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Took me a little while, but finally, here it is - the next chapter! :)
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Chapter 10
'Have you ever been so wildly attracted to someone you can actually feel it driving you to insanity?'
Vinnie remembered the day that some random dude in the bar asked him this like it was yesterday, which was actually quite astonishing, for his memory was usually reserved for cool stuff and cool stuff only.
A question like that, one that clearly belonged in the category 'wisdom about life', wasn't exactly what he considered cool stuff.
Although it had made quite the impact on him for some reason, his answer to the strange yet striking question had been short and simple.
'No.'
After that, all he did was move on with his life, stubbornly ignoring the fact that the words had triggered something inside him.
A certain yearning for having what the person who had asked him this obviously did have.
But as time went by, the memory had slowly faded, although it now became painfully obvious that it never really left his mind.
As he tightened the belt around his waist, to make sure his pants would stay where they were supposed to be, Vinnie glanced at Charley out of the corner of his eye, only to conclude that the answer to this apparent meaningful question wasn't exactly short and simple anymore.
Truth be told, this logical yet complicated realization worried him, more than he liked to admit.
This, all this, was crazy, even for him.
Yes, he was all about 'you only live once, living on the edge and that kind of stuff', but this…
Oof.
This was taking it all to a whooole other level.
With his pants now back where they belonged, the sound of O'Neill still trying to open the door broke him out of his thoughts and he quickly strapped his leg holster around his right upper leg as he still peeked at the human woman from time to time.
She was currently caught up in a fight with her sweater that seemed to be stuck in one of her earrings and as Vinnie slid his head through the opening of his black hoodie, a smile curled his lips.
Next to being overwhelmingly sexy and funny -and many other things-, she was just so… clumsy.
It was cute, really.
Despite knowing that he really should take action, mostly because of O'Neill, he took a moment to watch her struggle, not able to stop his gaze from wandering over her beautiful and still partially unclothed upper body.
Considering she was entirely hairless, he was perfectly able to see how her muscles contracted under her skin as her movements became more unrestrained, telling him she was starting to lose her patience, which was understandable, given the current circumstances.
Suddenly feeling a bit guilty about him just standing there, watching her like some perv, he heaved a sigh and walked over to her.
"Come here, you little klutz. Lemme help you", he said lovingly, hardly recognizing his own voice as a certain tenderness made it sound so… different.
Such great wording.
Okay, fine, not really creative, but he simply couldn't find the right word to explain how he sounded right now, for he hadn't really heard himself like this before.
There had never been one around to talk to in the way he talked to her.
Which was actually quite pathetic, really.
Or maybe just lonely.
At first, it seemed as if she wanted to stop him, stubborn as she was, but then his sensitive hearing caught the sound of a muffled sigh in defeat and her arms fell limp next to her body.
"Fine', she grumbled and again, Vinnie smiled.
Next to clumsy, she could be grumpy, too.
Kind of like a little angry leprechaun.
You better keep that thought to yourself, my friend.
If you wanna keep breathing, that is.
It wasn't until his fingers tried to get the sweater out of the earring that he realized he might not be exactly the right one for the job, for he was even less patient than she was, but he still managed to free her without ripping her sweater into pieces -or her ear for that matter-, something he was actually quite proud of.
"There ya go…"
Slowly, he pulled the sweater over her head, and as she wormed her arms into the sleeves, the white-furred youngster brushed her hair out of her heated face, revealing her eyes.
Eyes so green, it reminded him of grass in spring here on Earth.
Perhaps Throttle was right.
Perhaps she was, indeed, a danger to their mission.
But not because she had bad intentions, which she obviously hadn't, but all because of what she did to him.
Meeting her had set something in motion, causing a snowball effect of events that had brought them to the point where exposure had never been this close and what did he do?
Naughty things in a dark room with said danger.
Shit.
'Have you ever been so wildly attracted to someone you can actually feel it driving you to insanity?'
He was wrong to think that the answer wasn't short and simple anymore.
Well, it was everything but simple, but still short.
'Yes.'
A loud bang on the door made them both almost jump out of their skin and fur, something he cursed himself for.
After all, he was the fearless soldier in the room.
Then act like one, dammit.
They both recovered pretty quickly, which wasn't really surprising in his case, but it was in Charley's.
She had been so afraid today, absolutely terrified even, but now, something had changed, he could tell.
It seemed that she had found back her strength and his respect for her grew even bigger when she shot him a determined look.
"Okay, lean, mean plan-making machine, what do you want me to do?"
He really shouldn't have called himself that.
A clear-cut case of 'it sounded good in my head'.
Ugh.
Slightly shaking his head, he gently laid his hands on her shoulders and moved her a bit from left to right, frowning in concentration and his tongue between his teeth.
Although this obviously confused her, she said nothing.
Not until he was done, that is.
"You just stay right… here", he told her as he looked over his shoulder to check the angle with the door.
Perfect.
His little clumsy human friend didn't exactly agree with that, though.
"What? What are you talking about, I can't just stand here and do nothing…", she hissed, trying very hard to keep her voice down despite her displeasure, but Vinnie laid a finger on her lips to shush her, highly amused by her fire.
"That's exactly what you're gonna do. You just stand here and act surprised when he comes in. That will buy me just the right amount of time."
Charley narrowed her eyes, clearly confused.
"What do you mean, when he comes in?"
Although he would love to explain what he meant by that, Vinnie knew they were running out of time, for the sounds at the door became louder and louder and so, all he did was give her one of his trademark smiles.
One from which he knew would make her a bit more… cooperative.
At first, it seemed to do the trick, but when she saw him pulling his gun out of his leg holster, her face darkened and she grabbed him by the arm.
"You're not gonna kill him, are you?", she whispered compellingly, her green eyes almost piercing right through him and he quickly laid his hand on hers to comfort her.
