Hey...It's me... The one who told you guys I'll update soon and now six months has passed... That's crazy, time just flies...
I had some trouble writing this one, a serious writer's block... But now finally, after a long time managed to update. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears for this one!
Well, I hope you all enjoy it.
And like always, feel free to leave a comment!
Thanks to anyone who has been reading and reviewing! And so sorry for the long wait!
Peace,
SpaceFlora
The Story of Rebellion and Hope
20.
Charley felt her head aching a little and she turned on the other side of the bed with a little annoyed grunt before she blinked her green eyes tiredly, her brain still foggy after sleeping only a couple of hours. As she opened her eyes just and just he saw two ruby red sparkling eyes staring back at her so close it was beyond evasive and she startled with a cry of surprise and instantly sat up.
"Good morning, doll! I see you're awake?" Vinnie asked in a sing-songy voice while Charley quickly wrapped herself inside her blanket but leaving her head with her messy auburn hair peeking out of this duvet roll that resembled a tortilla wrap. Her slightly puffy red eyes quickly scanned the wrecked tent before the eyes shifted back to this charmingly smiling furry creature again. Oh, so this nightmare had been real and what's worse, it was continuing. How in the world had she even been able to fall asleep? Did these Martians pull some kind of weird alien voodoo on them?
"Calm down, it ain't like you were naked or anything…" Vinnie drawled teasingly and Charley was to say that it wasn't considered polite to stare at people even if clothed but she kept her mouth zipped, just staring back at this white-furred alien who got up and raised his eyebrow.
"Why are ya so spooked?" Vinnie asked clueless but then sniffed the lapel of his vest and his mouth was quick to form a grin again.
"Oh, might be the odour d'war that gets you all freaked out..." he snickered.
Charley's eyes only got bigger, not sure if that statement was to ease up her nerves or calm her down. It didn't. Well, that antennae-headed alien was right in one thing, though, he did smell.
"Or maybe your eyes have not seen anything this stunning before…" Vinnie polished his partly-gloved fingers against his chest. But his ruby red eyes only caught Charley's bewildered look.
"Loss on words there doll, hu?" The young male made a proud pose where he seemed to take Charley's soon-to-freak-out face for a mesmerized look.
Charley blinked. She surely didn't seem to find words at the moment as the last 24 hours had included the freakiest shit she had ever witnessed. Even her wildest dreams or scariest nightmares had not prepared her for seeing aliens the first time. She really needed her morning coffee right now, she thought to herself…But a loud snore that rattled the tent fabric escaped from somewhere that almost gave the already antsy Charley a heart attack and she startled so fiercely even Vinnie jumped. Oh, that's the noise that had woken her up…Bloody hell, she thought, covering her ears, the decibel levels might've just caused her her hearing….
"I… I'm going to…get some breakfast…" She then said stuttering, feeling her pulse in her throat, watching how this young but muscular rebel only smiled widely back at her as she threw the duvet on the bed, revealing her white tank top and collage pants.
"Lookin' good there, doll…" Vinnie growled raising his eyebrow and Charley looked down at the old shabby clothes she used for sleeping. Right. She did not feel too good, though, that's for sure. Her whole body felt tense and her brain foggy, and now thanks to that awful loud snoring her ears rang.
She heard a ruffling sound from the bed next to hers, behind Vinnie, and noticed Eve waking up too but as the biologist saw this alien standing in her very closeness as well she got violently startled.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Eve got all mixed up with her duvet, getting wrapped up and caught in it so badly she ended up falling on the tent floor trapped inside of her comfy blanket and letting out an "oomph!" sound while meeting the floor.
"Well, you folks surely have some curious morning rituals." Vinnie wondered rubbing his chin but while catching Charley moving away from this sleeping area, he hurried after her, leaving Eve trying to unwrap herself on her own.
Charley felt she was being followed but with a swallow she tried to move with confidence even if her legs felt wobbly, continuing her way to the area that used to be their kitchen nook that now looked like it was the unfortunate survivor of a landmine. Her eyes scanned the floors, maybe she could salvage some things from this big mess. Her only aim was now to make herself a fresh cup of coffee. Concentrating on that task and not on any other alarmingly fucked up thing around here might just save her from a major breakdown. And then, another loud snore echoed inside the tent making Charley nearly trip on her feet and she got a grip of the kitchen table.
"Gosh, that's just too loud…" She whispered to herself but her look landed on Noah who was up as well.
