Back at headquarters, the mice are all either in the medical facility, showering or sleeping like the dead. In the communications room Carbine is speaking to Modo's grandmother. "There all fine, both are snoring loudly in the bunkers." Modo mother sighs in relief, "I knew you would take care of them. Make sure you tell Modo to come see me before he leaves, and tell Rimfire to come with him." Carbine smiles, "of course. Communication out."
Carbine turns as she hears the door open. She sighs as she sees Throttle walk in, he looks like he was beaten with a stick, a really big one. 'Throttle, how's Tiko?" Throttle slumps into a chair and groans loudly. "It took five of us to hold her down and give her a anesthetic to help her sleep, she was in an awful state of shock." Carbine's expression turns sad, "how do you think she is going to react when she wakes up?" Throttle puts his face in his hands and whispers, "I don't know. Blade went to go get her bike. I am hoping we can repair it, maybe if we can, she will recover from her shock." Carbine puts a hand on Throttle's shoulder, "did you try talking to her affectionately?" Throttle starts to chuckle, "in English and Martian, Charlie's tried everything too, she reminded her of their childhood and memories of being together." Carbine hugs Throttle as he weeps silently, "don't worry, she's snap out of it, she's strong and she loves you." Carbine holds Throttle close and rocks him to sleep, "he must be exhausted." Carbine covers him up in the chair and decides to go visit Stargazer. He too has lost someone he loves.
Outside. Vinnie is sitting on a blanket and has Charlie in his arms. He is holding her as she slowly weeps. "Charlene, do you think she will respond to her bike when we bring it back to get it fixed." Charlie shakes her head, "I don't know. I'm afraid she will lock herself up inside if she sees her destroyed bike. We might only make it worse. I've never seen her like this before." Vinnie rests his cheek on the top of Charlie's head. "I'm sorry sweetheart." Charlie looks into Vinnie's eyes, "what for?" Vinnie holds her face in his hands.
"For bringing you here, if you would have stayed on earth then none of this would have happened." Charlie smiles at Vinnie and kisses his nose, "if we wouldn't have come, you guys would have never won with as little losses as you did. Plus, I would never be able to not know what was happening and wither or not someone was watching your back." Vinnie holds Charlie to his chest and whispers, "I love you." Charlie snuggles into his warm fur, "ditto."
Carbine has arrived at her destination. When Stargazer proposed to her, he brought her to a rock that he said he loved to sit on and look up at the stars. She couldn't find him in the complex, so this is the only place he could be if he wanted to think. Carbine stops her bike and stares at his back. "Stargazer, have you gotten any sleep?" When he doesn't respond she walks to his side and tears form in her eyes as she sees his falling down his face. "Ya know Carbine, I thought that older brothers were suppose to protect their little sisters, not the other way around. I... I just can't believe what happened, she gone now because she un-selfishly saved my life. I never even got a chance to tell her how much I love her, and how much I am going to miss her." Carbine holds his hands in hers and looks into his eyes. "Sometimes in battle, sacrifices are made. But to those of us who survive, it's are job to remember those who died for us and our cause, that's how we keep them alive and the love that we have for them." Stargazer smiles and pulls her to him, "it's times like this that I remember why I fell in love with you."
Carbine puts her arms around his neck and kisses his tears away. "I thought it was because of my beautiful body." Stargazer starts to chuckle, but when Carbine gives him a sexy pose, he busts out into full fledged laughter, the tension in his chest relaxing as he watches the woman he loves.
Tiko stares out of the balcony into the night sky, remembering her past pains and joys. Why me? Oh shut up Tiko, stop feeling sorry for yourself, your stronger then this, you can just build another bike, a better one, a... who am I kidding? I'll never be able to replace Butterfly, what am I going to do without her?" Her train of thought is broken when she hears footsteps behind her. She smiles a little as she recognizes the sound of biker boots, and of the man she loves.
"Tiko, are you awake?" Throttle sees Tiko on the balcony but she doesn't turn around, she just continues to look out at the sky. "I had Blade go retrieve your bike, were going to try and fix her up, we might be able to restore most of her here on Mars." Tiko slumps forward and rests her elbows on the balcony. "Do you remember when I told you I have only loved on other man?" Throttle look surprised at Tiko, one minute she's beating them up, the next she is telling ready to tell a story. "Tiko, are you all right?" Tiko turns around to face Throttle, "I'm sorry about my little spell. I, I get that way sometimes. That's why I brought up the first man I ever loved, that's was the first time I went into such a state of shock, that it took either drugs or someone strong to help me recover from it." Throttle walks up to Tiko and looks into her eyes, they are red from crying and dark from lack of sleep. "You should get some rest. Plus, your thigh stills need to heal, you shouldn't stand for to long." Tiko smiles up at Throttle and plays with the rim of his ears. "I need to tell you about my first love, Ahiro. It's important to me that you hear this." Throttle nods but shocks Tiko when he scoops her up into his arms and sits in a chair, "maybe your strong enough to stand, but I'm not." Tiko chuckles a little and leans against his chest.
