A beep from the computer, Chuck huffed and heaved himself up and out of Mutt. He jumped down and landed with just a few missteps before he found his balance. He brought up his computer screen and looked it over. “Oh yeah. Here we go. You see?” He walked backwards to stand next to Mike and the locked front wheel. “The break cable snapped. We’re missing a bit.” They needed some extra cable to fix it temporarily.
☠–x
It was a good thing Chuck was Mike'scopilot. In a lot of ways, he made up for everything Mike lacked. Mike wasn’t very good with computers aside from the basics (which was mostly firing Mutt’s weapons and using the team intercom), and was definitely not very good when it came to emotions. Especially fear. Chuck…well, Chuck was the complete opposite of that. He was the best programmer in all of Motorcity as well ashaving enough anxiety that, if Mike felt even anounce of it, he’d probably think he was dying.Though, he still managed to work through that. Even if Mike didn’t quite understand his friend’s anxious tendencies, he knew that Chuck was probably one of the strongest members of the team because of his ability to surpass it. Even in little sticky situations like this. “Easy, buddy. It’s okay. We’ll find a way out of this. ” His voice went soft, soothing. Mike knew getting Chuck’s panicattacks to simmer was a hefty task, but it never stopped him fromtrying. “ It’s just too bad we forgot marshmallows–a good Mutt bonfire would make this whole situation a little better, don’t you think? ” He chuckled, wrapping an arm aroundhis Chuck’s shoulder and giving his arm a gentle squeeze. Which was more or less Mike’s version of a reassuring ’hug’. “Yeah, looks like it. Man… I was so sure it’d be stable enough to at least get us back home. I guess that much tension would break one of her cables. Agh… sorry, girl. ” Letting Chuck go, he patted Mutt’s hood before taking the extinguisher in his hands. Mike’s expression twisted slightly at the smell as he snuffed out the flames, tossing the fire extinguisher back into his car as the last ember died. Taking a moment to huff frustratedly, he stepped over to crouchdown beside Chuck to review the damage, nose scrunching upbitterly at the sight. Whoops. “Yikes… well thatcan’t be good. Same for that cut connection, considering thistunnel is one of the longest in all of Motorcity. No way I’m walking all the way down just for an HQ rescue call. So I guess our only option is… ” He stood back up, eyebrow cocked and lips upturned into a crooked smirk. “ Going back the way we came to look for a temporary fix-up. Whaddaya say, huh, Chuckles?
Chuck flinched back a bit and waved his hand to get rid of some of the smoke and powder from the fire extinguisher. He had been a bit too close to the wheel. At least when it all cleared he could see exactly what had happen. Chuck still got down on his knees and poked his head in behind the wheel. It smelled of burned rubber and ash. "It is definitely..." He reached in with his hand, his muscles strained slightly. The blond grunted and something scraped on the inside of the wheel. "...cut."
As he poked his head back out he held a stump of cable that was all frazzled in one end. "Ah man..." Chuck tossed the wire over his shoulder. It damp down somewhere off on the other side of Mutt. He looked up to see Mike looking to the mouth of the tunnel. The same way they had just come in through. "I guess..." A little sigh escaped him as the programmer pushed himself from the ground. "We did pass some scrap heaps. They should contain some useful parts. If we are lucky." At least now that he had the chance to calm down and think his voice was steady as he spoke. "Anything that we can fixate for now. It doesn't have to be fancy. It just have to work."
Hanging upside down over a broken overpass and only one cable had gotten snagged. That was lucky in itself as it was! And they were alive. Mike was even smiling like usually. "You know what, Mikey? I think we might be lucky today." Chuck gave his friend a smile back. "Let's go!"
After everything that had happened on just their short ride, this was nothing. "Its just a walk and some scavenging. Piece of cake! What could possibly go wrong!"















