The following is a piece of fan fiction based on Biker Mice From Mars. All characters were created by Rick Ungar, original story by Tom Tataranowicz, and are not my property.
This is an AU retelling of BMFM and explores mature subject matter including death, violence, abuse, sex (con and noncon), torture, and mutilation. Reader's discretion is advised. Some character history has been altered from their original source but like I said, this is an AU.
Chapter-12
The excitement of the mice was palpable as everyone got ready for their road trip. Stoker was staying behind; being alone would be a vacation in and of itself for him. Even Charley was starting to cheer up. Whatever had overcome her last night had passed, and she just assumed it was a response to stress. She had just over-analyzed the interaction between her and Vinnie. The way he treated her was no different than any of the other mice. Also, he was a mouse. Charley couldn't imagine that he would be attracted to her.
Still, she thought maybe riding with someone else might be better for her. She thought Vinnie must have been tired giving her a ride every time they left the base. Charley walked into the garage with her bag. Throttle was already on his bike idly chatting with Stoker. Rimfire was riding with Modo. He had his own dirt bike, but it would not be able to match the speed of the bros' bikes. Vinnie was looking at his own reflection and flexing his biceps. If Charley was quick, she might make it past Vinnie and avoid the awkward conversation of her not riding with him.
Vinnie's back was to Charley. She kept her focus on the target: Throttle's bike. She made it about five feet past the cherry red bike when Throttle spotted her and smiled.
"Alright, we're all here." Throttle hollered. "Let's get moving, we're burning daylight standing around looking pretty."
Charley felt herself being lifted into the air and pulled backwards. Vinnie placed her securely on the back of his ride and held on to her snuggly with his tail.
"Yeah, but some of us do such a good job of looking pretty, right Charley-girl?"
Charley didn't know if Vinnie was talking to her, or to his own reflection. She gripped the white fur on his chest and pressed her body against his back. "Do you think we can stop for snacks while you take me on this ego trip?" Charley teased as craned her neck to his ear. It was too late to make a fuss about riding with anyone else, so she may as well enjoy the ride.
Vinnie let out an audible laugh that echoed throughout the garage. "Baby, there's no stopping this mouse once I get going."
"That doesn't mean we've tried," Stoker said in a sardonic tone.
"Enough chit chat fellas," said Throttle. "LET'S ROCK!"
Modo, Vinnie, and Rimfire sung out in chorus "AND RIDE!" With that, the three bikes made their way eastwards, into the Martian morning sun, back to their home.
Arcadias was a desert city. Carved out of the escarpment left by Tharsis' prehistoric glaciers. The buildings were intricately chiselled in geometric mosaics. Frescos that survived the Plutarkian invasion depicted scenes of the city's rich history. It was the capital of the Tharsis province and second largest city on Mars after Olympia. The road leading into the city was built on an ancient flood plane. In ancient times, Arcadias would be cut off from the rest of Mars during the rainy seasons. When the mice began to build dikes and aqueducts to divert access water to their farm fields, they were able to maintain year-round contact with the rest of Tharsis and also boost their crop yields making their city grow richer in wealth, food, culture, and population.
Even after the invasion, Arcadias was able to stand tall and defiant, as unmovable as the rocks in which it was built from. For the first time since Charley had been on Mars, she began to see signs of life. Water resistant shrubs, short thorny trees, succulents of varying shades of green. She stared at the city up above her in awe at its beauty and wondered why the hell any of these mice would want to leave here to live in a mountain cave with Stoker.
Modo's family home was in a middle-class neighborhood. His mother was waiting for them at the door, along with a light-sandy colored mouse with long blond hair. Modo introduced her as Primer, Rimfire's older sister. She was instructed to call Modo's mother 'momma' as that was what everyone called her. Charley was not prepared for momma to pull her in for a tight embrace. She was a tiny mouse but seemed to have as much, if not more, strength as her son.