"No."
Not yet.
Another bang told Vinnie it was now or never and after sliding his hand into her neck, he rested his forehead against hers.
"Don't sweat it, babe. I've got this. All you gotta do is trust me."
She gawked at him, her breathing already accelerating the moment his hand made contact with her skin and his heart made a little jump when he once again saw the kind of effect he had on her.
It was the same effect she had on him.
"So, do you? Trust me?", he asked softly, every instinct in his body screaming that he needed to hurry, that he couldn't stand here with his back towards the door when O'Neill managed to come in, for he might as well paint a target on his back if he did, but he needed to know.
After staring at him for a little while longer, Charley let out her breath.
"Yes. I trust you. I did from the moment I met you. I guess that makes me crazy, huh?", she chuckled the last part, her voice strangely husky.
The sound of it gave him goosebumps all over his body and for a moment, all he wanted was to remain where he was, close to her, while his body already prepared itself for round two, but there was simply no time.
There never was.
"Crazy is good. Makes life much more interesting", he winked at her and after pressing a soft kiss on her forehead, he quickly turned around and positioned himself next to the door.
Forcing himself to focus on the main problem right now, he took a few deep breaths and tightened his grip around the gun.
Showtime.
After another loud bang, the door flew open and Vinnie quickly replaced his foot to stop it from slamming in his face, but that's all he did, simply because he needed to wait until their beloved detective entered the room.
"Miss Davidson. Why am I not surprised to see you here?", O'Neill asked with that toe-curling patronizing tone of his and Vinnie rolled his eyes.
Maybe because you planted a bug on her?
Geez.
And they say humans are smart.
Well, this particular specimen obviously wasn't, because while he was talking, the lawman walked into the room, obviously not connecting the dots that Charley might not be alone.
He did have his gun in his hands, but it was currently aimed at the floor and not at Charley, much to Vinnie's relief.
The last thing he wanted was to put her in danger.
Again.
Once again, Charley proved to be a good actress, for as soon as O'Neill stepped into the room, she drew in a sharp breath as her eyes grew big.
"Look out, he's behind you!", she exclaimed, allegedly panicking.
"Who?", O'Neill asked confused, thereby confirming that he, indeed, wasn't exactly the brightest tool in the shed and he quickly turned around with a furrowed brow, only to look straight into Vinnie's happy face.
"Me!", and with a somewhat smug smile, the young mouse hit the man on the head with the stock of his gun, knocking him out immediately.
His body dropped on the floor with a dull thud and Vinnie chuckled, shaking his head as he put the gun back in its holster.
"How nice of him to drop in, huh?"
He then looked at Charley with a warm smile, not even that arrogant this time.
"Good job, sweetheart. You're a natural."
Her entire face lit up due to this sincere compliment, which was cute, to say the least, and Vinnie's smile vanished like smoke in the wind when he suddenly heard Throttle's voice echoing through his mind.
'You ruined her life and for what?'
Guilt.
Such a silent killer.
Devious, too.
Vinnie heaved a sigh and grabbed O'Neill by his jacket, but when he tried to pick him up, he soon found out that the man was a teeny tiny bit heavier than he looked.
But in for a penny, in for a pound and the young Martian took a deep breath before he doubled his attempts to lift the unconscious Earther.
Unfortunately, all that happened was him almost pulling a muscle in his back, which forced him to let him go again.
Fuck.
Some tough soldier he was.
Well, in his defense, his body wasn't quite recovered from the crash earlier today, but still.
This was bad.
As in — awkwardly bad.
As he stood there, his breathing heavy due to his major effort, he glanced at Charley from under his lashes, who looked back at him quizzically.
"You uh… you need some help with that?", she asked as she pointed at O'Neill.
She obviously tried to sound nonchalant, but there was a certain tremor audible in her voice, one that could only be described as suppressed laughter and Vinnie gnashed his teeth in annoyance, although some would say that he might have had it coming after making fun of her countless times.
"No. His uh… his jacket is just slippery, that's all", he quickly told her, also trying very hard to sound nonchalant, but he failed, same as her.
Even worse, he sounded way sharper than he actually intended to, but his poor ego was on the line here and shit, how much he hated it when that happened.
Charley raised both eyebrows with pursed lips as she held up both hands.
"Okay, if you say so."
But despite her whole 'soothe yourself' attitude, her green eyes were twinkling in amusement and even though that still slightly irritated him, he couldn't stop himself from being relieved that she was back to her usual self again.
Seeing her so scared had truly broken his heart, so, if he had to be completely honest, he preferred her like this, even if that meant she was laughing at him.
Which was only more proof of how far off the rails he was when it came to her, but the time for denial was long gone, so here he was.
Allowing her to make fun of him.
Man, you are whipped.
"I know so", he muttered, not able to ignore this childish urge of having the last word, but he then gave himself a firm mental shake, all to keep his head in the game, and while rubbing his hands, he spread his legs in the hope that would help him to get the man off the ground.
Okay, you can do this, Vincenzo.
Just pick him up.
"Yeah, just pick him up, man. You're a pureblood Martian Cave Mouse, for fuck sake. You've got this", he mumbled to encourage himself and with his mouth in a tight line, Vinnie bent over and grabbed the -luckily still unconscious- human again, this time with two hands.
A groan escaped through his clenched teeth as he used all the strength he owned in his perfect body and much to his relief, he eventually managed to throw the man over his shoulder.
Holy shit.
Did the guy eat rocks for dinner or something?
Using his tail to keep his balance, he stumbled through the door, trying very hard not to show that his legs almost gave out under the weight of their beloved detective.
In fact, it almost made them snap like a twig, but hey, he rather broke his legs than to ask his bro's for help in front of Charley.