"Coffee?" Charley asked a little out of breath, feeling like this was a scene from a comedy show and the audience would give an ordered laugh anytime now. Well, it all felt like a big joke that just wasn't funny. Their whole mission felt like a big joke. And therefore a big part of her life felt like it was just gone down the drain…All her hard work, her degrees, all the nightless nights she had been studying… To get here. To this point. Who knows how much time they'd have? Who knows how many hours or days or weeks to live…
"Sure, if you can find any…" Noah nodded and scratched his sore neck, feeling his back hurting after falling asleep on the floor. How the humans had managed to fall asleep inside a tent full of aliens was a mystery but Noah figured their brains might've just collapsed from all the new data they had had to collect and deal with. Maybe it was just a case of system overload. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the apparent leader of this small alien pack could be very persuasive when he had ordered them all to go to sleep. Telling it was going to be a big day today… But maybe the humans' bodies had finally given in to get some very needed rest as they'd seen even the majority of these Martians going to sleep in whatever nook they'd found as well. Or maybe they were drugged…Who can be sure of anything at this point anymore… He gave Charley a quick glance, studying her look that seemed very overwhelmed.
"Hey, I've heard about coffee!" Vinnie suddenly popped into Charley's very closeness and she flinched.
"Great." Charley deadpanned, not sure how else to react to this trivial information, trying to inhale without using her nose. Albeit there being nice hints of musky scents in the mix, these aliens weren't to be described as exactly smelling pleasant. Maybe it was that blood and dirt stuck on their clothes and fur. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact they looked like they had spent the whole decade crawling in trenches filled with barbed wire and shit. For some reason, the Army lady had not looked anywhere close to being as dirty and ragged as these rebel soldiers. From what hole had these guys crawled out…?
"You're awfully quiet." The white-furred male noted, his voice nonchalant.
"I'm still half-asleep, don't worry, I'll freak out as soon as I wake up…" Charley mumbled miraculously finding their instant coffee and she wrapped her fingers tightly around the jar, blessing it and thanking god for having even a little mercy on their doomed souls.
"What there is to freak out about, Sweetheart?" Vinnie asked, totally unaware of Charley's inner turmoil and dread. Like this was just an ordinary day, like it was normal for him to mingle around with folks from outer space in the early hours before breakfast. And maybe it was, how the fuck should Charley know about these creatures' daily lives…
"I dunno... how about because there's a big Martian standing next to me?" Charley muttered silently, lifting her eyebrow while trying to find a mug from a big pile of kitchen items scattered all over the floor. The coffee, remember to just focus on getting that sweet, sweet caffeine into your system, Charley…she thought to herself.
"Oh, so you noticed these guns.." Vinnie grinned as he flexed his arm muscles and kissed the other arm's biceps.
Charley stopped her actions and blinked at this young alien's weirdly flirty behavior but turned back to her task to try finding a cup from this mess and luckily found one that she placed carefully on the table.
She gave a quick curious glance at the ginger female who was talking that strange gobbledygook Martian language to someone, as she held this small portable device in her hand. Oh, so these too had found the joys of wireless communication… Why not.
Charley got slightly distracted as she could feel someone behind her. She turned around and the white alien took a hasty step back as he'd just been closer to her, standing behind her…
"What are you doing?" Charley asked.
"Nothing…" Vinnie answered innocently.
Charley furrowed. Had she just caught the young alien…sniffing her hair…?
"You smell nice." Vinnie informed while the Earth engineer only stared at him, making him actually seem a little shy under this scrutiny and the male cleared his throat.
"...you know, for an alien." Vinnie tried to save the situation, scratching his neck.
Must be the sweat, dread, and panic… Charley thought staring at this young male who now smiled back his wide charming smile again. Wait, did she think it was cute? That can't be true but her stomach was suddenly full of butterflies. Or maybe it was yesterday's rather suspicious meat they'd shared with the aliens, reminding Charley of its still undigested presence…
The auburn-haired engineer turned cautiously to her task again, measuring spoonfuls of instant coffee and after a little hesitation she added two more spoonfuls into her mug. Who knows, maybe caffeine would make everything more clear. But she, yet again felt that relentless stare on her and she let out a deep sigh and turned to the alien who now actually started to bug her big time.
"What?!"
"Nothing!"
"Then can you stop watching me like I'm some sort of rare exhibit in the zoo?!" Charley snapped waving the jar of coffee in her hand but alas, that thundering snore hit the airwaves again and she got frightened and dropped the open jar of coffee, spilling the grounds all over the tent floor.
"No…" Charley fell on her knees, watching the precious coffee that had now become one with the mess around her.
"What's a zoo?" Vinnie raised an eyebrow staring at this human who suddenly looked like she had killed her own grandmother.
"All the coffee's gone…" Charley whimpered to herself and actually in this state of mind, could feel the panic creeping in as her focus was now lost and all the problems they were currently facing were threatening to attack her brain.
