A Promise Never Forgotten
Prologue
By Drifter Song
February 24, 2002
Copyright of Drifter Song 2002, all rights reserved.
Down on the vacant side of Chicago sits the Last Chance Garage. The only business that hasn't been bought out by the Limburger Corporation, no matter how hard he tries. At this moment a biker is at the shop working on his ride.
"Oh man this is a major bummer. I should be out with my bros, but noooo, " the biker complained as he walked around his motorcycle, gesturing somewhat erratically. "Stuck here with Charley girl trying to fix a busted piston."
"Might as well take a break while Charley's pickin' up parts," the biker said with sigh as he walked over to Charley's desk and plopped down in the chair and propped his boots up on the wooden surface.
He reached over and picked up his helmet off the desk and reached inside to carefully remove a folded slip of paper from its hiding place. He set his helmet back down and leaned back in the chair, unfolding the slip of paper as he did so. Inside was a picture that red eyes gazed upon and he let out a soft sigh.
The picture was of him and a woman together. She had long black hair, soft ginger brown fur and wondrous green eyes. The woman in this picture was a Martian mouse, much like the biker himself. For he was no ordinary biker, but a Biker Mouse from Mars who crash-landed on Earth when their ship was damaged by Plutarkians.
"Hey what ya looking at Vinnie?" A woman's voice floated in from the doorway. When there was no answer, she called to the biker again, only louder. "Vinnie?"
"Huh? What?" Vinnie said, as he looked up at Charley in a slightly confused fashion. "What did you say Charley girl?"
Now Charley stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. As she watched the tall Marian mouse. She didn't know what he was looking at but it sure did absorb most of his attention to things. She probably could have walked over to him and tweaked him on the muzzle before he noticed she was back.
"What are you looking at?" Charley repeated.
Nothing!" Vinnie replied as he sat up quickly, folding the slip of paper back around the photo and grabbed his helmet. He placed the picture inside its protective space quite quickly.
"How long have you been staring at that photo?" Charley questioned as she walked into the room.
Charley was one of Vinnie and the bros closest human friends on Earth. She was the first to help them out when the crashed on Earth. Now they help her in her fight against Limburger.
"Really Charley, it's nothing. Now did you get the parts," Vinnie replied, changing the subject away from the photo.
"Yeah I got the parts," Charley said as she gave Vinnie a funny look at the way he was acting. She had a feeling that he was hiding something, but what she didn't know. She figured that it had to be something dealing with that photo he was looking at.
By the time Charley and Vinnie finished the repairs, Throttle and Modo, Vinnie's bros returned to the Last Chance to see how things were going.
"Hey why don't you finish cleaning up and I'll see what the guys are up to," Charley said with a smile as she walked towards the door that lead out of the workshop were she heard the others come in. She wiped her hands on a towel as she crossed the room.
"Ok Charley girl, and… uhhh…thanks for your help," Vinnie replied with a smile as well.
"No prob, Vinnie, "Charley called from the doorway before disappearing into the other room.
"Hey Charley, how's Vinnie's ride coming?" Throttle asked as he saw Charley enter the room and he walked over to her.
"Its done, Vinnie's in the other room cleaning up," Charley responded as she was still trying to work some of the grime off her hands.
"Great," Modo said as he headed towards door into the main work bay.
"I'm sure that he's just itchin' to ride," Throttle added with a chuckle as he followed the taller grey mouse.
"Guys, can you wait a sec?" Charley started as the pair of men walked past her. "I have something to ask you two."
"What is it Charley?" Throttle asked as he stopped and turned to face the woman. His ears twitched softly at the question, his long tail swayed behind him at an easy gate.
"Yeah Charley is something wrong?" Modo asked in concern as he gestured slightly with his bionic arm, he stopped as well.
"No, nothing is wrong I just have a question about Vinnie," Charley stated, now finished cleaning her hands she held the towel in one hand as she placed it against her hip.
"Go on," Throttle replied as he stood there waiting patiently for Charley to continue.
Modo simply nodded waiting for her to continue as well, he was a bit unsure of what to think at the moment.
"Do you know anything about he photo that Vinnie has hidden in his helmet?" Charley asked softly, looking towards the room where Vinnie was cleaning up. No need for him to hear this, she thought.
"Photo? What photo?" Throttle asked Charley in slight confusion as he cocked a furred brow, before he turned to look at Modo.
"I haven't seen Vinnie carrying any photos," Modo added with a shrug at the look from Throttle.
"Well he does and it's hidden in his helmet. He was looking at it when got back from picking up parts," she explained, shaking her head. "When I asked him about it he put it way and said that it was nothing."
