"Spies in the Family" by MegK

Author's note: So, I've been bingeing a lot of this cartoon lately, both online (thank you, YouTube!) and here on ff-dot-net. Back when the good version was still on the air, I had a vague idea of two original characters and a plot that would introduce them a la one-shot or two-part episodes of same. It's taken this stretch of nostalgia to come up with more fleshed-out characters and a more complex story. This is the first time in a long time that I've posted anything in multiple chapters while still writing it, so please be patient. Vic and Lia are my characters; everyone else belongs to Rick Ungar. The following takes place somewhere between Seasons 2 and 3 (1995). I've also decided to re-edit and combine a few chapters; they looked a little skimpy on reflection.

-B-

Chapter 1: Arrival

Somewhere 20 miles west of Chicago, Illinois

Some beings were just not built to ride a Plutarkian teleport beam, especially when they're not used to it—and had deliberately redirected it as far from the original destination as possible.

Such was the case when two female bikers suddenly appeared on a hilltop, toppling off their respective motorcycles with moans of disorientation.

"Oh, my head," one said in a gentle soprano voice. "I hate doing that." Her eyes opened wide as she called out in a panic for her compatriot. "Lia? Lia, where are you?!"

"Here, Vic," a smoky alto replied. "I'm here." She was indeed nearby, carefully pulling herself to sit up from her supine position.

"Cheese, Lia, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ow." She rolled her head to get the cricks out of her neck. "When did riding a teleport mean tasting blood in your mouth?"

"I dunno, but I think it just means we're not used to it." Vic opened the visor of her biker helmet to take in her surroundings, revealing a mouse's face covered in white fur. Her red eyes widened as she looked around. "Hey, Li, look around you."

Lia also opened her visor, showing her gray-furred face with ash-white markings. Then she saw what had her friend so awed. "It's green! I don't remember so much green!"

"Neither do I," said Vic. "It's like the old stories of how Mars used to be."

"Yeah, but where are we that looks like this?" Lia asked. "Especially when the Plutarkians were trying to send us here."

"I'm just glad we were able to redirect the beam while we were still inside it. Who knows what kind of doom they planned for us." Vic went to her bright-green bike and turned on the interstellar navigation system. Vic smiled as she saw their location. "Lia, you're not gonna believe this. We're on Earth!"

"Earth?!" Lia said incredulously. "I didn't think the Plutarkians even had interests on Earth."

"Me, neither, but it shows just how long out of contact we've been with Mars."

"True. Now how do we get that information back to General Carbine?" Lia patted the small information stick, still in the pack attached to her belt along with three Plutarkian gold gills she had purloined.

"Let's start with where we were supposed to end up. Wherever or whoever the stink-fishes were sending us, we could find allies along the way." Vic switched her nav system from stellar to planetary local. A pause, then two, then… "Huh. Looks like we're not far from somewhere called 'Chicago'. Well, I think as your gray-furred auntie would say, when in doubt, ask for directions."

Lia laughed. "Oh, c'mon. Auntie never said anything like that!"

"Well, if she didn't, she should!" Vic shot back. "And she should've taught your cousin, too."

"Maybe," Lia said wistfully, thinking of her cousin, who had been like a brother in all but blood.

Vic quickly synched the nav computer to Lia's bike, a sleek gold machine with red flames stenciled along the sides. Vic straddled her own machine and put up her visor, shooting her friend a grin. "You ready, biker babe?"

Lia returned the grin as she put up her own visor. "Absolutely, cycle sister." They revved their respective engines and bumped fists. "Let's rocket…"

They finished their personal battle cry together: "… and ROLL!"

Chicago would never know what hit it.

-M-

Limburger Plaza, Chicago, Illinois

"LIMBURGER!" Lord Camembert's voice roared through the interstellar call, echoing through Lawrence Limburger's office. "Why are the two spies I sent you not destroyed yet?!"

Limburger's fat finger circled between his throat and the collar of his button-down shirt. "The fact is, Your Overtness, they never arrived. We were ready to receive them, weapons drawn, but they never materialized here. Karbuncle believes that the two prisoners you were sending us did something to the teleport. It did not end, per se, just redirected." He grabbed the paper his pet mad scientist held out to him and displayed it to the High Chairman of Plutark. "The spies landed west of Chicago. By the time we discovered it, they were already gone. You have my deepest—"

"Stow your apologies, Limburger," Camembert snapped. "I don't care what you have to do but get rid of those spies before they can get the information they stole to their superiors!"

"If we could also have images of what they look like, High Chairman?" Limburger could still feel the sweat building in his human mask to leak out of the "pores". "So we can identify them."

"Done, but be warned, Lawrence—they were under our gills for over a solar year! They had disguised themselves so completely, we barely caught them before throwing them into the teleporter. You'll have their images in a moment." With that, the communication screen went black, Camembert having cut off the call from his end.

The length of time shook Limburger slightly. A Plutarkian solar year was roughly equivalent to eighteen Earth months. Who knows what those spies could have told their handlers in that length of time? He took a breath to calm himself before turning to Karbuncle. "Well, my dear demented doctor, you have prepared something appropriately gruesome for these agents of espionage?"

"Of course, Your Overripe Creaminess," Karbuncle rasped out. "I've been experimenting with different interrogation techniques and decided to put my own spin on them. It should be enough to learn what they know—while destroying them."

A/N 2: What do you think so far? Review, please?