Life's Second Chance

Truce? Or Trap?

"C'mon Throttle be serious, why would the Big Cheese actually offer a truce?" came the sarcastically doubting tones of Charlie.

Modo shrugged his shoulders, "You tell me, I don't trust that fish face as far as I can't smell him."

Throttle prompted, "I don't believe it either but that's what Agent Ray said-" he was then interrupted with Vinnie's "Agent Ray? Since when di-" his sentence had found an awkward tangent.

The sound of a pop and a sizzle rang out as Vinnie rudely popped the lid of his beverage, chugged it down and cut into the conversation with a belch. Charlie was forced to wave her palm in front of her nose, creasing her eye brows, "You've been eating onions with your hotdogs again haven't you," she rhetorically quizzed.

"Lemme take a look," Modo cut in as he read the one page note.

The moment Throttle caught the cybernetic pupil drop to the lower contents of the letter, he swiped out of Modo's clutches.

Modo's face blushed quite obviously. " Thank you!" Throttle quickly commented as he folded the parchment before heading back outside.

"Hey bro where do you think you're goin'?" came Vinnie's suspicious inquisition.

"On a bear run of course," came the smooth response before the engine broke into the words that followed suit.

Soulful green eyes followed the tan-gold figure as it shrank into the distance. "And there he goes again," Charlie sighed sadly as she looked over her shoulder to find the corner of her workshop stacked with crates of root bear. "What was in that letter anyway? He must've read it a dozen times."

Her quiet words seemed to call out to Modo who placed a hand over her shoulder as he too pointed his eye towards the evening backdrop before them. "Heh heh heh..that's between me and the letter," he winked kindly at the fae before turning to Vinnie who drew on a superficial smile.

~*~

It had been around two days since the incident with the Road Ravens, and Throttle hadn't been the same since. He'd always go off on his own, and space out on random occasions- worrying the trio he often left behind. The letter that had been delivered that afternoon was a very strange one indeed, for it bore no stamp...and one word..Valentine on the back of the envelope.

Deep inside Modo knew that something was up, for the words " My Valentine," were the last two that he'd managed to read. The last time he'd heard the girl reveal any sign of emotion was on the day she was scheduled to leave. Knowing the pattern all too well felt a lump in his throat.

"Hey guys look at this," came Vinnie's seemingly hollowed tunes, as he attempted to change the solemn atmosphere that seemed to have set upon the room. On the small television screen, a news caster had revealed a startling outburst. It seemed like the long dormant Ryu Ichizoku, locally known as the Dragon Gang had reclaimed their old spots down town and had been shaking things up once again. "These guys make that stinkin' fish face look harmless," commented the masked white furred vigilante.

The group struck the big companies by the port where big crates of military ammunition were stored the night before, and had disappeared without a trace. The name Big Brother created a wave of fear for those who'd come to hear of it.

With no solid evidence save a spray painted Chinese dragon upon the hull of the ship, the news castor reported that the culprits couldn't really be prosecuted for anything more than vandalism. The dark irony was that no one had realized the cargo went missing till that very morning when the image was discovered. The news castor, Annie Goriane managed to capture the vandalism done to the local stores and homes on camera however.

She finally concluded with a closing statement which was recorded on an old security tape that put Charlene Davidson on ice. The image caught on a security camera, looked that of a teenage girl baring a dragon's tattoo which peeked out from the collar of her vest. Where a dragon's red eyed head lay engraved under the nape of her neck, while it's arm wove around her left arm ending at the rim of her finger-less gloves. A pair of reddish brown gleaming eyes looked straight into the camera where an open challenge was voiced, "You want me..come and get me..I will be waiting where the great stone falls." The newswoman had reported that some sort of gang war was fast approaching with the reappearance of the New Head.

Regretting ever turning on the T.V, the youngest Martian piped up, "Man, can't believe the M.I.B. released that thing," Vinnie took another whiff of his root bear before turning to Modo and Charlie who were now wearing wide eyed worried expressions.

"You don't think-" Charlie was interrupted by Modo who broke in, "Let's go."