Hey you guys…
How are you all doing out there?
First off, thanks for the reviews, follows, and favs!
I'm glad a few of you are still with me, even while this section of the site seems to get quieter with the hour.
To hear something from you always motivates me to keep writing :)
So thank you, for still being here and supporting me.
With that being said, I now present to you chapter 20 of this story which was supposed to be short but bloomed into something way bigger than that.
I hope you like it!
Enjoy! ^^
"What do you mean, we have a serious problem?", Throttle asked with a furrowed brow, not liking the look on O'Neill's face since it bordered dangerously close to one of fear.
In the short time that they worked together, the detective hadn't shown a shred of fear, telling the tan-furred Martian that the man wasn't easily fazed.
But he was now, and it worried him to the core, unlike Pux, who already seemed to be annoyed again.
"And here I was, thinking that Charley being kidnapped by a serial killer is already a very serious problem on its own", the blond-headed girl sighed, indeed, irritated as she ran a quivering hand through her curls.
Throttle took a deep breath to keep his calm, something he seemed to be doing a lot today.
Seriously, that girl's mood swings gave him a whiplash.
Once he was convinced that he was at least calm enough to stop himself from ripping her head off, he turned his head to look at the teenager standing next to him.
"Some people might like your sassy attitude, I am, however, not one of them. I'd appreciate it if you keep your mouth shut from now on so I can do my job. You think you can do that?"
Although he didn't even sound that unfriendly, there was a certain undertone audible, one that not even Pux was able to ignore, but that didn't mean she appreciated him telling her that she was out because that's what he basically did.
Still.
Perhaps the time had come to listen to him, and thus, she gave him a quick nod to let him know that the message was received before she sat down with her arms folded and a face like thunder.
The paragon of a child being reprimanded, but at least she stopped talking.
Happy that the girl finally backed down, Throttle gave her a nod back before looking back at O'Neill.
"Well?"
O'Neill glanced at him with a somewhat pained expression on his face, and he opened his mouth.
But then, his frown grew even deeper, and he snatched the bottle of vodka off the table again.
After taking an even bigger gulp than the previous one, he lowered the bottle as he caught Throttle's gaze.
"The man from the store ain't just some man. He's a big shot. A muckety-muck…"
His voice faltered dangerously, and he slightly shook his head before putting the bottle to his mouth again.
In all fairness, Throttle had never seen their befriended detective this uncomfortable, this… upset, and his stomach slowly tied into a knot, as he knew all too well that whoever the man in the store might be, it was indeed going to cause some serious problems.
"Who is he?", Modo asked seemingly calm, yet his visible eye was mildly narrowed.
That, and the twitching tail gave away that he wasn't as relaxed as he tried to come across, which meant that he was sharing Throttle's concerns here.
This, in turn, made Throttle even more unsettled, and he shifted his weight to his heels and back while his gaze landed back on O'Neill, waiting for him to answer the question in both dread and anticipation.
The usually unflappable detective swallowed the alcohol with a grimace and slightly shrugged one shoulder.
"Only the Secretary of Justice."
Throttle's stomach went from being knotted to turned upside down, and a nasty ache crawled from his stiff neck into his head, only to settle between his temples.
"The Secretary of Justice", he repeated tonelessly, or more like defeated as he now fully understood O'Neill's response, and he closed his eyes as he massaged his temples in the hope it would ease this very nasty headache.
O'Neill nodded, still having that same pained expression on his face that made him look twenty years older.
"Yeah. So, judging by your reaction, you know just as well as I do that this just became a very dangerous game to play. Too dangerous, if you ask me."
Instead of responding, Throttle merely continued his in reality feeble attempt to control the headache as he already racked his brain on how to solve this rather difficult matter.
Modo, however, didn't catch on just yet, and he rubbed his chin as he peered at O'Neill with a thoughtful frown.
"What makes you say that? That it's too dangerous?", he added the last part when he saw the confused look on the detective's face, but the addition didn't have the desired effect as it didn't make the bald man any less confounded.
"Ain't that obvious? Technically, he's the boss of my boss of my boss of my boss and the list goes on, which makes him my boss as well, I guess…", he mused out loud while scratching his head, for a moment distracted by this brain teaser, but he then snapped out of it and aimed his blazing brown eyes back at Modo.
"We can't just go after the Secretary of Justice. The guy matters. If he's found in a dumpster with a broken neck it's gonna have consequences, ya know?"
Now it was Modo who was confused.
"Who says we're gonna break his neck?"
O'Neill merely pointed at Vinnie without taking his gaze away from the grey Martian standing in front of him.
"You really believe that the guy is still breathing once he's done with him? After taking his girl, his pregnant girl… He has killed for her once. He will do it again. But I don't have to explain that to you. He's your bro, after all. You know him better than I do."
Modo hated to admit it, but the grumpy policeman was right.
The chances of the kidnapper coming out of this alive were slim to none, and that would most definitely complicate things.
Like their arrangement with the police, for instance.
Or even their presence here on this planet, which would give Limburger a free path to do whatever he wanted to do with the Windy City that was now their home.
Still…
"Then what do you suggest? We can't just let him get away with this because he's a big shot. He needs to be stopped, no matter his rank or status."
"Modo is right", Throttle agreed with his older brother, giving up his fight with the headache, knowing it was a losing battle anyway.
This was just one of those days…
"We need to stop him. And so we will. Because that's what we do. I'll deal with Vinnie", he quickly added when he saw that O'Neill was about to protest.
"We will do this by the book."
