Chapter 2: The Road to Corinth Part 1

*2 year time skip, present time, somewhere outside Corinth*

Lambda - Age 22

Ziggy - Age 20

Dillon - Age 24?

"So let me get this straight, you fled Corinth after delivering $5 million worth of medical supplies to an orphanage and Fresno Bob wants your head because he thinks you owe him money for all that? And now we're wandering a wasteland waiting to ambush some random, unaware passerby for a ride back?" The now 22-year-old Lambda Yakami asked her companion.

For the two years they'd known each other Lambda and Ziggy treated each other like siblings despite not being related to each other. The ravenette saw Ziggy as a younger but slightly annoying brother since she was an only child. And he saw her in the same light as an older but chill sister.

"Something like it," he replied to her.

"That's like walking into the lion's den while wearing underwear decorated with pork chops, or covering yourself with bloody meat and jumping into a shark tank. I hope we can get back in cause if we get lost, I'm kicking your ass up and down this place. Then I'm gonna strangle you with your own tie and string you up somewhere."

Ziggy flinched at the brash verbal jab, "That's a little harsh don't you think, Lammy? But then again you're always blunt and straightforward to the point."

Lambda let out a grunt as a beam of sunlight hit her square in the eyes. She put on her shades to rectify the problem. "I'm not that harsh, Ziggs I can be nice when I want to just not a lot."

"So you say," he muttered.

Even though he couldn't see her eyes he could feel the cold, piercing glare shot his way from behind the shades. Ziggy put his hands up in defeat as he didn't want to incur The Living Storm's wrath, and instantly regretted what he said. Any future thoughts going through his mind went dead silent. Lambda quietly growled in annoyance and pressed on with the shaggy haired youth following close behind her. Soon, the duo saw a car in the distance and Ziggy got an idea as he picked up an old car muffler.

The ravenette shook her head at what Ziggy was doing, and ran a gloved hand through her hair then sighed. "Are you seriously gonna rob the driver with a rusty old car muffler? You must really be that desperate."

"He or she might have some food or water on him or her and we need it. Well more like I need it since you have your own."

She then walked up and thumped him on the nose with her finger and hissed, "I told you to pack some food and water to go before we left. Now you're suffering because you forgot. May this be a lesson so that way you know better next time."

"I was in a rush okay," Ziggy whined as he rubbed his nose. It wouldn't hurt if a regular person had done it, but Lambda was not normal. Due to having her strength, endurance and speed enhanced, even a light tap could a hurt just a smidge. She slowly but surely shook her head at her brother's foolish mistake.

"Fine let's get this over with," the ravenette huffed and proceeded to walk to where the car was heading with Ziggy on her heels.

The two eventually stopped nearby about less than a quarter of a mile off from where the car would stop and walked up to the driver with his back turned some minutes after he got out. Ziggy, armed with the car muffler put it up to the stranger's back. Lambda stood behind a ways and said nothing as she knew this was not going to end well.

"Hold it right there!" He tried to sound tough. "Eyes front! Hands up. Hands up where I can see them."

The stranger complied as he pulled a sucker from his mouth and dropped it on the dusty ground but still kept his hands in the air.

"Okay," Ziggy grinned. "Okay, now my friend, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I'm gonna count-"

A flat "No" from the older man interrupted him which baffled the younger man.

"Wait. What 'No'? How can you say no? I-I-I haven't told you my demands yet. Now you made me lose my train of thought."

The ravenette inwardly snickered to herself at the scene going on before her but kept a straight face.

"You want to start over?"

"No, no. We'll just-let's just keep going. Uh, I-I mean we need to take your car. Well, let's just say 'borrow'. We uh, need to borrow your car, okay? That sounds better."

The man's ears perked up when Ziggy said we. It made him wonder if there were someone else with him. Sure enough out of the corner of his eye he could see a girl standing not far off from the wannabe robber.

"And those are your demands, huh?" he snorted and chuckled to himself.

Ziggy nodded, "Yeah, yeah. Nonnegotiable."

"Can I say something now?"

"Sure."

"No."

Lambda shook head and barely smirked to herself in amusement. She was finding the younger man's failing attempts hilarious at his expense. There was an awkward silence before Ziggy spoke again.

"Okay...okay that's fine you know. I didn't want to bring this up and I know it's rude, but I'M the one holding the blaster here-plus I'm dangerous and-"

A/N: I'm gonna call Dillon by his name now instead of calling him stranger or the man, etc.

"You're not holding a blaster," Dillon cut him off before he could finish the rest of his sentence.

"I think I am. What else would it be?"

"Feels like a four and a half inch outtake muffler. Kinda like the one you might have pulled off that rig over there."

The Living Storm mentally facepalmed at her idiot companion. He was trying to rob a guy and was about to get himself killed over his own stupidity. She'd have to step in though if the guy tried so much as to grab Ziggy by the neck and put him through the wringer.

'You damn fool,' she inwardly hissed to herself.

