Secret part 2

There was an elephant in the room and for once it wasn't her secret...

There was an elephant in the room and for once it wasn't her secret. The guys were being even more macho and protective of her than normal. Throttle was never normally this bad even though he knew that she was an agent, and Vinnie, well, he was being completely overboard, even for Vinnie. No-one was ever mentioning the true cause just dropping to the standard battle of the sexes. Throttle had been so worried he for once had actually missed the clue she had dropped. She sighed. Based on the Martian bikes she had finally assembled a nice new prototype, and it was finally time to road-test it. The only way she could do so was to accompany the guys. This bike would be taken out of her hands if it worked. But there was only really one way to truly stress-test it. It was easier to ask forgiveness than permission, after all. Charley searched the back of her cupboard for some of her old leathers that she had used for stunt-riding. A quiet little thought drops in that she can barely admit to herself even in the depths of her mind. Bet this will impress Vinnie.

While Charley appreciated the guys rescuing her, they tended to fail to realise why she got captured so often. Of this cell Charley was the only member who could operate with near unrestricted freedom, which in the end meant she had to be the spy. Limburger had not yet taken off his gloves, though he was probably sending continual requests. Military bureaucracy was the same everywhere.

(After the events of The Masked Motorcyclist.)

Throttle sighed. "I just wish those two wouldn't try to show off for their crush."

Modo looked at Throttle. "I think it's become more serious than that: - by both parties. Charley did something rather unlikely for her, and it also had the fortunate side-effect of demonstrating that Charley-girl is not Harley, while increasing the crush Vinnie has on her."

"It's going to be hard."

"Interspecies relationships always are, even when you grow up knowing of other sentient species. Then there’s the cultural baggage Charley-girl has to get past. And yes, Vinnie's still in love with Harley, but whether we or they, especially they, want to admit it or not, those two are slowly winning each other over. But you're right. It will be hard."

"Harder than you think." Throttle stated. After all he was the only one who knew Charley's secret and she had come this close to not telling him either, until he had revealed he already knew, after Limburger's stint as Mayor. He cast his mind back.

Throttle's bro's had left. He had stayed behind to talk to Har... Charley-girl. He smiled. "Pity the plan didn't work, wasn't it Charley-girl?"

"Plan?"

"The Deputy Mayor was nowhere to be found, which seemed rather odd. And then there was the fact the only time we encountered genuine Police was when we were fighting with rather than against them. And then we got off despite my terrible lawyer impression. A judge sleeping through a court case? Honestly you're being a bit careless."

"What?"

"Thank you, Charley-girl. You've been doing a lot for us. A lot more than my bro's realise. So, how long has the Earth Military known about the invasion?"

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

Throttle sighs. "You had an open garage in a completely empty area. No business would come that way except for rare emergencies - us, or certain loyal customers. Despite logic dictating you being cash-strapped you replace the lift within a day. Then there's the rockets you installed. Even we know how paranoid your military is. Some of our Freedom Fighters tried to acquire weapons from Earth some time earlier. We found it was too difficult because Earth logs all Military tech. And you just gave it to us. Then there's the fact no genuine police chased us, despite the fact we're riding with Earth military hardware. And the scoreboard? Sports are big business. Letting us stay for free instead of extorting the price of season tickets... And as I mentioned before, the judge?"

Charley sighed. Throttle knew, which made this somewhat easier, and helped her to admit the truth. "We just didn't know about the Plutarkians being on Earth. We thought they were human agents. I'm a cell contact."

"Why not fight them openly?"

"What would happen if we did Throttle? We'd lose. We may have the reputation as incredibly fearsome warriors. After all we were the last planet in this system targeted. But still, we could not fight a space fleet, and in open warfare they would produce at least one, and possibly two. We don’t have the technology to carry the fight to them yet so instead we plan to keep them locked down while we build up our forces and then..."

"That explains why Limburger is being more open. He's worked it out as well. But obviously he isn't being believed is he?" Throttle stated.

"Fortunately not or we'd have an alien fleet parked above us." Charley finished.