Vinnie crossed his arms and stared at the floor the human was staring at. He shrugged.
"What's the big deal? Drink something else…"
"Something…else?" Charley gritted her teeth, not minding anymore there being a fucking antennae head in front of her. If there was a line, then the goddamn loss of coffee was it. She was very close to bursting into tears and screaming her lungs out at the same time before that unnecessarily loud snoring attacked the airwaves and kicked her heart to her throat again. And that was it.
"Can someone please shut that fucking noise?!" She cried out, almost desperately, causing Noah, Vinnie, and Harley all flinch.
"Hey, ya should have told me it bothered you that much, Sweetheart! Don't fret it, girl, I'll be on it!" Vinnie pointed a thumb at himself and carefully grabbed the now empty coffee jar from Charley, and she felt his fingers briefly touch hers, the soft fine fur feeling warm and actually quite pleasant against her skin. Vinnie turned on his heels to walk through the messy floor towards the bigger wooden crates that were still full of the space crew's stuff and now Charley noticed that the big grey behemoth had been sleeping behind the crates on the floor the whole time, well his big combat boots were the only thing giving it away as those were peeking behind the crates along with the tall grey tail.
Vinnie was walking his macho "Hey, girl it's all good"- walk and cracked another charming smile towards Charley who was clutching the front of her shirt, the whole world swirling around her and she only gaped at this young gun who soon stopped to watch the unsuspected sleeper behind the big crates, playfully throwing the empty coffee jar in his hands, up and down, snickering to himself. Charley quickly glanced at Harley who had stopped mid-talk, still holding the weird portable device, and was now looking at the young male, seeming a little alarmed for some reason, like knowing, this will not end well… But just as another loud snore escaped behind the crate, Charley's eyes glued back on the scene and as soon as she did that Vinnie threw the empty jar towards the snoring alien and it sure ended the snoring as she heard a clanging sound and a cry of pain but in an instant the long grey tail grabbed Vinnie by the ankles and swept him off his feet, causing the white male to smash the back of his head against the tent floor.
"Autsch! That was a joke, bro! Can't ya take a joke?!" Vinnie muttered now rubbing his sore head, lying there on the floor as Modo's larger-than-life frame rushed behind the crates, stepping over Vinnie.
"Ya hit me in the goddamn eye!" Modo grunted back at Vinnie.
"As an accident!" Vinnie objected.
"Oh yeah?! How about Ah show ya an accident?!" Modo growled back holding his big palm over his left eye, taking a warning step towards the young male.
"Nah, I'm good…" Vinnie replied and folded his arms behind his neck while still lying there.
Modo, not being in the best of moods, only shook his head, looking pissed off but while turning around, he nearly bumped into Sophia who had woken up too to this racket and Modo in the last second stopped before he'd stomp over the small woman who placed her palms over her mouth preventing her to scream in the sight of this gigantic alien mouse who loomed way above her. Modo, despite being annoyed by everything right now, managed to give the woman a small nod.
"Ma'am." His low voice was sounding tight even with his best efforts to stay calm and it only made Sophia walk backward, still looking like she had just witnessed the most terrifying thing in her life. That look did not exactly lift Modo's spirit up.
Stoker entered the tent and gave Modo a look.
"Heyy, look who's awake! Just thought of you!"
Modo set his jaw and glared at Stoker, still holding his palm over the left eye.
Stoker raised his brow but noticed Vinnie in the background, being all silent and innocent but decided he didn't have time for whatever drama had been happening here.
"Wanna keep guard outside?" Stoker asked.
Modo took a deep breath and lowered his hand, revealing the now little sore-looking left eye.
"Yeah, Ah go..." His deep baritone rumbled.
"Come on, maybe the fresh air will cheer you up!" Stoker patted him on the back as Modo continued his walk to the tent door.
"Not as much as duct-taping him on a rock would…" Modo threw Vinnie a hard glance while disappearing outside.
"Everyone's so grumpy in the morning…" Vinnie talked but stopped as Stoker pointed at him.
"You, kid, are lucky the Big Guy has a heart the size of Mount Olympus."
Vinnie only yawned back, not interested.
Stoker snorted but lost his interest in Vinnie as he gave a look around the tent.
He couldn't really blame Vinnie for his outbursts of utter boredom and angst as he would also like to get all this mess sorted and figured out and get back to the Headquarters, feeling restless himself. Who knows how much longer the Plutarkians will be licking their scaly wounds before the next attack… And he very much wanted to lead his troops to the next possible battle, so he didn't want to waste too much time either…If only the Army was quicker to make decisions…Well, he might just act before the verdict as he didn't really value Scabbard's thoughts on the matter anyway. Why should he care for what the Army thought… Although seeing Scabbard eating his words was always highly entertaining and thus worth the wait… Maybe.