O'Neill let out a laugh, though it might be said that it was a humorless one.
"Do you even listen to yourself? Or did you listen to me for that matter? We can't go after the fucking Secretary of Justice! Not by ourselves, that is, and not without tons of evidence. Speaking of which, we don't even know for sure if this is our guy, although I guess it doesn't really matter because even if he is, our hands will be tied anyway", he babbled while pacing down and forth, but then he stopped again, and he looked at Throttle with his brow furrowed.
"Politics is an evil game, Throttle. You don't wanna interfere with the one being played in this city, trust me…"
A tan-furred hand suddenly grabbed him by his jacket and yanked him forward.
"Don't speak to me about politics. Politics is what destroyed our planet so don't even try to explain the dangers of the game called politics."
Throttle practically spat out the last word, his nose almost grazing O'Neill's while he was at it, but the man didn't even bat an eye, which was admirable to say the least.
"Then you know what shitshow is waiting for us", he merely said, as he was, indeed, not at all impressed by the tan Martian's anger, for he knew where it originated from.
He knew their story, after all.
And even if he wouldn't have known, the pain edged on the face of the creature holding him was a clear sign on its own that this whole thing obviously brought back some very unpleasant memories, and the bald man heaved a sigh.
"Look, if you wanna do this, fine. I know I won't be able to stop you. This is about Charley, after all. But perhaps you should at least consider the fact that we might need some help with this one. Just… Just let me call my boss, and then…"
"And then what?", Throttle interrupted him, softly shaking him while he continued to balance on the edge of what was named Mount Patience.
"Tell him how you know all this? Tell him the truth about who you really work with? That those notorious vigilantes are in fact three aliens? Or how about you tell him that one of those aliens has fallen in love with a human and knocked her up? And once you're done explaining that, you can go on with the sequel, ain't that great? I'm sure he'll love the story about that very same human being kidnapped by the Secretary of Justice of all people, who apparently has cutting babies out of their mother as a hobby, and now the lovestruck yet very stupid and immature alien is gonna want his head on a plate for endangering or even murdering his girlfriend and child, even though he's supposed to be the good guy. How's that for a love story?"
Breathing heavily due to his outburst, Throttle glared at O'Neill, who stared back at him with slightly widened eyes, and the glance of shock didn't elude the tan-furred leader.
He supposed he couldn't really blame him.
He usually was the calm one of the three, but gods, he was just so angry.
Angry with Vinnie for complicating things to the greatest extent ever possible.
He always did, but this time he had really outdone himself and no, not in a good way.
However, he shouldn't be taking it out on O'Neill.
Grumpy and bad at communicating as he might be, the guy didn't deserve this, and Throttle let out his breath while letting go of O'Neill's jacket.
"I'm sorry. That was over the top and totally unhelpful."
The bald man cast him a sideway glance as he adjusted his clothes.
"You have a very strange way of making your point, but I get it. We can't tell anyone and this doesn't change that. I mean, there's also the part about a very large fish dressed up as a businessman who's seeking world domination. I have no idea how to explain that to my boss without him sending me to the looney bin. I suppose we just continue to let him think what we want him to think, and that's that Limburger is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Human sheep's clothing, that is… A fish in human's clothing, yes…", he mumbled while staring at the floor, for a moment caught up in another conundrum.
But then, he cleared his throat and locked eyes with the impressive Martian still standing close to him, who was eyeing him with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
"Anyway. How do you suggest we're gonna make this work without alerting the cavalry?"
Throttle relaxed a little as well, and after giving himself a firm mental shake, he forced himself to focus on the main task and that was getting Charley to safety before it was too late.
If it wasn't too late already…
"We need to know where we can find your Secretary. Once we know his twenty, we'll do our own investigation to make sure he's our guy."
"And what if he is?", O'Neill asked, straight to the point as ever.
"Then we stop him. On your terms", Throttle added while giving O'Neill a meaningful look, or perhaps it was more of an apologizing one.
The bald man nodded, thereby saying that the furry leader was forgiven.
"Sounds like a plan."
The corner of Throttle's mouth twitched, and he rested a hand on the man's shoulder.
"So, tell me, detective O'Neill - where does the Secretary of Justice live?"
"Give me a computer and I'll find out."
Meanwhile, Pux was watching the scene while twisting and turning in her chair, trying very hard to keep her mouth shut as promised, but it was hard.
They were, AGAIN, wasting precious time, this time by arguing, but it seemed that they were finally back on track again.
Still, it didn't make her any less restless, and with her foot tapping on the floor at a rate Van Halen would be jealous of, her blue eyes darted to Vinnie, and her heart skipped a beat.
And another one.
"Uhm, Throttle?", she asked urgently while rising to her feet, her promise not to say anything already forgotten because of what she was seeing.
"Not now, Pux. We're trying to get this damn computer to work…", Throttle told her without taking his gaze away from the computer screen that was standing on Charley's desk, but Pux didn't back down.
Not this time.
"You really wanna see this, trust me."
Throttle let out an irritated sigh before he glanced over the edge of the screen, and so did O'Neill, whose eyes grew big the moment he saw what Pux was getting at.
"What the…"
"Why are his antennas glowing? And why are they blue instead of red like yours were when you pulled the image out of his head?", Pux asked worriedly as she took a few steps back in case Vinnie's head was going to explode or something like that.
With aliens, one could never be too sure.
Instead of answering her rather legitimate questions, Throttle just sat there, too stunned to say or do anything, for this was highly unusual, to say the least.
Modo was also glued to the ground, staring at Vinnie's, indeed, blue-lighted antennas, and their silence made Pux even more nervous than she already was.
