Hey there!

HAPPY NEWYEAR!

And thanks for the reviews on the latest chapter, really much appreciated.
I figured I'd be able to update this story way sooner, but again, I was struggling with a major writer's block.
But here it is!
I'm not fully satisfied with the result, but I was done nitpicking and decided to just throw it online, hehe.
Hope you guys like it anyway.

Feel free to leave a review when you're done, always makes my day.
Stay safe out there, my dearest readers, and till next time!

Later!

Chapter 11

"Please… My wife… she's pregnant…"

A family.
He had a family?
This… man?
This cold and distant man had actually managed to find himself a wife?
What the…
Well, if that wasn't a wake-up call, what possibly was?

Vinnie blinked a few times before he looked down on the Earther lying underneath him, and when he saw brown eyes filled with sheer terror looking back at him, he suddenly let the man go as if he was on fire.
O'Neill gasped desperately for air before bursting into a severe coughing fit and the white-furred mouse quickly scrambled backward until his back touched the couch, gazing at the man with his red eyes wide open.
"You have a wife?", he breathed in shock, the anger already perishing almost as quickly as it came.

O'Neill merely nodded his flushed head, still coughing loudly as he rubbed his sore throat, obviously not able to speak just yet.
Vinnie took a deep breath, trying not to get nauseous due to the quite disturbing sounds that came out of the human and his gaze wandered from O'Neill to his hands.
The same hands that almost killed a man who was about to become a father.
Holy shit, what a way of showing him that they were the good guys here.

"I ah… I'm sorry. I didn't know", he mumbled, suddenly very ashamed of his behavior.
Behavior that usually wasn't like him despite his temper, but everything was just so different ever since he met Charley.
He was different.
Movement in front of him made him raise his eyes again, just in time to see Charley giving the unfortunate man a glass of water, her face blank.

The latter gratefully took it, and after taking a few sips, he heaved a sigh and wiped off his mouth.
"Of course you didn't know. No one really knows, after all", he rasped, still a bit out of breath.
Charley crouched down next to him with a furrowed brow, her hands resting on her knees.
"What do you mean, no one really knows?"
O'Neill let out a humorless laugh, which he immediately regretted because again, he started coughing extremely loud and Vinnie rolled his eyes, he just couldn't stop himself.
Exaggerating much?

When he was finally done with puking his lungs out, the lawman took another sip of the water before he let out his breath.
"In my profession, it's best to keep your weaknesses as thoroughly hidden as possible. So, no, I don't exactly advertise that I have a family."
It was a fair point.
Look what happened to Charley today.
Still, it must be a lonely existence, being a cop.

It was then that Throttle finally opened his mouth again.
"How do we know that you're telling the truth? People would say pretty much anything when death is knocking on their door, after all."
Vinnie glanced at his leader, who was, by the looks of things, not amused by this sudden turn.
The reason why was actually quite simple — this whole thing just became even more complicated than it already was.
And whose fault is that?
Man.

Instead of answering, O'Neill leaned a bit to the right and reached for his pocket, alarming everyone in the room at the same time.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, keep your hands where we can see them, pal", Throttle warned the man as he already aimed his gun at him, now on high alert.
The same applied to Vinnie, who was now back on his feet, and with the hand that wasn't holding a gun, he gestured to Charley to come over to him, as in — right now.
The human female immediately obeyed and while keeping a close eye on O'Neill, she rushed over to the white-furred mouse.
Also with his red eyes fixed on the detective, Vinnie gently but firmly pushed her behind him in a most protective way, able to breathe again now he knew she was out of harm's way.

But instead of whipping out a hidden gun, or any other deadly weapon for that matter, O'Neill immediately raised his hands again when he heard Throttle's voice.
"Easy, fella's. You wanted proof, right? I've got it right here."
"Why don't I take it for ya, huh?", Modo suggested as he approached the man with his bionic arm aimed at his bald head.
The detective shrugged.
"Sure. It's in my right pocket."
After sharing a quick glance with his bro's, Modo crouched down next to O'Neill and reached into the pocket of the khaki coat before pulling something out that looked a lot like a wallet.

