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Chapter 2: To The Past and Back Again.

{Translated from Greek/Theymiscian}

They arrived at the Freedom Fighter base on Mars. As they stepped off the gangplank, the returning heroes were warmly greeted by the Freedom Fighters. They were happy to see Charley again, for the lovely young human female was a good friend to the Martian Mice.

The Mice were astonished when they saw Wonder Woman. A beautiful woman in red, gold, and blue armor was not something they saw everyday. She disembarked from the ship, looking around her. The Freedom Fighter base was part cave, part building, crates of supplies staked here and there, and miscellaneous equipment everywhere. Standing around, watching her in astonishment, were several humanoid mice with red antennas on their heads.

"Everyone," Throttle announced to the other Martians, "This is Wonder Woman." Once again, his mind said, Diana/, as if correcting him. /Why do I keep thinkin' that name? he asked himself.

He was about to get an answer. Or, at least, part of the answer, anyway.

"Just call me, 'Diana'," the Amazon princess smiled at him. Throttle stiffened at the word.

How did he know that her real name was "Diana"? Or had he known that was her real name?

"'Diana'?" he asked, attempting to hide his reaction to her name.

"Yes," she answered. "I was named for a great and honored warrior."

"Oh. Okay."

"Well, we're glad you came with us, Diana," Stoker said. "The Plutarkians are bound to strike at Mars again. This is where the most resistance is. Has been for many years, now."

"When tha Plutarkians attacked Mars," Throttle explained, "it was so subtle, we didn't know it was an attack, until it was too late. By then, tha government was so corrupted by greed for tha Plutarkian money, the people of Mars had little hope. Even tha army couldn't help, because tha army got its orders from the Martian government, and tha government got its orders from tha Plutarkians."

"That's when Stoker formed the Freedom Fighters," Modo added. "We were able ta do more good than tha army because we were a separate unit from them. We got orders from no one but Stoker."

"The army eventually split up and most joined the Freedom Fighters," Stoker continued.
"Carbine is a general who used to be in the army. She now leads the Freedom Fighters against the Plutarkians."

"Do these 'Plutarkians' strip-mine every planet they come in contact with?" Diana asked.

"Yes," Vinnie answered sadly. "Mars was once a very beautiful planet, with plants, animals, and water everywhere. But when the Plutarkians took over, they destroyed everythin'."

"Merciful goddesses!" Diana breathed in horror.

"Thanks to Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie," Carbine said, "water has returned to Mars. We have a small greenhouse nearby, where samples of plants from all over Mars still grow. It's called
'The Garden of Hope'. Someday, we hope to replant all of Mars with these plants."

"But first," Rimfire added, "we have to get rid of the Plutarkians. If we don't, they'll just strip-mine Mars all over again."

"They must be stopped," Diana replied. "I'll help all I can."

"Thank you," Carbine smiled. "We need all the help we can get."

"With the Plutarkian existence revealed on Earth, it won't be long before Earth's other superheroes find and deal with the Plutarkians still on Earth. They may even deal with Plutark, itself," Charley said.

"Then," Stoker grinned, "all we have to do is send those here on Mars packin'!"

"And maybe this war can finally come to an end..." Throttle sighed.

Everyone nodded in agreement. The war with the fish-like aliens had gone on for far too long. Only the determination of the Martians not to lie down and die kept them going, fighting until the end.

~~*

They were sitting in the mess hall when it happened. Diana was sampling some Martian food when the first bombardment from the Plutarkians struck. Diana, Charley, and the Mice rushed into action, some mounting motorcycles, some, other vehicles, and others on foot. Everyone but
Diana grabbed some sort of weapon, mostly blaster rifles.

"Diana!" Throttle called. When she looked his way, he tossed her an extra blaster rifle.
"You'll need this. I know ya probably don't like usin' guns, or killin', but that's what it'll come to."

