Life's Second Chance

Fade in May

The sun was high, beating down upon the windy city of Chicago, and with the peaceful quiet of early afternoon, the three Martians had gone off on one of their escapades again. They were quite hyped about bringing both Charlie and Rei back home. Tuning into their favorite music frequency, the trio got lost in the mood that surrounded them- they didn't even feel the frustration of the traffic jam. The scent of hot dog soon caught their attention, and within moments the bros pulled in and ordered up. It wasn't long into their dine-in when a familiar character had caught their attention.

"Hey bro, isn't that Rei?" Vinnie quizzed to no one in particular.

Turning his cybernetic eye in the direction Vinnie had been gazing in, Modo painted a light frown. The female whose back was turned to them, did carry the familiar features and clothing style of their friend. "Well let's go do some meet-n-greet then," chimed Modo with a playful grin.

~*~

Rolling into the scene, paused when in earshot of the girl and young man. "Woa slow down big fella," cut in Throttle as a very tall, broad shouldered handsome young man walked into the scene and wrapped his arm around the girl's waist. "That can't be our girl, heh, we all know she wouldn't give two heads about a guy like that," he joked to his peers.

"True but still," Modo had pulled into Throttle's left. Soon the martian's eyebrows arched high in surprise as the girl turned to their direction, "You sure about that bro?" the gentle giant threw a look of both shock and confusion to his familiars.

Throttle and Vinnie's jaws literally dropped as the flirtatious Rei got all 'friendly' with her 'guy friend'.

 "Ahhww no, seriously?" Vinnie cut in.

Throttle felt a knot form in his gut, "Don't tell me they messed with her head again," he grumbled.

"One way to find out," Vinnie revved his engine and rode up to the girl who stood on the curb with the young man who also seemed to have been a biker as well. Now upon closer inspection, there was something odd about the agent. "Yo Rei!" Vinnie greeted with a smile and a wave, and as the girl waved back and called out, "What's up Vinnie?" the Martian couldn't help but raise a quizzical eyebrow, "So who's yer friend?" he joked in a teasing note.

"A friend of yours love?" came the young man's smooth words from Rei's left.

Chuckling Rei introduced, "Meet Vinnie, he's one of the air heads I've been telling you about,"

"Air heads?" echoed Vinnie in a comical note which was drowned by the dual engines of his bros who'd ridden up to the current trio.

"Ah, you must be Modo," came the extended friendly greeting of the young man as he held out his hand in a kind gesture towards the dark furred martian.

Caught off guard Modo couldn't help but pause, "And you are?" came the suspicious reply.

"My apologies, I'm Uzumaki Kaito, Rei's childhood friend from Tokyo."

Throttle put on a sincere smile, " Nice ta meetcha, heh-heh-heh"

"Throttle I presume?" came the polite friendly play of words.

"Hey sweet heart, where's Charlie girl?" Vinnie asked Rei casually, "Thought we were going to pick you both up at the hospital."

Rei chuckled lightly ,"Ah well, she told me she had some errands to do and said she'd meet up with me later."

"That's just like our Charlie," Throttle chimed in with a light laugh. "We were on our way home, figured you could use a ride," he offered with a teasing wink, "But I think you got it covered?"

Rei gave out a shy laugh, "Ahaha.. ehm well, ermm yea," a light tint of rose crept upon her cheeks.

"I didn't know they knew Charlene," Kaito commented on the side which made Rei grin, "Small world right?" chuckling again turned to her guys, "Why don't we all rendezvous at the Last Chance and catch up?"

Vinnie laughed, his flirtatious snicker, "If that's what you really want sweet heart," winking turned to the young man in question and added, "Don't do anythin' I wouldn't do!"

"Vinnie!" Throttle hissed.

"Wha-hat?" Vinnie laughed mischievously.

Kaito automatically blushed dropping his gaze the same moment Rei cleared her throat awkwardly. "Ehm, well, how about a race then?" she challenged in an attempt to change to focus of the attention.

"Now you're singin' my song," hollered Vinnie who revved his engine so loud the bystanders nearby were forced to clap their palms against their ears.

"Oh momma, " Modo grinned as Throttle drove up to his right, "Loser buys lunch," he added with a smirk.

"You're on!" Rei egged on as she mounted Kaito's Ducati, "Well Kai this thing won't drive itself!" she beamed making him laugh and hop on giving her his spare helmet.

Turning round Throttle called out, "On three, one..two.."

Vinnie yelled, "THREE!" and shot off ahead.

"Duuude that's so not fair!" Rei called out which resulted in Kaito' yelling, "I like his style!" reeling up into a wheelie stance, shot off ahead yelling "WOOOHOOO!"

"Just our luck, Rei ends up with a guy just like Vinnie.." Throttle face palmed and shook his head.

Modo just rolled his eyes, "Kids these days." Smirking, he too kicked things into gear and sped off.