Throttle, still holding the man at gunpoint as well, stepped closer with an outstretched hand.
The grey-furred giant got back upright and gave the wallet to his leader.
"I'll tie him back up."
"Now, is that really necessary, I…", O'Neill started his protest, but Modo merely grabbed the man by his jacket and threw him on another chair without real effort.
"I'm afraid I have to insist."
Vinnie watched the scene with mixed feelings, but it was annoyance that prevailed, triggered by seeing how Modo threw the man around like a ragdoll, as if the guy didn't weigh like two-hundred kilos or something.
Life could be so unfair sometimes.

Meanwhile, Throttle opened the wallet, but after giving it a closer look, a frown appeared on his face.
"There's nothing in there. Nothing that matters, at least."
His gaze landed on O'Neill, who nodded at the wallet as he let Modo tie him back up without even so much as flexing a muscle, which was weird, actually.
Him being so cooperative.
"Look behind the silver credit card."
The tan-furred mouse narrowed his eyes behind his glasses, not convinced that this would lead to anything useful, but after careful consideration, he did as he was told.

After searching for a brief moment, he pulled out something that turned out to be a picture and Vinnie now popped up next to his friend to take a closer look at it, curious as he was.
Much to his surprise, a smiling O'Neill looked back at him, holding the hand of a woman who was the definition of classic beauty, with her pale skin, red hair, and full lips.
Okay, what the actual fuck?
"Dude, she's hot!", he blurted out, not realizing that he probably shouldn't.
As expected, someone was not amused by this observation and Charley cleared her throat, folding her arms as she gave the white-furred mouse a meaningful look.
Vinnie glanced at her and his cheeks turned red when he saw her face.
Oops.

"I ah… What I actually meant to say is — what is a woman such as her doing with someone like you?", he quickly tried to make up for his mistake, pulling his bandana as he let his gaze land on O'Neill.
Who, by the looks of things, wasn't even close to bothered by his uh… not so smart comment, which was the second odd thing in a short matter of time.
After all, Vinnie did not only try to kill him just now, he also called his wife hot as if she was nothing more than an object of lust.
The same wife he tried to keep safe at all cost, which meant he truly loved her.
Hm.
Something had changed.
Something was different.
But Vinnie couldn't put his finger on it.

To make it even more peculiar, instead of telling the young mouse he could go to hell or something, the detective merely heaved a sigh, a somewhat sad look on his face.
"Every day I sit and ask myself that same question. And I still don't know the answer."
Uh, okay…
"That sounds uh… strangely depressing", Modo said slowly with a furrowed brow, clearly just as confused by this answer as his friends were.
O'Neill shrugged, for a moment deep in thought, but he then slightly shook his head and looked at Vinnie.
"That's why I wasn't there this morning. I was in the hospital with my wife."
Not really knowing how to respond, the white-furred mouse blinked his eyes while his gaze went from pillar to post, all to avoid looking O'Neill in the eye.
Awkwardness overload.

In fact, no one knew what to say, but then there was Charley.
Caring as ever.
Or maybe it was just because she was a woman.
"Is everything okay? With her and the baby?", the human female asked, though a bit hesitant and Vinnie smiled, his heart warming up by only looking at her.
The way she stood there, with genuine concern written upon her face…
What a woman.

O'Neill looked up a bit surprised, obviously, he hadn't seen this coming, but then again, who did?
"She uh… she's fine. So is the baby… It's a boy", he added with a somewhat dreamy expression on his usually stone-cold face and Vinnie couldn't stop himself from concluding that the man turned out to be human after all.
So miracles did happen.
What a strange world.

"He's telling the truth."
Everyone looked at Throttle, who held up another picture, but it looked different than usual and Vinnie snatched it out of his hands.
"What is it?", he asked as he studied the strange image, which was nothing more than uh… spots and dots.
"It's an ultrasound picture of a fetus", the tan-furred mouse answered without even blinking.
Okay, nerd alert 2.0 times ten.

Vinnie slowly turned his head to look at his friend and leader, his face blank.
"It's an ultras… Okay, whatever, man. I'm not even gonna ask how you know this. Just skip to the part where you tell me how this turns out to be a reliable alibi."
Throttle shrugged.
"Well, that's easy", and he pointed at the row of numbers in the corner of the picture.
"That's the date and time the picture was taken. If my memory is correct, which it always is, we were fighting Limburger only an hour or so later."
"Which means he couldn't have been there when they kidnapped Charley", Modo concluded and Throttle nodded to confirm.
"Affirmative."

