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Legal disclaimer: I do not own the Biker Mice From Mars or the Swatkats, they are the property of their respective owners, and I make no profit from this material. This was written solely for the enjoyment of other Biker Mice From Mars and Swatkats fans. Talon and Reno Astera, Tzuka Ryudo and Nick Gordon are my original creations and are my exclusive property. All rights are reserved.
"From the Void of Darkness Comes Light"
(A Biker Mice From Mars Novel)
***
Chapter Three: "Charley’s little secret."
***
"You know they’re gonna kill us if they catch us." Modo whispered, skulking through the shadows.
"So what else is new?" Vinnie muttered, "You wanna find out what’s going on or not? They’ve been keeping us in the dark about going out tonight for a week now."
"I wanna go on record as saying this is A Bad Idea. So they want a Friday night out with just the two of ‘em, so what? It’s not like we can take them out. We don’t even know how to dance." Throttle, crouched behind Vinnie, locked his fingers together as he spoke and gave Vinnie a heave up onto the first-floor roof of the shed behind the garage. The light was on in Charley’s bedroom, and echoes of feminine laughter drifted out the open window. Slinking over to it, careful to stay out of sight, the mice hunkered down underneath and listened.
"I can’t believe you talked me into this." Charley’s voice was completely minus it’s usual tone of overstressed patience, and the mice looked at each other, a bit startled by the carefree sound of their friend.
"What talked? You lost our bet, fair and square. And if you hadn’t taken me out with you that first night when the guys blew a brain-fuse, I would have never known about your little secret either." Talon’s voice was equally blithe, and her shadow moved across the window. "I was wondering how the heck you could afford to keep those walking appetites fed. At least you’re not giving me any lip about paying rent and splitting the food costs while I’m staying here."
Charley’s voice was soft with a fond, loving tone Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo had never, ever heard her use in their presence. "It’s not like they can get jobs, and for Christ’s sake, Tally, they’re saving my whole damn world! Like I’m gonna quibble if I have to work nights to keep them fed. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve gone through to keep this gig a secret for the past six months."
Throttle, Modo and Vinnie exchanged looks of sudden shocked, dismayed surprise. Charley, working nights? To support them? And what the heck kind of night job??? A sudden realization hit all three, of all the nights in the last few months when Charley had thrown them out by nine, claiming to be tired and wanting to go to bed early.
Talon’s rejoinder made the mice shift uncomfortably. "Just so long as we’re clear on the whole me-paying-half-the-bills-as-of-now thing. Just ‘cause they’re ignorant of basic capitalist economics doesn’t mean I am."
"I’m not in much of a position to argue." Charley’s voice was resigned. "If it weren’t for you, I’d have to hit my mom up for cash to pay that new property tax assessment."
"Yeah, well, ILEA can cover the costs of supporting Earth’s freedom fighters from now on. That’s what we’re fraggin’ here for, after all. We have a saying, ‘If the solution to your problems is to throw money at them, you don’t have problems, you have a temporary cash-flow difficulty.’ When I get a little more organized, I’ll set up a account to funnel you a steady tax-free income in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we can get by on that wad of emergency drop cash. Snap my top, would you?"
Tally’s shadow moved past the window again into the bathroom and a whistle echoed. "Nova! Charley, I wouldn’t have guessed you even knew how to walk like a girl, much less look like that. Damn, girlfriend. The guys’d blow another brain-fuse if they saw you. Gonna quit this night job once your money troubles get a little less dire?"
"Nah, I’ll cut it down to a couple of nights a week, but it’s fun remembering I’m a girl once in a while."
"Instead of being one of the guys?" Twin peals of feminine laughter floated out into the night, dragging the trio’s attention back to the conversation inside.
Vinnie in particular was practically vibrating in agitated consternation. What the heck was Charley doing that required her to look like a girl? And just when didn’t she look like a girl, anyway??? Charley’s response to Talon’s jest made the mice bridle and look at each other in insulted chagrin.
"Eh, this just isn’t a group that appreciates femininity. Whadda ya do? When I think of the amount of crap I’d take just for wearing a dress… much less this thing… it’s just not worth it."
"Like you’d trade your life with them for anything, you love those guys so much!"
"Oh, and you don’t, Tally-kat? Try again, girlfriend. I’ve seen the way you look at him."
"You mean the way you look at Vinnie when nobody’s watching?"
"I guess so, if we’re the only ones who notice." Charley giggled helplessly. "Aauuggh, sometimes I don’t know whether to strangle that white maniac or rip his clothes off and teach him a good lesson, and a few manners, that way. At least he’d remember it that way."
Vinnie looked like he’d overloaded his brain right then and there.
"Too bad the urge to kill him always wins out." Talon teased her.
"I don’t know about that. As long as I want to kill him, I’m pretty safe from having to deal with it all."
"Vinnie’s the imprinting type, ya know. If you go through with it, he’s yours for life and beyond."
"Why do you think I haven’t tried a little cross-species experimenting?"
Two shadows moved past the window this time, and slightly shamefaced laughter drifted out the window. "Nova, what a pair we are!" Talon giggled helplessly. "If they just weren’t such babes! I could watch them all day."
Charley’s rueful chuckle answered Talon’s embarrassed one. "To tell you the truth, there are days when I have… beach trips in the summer with this bunch are an eyeful. Not that they ever notice."
"Lucky bitch. I’m jealous. How long ‘til summer on this planet?"
"You just missed it."
"Spit, so skinny-dipping is out. Do they like Jacuzzis, hot tubs, saunas, steam baths? Anything that requires no clothing at all?" Talon struck a pose in front of Charley’s bedroom mirror, checking the stretch and flex of her top.
"With them, ‘fraid not. We always hit Nick and Tzuka’s pool and hot tub after the show, though, and you can catch a swim there tonight. We’ll even skip suits if you like. It won’t be the first time."
The three mice, already stunned speechless by the first set of revelations, very nearly fainted en masse at this comment. Just who the hell were Nick and Tzuka? And what was Charley doing in their hot tub?!? Without a bathing suit!?!?!
"Thank the Nova that warms us all! If my performance tonight is particularly splendid, could I coax one of your friends to brush out my back and tail fur really well? I’m shedding out, and I don’t dare ask the guys for a proper brushing. They’re so uptight I think they’d either blush themselves to death or run away screaming in terror at the question."
Modo looked embarrassed, Vinnie looked insulted, and Throttle… looked like he was kicking himself internally for not having thought of that excuse himself. Charley’s amused voice wrenched them back again.
"Weird, isn’t it? The guys I’m closest to, and they’re the only ones I have to worry about that sort of crap around. The rest of my friends never particularly cared what I was wearing, or if I was wearing anything at all. But those three are so straight-laced I can’t even walk around in my undies and tank tops the way I used to, and Modo comes positively unglued if I actually look sexy. Help me lace up my boots, would ya?"
Talon knelt behind Charley and pulled the laces of her thigh-high boots tight, tying them off in neat double-knotted bows. "You’re a child of the sixties, babe, and I don’t think Mars had a cultural revolution like that."
"You gotta point there, girlfriend. Tzuka’ll give you a hand with your fur, he’s crazy about aliens. He’s wanted to meet the guys since they got here. Letting the mice meet Nick and Tzuka would require a few too many explanations, though. I’m hoping to slip them in as family friends this Christmas."