Very textbook machismo.
"Come on, let's take him to my bro's. I'm sure Throttle is dying to have a little heart to heart with him."
But after walking a few meters -or maybe he should say shuffle his feet over the floor to move forward-, huffing under O'Neill's weight and for once wishing he was as strong as Modo, Vinnie suddenly noticed that Charley wasn't following him and he turned around, only to see that she, indeed, hadn't moved.
"You coming?", he panted, not able to get his irregular breathing under control, much to his annoyance.
Man, this was embarrassing, to say the least.
Not to mention that it almost started to feel like a workout.
He hated workouts.
"I want to, but… well, Throttle… I dunno, I just…", Charley stuttered and a blush colored her usually pale cheeks red.
The amusement in her eyes now gradually got obscured by fear again and it made Vinnie's blood boil, all of a sudden.
Throttle did this.
His tan-furred friend really scared her today and it made him furious, although, at the same time, it felt as if he wasn't fully entitled to be mad at his bro, simply because it was he who had involved her into this mess in the first place.
After bending the knees, hoping they wouldn't crack, Vinnie hoisted O'Neill a bit higher over his shoulder, stubbornly ignoring the sharp pain that shot through his right upper arm, even though he knew it was probably a muscle that ruptured.
"There will be no more guns, I promise you", he wheezed, knowing he wasn't able to hold this much longer, especially in anticipation of the seven stairs waiting for him.
Those about to die, we salute you.
"Look, I really don't wanna pressure you, but we need to go. This dude can wake up any time and I seriously don't wanna kill him. We need him to exonerate you, after all. We need his story to convince Throttle once and for all that you're one of the good guys."
That seemed to do the trick.
Or maybe it was just the fact that she was finally going to get some answers, something that seemed to be her primary motive ever since he met her.
She was curious.
A lethal streak.
After running a hand through her hair, she let out her breath and nodded.
"Okay. But seriously… no more guns, okay?"
"No more guns."
…
"Took you long enough", was all Throttle said when Vinnie stumbled into the room, almost tripping over his own feet.
Seven stairs.
Seven stairs with that abomination on his shoulder.
Holy shit.
It was quite the miracle that he hadn't died halfway.
"Yeah well, it took me some time to convince Charley to come back, ya know, after you scared the shit out of her", the white-furred youngster panted as he threw the unconscious body of O'Neill right before Throttle's feet, every muscle in his body shaking after such hard work.
"Besides, we come bearing gifts, so play nice."
"You call that a gift?", Modo asked dryly as he suddenly popped up next to them, almost giving Vinnie a heart attack.
Again.
"Shit, man, you really gotta stop doing that", he breathed, clutching his chest as he leaned against Modo, his legs still close to giving out.
"Why? Guilty conscience?", the grey-furred giant retorted, his voice lighthearted but when Vinnie glanced up at him out of the corner of his eye, his heart, again, skipped a few beats.
Goddammit, he knew.
The look on his face said it all.
Although Vinnie wasn't sure how Modo had figured it out so soon, for he hadn't been in the room for more than ten seconds, it probably had something to do with Charley's scent sticking to his fur like glue.
Curse the well-developed sense of smell of the Martian Cave Mouse.
Amen.
His red eyes darted over to Throttle, who was currently checking if O'Neill was still breathing and if the wound on his head wasn't lethal, which it wasn't, of course.
The fact that he was so occupied with their current and quite precarious situation was probably the only reason why his leader wasn't giving him hell for… well, doing naughty things in a dark room with the worst timing ever.
Feeling slightly nauseous all of a sudden, Vinnie looked back at Modo almost pleadingly.
'Please, don't tell him', he mouthed, his ears hanging low, but the grey-furred giant already gave him a warm and reassuring smile, one that told his secret was safe with him.
For now, that is.
Which was good enough.
For now.
Throttle, either oblivious of their little tête-à-tête or ignoring it, now got back upright and faced his two bro's.
"We better tie him up, before he wakes up."
"I'll go get the rope", Vinnie offered hastily to avoid being stuck with heavy lifting duty again, and he quickly grabbed Charley's hand to drag her with him to the cabinet.
"You sit tight while we talk to O'Neill, okay? Throttle just needs some time to get the feeling he's back in control again. And then you'll see he really ain't that bad", he instructed her softly as he searched the top drawer for rope, his tail loosely wrapped around her ankle, all because he felt this constant urge to be in contact with her.
Instead of protesting, Charley reached over his shoulder and grabbed something from the top shelf.
"Okay. But you still owe me that explanation. Oh, and a flashlight", she added with a twitching eyebrow as she pushed a piece of rope in his hands, the very one he was looking for right now.
Swell.
"So tell me, Miss Davidson — are you always this greedy?", he asked teasingly as he pulled her closer to him, and just like that, they were back in their little, quite cozy bubble.
For now, it was just him and her and nothing else.
A short breath escaped her lips when he pressed her body against his with his hand resting on her lower back, her eyes shimmering with arousal all of a sudden and he had to admit -despite that it might be tasteless-, seeing the effect he had on her made him feel so… powerful.
He just couldn't get enough of it.
To play with her.
And she was just so willing to play along.
"Only when it comes to you", she breathed as her hands slid from his neck to the base of his ears, and her fingers going through his fur gave him the feeling as if he was floating.
"With you, it's just nowhere near enough…"
Well, he could only agree with that.
As he tried to stop his body from quivering under her touch, which was a game he was bound to lose anyway, he let his red eyes wander over her beautiful face before they locked with hers.
"I think I'm falling for you, Charlene Davidson", he blurted out without thinking, his voice hoarse yet soft.
Again, he had the worst timing in history, for now wasn't really the time to bare his soul, but he was just entirely caught up in the moment, a moment that was just there, all of a sudden.