Although the proof was actually quite indisputable, Vinnie still wasn't entirely convinced, which was nothing but some childish act of denial and he looked at Charley.
"You remember the time when Greasepit took you?"
The human female took a deep breath, looking up with a furrowed brow as she thought back to this morning.
This awful morning.
"I think it was around 8 o'clock. I was drinking coffee, right before the shop opened. But then he came in…"
She shivered, obviously not comfortable with reliving this memory.
And who could blame her?
Seeing Greasepit's ugly mug first thing in the morning ought to be traumatizing.

Vinnie nodded as he looked back at the picture, even though he knew perfectly well what it said.
8:11 am.
I rest my case.
"Okay, you obviously weren't there. Case closed".
And he threw the picture over his shoulder, allegedly nonchalant, thereby stubbornly ignoring the giant wave of shame that washed over him now it was officially proven that he had been wrong.
Yeah well, he already told the guy he was sorry, what else could he do?

O'Neill just glanced a bit sad at the picture that now landed on the ground before he looked at Throttle.
"You mentioned the name Limburger. Are you talking about the same guy who's practically Chicago's hero?"
The tan-furred mouse rubbed his chin, obviously contemplating if the time had come to keep his end of the bargain, but he eventually decided it would only be fair to do so.
"Yes. The very same."
"And you fight him?"
Obviously, O'Neill didn't understand a thing about this, but the mice couldn't really blame him for that, no matter how bad they wanted to.
But the sad truth was that Limburger was, indeed, some kind of hero in this town, wrapping everyone around his slimy finger with money.

Throttle heaved a sigh as he ran a hand through the bangs between his big ears.
"Yes. We do. Someone has to."
"Why?", Charley now asked, and when Vinnie glanced at her, he couldn't stop the smile from curling his lips.
The look on her face said it all.
She was finally getting the answers she wanted so badly and it obviously delighted her beyond words.
Knowing he owed her much more than just a vague explanation, Vinnie decided to just drop the bomb.
"Because he's a Plutarkian."

Charley's mouth dropped, whilst O'Neill just stared at him with a blank face.
"He's an alien?"
"What's a Plutarkian?"
The two Earther's started talking at the same time, but when the detective heard Charley mention the word alien, his brown eyes grew big.
"Wait, what, an alien?"

Vinnie rolled his eyes when he saw his surprise.
"Oh, man, come on. Where did you think we come from, huh? Ain't the tails and ears enough?", he snorted as he gestured at his -obviously perfect- body to strengthen his words.
"I thought you guys were just a governmental experiment gone wrong or something like that", O'Neill shrugged a bit sheepishly and now it was Vinnie's turn to stare at him.
"You… you thought that we… that we… what?"
Can you believe this guy?

"Okaaay, we obviously have some explaining to do", Modo quickly intervened, knowing that if he didn't, Vinnie would start a rant about how the guy could even think that his grade-A body was a result of an experiment or whatever.
"You do", Charley immediately replied as she took a chair and sat down, barely able to stop herself from rubbing her hands in eagerness.
"Although I already knew about the alien part, there are still so many things I don't know."
Everyone now let their gaze land on Throttle, Vinnie with gnashing teeth, still deeply insulted by O'Neill's theory, but even he knew that it was time to, as Modo so kindly pointed out to him earlier, let the adults talk.
Ugh.

The tan-furred mouse also grabbed a chair and after turning it around, he sat down, resting his folded arms on the backrest.
"Okay, so, as Vinnie's not so subtle response already gave away, we're obviously not some experiment gone wrong. We're descendants of an ancient race called Musantrum, also known as the Martian Cave Mouse."
He dropped a silence, probably to give the humans, especially O'Neill, some time to digest his words.
When that process was finally done, the lawman gave him a baffled look.
"Martian? You're from… Mars?"
"That's correct."
"Bit of a giveaway, considering the name", Vinnie huffed as he plopped on the couch.
As always, his lack of patience made it hard for him to understand that this was a lot to take in for a human who up until now never believed in alien life.

