his loved ones made him a bit hazy in the brain.
Sienna only pressed her lips closed, her gaze averted, and to see her like that made Modo's ears droop.
"Ah'm sorry, Sienna. Shouldn't have lost my temper...Ah'm just.." Modo let out a tired sigh and rubbed his eyes for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts.
"Ah'm worried about her...and you and everyone else there..." He then slowly sat down on the sand, to sit his back against the tent's soft fabric, making it more comfortable to have the conversation.
"Just stop worrying, we're fine, we're safe…Nothing can happen to us." Sienna started and a careful chuckle escaped her mouth.
"Like, literally. I'm bored to death here…Nothing ever happens here."
Modo gave a brief smile but it turned into a troubled sigh.
"Ah hate that Ah can't be there to help, you know..."
"Yes, I know that…But, Babe, you're already fighting the enemy out in the frontiers, it's not like you're on a holiday..."
"Still... Ya know Ah would give anything to be there right now?" Modo asked and their eyes met.
"Well, you better not give out your life." Sienna answered and that somewhat bleak comment made Modo chuckle even if it wasn't funny.
"Dark."
"It's the times, what can I say..." Sienna smiled back, even if it still wasn't funny. She then bit her lower lip, thinking about something before she continued, with a small smile.
"I dreamt about you last night."
"Yeah? Was it a nightmare?" Modo joked, the previous tension nearly gone completely.
A singsongy laughter escaped Sienna's mouth and it hit Modo like a truckload of soft pink mushy heart pillows was poured on top of him. It was the loveliest sound he knew.
"No, dork!" She teased and Modo joined in on her laughter.
"It was a sex dream..." She whispered and Modo's ears twitched.
"Was it any good?" The corner of his mouth curled up.
"Let's just say I didn't wanna wake up..."
"You should find a way to send it to me here…Ah've been lacking in good dreams lately." Modo muttered scratching his ear. Actually lately he'd only seen nightmares but she didn't need to know that in his opinion. There was enough bleakness in the world right now.
"Or we can reenact it when you get home…"
"Hopefully the plot's not too complicated..." Modo mused, raising his eyebrow.
Sienna smiled but then nodded at his chipped front teeth.
"What happened to your teeth?"
"Oh, this? Just bumped into someone..." Modo answered and touched the chipped incisors briefly. Sienna gave understanding smile at him for trying to sugarcoat the war to her because she knew he didn't want to worry her or tell all the gruesome details which surely must come with the whole Fighter package. He most certainly wasn't gonna tell just how many he had killed that day or how many bullets he'd dodged. She quickly switched to serious again.
"I hope you're being careful out there, Modo."
"Ah am." He answered and Sienna could count a few new lines on his chiseled face that hadn't been there when he last visited the Camp months ago. It made him look a bit older than his years. But his eyes were the same gentle ones she had always known.
Sienna nodded back, trying to push aside any dark thoughts that momentarily had jumped to her head but then like remembering something she snapped her fingers.
"Oh, I almost forgot! I hope you don't mind me taking the initiative and moving in with your mom?"
"W-what?" A surprised chuckle escaped Modo's mouth and he genuinely looked stunned and surprised.
"Thought you would be okay with that…"
"Ah am..just wonderin' why..?"
"Really? What is there to wonder about? I'm gonna help and take care of her." Sienna explained, in a matter-of-fact way, like she usually did but seeing her mate's dumbfounded face she let out a sigh.
"We're family. And that's what families do. We stick together. Right?"
Okay, so now it all started to be too much for Modo, things were getting very emotional today and he could feel the tears filling the corners of his eyes and a couple already sliding down his cheek. He looked away from the screen, trying to recover himself. He might be a sensitive type but that didn't mean he was totally immune to the whole male pride thing.
He breathed in with a long inhale. While exhaling he turned his eyes to his camo pants and touched the small hole in the fabric. The Fighters' clothes were all quite tattered and dirty by now as they rarely got the option or the permission to have new pairs of combat clothes as it wasn't that they could just walk into the store and buy more clothes, there was a shortage on everything on Mars. Not to mention Stoker considered the clothing problem the least of their problems, which Modo had to admit, it kinda was...
He drew invisible circles around the hole in the fabric while trying to get his emotions in check at the same time. He tried to remember what had caused that hole in the camos... A scratch? Friction? A bullet? He honestly couldn't even remember but when inspecting more closely, one could see dark stains around the hole. Dried blood. Gods knew how old... The blood had made the fabric more hard, like a shell, but it was hard to spot the blood since the camos were already patterned with different hues of earthy reds. Modo didn't know whether it was an omen or just pure coincidence that the planet looked like it was dipped in blood.
Sienna felt her heart swelling when seeing how big of an impact her small act had had on Modo. She hadn't even thought about how Modo would react, honestly, to her it had been just this thing that needed to be done. But it was kind of obvious just how much Modo had been worrying over his Mommah these last months, ever since he had found out his sister had moved out of home with the twins, to move in with her new husband, and that way leaving their mom alone in her home. And even if Sienna had never met a lady tougher than Modo's mom, the fact was the grey-furred ol' lady was getting even older.
"Modo, sweetie. You know I adore your Mommah, I've always adored her. When we were growing up I always secretly wanted her to be my mom... But that would be kinda messed up since we're together..." Sienna studied her love and she could hear Modo snort dryly at her little joke, wiping the tears away.
"I know you are always worrying about us but we do fine. You just take care of yourself, okay? So you can come home..." Sienna left out the "alive and in one piece" part but knew Modo could read between the lines.