Diana took the offered weapon, thanking the golden Mouse before joining the defenders outside of the Freedom Fighters' base. Like the others, the Amazon princess fired the rife, although she did so only to wound, allowing the Mice to deal with the incapitated attackers. Soon, however, her rifle ran out of energy. She tossed it aside and entered the fray, using her great strength, speed, and skill to aid as many of the Mice as she can.

Watching the battle beside Dr. Karbunkle was Lawrence Limburger. Greasepit lead the goons in aiding the Plutarkian troops, while Fred the Mutant was running around, trying his darnest to get shot, blown up, or otherwise mutilated.

"Shoot me!" the odd little man screamed. "Shoot me!"

"Karbunkle!" Lawrence Limburger bellowed at the skinny scientist. "Fire the Time Sorter, or you're fired!"

"Yes, your holy swiss cheesiness!" Karbunkle wheezed. The mad doctor aimed the strange gun at the army of Martian Mice that was fast approaching them. He carefully lined up the shot as he eyed his chosen target.

Throttle noticed the line of fire the strange weapon would follow. His eyes widened behind his specs when he saw who the intended target was. He shouted a warning to the Mouse.

"/RIMFIRE/!" he cried. "Stinkfish about to fire! /MOVE/!"

The boy turned to run, but tripped and fell. Unable to get up in time to avoid whatever the device shot, Rimfire could only watch helplessly as Karbunkle pulled the trigger.

In a flash, Diana moved in front of Rimfire, neatly deflected the strange energy beam away from the young Martian and up into the sky. The beam struck a stabilizer on one of the Plutarkian ships, causing it to disappear and bring it down with a crash.

Enraged at his failure to hit the young Mouse, Karbunkle turned the device on the source of that interference. No, not Wonder Woman, who had blocked the beam, but Throttle, who had shouted the warning. Again, the evil scientist fired his strange weapon.

As the Amazon princess was helping Rimfire up, she caught sight of the Time Sorter's new target. Alarmed, she shouted a warning of her own.

"Throttle --/LOOK OUT!/"

Too late. The beam struck Throttle in the chest, freezing him in his tracks. He glowed briefly, and then the glow took over his body, leaving a silhouette of greenish light in the form of the Biker Mouse. Even this faded out of existence, leaving nothing in its wake but empty space.

There were horrified cries of "Throttle!" and whispered denials of what had just occurred. Wonder Woman flew to the spot to see for herself and found nothing but the patch of red sand where the young Martian once stood.

"Merciful goddesses...NO!" Diana exclaimed, her voice a horrfied whisper.

A roar of rage drew everyone's attention to the gray giant among them. Modo --his right eye glowing red-- charged toward the gathered Plutarkians, most of which had the sense to get out of the way. In an instant, the giant Biker Mouse had grabbed Karbunkle by the collar of his labcoat and lifted him off the ground.

"WHAT DIDJA DO TA THROTTLE!?!" Modo roared at the demented scientist, his flesh fist cocked back and ready to knock Karbunkle into the next century.

"As if I would tell YOU anything, you irritating rodent!" Karbunkle leered back.

Modo growled and prepared to finally end the evil scientist's pathetic existence, when a hand on his arm stopped him. He glanced down to see Diana standing next to him, her powerful arm holding his arm back.

"Wait, Modo," she said. "There's a better way to get him to talk..." She then took the golden lasso from her hip and wrapped it around the mad scientist's body.

"You will now tell us what happened to Throttle," she said. "You have no choice. The Lasso of Truth compels you to speak only the truth."

"He...was...hit...by the...Time Sorter..." Karbunkle gasped, in an attempt to fight the compulsion to speak. He failed miserably.

"This Time Sorter," Carbine asked, coming up to stand with Diana and Modo. "What does it do, and how do we reverse the effect?"