Modo, who sat next to him, punched him on the arm.
"Cut the guy some slack, man. You almost fainted when you saw a human for the first time, after all."
The white-furred mouse gave his bro a deadly glare before he folded his arms, sinking deeper into the thick cushions of the couch with a faint blush under his fur.
"How nice of you to remind me of that. Like I already told you a thousand times or so — I hadn't eaten for days and therefore, my blood sugar was running low."
"Naturally", Modo merely smiled and Vinnie shrugged his shoulders with a face like thunder, the paragon of an angry child.
"Well, it's the truth."

"What I wanna know is — how did you guys end up here?", Charley took over the conversation again, although she was obviously amused by hearing this juicy little detail about Vinnie's first alien encounter.
Why, thanks, Modo.
She's never gonna let me hear the end of it.
Throttle shrugged his shoulders, probably trying to look nonchalant, but those who knew him well enough could see that this wasn't a subject he liked to talk about.
It came with a lot of pain, actually.
"Well, there's one thing you should know about Plutarkians — they are cruel. In fact, they're the most cruel race we ever encountered. They came to Mars a few years ago, wanting our land, for they wasted all of their own. As we learned later on, we weren't the first planet they tried to take over. They just go around the kosmos, stripmining every planet they encounter and use the resources to keep their planet and its inhabitants alive."

Charley's face darkened by every word that came over Throttle's lips and she pulled up her legs before wrapping her arms around it.
"That's awful… So they destroyed your planet?"
"Nah, they bought it. They tricked the government, and by the time they found out about their mistake, it was already too late", Modo told her grimly, his gaze focussed on his bionic arm.
Throttle shot his friend a sympathizing look before he focussed his attention back on Charley again.
"The mice population fought back, though. Hard. But most of us got wiped out."
"So you're telling us that there's not only life, but a war raging on Mars as well?", O'Neill finally opened his mouth after listening carefully to every word the mice said.
When Throttle nodded to confirm, he gave them all three a puzzled look.
"So, that makes you what, Martian Army?"

Vinnie drew in a sharp breath as his tail lashed through the air with a zooming sound.
"No way. We're Freedom Fighters. The Army didn't last for a year. And that's where Stoker took over."
"Who is Stoker?", Charley and O'Neill asked in unison, but then glared at each other, a bit uncomfortable.
"He's the founder of the Freedom Fighters. Again, the name kind of gives it away. We're rebels", Throttle explained with a little smile.
"We're more than just rebels. We're Mars' last hope", Vinnie added.

But, sharp as she was, Charley looked at him with a furrowed brow.
"Then why are you here? On Earth?"
As if on cue, the three mice heaved a sigh.
"We crashed here", Modo answered that question, a somewhat pained expression on his face.
"Here?", O'Neill asked.
"Yeah, here. Literally", Vinnie nodded.
"In the scoreboard?", Charley now asked, her eyes wide open.
"Yes", Throttle sighed.

The detective frowned as he looked around the room, which was messy but intact.
"And we never noticed?"
Vinnie shrugged.
"You guys thought it was fireworks, we found out later on."
O'Neill blinked a few times.
"Hm. That sounds like sheer human stupidity, yes."

Throttle chuckled at this statement.
Although he perhaps wished he could claim otherwise, the man did have a point.
Humans tended to be a little silly, from time to time.
Or maybe just ignorant.
"We tried to find a way back, but our ship was toasted…"
"And then we found out about Limburger", Modo grumbled, his eye flickering red when he pronounced the name of the almost famous 'business man' in town.

If his glowing eye rattled the two humans, they both didn't show it, in fact, they seemed to hang on every word that came over mice's lips.
"That he's a Plutarkian, you mean?", O'Neill asked, the strange expression on his face telling everyone that he was still getting used to the word 'Plutarkian'.
The grey-furred giant nodded.
"Yeah. And that he's doing the same thing here as they did on Mars."
"That he tries to do the same thing, you mean", Vinnie intervened, and a proud smile lit up his entire face.
"You forget to mention the part where we stop about every scheme he tries to pull off."