"So why the big secret?"
"Think it through, I’m working nights to support them playing guitar in a techno band? I’m not sure what part they’d freak most over."
Vinnie collapsed in a limp heap in relief, then immediately sat back up in genuine annoyance. Charley never told them she was a musician!
Talon chuckled as she checked her friend over to make sure she was all put together. "The part where Charley gets four hours of sleep three nights a week, I think."
"Not the fact it’s a techno band? You sure about that?"
"Not enough to bet on it!"
Talon’s hasty disavowal made Charley giggle. "See what I mean? My dirty little secret is our dirty little secret, now. You ready?"
"Yup."
The pair posed together in front of the mirror, and the mice caught the reflection clearly in the window glass.
Talon was wearing hip-hugging blue leather pants that looked as if they’d been applied with a spray gun, and a top that consisted of a strip of blue spandex wound around her neck, crossed over her beasts and clipped to the back belt loop of her leather pants, and spike heeled boots to give her added height. She was gorgeous, her long tail flowing and her hair bound loosely into a ponytail that rippled and shifted behind her, but it was Charley who really stunned the mice. Clad in a green leather minidress that redefined the terms ‘mini’ and ‘low-cut’, and matching stiletto boots, she made their collective jaws drop. Sauntering across the room in a lithe, sinuous stalk that made Vinnie whimper, she was drop-dead beautiful, her red-brown hair shining.
Tally reached up and touched the rearing gryphon on the morph-generator still around her neck. The same pattern of green scan lines covered her completely, and they flared, the light dying away to reveal that same strangely familiar, oddly symmetrically beautiful human face.
"You know," Charley commented thoughtfully, studying the illusion, "I can see the resemblance to your other face."
Talon studied her new reflection closely in the mirror as she answered. "Yeah, my Ship-brother designed my kat-body to be very similar to my other ones, but I’m really used to being taller than this."
Charley looked at her in bemused bafflement. "How many bodies do you have?"
Talon turned in front of the mirror, making sure her tail was gone, and replied absently, "Nine or so, I think; I almost never wear more than one at a time, so it doesn’t really matter…"
Charley looked over at Talon incredulously; decided she was serious, then decided her own personal weirdity limit had been maxed out way too frequently lately, and dropped the subject with a ‘thud’ that was all but audible.
"Shame they’ll never see you, though." Talon commented, returning her attention to Charley, having missed her incredulous expression entirely.
"Ah, it’s their own fault. No pity here. If they were a little more laid-back, we’d really be a ‘close’ family."
"Oh, Nova, what an enticing thought…"
"Trust me, on several occasions it’s figured prominently in my dreams at night. In glorious Techni-color, with IMAX surround sound."
"Charley-girl, you’re bad!" Talon giggled delightedly in response, and hugged her friend as they walked down the stairs to leave.
***
"I told you this was A Bad Idea," Throttle grumbled, blushing furiously. Vinnie, so totally taken aback by it all he couldn’t even speak, just sat there, his mouth hanging open and pained little whimpers coming out. Modo was the only one still in control of himself, and it appeared he was thinking about the same thing as Charley and Talon!
"Later, bros," he said abruptly. "I’m going to see them play." He jumped off the roof and headed for his bike, ears pricked for the distinctive sound of Charley’s motorcycle. Throttle and Vinnie swapped glances, and bolted after him.
***
Glancing over her shoulder, Talon reached for Charley’s mind. *Pick ‘em up on your tail yet?*
*Yeah, I saw them pull out after us.*
*Can you lose them?*
*Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this opportunity?* Switching over to speech, Charley yelled, "Let’s rock…"
"..and RIDE!" Talon joined in and locked her arms, laughing so hard her ribs hurt as Charley maxed out the throttle and her bike shot ahead, moving through traffic like a wraith.
Dodging in front of a semi, Charley hit the brakes and nipped up an offramp, pulling a wickedly tight turn and stopping just above the roadway as the mice passed underneath them. The girls waved and Charley took off towards downtown as Vinnie wailed and all three bikes slewed into the median, diving back into traffic and chasing after Charley’s bike, now lost among the maze of streets.
She was too quick for them to catch her, hard as they tried. Ducking into the parking garage next to the club she played at, Charley and Talon watched from the second level, giggling helplessly, as they shot by on the street below.
"This is so much fun it oughta be illegal, Charley."
"See why it’s been my guilty little secret for so long?" She grinned, hopping off the bike and locking it. "C’mon, let’s go introduce you to Nick and Tzuka. It’ll be nice to have you sit in. I’m always the only girl."
Talon wore a thoughtful look as she picked her way down the stairs with a care for her heels. "It’s funny you should say that. I never really had any close female friends before you and Callie."
"You always got along better with guys? Me, too. It is weird, when you think about it." Charley shrugged, "But what the heck, we’re friends now." Waving a hand to the bouncer at the door, who grinned, let them through and gave Tally a thumbs-up, Charley threaded her way through the rapidly filling club with the ease of long practice. Talon had wondered a moment at the bouncer’s blasé attitude toward their esoteric attire, but scanning the crowd, she realized they were far from being the weirdest-dressed folk there. There wasn’t one person in the crowd who’s outfit hadn’t taken a considerable amount of time and effort just to get into, and there were a few things even her multi-dimensional imagination boggled at.
"Charley, this place is great! How’d you get a job here?"
Charley pushed through a heavy set of double doors labeled ‘Employees Only’ and stepped into a long hallway lined with doors, with an elevator at the end, before she answered.
"My two best friends own the place, and when I needed extra money, they coaxed me into playing here three nights a week. We do make a good power trio, and it was the only way I could keep this extra job a secret from the guys."
Talon looked fascinated. "How do you know them?"
"It’s kind of a long story. Tzuka’s an expatriate Japanese from a very traditional samurai family. He and Nick met at college here studying music, and were inseparable from first sight. You can imagine what his family thought about their firstborn son announcing he was marrying a guy, and an American at that. The shit hit the fan big time, but he and Nick told them all to go to hell and got married anyway. The only one who didn’t disinherit him immediately was his grandfather, the current family patriarch, who had raised Tzuka all his life to be the next head of their family. The old man stood by him just the same until he died. But when Tzuka’s grandfather died, about five years ago now, Tzuka inherited all his grandfather’s money, and I mean BIG money, plus the family’s ancestral estate. Tzuka’s family still hates him because of Nick, but they couldn’t do anything to stop him inheriting, so he deeded the family estate in Japan back to them and got his American citizenship. He bought this building, converted it into the club, and he and Nick live on the top floor. It’s gorgeous up there."
"So you and Nick were friends first?"
Charley nodded, punching in a code on the elevator’s keypad. "Nick was my next-door neighbor my whole life. He practically grew up in my mom’s kitchen. His dad had to travel ‘cause of his job and his mom had split, so he stayed with us for weeks on end. Other than the guys, they’re the closest friends I have. Mom and I were the only two people at their wedding, and it was probably the happiest wedding I’ve ever been to. Mom adores them both. Christmas at our house is a riot."
The doors slid open, and stepping in, Charley hit the ‘P’ button as Talon admired the delicate rice-paper mural on the walls. "This place is incredible," she marveled, the texture of the brush strokes captivating her.