His brown eyes scanned the tent, seeing the people woken up already, looking like zombies…
"Stoker, just talked with Topper…He's sending the latest satellite photos…" Harley walked over to him.
The male nodded.
"Let's see those then…"
"Also, Throttle found these interesting photos from the humans' camera...Taken outside their space shuttle..." Harley wiggled the camera out from her pocket while still holding the portable VidCom in her other hand.
"If they're only tourist photos I'm not interested..." Stoker muttered.
"Trust me, you'll be interested in these..." Harley assured him and Stoker sighed, taking the offered camera.
"Fine, let's see here..." His eyes studied the photos on the camera and his eyebrow lifted as a sign that maybe he was interested after all.
"See?" Harley huffed with a smile.
"Well...I think these people have unbeknownst to them made a very important finding that'll change things indeed..." Stoker stated. He then gave Harley a look.
"Found anything useful around here we could use?"
"Well, have not been opening any boxes yet but most of the stuff they've brought here is pretty random and useless...Like monitors and meters and computers that are like straight from the Middle Ages..."
Stoker huffed shaking his head and gave a look at the space crew.
"Poor bastards. They really have no idea how bad a decision it was to come here."
"Well, Earth has been excluded from the knowledge of life elsewhere in the Galaxy." Harley shrugged next to her Commander.
"It has not made them stop searching for the answers, though..."
"What happens if their whole planet finds out about us?" Harley asked.
"Nothing pretty, that's for sure. I mean, they're known to invade and demolish countries even on their own planet... They're like Plutarkians but without the knowledge or the technology. And the ugly scale-butts." Stoker studied the humans who were carefully talking to each other around their kitchen table, having breakfast.
"They don't look that dangerous." Harley wondered but huffed.
"Well, they did use a stun gun at me and Vinnie...But..."
"And don't think for a second I've forgotten about that, H..." Stoker interrupted and Harley tilted her head so she could see those brown eyes watching her back.
X
Modo yawned while leaning against the tent pole. The night's storm was gone as was the wind. It was a very beautiful early morning but the Summer storms were always so powerful they left the sky filled with dust anyway so the Sun was not shining through still, and would not be shining in the near future either. And anyway, the next storm was probably around the corner, waiting to attack the planet. Ah, the Martian Summers…
But by any Martian standard, this was a beautiful Summer day so Modo was only glad he had been put on guard again, that way he got to enjoy this opportunity to take in the scenery, smell the Summer air, enjoy this peace and quiet and it did change his mood up a little, even if his eye hurt and he hadn't slept too much.
Carbine had even told most of the soldiers to go to sleep and there were only two of them keeping guard a little further away from Modo and right now, the soldiers didn't seem to mind him at all. Which was good, the small talk between the Army and the Fighters was always awkward. Anyway, last time he ended up threatening to shoot the Army boys so maybe it was best they kept their distance for now.
He heard something from the Army trucks' direction and soon noticed Throttle climbing down from the back of one of them. As his combat boots touched the gritty sand, he put on his Fighter's vest while walking towards the burly Fighter. As he was close enough, Modo only shook his head as Throttle's own face fought to stay innocent. The tan male corrected the lapels of his vest and cleared his throat, nodding at his bro.
"Morning." Throttle combed his long hair with his fingers.
"Mornin'..." Modo muttered, instantly being circled by the smell of fresh sex which normally might've not really bothered him but now, as his mood still wasn't the best, it only reminded him of how long it had been since he'd seen his girl. Yup, the jealousy rising up its ugly head there...The morning just kept on getting better…
"Ah was wonderin' why Stoker was guardin' out here instead of you…" Modo drawled back, fighting to sound neutral although his irritation was heard through. Throttle scratched his neck, looking briefly at the sand dunes.
"Yeah, well…" He started but didn't really need to say anything. A light breeze passed them and Throttle was to go inside but now spotted Modo's slightly sore-looking left eye and he raised his eyebrow and pointed his own left eye for a reference.
"What happened here?"
"Yeah, you're not the only one who got some action…" The grey male snorted. Throttle immediately knew who they were talking about and he patted Modo on the back while heading to go inside the tent.
"I think he likes you…" His raspy voice drawled, humored.
"Well, don't I feel popular…" Modo mumbled back and touched the sore eye and it hurt, of course.
"Feelin' somethin' atleast…"
As he was left alone outside again to stand on his post, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Stretching his neck from side to side. As he was standing there eyes closed he heard a small tweeting sound and he opened his eyes again, scanning around the area before he looked up and spotted a small round feathery thing perching on the tent pole he was leaning on.