"Can someone please explain to me what is happening here?"
Her shrieking voice seemed to snap Throttle back to reality, and he slowly turned his head to look at Modo.
"Did you know this was possible, big fella?"
Modo shook his head, just as baffled as his tan-furred friend.
"No. But I guess that ain't surprising, since this never happened before."
"What never happened before?", Pux demanded, almost bursting out of her skin in both nervousness and a healthy dose of curiosity.
"For a human and a Martian to connect", Throttle said softly, somewhat mesmerized by Vinnie's blue-lighted antennas.
This was huge.
Not only did it mean that Charley was still alive, it was also a major discovery, one of the biggest in Martian history, and he would've been excited if the situation they were currently finding themselves in wasn't so dire.
Or maybe the simple yet significant feeling of control would have done the trick as well, but he wasn't exactly in control, now was he?
He hadn't been in control ever since that night Vinnie met Charley.
Things went downhill soon after that, spinning faster and faster out of control and now it was all just one big mess.
He hated messes.
Especially those that endangered their missions.
Like a child, for instance.
Goddammit, Vinnie…
What have you done?
"Connect? What do you mean, connect?", Pux broke the silence again, as it was no surprise, and although Throttle couldn't blame her for having about a thousand questions plus one, now wasn't really the time to tell her about the history of Mars.
To take her back to the times when the Martian Cave Mouse used telepathy to communicate instead of words spoken by their voices simply because language did not yet exist.
However, just when he was about to tell her that, Vinnie's ear twitched.
It was ever so slightly, but it was enough, and Throttle straightened his back, which was the first step of standing up as every cell in his body went on high alert.
"Did you see that, big fella?", he asked softly while rising to his feet, his gaze still fixed on his white-furred friend.
Modo nodded, and his tense back told Throttle that his grey-furred bro had come to the same conclusion as he did just now.
Their baby bro was about to wake up.
Or in other words - shit was about to get real.
"Pux, be a good girl and go sit behind the desk to help O'Neill with reviving the computer", the tan-furred mouse ordered as he pointed at his now empty chair.
Without taking his gaze away from Vinnie, he maneuvered himself around the desk, expecting Pux to obey without questioning.
Which she didn't.
Of course.
"Not until you tell me what is going on here! I need to…"
"Please just do as he says, Pux", Modo interrupted her as gently as possible while he made his way over to Vinnie's bike, which confused Pux even more.
Or maybe it was the fact that he called her just Pux instead of Pux ma'am.
She did, however, listen to him, much to Throttle's relief.
Just when she sat down in the safety of the cover of the desk and a very strong policeman sitting next to her to keep her safe if needed, the blue light of Vinnie's antennas intensified, and Throttle braced himself, so did Modo.
A few seconds passed in total silence, but then the blue light slowly extinguished, and with that, Vinnie's eyes flew open.
Throttle kept a close eye on him, and his bionic eyes wandered over his young bro's face, only to see how he clenched his teeth.
How his eyes slightly widened before they narrowed.
How that teeny-tiny muscle close to his nose twitched, and the tan-furred mouse gradually placed his left foot back while shifting his weight to the right one.
"Easy, Vincent…", he said softly with a slightly warning undertone, even though he already knew it wouldn't make a difference.
And it didn't.
Like a missile that went off, Vinnie jumped at his feet with a soft growl, and Throttle came into movement at the same time.
For some reason, and maybe that was because they had fought so many battles together, making them able to anticipate every move, Vinnie knew exactly what Throttle was up to, and right before his tan-furred friend could catch him, he leaped to his left, thereby dodging Throttle's hands.
Soon thereafter, his long white tail lashed through the air, but Vinnie wasn't the only one knowing every trick they had up their sleeves, and Throttle quickly ducked, thereby avoiding Vinnie's tail knocking the glasses off his nose.
It was a foul move, but clever nevertheless, since Throttle would definitely be slowed down without his vision.
Ducking also slowed him down, though, and when the tan-furred mouse had regained his balance, Vinnie was already out of reach.
But that was okay.
It was their high level of cooperation that made the trio of Mars such a good team and there was still one player left in the field.
Also, thanks to that same close bond, it hadn't been really hard to guess what Vinnie's plan would be the moment he would snap out of his lethargic state.
And indeed, the white-furred youngster marched straight to his bike, his tail snatching his helmet off the floor while he was at it.
However, right before he reached his precious ride, a high yet short whistle was heard, and Modo's and Throttle's bikes blocked his way, beeping loudly and flashing their headlights to warn him.
But Vinnie wouldn't be Vinnie if he gave up that easily, and he too whistled between his teeth.
Perhaps he wasn't able to fight two almost indestructive motorcycles from Mars, but his bike most definitely was, and if not, it was at least fast enough to get out before anyone was able to stop him.
Modo and Throttle knew this, too.
Once he managed to make it outside, they would never be able to catch up.
Not with his bike being the fastest on the entire planet of Mars.
So they had taken… precautions.
Instead of immediately responding to his whistle like it always did, the cherry-red racer now remained where it was, even more so, it didn't even blink its headlight, and Vinnie slowly halted as a shadow of confusion flickered across his face.
His red eyes darted over to Modo, who stood next to Vinnie's motorcycle and held up something that looked a lot like the AI chip of his ride with a somewhat apologetic look on his face.
In spite of himself, Vinnie couldn't deny that this was one he hadn't seen coming, mostly because he never thought his bros would sink this low, and his eyes darkened a few shades.