"And destroy half the city while you're at it", O'Neill pointed out dryly.
By the looks of things, he was finally starting to understand what exactly was happening in his beloved city.
"And then there's that", Vinnie muttered, slightly irritated that the man brought up this particular fact instead of acknowledging how awesome he and his bro's were.
But mainly him.
Of course.
"We try to keep the damage as minimal as possible, but what can I say? Limburger fights hard and dirty", Throttle explained calmly, shrugging his shoulders.
"And we happen to love Martian Thunder", Vinnie grinned.

Another silence dawned upon them as the two humans took some time to let all of this sink in, but it was a lot.
It probably needed a little more than just a few minutes.
O'Neill seemed to realize the same thing and he slightly shook his head, trying to keep his focus instead of letting his brain be overwhelmed by all this information.
"So the people you kill… they work for him? For Limburger?"
Throttle shifted his weight a bit uneasy, for this was another subject he didn't like to talk about.
"Most of them, yes. Although they don't know who exactly they work for, they are all annoyingly persistent. It probably has something to do with the money Limburger promises them."

The tan-furred leader dropped a silence as he gave the detective a meaningful look.
"If there's one thing I've learned about humans, it's that they're willing to do almost anything for money. It makes them even more dangerous than they already are by nature."
"Apparently, Martian's ain't no different", O'Neill retorted sharply, referring to the Martian Government that had literally sold their own planet to the most cruel race in the universe.
Instead of being insulted by the man's contradiction, Throttle merely smiled.
"Touché."

Charley listened to all this with a frown decorating her usually pretty face before she finally opened her mouth again.
"So that's what makes you the good guys, right?"
Vinnie, playing with one of his knives because he simply wasn't capable of sitting still, looked up a bit surprised and his red eyes darted across the room to her.
"What are you saying?"
Still with a furrowed brow, obviously racking her brain, the human female caught his gaze.
"You only kill them because they work for Limburger, right? To protect Earth from suffering the same fate as Mars. If I'm not mistaken, that makes you the good guys."
She was just so… good-hearted.
What did he do to deserve her?

Modo rubbed his chin with his bionic hand, his one eye peering at the ceiling as he thought about her words.
"The end justifies the means, you mean?"
Charley shrugged before resting her chin on her knees.
"Something like that."
"The way I see it, O'Neill is right. Murder is still murder. But not even I can deny that we simply don't have a choice. We have to protect Earth, at all costs", Throttle said, his fingers drumming on the backrest of the chair as he glanced at O'Neill, somehow expecting him to disagree with him.
After all, he had been really clear about how he felt about all this.

The man was now staring at a spot close to his feet, clearly deep in thought, but just when Throttle thought he needed some more time, O'Neill looked up.
Much to his utter surprise, it was determination that was written upon his face instead of disgust or anger.
But it were his words that had about the same effect as a nuclear bomb.
"I wanna help."
Vinnie almost cut himself on his knife, but he managed to save his beloved fingers right on time and he looked up with a jerk, his red eyes wide open.
"You want what?"
"Yeah, you want what?", Modo repeated, his usual low voice a few octaves higher due to his surprise.

O'Neill shrugged, but despite the fact that he obviously tried to look nonchalant, he still had that same facial expression.
The one that literally screamed determination.
"You heard me. I wanna help."
Throttle lowered his glasses a few inches and peered at the man with his pinkish bionic eyes before he put it back where it belonged.
It was nothing more than a gesture to demonstrate his current thought that the man officially had lost his mind, for he wasn't even able to see anything else but snow-white spots on a black background without his glasses.
"What made you change your mind?", he asked, and not even the usual unflappable leader was able to filter the surprise out of his husky voice.
Raising a hand, the detective pointed a finger at Vinnie as far as the ropes let him.
"He did."

That was even a bigger shock and as if on cue, all mouth's dropped.
Even Vinnie's, and where he usually would feel slightly insulted by seeing everyone's surprise, he now just stared at the man, his ego nowhere to be found.
"Me? Dude, I tried to kill you", he eventually managed to bring out as he sat there, on the edge of the couch with his back as straight as an arrow.
"Exactly", O'Neill merely said and Vinnie threw his hands in the air, shaking his head with flapping ears.
"Okay, you lost me. And they say I am a tough act to follow, honestly."
Heaving a sigh, O'Neill shifted his weight so he was able to look Vinnie in the eye with his serious face on.
"It's actually quite simple. Your anger proved to me that you are capable of loving. I mean, you obviously care for Miss Davidson. The story that followed only confirmed that. You are, indeed, good uh… people. Which means, in turn, that I was wrong about you. I was wrong about everything..."