"Heyy, lil' buddy… What are ya doin' out here all alone?" He asked but was quite overwhelmed to see a bird at all, as he had thought they'd all gone extinct. But he didn't want to voice that to the little one as it would be rude, not to mention sad. So he just stared at it.
"Ya hungry?" Modo spoke in a soft hushed voice to not spook out the little tweety. He carefully went through his pockets and found a Venusian protein bar he carefully opened up and threw a few little crumbs on the sand and the fluffy ball of feathers flew on the sand to eat. The little one ate the crumbs and tweeted happily before taking off and flying away.
Modo sighed, a warm feeling spreading inside him, washing most of his bad mood away as he witnessed this glimpse of hope...His big ears perked as he heard a truck door slam close and he glanced at this dark grey-furred female dressed in the red Army camos who walked from the trucks towards Modo, and as soon as she noticed him she cleared her throat and averted her eyes, blushing just a little but as she was close she pulled a hesitant smile at him, nodding.
"Modo."
"Ma'am…"
And she stepped inside the tent.
X
The tent door opened and Carbine stepped in and the people nearly jumped into cover. The dark-furred female surely hadn't radiated warmth and friendliness towards them in their last and first encounter.
Carbine first flashed Throttle a smirk before her face turned to "all business" again.
"Well, it's official. The Army due to the protocols can't take the Earthlings. So, I guess your eagerness to stick your nose into everything paid this time, Stoker…"
"So, I won." Stoker's spirit also got lifted as he looked infuriatingly victorious and not-at-all surprised at the same time, making Carbine huff, crossing her arms.
"It wasn't a competition."
"Every loser says that… Don't worry, Carbine…Maybe, it's time for you to realize you're playing in the losing team and jump into our rows?" Stoker asked and flung his arm around Harley, squeezing her shoulder in an amicable way, the ginger female only making a face already knowing the answer to that…
"I'd rather jump off the cliff…" Carbine muttered, looking away.
"Well, as your Uncle I can only hope you'll come to your senses one day..." Stoker started while his fingers briefly stroked Harley's slender shoulders, sending the female goosebumps down her back, their eyes briefly meeting.
"Strong words coming from someone who's bat crazy…" Carbine muttered and then gave Throttle a quick glance, a sorrowful expression crossing her face.
"Anyway, we gotta get going…"
"Guess, see you later, then?" Throttle's gruff voice repeated, looking a little awkward all of a sudden, scratching his neck.
"Stay safe." Carbine told Throttle and after a small hesitation she gave the tall big male a quick hug, and in order to do so she needed to stand on her toes. She then cleared her voice and gave Stoker another stern look.
"And you better not arm these aliens! That's against any regulations! You do that and I'll personally drag your ass in front of the court-martial!"
Stoker only rolled his brown eyes, looking rather bored by being told what he could not do on this free planet, and by his niece of all mice. Not that anyone could tell him what he could do… He always did as he pleased.
"Heyy! Can I get a hug, too?" Vinnie hurried to the scene and Carbine only gave the youngster a little bewildered look from head to toe, before glancing at Stoker again.
"And I hope you're not recruiting minors either…" Her voice was stern but in a manner that told the others it was only her duty to tell this, not maybe her personal interest.
"Who's a minor?" Stoker shrugged back and pointed at Vinnie.
"That guy's just waiting for his pensions. Don't attack the guy for having good genes…"
"Aww, thanks, coach!" Vinnie beamed.
"Shut it." Stoker ordered.
Carbine squinted her eyes, not buying it, but after giving a glance around the facilities, she left. Throttle swallowed, watching the tent door through which his love had just walked out. He felt someone squeeze his shoulder and he met Stoker's eyes.
"She'll be alright. The stubborn ones always survive." The older male stated uncharacteristically softly and Throttle could hear the love pouring from that voice the older male had for his niece, even if they had this quarreling relationship.
Throttle only nodded but stayed silent. After a short pause, he turned to Stoker, raising his eyebrow behind the specs.
"So, does this mean we now have nine aliens on our hands?"
"I know…Life's full of surprises…" Stoker scratched his scruffy chin.
"Got second thoughts about it all?"
"Hey, grasshopper… I never second-guess myself." Stoker lifted his index finger as a reminder and Throttle exhaled a little annoyed. Telepathic breed or not, that old mouse was hard to read.
Stoker walked to the humans who were now all gathered in the kitchen nook, having arranged a small breakfast consisting of breadsticks and Coca-Cola, all they had managed to find after a quick search around the piles of stuff scattered around them. All those tired eyes turned to Stoker who cleared his throat. They were clueless about what the Martians had just talked about in their own language. Not that they would understand anything anyway about what the hell was going on…
"So…! Humans. We just got the info that the Army doesn't want you."