"The Time Sorter sends anyone hit with it back of forward into time," he answered. He grinned, despite being forced to tell them everything. At least there would be one victory, no matter what they did to him. "It is totally random. It can't be set for any particular time period, and there is no way to reverse the process. He is lost to you /forever/!" At the last sentence, Karbunkle cackled madly.

Modo's eye glowed brighter as his rage mounted. Rimfire grabbed the Time Sorter, intent on studying it, and maybe reversing the effects, despite what Karbunkle told them. Carbine just glared at Karbunkle. Stoker, Vinnie, and the rest of the Mice prepared to once again defend against their enemies' onslaught.

"May all the gods and goddesses of Olympus watch over and protect him, then," Diana prayed aloud.

Perhaps the deities of the Amazons heard her, for no sooner the Amazon princess spoken, when a cry came up from one of the Martian soldiers. He pointed toward a large sand dune. Everyone turned to look, and saw an army on horseback, all lined up and ready to ride to the attack. One figure raised a sword and shouted a command.

{"For the Glory of Gaea!"} the strangely familiar voice cried. {"Attack!"}

With the command, the warrior rode down the sand dune, followed by the rest of the army. When the army got close enough for the Martians and the other combatants to see them clearly, they saw that they were all women. All, but one, that is.

The armor the women wore was the kind Charley had seen only in history books, from the time of ancient Greece. They raised swords, shields, axes, spears and bows and arrows as they rode to the aid of the Martians. An ancient, legendary army of women had come to the rescue of the people of Mars.

But it was the warrior in the lead that drew the Martians' attention. While the language he had used was unfamiliar, the voice was. But could they dare to hope?

As the one male warrior on horseback came near her, Carbine voiced the one name that everyone was hoping for.

"T...t...throttle?" He turned to look at her, giving her a wide grin.

"Hi ya, Babe," he greeted. Then, he looked over at Wonder Woman. {"Good ta see ya again, Diana!"} he said in the same language that he used for the attack.

"Theymiscian!" she gasped. "Throttle, you spoke in Theymiscian! How?"

"Long story," he replied. "Very long story. But aren't anyone else gonna fight? We could use tha help." He jerked a thumb over to the battlefield.

Wonder Woman, Charley, and the Martians looked over to the Amazons, catching sight of one particular woman in the fray. Her armor was slightly different than the others, and she brandished an elaborate short sword.

"She's amazing!" Stoker breathed.

"Actually," Diana said, "she's my mother."

"Well, what are we standin' here for?" Vinnie cried. "Let's crank this party /UP/! YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" With a howl, the white Mouse jumped into the battle, his blaster blazing. Behind him, the others followed onto the battleground.

With the Amazons and the Martians banded together into one army, the Plutarkians were finally vanquished, although once again, Limburger, Karbunkle, Greasepit, and Fred the Mutant got away. The remaining fish people were marched away to hidden prisons to await trail. The Amazons and Martians gathered around as Throttle, a million questions on his friends' minds.

The first thing they noticed, however, was his eyes. Or rather, his lack of his specs.

"Throttle!" Carbine gasped. "Your eyes!"

"Where's your shades, Youngster?" Stoker added.

"A very long story, guys," Throttle answered.

"Come to the Temple of the Crystal, than," An elderly Martian Mouse said. He was dressed in a long, rust-red robe, and carried a long staff. "You can share the tale with everyone." The group followed the old priest into an area in the Freedom Fighter base set aside for the Martians' spiritual needs.

At the head of the long room was a huge, irregular crystal formation, right behind an alter. It was too this that Throttle went to, kneeling on the floor reverently before it.

"I must warn you that there are parts of the story that are not very pleasant, especially this
first part," he said. "But they are a necessary part of the story."

With everyone warned properly, Throttle touched the crystal with his antennae, which began to glow, just as they would during Touch-Telepathy.

Next Chapter: Throttle's Tale Begins...

Throttle begins the story of how he ended up 3000 years in the past and living with the Amazons of Paradise Island.