* * *
I wonder what they're talking about out there?
Vinnie thought as he wiped his hand with a rag before he shrugged. Ahhhh well, I'm sure that I'll here about it soon enough. Little did he know that this was a conversation that he really would not want to hear, before he walked back over to Charley's desk.* * *
"Hmmm, that doesn't seem like our bro to keep something a secret." Throttle remarked as he looked over to the tall grey mouse. "What do you think Modo?"
"Not sure, why don't we go ask him," Modo suggested with a shrug.
"Great!" Charley exclaimed with a smile. "I want to know what is so important about that photo."
"Hey Vinnie, how's it goin' bro?" Throttle asked the white furred biker as he walked in the room.
Vinnie was stretched out in a chair with his feet on Charley's desk, all relaxed. Charley frowned a bit as the Martian's boots were settled on a pile of paperwork that was now filthy, no thanks to him. She sighed, there really wasn't much that she could do about it, scolding him would do no good, she know that already.
"Everything's goin' great thanks to Charley girl here!" Vinnie replied excitedly. "Now I'm back and ready to ride!"
"How's that photo? Is it safe and ready for travel?" Modo asked trying to catch Vinnie off guard.
"Photo? What photo bro?" Vinnie said as he gave Modo a confused look before looking to Throttle, trying to figure out what was going on. He then cast a quick discrete glance at his helmet making sure that the photo wasn't sticking out. I'm safe, the photo's hidden, Vinnie thought sighing with relief inwardly.
"The photo Charley saw you with earlier today when she got back," Throttle said as he walked a bit farther into the room, cocking his head at Vinnie. He's hiding something, he thought, something important.
"Nah, Charley girl must have seen me with a magazine clipping or somethin'," Vinnie retorted, as he was starting to get a bit nervous. He didn't like being scrutinized like this, especially by his bros.
"Oh yeah?" Charley said as she walked over and picked up Vinnie's helmet with a light laugh. "We'll just see about that!"
"Hey! Charley give that back!" Vinnie cried as he made a grab at the helmet.
Charley turned so that the helmet was just out of the white mouse's reach. As she turned she flipped the helmet over and reached inside, searching for the photo. When her hand brushed up against the corner of the protective paper slip she pulled it out.
"What's this then, hmmm?" Charley asked as she removed the photo from its paper slip.
"Ohhh, maaaaannnnnn," Vinnie moaned as she took his feet off the desk and sat up.
"Hey guys, it's a photo of Vinnie with a girl!" Charley exclaimed with a smile.
"Oh…a girl!" Modo exclaimed before letting out a whistle. " Is she pretty?"
"So Vinnie's keepin' a lovely lady hidden somewhere, hmmm," Throttle teased, before looking over to Charley and asked as he held out his gloved hand. "Can I see it?"
As Charley handed the picture over to Throttle she thought she saw Vinnie acting a little strangely. His whole posture just seemed to droop. Instead of lounging back in the chair like usual he sat haunches over with his elbows resting on his legs with his hands between his knees. Even his ears droops as his gaze left her and the guys to stare at the floor.
"Uh oh bro," Throttle said as he nudged Modo before he said anything else. "I think that you should take a look at this."
"Wha…" Modo started before his voice dropped to a softer tone as he looked at the photo held in the blond mouse's hand. "Oh…"
"Hey what's going on?" Charley asked in sudden confusion as the guys got really quite. "Its just a photo right?"
"I'm," Modo started before pausing to swallow a lump in his throat. "…I'm so sorry Vinnie…That's Ginger," his voice then dropped to nearly a whisper, "…isn't it."
"Yup," was Vinnie's only reply.
"You miss her a lot don't you, "Throttle said softly as he glanced back down to the picture that he held.
"Yup, " Vinnie replied again as he drew in a deep breath and swallowed hard.
Charley just stood there dumb struck. She had never seen the guys act like this before. The change of moods was quite unnerving to the woman. What had started out as meaningless teasing has now taken an odd turn and she wasn't quite sure how to react to it.
Modo walked over to Vinnie and placed a hand on the white mouse's shoulder, which caused Vinnie to look first at the grey mouse's hand before he looked up at Modo's face. The look that he found there on his one eyed friend was a look of sadness and apology.
"You gonna be ok Vinnie?" Modo asked softly.
"Yeah," Vinnie replied slowly as he looked up at Modo. The nearly ever-present smile that shined in the boisterous mouse's eyes was gone, only sorrow was left. "I will be…"
"Would you like me to explain the photo to Charley, Vinnie, or would you prefer to?" Throttle asked as he walked over to the desk and leaned on it, he then looked down at the photo again as he stood to Vinnie's other side.
