A Capture-Chapter Five
"Here you go, ma'am. Enjoy." Vivica smiled, as she handed two packages of chocolates to one of her customers.
She and Charley were standing outside in the doorway of a restaurant. It was an exquisite place from what they could see from the plate glass display windows. Everything about this place spelled money from the white linen tablecloths that covered gleaming, mahogany wood tables to the shimmering silverware as well as glassware.
"Thank you." The apron clad owner smiled broadly, as she took the packages and walked back inside.
"Well, that's the last of it." Vivica said to Charley
"Is that how you really feel?" Charley asked her.
"About what? The chocolates?" She asked, getting back on her motorscooter.
"No. About Throttle." She replied, getting behind her on the bike and adjusting her helmet.
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on, Vivica. I'm not stupid. I saw you flirting with him this morning. There's something going on between you two, isn't there?"
"Geez, you don't miss a thing, do you? Ever thought of becoming a private investigator instead of a mechanic?"
"Funny. You haven't answered my question."
"It just happened, okay?" Vivica replied, exasperated.
"What happened?"
"Rayford showed up here last night. He's Daniel's right hand man. He told me Daniel hired this guy to get rid of your three biker friends."
"What guy?"
"He's called Lawrence Limburger."
"So Limburger is here."
"You know about Limburger?"
"He's this rich big shot that's been trying to buy up all the businesses in Chicago including mine, the Last Chance Garage."
"He's the one Daniel hired."
"Rayford also told me Daniel has turned the pack against us. He's labeled me and my mother as traitors for helping the mice. They plan to hunt us down and kill us in tomorrow night's hunt."
"What? They can't do that! It's murder!"
"Oh, yes they can according to werewolf law. Rayford agreed to talk Daniel into sparing our lives if I agreed to marry him. I refused and he tried to force himself on me. Throttle saved me from him. During the fight, he got hurt. I went to dress his wounds."
"And?" Charley motioned with her head as if to say "Go on."
"We went into the bathroom, one thing led to another, and we kind of... slept together." She finished, not looking Charley in the eye as she fiddled with her forefingers.
"OMG. This whole thing is one big, hot mess."
"Don't I know it. What'll I do?" She asked, looking ahead, fingers gripping the handlebars of her bike, "I mean, I really like him..."
"But he has a girlfriend. You have to try to forget him." She told her.
"What if I can't?" She asked, as she finally started up the bike and they rode off.
"Then you have a problem. I repeat he has a girlfriend. If you don't break this off, it won't end well."
The chocolate shop soon came into view.
"Hey, who's that at the chocolate shop? That skinny red haired man with the pointy nose and the muscle bound ape?" Vivica pointed at the two figures in question who wandered around the outside of the shop.
"Carbunkle and Greasepit! They work for Lawrence Limburger. What are they doing snooping around Aunt Aggie's shop?" Charley asked.
"We have to get his two flunkies away from there."
"We can't run the risk of them seeing us. We have to hide and see what they're up to."
The two women rode behind one of the adjoining buildings.
...
Meanwhile, Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo rode their bikes to rescue Carbine. Even though the sun was shining and their cool, sweet rides glided smoothly on the cobble stone streets, the tan furred leader was troubled.
He had told Vivica that Carbine was his girl. He didn't mean for it to sound like he was throwing the relationship he had with Carbine in her face. He didn't want to hurt Vivica's feelings. He thought she looked a little hurt before but she said nothing.
At the same time, he couldn't understand the growing attraction he felt for Vivica. She wasn't just pretty. She was beautiful, kind, loving. Things he had loved about Carbine till the war on Mars hardened her.
He knew it wasn't her fault. You can't go through the horrors of war and not come out unscathed. She, like himself, had watched comrades die at the scaly hands of the Plutarkians. Their own corrupt government sold their planet to the Fishfaces. They destroyed whole cities and towns with their digging machines stripmining the planet till it was reduced to a dry, desolate desert.
Carbine had been working hard ever since to restore Mars back to the way it was before the Plutarkians came. It hadn't been easy. But the spark of hope shone in her eyes as she succeeded in preserving the Garden of Hope. It was a beautiful garden of green, lush vegetation and colorful plant life of every kind. It was the only part of Mars left hidden and untouched by the Plutarkians. Throttle appreciated what she and the other Martian Mouse Freedom Fighters had done to save the garden.
That was one of the things he loved about her. But what he didn't like was how she was always all business whenever they met now. He remembered the time she came to Earth to retrieve the Pinkseed plant from Limburger. He, his bros, and Charley helped her get back the plant and she left him without so much as a goodbye kiss.
"You're awfully quiet, bro. Everything ok?" Vinnie asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, everything's great." Throttle replied.
"Everything's great? Relax, bro, Miss Carbine Ma'am will be fine." Modo told him.
"I know. My girl's made out of mouse stuff. It's the strongest there is." Throttle said, popping a wheelie and revving up the handles on his bike,"Still, no wolf's gonna make mincemeat out of her. Let's rock the walls off this place!"
Their destination now came into view.
...
Meanwhile, Rayford charged at Carbine but she moved out of the way easily. Carbine was in a fighting stance, fists drawn and an angry expression on her face.
"If that's the best you can do, then I don't think I have a thing to worry about." She said.
"Oh, I think you do, dear lady." He motioned.
One of the members of the wolf pack now held the squirrel bat who trembled and tried to break free.
"You hurt it and I'll kill you!" She screamed.
"So this thing whatever it is does matter to you. Betcha it's worth some money." He said, "I could sell it and make a nice profit."
Suddenly, three bikes crashed through the front door and they flew through the air. Their tires knocked down several members of the wolf pack. One of them released his hold on the squirrel bat. It flew to Carbine.