The ride was quick and smooth, and as the doors opened, the view that met Talon’s wondering eyes struck her speechless. The entire ceiling and one whole wall were glass, and the entirety of the glittering city spread out in front of them. Polished white marble steps led down to an immense hothouse garden, lush and green with tropical plants, with a pool tiled in a classical Roman motif in the center. Talon breathed in the warm, moist, clean air, and felt a faint, persistent tension run out of her at the feel of this place, so like her own home.
"Nick and Tzuka decorated it all themselves. Nice job, huh?"
"Nice job? A labor of love like this and it gets a ‘nice job’?" A slim, willowy young oriental with long, jet-black hair was standing in a pillared archway that led out of the indoor garden into the house proper, and he came to meet them, holding out a hand. "Charley, you are hopeless! You must be Talon. I’m Tzuka."
Talon clasped the outstretched hand, "Call me Tally, all my friends do. And I’m with you, ‘nice job’ doesn’t begin to cover it. It’s marvelous; the balanced materials and textures, the combination of period styles without clashing, the integration of the color palette and the range of plant species… I’m speechless!"
Talon’s sincere admiration and delighted critique obviously charmed Tzuka, and he tucked her hand into his elbow, saying as he led them inside, "If that’s speechless, I’d hate to see talkative. Perhaps you‘d care for a tour later?"
"I’d love one. I’d love one now, but Charley said we were skating a little close on time."
"Unfortunately, she’s right. We’re going to have to move it if we’re going to get started on time, and the natives get restless when we don’t. Nick’s already prepping the instruments downstairs. The back stairs are this way, Tally-chan."
***
"I can’t believe she lost us!" Vinnie’s aggrieved tones made both Throttle and Modo want to deck him, but none of them were ready to give up yet. Pulled off on the same over-ramp she’d lost them on, they were trying to figure where Charley had managed to ditch them.
Throttle leaned on the handlebars of his bike, and cursed life in general and a pair of beautiful, impetuous females in particular. He could all but feel Talon in his head, the tugging at his heart pulling him towards her. And he couldn’t find her! He closed his eyes in frustration for a second and almost fell off his bike in astonishment. The instant he’d closed his eyes, he’d felt that odd soul-bond that had sustained them spring to life, like a live wire running between the two of them. He could have found her in the dark. Come to think of it, he just had.
"I’ve got her." The tan-furred mouse kicked his bike into gear and took off, following that pulsing bond. Modo and Vinnie looked at each other in blank incomprehension, but scrambled after him. Some twenty minutes later, Throttle pulled up in front of a very upscale dance club, and pointed. "They’re in there."
Modo looked at him a little dubiously, but pulled into a parking garage next door and was driving up the levels looking for an empty space when he spotted Charley’s bike.
"Nice goin’, bro," he complimented, and Vinnie whooped in victory.
Carefully parking the bikes where Charley wouldn’t see them, they made their way down to the street and toward the club’s front door, guarded by a bouncer even bigger than Modo.
"Gee, do you suppose they have a dress code?" Vinnie asked uncertainly as they walked up, but before they had a chance to ask, the bouncer looked at them and grinned widely.
"Lemme guess, you guys have to be the Biker Mice from Mars, am I right?"
Rather taken aback, Throttle confirmed, "Yeah, we are. How’d you…"
He shook his head, waving them through. "Boss left orders if you ever showed up, you got the red-carpet treatment, on the house. I’ll let the floor manager know you’re here. She’ll have your waitress show you to one of the private balconies." He pulled a cell-phone from his pocket and turned away chuckling. As the mice walked through the coatcheck area and towards the bar, a pert redhead with half her head shaved hurried up; she was dressed in a purple leather jumpsuit, with a brilliantly colored flowering vine tattooed on her bare scalp, a braid that rivaled Tally’s growing from the other side.
"Hi!" she chirped, all eyes as she stared at them. "Would you follow me, please? Your box is right this way." The mice exchanged puzzled looks and followed her, and as she skipped up a wide flight of polished marble steps to the second floor, Throttle asked her uncertainly, "How do you know us?"
She beamed up at him. "The boss told us months ago you three might show up, and posted a thousand dollar bonus for the employee who spotted you first and alerted the others. Steve, that’s the bouncer, and I each get one ‘cause I’m working the boxes tonight and I get to wait on you." She bounced up and down happily as she led them down a richly decorated hallway. "And you showed up on my shift! I can afford to go full-time this semester with that money! You guys are the greatest!"
Throwing open a door, she led them into a balcony room overlooking the club’s immense dance floor, and all three mice stopped short at the sight of Talon and Charley on stage, colored lights playing over them and the crowd roaring and dancing to the ripping tune they were playing. Charley’s head was thrown back as she sang, and Talon’s expression was exalted, their faces reflecting the power and joy of the music they were belting out. Charley had her hands wrapped around a black six-string electric and her fingers were moving over the strings with the same sure, certain assurance they fixed machinery with. Tally was standing back to back with her, playing a light keyboard and swaying an unconscious mirror image to Charley’s rhythmic movements.
Gazes fixed on the duo, it took a moment for the mice to notice there was anyone else on stage, but a whipcord-thin guitarist in black leather stepped between Talon and Charley, his voice lifting with theirs to pound out the chorus. Both girls grinned in unabashed delight at him, and swapping a wicked glance, smacked a kiss on either side of his face, the crowd’s roar redoubling at the scene.
Vinnie, drowning in a wave of jealousy, choked on his words and gripped the balcony railing so hard it was a miracle he didn’t crush it.
"They can’t see you, you know, the spotlights blind this corner of the building from the stage. You don’t have to worry about Charley and her bros spotting you. Three root beers, right?"
The mice looked back at their guide, having forgotten her completely in their shock, but hearing someone else referred to as ‘Charley’s bros’ bothering all of them.
"How do you know all this about us?" Modo would have been a lot more worried, but the bouncy redhead was incapable of inspiring anything from him but an avuncular smile.
"Duh, we got a briefing from the boss personally. Charley is his and Nick’s best friend, after all."
"Who’s the boss?" Throttle interjected.
She grinned at them again, her eyes sparkling with a secret joke. "The one getting the smooches, his name’s Tzuka Ryudo. He owns this place," she teased, pointing toward the stage. "The drummer’s his boyfriend, Nick. Charley’s been their best friend practically forever. They’re the house band. Their trio plays here three nights a week now, and the other nights we have guest bands or a DJ. It’s always busiest when they play, tho. The blond playin’ keyboards is new, her name’s Tally and she’s sitting in tonight, the scuttlebutt going around the staff is she’s a new friend of Charley’s. Back in a minute!" The door shut behind her and Throttle dropped into a chair in stunned amazement. After a beat, Modo and Vinnie did the same.
***
"Nova, a real drink." Talon downed half of her rum and coke in a gulp, and sighed in delight. "The last planet I was on didn’t ferment sugar-based alcohol. By the time I’d been there a month my Ship-brother and I would have killed for a case of spiced rum."
