She opened the box in her hands. Everything inside her told her that the ticking was certainly coming from a bomb. But she had to look anyway. Maybe she could save them. In the box was a green cabbage. They're not gonna like this, she thought disappointed. Then she heard a dull boom somewhere behind her. But her eyes were fixed on the cabbage. All of a sudden she was so hungry. Maybe she should just...
BOOM!!!
The explosion shook the Last Chance Garage like a rattle and sent Charley flying out of her bed and down on the floor. She was awake now and tried to figure out what was going on and what happened to the cabbage. She heard several more blows and then the eager voice of Vinnie, getting ready to another fight. Charley groaned. It was going to be another one of these days.
Ever since the stinking Plutarkian fish Limburger and his puppets had returned to Chicago, she and the guys had hardly had a day with peace. Too frequently the garage was attacked and the Biker Mice would dash out to save the garage, the city and the planet. Charley'd wish they could have just one peaceful week for once.
Now fully awake she picked herself up from the floor. The pillow had also been knocked down on the floor. She reached out to put it on the bed again. There, where the pillow had been before, lay the letter. She stared at it for a while with mixed emotions. Nothing had happened since she had received that letter. Then she laid the pillow on top of it. Nothing had happened and nothing would probably ever happen. She wasn't sure why she even kept the letter. Besides, the guys might find it someday, and she didn't want them to get any silly ideas.
With the letter hidden beneath the pillow, Charley went to the stairs and called out. “What's up today, guys?”
A howl of hysteric, triumphant laughter met her. “The stinkin' fishhead has brought out the big boys today. Join the fun, Charley Girl.” Vinnie, of course. Charley hastily climbed into some jeans and a jacket. Join the fun... Vinnie... Just as she made it to the stairs down to the garage, another blow hit the building and would have sent her face first down the steps, hadn't she managed to catch the railing first. She'd have the guys promise her that they would blow up Limburger's tower in a neat way this time.
When she had descended the stairs tolerably safe she went for her bike. It seemed that the guys were driving the bad guys away from the garage now, since the noise was farther out on the street. Charley was grateful. It wasn't cheap to have the building constantly renovated. She tossed her head and drove out to assist the bros.
Vinnie, Throttle and Modo were apparently having a good time. You could hear their horrible singing miles ahead as they drove around and bashed Limburger's pet soldiers. It was a wonder that their mere attempt of singing wasn't enough to make the enemy flee.
For a while it looked like the mice were managing everything by themselves. She wouldn't really be needed this time. Until a group of cars like those used by the enemies suddenly appeared from a small alley. They were behind the bros who hadn't seen anything. Unless they got a little help, they might be captured. And Charley was not in the mood to save them from some prison today. Silently she let her bike pass the alley and drive behind the bad guys. She didn't notice the hand that crept around the corner of the building surrounding the alley, neither the long braid that snug out in the light nor the two eyes that followed her intensely.
The chaos started pretty quickly. All of a sudden the retreating villains got sight of their allied and stopped their escape. Vinnie, Throttle and Modo started puzzled and looked back only to find them selves captured. Charley reached down the bag on the side of her bike and grabbed her new Martian laser cannon, neatly sending three cars rocketing to the sky before the others knew what was going on. Then the chaos came. Charley wasn't exactly sure what had happened but now all were engaged in shooting at each other. Throttle and Vinnie reached Charley quickly and helped her fight the bad guys off with the multiple weapons in their posession. Two guys with mohawks were send rocketing for the skies. “Am I the baddest mammajamma or what!” howled Vinnie happily. Charley smirked.
The fight was short, only about five minutes, and then the villains were retreating. The bros seemed disappointed, especially Vinnie, but Charley just looked forward to get home. She touched the throttle a little and heard the low purr of her engine. She smiled at the mice that had all gathered besides her. “How about I go home and fix things there and you clean up the mess here?” She drove off while Vinnie's disapproval rang as a high pitched wailing in the street. “What! We just beat the bad guys and then...”
