The last rays of the sun are swallowed as the night descends on Chicago. The silence of the division grows long, then is broken by the calling of a cat, which is roaming the night. Other sounds now grow loud, the murmuring of people who are rushing home, the laughter and screams of the people in their homes. The streetlights flicker awake as the weak light of the stars appears. In one neighborhood, a seemingly abandoned building reflects the light of one lamp. There is broken windows in the building but some people who have no home make their place here. Into the pool of light a figure walks in and looks around. It is wearing a long trench coat to help hide the fact of it not being human. The graceful curves of a female show through the coat as she futilely tugs at a hat, trying to cover up her head. Sighing, she settles her back against the lamp and waits

In an another abandoned building, this one across the street from the figure, a man steps up to one of the many broken windows that pepper the place. He smiles in satisfaction as he sees the other one in the light. With him he carries a black, non-discript briefcase that holds a broken down rifle. Setting the briefcase down he opens it up and begins to put the rifle together. He puts a scope on the rifle and looks down at the figure through it. Impatiently, he puts the rifle down and goes to another window that looks down the street. All he can see is the light of the lamps with the occasional movement of animals. He, also, is not human but of the same species as the female. Sitting down to the side of the window, he waits, impatient because he is hungry, but he will wait

In the light shadows play
In the dark shadows lay
What happens when ShadowFall
Comes out to prey?

~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^

Disclaimer: I don't own the Biker Mice and am making no profit from them. Wolf and Dashal are owned by me. I wrote this for the enjoyment of others and my demented little mind. *grins*

`Riding the streets at night can be peaceful,' Modo thought to himself. He stretched as he let his bike take over the driving. He rubbed his face, then yawned. `But it's very tiring.' He breathed in deeply the scents of the night, sweet though he was in the middle of the city. He and the others would ride at night occasionally to make sure Limburger didn't try to slip anything past them. It was his turn for the next week. Limburger has been pretty quiet for a few weeks so Modo has been able to sleep during the day. `The city is different at night.' He thought. `Especially this part.' He was riding through what he thought was an abandoned neighborhood. The buildings here were older and had lots of broken windows. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned to look and saw someone waving to him.

"Oh thank you," she said breathlessly when he stopped next to her. "I was hoping I'd see someone soon."

"What can I do for you, ma'am?" he asked. Without taking off his helmet he climbed off his bike. Not seeing any type of vehicle around he figured she must have walked pretty far. "You really shouldn't be out in the part of town by yourself."

"Actually, it's you who shouldn't be alone," she said. A laser bolt from behind him hit his cycle and sparks started coming off of it. It began to tremble as the online systems started crashing.

He stared in surprise as it continued to spark, and then it fell on its side. There was no acknowledgement when he cried out, "Lil' darlin'!" His arm cannon came out and his eye started glowing red with rage. He scanned the area but could find no one around except the female.

As he turned around, she brought out a wand and extended it. It was as long as her forearm and it glowed at the tip. He fell to the ground unconscious as she placed the glowing tip under his helmet and against the back of his head. "Finally," she said softly. She knelt next to him and rolled him on his back. She took off the helmet, staring in surprise at the mouse.

"Well?" the male asked her when he came out of the building. He looked down at the mouse, smiling with satisfaction.

"He will be of use to us for a long while," she said, standing up. "He is young and very strong."

He picked her up and swung her around. Smiling, he said, "We won't have to feed for a long time after him."

"Yes, I know," she said. There was a touch of sadness to her voice. "I wonder what a Martian mouse is doing on Earth though?"

"I don't know," he said, curious as well. "We'll have to ask him when he wakes up. Will you be able to handle him while I get the bike?"

"Of course," she replied with conceit. "I'm not that old yet." She smiled to take the sting out of her comment.

"Hmph," he said, not rising to the bait. He went over to the cycle and picked it up as though it were a toy. She picked up Modo and slung him over her shoulder. Walking to the building nearest to them, they went inside and down into the bottom of it.


The next morning, at the scoreboard, Throttle and Vinnie were just waking up when Charley called them on the CB. "Throttle? Vinnie? Are you guys awake yet?"

Yawning, Throttle walked over to the CB and replied, "Yes, Charley, were awake. What's up?" Vinnie was getting out of bed and heading for the shower.