And he… well, he always had been a 'go with the flow' kind of guy.
Her beautiful green eyes widened before they started to twinkle like the celestial sky he knew from home, making his heart flutter in his chest like a hummingbird.
"Well, Vincent, I think I'm falling for you too", she mumbled a bit dazed, again, she seemed to be completely intoxicated by his presence, a thing he couldn't blame her for.
But her words…
Oh man, her words…
He thought he knew the true meaning of love.
But, as it turned out, he knew nothing.
Not until he met her.
Her.
Charley…
"Ahem. I really don't wanna intrude here, but we're gonna need that rope now."
A heavy voice shattered their little bubble into a million pieces without mercy and Vinnie almost hit the ceiling.
AGAIN.
Seriously, how could someone that big move so quietly?!
"Modo, I swear to God…", he breathed between gritted teeth, but Modo merely held up his hand with an allegedly innocent smile, and still softly cursing under his breath, Vinnie gave him the rope.
"Thank you", Modo said sweetly, still with that infuriating smile decorating his face and he made his way back to O'Neill.
"And they always say that I'm gonna be the death of them one day", the white-furred mouse grunted before he slung an arm around Charley's shoulders, who was still looking a bit flabbergasted due to the current events that seemed to pile up without ending, something she obviously wasn't used to but was a common thread through their lives.
"Come on, sweetheart. It's time to get some answers."
…
"He's waking up."
Everyone in the room let their gaze land on the man tied to a chair after hearing Modo's observation, and indeed, O'Neill let out a muffled sound before he slowly raised his head.
"Holy hell, what hit me?", he groaned a bit dazed, trying to move his hands, but he soon found out that he couldn't and he lowered his gaze, only to see that he was tied up.
"I did", Vinnie told him proudly, smiling his most charming smile.
"And I've gotta tell ya man, it felt extremely satisfying."
The moment he heard Vinnie's somewhat high-pitched voice, the detective froze in his chair and he suddenly didn't seem to care anymore that he was tied up.
If Vinnie had to guess, he probably remembered the last thing he had seen right before someone knocked the light out of his eyes and the white-furred mouse almost bounced on his feet in expectation, beyond eager to find out how the man was going to react when he finally realized that he had been hunting down aliens all this time.
As in slow-motion, O'Neill turned his head and when his gaze landed on Vinnie, his eyes widened and his lower jaw almost fell in his lap.
For the first time since they all knew him, he looked genuinely shocked and Vinnie's smile grew even bigger, proud that it was him who threw the stone-cold detective off his game.
But, unfortunately for him, the man's state of shock was rather short-lived.
The moment he seemed to realize who, or better said 'what' was currently finding themselves in his presence, his lips curled into a somewhat smug smile.
"I knew it… I fucking knew it…", he whispered as he stared at the ground, his brown eyes almost popping out of their sockets, giving him a bit of a deranged appearance.
Or maybe just plain crazy.
Vinnie narrowed his eyes, highly disappointed that the man neither screamed nor fainted, a thing that seemed to happen a lot when humans discovered that they weren't alone in the universe, which was foolish to believe anyway, but hey, that's another story.
"Knew what?", he asked curiously yet suspiciously, his head a bit tilted to the right while his ears twitched to the rhythm of his heartbeat.
O'Neill looked up with a jerk and the strength hidden behind the sudden movement almost made the chair topple over, but he didn't seem to notice.
"That there's something very strange going on in the city of Chicago. I… I was right… I can't believe it… I was right all along… HA!"
His unexpected and quite loud exclamation made all those who were present in the room nearly jump out of their skin and fur and Vinnie clenched and unclenched his fists as he fought the urge to let out a scream in frustration with stamping feet, cursing that this seemed to become a habit.
But O'Neill barely noticed, now babbling to himself somewhat excitedly and Vinnie bit his lower lip as he looked at Throttle with a furrowed brow.
'Crazy', he mouthed, ticking with his finger against his forehead.
Throttle nodded as he rubbed his chin with a thoughtful frown on his face, obviously trying to figure out what to do next, which couldn't be easy.
O'Neill knew their secret now, or at least a small part, which had been inevitable ever since they saw him snooping around the stadium, or perhaps even more to the point — since they found the GPS tracker in Charley's pocket.
Them hoping he would leave on his own had been nothing but naive actually, but then again, there was nothing wrong with having a little hope from time to time.
Hope that luck would be on their side, if only for this one time.
But, as it was no surprise, it wasn't and now all that remained was a choice.
Live or die.
After peering at the man for a little while longer, Throttle eventually made his way over to O'Neill, who was still talking uh… well, mostly gibberish.
When he reached him, the leader of the on Mars famous trio leaned forward and rested his hands on the armrests of the chair.
"I wish I could say that it's nice to finally meet you in person, Detective O'Neill, but that would be a lie. I mean, your little manhunt made our lives quite complicated."
He spoke slowly, even articulated almost excessively, as if he was talking to a child or a mentally disabled person, although the second option wasn't really that far-fetched, in Vinnie's humble opinion.
O'Neill finally stopped babbling and he looked up at Throttle, not even the slightest hint of fear readable on his face, which was actually his first mistake.
After all, the tan-furred Martian could break him in half without even blinking, although Throttle would never do such a thing without having a damn good reason, but that aside.
Even worse, in spite of him being tied up to a chair in a room filled with aliens that were armed to the teeth, the guy even decided to have an attitude, which was his second big mistake.
"If you're looking for sympathy, you're at the wrong address, pal. All I ever did was my job."
"Which, lucky for us, you suck at", Vinnie blurted out, knowing that he really shouldn't, but meh, fuck that.
Throttle flinched almost invisibly by hearing Vinnie's snappy comment, but that was to be all.
Lucky me.