"Cou…could you t…tell her bro? I…I don't think I c…can," Vinnie stammered as the emotions began to effect him more and more. He knows that talking about it would only make it worse but it had to be done. He looked up at Throttle, then to Charley, then his gaze dropped back to the floor.
"It's ok Vinnie," Throttle said as he touched Vinnie on the shoulder to catch his attention and he gave the photo back to him.
Vinnie took the photo from Throttle's hand gently and held it in both hands. He gazed down at it as he held it down before him as he tried to fight the serge of emotions that seemed to ebb inside of him. These emotions threatened to break inside of him like waves upon the rocks. His hands trembled slightly, yet he did not put the photo away.
"Why don't we sit down?" Modo suggested as he left Vinnie's side long enough to get a chair before he returned and sat down. "This is kind of a long story."
"The woman in this photo with Vinnie was his girlfriend Ginger Ramjet, Charley," Throttle started, as the woman sat down.
"Ginger was the girl that everyone wanted," Modo added with a light sigh. "She was so kind and gentle."
"She knew how to hold her own though," Throttle continued as he stood up and stretched a little before sitting down on the corner of the desk. "She was a strong fighter, Ginger, she was one of he best," he then gave a slight chuckle. "It seemed like everyone was trying to win her affection. But the only one to win out was our bro Vinnie." He looked over at his friend.
"Man that was somethin' else," Modo said shaking his head. "Throttle and I were shocked to when Vinnie told us that he got his girl. Vinnie had always called Ginger his girl, always sayin' that she was gonna be his and he was right." A smile spread across Modo's face at the memory of that day. "I wish that you could have been there to see him Charley, Vinnie was so happy. The only thing was he didn't tell us who she was at first. Neither of us had guessed that it was Ginger."
Charley stole a glance over at Vinnie while she listened to the guys talk. Hmmm, Vinnie seems to have perked up a little, Charley thought before she turned her attention back to Throttle.
"So Vinnie and Ginger were really close right?" Charley asked, then motioned for Throttle to continue.
"Ginger and Vinnie were really close, Charley. The pair became close almost instantly, the two were inseparable. It didn't take much to make Ginger happy. To her it was the small things that counted more then the large and expensive. There were times that we didn't have much during the battles with the Plutarkians and Vinnie would some how manage to find something small to give to her. Those little gifts always made her happy," Throttle said with a soft sigh.
"That's right Charley," Modo added with a smile on his muzzle as he looked to Throttle for a moment before turning his gaze to Charley. "Come to think about it," he too chuckled softly for a moment before continuing on. "Ginger always turned down the expensive and lavish gifts that some men managed to find and use to try win her affection. She never turned down Vinnie though," he said as he placed a hand on Vinnie's shoulder.
For a moment Charlie thought that she saw Vinnie smile when he looked up at everyone for a moment. But that smile vanished so quickly as he returned his gaze to the floor that she thought that she must have imagined it.
"Ginger sounds like a great woman, so what happened between her and Vinnie? Did they have a bad breakup or something?" Charley asked in confusion as she looked from face to face. "Why do the two of you keep referring to her in a past tense?"
Suddenly Throttles expression changed. It was so sudden that it shocked Charley. Throttle's features just fell as his expression turned to one of great sadness. When she saw this she wasn't sure that she wanted know, especially when she knew in her heart what the answer was.
"Charley…" Throttle started, then paused as he looked for the right words to say. After a few moments of silence Throttle continued. "Five years ago Ginger was killed during an extremely harsh battle with the Plutarkians. Vinnie, Modo, and I were out on a special mission…." His voice just trailed off as he placed a hand to his forehead, eyes closed behind his sunglasses.
Charley could tell that this part story was hard for Throttle to tell.
"Ginger was buried before we returned," Modo continued solemnly. "Vinnie didn't even have a chance to say goodbye…." His voice then dropped as he shook his head. "None of us did, but for Vinnie not to be able to…" His voice trailed off as well as he looked to Vinnie still holding the photo before his lowered gaze.
Charley turned her gaze to Modo and Vinnie as they sat there in the growing silence. The sadness showed on Modo's face as he patted Vinnie on the shoulder, trying to comfort him. Vinnie had sat through the entire story in silence, the pain and sadness that he felt was etched upon his face. Even as he tried, silent tears flowed down his cheeks. Tears that he didn't bother to wipe away. Crimson eyes closed and the only movement that Charlie could see was the soft twitch of Vinnie's nose as the tears ran by only to fall upon the picture still held within trembling hands.