"So…what does that mean?" Jeremiah asked, sitting by the table, his strong arms crossed.
"It means, you're stuck with us. Consider yourselves lucky, you just won the top prize!" Stoker said and a smirk spread on his ruggedly handsome features again.
The humans glanced at each other, not really feeling like they'd won.
"So, what does that mean?" Zack asked the same question again.
"It means…" Stoker started and glanced at Throttle who only shrugged back, having no clue what it fucking meant. But seeing their Commander's relaxed nature made Throttle believe their Commander in fact had some kind of scheme in his head. In fact, he always did. Even if something didn't go as he had planned, Stoker always could improvise along the way. It was a gift.
"You're coming with us." Stoker nodded like it was decided, just like that.
Throttle and Harley changed looks.
"To…where?" Charley asked.
"It's not gonna be a 5-star vacation resort but I guess it's better than being dead." Stoker answered.
"Maybe we forget here the part where we suffocate to death when we step outside…We can't just leave. Not without taking a shitload of gear." Zack pointed out for the sake of pointing out as it hadn't even occurred to the people they might be leaving their base. How would that even work? How could that even be possible for them?
Now it was Stoker's turn to look a little puzzled but something dawned on him as he turned his gaze on Throttle and spoke in Martian dialect again.
"You didn't tell them they could breathe on Mars?"
"Kinda left that part out." Throttle answered his mind somewhere else as he now heard the Army trucks leaving outside.
Stoker seemed a little nonplussed.
"Why?"
"I donno…Didn't want them to start running around the deserts, had other things to do than go hunt down runaway aliens…" The tall tan one muttered.
Stoker let out a chuckle, seeming highly amused but gave the Earth space crew a look, speaking so they could understand again.
"Okay, school time, people: You can breathe on Mars. So, there. Boom."
"I knew it!" Eve suddenly smashed her Coke can against the counter so hard that the stuff spilled everywhere.
"They grilled the meat! There was fire! Fire needs oxygen! There is oxygen on Mars! There really is life on Mars!" Eve was super hyped when everything suddenly clicked on her head and a small doubt crossed Stoker's eyes as he seemed actually having second thoughts about this after all as he turned to Throttle.
"Man, they really don't have a clue on anything…"
"Yup. How's that great plan of yours starting to look now..?" Throttle asked unintendedly cheekily, leaning against the tent wall, patiently waiting for all this craziness to be wrapped up.
"But wait, our meters told us the air is like 90% carbon dioxide…?" Zack asked even more confused.
"You Earthlings just believe anything... " Stoker only answered, looking bored.
"So…how did the meters get it so wrong?" Noah asked.
Stoker made a little exasperated sigh.
"I don't know, how you people have gotten everything wrong is maybe the question I'd be interested in." The older hazle male saw the questioning looks on the humans and the Commander of the Freedom Fighters merely lazily pointed at him.
"I mean: you thought there was no life in here but here we are. Proof that you shouldn't maybe rely too heavily on getting answers from your ancient technology in the first place."
The metal twins shared a look.
"Dude's right."
"Yeah."
"Well, our ancient technology got us here, that's something…" Charley talked under her breath, although kinda on board with what that alien mouse was saying but still not believing she was here again trying to stand up for their civilization and to say that they were not some morons who didn't have a clue about anything.
Stoker rolled his eyes, making a face.
"Yeah, you managed to land on the nearest planet after a trip that took like a year…"
"Nine months."
"Applauds." Stoker answered dryly.
"Are we seriously talking about this…? And not about how we just discovered we can breathe on Mars?! This changes everything! We could actually live here!" Eve looked stunned, briefly forgetting their circumstances and that their mission on Mars had, in a way, ended. She stopped as her eyes caught Stoker's observing brown eyes and she gulped.
"Living is easy…" Stoker had his arms crossed and he tapped his fingers against his dirty hazel fur, patiently.
"Surviving to the next day, that's the hard part."
"Well… You are…living here…" Eve told him.
"Surviving, pretty face. We're surviving."
"Well, you seem alright…" Eve muttered, nearly mouthing the words "more than alright" while her look scanned Stoker's body which just happened to block her view from the other aliens.
"Well, you happen to have met the best of us…" A slight grin appeared on Stoker's face like knowing what the blonde scientist was thinking and Eve cleared her throat, averting her eyes that had continued to stare at Stoker's abdomen which was covered with a thin layer of soft ragged dirty fabric but was hugging his muscles anyway.
They all got distracted as the tent door opened and Modo walked in carrying a big brown bag, the size of a full-grown human that he tossed on the floor, and a loud thump echoed in the tent.