"I can only agree with Mister Smartmouth over there, Detective. I mean, you obviously knew that something was off and yet, you came here. All alone…"
He trailed off, dropping a looming silence before he leaned even closer to the man, both corners of his mouth pointed downward.
"Why are you alone, Detective O'Neill? Where's your partner? Or your back up?"
Those who were familiar with Throttle knew that when being spoken to in this particular tone of voice, one could better cooperate, but not O'Neill.
He didn't know them, after all.
He didn't know that Throttle could be dangerous and unpredictable when it came to protecting their mission.
Next to that, the man seemed to have slightly suicidal tendencies, for instead of just answering the question as every sane person would do in his situation, he spit in Throttle's face.
He literally spit in Throttle's face.
"Bite me, rodent."
And that, my friends, was his third mistake and if it was up to Vinnie, his last one, too.
Okay, hold my root beer.
I'm going in.
Vinnie and Modo came into movement almost simultaneously, both with a face like thunder because no one… abso-fucking-luty no one was allowed to disrespect their leader in their presence.
Throttle wasn't the only one who could be dangerous and unpredictable.
Oh no.
"You just dug your own grave, Detective", Vinnie spat out as he whipped out his gun in one smooth movement, his thumb already taking off the safety.
"Yeah, no one treats our bro like that without consequences", Modo growled through clenched teeth as he raised his mechanical arm, the very one that was home to a deadly laser weapon.
But before they could blow the Earther's head off, Throttle simply held up his hand to stop them.
"Easy, fella's. We need him alive. For now, that is", he said calmly as he took off his glasses and swiped his face clean with one of the red bandanas he always carried with him.
"Oh yeah? And what makes you think that I will give you anything?", O'Neill asked with a steady voice, clearly back to his usual cold self again and Vinnie wasn't sure whether to be impressed by the man's courage or to conclude that the man was, indeed, a total nutjob having a death wish.
He actually verged to the first option.
Sssshhh!
Don't you ever say that out loud!
"Because we both want the same thing", Throttle told him, now cleaning his glasses with his gaze lowered and Vinnie knew that wasn't just because he wanted to make a calm and 'in control' impression, but also to avoid the Earther finding out about his vision.
Or maybe better said — his lack of vision.
That was a weakness, after all.
O'Neill snorted, shaking his head as he rolled his eyes.
"Right. Your confidence is admirable, I have to give you that", he chuckled, leaning back in his chair with a certain grace and a self-righteous look on his face, as if he was the fucking president of the United States himself.
This guy, honestly.
"But okay, since I don't have anything better to do right now, I'll bite. What is it that we both want?"
"Information", was Throttle's simple answer.
That took the lawman's attention and he fell silent for a moment as he peered at Throttle with narrowed eyes, obviously trying to figure out if the tan-furred mouse was being sincere here.
"What are you saying, rodent? That you're willing to answer every question I have?", he eventually asked, already giving up on trying to read Throttle, for that was merely impossible, something Vinnie knew firsthand.
The guy had the best poker face in the entire galaxy, even without the glasses.
Throttle calmly put his spectacles back on his nose before his gaze landed back on O'Neill.
"If you're willing to answer mine, then yes. I will tell you everything you wanna know."
"Because after that, you'll kill me anyway", O'Neill concluded flatly.
Throttle shrugged as he let the bandana slide back into the pocket of his dark-blue jeans.
"That depends on you, actually. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Do we have a deal for now?"
O'Neill took a deep breath as he looked around the room.
At Modo and Vinnie, both fully armed and still pissed.
At Charley, who miraculously followed up Vinnie's advice and hung back, literally, for she was leaning against the wall with folded arms and a somewhat self-satisfied look on her face, all to tell the man that he didn't have to expect any help from her.
Not after treating her the way he did.
It didn't take long before the detective realized that he had no friends here, nor was he in the position to make demands.
In other words — he didn't really have any other choice but to cooperate.
And so, when his gaze landed back on Throttle, he simply nodded.
"We have a deal. So, shoot."
"Don't tempt me, pal", Vinnie partially joked as he spun his gun around his finger while Throttle blinked a few times behind his glasses due to the odd choice of words this man used, but he decided to let it go and repeated his first question.
"Why are you alone?"
O'Neill's face darkened, for some reason, this recurring question seemed to irritate him.
"Because technically, I'm not supposed to be here."
"And why is that?"
"Because they took me off the case."
Vinnie let out a laugh, he just couldn't stop himself.
"Well, that worked out just fine."
Throttle raised his eyes up to heaven before he slowly turned around on his heels to face his young bro.
"Vincent, if you please…"
But the white-furred mouse already nodded, holding up both hands.
"Yeah, yeah, stop talking, I get it."
Throttle gave him a small yet meaningful smile, clearly grateful that they seemed to be on the same page here before he focused his attention back on O'Neill.
"Why did they take you off the case?"
"Isn't that obvious? The guy is obsess…", Vinnie already opened his mouth again, but a hand covering his mouth prevented him from finishing his sentence, which was probably a good thing if it wasn't so annoying.
"Come on, little bro. Let the adults talk for now", Modo said softly in his ear, amusement clearly audible in his voice.
Vinnie clenched his teeth as he gave the big fella a deadly glare, all to tell him to remove his hand before his front teeth would make him.
Not even close to impressed, Modo's lips curled into a smile, but he did remove his hand, although there was a slightly warning glance in his eye when he did.
Vinnie let out his breath in relief, but unfortunately for him, Modo wasn't planning on letting him get off the hook that easily, for instead of letting his young bro go, he slung an arm around his neck to keep him close, just in case.
In reality, this wasn't really necessary, because Vinnie knew like no other that when the time had come for Modo to decide to intervene, things were about to get ugly, and with things he actually meant Throttle.