Tally was sprawled face-down on an immense futon cushion by the side of the pool, Tzuka brushing her coat out with a wire-bristled brush, and a good-sized pile of fluffy, creamy fur next to him attested to her need for it. After the show had finished at 1:00, the quartet had retired upstairs to the cushions by the pool, an untidy trail of hastily shed, sweat-soaked clothing running between the elevator door and the water, Talon carefully leaving her Swatkats locket and morph-generator on the low table by the pool. Charley and Nick were soaking shoulder-deep in the jacuzzi, and between them, they were putting a serious dent in the bottle of rum Tzuka had brought along.
"Your brother’s a living starship. That’s wild." Tzuka set the brush down and stroked Tally’s back once, then refastened her bikini top for her. He twisted her long hair up onto her head and secured it with a pair of lacquered chopsticks. "I think that’s all I’m going to get out of your coat for now. We’ll try again after you’ve had a swim."
Tally purred, rolling over and stretching. "Thanks, Tzuka, that was wonderful. I like your culture. Social bathing is such a civilized custom." Tzuka admired her slim, creamy curves as she rose and padded over to the jacuzzi, dipping a cautious toe in and sighing in delight as she stepped into the hot water. The buzzing of the intercom diverted him over to the box before he could join them, and he listened to the message with a delighted smile.
"We have company, kids. Do we receive them as is, or bother to struggle back into our clothes?"
On the other end of the intercom, the mice could clearly hear Charley’s voice. "Ta hell with ‘em if they can’t take us the way we are."
"You heard the lady, Tess. Send ‘em along and then lock up. I’ll see you tomorrow."
"You got it, boss." The pert redhead smiled up at them again, and tapped a code into the elevator keypad. "Just press the button marked ‘P’ for penthouse, and you’re all set. See ya." She turned away as the elevator opened and the mice entered gingerly, Throttle and Modo keeping a stern eye on Vinnie to keep him from accidentally wreaking any destruction. The scene that greeted them when the elevator doors opened made their collective jaws drop.
Charley’s and Talon’s discarded clothes lay scattered in front of them, and among them were the black leathers of the guitarist and the drummer’s blue denims.
"Follow the clothes," a laughing unfamiliar voice called. "We’re in the jacuzzi." The half-petrified mice exchanged glances, canvassing each other desperately for support, and Throttle took a very deep breath and walked toward the voice. Walking around a stand of potted palms, they came into view, and as she caught sight of them, Charley grabbed the rum bottle and downed a third of it, raw, in one drawn-out gulp.
"Hey!" Talon and Nick pulled it out of her hands, and after a look at the frozen expressions on the guys’ faces, they swapped a second glance and killed the rest of the bottle between them in two long swallows. Tzuka was the only one unaffected; he pulled himself out of the tub, not in the least ruffled, and walked toward the mice with water sheeting off him, holding out a hand. Vinnie nearly fainted again in relief that he was wearing a bathing suit.
"I’m Tzuka Ryudo. Welcome to our home. I’m so pleased to finally meet you. Charley’s told us so much about you."
Throttle took his hand automatically, and looking into Tzuka’s calm wise eyes, he felt a little of his uneasiness at this rather awkward situation fade.
"Thanks. Sorry for crashin’ the party. I’m Throttle."
Tzuka smiled, and offered a hand to Modo, who shook it calmly, but Vinnie was staring fixedly at Charley’s bare shoulders, and had completely missed the introduction. Tzuka shook his head with an indulgent look.
"Would you care to join us? Charley and Talon you know, and this is my husband, Nick."
The sandy-haired drummer sitting between Charley and Talon raised a friendly hand. "Nice to meet ya! Charley’s been telling us all about you for months. She’s been so paranoid you’d find out about her working here nights."
Charley frowned at him and smacked a splash of water at him. "Some help you are."
He didn’t respond, and just grinned at her. "Sis, the only thing that’s going to get us all out of this lil’ social faux pas, other than a lot of alcohol, is a good laugh. And you hogged the bottle."
"Somebody go get another one." Charley grumbled. "I think I need to be good and drunk to deal with the amount of embarrassment I’m currently enduring."
Tally laughed. "I’ll go get it." She stepped up out of the tub, and Modo automatically offered her a helping hand on the wet tile. "Thanks, dear." She levitated a few feet into the air and kissed his cheek. "Relax. Nobody here bites." She was wearing a strapless, tiny bikini in white and gold tiger-stripes, and as Throttle’s eyes riveted on her, she threw a smile back over her shoulder at him while she leapt lightly up the marble steps.
"There’s a changing room by the pink flowering bush, there are plenty of clean suits there. We were going to have a swim. You didn’t say if you cared to join us." A faint frown marred Tzuka’s flawless features. "Can you swim, Modo?"
Modo shrugged. "Sure. My arm won’t bother your pool, if that’s what you’re wondering."
"I was wondering if the pool would hurt your arm, since you mention it."
Modo smiled in spite of himself, and headed towards the indicated spot. After a second, Throttle followed him, leaving Vinnie still staring fixedly at Charley.
"You all right, mate?" Nick’s question jolted Vinnie out of his trance.
"Huh, what?" He looked around, and walked nervously after Modo and Throttle. As soon as he was out of sight, Charley bolted for the door, and despite being terribly curious to see if she’d bother to dress before she split or just run out in her wet bikini, Nick sighed and grabbed her firmly, and carrying her over to the pool, tossed her in.
Her outraged squall and splash made Vinnie reappear, blaster clutched firmly in paw, before Throttle and Modo could grab him and drag him back out of sight.
"You’re not splitting, Sis. I’m not gonna let you fuck this one up," Nick stated conversationally. "You’re gonna stay right here and deal with it. Am I making myself clear?"
Charley threw him a smoking glare, and dove under the water, reappearing at the far end of the pool, sulking well out of sight behind a plant trailing long vines into the water.
"Good," he observed. Diving into the pool after her, he stroked over to the other side and pulled himself out again, gathering up their scattered clothing. "I would have tidied up a bit if I knew we were having company. Your friends are going to think we’re slobs." He surveyed the scene and scooped up the pile of Talon’s shed fur and the empty rum bottle. "Much better."
Tzuka and Talon returned, several additional glasses and two rum bottles in tow. Setting them down on the low table near the mound of pillows piled on the edge of the futon-cushions spread near the jacuzzi; Tzuka built Tally a second drink and eyeing Charley, half hidden among the plants, made hers a double. Throttle was the first to emerge, in a plain black pair of swim trunks, and Tzuka restrained an appreciative whistle at the sight of his rippling physique.
"Make you a drink?" Tzuka asked conversationally, and then frowned. "Can your species metabolize alcohol?"
"Yeah, we can, we just don’t very often. Slows down your battle-reflexes. On our world that’ll get you killed real quick." He sat down next to Tally, and she offered him a sip of her drink with a welcoming smile. The last of Throttle’s unease faded as she slid close enough to rest her head on his shoulder, and he put an arm around her contentedly. Sampling hers, he nodded in approval and Tzuka handed him one of his own as Tally tugged on his paw and the two of them stepped down into the jacuzzi together. Modo wandered out next, clad in a brilliant Hawaiian print pair of trunks in blue and green, and sauntered over to the jacuzzi, sinking into the hot water with a blissful sigh.
"I could get used to this."
Nick, returning from disposing of the trash and shed clothing, chuckled as he slid back into the water on Modo’s other side. "You’re welcome any time, you know. We’ve been dying to meet you since Charley broke down and told us all about you."
