Renegade
Mostly a Vinnie/Charley thing.
Vinnie's been under a lot of stress, but it seems Charley and his bros haven't realised just how much...
Chapter 1
The sun was high over Chicago, and the city bathed lazily under its heat. It was hot… too hot to make interplanetary warfare seem worth the effort. At the Last Chance Garage, all was quiet, Throttle and Modo at rest, their eyelids drowsily drooping as the warmth of midday worked its siesta-inducing magic. Abruptly the peace was shattered by the sound of voices raised in argument.
“Well, I’m sorry if it offends you, sweetheart!” Vinnie snapped.
“Hey, I was only joking!” Charley protested. “Sheesh, what’s happened to your sense of humour?!” Throttle glanced at Modo.
“Uh oh, trouble in paradise” he murmured.
“My old grey-furred Momma always said, when the fur starts flying put your helmet on and keep your head down” the big mouse confirmed.
“Maybe I’ll go look for it!” Vinnie snarled to his girlfriend as he stormed outside. “I’ll get some air whilst I’m at it – this place is stifling!” Without a word to his bros, he mounted his bike and rode off at high speed. Charley appeared and stared after him, her face a mixture of annoyance and confusion. Throttle came up behind her cautiously, and touched her on the shoulder.
“Something wrong?” Charley swung round irritably, but then her expression softened and she sighed.
“I don’t know, Throttle. Vinnie just seems so moody at the moment. I made a joke about the number of hotdogs he’s been eating, like I’ve done a thousand times before, and he flew off the handle! I don’t understand what’s gotten into him.” Throttle nodded wearily. He glanced at Modo, who nodded.
“I reckon we do, Charley-ma’am” the big grey-furred mouse said gently. “It’s coming up to thirty years since his Mom died. You know she was killed by the Plutarkians?”
“Yes. Vinnie’s never really talked about it, but yes.” Throttle grimaced.
“Well, did you know Vinnie found the body?” Charley frowned, all anger gone from her.
“No… oh, the poor guy!” The Commander shrugged.
“I guess that kind of makes a big impression on a person… especially when they’re only four years old. So he gets a bit touchy every anniversary, especially at the big ones. He likes to go off by himself. It’ll pass soon enough, but best tread carefully for the next couple of days.” Charley nodded sadly. She padded over to the computer and switched it on. The tracking system should have shown the white mouse’s progress, but there was nothing.
“He switches off the homing transmitter” said Modo without looking up.
“That figures” Charley sighed in fond despair. “The big lug always was too proud to let others help him” she smiled. “Well, I guess that explains his recent disappearing acts.”
The mystery of Vinnie’s mood swings explained, they thought nothing of it for a while… that was, until Charley turned the television on. The news was showing, and the reporter was standing in front of smoking wreckage, fire fighters combating the flames as spectators stood around gawping.
“…another attack by the mystery biker, the third this week” the reporter was explaining. “There appears to be no motive behind these attacks, the targets seem to be random. There have been injuries, but we can only thank God that there have not been any fatalities as yet…”
“Man, I wish there was some clue to who that guy is” growled Throttle.
“It isn’t Rump’s style, or the Catatonians’” agreed Modo. “Nor Limburger’s neither”. Charley shushed him quickly.
“For the first time, however” the reporter continued, “security camera footage has captured the criminal on film, and the Police have released the images in the hope that somebody, somewhere, might be able to shed some light on who the biker could be.”
The two mice and Charley watched the footage in silence, and with increasing horror.
“It… it… can’t be” stammered Charley.
“Oh, Momma…” Modo muttered. Throttle stared.
“Vinnie?”
It was, indeed, Vinnie. Granted, the images weren’t particularly clear, but the bike and its rider were unmistakable. The images ended, and the reporter started waffling on about how to contact the police and so on. Charley reached for the remote and numbly switched the TV off.
“But it… can’t be Vinnie… I mean… he wouldn’t… would he? You said he got upset about the anniversary of his Mom’s death but… this?!”