After all, there was only so much a mouse could take and as mentioned before, today wasn't really a good day to test his leader's patience.
One of his many talents.
And so, the young rascal folded his arms as he shrugged his shoulders, not able to hide his displeasure in spite of his bro's being right.
He really needed to stop talking.
Man.
Frustration city.
O'Neill was watching all this with a small frown between his eyebrows, obviously not sure what to think of this, but Throttle snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention.
"Focus, detective. Why did they take you off the case?"
After one last thoughtful glance towards Vinnie, who quickly suppressed the sudden and quite convincing urge to stick out his tongue, the Earther cleared his throat and looked back at Throttle.
"I ah… I guess I was, indeed, obsessed. They said I was…", he said slowly, clearly, he didn't like to admit that the white-furred mouse had been right.
Vinnie's lips curled into a smug smile, but he still managed to keep his mouth shut.
Atta boy.
When he saw Vinnie's smile, O'Neill wrinkled his nose and a hint of anger obscured his eyes.
"I just couldn't let it go, okay? I just knew there was something fishy about these so-called vigilantes, although I had no idea what exactly. My boss didn't believe me, though. To be honest, I personally believe that he was just grateful for having a few extra pairs of hands, whether they broke the law or not. I tried to convince him to let me dig deeper, to prove to him that something wasn't right, that this wasn't how it's supposed to be, but he told me, and I quote: 'We don't have the resources'. That's it. But I just couldn't let it slide and decided to continue my investigation anyway, but then under the radar. And now… I still can't believe it. I was right. All this time…"
Throttle heaved a sigh while slightly shaking his head, a somewhat weary look on his face.
"No, your boss was right. Not you. You should've let it go, man. Your obsession got us all in quite a predicament."
"I'm a cop. It's my job to keep this city safe. I wasn't obsessed, but merely devoted", O'Neill retorted stubbornly.
For the first time since he had started this interrogation, Throttle seemed to be slightly annoyed, his twitching tail being the biggest clue.
"You make it sound like we're the bad guys here, but you seem to forget that we've helped you to reduce the crime in this city by at least twenty percent."
Okay, nerd alert.
Vinnie shot his friend a puzzled look, not understanding how the guy even knew stupid facts like that, and Throttle shrugged in return.
"You really should read the paper more often, Vincent."
Uh, how about no?
"Is that really what you believe? That you help us?", O'Neill intervened before Vinnie could react, which was probably a good thing anyway.
"All you do is leave a trail of bodies and destruction behind. Good guys, my ass. You're murderers, nothing more, nothing less."
"But that's where you're wrong. You see, we are just as devoted to keeping this city safe. The people we kill are criminals who just don't know when to stop. You think we actually want to kill them? No. Not even close. But they leave us no choice", Throttle explained as calmly as he could, but the hand he ran through his hair slightly trembled, a clear sign that on the inside, he was anything but calm.
Which was understandable.
No one liked being called a cold-blooded killer, especially when it was completely unjustified.
But O'Neill just shook his head as he leaned back in his chair again, disbelief written upon his face.
"Murder is murder. You're no better than them, but you keep telling yourself otherwise. We all need something that helps us sleep at night."
"You will understand, eventually", Modo said softly, backing his leader up and probably to stop this thing from turning into a discussion that they weren't going to win.
Not yet, that is.
"I highly doubt that", O'Neill snorted, and Vinnie bit his tongue to stop himself from meddling with the conversation again, but it was hard.
The arrogant and slightly disgusted look on O'Neill's face annoyed him, actually.
The Earther had no idea what he was talking about and yet here he was, judging them.
Did he not know that life wasn't as easy as he made it sound like?
It wasn't just black and white.
It had a whooole lot of grey areas.
He of all people should know, right?
He was a cop, after all.
But perhaps Modo was right.
Perhaps he would, indeed, understand.
Eventually.
Throttle seemed to realize as well that arguing with the man was just a waste of their precious energy right now, and so he moved on to the next topic.
"Tell me more about this", he demanded as he threw the now broken GPS tracker in O'Neill's lap, and the man stared at it for a little while before his eyes locked with Throttle's again.
"I put it in Miss Davidson's pocket when I came to question her in the hospital the night she got attacked."
He might as well have dropped a bomb.
O'Neill, you sneaky bastard...
"What?! Why in the world would you do that? I was just a victim!", Charley exclaimed outraged, her hands clenched into fists as her face colored a few tints redder.
Obviously, this piece of information made her simply unable to sight tight any longer, and who could blame her?
Vinnie most certainly did not, and so he let her be.
She was fully entitled to be angry about this and above all — she deserved to get the answers she so desperately wanted.
Much to his surprise, Throttle didn't intervene either.
That ought to be a good sign.
O'Neill now let his brown eyes dart over to Charley, and despite his flagrant attempt to keep a blank face, there was a hint of regret simmering in his eyes for the first time since he woke up.
Perhaps there was even shame.
Good.
"Because you, Miss Davidson, and I'm sorry to tell you this, are a terrible liar. At least, you were when we met that night in the hospital. With the present state of my knowledge, I think that whatever happened to you that night had forced you to drop your guard…"
"You think?! Someone assaulted me. Almost raped me!", Charley cut him off, tears filling her eyes.
Vinnie's heart broke a little when he, once again, saw the impact that the vicious attack had on her, and he could only be grateful that he had been there in time to protect her from an even more terrible fate.
Only thinking about what would've happened to her if he hadn't been there made him almost puke his guts out on the floor, and so, he didn't go there.
He had been there and that's final.
As her words, spoken with true heartache, still lingered in the air, an uncomfortable silence dawned upon them and Vinnie glanced at Throttle, somehow curious as to what Charley's pain did to him.