As the last sounds of his voice faded away, a deadly silence took its place and for the first time since forever, Vinnie was absolutely speechless.
It wasn't like earlier, when he didn't really know what to say and all.
No, he was completely dumbstruck by the fact that his impulsiveness, the very one that usually always seemed to get him and his bro's into trouble, had helped them.
It had actually helped them.
It also explained the sudden change in O'Neill's behavior.
Man.
This was crazy.
Even beyond that.
As in - ''Martian Mice love cheese' kind of crazy.

It was Throttle who broke the silence.
"Again, how do we know that what you say is true? How do we know that this isn't just a story to save your own skin?"
"You don't. Look, I may be a dick, but I'm still a cop. All I want is to keep this city and its people safe", O'Neill explained, looking around the group before his eyes locked with Throttle's.
"So, as it turns out, you were right. We both want the same thing. So why not work together, huh? It can only increase the likelihood of success."
Modo folded his arms as he gave O'Neill an investigating look.
"I dunno… We're gonna have to trust each other if we wanna work as a team and no offense, but I don't trust you as far as I can throw you."

The lawmen shrugged, not at all impressed by Modo questioning his intentions.
"Well, you and me both. Trust needs to be earned. All we have to do is give it a chance. We can always still kill each other if it doesn't work out", he partially joked, he was even smiling, but there was a certain undertone audible in his voice, telling the mice that he wasn't one that liked to get bitten in the ass.
Then again, who did?

When the mice didn't respond, his face grew serious again.
"Look, I think I can be a great help to your mission. I can be your eyes and ears at the station, and you'll be mine on the streets, which makes us able to organize targeted missions. Heck, with my access to the system, we might be even able to track down Limburger's entire network", he babbled enthusiastically, his usually dull eyes now glistening with something that came closest to renewed hope.
"And instead of killing them, I can lock them up. We can make the system work again. We can make Chicago great again!"

As he was talking, his voice became louder and louder and Vinnie's ears slightly twitched due to his now vibrating eardrums.
But, in spite of himself, he couldn't really deny that the man had a point.
No matter how good they were, there were only three of them and there was only so much they could do.
Perhaps a little help wasn't such a bad idea after all…

"I wanna help, too", Charley blurted out, straight through O'Neill's speech or whatever it was and again, Vinnie almost cut off a finger.
Excuse me?!
Scowling, he put the knife away, before he would accidentally stab his eye out or something like that and he turned his burning gaze at the human female sitting across the room.
"Ain't gonna happen, babe. You saw what happened today. It's too dangerous", he told her, more stern than he intended to, but if it was up to him, this conversation was already done before it could even begin.

But, as expected, all he saw in her green eyes was that infuriating determination of hers, the very one that had brought her here.
It was clear to him that she had made up her mind already, that she had finally managed to create some order in the chaos that was the equivalent of everything that had happened to her these past few days.
Her words only confirmed that he perhaps knew her better than he thought in the first place.
"Too dangerous, my ass. You said it yourself, they know who I am now. We can't just undo that, no matter how badly we all want to. So, the way I see it, making me part of the team is the only way for you to keep me safe while I can do my bit for protecting this city from alien menace. This city, which is my home, in case you have forgotten."

Goddammit.
She was just so annoyingly persistent.
And not wrong, either.
Which was even worse.
Vinnie blew out some air between gritted teeth, severely frustrated as he looked at the woman that had managed to capture his heart in only one night, a fact that made her more than just special.

She looked back at him with her mouth in a tight line and her chin up, her gaze almost burning a hole in his skull.
Her strength, the one he had admired up until now, suddenly triggered something entirely different.
Something less pleasant.
A rare feeling of panic, one that literally took his breath away.
He couldn't lose her.
Not now he just found her.