"Yeah, what’s that all about, Charley? Why the big secret?" Modo’s voice couldn’t begin to hide his hurt. A weary sigh drifted out from the depths of the pool, and Charley swam slowly over to the edge of the pool nearest the jacuzzi, crossing her arms on the edge and resting her chin on them.
"Several things. I knew you’d be upset I was working nights because I needed the money to support you three, and… let’s just say I had some concerns about the situation with Nick and Tzuka. I didn’t know how Martians took these things, and there was no real way to ask you. After a while, it got harder and harder to tell you… I’m sorry, guys. I never meant to hurt your feelings, but I wasn’t sure you’d be able to accept the rest of my family."
Modo and Throttle exchanged a rueful glance at her comments, and Modo pulled himself out of the water with another sigh.
"Speaking of which, I better take care of that right now."
Charley nipped out of the pool and back into the jacuzzi beside Tally, sliding into the water and belting back half the drink Tzuka handed her as Modo’s voice said gruffly, "C’mon, youngster. You’re gonna offend our hosts." Tally fumbled for Charley’s hand under the bubbling water and squeezed it reassuringly as Charley’s fingers clamped around hers.
Vinnie’s outraged yell bounced around the room as Modo walked out with him slung over a shoulder. Vinnie, typically, had picked a bright red suit ornamented with lightening bolts. Modo paid no attention to his protests, and pitched him casually into the pool, then stepped back into the tub next to Charley. Tzuka held up the rum bottle with an inquiring look, and Modo nodded. Vinnie surfaced, spluttering, and had started to complain loudly when he stared at the little group, sprawled quietly together, and visibly bit off what he was going to say, instead swimming over to the side and asking in a subdued tone, "Could I have one too?"
Tzuka made him a drink without comment, getting up and walking over to the pool to hand it to him. Vinnie studied at the young Japanese’s willowy body, noting the elaborate oriental dragon tattooed over his heart.
"Nice tat."
Tzuka smiled over at Nick. "Nick did it. He did Tess’s scalp flowers too. Slick work, huh?"
"Yup. Cool place ya got here."
"Thanks. We’ve been trying to persuade Charley to move in with us for eons. She won’t go for it, even when her mom pushed." Tzuka glanced over at Charley, who, thanks to no small amount of alcohol in combination with the steaming hot water, had finally unwound enough to look at him and Vinnie again. "You know there’s no reason you couldn’t drive to work in the morning like everybody else."
"Explaining where I disappeared to every night might have been a bit dicey. I had enough trouble keeping working here a secret. Besides," she raised her glass in a toast to the mice, "I come as a set now, with three large and very destructive aliens in tow."
Nick splashed her playfully, and she held her glass out of range of the flying water. "We’ll take you any way we can get you, aliens and all. Especially such good-looking ones."
"That’s what you say now… you haven’t seen what they can do to a room in three seconds flat."
The mice all looked a bit uncomfortable, and Vinnie protested, "We’d never do that here!"
Charley finished her drink and said a little unsteadily, "In that case, we’re moving in right now." She glanced over at Tally, who hadn’t moved from Throttle’s side, and finished, "Cat and all."
Nick picked the glass out of her hand and remarked, "No more for you ‘til you sober up a little, Sis."
"That’s not a bad idea." Charley visibly steeled herself, and stood up, watching Vinnie’s mouth drop open at the sight of her strapless, skimpy green bikini, so much more revealing then her usual plain blue one-piece. Oddly enough, his reaction made her feel better. She walked around to the diving board, took three measured steps, bounced off the edge of the board, and did a very neat jackknife into the water. Her watchers applauded as she surfaced, the cold water shocking her unsteadiness away, and she swam over to Vinnie and Tzuka. She nudged Vinnie with an elbow to get him to shove over, so she could rest her arms on the poolside between them, and he moved over automatically, his tail wrapping around her waist under the water in a familiar gesture that obscurely reassured them both.
"Tzuka, may I ask you a personal question?" Tally asked, internally deciding a change of topic was in order.
"Fire away." His straight black hair flopped forward over his eyes as he stood up and glided back over to the table to retrieve his own glass.
"Where did you get that scar on your leg?"
Tzuka paused in the act of stepping down into the jacuzzi and glanced down at his right thigh. "That? It’s a katana cut."
"I thought so. The angle of arc on the slash is very distinctive."
Tzuka looked over at her, his black eyes keen behind the locks of hair. "That’s some esoteric knowledge. Would you care to see the sword?"
"Could I please? You have it here?"
"Somewhat under protest, but yes. Just a minute." He stepped back out of the water and disappeared through the archway back into the interior of their penthouse, and returned a moment later with not one but two cloth-wrapped bundles. Tally squeezed Throttle’s hand and climbed out too, sitting on the cushion beside Tzuka and watching with lively interest.
"This is the sword that gave me that slash. It’s the ancestral sword of clan Ryudo. My grandfather left it to me in his will, which pissed my family off even more than leaving me all the money did. It’s over a thousand years old."
He lifted it out of the wrappings, and Tally’s eyes widened until they dominated her face as he handed it to her.
"Tzuka!" She breathed his name as she hefted the blade, her wrists flexing as she felt the balance, and gave Tzuka such a beseeching look he laughed and flipped a hand toward the expanse of marble floor in front of the elevator door. She jumped up happily, and glided over the floor with the same sinuous, fluid grace Tzuka had shown, and his gaze sharpened to a piercing stare as Tally moved through a series of practice thrusts and feints.
He unwrapped the other bundle, and removing a similar sword, not so finely decorated, Tzuka joined her on the marble floor, mimicking her movements exactly. Tally’s eyes sparkled, and as the rest watched, rapt, the lead in their exotic dance shifted and it was Talon who was mimicking Tzuka’s movements. Not content, both pushed their strange twin ballet further, the strikes and counters growing progressively faster and more intricate. After nearly half an hour, they slowed and faced each other, Tzuka bowing with exquisite courtesy, a salute Talon returned with a feline grace no human could match. Smiling an acknowledgement of her ploy, they touched the tips of their swords very lightly, then dropped into guard positions, circling each other warily.
Talon moved first, striking straight for his head with a lightening swift cut that he slapped aside with his blade as he whipped a slash at her on the backstroke. She slid out of the blade’s way, moving so quickly her movements seemed oddly slow, and cut for his leg, but he had already spun away and was slicing for her ribs. Talon simply leaped back enough so the sword’s tip arced in front of her, cutting the air with a speed that made the blade sing faintly. Tzuka pressed his reach advantage, but couldn’t get past her lightening-swift parries.
Talon sprang around his side and slashed for his other leg, Tzuka barely getting his sword down in time to block it, but he utilized his weight advantage skillfully as their blades met. Talon was shouldered right off her feet, but as she hit the floor, she rebounded off the wall behind her and used the momentum to leap right back at him. Tzuka was forced to slap her blade away full force to block her strike, and she finished her leap with a mid-air turn that left the tip of her sword a hair’s breath from the back of Tzuka’s neck as she landed, her sword and his body still as stone. They stood frozen an instant, then Talon’s blade fell away and both exchanged a flowing bow.