"Sorry, tall, dark, and scary, but it's not for sale. See, we're the trash collectors." Throttle said.
"Since you scumbags fall in that category..." Vinnie began.
"We're here to pick up all the trash including you!" Modo pointed at the goons.
"Well, well...If it isn't Vivica's rescuer." Rayford said, mockingly.
"Who's Vivica? A sick relative?" Carbine asked.
"It's a long story." He said, activating his Nuke Knuckles and socking one of the wolf pack members.
"Then tell me." She replied, backkicking another wolf pack member with her booted foot.
"Later, I promise. Right now, it's tail whipping time!" He cried out.
"Awright! My kind of music!" Modo crowed, fist in the air then aiming his cybernetic arm at the wolf pack.
His laser cannon blasted a group of them in the air.
"Oh, yeah! Let the light shine!" Vinnie said, throwing a lit flare at Rayford who tried to jump out of the way.
But he still got blown into the air. Vinnie socked him in the mouth.
"Ah ha ha ha! Another one bites the dust! Yeah!" He cried out.
...
"Move out the way, you moronic buffoon!" Carbunkle told Greasepit, "Now, I will use my paint remover to remove all of that silver paint."
The skinny red haired deranged doc held up the device that resembled a small vacuum cleaner. It sprayed a clear liquid dissolving the silver paint on the back wall of the chocolate shop.
"And once this happens, dem wolfies can make guacamole of dem moldy hamsters." Greasepit chuckled.
"Yes, the days of those wretched mice are numbered!" Carbunkle cackled.
"Oh, no! We have to stop them." Charley told Vivica.
"Only one way." Vivica said, as she knelt down and transformed into a white wolf.
"But what about that silver paint? We're affected by it as well." Charley asked.
"Just got to take that chance. Besides your aunt Agatha gave me this amulet around my neck to protect me from the silver." Vivica said, pointing to a pure gold chain around her neck, ' Here's yours."
She handed Charley a similiar gold chain which she put around her neck.
"Let's do this!" Charley said, as she transformed into a large gray wolf.
...
"Soon, this place will be crawling with wolves." Carbunkle chortled.
Within minutes, Carbunkle was tackled by Charley who knocked the paint remover device out of his hands. It shattered to pieces. Vivica, meanwhile had jumped on Greasepit and was biting him. The giant ape like man screamed and howled in pain as the wolf sunk her sharp, jagged teeth into his large arm. He managed to throw her off of him as she went sailing into the wall of a nearby building. Charley was barring her sharp, wolf-like teeth as she was now standing over him. The doctor was as pale as a ghost.
"H-have mercy!" He pleaded.
"Such bravado!" Said a voice.
Both wolves managed to look up. Lawrence Limburger was standing in the doorway of the chocolate shop.
"But you forgot something, my dear ladies." He said.
Members of the wolf pack now held a gun on Aunt Aggie while some others held her hands behind her back with twist ties. Charley and Vivica transformed back into women. They were given their clothes to dress back into.
"Aunt Aggie! Leave her alone, Fish Gut!" Charley called out.
"I wouldn't be so hasty with my words, my dear girl. Otherwise, I might tell one of these extinguished creatures to end the life of your dear aunt." Limburger said, calmly.
"What do you want?" Vivica asked.
"Your immediate surrender, for starters. Those hirsuite hamsters will come running when they hear I've captured you and the rest of your family." Limburger chuckled.
Charley and Vivica were soon shoved by members of the pack towards Aunt Agatha. The three women were now inside the kitchen area of the chocolate shop.
"Oh, are you girls alright?" Aunt Agatha asked, glancing with concern at them, "I was in the back, sweeping the floor when they caught me."
"Don't you worry, Aunt Aggie. The guys will save us." Charley told her aunt.
...
"That all ya got?" Vinnie asked Rayford, as he picked him up with both hands on his collar.
"Rejoice at this little victory while you can, my dear friends. But your friend Limburger is getting the last laugh." Rayford said, proudly clicking the button on a computer console.
A large computer screen came down. There on the video were Limburger and members of the wolf pack.
"Greetings, Biker Mice." Limburger said.
"What's that stink fish up to?" Vinnie asked.
"I'd watch my mouth if I were you, my little furry friend, if you don't want any harm to come to your lady friends."
The Big Cheese pulled back to show Charley, Vivica, and Aunt Agatha tied to metal chairs and their mouths gagged with duct tape. The mice gasped.
"If you so much as touch a hair on Charley's head..."Vinnie began, getting angry.
"You hurt any of them, stinky, and we'll come after you!" Throttle cried out.
Modo's single eye was red and glowing. Throttle clenched his fist and set his jaw.
"I can assure you they won't be harmed as long as you three cooperate."
"What do you want, Reek Fish?" Throttle asked.
"Your surrender. Give yourselves up to me in exchange for their lives. I sent you the coordinates. You have thirty minutes." Limburger replied.
"Told you you'd be sorry." Rayford crowed.
Vinnie angrily threw him away. He bumped his head against a wall.
Throttle's bike printed out from the computer console a long, slip of paper.
"What's it say, bro?" Modo asked.
"That hallibutt wants us to meet him at the chocolate shop. But I'm curious. How did the wolf pack get there inside the shop if we covered it with the silver paint?"
"They had to have found a way to remove the paint." Vinnie said.
"Like a paint remover?" Carbine asked.
"Exactly. They've found some way to either remove the paint or they're immune to it. Either way, it's gonna be a dangerous situation for us."
"Dangerous? As in life threatening?" Modo asked, excitedly.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's party!" Vinnie cried out.