Outside the battle is coming to an end. Throttle turns to Carbine. "My tracking says Tiko and Charlie are heading right for us." Carbine nods and pulls out her radio. "The team inside is only a few yards away from their exit. My guess is that blow time is about one minute. We need to radio everyone and order them to clear a half a mile radius." Throttle nods and picks up his radio, "what about the team inside?" Carbine smiles, "there's a bomb shelter at the exit underground, they'll be perfectly safe." Both smile as they get on their communicators and radio to their teams that's it's time to evacuate.
"MODO... MODO STOP!" Vinnie is going about 100 as he chases his bro. Modo has rode off in a fit and is headed right for the complex. Not listening to Vinnie or any outside communication, he doesn't hear the warning to stay clear of the complex. Vinnie pulls along side Modo and hollers, "MODO, THE COMPLEX IS GOING TO BLOW. WE NEED TO GO THE OTHER DIRECTION." Modo glares at Vinnie and suddenly stops his bike. Vinnie, shocked by the sudden change in speed, does a wide 180 and faces Modo. "Big fella, we got to go that way." Modo looks into Vinnie's eyes and there are tears running down his face. "Modo, what's wrong?" Modo shakes his head and sobs, "My... I... I'm just tired... that's all" With that said Modo turns his bike around and heads towards the other direction. Vinnie looks confused and shakes his head as he goes after his bro.
"Tiko, when do you think the complex is going to blow?" Tiko stops Butterfly and Charlie does the same. "In about 10 seconds, we should cover our eyes when it blows." Charlie nods and they look toward the enemies' base. "Where are the rest of the guys?" Tiko activates her tracking device. "Modo and Vinnie are about a mile that direction, and Throttle and Carbine are about a half mile that direction. All of us are a safe distance from the blast." Charlie nods and the two wait for the explosion. Both cover their eyes as a white light forms at the bottom of the building, then a rumbling can be heard as it starts to fall. Finally there is a huge boom and flames shoot out into the sky. Both smile as they realize the battle is over.
But the blast deafened their ears, for they do not see or hear the tank approaching. Tiko turns suddenly and sees it closing in, "CHARLIE, DIVE!" Charlie doesn't even look towards the tank, she hits the ground and rolls away from her bike. Tiko does the same and yells at Butterfly, *activate shields.* Butterfly puts up her shields just as the blast hits the bikes. Charlie's is destroyed, but Butterfly doesn't even have a scratch. *Butterfly, eliminate that tank.* Butterfly flies into action as Tiko pulls out her sword. Tiko turns to Charlie and yells for her to look behind her. Charlie reaches for her blaster but sees it is gone. Tiko yells for Charlie to duck and throws her sword at the Sand Raider charging Charlie, it hits him in the chest and he falls off the side of the overhang. "Charlie, take cover by that rock." Charlie ducks behind a rock and watches as Tiko takes on a group of Sand Raiders without her sword. Charlie grabs her radio and calls for help, "Throttle, Vinnie, Modo... anybody, do you copy." Charlie sighs in relief as she hears Throttle's voice. "What's up babe?" Charlie screams as Tiko is shot in the leg, causing her to fall to her knees. "Tiko is fighting about 10 Sand Raiders unarmed, she's been shot in the leg and she's bleeding badly." Throttle's eyes turn red and he starts to shake, "Will be right there." Charlie look over the cliff and can see Tiko's sword about four feet away in the dead rats chest, he was caught on a rock sticking out of the cliff. "If I can just reach it."
Tiko squares off to three Sand Raiders, she is limping and can feel that some of her ribs are broken. Tiko glances to the direction of her bike and can see she has just finished blowing up the tank. Now I can show this shit-heads what real pain feels like. Tiko is about to call Butterfly over when she sees Charlie reaching over the cliff. Seeing Tiko distracted, the hyena lunges for her. Tiko faces him and drops to the ground, planting her foot in his chest as he flies above her. Tiko gets to her feet and squares off to the last rat. What the? Where did the other one go? Tiko whispers "no" as she sees him sneaking up on Charlie, I'm to far away.Tiko finds herself on the ground and under a growling rat. Tiko head butts him and is about to call to Charlie when she sees Butterfly. *BUTTERFLY, PROTECT CHARLIE!* Butterfly activates her blasters and fires at the rats back, knocking him over the cliff beside Charlie. Charlie screams in surprise as he flies by her, she turns around and sees Tiko slicing a rat's throat.
Charlie stands up and smiles as Tiko sighs in relief as she sees Charlie is safe. *Thank you Buddha.* Tiko stands up and starts to limp towards Charlie, she stops in her tracks as she hears a huge boom and falls to her knees as she sees her bike engulfed in flames. *BUTTERFLY!* Tiko tries to stand up and run to her bike, but Charlie has reached her and is holding her back. *Tiko, she's gone. We have to worry about that tank, it's getting ready to hit us next.* Tiko doesn't even notice the tank aiming at them, she is in shock and tears are falling down her face as she sees Butterfly burning. Charlie tries to drag Tiko away, but she is dead weight and can not get her to move far. *TIKO... IT'S GOING TO SHOOT US!* Charlie sees the tank's driver ready to fire so she bends down to Tiko and holds her close, *I can't let you die alone.* Charlie closes her eyes and waits the inevitable. She hears a blast and shrinks into Tiko chest, but she slowly relaxes as nothing happens.
Charlie screams as she feels strong hands pull her to her feet, but she bursts into tears as Vinnie hugs her tightly. "Oh Vinnie, I'm so glad your here." Vinnie hushes her and pulls her tighter to him. Throttle reaches Tiko and stares in amazement at the blank look in Tiko's eyes. He holds her to him and looks into her violet eyes. "Tiko, are you all right? Tiko!" He gets no response, she just stares into nothing. Throttle looks to Charlie. "She's in shock, and she's lost a lot of blood. Where's her bike?" Charlie shakes her head and points in the direction of a burning Butterfly. "It's destroyed. Tiko ordered Butterfly to protect me and the tank while protecting me blasted her. That's when Tiko fell into shock, she saw Butterfly burning and wouldn't move, not even when the tank was going to kill us." Throttle looks at Butterfly and cradles her face. "Carbine, bring me bandages, we need to patch her up before we take off." Carbine runs back to their bikes and brings some bandages. Throttle covers up Tiko bleeding thigh and carries her to his bike. He places her infront of him and holds her close. Throttle starts his bike and they head off for headquarters. Damn me for bringing her here.