Tzuka’s chest heaved as he fought for breath, and Talon’s arms were trembling as she stood, but both bore a look of martial euphoria.
"You, my lady," Tzuka complimented, "are a master."
Talon shook her head in denial, saying simply, "I had the best of teachers, that’s all."
"You must have given them the greatest pleasure a teacher can know, the joy of a student that surpasses the master."
This time it was Talon who inclined her head in acknowledgment of his sally. Shifting his sword to his left hand, Tzuka offered her an arm with a sophisticated grace that rivaled his swordmanship, and Talon’s regal presence as she laid a hand on it, made them seem a scene out of time. A sharp smack of applause made them flush, both a bit embarrassed at being watched as they dueled, the intimacy of the blade not something often shared with an audience.
They sat back down together, and Throttle teased, "I’ll know never to pick a fight with you, babe."
Talon lifted her head proudly. "Damn straight. My senseis would be ashamed of me if I did less than my best with a blade like this one." She laid the sword across her lap and bit her lip a little, obviously thinking hard. "Would you like to see ours, Tzuka?" she asked timidly.
"What do you mean?" he responded, taking a soft cloth from one of the bundles of velvet, and beginning to polish the blade he held gently.
An otherworldly look flowed over Talon’s features as she held her hands out in front of her, concentrated, and stretching her mind out unimaginably far, reached for a soul a universe away. A tender, loving thought sang back along her seeking touch, and a soft *beloved* in a masculine mind-voice echoed in her head as a velvet-wrapped bundle materialized in front of her, dropping into her hands without a sound. Opening her eyes, she offered the bundle to Tzuka.
"This was the honor sword of the Yashida. My clan-brother gave it to us as a wedding gift when he married into our family. It’s the honor sword of our clan now."
Humans and Martians alike were staring at her, the power of her telepathic call resonating in their minds with a depth and breadth and power of emotion they could scarce comprehend. Suddenly shy, Talon pulled out the lacquered sticks anchoring her long hair and shook it down, the shifting cloud of white-gold cloaking her completely. Tzuka untied the silver silk cord binding the bundle slowly and lifted a sword subtly different from his own from its blue velvet wrappings. He breathed something in Japanese, and Talon answered him back in the same language, old sorrow and remembered pain shadowing her lucent green eyes, a sad smile on her face. [Translated from the Japanese.]
["There are no more Yashida. Yashida clan’s last heir was killed without bearing children, and entrusted the sword to my gaijin clan-brother as a dying gift, an act of giri. He… gave it to our family on his wedding day as a symbol that he was ours; now and forever, that his old life was over and a new one was starting. He honors us greatly."] Talon fell silent, drawing up her knees and wrapping her arms around them.
["Such understanding from a gaijin is very rare. He must be a remarkable man."]
["He is. We all love him very much."]
Tzuka’s eyes measured her, obviously comprehending something none of the others were. ["I’m sure it’s a pale shadow of how much he loves you, Tally-chan."]
Talon shrugged, accepting the sword back with gentle hands. ["We don’t measure such things."]
["One can’t."] Tzuka seemed to wake to the fact they were virtually ignoring the others, and looked over at them uncomfortably. "Sorry, guys, Charley, I don’t often get a chance to talk about these things since I left Japan."
Nick’s voice was very kind as he responded, "You left a whole life of your own behind, Tzuka. Nobody grudges you remembering your homeland." They exchanged a look of affection that made the rest shift their eyes away, not wanting to intrude on such a private moment, but Talon filed away the fact Nick spoke Japanese in the back of her mind.
Troubled by the shadow of remembered anguish lingering in the back of Talon’s eyes, Throttle pulled himself out of the water and came to sit behind her, and she leaned against him, taking silent comfort from his presence. Tzuka rewrapped his two swords as Tally swathed hers in its blue velvet and bound it again. Setting all three on the low table, Tzuka stretched a shoulder stiffly and sank into the water next to Nick, who put an arm around him.
"Awright, this party’s gettin’ too quiet," Vinnie said loudly, his exuberant personality reasserting itself. "You four weren’t too bad even playin’ that crap. But can ya play anything worth listening to?"
"Not bad?" Four bodies uncoiled like released springs, leaving Nick, Tzuka, Charley and Talon on their feet, all but Talon dripping, but fists clenched and more than ready to go over a crack like that. Vinnie chortled in smug satisfaction at his success, and taunted, "C’mon, prove it. Let’s hear ya rock."
Talon teleported over to the side of the pool and yanked him out of the water one-handed, dumping him on the tile with a flick of her dainty wrist. "Tzuka-chan, may we retire to the music room?" she inquired sweetly.
Tzuka gave her another of those willowy bows, but Nick said cockily, "Beat you there!" and he and Tzuka caught hands and pelted for the farthest marble archway. Charley was right behind them with Throttle and Talon, hand-in-hand, hard on her heels, and Modo dashed after them, leaving Vinnie still sprawled on the wet tile and struggling to his feet.
"Hey, wait for meee!"
***
Much later that night, near to dawn, they all straggled back out to the soft cushions by the pool. Talon padded over to the pool edge and dove in, her long hair a silver banner behind her as she swam beneath the surface. Charley, Nick and Tzuka followed her example, and the mice looked at each other and followed them in. Talon surfaced clear on the other side of the pool, and sank back, floating with the boneless grace of oil on water. The others surfaced at various spots in between, and even with all of them, there was room for each to stretch out and drift.
"Tzkua, Nick, I just love your place. It’s wonderful." Talon’s delighted sigh made both of them smile.
"I take it you’ll be back?" Nick asked amusedly.
"Try and keep me away." She spun lazily in the water, her movements languid and slow.
"Does this mean you’ll move in with us, even if Charley’s hard-hearted and snubs us unmercifully?" Tzuka’s teasing question made Tally laugh, and she kicked a soft splash at him.
"Not right now. But you can keep asking."
"We’ll do that." Nick and Tzuka replied simultaneously, and grinned at each other. Talon smiled back and then yawned tremendously, and slipping through the water, idly setting each floating body spinning slowly as she swam by, she pulled herself onto the edge and let the water run off her while she stretched, the lean muscles of her back and legs standing out in fluid relief. She dropped onto the futon cushion, gathering up several of the smaller cushions scattered around the edge into a pile she collapsed into, a faint purr rumbling up.
"Mmmnn, ask a lot, ok?" Her sleepy voice made all the others realize their own exhaustion, and one by one they dragged themselves over to sprawl on the expanse of cushion.
"I don’t think I can ride," Modo admitted ruefully.
"Nobody’s going anywhere," Charley declared, "grab a pillow and curl up. Lots of the guys’ parties end up with the guests too tired to move. We can go home in the morning."
"We have guest rooms, but Charley likes to sleep under the stars," Nick explained, reaching over and flipping up the lid of a wicker chest half-hidden under a cluster of plants in tall ceramic jars, tossing out several thick, soft comforters that matched the pillows. "We indulge her because we love it too, this just makes us look like we’re spoiling her."