"What's up? The Army just took and left."
"Yeah." Stoker nodded and gave the big heavy looking bag a nod.
"What's in the bag? Hiding a body? Although, I'm doubting that as Vinnie is still breathing…"
"Hilarious…" Vinnie muttered sitting on a chair, staring at the ceiling, looking deflated by all this boredom.
"Oh, this? Well, Ah traded the good parts of the squid meat for some washing sand with the Army! It's quality stuff, too. Straight from the government's vaults."
That seemed to do the trick to bring Vinnie back to life as he suddenly jumped up.
"Finally! I can get my gorgeous shine back! Gimme, gimme, gimme…!"
Vinnie rushed to the bag, already throwing his vest and camo tank top off, exposing his muscled bare chest and arms and Charley, who had just taken a sip from her soda can, inhaled that sugary liquid into the wrong pipe, and started to cough.
"Hey, who says you get to be the first, kid? Ah was in the battlefields before you were even born! In my eyes, ya are clean as a newborn baby!" Modo grunted and stopped Vinnie from attacking the bag, ready to tear it open, in an exuberant manner of course, flinging his big sharp knife.
"Anyway, this stuff's worth its weight in gold back in HQ, less so if ya sink ya filthy hands in it…" The grey giant muttered holding the very dirty struggling mouse which seemed as easy as holding a paper doll.
"Oh, don't be cheap! There's plenty of it!" Vinnie protested.
"Gee, whiz, look at that…" Eve whistled silently while admiring the now topless rebel soldier. Charley tried to get her breathing functioning again.
"I just did…" she rasped.
"Man, Chippendales ain't got nothing compared to this…" Eve mumbled but then shook her head while remembering, these gorgeous creatures weren't humans or even friends… But if not friends, why friend-shaped? Big, furry, muscular friend-shaped. If only all men were from Mars like the old saying goes…Since the evolution here surely had gotten something very, very right…
"Oh, so suddenly these creatures ain't disturbing you at all when they show some abs…Man, Eve, get a grip…" Zack shook his head, taking a crunchy bite out of a breadstick, not as taken by all this as seemingly the ladies were.
"Yeah, some abs…" Eve nodded, not really hearing what Zack just said.
Harley, seeing all this, covered her face with her palms in irritation. She didn't know why she suddenly felt this gush of annoyance go through her but she also had slept next to zero hours and these people had just started to bug her more. Why had she ever requested Stoker to come here and agreed to take Vinnie with her, to do an inquiry mission? If they hadn't then maybe the Army had gotten here first and they'd be left to deal with this yet another alien problem.
"So…If the Army just scooted… What do we do with them?" Modo nodded towards the aliens, still keeping struggling Vinnie in his rock-hard grip.
"We bring them along, big guy." Stoker informed.
"Oh? Well, that's new." Modo thought out loud, his heavy voice rumbling, looking as clueless as the humans as he had been kind of left out on what had been happening inside. He changed his gentle but now slightly doubtful eyes from Stoker to the nine-heads-strong space crew.
"And how we're gonna bring 'em back with us?" Modo wasn't trying to sound doubtful or sarcastic here, just being genuinely clueless but that comment made Throttle turn to Stoker, lifting his eyebrow.
"Good question…"
But Stoker wasn't that easily minded as he only shrugged his shoulders.
"Guess we have one hour to figure that out."
"One…hour?" Noah asked, a little alarmed.
"Yeah, that's the time you'll get to… pack up your shit. And you're on a winning streak here since not many of your things seem to have survived the tumultuous life on Mars. Less to pack." Stoker grinned.
"An hour?" Noah repeated, still not really grasping what he had been told here.
"Hey, you think we ain't got better things to do than hang around here? We only have a planet to save…" Stoker walked over to the table and took one breadstick, sniffing it while the people leaned back away from him on their seats, like he had a deadly aura around him.
"Are you sure you want to bring us along?" Noah asked while getting a small reluctance from this leader's voice and behavior.
"Why? You wanna stay here? I'll give it 12 hours before you'd be either eaten alive by the hungry squids or buried alive by another sandstorm. It's your call." Stoker stated, facing the space crew's captain while taking a bite out of the breadstick.
"Is it?" Noah raised his eyebrow but his voice was drowned by another, more raspy voice.
"So, we take them back to the HQ with us?" Throttle asked, still wanting to know what on Deimos' name was the plan here. If there ever was one.
"Since…It's against all the rules to bring outsiders there…" The tan-furred Fighter reminded, studying Stoker who looked like pondering this problem for a second, eating the breadstick.
"What other options do we even have? The Camp?" Harley snorted but Modo's baritone quickly answered that.