"And what exactly might 'your bit for protecting this city' be?", he asked, trying very hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, for she didn't deserve that, but he failed miserably.
And he hated himself for it.
He hated himself for being scared.
He didn't do fear.
He never did.
He was Vinnie Van Wham, after all.
And yet, here was.
Absolutely terrified by the thought alone of losing her.
How disappointedly weak.

If her cute little ears caught his undertone, she didn't show it and she pointed at his bike that was parked close by the open window.
His damaged bike.
"I can help with the bikes. I can fix them, upgrade them, you name it."
She really needed to stop talking.
Before she might be able to persuade him.
"You're a mechanic?", Modo meddled with the conversation before Vinnie could say another word, a fact that made him even more cranky than he already was.
He wasn't one that thrived on control, heck, the less control, the better, but now… now he felt he was losing control over this conversation and it made him even more restless than usual.

Charley polished her nails on her shirt with an arched brow, her lips curled into a smile so smugly that even Vinnie could learn from it.
"Best in Chi-Town, if I may say so."
Puh-lease.
Whatta ego.
Vinnie folded his arms and slightly shrugged his shoulders as he glared at Charley out of the corner of his eye, in reality not irritated by her confidence but by himself for being so… overprotective.
Such a buzzkill, honestly…
"Why are we still talking about this? It's not gonna happen, so get it out of your head, Charley", he snapped at her, even though he didn't want to, but shit, what else could he do?
She had already been through enough because of him.
And he… well, he simply had experienced too many losses.
He wasn't sure if he would be able to survive another one.

A shadow flickered across Charley's face, taking her smile with it.
"It's not your choice to make, Vincent. It's my life and I decide what to do with it."
Her voice was as cold as ice, it was obvious that she was no longer able to ignore his horrible negative attitude and the look on her face, along with her eyes practically turning him into a pile of ashes was enough to give Vinnie goosebumps all over his body.
This was one dangerous woman.
Great, ain't it?
Still, it wasn't even nearly enough for him to give in.
After all, she could only be mad at him when she was breathing.
And he rather wanted her to hate him than be forced to watch her die if he failed to protect her.
Because he would.
Fail her.

And so, after standing up from the couch, he made himself big as he looked her straight in the eye, he even bristled his fur, hoping this would help to get through to her.
"Over my dead body. We'll find another way, we always do…"
"Like what? Keeping me here, hidden from the world?", she cut him off as she too jumped up and made herself big, which would've been impressive if it wasn't so cute.
"I have a life out there, Vinnie. You can't take that away from me!"
"Your life is exactly what you pay with if I let you join this team", he snapped back at her, seething with anger now and his tail lashed through the air.
"Are you really that eager to die?"
Much to his horror, tears suddenly jumped in her eyes, putting out the green flames.
Even worse, her lower lip started to tremble.
"I can be of great value. Why can't you just see that? You really think that little of me?"

Vinnie stared at her, his brain making overtime but then his heart skipped a beat or two when he finally realized what was happening here.
She felt rejected.
Unappreciated.
Man.
For someone this awesome, he could be such a cold-hearted prick sometimes.
Did she not know that he didn't doubt her skills?
All he ever wanted was to keep her safe.
Hurting her feelings doesn't really feel like a good start, macho mouse.

His shoulders slumped and his hands fell limp next to his body in defeat by seeing her pain.
"Charley, I…"
He had no idea what to say.
Again.
This day…
This day was a huge pain in the ass.
Charley slightly shook her head as she angrily wiped her tears away, obviously trying very hard not to let her emotions get the best of her.
"All I'm asking for is a chance to prove myself."

Still conflicted, Vinnie let out his breath, but before he could rack his brain any longer about what to say to ease her pain, a cold hand made of indestructible steel on his shoulder made him look up, straight into Modo's friendly face.
"I hate to say it, little bro, but she's got a point. We can't just keep her here, like some prisoner…"
I know…
But where Modo's genuine kindness usually calmed Vinnie down, it now only made him sick to the stomach for whatever reason and he shrugged the hand of his shoulder while giving his older bro the most deadly glare he owned.
"You're supposed to be on my side on this, Modo. This is about keeping a lady out of harm's way, after all, so where's that chivalry of yours when we need it, huh?"