Oh, there's that bloody word again. Home. Modo chuckled but shook his head, clearing his throat. Feeling like he was a little bit more in control over his emotions again. His ear twitched then as he heard something in the distance, behind the cacophony of the howling winds, and as he raised his gaze he saw three vehicles coming their way. An immediate feeling of irritation filled his heart. The Army always had the worst timing.
Sienna picked up from his averted eyes that he saw something.
"Better hung up…?" She asked carefully and couldn't hide the remorse in her voice either. Modo set his jaw while his eyes lingered on the three trucks turning to drive down the dunes to the humans' base camp.
"Ah'm afraid so, darlin'..." He muttered and gave the screen a look but the line was dead again, only static showing through. Modo shook his head and slowly got up as the trucks speeded his way. He pulled his bandana up again and put the VidCom away. He took his handgun from the holster and loaded it before knocking on the tent door with it, shouting inside.
"The Army arrived!"
He then stretched his neck from side to side, taking another deep breath his eyes closed, turning his mind from home back to the current situation which was that he was a very tired and bruised guerilla soldier currently guarding nine aliens somewhere in the endless Martian desert. He tucked the now loaded gun back into the thigh holster and halted in front of the tent door, blocking it, standing in the position with his back straight, crossing his arms.
As the three trucks stopped in front of him, two trucks full of soldiers got out immediately, their guns withdrawn and pointing at Modo who stood there not moving a muscle, like a giant statue. A truck door from the third vehicle got opened and a dark grey-furred female in Army camos jumped down, his long black hair swaying in the wind. She didn't have a gun withdrawn and as she walked towards Modo a soldier raised his voice behind her to warn her.
"Lieutenant..!"
But the female raised her hand as a signal to pipe down and immediately the soldier zipped his mouth closed. The female wearing the ranks of the Second Lieutenant in command stopped in front of the big Freedom Fighter and nodded firmly.
"Modo."
"Ma'am." Modo nodded back with a genuine smile and stepped aside to let her in but whereas the other soldiers were to follow her Modo stepped back to close their way.
"You stay here. If she needs you, she'll call you. You follow orders, so nothing out of the ordinary, right?" Modo stated the previous smile vanished and the soldiers looked at each other but backed off, their eyes swiftly averting from Modo to the tent door and then back to Modo, seemingly a little wary of this big tall Freedom Fighter. One just never knew about these Fighters. There have been so many rumors circling around Mars about this raucous bunch of rebels which the Army used as a warning example for the rookie soldiers in the dia shows on how to not do things... The Freedom Fighters were a myth and no one knew what was true and what was not. Except for the statistics which showed that they were killing it on the battlefields, also literally.
x
Isaac, one of the metal twins was to drink from his freshly opened and sizzling Cola can but when seeing this dark-furred female Martian in nearly body-hugging camo gear stepping inside the tent her long black hair fluttering along with the air currents from opening the tent door, he dropped his can on the floor and it spilled everywhere while his mouth dropped as well, everyone else in the tent, whether a human or a mouse, having a similar reaction. Even Throttle. Although he at least tried to mask his amazement and he stepped forward, clearing his throat, suddenly feeling enormously awkward and very aware that everyone's eyes were on him and the newly arrived female at the moment. He scratched the back of his head, his weight on the other foot. A knowing smile appeared on the dark-furred female's face who crossed her arms.
"So."
"So..." Throttle drawled. Carbine looked around the facilities and let her eyes set on the nine humans who were now silently staring back at her, looking nearly mesmerized. Carbine seemed to be the only one who wasn't in awe at the moment, not flabbergasted or even at the loss of words… She scrunched her nose a bit.
"It smells like someone died here…" She stated, in the Martian dialect.
"Maybe it's the saber squid meat we grilled..." Throttle rambled but Carbine walked past him.
"I meant you Fighters. You should wash sometimes."
Throttle let out a sigh but turned to look after her. That's Carbine for ya, never shying away to tell exactly what she thinks, the tan-furred male wondered but smelled the lapel of his vest and cringed. Okay, it was bad.
The Army officer walked towards the people and while passing Harley and Vinnie, the young white-furred male made a little growl.
"If you'll join in, I'll bathe even in saber squid blood..."
"Charming." Harley made a face.
Carbine stopped in her tracks to give Vinnie a look from head to toe, a quick study of this new face, probably to avoid it in the future.
"Our newest member..." Throttle carefully explained like it would explain everything.
Carbine gave Vinnie a measuring look and to her, he looked like he couldn't be more than 16, which was a fairly accurate estimation.
"Stoker's robbing cribs now? Well, didn't know you guys had it that bad..." And she continued her walk towards the humans again.
"Man, she's hot..." Vinnie exclaimed after the currently highest-ranking Martian officer in their presence and Harley looked after Carbine as well.
"I know, right..."
"Right… Wait, what?" Vinnie asked and gave Harley a quick glance but the mechanic was still looking after where Carbine had walked and who had now reached her destination.
"So, you're the nine individuals from Earth that finally made it to Mars." Carbine changed to a language the humans understood, crossing her slender arms and narrowing her eyes, examining the humans like they were prey.
"Congratulations." She said but there wasn't even a hint of joy in her voice.
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Okay, there it was...after the long wait!
So, a lot of emotions in this one...
Hopefully not too much, since there's plenty left where that came from XD
Well, don't worry, this won't turn into a sob story but there's also a war raging (in addition to the raging hormones) in this story, so it can't be all sunshine and rainbows...
Well, curious to know what you guys thought about it...
So, please leave a comment :)
And until next time!
-SpaceFlora