Judging the look on his leader's face, it did quite a lot because instead of suspicion, there was now sympathy softening his stern features.
By seeing her pain up close in person, it was as if he just now realized that Vinnie had done so much more than just disobeying him that night and after catching Vinnie's gaze, he gave his young bro a small nod.
Vinnie's heart swelled up when he understood the message his bro was giving him.
'You did good, Vincent.'
It was O'Neill who eventually broke the suspenseful silence.
"I'm sorry that happened to you. I really am."
For once, he seemed to be genuinely sincere here, but Charley put her chin in the air as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Little too late, detective. You should've told me that in the hospital, when I was scared and in desperate need of someone telling me that everything was going to be okay. But you didn't. All you did was treat me like garbage."
Vinnie bit his lower lip as he looked at Charley with a thoughtful frown on his face, a bit surprised by the fact that O'Neill's rough treatment was still bothering her this much.
Then again, how well did he actually know her? Their gravitational pull towards each other had prevented them from having deep conversations, the very ones that were necessary to get to know one another.
Gravitational pull, huh?
Nicely put.
"You're right. I failed you that night. I really did. I was just so… frustrated. I asked you what happened and you lied straight to my face. But the eyes never lie, Miss Davidson. The confusion, the shock… I knew you saw something that night. And just like that, you turned into the biggest lead I had in weeks. I mean, you were the only one who encountered the vigilantes and lived to tell the tale", O'Neill explained to her, calm and regretful.
"I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try. It might be said that I was desperate."
Some might say he was trying to make an excuse for his behavior, but not even Vinnie could deny that the man obviously regretted the way he had handled things.
But Charley still wasn't ready to forgive him.
Perhaps she would never be.
Ready.
"So you put a bug on me without my knowledge?", she hissed through clenched teeth, her entire body trembling due to her anger and even worse — embarrassment.
"That's inadmissible evidence, Detective O'Neill."
Another silence followed, one that was even more suffocating, and Vinnie closed his eyes for a moment when he realized that there were still so many things Charley didn't know.
How ugly the world could be, for instance, especially for those who always tried to do the right thing, no matter the costs.
How unfair life could be.
It was Modo who eventually decided to burst her bubble, and truth be told, Vinnie was grateful that he did.
"He never planned on giving us a fair trial, Charley ma'am."
Charley stared at him as another tear left her eye, her breathing heavy, but just when Vinnie wanted to say something to comfort her, although he had no idea what, she already turned her head and looked at O'Neill with her mouth in a tight line.
"You wanted to kill them. Even before you knew what they were, you wanted to kill them. And you used me to get to them…", she concluded, her voice trembling with repressed anger and she aimed a finger at Vinnie without turning her gaze away from the detective.
"You see him? He's the one who saved me, that night. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be even standing here, talking to you. He's my friend. Even more than that. And you used me to get to him…"
She fell silent again, her lips trembling in agitation as she obviously tried to stop her emotions from overwhelming her, but it was hard, Vinnie could tell.
However, in spite of this, she continued.
"And here I was, thinking you couldn't sink any lower. You claim to be the good guy here, but you're not. You're nothing but a dirty cop, which makes you even lower than the lowest criminal, if you ask me."
Ouch.
That's gotta hurt.
And it did.
Obviously, it did, for O'Neill lowered his gaze, his face twisted in a mask of shame and regret, but no one in this room felt sorry for him.
Vinnie stared at a spot close to his feet, Charley's words echoing through his head.
'He's my friend. Even more than that.'
For some reason, her words gave him the sudden urge to cry, which was strange, to say the least.
He wasn't really the type of guy who shed tears to deal with his emotions.
-With a friend to call my own
I'll never be alone-
Letting out a shaky breath, Vinnie raised his eyes and looked at Charley, who looked so lost all of a sudden.
As if she just now realized how naive she had been.
Of course, Vinnie knew she wasn't really naive.
She was highly aware that the world could be an ugly place, that he had seen in her eyes.
She just never knew how ugly.
Well, she knew now.
And it obviously upset her.
With every cell in his body practically screaming to comfort her, Vinnie wanted to go over to her, but much to his annoyance, it was Modo who stopped him before he could.
Gnashing his teeth, he looked up at his grey-furred friend, all ready to tell him to let go, but Modo nodded in Throttle's direction.
The white-furred mouse followed his gaze, only to see that their tan-furred leader already stood next to Charley.
In a reflex, Vinnie made another attempt to free himself, mainly driven by the shadow of fear flickering across Charley's face when she slowly looked up, straight into Throttle's face, but again, Modo wouldn't let him.
"Give him a chance, bro", he merely said.
Although it cost him greatly, Vinnie knew deep down that Modo just provided an excellent idea and so, he ceased his resistance.
You better not fuck this up, Throttle.
Cautiously, for he didn't want to scare her, Throttle raised both hands and laid them on Charley's small shoulders.
His touch made her flinch, but she remained where she was, bravely looking the tan-furred mouse in the eye.
"Looking at both sides of the story just ain't in human nature, Charley. Just as it isn't in many other spieces's nature…", Throttle told her with a hint of regret, but then a warm smile curled his lips as he gently squeezed her shoulders.
"But I admire you for thinking otherwise. I owe you an apology, Charley. I never should've doubted you. I'm sorry."
Well, it was clear that not only Vinnie was touched by Charley's little outburst, and the white-furred mouse let out his breath as a huge weight suddenly lifted off of him.
Although he would never say it out loud, Throttle's approval meant the world to him, simply because he -and Modo for that matter- meant the world to him.
But Charley did too, now.
All he ever wanted was all those who mattered to get along.
By the looks of things, that suddenly wasn't so far out of reach anymore.
If the human woman was able to forgive his bro for treating her the way he did, that is.
But, as it turned out, that wasn't even a source of concern.