Momma squeezed both of Charley's cheeks in her tiny grey furred hands. "Oh, my baby." Her voice was as sweet as honey. "My son has told me all about you."
Charley smiled, unaccustomed to this level of doting since her own grandmother passed. "All good things, I hope."
"They wouldn't be able to get ten feet out of their mountain if it weren't for you, my dear. And to survive out there on your own for as long as you have, you must be one tough little mouse."
"Human, momma. I'm human."
"Well, you may as well be one of us, and as long as you are here, you will always be one of us." Momma pulled Charley's head down to kiss her on her forehead. She gave her one last big hug and pushed her over to Primer. "My granddaughter has something for you inside, that might cheer you up, go on baby."
Primer locked elbows with Charley and led her into the house. "Grandma is a bit assertive, but in a loving way," the young mouse said sheepishly.
Charley smiled. She took no offence to Momma's greeting. "She reminds me of my own grandma. She'll love you whether you want her to or not."
Primer laughed. "Yep, whatever Momma says is law."
Charley was ushered up a half-flight of stairs to a level of the home that was designated for bedrooms. They entered the room closest to the stairs. By its décor, it was clearly Primer's room. Delicate soft pink linens adorned a single sized mattress. The walls were plastered with pictures of Primer and her friends, as well as posters of what Charley assumed to be Martian heart throbs. There were also FUR propaganda posters encouraging collective farming and volunteer recruitment. On the far end of the room there was a large window that looked out onto the Acradian flood plane.
"This is what I wanted to show you," Primer said as she opened her closet and pulled out a handful of clothes. Dress clothes, casual wear, everything except old uniforms and work coveralls. "I collected these from some of my co-workers. Their second-hand but they are all in great shaped. I even sewed up the tail pockets for you. How do you even balance without a tail?"
Charley held her new wardrobe in her hands and looked over the dresses, shirts, blouses, and denim pants. "I… I don't know how. It's just a human thing I guess?"
"What else can humans do?"
"We have better vision than mice," by now Charley was looking at each individual piece of clothing, wondering which she would want to try on first. "At least I see better than you uncle and his friends. But you all have better hearing than me." She began to fixate on a dark blue dress. Its knee length skirt flared out from the waist. The cuffed sleeves went down to the elbows and were adorned with brass buttons that matched the buttons on the blouse.
"I always liked that dress," Primer said standing beside her. "My friend Aster gave it. She gave a lot of the really nice stuff. Aster has great taste. When I told her that I was collecting some clothes for you as a surprise she went through every item I had collected to make sure you didn't just get tattered old rags she wanted you to have some nice duds…"
Charley listened to Primer as she went on to talk about her friends. She was definitely her brother's sister. "Tell Aster I am very grateful. These are all beautiful."
"I'm going to leave so you can try some of these on," Primer said as she made her way to the door. "We'll all be downstairs in the living room when you're ready to come out."
Charley dressed herself and looked at her reflection in Primer's bedroom mirror. Her complexion had become paler as the sun on Mars was never as bright as on Earth. The scars from what she endured had faded and only existed in memories. She looked like her old self. If she could push through this wave of depression, then perhaps she could start living like her old self as well.
She stepped out of the bedroom and walked down the stairs to the main floor. Walking down the hallway, Charley spotted a kitchen with a stone carved wood burning stove. Further down was a formal looking dining room, and across from there was a living room.
Everyone seemed to be gathered there, laughing and catching up on the goings on of their lives. Primer was defending her volunteering with FUR to her uncle, while momma was fussing over how skinny Rimfire was looking. Vinnie and Throttle were arguing in a corner about something, but Charley missed the beginning of their conversation, but she had a suspicion that it had something to do with whatever Vinnie was planning for tonight.
"Why can't you use your own?" Throttle asked Vinnie.
"Because it's broken" Vinnie replied.
"Well, what's going to happen if you break mine?"
"I'm not. I wont. Just please, do me this favour bro, it's important."
"Not unless you promise you wont break it."