"You didn't."
Modo shot him another guilt-ridden look.
"I did."
Even though this was a setback he hadn't anticipated, Vinnie was a mouse known to be stubborn, and thus, he came into motion again.
His bro's bikes revved their engine to warn him, but that wasn't what stopped him.
Modo raising his other hand was, and Vinnie wrinkled his nose when he recognized the object in Modo's hand as the spark plug that was needed to start his bike's engine.
This was starting to get really annoying, and yet, he still wasn't planning on giving up.
However, before he could come up with a new plan, something clicked around his wrist, and he looked down with a somewhat surprised look on his face.
Soon thereafter, his face clouded to thunder, and he rested his now blazing eyes on Throttle.
"Did you just chain me to Charley's lift?"
His voice was precariously low as he was now so close to exploding out of his fur, but that didn't bother Throttle even the slightest.
"I did. I would've said sorry if I was, but I'm not."
Vinnie mildly narrowed his eyes as he cast his tan-furred brother an investigating look.
"You're angry", he eventually concluded, his voice slightly trembling due to his own suppressed emotions.
"Damn right I'm angry", Throttle spat out, hardly able to contain himself, even though he knew that he really should since they weren't alone.
Biting his lower lip, he glanced over his shoulder at Pux and O'Neill, who were both trying very hard to get the computer to work.
When he concluded that they seemed to be completely occupied with it, he stepped closer to Vinnie and pushed his beloved white-furred brother up against the steel base of the lift.
"What on Mars were you thinking? By the Gods, Vincent, having a romantic relationship with a human is one thing, but knocking her up?"
He hissed the last three words in Vinnie's ear, although he actually preferred the other option and that was screaming them so loud that Vinnie's eardrums would rupture.
Apart from the fact that he knew that was something he was definitely going to regret, he was already very aware of how easily distracted Pux was and the last thing he wanted right now was to have her meddling with things that weren't her business.
Next to that, he wasn't one who liked to air family laundry, but he had to at least vent some of his frustration before he might explode.
Otherwise, it was going to be a real challenge to stay focused during the rescue mission, and the last thing he wanted was to make mistakes others would pay for with their life.
Vinnie scoffed, but instead of explaining to his leader how he could have been so -even for him- otherworldly stupid, Throttle noticed that his tail was reaching for the sleeve of his hoodie, and he shook his head.
"Don't even bother, Vinnie. The cuffs are made of Plutarkian steel. Just a little souvenir from our imprisonment."
In other words - 'Your flares ain't gonna cut it.'
Which was as much a double entendre as it was true.
And, as it turned out, it was also the final straw for his very upset white-furred friend, which wasn't really surprising.
In all fairness, it was actually quite the miracle how long he had been able to stay sort of calm after being obstructed by his own brothers, but now, he had been stretched too far with the inevitable result that he snapped.
A low growl escaped through his clenched teeth, and with his free hand, Vinnie pushed Throttle away from him before he turned around, only to start yanking the chain that was stopping him from getting to Charley.
Which was, of course, in vain.
Plutarkian steel was practically indestructible as it was one of the strongest materials existing in this universe, and although Vinnie was strong, too, he wasn't that strong.
Even though he already knew that fact for many years, it now made him furious all of a sudden, and Vinnie doubled his attempts to break the chain, but the only result was the steel cuff cutting into the flesh of his wrist.
Blood dripped on the floor, but he hardly noticed as he now tried to wriggle his hand out of the cuff while using his other hand to hold the not-so-wanted bracelet.
His breathing became heavier and heavier, and he wrinkled his nose in some feeble attempt to deal with the pain he was inflicting on himself, which was severe, to say the least.
But not even that was enough for him to give up.
Nothing was.
There was only one thing on his mind and that was Charley.
He could still feel her fear as it was instilled into his heart, making it feel cold and heavy in his chest, kind of like a stone.
She needed him, and thus, he clenched his teeth as he pulled even harder, with the only result that he almost scraped the fur and skin off his wrist, although the blood did make his hand slippery, so maybe if he just pulled a little harder…
…one last time…
Two hands, one made of flesh and one made of metal grabbed him from behind and turned his free hand on his back while a tail wrapped around his ankles to stop him from further moving.
"That's far enough, Vin. I'm sorry we tied you up, I really am, but we really need you to listen to us. There are some things you don't know, things that make this whole thing even more complicated. We can't just let you go on a wild goose chase, there's too much at stake here. I know we're asking a lot right now, but you need to breathe and wind it down, just enough so we can make a plan. And then we'll ride out, I promise you."
Only Modo was able to put so much kindness in his voice while saying the same words Throttle would say, and usually, it was enough for even Vinnie to calm down.
Just not today.
"I don't care about what you have to say, all I know is that she's scared and that she needs me. She needs me, Modo", Vinnie breathed, already out of breath due to trying to escape Modo's stranglehold, which was in vain of course.
He might as well have been pinned down by a tank and even then, the odds would have been far more in his favor than they were now.
"Oh, I'm sure you wanna hear this", Modo snickered as he tightened his grip around the struggling white-furred youngster.
Not that he was actually amused, in fact, seeing Vinnie like this broke his heart, but it was all part of the whole 'calm down the little one' strategy.
"Only if it means you know where she is", Vinnie grunted, using his ears to try to find the right angle for a successful headbutt without seeing where Modo's head was compared to his.
"Not yet, but we do have a suspect."
It was just a simple statement, but that didn't make the impact less catastrophic, and finally, Vinnie seized his resistance.