“I know, I know!” protested Throttle. “But, well you saw him. I just don’t understand!”
“Oh, Vinnie…” Modo moaned. Charley and Throttle were still too much in shock to express any real emotion, but the big grey mouse was looking visibly upset. Throttle grimaced.
“I think we need to talk to Stoker”.
They raised the ageing General on the VidCom. He listened carefully as Throttle explained the situation, and looked at some stills from the security tapes that Charley had found on the police website.
“You’ve known Vinnie longer than any of us” said Throttle. “He wouldn’t do this, would he? Not Vinnie!” Stoker bit his lip.
“I don’t know, Commander… I’m afraid it’s possible.” Charley had a sudden idea.
“The brainwashing… well, attempted brainwashing… could it be some delayed reaction from that?” Stoker shook his head.
“It wouldn’t even need that” he sighed. “I’ve seen this before… back in my Army days. There was a guy called Pistol, bit of a wild mouse, not so very different to Vinnie. Had some pretty bad experiences, but he kept all the angst bottled up… he didn’t like to show weakness, too macho for his own good. And then one day…” He clicked his fingers. “Snap! Completely lost it… went on the rampage.”
“And what happened?” asked Charley anxiously. “Were you able to help him?” Stoker hesitated.
“In the end he started shooting at us” he replied heavily. “We had to kill him.”
There was a solemn pause as the little group pondered the dreadful possibility of having to apply this drastic solution to Vinnie.
“So, General…” asked Modo. “What do we do?” Stoker shrugged.
“Try to control him, don’t provoke him… it’s possible he might find Charley easiest to deal with…”
“Great job I made of that” murmured Charley.
“… and, if the worst comes to the worst, you might have to send him home. Maybe the new regime’s better at dealing with PTSD…” As they turned the VidCom off, there was the sound of a motorbike outside. A moment later Vinnie walked in, wheeling his bike inside. The white mouse noted their expressions, and misinterpreted them.
“Look, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to snap at you, sweetheart…”
“And what about the attacks?” Throttle cut in. Vinnie stared blankly at him.
“Attacks? What attacks?”
“The mysterious biker? The random destruction?” said Modo.
“What have they got to do with me?” Understanding slowly dawned. “You don’t think I’ve got anything to do with them?” His bros and Charley glanced uneasily at each other. “You do!” Vinnie exclaimed, thunderstruck. Throttle sighed.
“They always happen when you’re away on your own. And, well… we’ve seen the security camera pictures. It couldn’t be anyone else.” Charley walked towards him, her hands held out in gentle plea.
“Vinnie… my love…” she began tenderly. “We know you’ve been under a lot of stress… what with the anniversary of your Mom’s death, and the war and everything. But it doesn’t have to be like this… we can help you!” But Vinnie was backing away from her.
“Not you, Charley” he murmured, a look of betrayal etched on his face.
“Come on, Vinnie…” Throttle warned. His face was open and friendly, but something in Stoker’s warning must have lodged in his mind because his hand had unconsciously dropped to his holster. Unfortunately Vinnie noticed. Abruptly his tail whipped out and dragged the gun from the tan-furred mouse’s side, sending it skittering across the floor. The next moment Vinnie had leapt onto his bike, and as his bros ran to stop him the white mouse reached out and seized Charley by the arm, dragging her onto his bike. Modo tried to prevent his movement, but again Vinnie’s tail was out and pulling his big comrade’s legs from under him, sending him crashing to the floor. Then Vinnie, Charley and bike was away.
Modo struggled to his feet and ran to the door in time to see the fugitive vanish into the distance.
“Oh bro” he murmured, “What have you done…?”
Curious. It's just an ordinary Word file, works fine for me. Have you tried to see if you get the same problem with one of my other stories - Worlds Apart, for example?
The other stories were fine =\
It worked fine here, odd.. *blinks*
ouchies, that's a touchy story. Where´s part 2?
;_; It keeps giving me an invalid file...
Now don't get me wrong... I still fanwhore Throttle...
Vinnie's just my guilty pleasure ^^;