Biker Mice From Mars - Somewhere I Belong

Revenge Is A Confession Of Pain

"The connection... It's just... gone."

Modo's breathing became a tad bit heavier at seeing the panicked look on Vinnie's face.
It brought back so many memories, memories he wished he didn't have.
Without taking his gaze away from his baby bro, he briefly brushed a finger over his bionic arm almost regretfully as he tried really hard not to panic as well.
"What do you mean, it's gone?"
A soft whimper escaped Vinnie's lips, and he yanked his helmet off, for the thing suddenly felt like it was about to suffocate him.
"I mean it exactly as I said it, man. I can't feel her anymore..."
His voice cracked with emotion, and he looked at Modo almost pleadingly.
"How are we supposed to find her if I can't feel her anymore?"

In all fairness, Modo considered himself lucky that Vinnie didn't ask him why the connection was gone in the first place because the answer to that wouldn't be pretty and he didn't want to be the one to explain how bad of a turn this was.
Above all, he didn't want to be the one to break his youngest bro's heart.
He had done it before, by telling him that Harley was gone.
That he had to let her go.
That he had to move on.
That he had to stop living in the past.
The look on his face when he did that still haunted him in his sleep till this very day.
Never had he seen his little bro so lost, until now.
Now, it was happening all over again, and the same feeling of helplessness washed over him.
It was just like he said.
This, all this, brought back some very nasty memories.

Heaving a somewhat frustrated sigh, Modo took a quick look around him, desperately searching for something that could help him find the words to answer Vinnie's question.
Unfortunately, all he saw were trees and darkness.
Such thick darkness...

"Why are we stopping?"

Throttle's husky voice broke the somewhat ominous silence, a silence that could only belong to the blackness they were currently surrounded with, and Modo felt a pang of relief by hearing the comforting sounds of his tan-furred bro's voice.
Throttle surely knew how to fix this mess.
He always did, right?
So why would today be any different?
His visible eye darted from the gloomy darkness to his leader, who just rested his weathered biker boots on the forestry ground as his bike came to a halt.
He glanced at Vinnie before his questionable gaze landed on Modo, who shrugged as helpless as he felt right now.
"The connection is gone."

Throttle's jaw tightened, but his face remained blank as he too took in their surroundings.
It seemed like a laid-back response, but Modo knew better as he knew Throttle like the back of his bionic hand, and it only confirmed what he already figured out the moment Vinnie told him that the connection was gone.
This was bad.
As in catastrophically bad.
His stomach slowly tied into a knot, and he looked down at his fiddling fingers.
Throttle's silence was even worse than the one lingering in the forest they were currently finding themselves in, and the tension rose to such an extent that his fur bristled.

Tension coming from his dearest young brother, one he didn't dare to look at for he knew he wouldn't be able to handle the look on his face.
Picturing vividly how he was sitting there on his bike, staring at Throttle with a mix of hope, dread, and disbelief as he waited for him to say something was already enough for him to practically burst out of his fur, so there was just no way that he was able to watch the picture come to life.
To witness Vinnie concluding the same as he just did.
They were too late.
After all, a connection forged out of true love didn't just vanish without good reason.
In fact, there could only be one reason why it was gone.
"Oh, momma...", he breathed almost noiselessly, the air leaving his mouth taking all of his faith and hope with it, and he closed his one eye for a moment.

The silence seemed to become even more smothering.
It was almost as if the oxygen was sucked out of the air, and Vinnie's breathing became heavier and heavier with every second that ticked by as he, indeed, stared at Throttle, waiting for him to say something.
He had to say something.
At this point, he didn't even care what he would say, as long as he would say something.
Anything.
But he didn't.
All he did was slowly turn his head toward his youngest bro, and the look on his face literally took Vinnie's breath away.
"No."