"You do?", he asked hopefully with twitching ears, looking at Throttle since he still couldn't see Modo as he was standing behind him.
Throttle, a little calmer again and already feeling guilty for doing this to his young bro even though it was the only way to control him right now, nodded.
"The guy from the store."
Vinnie blinked his red eyes, and the memory of a man with shining black and grey hair, a three-piece suit, and the most disgusting cologne he had ever smelled holding his beloved Charley by the arm flashed before his eyes.
Goosebumps spread across his body as he now suddenly felt the same feeling he had felt in that store, and he slightly shook his head.
No way…
No.
Fucking.
Way.
"I had him. I fucking had him. My instinct kept telling me that something was wrong with him, but I let him go… I just let him walk away…", he whispered, staring at the greasy floor.
Was this, all this, his fault?
After all, he didn't just let him walk away.
He had also shown the guy his face.
Not even the helmet was able to hide it when someone was close enough to see the details and he had been close enough alright.
Even more so, he had been aggressive and hostile.
Possessive, even.
He had shown the guy exactly how much he cared for Charley.
How she was his weakness.
What if he motivated the man to kidnap Charley with that?
What if this was all his fault?
Nausea washed over him quite unexpectedly, and he bent over in response.
For some reason, Modo seemed to realize what was going on here, and he quickly let him go.
With a gasp, Vinnie fell to his knees and rested his weight on his hands as he gagged.
His back arched, his stomach cramped in the most painful way, but nothing came out.
Nothing but another gasp when he once again realized that he could lose her for good.
Tears blurred his vision as he stared at the blood-stained shackle around his also bloody wrist.
She needed him, and here he was.
Cuffed to a lift.
Not able to go anywhere.
Not able to save her.
Or well, not on his own terms.
There was only one way to do this and that was the one Modo just provided him, which was obviously just Throttle's way.
The subtle way.
The one they always seemed to choose ever since O'Neill had joined the team.
The fact that they cuffed him made one thing very clear - it was going to be Throttle's way or the highway.
If he wasn't going to 'breathe' right away, they would go without him, he just knew they would.
The all-so-familiar 'there's too much at stake' card was played and he knew like no other that the only way to keep playing was to fold.
He really needed to breathe…
And so he did.
Despite that it went against everything he was, he caved, and he closed his eyes.
Charley's green eyes looked back at him in the dark, pleadingly and accusingly, but he ignored it as well as he could and took a few deep breaths.
For her.
After all, there was nothing he wouldn't do for her.
After what felt like a lifetime but was only a few seconds, he opened his eyes and looked at Throttle.
"What's the plan?"
Just when Throttle opened his mouth to tell him what they were currently waiting for, O'Neill jumped to his feet with a victorious cry, which was so out of character that Pux burst into laughter.
Or well, maybe it was also because she was still very nervous.
"I found it! I found the address!", the detective exulted, ignoring the giggling teenager sitting next to him.
"It's close, so let's…"
"Where is it?", Vinnie interrupted him, and he raised his head to look at O'Neill from his position on the floor.
"Only three blocks away. We could even go on foot, to make sure we have the element of surprise…", O'Neill mused out loud, already thinking about a proper game plan and therefore not realizing that there might be a reason why Vinnie interrupted him so bluntly, one that had nothing to do with him wanting to go out and save his beloved Charley.
Instead of telling him that they were the fucking Biker Mice From Mars and that they didn't go anywhere without their bikes, in fact, he would rather die than doing so, Vinnie merely shook his head with a frustrated look on his face as he softly yanked his chain.
"It's the wrong address."
Pux's smile vanished like smoke in the wind, and she cast Vinnie a deadly look.
"You met the guy once and now you suddenly know where he lives? Dude, you could've just told us that instead of letting us work with this ancient machine!"
"I never thought I'd say this, but the infant has a point", O'Neill nodded a little sheepishly, and he quickly stepped back to avoid Pux's elbow jabbing his ribs.
Again, Vinnie shook his head, this time with so much strength that his ears flapped along.
"The houses in that part of the city are made of stone. The house Charley is in is made of wood."
Silence dawned upon them, and Throttle crouched next to Vinnie, looking more serious than ever.
"How do you know what house she's in?"
Vinnie took a deep breath before he raised his eyes.
"Because she showed it to me."
The tan Martian slowly nodded as this confirmed what he already thought.
Vinnie and Charley were connected.
But again, this wasn't the time nor the place to rack his brain as to how this was even possible.
"Are there any other properties or rentals in his name?", he asked O'Neill, who looked at the computer screen again.
Soon thereafter, his face crumpled and he shook his head.
"Nothing."
Throttle rubbed his chin with a thoughtful frown before his gaze landed back on Vinnie.
"You think your connection with Charley is strong enough to locate her?"
The question obviously took the white-furred youngster off guard, and he bit his lower lip while a shadow of rare insecurity flickered across his face.
"I don't know", he eventually said, and he slumped back against the base of Charley's lift, suddenly feeling very tired.
"I didn't even know that we were connected in the first place. I had a hunch, but that's it…"
"Before you woke up, your antennas were glowing", Throttle told him as he sat down on his knees.
"Blue. They were blue. Which means she was reaching out to you. Did you hear her?"
Vinnie narrowed his eyes, and he looked at his leader with confusion and a hint of despair.
"How is this even possible? Why are we even talking about this? I mean, she's human and I…"
"It doesn't matter", the tan-furred leader interrupted him, not sure if Vinnie was still talking about the connection or that he perhaps was hinting at the pregnancy.