"I had just come back from living with Charlie and my sensei said I had gotten soft. He had accepted another student to train with me, his name was Ahiro Shimaste. Ahiro was two years older than me, but he was about a year below me in skill. We trained everyday all day and eventually we fell in love. I guess when you spend all your time together and your the only male and female for miles, it is unavoidable. Anyways, we received a assignment, his first but my seventh. Our mission was to take out a drug-lord located near Tokyo and try not to hurt any civilians or his employees, nothing went as planned though.
We had managed to get inside without any problems, we made our way to the outside of his office, I told Ahiro to approach the door and listen for sounds while I watched the hallway for guards. He signaled that there was three voices, nothing we couldn't handle. So we bursts threw the doors and drugged the three men with our darts. Our target was sitting behind his desk, I remember thinking that we were lucky, that's when everything went wrong." Tiko snuggles into Throttle's chest a little more, needing his comfort now more then ever.
"I told Ahiro to kill our target, he approached him and was about to slice his throat when one of the drugged guards shoots Ahiro in the leg. I quickly slit the guards throat but our target escaped threw a door behind his desk. Ahiro told me to go after him while he bandaged his leg." I should have never left him.
"I followed our target for about five minutes, I saw him ahead of me and was about to strike when I heard a scream. I will never forget the sound, it was Ahiro's and it was filled with pain. I rushed towards the sound and forgot about our target. First rule, complete mission without failure regardless of losses, if you fail and live, you dishonor yourself and your sensei." Throttle looks into Tiko's face and sees the pain in her eyes. "Your tattoo says death before dishonor, didn't you dishonor your sensei by not killing your target." Tiko smiles slightly, surprising Throttle.
"I killed him all right, but that is later on in my story, right now I am telling you about Ahiro." Throttle squeezes Tiko's hand, "please continue." Tiko's face turns hard again and her eyes go blank, staring into nothing. "I climbed onto the roof and sneaked my way to the east garden. There I saw Ahiro alive for the last time. The guards had beaten him so badly, his whole body was covered in blood. He had deep cuts all over his body and he could barely stay kneeling on the ground. One of the guards pulled out a sword and held it over Ahiro's head. That's when my love looked up and we locked eyes, in his eyes I saw forgiveness. As the sword came down I screamed and leaped off the roof. I don't even remember how I killed them, I just remember being covered in blood that was not my own. I looked at Ahiro's decapitated form and I remember sinking to my knees. At first I cried, but then I began to shake violently, my anger and sadness consumed me. It was then that my target came outside with a gun, he pointed it at me and ordered for me to get up. My shock had turned to rag, I dropped to the ground and spun, knocking him to the ground. I then pulled out my sword and brought it down on him, I sliced him from his groin to his chest. I lay there convulsing, but eventually he died. I burned the building and brought Ahiro's back to our dojo. After I buried him I would not move from the sight for four days, it was then that I was in shock and my sensei had to knock my unconscious in order to get me inside and out of the cold."
Tiko stands up and leans against a wall, "I had lost everything I had loved again, I felt sorry for myself and became very depressed. That is when my friend Tenchi brought me Butterfly. She was my new companion and I swore that day that I would never be alone again. I guess I was wrong, now I have lost her as well, maybe you shouldn't be around me, everything I love is somehow taken away from me."
Throttle stands and walks up to Tiko, he hugs her and murmurs lovers phrases in his native tongue. "I promise you that I will never leave you, I won't ever let you be alone again." Tiko chokes back a sob, "but how can you promise something you can't control." Throttle holds Tiko face, "because I love you, now and forever, that's how." Tiko smiles at Throttle and he leans down to kiss her. They just hold each other for a while, but before long Tiko yawns, forcing a chuckle out of Throttle. "You need some rest, I'll tuck you in." Tiko mumbles, "are you my daddy or something?" Throttle tries to get serious but to no avail, "don't you talk to me that way young lady, or I'll give you a good spanking." Tiko laughs and lays down on her bed, "you wish." Throttle climbs on top of her and pins her down, kissing her softly and nuzzling her neck. Tiko sighs and slowly falls asleep, Throttle smiles and whispers, "sweet dreams my luv, sweet dreams." He then goes to the men's dormitory for some much needed rest.