Throttle caught one and went to tuck it around Talon, and she smiled drowsily and caught his hand, twining her fingers through his. Modo caught another and flopped down on an enormous pillow with it over him, mumbling contentedly as his eye closed, "I can stretch out…"
Tzuka and Nick curled up in a spot obviously their own, dropping off to sleep almost immediately, Tzuka held loosely in Nick’s arms, a comforter patterned with cherry blossoms draped over them. Charley wrapped herself in one of deep blue, sinking into slumber with a familiarity that spoke of how often she’d done it before; and Vinnie snagged a blanket at random and rolled himself up in it as well, positioning himself as close to Charley as he dared. Talon reluctantly released Throttle’s hand, but he reached out and touched her face instead.
*Keep me warm?* Her entreaty caressed the familiar curves of his mind, and his low rumble of mental laughter soothed away her slight nervousness at asking.
*Thought you’d never ask, babe…*
Gathering Tally into his arms, Throttle pulled the coverlet over them and sank thankfully into the pile of cushions with her, careless of what anyone would think in the morning.
***
Throttle woke briefly at sunrise and his arm tightened around Tally as she lay sleeping. Propping himself up on an elbow, he traced the delicate curves of her face, silently musing on what he intended to do about her. He should settle with Carbine first, and that would be a painful wrench, but when he would next return to Mars? Or events dictate Carbine come to Earth? He would break it to her as gently as he could, as soon as they met again, but who knew when that would be... His thumb stroked the curve of Tally’s lip and she smiled in her sleep, one hand reaching out for him.
But in the meantime, he’d spent his whole life waiting for a cold, distant, uncertain love; and the exquisite beauty nestled beside him right now was warm, loving, and he was damn well more certain about her than anyone he’d ever known. To the deepest hell with what anyone thought, he was not going to let Talon get away, not if he had anything to say about it. She was an ILEA agent, they went where they wanted and did as they pleased; if it pleased her to stay, she could operate out of Earth as easily as not. The corps’ motto was "Anyone, anywhen, anywhere," a saying as equally applicable to impossible rescues as to terminal destruction, and practically a galactic axiom for their tightly leashed, but willingly unleashed, hyper-technology.
He just better hope she felt the same way as he did… he kissed her very lightly, so as not to wake her, but wanting her all the more so he could wake every morning at dawn and watch her sleep beside him. Tally snuggled closer and sank deeper into sleep, and he drifted off himself, holding her protectively close.
***
Late the next morning, Nick and Charley were the first to wake, and as Charley sat up very quietly, her glance fell on Throttle and Tally and she smiled involuntarily. They were so tightly twined together, you’d have needed a crowbar to get them apart, and Charley would bet good money the recurring nightmares plaguing Talon’s and Throttle’s sleep lately hadn’t troubled them the whole night through. Nick grinned back at her and silently disengaging himself from Tzuka’s still-slumbering form, he beckoned to Charley to follow him. She rose soundlessly from the folds of her thick comforter and followed him through the marble archway that led toward the kitchen.
Nick and Tzuka’s kitchen was decorated in a style very similar to Charley’s mother’s kitchen, a silent homage that always amused Charley. It was a very large, bright room, divided into two levels; painted in yellow and white with the windows facing the east. Even this late in the morning, it was golden with sunshine. The upper level had spotless white appliances and plenty of counters and cupboards, and the lower level was two steps lower, with a very large table surrounded by comfortable chairs directly in front of the bank of windows. Plants growing in brightly colored ceramic flowerpots hung from hooks in front of the windows, and it was cheerful with pictures of herbs and spices. It was a friendly, welcoming room.
As the swinging door to the kitchen closed behind them, Nick stretched and said, "I’ll make coffee if you get us a couple of bathrobes, and some for the others. Bathing suits are not comfy wear in the morning."
"Yeah, we gotta break ourselves of sleeping in our wet suits. It’s a lousy habit." Charley yawned in response, and rubbing her eyes, trailed out of the kitchen toward the wing of bedrooms. Nick began setting up the coffeemaker and rummaged in the refrigerator for anything that looked edible. Grumbling at the meager pickings, he hunted through the freezer and brightened at the sight of Charley’s favorite frozen coffeecake. Musing over pecan, raspberry, cheese or apple, he shrugged and pulled them all out, flipping the oven on to heat.
Charley came wandering in, wrapped in a thick green terrycloth robe, and tossed Nick his favorite blue plaid. She laid a pile of others over one of the chairs at the kitchen table, and scratched her neck where her now-discarded bathing suit had chafed a little as she slept. As the coffeemaker began to drip, she wandered over and brightened herself at the sight of breakfast. She began pulling the coffeecakes out of their boxes as Nick poured them both glasses of orange juice. Charley nearly choked on hers when the kitchen door opened silently and Vinnie tiptoed in. Vinnie tiptoeing?
He grinned brilliantly at the two of them, and padded over to Charley, saying beseechingly, "Don’t you have one of those for me, Charley-sweetheart?" Charley looked like she wanted to swat him, but he’d given her no reason to do so, and she reached into the pile of robes a bit sulkily and tossed him one.
He tugged it on, and said with a devilish look, "Did you see Throttle and Tally-kat? Is my bro disgustingly head over tail about her or what? ‘Bout time he dumped Carbine and found himself a decent girlfriend." Sitting on the edge of the counter, he accepted the glass of juice Nick handed him and drank it down in one gulp, handing it back for a refill.
Nick grinned in amusement and refilled it, internally deciding Vinnie wasn’t nearly as unobservant as everyone else gave him credit for being. Tzuka wandered in a few minutes later, waving a zombie-like hello as he made a beeline for the coffeemaker, and pouring himself a large mug of black coffee, he downed half of it in a swallow, shuddering as the hot liquid seared its way down his throat.
"Tzuka isn’t conscious until after his second cup," Nick told Vinnie, who was regarding his formerly dapper host with an astonished expression, as Tzuka sleepwalked groggily about the room. Tzuka dropped into the chair next to Charley and dragged a robe on as she handed him one, an indistinguishable mumble evidently intended to be thanks coming from under the tumbled black locks completely hiding his eyes. He had nearly finished his second cup and was approaching coherent speech when Modo walked in, sniffing the smell of the baking coffeecakes hungrily.
"Mornin’, all," he greeted them, and he waved at Nick to keep sitting as he started to get up.
"Robes on the chair, big guy," Charley pointed, "try the blue one, it’s the biggest." Modo shrugged into it, and though it barely came to his knees, it fitted well enough otherwise.
"You’re the best, Charley-sweetheart," he rumbled, rumpling her mussed hair further as he walked by. She gave him a sideways glance at the unexpected compliment, but only nodded in response. The phone ringing made all of them start, and Nick picked it up with an irritated look.
"Hello?" Nick’s expression changed so quickly as he listened that Charley leaned forward in obvious concern and Tzuka shook his hair out of his eyes and regarded his partner worriedly. "No, you did the right thing, Tess. Get a number and tell him we’ll call him back this afternoon. And tell Steve to bump the security level up a notch. Let’s not get caught napping." Nick waited for a moment, then gestured for Charley to hand him a pen and square of paper from the massage pad by the phone. He scribbled a number, and then hung up, saying resolutely to Charley, "Go wake Throttle and Talon, they should hear this. You’ll never guess who called for Tzuka this morning. One Lawrence Lactavius Limburger, who has a business proposition for Mr. Ryudo."
