Neutral Ground

A Journey to Come

A heavy silence. The only other sound was the ship beeping, giving various alerts and updates to the tan mouse that piloted it. He observed the energy level of the craft, predicting just how far they could make it. Seems like every ship they steal from the Catonians is never fueled up enough. He nearly chuckled at the thought of them almost never being fully prepared.

But a thought crossed his mind, and kept his mouth shut. He switched autopilot on and turned, just enough to look toward the hatch.

There Irene stood, still hugging Modo's metallic arm to her chest and staring at the hatch in silence. She hadn't moved from that spot since they left, and one look at her eyes told anyone that her mind was miles away. A day has come that Throttle never thought would happen.

He actually felt bad for a cat.

He glanced at Modo and Vinnie. Vinnie was unusually quiet, his arms crossed tight and visibly uncomfortable as he seemed to search for any reason to speak, maybe make a joke. He never did well with such serious situations, and preferred to deflect with humor. But for once, he hesitated.

Then he flicked his gaze to Modo, who stood slightly closer to him. The large mouse had his eyes trained on Irene. Throttle guessed they had been on her since they left. He seemed confused by something as he let out a long sigh through his nose. Throttle knew his behavior, well enough to know he was confused on what to do. He felt bad for Irene, and what had happened, but didn't know what to do. From experience, cats can be.. unpredictable. But they couldn't just let her stay in her head like this. And he needed his arm back.

Throttle let out his own sigh as he leaned back into his chair, smacking Modo's only arm in the process to get his attention. When he looked down, Throttle nodded towards Irene, "You gonna get your arm back, brother?" He questioned. Modo opened his mouth to speak but the words caught in his throat and he glanced at Irene. He scratched the side of his neck as he finally spoke, "I mean, yeah, but.. I dunno, she hasn't moved and-"

"Come on, man. Give her something to do." Vinnie interrupted, "She's freaking me out standing there like that." Throttle sat up slightly, a warning tone to his voice, "Watch it, Vincent." At that, Vinnie held his hands up in a defensive position, "Whoa, we're defending cats now?"

"Cat or no cat, that doesn't have anything to do with it." Modo interjected, looking at Vinnie, "She lost her mother in there, and as of right now she's no threat." Throttle nodded, adding, "Not to mention she's the one that got our tails out of there." It was at this point that Vinnie lowered his arms back to their original position, leaning his head back against the wall with an audible groan, "Right, right."

Modo looked at Irene again. She was close enough to hear that entire interaction, but if she had she gave no sign of it. Finally, he found his footing and slowly ventured over to her. He stood within her sight, and got no reaction. She definitely didn't hear them.

"Hey, uh.. Irene, wasn't it?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck as he waited for her response. Her response was delayed, but soon enough her gaze turned up to him and she spoke, "Y-Yeah.. sorry, were you there long?" She questioned and he shook his head, "No, no.. but hey, uh-" he hesitated, then motioned towards the metallic arm in her grasp, "Think you could help me get that back on?" He asked, trying to keep his tone calm, and quiet.

At first she seemed visibly confused. She had completely forgotten that she was even holding his arm until she finally looked down, "Oh. Oh! Uh.. s-sure.. " She looked up at him again, "But wouldn't you rather one of them do it?"

"No ma'am. Throttle is driving the ship and Vinnie doesn't like doing it. Says it grosses him out." Modo quickly came up with an excuse that held at least part of the truth in it. Vinnie did actually find the process uncomfortable. He just hoped she didn't know enough about this type of ship to recognize the autopilot being on.