"Have either of you seen Modo this morning?" she asked, concern touching her voice.

"Not yet," Throttle said. "He was out on night patrol last night and hasn't come back yet."

"I know," she said. "He usually comes by the garage when he's finished but I haven't seen him yet."

"Don't worry about him, he's probably laid up somewhere and will be by later," he said.

"Yes, but"

"He's a big boy, Charley, he can take care of himself," Throttle said. He was use to Modo taking off sometimes to be by himself after a patrol. "He'll call in soon."

"All right," she agreed reluctantly. "But I think something else has happened. Out." Static replaced her voice as she signed off.

He yawned and stretched after he replaced the mike. Walking towards the shower he met Vinnie coming out. "What's up with Charley-girl?" Vinnie asked him.

"She thinks something's wrong with Modo cause he hasn't come by off of night patrol," Throttle replied. "You know how he likes to go off sometimes after a patrol."

"Yeah," Vinnie said. "I remember those times on Mars when he did that. He said he was going to think. When we found him finally he would be at the top of headquarters just staring out into space, zoning." With that, Throttle went into the shower and Vinnie went over to his bike.

A couple of hours later, they came riding into the garage, music blasting and Vinnie singing, off-key, "Born to be Wild". "Hi guys," Charley says a worried look on her face.

"Hey Charley," Throttle said. "What's wrong?"

"Did you miss the baddest mammajammer this side of the universe?" Vinnie said with conceit. He leaped off of is bike, flipped and landed next to her.

"Not you," she said pushing him away, smiling. "Modo. I haven't been able to contact him at all today."

"Really?" Throttle asked surprised. That was definitely not like Modo. He may take off at times but he usually let them know when he was leaving. He pushed some buttons on his bike and a computer screen came up. It scrolled through the streets in a grid map but could not find any trace of Modo's bike. "She can't find his bike's signature."

"Where was he patrolling?" Vinnie asked with concern. All thoughts of his ego faded.

"He went to the East Side, where the abandoned buildings are," she told them.

"Then that's where we're headed," Throttle said, revving his engine. They both popped wheelies to turn around and started out of the garage.

"Let me come with you!" she shouted out to them.

They stopped in front of the garage and Throttle turned around to say, "No, if he comes back he may stop here first. When he does, call us cause something's happened to his bike if I can't get any signature." She nodded, understanding, and they rode off.


Waking up slowly, Modo feels the bed underneath him and asks, "Hey bros, did anyone get the license of that truck?" When no one answers, he opened his eye and groaned as he remembers what happened the night before. He put a hand to his head and groans because it feels like someone is using it as an anvil. Sitting up he sees that he is in a cage that is suspended a few feet above the floor. The floor of the cage is solid metal and has the top mattress from a bed where he was laying. His arm cannon has been wrapped with some type of metal band so that he is unable to release it. There are chains on his wrists that attach to the cage but also go up to the ceiling. They are slack so that he can move around. Looking around the room he sees only one window, a door and an odd machine under the window a few feet from the wall. He feels the bars of the cage to see if he can break out but they are made of a metal that is unknown to him. He rattles them, then pulls on them but he is unable to bend them. "Hello?" he calls out.

The door opens and a figure comes in. It is the female from the night before but he can see that she is not human. "Well, hello." She says pleasantly. "Glad to see you're awake." She smiles as she comes over to him. She is tall, lithe bat-looking humanoid female. Her ears are as large as his but pointed and without fur. She has dark brown skin with silver eyes and long, white hair that goes to the middle of her back. When she smiled he could see small pointed teeth.

"Who are you?" he asks.

"My name is Dashal," she replies. "May I inquire your name?"

"I'm Modo. What am I doing here?" He gestured to include the room and cage.

Without answering his question she asked, "What is a Martian mouse doing on Earth?"

"We crash-landed here about a year ago," he answered warily. "We're also here to stop a Plutarkian stink-fish from ripping apart the Earth to ship back to Plutark."

"PlutarkI've heard that name before," she said, then crossed her arms.

"They were the ones who started the war with Mars," a male voice replied. He came in the room and walked over to them. He was a few inches taller than Dashal with short gray hair and a gray goatee on his chin. His eyes were a darker color of silver and they seem to glitter in anticipation. "I am Wolf," he said and bowed to Modo. He grinned and he also had small pointed teeth, the kind to tear apart a victim with small bites. "They had destroyed their own planet's resources and were trying to steal the resources of Mars."