"Not gonna happen! We can't let nine unknown aliens hang around in the Camp! That's our home!" The big grey gave the humans a hasty look.
"No offense."
"Don't worry, Big Guy, we won't take them to the Camp…" Stoker talked, still his mind quickly making the plan here.
"Well, if it's not the Headquarters or the Camp then I guess they'll have to be dragged to the battlefields..." Throttle sighed, rubbing the back of his ear. This was just stupid. Why did these Earthlings have to come here… They only made things trickier and worse.
"It's not their war, why should they be anywhere near the battles?" Harley snapped. To her mind, these creatures should be punished for what they did to Vin and herself but to die in the trenches felt maybe a bit too harsh of a retribution…Anyway, they'd only be in the way.
"Well, what the fuck we do with them then? I vote we just leave them here!" Vinnie let out a bored cry and finally, Modo let him loose as Vinnie's ADHD brain had already moved its interest in the washing sand, and now as he sensed the countdown for their departure had possibly started he rushed to pile up cans of Coke from the kitchen table to be taken with him when they'd leave the place.
"Mr. Noble." Harley raised his eyebrow.
"Who's got time to be noble when you can be a hero!" Vinnie exclaimed.
"Is it heroic to let them die here?" Harley asked.
"Hey, what they do in their free time is hardly our problem, is it?" Vinnie continued stacking up the cans in his lap.
"Maybe they'll be happy here, who knows? There's plenty of…sand…" Vinnie walked out of the tent, a pile of cans in his lap, Modo holding the door open for him.
"What are our options exactly?" Noah wanted to know and now he carefully got up to face Stoker, who was only slightly shorter than him, if not counting the red antenna, and Noah was a taller man himself.
"To come with us and die another day or stay here and die today." Stoker answered, not taken aback at all by the human male's closeness.
"Is there an option where we don't die?" Noah asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you aim to live forever?" The Commander huffed.
Noah made a bored face but pointed at the other humans.
"I'm responsible for all these eight lives here!"
"Well, congratulations to you. I'm responsible for doing everything in my power so my entire race doesn't die." Stoker deadpanned.
"I think he beat you there, Cap…" Lucas gave Noah a glance.
Noah sighed and rubbed his forehead thinking and finally gave the other astronauts a look who just nodded back. Noah placed his hands on his waist, looking down, thinking. After a few seconds, he nodded again and gave Stoker a look.
"Okay. We come along. We can't stay here."
An amused smirk appeared on Stoker's face and he took another breadstick.
"Well, that's what I said."
Suddenly his face went serious, so fast that Noah was startled. Stoker poked his chest with the breadstick.
"Oh, and before we leave… You all just have to remember one little thing, and we'll do just fine."
"That is?" Noah asked reserved.
"You don't do anything stupid, like try to contact Earth and that way endanger us all. You'll either be on the side of Mars or the enemy of me." Stoker's voice lowered and his eyes studied the Captain's eyes, too long for Noah's liking but he only nodded. Stoker nodded, too, taking a step back, and letting Noah breathe properly.
"Good!" The hazel mouse then slapped his hands together, seemingly excited, for whatever reason.
"Let's get this show started!"
The humans looked confused while getting up, and leaving their breakfast, all walking like in a haze, not really still comprehending the situation or knowing where to start packing.
"Oh, and pack lightly." Stoker announced, already with Harley, a little further away.
"Us Fighters, we don't own anything. Whatever we have, we share."
"Except for our bikes." Modo stated and Stoker nodded.
"Except for our bikes."
That didn't really make the humans look any less confused as they continued their way.
"Why so sour?" Stoker asked as he noticed Harley having her arms crossed, looking at the humans.
"You trust them?" She asked.
"Trust is a complicated concept." Stoker admitted.
"You need to trust them if you'll allow them to come with us."
"Well, I won't allow them to fuck up. How's that?" Stoker raised his eyebrow but Harley wasn't convinced.
"How are you gonna make sure they won't?"
"Trust me." Stoker smirked and Harley sighed.
"Well, that is complicated…" She wanted to use his words.
"Then watch me." Stoker's voice became a low hush and Harley looked into those brown eyes, seeing that determination the male always had, even if he most of the time masked it with his playful and reckless manners. The world was an uncertain place for sure but one thing The Fighters did trust was their Commander.
The hazel-furred male then turned his look on the humans again.
"The others seem quite harmless but the Captain we better keep our eye on."
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Oh my... And here it was...
Maybe in the next chapter, the humans are finally able to leave that tent! And what will happen then? Who knows? Does Stoker have a plan? XD And are the humans really able to breathe on Mars?
Please comment and leave a review, that's always very much appreciated!
Until next time!