"All that matters right now is that we find her. So I ask you again - did you hear her?"
Vinnie let his red eyes wander over Throttle's face, almost as if he was searching for something.
Something that could only be sympathy or even approval.
But when he didn't find what he so desperately needed, he let out his breath.
"Yes. I heard her. She asked for help. She showed me a flash of the room she was in… it was blurry, but enough for me to see that she's in a house made of wood."
Throttle nodded, his face still blank.
Although he was a lot calmer than before, he still wasn't ready to give Vinnie what he wanted.
A little sympathy, maybe, but not his approval.
Oh no.
It was way too soon for that, even for him.
"Good. That's good. All you need to do once we're on the road is focus on her with everything you have in you and your mind will tell you where to go. You can do this, Vincent", he added when he saw his young bro looking at him skeptically.
"I'm sure of it. Think of it like tuning a radio. The closer you get, the better the signal will be."
Vinnie still wasn't convinced simply because he was many things, but being good at focusing sure as hell wasn't one of them.
He still nodded though, which was good enough for Throttle, who now leaned a little closer to his baby bro, only to rest a hand on Vinnie's lower arm.
"I have to ask. Are you calm?"
The white-furred mouse stared at the tan-colored hand on his arm, and he shrugged somewhat helplessly.
"Are you?"
Some might say that bouncing back such an important question was childish, or at least unhelpful, but Throttle knew better.
He knew, for instance, that this was Vinnie's somewhat messed up way to say he was sorry for all this.
He also knew that the young mouse wasn't really sorry, but that he just didn't like it when his beloved friend and leader was angry with him.
The only thing Vinnie hated even more was not getting Throttle's approval, although he would never say that out loud.
So yeah, it was probably safe to say that the white mouse wasn't really having a good day in this respect.
Either way, bouncing a question back obviously didn't even come close to an actual apology, but for Throttle, it was enough for now.
At least enough to be able to work together without too much trouble.
"Yes. I am."
Sort of.
Vinnie's eyes flashed toward him in some sort of hopeful way, and Throttle gave him an aloof yet still somewhat reassuring smile as he reached into his pocket.
However, right before he put the key into the hole of the cuff, he stopped and glanced at his young bro.
"I need you to promise me that once I get these off, you'll listen to every word I say. So if I say go left, you go left. If I say go right, you go right….-"
He fell silent for a brief moment, fully realizing what he was about to do.
Not only was he going to ask a lot of Vinnie, he was also about to break his promise to him and despite his current feelings toward the young mouse, it hurt.
But there wasn't any other choice.
There was only the greater good.
As always.
"-...and if I say to let the person responsible for this alive, you will let him live. Under no circumstances can you kill him. Do you understand?"
A shadow flickered across Vinnie's face, and if Throttle wasn't mistaken, there was even a hint of pain visible in his red eyes.
Pain due to his betrayal, because that's what it was to Vinnie.
"But you promised me…"
"I know what I promised", Throttle interrupted him, his heart stinging.
Sometimes, he wished he could just be a friend and brother instead of a leader, but he also knew it wasn't that simple.
Leadership came first.
Always.
"But things have changed. The man in the store is someone high in rank. If we screw this one up, we endanger our secret identity and our presence here. This ain't just about Charley anymore. Chicago, heck, even the entire planet Earth is at risk here. And then there's the baby…"
"I couldn't care less about the baby", Vinnie spat out angrily, so sudden and so profound that it even startled the usual stoic Throttle for a moment.
"Or the people of Chicago for that matter. All I care about is getting Charley back, so yeah, I'll do as you say. I'll do anything to get her back, even if that means I can't make him bleed like you promised me. Can we go now?"
The leader of the on Mars famous trio heaved a sigh.
Although he knew like no other that Vinnie tended to say things he didn't mean when he was upset, it was still unsettling to hear that he didn't care about the baby.
His baby.
As always, his younger bro wasn't ready to take responsibility for his actions, and where it usually only slightly irritated him, it now infuriated Throttle beyond words.
He really needed to grow up.
Gnashing his teeth, he grabbed Vinnie's cuffed hand a little harder than he intended to and put the key in the hole.
Then, he stopped for a brief moment to look the white-furred mouse in the eye.
"You should've just erased her memory", and with that, he turned the key.
…
"I know you're not sleeping. No one ever sleeps in here."
A drawling voice speaking broke Charley out of her trance, and her eyes drew wide open.
Even though she had only heard it once, she recognized the voice with every fiber of her body, and she turned her head to look at the person standing by her bedside.
"You", she breathed when her eyes locked with those ice-cold blue ones.
Only looking into those eyes again almost gave her a heart attack, but also this peculiar feeling of homesickness.
It seemed misplaced, or at least ill-timed, but it all had to do with the fact that the last time she saw this man, Vinnie had been there, too.
But now, he wasn't.
Now, she was all alone…
…and naked.
Right.
She almost forgot about that part.
"What do you want?", she asked, knowing he had to want something.
Everybody wanted something.
If only she managed to sound confident and strong, but the sad truth was that she didn't sound like any of those things.
She sounded more like a wounded little bird, if animals were able to talk, that is, but she imagined it would sound like this if they could.
Fragile.
The man's ice-blue eyes swept back and forth over her body, which would have made her feel highly uncomfortable if it wasn't for his face to remain completely blank.
Despite that she was lying here almost fully naked, there wasn't a single hint that indicated lust or desire, and strangely enough, this assured her to a certain extent.
He wasn't like the man in the alley, and for a reason that was unknown, it didn't really occur to her that there were far worse people out there than the man in the alley.