You see, Charley wasn't like other people.
She did possess the ability to look at both sides of the story, and as it turned out, she was a rather forgiving person, too.
"It's okay, Throttle. I get it. I really do. You just try to protect those you care about", she said softly and after the slightest hesitation, she rested a hand on his arm.
"I forgive you."
Ahw.
I'm getting a bit weepy here.
Don't even think about it.
Throttle gave her a nod in return, to show his gratitude for her forgiveness before he let her go and turned around.
"Now then. Where were we?"
But before anyone could respond, Charley tapped the tan-furred mouse on the shoulder and he tilted his head a bit surprised as he gave her a questionable look.
"I uh… I have another question for him. Do you mind if I uh…?", and she pointed at O'Neill.
Vinnie quickly looked the other way to hide his smile.
Of course, her curiosity was still not even near to satisfied, and he could know.
After all, he had seen at first hand how deadly curious this woman could be.
Throttle, now finally back to his usual calm and friendly self, took a step aside and gestured to O'Neill.
"Knock yourself out."
Charley nodded and putting her chin in the air, she focused her attention on O'Neill again.
"Last night at the alley. You followed me there, obviously. But someone called you and you left. Why?"
Still with that pained expression on his face, transforming him from stone-cold asshole into an actual human being, O'Neill heaved a sigh.
"Because dispatch sent me to a robbery that required immediate back-up. I had to go. I couldn't just tell them about my whereabouts, since I wasn't even supposed to be there. It wasn't my case anymore. Not officially, that is."
That made sense, actually.
He was working in secret, after all.
If his boss would find out, he would lose his job.
It was then that Vinnie suddenly realized something.
Or actually, it practically hit him like a meteor, for it was something he didn't like, at all.
No.
That was, if anything, an understatement.
He not just 'didn't like it', no, this particular realization made his anger fire like a missile without warning, which was actually quite a rare thing to happen.
But, as he had learned the hard way the night he met her, along with the -now dead- guy who had the nerve to victimize her — when it came to Charley, all bets were off.
"You knew…", he whispered, hardly able to speak due to the sudden rage that spread through his body like wildfire before he raised his fuming red eyes.
"You followed her everywhere, after all. So you were there when she got kidnapped this morning. You knew she was in danger and yet, you did nothing!"
He almost spat out the last word as he yanked himself free from Modo's grip, this time without even real effort.
As always, anger made him significantly stronger.
And blind.
Don't forget blind.
O'Neill's face visibly paled when he felt Vinnie's anger filling the room like an electric field.
"No, wait, I wasn't there this morning…", he started, his eyes wide open as he wildly shook his bald head, but Vinnie didn't let him finish.
"Stop lying, you piece of shit! You knew!"
"Whoa, settle, Vincent, settle", Throttle breathed, alarmed by this sudden change in behavior.
Unfortunately, yet as expected, Vinnie literally ignored his entire existence and the tan-furred mouse quickly signed to Modo to grab their young bro before things could go south.
The grey-furred giant immediately obeyed, but Vinnie, smaller and therefore more agile, skillfully dodged his hands and launched himself at O'Neill.
"Vinnie, no!"
But it was too late.
With a loud crack, the chair collapsed under the heavyweight of two fully grown persons and a groan in pain escaped O'Neill's lips when he fell on his back with the white-furred mouse on top of him, knocking the wind out of him at the same time.
Still entirely overwhelmed by this enormous wave of fury, Vinnie's hands found O'Neill's neck effortlessly and he wrapped his fingers around his throat.
"She could've died and you did nothing", he growled as he put even more pressure on the man's windpipe, the red haze blurring the edges of his vision preventing him from seeing the sheer terror on his victims face.
Deep down, though thoroughly hidden, Vinnie knew he was overreacting.
Deep down, he knew he was merely projecting his anger on the wrong person.
Deep down, he knew that it was on him that Charley almost died today, and not O'Neill.
'You ruined her life and for what?'
But it was just so much easier to blame someone else.
To have someone else pay for his mistakes.
The perfect scapegoat…
'Some might call that selfish…'
Vinnie wrinkled his nose, the voices echoing through his head only making him angrier, a thing that seemed to be impossible and yet here he was.
Trying to squeeze the life out of someone with his bare hands.
'I never said I wasn't.'
"No… p-please, I-I wasn't… there…", O'Neill wheezed, tears in his bloodshot eyes as he grabbed Vinnie's hand in some feeble attempt to stop him, which was useless, of course.
"P-please… s-stop…"
But Vinnie didn't stop.
No, someone had to pay for all the shit that happened to Charley and that someone was none other than their beloved Detective O'Neill.
The man who had given them nothing but trouble.
The man who could've saved Charley before she was placed in that awful trap…
"Vinnie, please! Stop!"
Vinnie froze when Charley's melodious voice penetrated the red mist that was clouding his mind.
Although he really wanted to claim otherwise, it still wasn't enough for him to defeat this all-consuming rage, but it did make him loosen his grip, if only a little.
But apparently, it was enough.
Because it was all O'Neill needed to get just the right amount of air to squeeze out the one reason why he was so hellbent on staying alive.
"Please… My wife… she's pregnant…"
Oh boy, O'Neill's in big trouble, alright.
But I guess I speak for all of us when I say - who the fuck cares?
Hehehe.
Still, the question remains: will Vinnie be able to stop?
And if he does, what will Throttle eventually decide to do with the nosey detective?
In fact, how are they gonna fix this huge mess?
Will Vinnie and Charley be able to be together, in the end?
Ah well.
If you wanna know the answers to those questions, I suppose you stay tuned. ;)
Please, lemme know what you think, always very helpful, plus a big motivator and till next time, my friends.
Stay safe out there and ride free, citizens!