"Ah, that's right," she said, snapping her fingers. "And you say this Limburger is one of them?"

Nodding his head, Modo looked at them in surprise. "How do you know that?"

"As we entered this solar system, we saw the ships on our scanners. Not sure of what was happening we hid in the asteroid field to determine where to go next," Wolf replied. He left to go and check on the machined under the window. It was shaped like a sphere with a large crystal sticking out, pointing at the cage.

"When we saw the devastation," Dashal started, saddened by what she remembered, "We decided to head for Earth. Your kind would have been difficult to subdue because of the paranoia that the Plutarkians had induced."

"What do," Modo started, wanting to know what she meant when the pain in his head flared up. Grimacing, Modo put his hands on either side of his head.

"Here, let me get you something for the pain," she said, then left out the door.

While she was gone, Modo watched Wolf check the machine. Curious as to what it did, because he had never seen anything like it he asked, "What is that?"

Wolf looked at him and replied, "It's a machine that gathers the available light into a bean. It then reflects the beam into the crystal."

"What does the crystal do?"

"It changes the light," Wolf said, unsure how to explain it in plain terms.

"How?"

"You'll be able to find out later," Dashal said as she came back into the room. She was carrying a wood tray with a teapot and three cups on it. "Wolf, would you bring the table in?" He nodded and stopped just outside the door. He came right back in with a small table that had been sitting next to the door. He placed it near the side of the cage where the mattress was. Dashal put the tray down on it and poured tea into the cups. She and Wolf picked up a cup and she said to Modo, "It's all right, this will help with the side effects of the Neurolizer."

He watched them as they sipped their tea. He reached through the bars and took the last cup. He sniffed it cautiously, it smelled minty, but he could not detect anything wrong. He took a small sip, expecting it to be too hot but it was just hot enough to soothe, not burn. Taking a bigger sip he found that it did take the edge off of his headache. "This isn't too bad but I think I still prefer root beer," he said, smiling because the pain was going away. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Dashal said, chuckling deep in her throat. "It was unexpected for you to wake up."

"Why?" Modo asked, curious but strangely not alarmed.

"Most of the humans stay asleep until night. Plus, they usually don't have any side effect when they wake because they've slept through them," she said, her eyes glittering. Modo's eyes became heavy and he had the urge to sit down. "Go ahead and sit Modo." Dashal's voice became softer, echoing in his mind. He looked in confusion as his body slowly sank to the floor, complying with her.

Aware that he should fight her, he asked, "What's happening?" Trying to concentrate he put his hands to both sides of his head. Thinking of what had happened the night before he said, "My bike!" What have you done to her?" Focusing on his bike, he tried to fight the control she was beginning to have over his body.

"ModoModo, look at me," Wolf's voice softly said, also echoing in his mind. He put his hand through the bars, under Modo's chin and slowly lifted his head up.

"NO!" Modo said roughly, but he couldn't stop from looking at Wolf. Their eyes locked and he was unable to pull away. With both of their minds working on his, they were too powerful for him.

"You must rest," Dashal said. "It is time to sleep again."

"Timesleep," Modo mumbled, not fighting them anymore.

"Yes," Wolf said. "Lay down and rest." Modo stretched out on the mattress, closing his eye, took a deep breath and fell asleep with out any further help.

When they were certain that he wouldn't wake up soon, Dashal said, "Whoa that was tough." She began to rub her forehead and scowling. "I'm glad we implanted the suggestion to trust us at first."

"I know, I almost couldn't get a lock on him. It's a good thing the drug started working on his body. Without him getting relaxed I'm not sure if we could have controlled him." Coming over to her he began to rub her head and neck. "I wonder if all of the mice are that strong?"

"Hard to say but I'm glad we came to earth if they are," she said. Relaxing at his touch she said, "I can't wait to get into space again. Gravity gets tiring after this long."

"He will be the last for this planet for a while," he said. "Matrix should have stored enough solar energy to be able to break the gravitational pull of the planet. Then we'll sling-shot around the sun and head for other parts of the galaxy." Matrix was the ship that they had arrived in. They had masked their entry into the Earth's atmosphere when a meteor shower happened. The ship was stored just outside of the city in a warehouse district.