His voice trailed off a second after she felt the violent shock in her back. She was forced up in the air and landed hard on her shoulder on the ground about three feet from her previous perch. She heard the exclamations of the three well known masculine voices and the sound of an engine that was driving away. But she also heard something else. A female voice calling her name cut through everything else. “CHARLENE!” the feminine voice screamed.
Then all was black.
***
Her head hurt. That was her first thought. Then there was something that cut through the air and made the headache worse. It was voices. Angry voices. Three that she found familiar and one she couldn't remember having heard at all. Oh, but they were so loud and her head hurt so much. Why did her head hurt? And by now her shoulder and back joined in the pain.
Then she remembered the fight. She remembered having won along with the guys and then all went black. The last memory was that hard blow in the back that had sent her flying off her bike. Now she remembered more clearly.
She could also distinguish the voices. The unfamiliar voice was deep but feminine. It was closest to her, and it was angry. She couldn't make out the words yet. The other voices were definitely the guys trying to soothe the angry woman. Then her head cleared enough to make out the words just as Vinnie tried to caution the stranger. “Hey hey, watch out, pretty girl. That thing is not a toy.” A blast sounded from a laser gun and something shifted besides Charley. “I know,” the woman said.
Charley finally opened her eyes slightly and looked at the scene. Her helmet visor blocked a good part of her vision, but her head was angled so that she could actually see quite a lot in the limited space. Right in front of her were a ridiculously long braid falling to the ground, making several little loops on the ground. It was a dark blond braid that went to the head of a young woman sitting between Charley herself and the guys. Throttle, Modo and Vinnie were all standing before them with their hands stretched into the air and a worried look on their faces. Charley couldn't believe it. They were still in trouble and she had to save them. From that girl!
All this had only taken a few seconds. She tested her arms. They seemed to obey her. With an effort she tried to push herself upright. A groan escaped her, and this seemed to get everybody's attention. The guys mumbled her name and woman shifted towards her and spoke in a low, calming voice. “Lie down, Charlene. I got you covered.” Charley was confused. Was the girl trying to save her? Then she heard Vinnie's disapproval. “Come on, talk about no appreciation.” And all of a sudden Charley was happy. Extremely happy. She had come. The promise in the letter had come true after all these weeks. And right now the girl was thinking that she was saving Charley from her best friends. It was actually comical. But at least it was something that Charley could help without much effort.
She stretched out her hand towards the young woman. “Louise, you're mistaking. They're my friends.” It really hurt a lot to move but she had to fix this misunderstanding. She heard all of the guys sigh in relief, and she saw Louise shift slightly towards herself. The girl's face was still turned anxiously towards the mice as she answered. “Your... your friends? But I thought... You were hurt and...”
Vinnie tried to move closer to the distracted girl, but luckily Throttle held him back. Charley was grateful. No interference would make her job of soothing Louise so much easier. She smiled slightly behind her visor. It was so annoying. She ignored it and stretched out her hand a little longer. “That was the bad guys, Louise...” The girl turned towards her. Charley put her hands to the ground at pushed herself up sitting. She flipped the visor open and stared at the girl. Yes, she had no doubt. She was so happy that she was here. Charley flung her arms around Louise's neck and started laughing. “Oh, your here! I thought you'd never come!”
Louise laughed back and gently freed herself so that she could look into Charley's eyes. “And miss out on meeting you, are you crazy? I've been traveling across half the country to find you.”
Charley smiled slightly. “I know, I know.”
Louise looked at her and then nodded understanding. “Oh yeah... Dad sent you a letter. He told me.”
Charley felt slightly annoyed when reminded of the author of the letter. But then they were disturbed by Throttle clearing his throat and taking a step towards them. “Er, excuse me, miss Louise, but could I have my gun back?” Louise got an almost guilty look in her face, as she looked down on the gun that had ended in her lap. She slowly took it and reached it towards Throttle with such care that Charley started to wonder if Louise was actually the cocky one who had fired it earlier. “Erhm, here you go. And just call me Lou. Everyone else does.”