She did, however, fully realize that her situation was still everything but reassuring, and in some sort of reflex, she lightly pulled her strings.
All she wanted was to get out of here.
To go back to her garage and hide in Vinnie's strong and safe embrace until the sun would come up to announce a new day.
A day without scary men with ice-blue eyes.
Eyes that now locked with hers again, and the man reached out his hand.
She followed it with bated breath, but right before it made contact with her forehead, he stopped.
Despite that he wasn't touching her, it still felt like he did as she could feel the warmth his hand was radiating, and in response, she pulled a little harder on the belts.
If only she knew what to say, but she didn't.
It could come in handy to distract him, to buy herself some time, just like they always did in the movies, but this man had this oddly mesmerizing aura lingering around him.
One that was eerie and mind-numbing, and it literally took her breath away, along with her courage and ability to speak.
And so here she was.
Chained to a bed, completely helpless and quietly watching how his hand hovered only inches above her face.
After what felt like a lifetime, he slowly moved it from her forehead to her throat.
From there, it went over her chest, his palm almost grazing her breasts.
Eventually, he halted right above her pubic bone, and after a few seconds of total silence, he lowered his hand and rested it on her lower belly in an almost gentle way.
"I want this."
Panic emerged from the bowels of her soul, but instead of trying to fight her way out of this as she would usually do, Charley was still lying there, frozen like a statue.
It really was strange.
This man with his peculiar aura was the first person she ever encountered that was able to make her react in a way she never thought possible.
It was almost as if she was an entirely different person, all of a sudden.
The only one who ever accomplished that was Throttle, but that didn't really count since he was an alien, and then there was the fact that he had held her at gunpoint.
In all fairness, her current response worried her to the core.
God knew she was a fighter, and so did she.
It was all she had ever been, and all she had ever known.
What would remain when the fighting spirit she knew so well dissipated?
A fragile, wounded little bird…
An unnatural sound slipped past her lips, one that was a mixture of a sob and a howl, but instead of yanking her chains as if her life depended on it -which it probably did-, all she did was slightly arch her back in the hope his hand would slide off her belly.
She had to get away from his touch.
His touch, that made her sick to the stomach.
That made her feel dirtier than she had ever felt before, and that while she had spent a lot of hours in her precious garage, which wasn't exactly considered a clean job.
Defiled.
He made her feel defiled.
Absolutely disgusted with herself.
This man really had the strangest effect on her.
"Why?", she managed to bring out, closing her eyes to escape his frigid ones, which was futile since they were etched into her brain, only to haunt her till her death.
Perhaps she should consider it an upside that they wouldn't be able to haunt her very long, since death seemed to be upon her, but it didn't ease her nerves.
Not even the slightest.
The same applied to the increasing pressure on her belly.
It was ever so slightly, but it was enough to almost make her gag, and she pressed her head deeper into the pillow in the hope the soft material would comfort her a little.
"Because it's not pure."
Charley's heart just stopped, and her eyes flew open again.
He knew.
Of course he knew.
Vinnie had been there, after all.
Even more so, he had been close enough to the man to show him what he really was.
She never really thought about that, actually.
The pregnancy had completely occupied her usual sharp brain, but she realized it now.
That odd-shaped helmet might be enough to hide his features from a distance, but being up close to him was an entirely different story.
And he had been close, alright.
"Oh my God", she panted, and her eyes darted over to the big glass jars on the shelves across the room.
They were all colored.
And it suddenly just clicked.
She had read about him in the newspaper.
The infamous Angel Of Death.
The serial killer that was holding the city of Chicago in its grasp.
She wasn't sure why she didn't connect the dots sooner, especially after seeing the contents of the glass jars.
But she did now.
And they were all wrong.
The press, the police…
This man wasn't just 'a murderer'.
He wasn't just some guy who liked to cut out babies in his free time because in some sick way, he enjoyed playing God.
No, it went even beyond all that.
He was a white supremacist in the most comprehensive sense of the word.
A soldier fighting a war that was no longer of this time, but someone should tell him that.
He was a man with a mission.
One who truly believed he was doing the right thing.
Truly believing that he, in his own disturbing way, was changing the world for the greater purpose, which made him just as dangerous as radicalized believers, if not more.
After all, he didn't even care that there was, apparently, alien life among them in Chicago.
No.
All he cared for was that her child wasn't pure.
This changed everything.
Everything.
"You're catching on quicker than the others. It took them at least three weeks to figure out why I brought them here."
A tear wormed its way through Charley's lashes.
She still wasn't able to look at him.
Feeling his foul hand resting so close to the home of the chunk of cells that was her baby was already bad enough on its own.
To make it even worse, his index finger suddenly twitched, thereby mildly rubbing the sensitive skin on her belly and another wave of nausea washed over her.
All she wanted was to beg him to let her go, but now she had figured out what she was dealing with here, she knew it wouldn't make a difference.
It would only take away another piece of her already battered dignity.
Not in a million years would he let her go.
Another tear trickled down her cheek, and her breathing became heavier and heavier.
It didn't take long before she was crying, and she hated herself for it.
Some might say that a room filled with dead fetuses in glass jars and a highly devoted murderer would be enough to break anyone's spirit, even from the bravest ones, but it still felt weak to her.
She didn't want to be weak.
But she was.
He made her weak.
His presence was enough to transform the brave lone wolf into a helpless little bird.
"Vinnie, please…", she sobbed as she buried her nails in the leather of the belts.
…I need you…
"He won't be able to save you. I know you hope that he will. But he won't."