"He should be sated as well," she said, thinking of the main reason they were here. "You know, I just might miss this place." She sighed then smiled at him when he was finished.

"You say that about every place we've been too," he said with a smile.

"I know, but I enjoy watching all of the life forms carry on with day to day business," she said thinking of all of the worlds they've gone to. "I'll go see if Matrix is prepared to leave."

"All right," he said with a nod. "I'll finish up here." She left and he went back to the machine.


It was late evening and Charley was working on a customer's bike to try and keep from worrying too much about Modo. She heard the sound of the mice's bikes approaching and she dropped the tool she was using. Eager to hear any news of Modo, she opened the garage door. Throttle and Vinnie stopped just inside and took their helmets off. "Anything?" she asked, hoping against what she saw on their faces.

Vinnie shook his head and Throttle said, dejected, "Not even a blip form his bike."

"What about the homing beacon that had been placed just for this occasion?" she asked them.

"That's not even working babe," Vinnie said heavily. Sighing he asked, "Is there anything to eat?"

"Yeah sure," she said. "I'll fix something." She turned to go into the kitchen.

"Then we'll get some sleep," Throttle said. He hated to stop looking but they had ridden through all of Chicago with no luck. He and Vinnie climbed off their bikes and followed Charley into the kitchen.

"But" Vinnie started.

"No," Throttle said, tiredly. "If something has happened to his bike, this is the first place he'd come to. We'll stay the night and then go out again in the morning." Throttle yawned and Vinnie did also.

"All right," Vinnie said after he stretched. Unwilling to leave his bro out there, alone, but unable to contradict Throttle he agreed reluctantly.

While they were eating, slowly because they weren't all that hungry from worry, Charley asked, "What was that explosion I heard earlier?"

"Oh, that was Limburger Plaza falling," Throttle said with a smile. "We went there looking for Modo."

"We looked all over," Vinnie said with a small laugh. "For some reason ol' Sourpuss took an exception to this and sent his goons after us. So we had to work them over before restarting the search."

"It was a good diversion," Throttle said, leaning back so that only two legs of his chair were on the floor.

"I'm glad you were able to get something constructive done," she said. "Right now, though, it's time for rest," she said as she saw both of them struggling to stay awake. She stood up and began to put the dishes into the sink.

"Yes ma'am," they both said grinning. They all went into their rooms but none of them slept well.


Abruptly, Modo woke up with a jerk. Opening his eye he saw that he was slung over Wolf's shoulder. His hands were locked together and so were his ankles. He tried to get his tail to unlock the restraints from his hands but there was no keyhole.

Noticing what Modo was trying, Wolf said matter-of-factly, "You won't be able to run. Those restraints aren't' like the ones you're use too. They will only respond to Dashal or me."

"What do you want from me?" Modo asked him as they left the cage.

"You are the last before we leave this planet," Wolf said vaguely. He stopped walking and Modo was lowered down so that he was standing. A piece of flexible metal was swung around his waist and attached to something behind him before he could react.

"And I think you may be the best," Dashal's voice came from behind him. Modo tried to twist his body but could barely move. He managed only to see the two bars attached to the floor and ceiling. They came down at an angle so he thought they crossed behind him where he was attached at the waist.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Fear was creeping into his mind and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

"You'll find out soon enough," Wolf said. He undid the restraints on Modo's hands and he started struggling. Wolf gave a feral smile, catching Modo's hands. Modo used all of his strength to push Wolf away but Wolf slowly moved his hands to the bars above him. Modo had a surprised look on his face when two more manacles attached his arms to the bars. Now he was afraid. No one had ever bested his cybernetic arm. His feet were unlocked then locked against the bottom bars.

Dashal came around the front while Wolf went to the machine behind Modo. "I'm very sorry about this, Modo. You seem to be a good person but it's time to feed."