Charley smiled. Lou, huh? She'd remember that. Then Modo came towards them. Charley got a little worried. She knew, he was the nicest person, but he was also tall and a little scary looking. But he had that cute almost boyish expression on his face as he turned towards Lou. “May I ask you one question, miss Lou? Who are you?”
Lou smiled nervously. It wasn't because she was scared of the guys, for she was obviously intend on getting along with Charley's friends, no matter how odd they looked. Charley understood the girl's confusion and decided to break the news to her friends. She laid her hand on Lou's shoulder and smiled to the guys. “Of course. This is my sister.”
The expressions on each of their faces was that of complete shock. Vinnie was the worst. He looked like he was about to faint. Then came the exclamation like a shockwave. “Your WHAT?!” Modo looked down at Charley and Lou with a puzzled expression. “Charley girl, you never said you had a sister.”
Charley squeezed her sister's shoulder and grinned. Lou met her eyes and grinned along. Then Charley turned towards Modo. “I didn't know until a few months ago. I got a letter that told me that my sister was out there, looking for me.”
Vinnie broke out from his spot behind Throttle and Modo and stood beside Charley. He looked at her with that usual look on his face that told her, that he was missing out on something vital and he didn't like it. “Sweetheart, how come you never told us about her?” Modo nodded in agreement. “Yeah, didn't you grow up with your parents?”
This was the worst part of the reunion for Charley. The guys had never met her parents and didn't know that her mothers husband was only Charley's stepfather and not her biological father. Only Lou knew. And she put her hand on Charley's shoulder before she turned to the guys. “We share the same father,” she said quickly. “Charley, your mother remarried, and he's a father to you, right?”
Charley bit her lip and nodded silently. “She did.” Lou looked at her and nodded silently. There would be no need to elaborate on this further and she was grateful for that. All of a sudden she felt the fatigue overwhelm her. She had been woken up so brutally and then the attack and at last her sister. She tried to get up on her legs only to be pushed firmly down by Lou. “Charlene, lie still. We need to get you home. You're injured.”
Charley smiled slightly and tried to push Lou's hand away. “I'm fine, Lou. I just need to get home and get some sleep. And just call me Charley.”
The look in Lou's eyes grew stern as she pushed Charley downwards. “Charley, keep still! You took a nasty fall. You might be concussive.” Lou looked up at Modo and Vinnie. “The garage is nearby, isn't it? Maybe you could carry her home...” Then she took a look around and obviously looked at the four bikes standing around. “Or maybe I should just call for an ambulance.”
Charley felt Modo and Vinnie sit on each side of her and soothing her. Modo smiled at Lou. “Don't worry, we can take her home.” Charley saw her sister look around confused. “But what about your bikes?” Just as she asked, the Martian bikes started to purr out of nowhere and drive closer to the group. Charley couldn't help smiling at her sister's gawking eyes focused on the living bikes. Lou swallowed hard. “Oh... Wow...”
Throttle gave one of his low chuckles and stepped closer to the rest of the group, but his glasses were turned towards his bike. “Pretty neat, don't you think?” Then he turned towards his bros. “Vincent, you better take care of Charley. Modo, you follow Lou to the garage and help her if she needs anything. I'll get Charley's bike home.”
Charley appreciated their efforts but also felt that they pampered her far to much. She tried to stand again. “But guys, I'm sure, I can...”
“NO!” everyone said as with one voice while turning towards her. Modo let her go, and before she could do anything to protest, Vinnie had scooped her up in his furry arms. She felt a hand on her arm and heard Lou speak softly. “Charley, you got knocked out. Let us help you.” And then. “Thanks for helping her.” Charley could hear Vinnie's steady heartbeat mix in with his answer. “No problem. Of course we'll help Charley girl.” His voice was unusually soft. Then she felt, that he started to walk.