Modo, not at all impressed by his younger bro's snark, gave him another warm smile.
"I am on your side. You just haven't seen it yet."
"Great. Just what I needed right now. Another cheesy magazine quote", Vinnie muttered, rolling his eyes as he fought the sudden and quite convincing urge to punch his older bro in the face, simply because he felt cornered, a feeling he hated to the core.
That rare feeling of panic was still gnawing on his insides, and hearing that Modo obviously was on Charley's side only made it worse.
Almost pleading, Vinnie let his gaze land on Throttle, who had been awfully quiet during this entire conversation, and he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.
"Come on, fearless leader, a little help here…"

But Throttle gave him one of those horrible sympathizing looks, telling Vinnie what was next and he already held up his hand to stop his leader from talking, for he didn't want to hear it.
Not from Throttle.
It would mean too much.
It would make it too real.
"Never mind. For once, that goddamn poker face of yours speaks volumes."
The tan-furred mouse still opened his mouth, though.
After all, there wasn't really anyone who could tell Throttle what to do.
"I understand your urge to protect her, I feel it too, but…"

"Ugh, spare me the whole leader-ish speech thingy. It was only yesterday that you wanted me to erase her memory and now you're welcoming her to the team. Why?", Vinnie already cut him off, gnashing his teeth in annoyance.
"Because it was only today that I was able to see the way you look at her", Throttle simply answered and Vinnie fell silent again, for this was the last thing he expected.
Next to that, this, all this, bordered dangerously close to mushy.
Abort mission.

After heaving a sigh, Throttle climbed on his feet and walked over to his stubborn young bro.
"You love her", he stated as he put his arm around Vinnie's shoulders.
"I know that now. I would never stand in the way of true love. And I know true love when I see it…"
Vinnie bit his lower lip as he glanced up at his bro almost beseeching, his heart racing in his chest.
"Then you know that I can't lose her…"
Throttle smiled down on him somewhat soothingly.
"You won't lose her. We'll keep her safe. Because that's what we do. We take care of each other."
Of course, Vinnie believed him.
One could say a lot about his fearless leader and friend, but he was sincere, he always had been.
Dammit.

His red eyes darted over to Charley, who stood there a bit lost and he let out his breath.
Despite that he would never say it out loud, he knew he was defeated.
If even Throttle was confident that this would work, well…
"Okay, fine…"
Her entire face lit up and the left corner of his mouth slightly trembled when his heart fluttered in his chest by this cute sight.
"But let me at least teach you how to defend yourself", he added quickly, if only to ease his conscience.
Another smile appeared on her face, a quite dirty one, actually.
"Deal."
Hm.
She probably just had a vision of the two of them, wrestling in the mud, entirely naked…
Wait, what?

Vinnie cleared his throat with burning cheeks as he pushed Throttle away, highly uncomfortable by having these kinds of thoughts while standing so close to his leader, although the latter hardly seemed to notice.
Thank the Mother of Mars.
Damn that forsaken brain of his.
It was a very good thing that no one was able to read it, not without his permission, that is.

"So, I guess it's settled then", Modo broke the silence, a thing Vinnie was grateful for.
Throttle chuckled as he used his tail to grab one of Vinnie's knives out of his pocket before he made his way over to O'Neill, who had been wise enough to keep his mouth shut during this whole thing.
"It is. Team Chicago just gained two new members."
And with a certain flair, he cut the ropes that were holding the detective in his place.
"Don't let us down."

O'Neill slowly climbed on his feet, rubbing his sore wrists with a grateful look on his face.
He then bent over and picked up the picture of his baby with a certain tenderness that just didn't match with his crude posture, at all.
"I won't. I will do everything within my power to make sure this little one has a future with no Plutarkians in it."
"A good cause", Charley smiled, despite her hurt feelings still highly satisfied with the results of this conversation.
Although she did have one other question, or maybe even two, she decided to keep it for later, when she and Vinnie would be alone.

"Yeah, dude, but just one little word of advice…-", Vinnie started as he pushed something in O'Neill's hands, giving him a meaningful look.
"-...if you wanna keep your wife and kid to yourself, don't walk around with pictures of them in your wallet."
O'Neill stared at the wallet in his hands before he looked up, a somewhat tired look on his face.
"I need a drink."