"The moon has risen," Wolf said behind him. Modo could tell because it was shining through the window. A faint shadow outline of him was on the wall in front of him. Wolf pushed a button and the machine started humming. The lights dimmed as the machine opened and unfolded into what looked like a satellite dish. The sides were shiny, like a mirror, and they reflected the moonlight to the piece sticking out of the middle. The light was reflected again, down through the hole in the middle of the dish onto a mirror. The mirror bent the light into the one end of the crystal. The crystal glowed as it gathered the light. A wide beam of light came from it, almost covering the wall in front of him. An image was forming of Modo on the wall where the shadow was formed. At the brightest of the beam stood an identical Modo in the same position. He looked down and saw the light passing right through him.

"Are we ready?" Dashal asked, her voice sounding hollow.

"Yes," Wolf replied. His voice was also hollow sounding.

"Thank you, Modo," they said in unison.

Modo looked over them when they started speaking. They stood together; Dashal in front, Wolf behind her with his hands on her shoulders. They faced the machine behind him with their eyes closed. They were standing inside the beam of light so he looked to where their shadows should have been. Instead of seeing two shadows he only saw one and it began to move. Quickly looking to them he saw that they were still.

"ShadowFall, it is time," they said in unison.

Modo looked back to the shadow. It had a similar form to them but was larger and wider with claw like hands. Its eyes glowed red as it looked around. "Time?" it said in an odd combination of voices. It saw his mirror image and moved towards it. "Yes," it said hungrily and smiled. Modo saw the large fangs and became very terrified. It reached out a hand and touched the image's chest. Modo gasped in pain at the searing cold that he felt in response on his chest.

"This one is strong," it said pleased. It moved around to the back of the image, trailing his hand from the chest to the back drawing another gasp of pain from Modo.

Modo looked back to Wolf and Dashal and saw they had their heads bent back, eyes closed. They were breathing fast with the prospect of the coming feeding. He cried out in pain as the thing put its hand on the image's head and pushed it to the side. Modo's head moved accordingly. It wrapped its other arm around the image's chest and bit down at the place between the neck and shoulder. Modo screamed in pain and anguish, arching his back. The thing's bite was liquid fire, running through his veins, burning away all conscious thoughts. Blood began to trickle from the wounds ShadowFall was inflicting on the image. From the fire of the bite and the searing cold of the beast itself, Modo felt like he was being torn apart. Unable to concentrate on anything, the pain was so great, he screamed again unaware that his antenna had begun to glow.


Charley was jolted out of a light sleep by shouting coming from the mice's room. Fearing that something was attacking, she pulled out the gun of the drawer in the table next to her bed. She had started keeping one there since one time she was kidnapped by Greasepit. Running into their room she found Throttle and Vinnie struggling against something, in their beds.

"Guys, what's wrong?" she asked. When they didn't answer she came closer. Seeing their antenna glowing, she tried to touch Throttle. He reacted violently by trying to take a swing at her. He missed but she saw they're eyes were closed and that they were still asleep. Sensing that something was majorly wrong she ran downstairs to fill a couple of buckets with water. Coming back into the room she said, "Sorry guys." And threw the water on them. Gasping because the water was cold, they both sat up awake, and their antennas stopped glowing.

"Modo!" they both cried out.

"Guys! What's wrong?" Charley asked them.

"It's Modo, he's dying," Throttle said grimly.

He and Vinnie stood up out of bed and Charley handed them towels. Despite the situation Charley couldn't he but chuckle at them. They both were wearing sleepwear pants that were clinging to them because of the water. Water was dripping off of them and Throttle's hair was plastered to his head. Their fur had developed interesting patterns where the water was still running down.

Blinking water from his eyes Vinnie asked, "Did you have to try and drown us?"

"IT was the only way I could think of after Throttle tried to deck me," she said.

"I did?" Throttle asked with surprise. "I'm very sorry Charley-girl. We must have been locked into Modo's pain pretty deep."

"It's all right," Charley said. "I figured that you probably didn't know what was going on. I'll let you get changed and meet you downstairs." She left the room and headed to hers.

A few minutes later they converged on the bikes. The mice climbed on their bikes and Charley climbed on behind Vinnie. "Don't even tell me is will be too dangerous," she said angrily as they began to protest. "Modo is my friend and you two need a third person along in case something happens." She was glaring at them for taking so long when Modo was dying.

"Yes ma'am," Throttle said.

"No ma'am," Vinnie said.

"Good," she said. "Now, Let's Rock"

"And Ride!" the others finished and they raced out of the garage.



To Be Continued
.