"On my word as a mouse. On my word as your brother just please do this for-" Vinnie stopped his sentence when he spotted Charley out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, grinned, and whistled with two fingers in his mouth. "Who is this tall drink of water?"
Everyone else' head turned and began to fawn over Charley. Her skin began to turn red with all the extra attention. Charley rolled her eyes and ignored Vinnie as she took a seat on the couch beside Primer. After pleasantries were exchanged, the conversation pivoted to momma asking when Rimfire would be moving back home.
"I don't see any reason why you need to live so far away from home just because that silly old mouse is still out there. What about finishing school or starting a job? Primer is working on soil rejuvenation. That's important work and all her friends are here too, some of them are really pretty."
"I like living with uncle and Stoker, momma," Rimfire attempted to put up a meek defence. "Plus, I want to apprentice under Charley."
"Well, this is news to me," Charley choked.
"You were the only one who let me do real work back at the base. And you're getting more work, so you'll probably need help. You're a great mechanic and I want to learn from the best."
"Aww now you're making her blush," Modo teased. He wasn't wrong. Charley was quite flattered, though she suspected this was more of a spur of the moment decision so the kid could keep living with his uncle.
"If that is what you really want then let's do it," Charley said with a smile. "But I'm warning you now, I am not a patient teacher, and you are going to learn the hard way."
"Whatever you throw my way I can handle," Rimfire boasted.
Momma had mixed feelings. She was happy that her grandson had found a purpose, but she was scheming to get her family back home. "Well then why doesn't Charley open a shop in the city? I'm sure you would get way more business that people driving half-way to nowhere."
"Charley is still under Stoker's protective custody until she gets clearance from Olympia," said Throttle.
"Well, that's just ridiculous," Momma scoffed. "What kind of bureaucratic nonsense is that? I happen to know the mother of Governor Mason. I meet up with her twice a week at the gym. I'll talk to her about this and-"
"You just do whatever you need to do momma," Modo interrupted. "We all appreciate you helping out in any way you can."
Momma smiled at her big boy. "I'll always do everything I can for my baby and his friends."
"Welp, I think I need to be heading out now," said Vinnie. He winked at Charley as he made his way across the living room. "I've got a few things I need to take care of while I'm in town."
"Oh, aren't you staying for supper dear?" momma asked.
"Definitely tomorrow, momma. I'll see you all later." Momma got up to give Vinnie a kiss goodbye and the rest carried on with their evening.
Dinner was the best meal Charley had since living on Mars. It was a vegetarian dish heavy on grains and legumes, fragrant with spices she had never tasted before. There were restrictions on how much meat a family could consume in an attempt to save dwindling animal populations. No one seemed to mind as momma was an excellent cook.
After everyone was finished eating, and the sun had long been set, Throttle gave some vague message that Charley should go back up to Primer's bedroom. She would be sleeping there for the night while Primer would stay over at her friend's.
The light in the room made it impossible to see anything out of window. Even with the door shut, she could still hear Modo's family laughing amongst themselves; being around his family made her smile. It reminded her that there was still a place in her heart for love and family. Modo was right about her needing this vacation.
Charley heard a click coming from outside the bedroom window. The light in the room made it impossible to see anything of the city outside. She placed her hands on the stone windowsill and looked out the open, glassless window. Vinnie was standing beside his bike with a handful of pebbles.
"Come out here and I'll take you for a ride," he said with a smile.
"Why didn't you just come inside and say that?"
"That's not how this works babe, I meet you at the window and you climb down."
"I am not climbing out of a window, Vinnie."
Vinnie's ears drooped and he frowned, "Why not?"
"Because I don't want to fall and break any bones."
"I'll be here to catch you!"
"I will meet you at the front door, and then you can take me for a ride."
Charley left the window before Vinnie could protest. True to her word, she met him at the door to momma's house. Vinnie lifted her up with his tail and kept her close to his back. "Hold on tight Charley-girl, you are going to have the best night ever."