Half an hour later, as they devoured coffeecake and discussed the implications of Limburger calling, Tzuka was still of the firm opinion he should at least try to worm his way into Limburger’s business affairs, insisting that information from the inside of his organization could be valuable.
"I don’t like the idea," Throttle insisted, "it puts you right in Limburger’s power. Don’t think because you’re a human, he won’t do to you what he did to us."
Tzuka pushed his hair out of his eyes with an impatient gesture, but his voice was calm and quiet as he discussed the matter. "Throttle, I appreciate your worrying about me, but we have an opportunity here, and we can’t afford to pass it up. I’m willing to take the risk, and forgive me for being blunt, but it’s my world too, you know."
Throttle frowned but admitted, "Point taken."
"We should at least find out what he wants, if nothing else it’ll give us a clue to his next scheme. It’s inconceivable a Plutarkian isn’t plotting something." Talon interjected sensibly.
Everyone, even Vinnie, nodded rueful acknowledgement of that comment. Deciding trying to keep Charley’s bros (and it still felt weird to think of Nick and Tzuka like that) out of danger was futile, Throttle turned the discussion to how to handle the initial contact.
"Easy," Tzuka said confidently, "this is an area where I do have some expertise to offer. I’ve been playing the big business game since I was a child, I was groomed practically from birth to be the head of the Ryudo family fortune. Trust me, compared to the Yakuza, Limburger is definitely second-rate." He regarded them all contemplatively. "We handle it just as if it were a straight business proposition from any other human. As long as we play along, he has no reason to suspect us; I can’t imagine he knows about Nick and Charley’s friendship, and because of my relatives Nick and I keep a very low profile outside the club."
"Why’s that?" Vinnie asked, devouring the last piece of apple coffeecake.
"Because they keep trying to kill me," Nick answered him, taking the last chunk of raspberry cake himself. There was a sudden, complete silence as all three mice riveted their attention on him.
"What?" Modo said slowly, in a low, icily-controlled tone of voice that made the humans and kat at the table stare at him in surprise.
Nick swallowed, and told him with an ironic grin, "They’ve made three separate attempts to kill me so far." He rolled his eyes melodramatically. "Then Tzuka’s grandfather died, and his relatives didn’t have the money to hire killers anymore. Once Tzuka bought this place and installed the security system, we mostly stopped having to worry about it."
Even Vinnie looked infuriated by this, staring in shock at Tzuka, his white tail lashing irately. "That’s totally lame! Your own family? Trying to kill your husband?"
Charley marveled at Vinnie’s rapid resiliency. Twelve hours ago he had been weirdly skittish around Nick and Tzuka, and now he was literally bristling with anger on their behalf. Maybe she hadn’t been giving him enough credit, after all.
"Never mind that," Charley said sharply, "we’re dealing with Limburger now."
"Right," Tzuka replied, "so here we go." He turned the tape recorder on and punched in the number on the sheet.
An oily female voice answered, "Lim-burger Industries? How may I di-rect your call?"
Tzuka said coolly, with a much heavier Japanese accent than he usually spoke with, "Tzuka Ryudo, Ryudo Enterprises, returning Mr. Limburger’s call. I was informed he was anxious to speak with me."
The nasal voice said immediately, "One mom-ent while I trans-fer you, sir."
"Ah, Mr. Ryudo." Limburger’s voice oozed over the phone. "So good of you to return my call."
"I understand you have a business proposition for me, Mr. Limburger."
Limburger’s odious chuckle bubbled up from the phone, so slimy and distrustful Talon was surprised drool didn’t start dripping out of the handset. Tzuka looked like he would have preferred to drop the receiver and wash his hand, but hung on gamely.
"I like a man who comes directly to the point. I understand you own some property a few hundred miles north of here, on the shores of Lake Michigan, would you be interesting in leasing it to me?"
"Under what terms?" Tzuka’s voice sharpened just a trifle, and Throttle had to admit, he was playing Limburger like a harp. Just the edge of avarice a Plutarkian would recognize and in a perverted, twisted way, admire… very slick.
"I would prefer to examine the property first, Mr. Ryudo, if you would consider a trip there so both of us could tour it, and we could discuss terms of payment on the way?"
Tzuka’s voice shaded slightly into distrust, "I would prefer to meet you there, Mr. Limburger."
Limburger’s oily laughter really did seem to ooze out of the phone. "A cautious man as well! I do believe we shall get along, Mr. Ryudo. Shall we say the day after tomorrow at noon, at the entrance to the property?"
"You are a very well informed man yourself, Mr. Limburger. Monday at noon, then."
"I’ll be looking forward to it, quite." One last revolting blubbery laugh seeped out of the handset, and Tzuka dropped it into the cradle and grimaced.
"I want to bathe in disinfectant." He gave into the urge and went over to the kitchen sink and scrubbed his hands clean. "So that’s a Plutarkian. I can see why you want them off your planet permanently."
"So now what?" Vinnie asked.
"What’s so special about that property Limburger would want it?" Talon asked curiously. Tzuka dried his hands on a towel and poured himself another cup of coffee, before sitting back down at the table.
"Not a lot, really. It’s about 50 acres of undisturbed woods on Lake Michigan. The only thing remotely unusual about it is a small hot spring. Stinks of sulfur, though, so we swim in the lake. Nick and I have a ski lodge up there for weekends."
Talon picked up another piece of cheese coffeecake and nibbled delicately. "Well, we’ll find out what he wants soon enough, so who do we send up with you? Got any preferences?"
Tzuka looked up at the mice. "I would very grateful if at least one of you would come along. I would like some backup."
Vinnie looked scandalized. "Like you were goin’ anywhere by yourself, duh! We’re all going!"
Charley shook her head regretfully. "I can’t, I’ve got a dozen appointments at the garage on Monday. I’ve gotta be there or I’m gonna start losing customers, and I can’t afford that."
Talon looked pensive. "I’m not sure I should go either, Limburger must think I’m dead, and I’d like to keep it that way as long as possible. No point in taking dumb chances and letting someone spot me. And if there’s real trouble, the Turbokat can get me up there in minutes, and I don’t care what he’s got, it can’t match the Turbokat’s firepower."
Nick blew out a breath slowly. "If Tzuka’s going, I have to stay and run the club at night, but if Charley wants to go too, I can take her appointments at the garage during the day and give you one more effective on the inside. We can disguise her and slip her in as your assistant, Tzuka."
"Now, that’s a good thought." Talon said firmly. "Nobody notices a secretary, Charley might be able to do some surreptitious snooping. And I can give you a hand with the garage."
"We should make a sweep of all Limburger’s places," Throttle interjected, "see if there’s any equipment being prepared for shipment or sudden change in the activity level."
"And we’ll need to see about a disguise for Charley," Nick mentioned, "We can do that while you three are gone."
Talon held up a claw. "A question first; Tzuka, do you think you can hack into ol’ stinkfish’s Tower computer system?"
Tzuka shrugged. "I don’t know, I’d have to take a look at it. I’ll check it out."
"Meet back at the garage, all of us, tonight by six." Charley put in. "No running off alone until we know what’s up."
"Looks like you and I get to hold the fort on Monday then, chum," Nick teased, and he and Talon swapped a rueful look.
"Do ya play Trivial Pursuit on this planet?" she asked wryly, and they all laughed as they stood up.
***