She wanted to tell him that he was wrong, but the thing was, she believed him.
There was just no way that Vinnie was able to make it.
Not now she had figured out the man's plans and motivation so quickly, something that seemed to matter to him.
He wanted his victims to know exactly why they were here, all because he wanted them to feel ashamed.
To feel disgusted by themselves.
It was all part of his strategy.
All to make himself rise above them.
Her smartness, the very one that had served her very well so far had become her death sentence.
And now, there was no time.
Not anymore.
A deep pain veiled her panic, making her entire body ache.
Oh god, Vinnie…
She was never going to see him again.
She was never going to tell him that she was pregnant with his child.
She was never going to look into his ruby-red eyes and see him looking back again.
She was never going to see that dazzling smile again, or smell his maddening scent.
She was never going to feel his touch, ever again.
She was going to die here in this awful room by the hands of this awful man.
And so was their baby…
Suddenly, the strangest thing happened.
Instead of feeling the already so familiar anger and hatred towards that little chunk of cells, there was a sudden lightness shimmering through the darkness.
The feeling of it reminded her of spring.
Of feeling the sun on her skin for the first time after a long and cold winter, warming up her frozen body.
It made her heart flutter in her chest.
It didn't ease the pain, but it made it a little more bearable, and she suddenly realized what it was.
There was only one thing that was capable of making it feel like her entire world lit up while being caught in cold darkness, and that was love.
It was love.
It was a different kind of love, though.
One she wasn't familiar with.
It felt more… primal.
Instinctive.
Kind of like the love she imagined a mother would feel for her child.
While her tears became an almost endless stream, one corner of her mouth curled up as she imagined the hand on her stomach to be hers.
It wasn't the same of course, but it was the closest that came to connecting with her child in this very fucked-up situation she was currently finding herself in.
Along with the unconditional love came the overwhelming need to protect the miracle inside of her, because she now suddenly realized that it was.
A miracle.
Even more so, it was her miracle, and there was just no way in hell that some mentally deranged person was going to take it away from her.
This was not how this was going to end.
She simply wouldn't accept it.
There was a click inside her head, and suddenly, she could see everything crystal clear.
With that, she realized something else.
Something that had been bugging her ever since she met this man in the store.
Something that had been forced into the background due to the stress caused by the unexpected pregnancy, but now it was just there, lucid and tangible, and while the stream of tears slowly dried, she raised her eyes with renewed strength.
"I know who you are."
Instead of looking shocked, or worried for that matter, the man didn't even blink.
He only slightly shrugged his shoulders.
"A lot of people claim to know who I am. Only a few know the real me, but they never lived to tell the tale."
Charley smiled, she just couldn't stop herself.
"Maybe, but I bet those people didn't have alien friends."
That did earn her his full attention, even though he obviously tried really hard to remain unaffected.
It wasn't that he seemed worried, which was strange, but then again, he probably never realized that by kidnapping her, he just dug his own grave.
By kidnapping her, he had brought the wrath of a very dangerous and protective Martian upon himself, one who would do anything within his power to find her.
She knew that now.
She remembered.
But the man didn't.
He didn't know Vinnie, nor did he know his devotion to protect what was his.
So no, he didn't seem to be worried.
He did, however, seem to be confused.
It was visible in his ice-cold eyes, making the blue irises a little more lively for a brief moment, which immediately transformed him into a real person instead of the empty shell he had been before.
It only confirmed what she already thought - she definitely had his attention.
"Something has changed, " he said quietly as his gaze landed on the hand still resting on her flat stomach, and the slight frown between his brows was the first crack in his mask.
"You were close to breaking, but now you seem to have regained your strength. I admire you for that. You're strong…"
He fell silent for a brief moment, and his frown grew deeper.
"I knew you were different the moment I saw you. But it's not just you. It's him, too. I couldn't wait as I usually do. I like my trophies to be a bit more… developed, so to say. They remind me of my cause. They keep me focused on my mission. But with you… This thing inside you has to die before it even really lives. You're strong, yes, but also a disgrace to humankind. And so you have to die, too."
Slowly, his eyes wandered up and locked with hers again.
"And you will. Not even your alien friend will be able to stop that. No one will."
The confused frown was gone, and with that, the mask was restored.
He had found back his balance after wavering for a very brief moment of time, but the same could be said for Charley.
And whereas she first believed him, she now simply didn't.
Not anymore.
Being granted to experience how it was to love like a mother had awakened something inside of her.
Something that could only be primal instinct, and a certain calmness came over her.
Yes, she might die today.
That was totally out of her control, after all.
But she wasn't afraid anymore.
The wolf was back.
And wolves didn't back down.
They looked their enemy straight in the eye with their heads held high.
Most of all, they had unconditional faith in their pack.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe I'll die today. But know this…-"
While she spoke, Charley folded her fingers around the leather belts and pulled herself up as far as her bounds let her, all so she could look the man straight in the eye with her head held high.
"-…he will find you. And he will kill you."
Whoo.
I've always loved that quote, although I can't say the same about the movie but that's another story.
I just wanted to say that I'm fully aware of the sensitive subjects I sometimes use in my stories.
But please know that even though I write about things like racism, I don't support it in any way.
As far as I'm concerned, every single person on this planet is equal, and I accept everyone just the way they are, no matter their skin color, gender, or beliefs. 3
Anyhoo.
That's a wrap for chapter 20.
Feel free to leave a review, it's really helpful and makes me feel connected with you guys.
Stay safe out there, my dearest readers.
It's a mad world.
Later!