"Maybe. I mean...that's an interesting theory but smart guy like me he might disguise his blaster-"

Dillon immediately turned on him and snapped a piece of the muffler off. Ziggy yelped in shock and fell on his butt as he advanced on him. Lambda cautiously narrowed her eyes through the shades at the older man, eyes and tattoos slightly glowing in case she would have to attack.

"Uh okay wait – not the face!"

Dillon paid him no mind anymore as he went through Ziggy's bag. "Any food? Gas or water?"

"Uh no, no I was actually hoping to borrow that from you."

Displeased that he found nothing in it, he threw the bag back at Ziggy, almost knocking him back on his butt. He was about to turn around until he heard Lambda's voice.

"Calm down," she said calmly as she grabbed the younger man by the collar to keep his balance.

He let out another snort then walked over to the ravenette. "So, do you have anything that I need?"

"I may not have gas, but unlike this fool here," she pointed to the youth after releasing him, "I have food and water. If you don't believe me I'll show you."

Lambda slung her bag over her shoulder and pulled out at least four bottles of water, and a few cans of food complete with a can opener as well as a few sandwiches.

"Get what you need," she firmly told him.

Dillon grabbed half of her stash and Ziggy was about to protest until she clamped his mouth shut with her fingers. Lambda watched Dillon carefully like a hawk in case he tried to be slicker than ice and pull one over on her. The ravenette unclamped her fingers from around Ziggy's mouth and watched as Dillon settled with what he got from her, then turned around to leave only for the younger man to stop him in his tracks.

"Whoa – whoa where are you going? You can't leave us out here!" he pleaded.

Dillon stopped and thought for a minute on whether he should leave the duo out here in the wasteland, or let them come with him. Somehow his indecision was enough for the two to catch up on the radio transmission from inside his car.

"Corinth?" Ziggy asked, smiling and turning the grin his direction while The Living Storm slung her bag over her shoulder, "You're looking for Corinth City?"

He assumed that they might have been con artists tossed out here by the mob, but Dillon could feel that they'd play him like a fiddle and use him like a wet, dirty dishrag.

"Am I right?"

The older brunet kept his eyes firmly on the back windshield of the Fury.

"Yeah sure I mean..." the younger brunet reached over for his compass, "The radiation makes the compass go all screwy-"

Dillon glanced in Ziggy and Lambda's direction, he sighed then looked over as he felt unamused at this.

"-messes with the radio frequencies too. Very hard to find your way."

Dillon didn't like that feeling of being manipulated and wanted give him a good punch to the face. But if he did that, the Living Storm would jump on him like a fat frog and pound him into red sauce for beating up Ziggy which was her job.

"Fortunately for you we can take you there."

The ravenette blinked through her shades at him but just slightly shook her head. Luckily for her, no one caught it. Dillon straightened up some then leaned in a bit, somewhat happy to see the 20-year-old was a smidge intimidated. He kept a straight face as the ravenette's watchful, hawk like gaze prevented him from reveling in it too much. It wasn't fear from the boy, but he'd manage with that. Maybe it would keep him quiet. The 24-year-old also wondered how Lambda's shades were so dark that no one could see her eyes, yet they were transparent enough for her to look at her surroundings.

"If you knew where Corinth City was, you'd be there." he said, heading for the driver's side of the car.

"I was – I mean Lambda and I just came from there look. I'm serious – see?" he took out two cards and held them out to him. Dillon took the ID cards that said "Corinth Citizen ID" on them.

Dillon skeptically glanced at Ziggy's name on the card and snorted again, "Ziggy? Your name is Ziggy?" That couldn't be a real name but at least Lambda's was more convincing to say the least.

"Tell me about it," The Living Storm agreed with him.

"Yep," Ziggy smiled, practically beaming as the ravenette rolled her eyes. "That's me."

"So what are you doing out here, Ziggy and Lambda?" Dillon asked, passing them back to the youth. He tried to make it not sound like a bad pick up line or intimidating. "What are two people like you doing out in a place like this?"

"Well..." he said as he edged around the side of the Fury, "That's a long story. I'd be happy to tell you about it on the way..." he said while grinning at him from over the roof of the old car.

Dillon and Lambda both stared at him with an unimpressed, nearly emotionless deadpan expression.

"Or I could just... get in and keep my mouth shut."

"Yeah. The second one." Dillon and Lambda agreed while she let a slight but hardly noticeable smirk cross her face.

"Yeah." Ziggy nodded.

Dillon just hustled himself in the driver's seat of his car and shut the door firmly behind himself, then watched as the younger brunet and his sister figure get in after him.

A/N: Here's chapter 2, I'm sorry if I made Lambda hardly interact with anybody, I was trying to keep her in character as I wrote back in the previous chapter. I wanted to make her somewhat like Raven from Teen Titans but I didn't want her to be exactly like the half demoness in terms of personality, after all Lambda still is kind to an extent. I pretty much tried to pull a Raven and Auron rolled in one lol. If you don't know who Auron is, he's the guy in Final Fantasy X with a red coat, giant sword and chill personality. Apparently the Power Rangers Series don't show the exact ages of the characters, so I try to assume how old they are based on how they look and Wikipedia's busted on that too. For example, Dillon looks about 23-26 years old whereas Ziggy looks around 20-22.