Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3
Episode 5: The Shadow of Vulk PT.2
A/N: Sorry for the month long delay, I hope this chapter makes up for it. I tried super hard to turbo charge this episode as much as I could, I tried to get it perfect.
[Dungeon Wyrm: Thanks! I'll keep trying to do my best with Vulk!]
[Wombag1786: Is it cliche? Bruz will need that luck.]
[Echoclonet: Thanks!]
[Lordofuslessness: In a way I guess. Hope you Indiana Jones your way out of the facility!]
-VALE PARK-
The four teens were going about their business in the park while Krel relaxed under a shady tree nearby. The bear faunus had split from a mission he was on with Slice and stopped in the park to rest, offering to referee any matches the teens would have when he came across the group. Weiss and Titus had been trading verbal jabs at each other during a debate that lasted the better part of an hour. During the course of the long argument, Blake and Sally had respectively decided to entertain themselves until such time as the argument ended. The two faunus girls shared a sigh of annoyance at their teammate's behavior. Sally walked short distance away and began swinging her sword around to practice her form, while Blake regularly switched between reading her favorite book, and watching the shorter girl swing her buster blade/gun.
The Schnee heiress began to try an act of optimism for her next point in the argument. "It will all change when I take over the company. The first place I will start is attending to the mistreatment of some of our "Employees" mainly faunus."
Unmoved by her words, Titus simply gave her a blank stare and delivered his response. "As much as I appreciate your optimism miss Schnee, your plan is ultimately flawed. There are simply too many variables for you to be successful in such an endeavor. Your brother Whitley for example, so long as he is around for your father to control as his snobbish puppet, I guarantee that you will be replaced on a whim. In short, you are doomed to fail." He said stoically.
"Says the member of a family that all but deifies the Kalts. They are not as perfect as you perceive them to be." Weiss called him out on his family's close association with the Kalts.
"Tread very carefully Weiss… it would be in your best interest that you do not mock my side of the family." Titus stood up straight and looked the irritating heiress dead in the eye.
"You aren't part of the family. The Rorschach family are associates to the KALTS, which means there is no relation between us, Titus." Weiss said in a factual tone.
"Your aunt is married to my father's cousin; therefore, we are actually related by marriage." Titus calmly retorted.
"That does not make us related in any way!" Weiss was quick to oppose the statement.
The Rorschach sibling tsked at his opponent in the war of wits. "Deny it all you want, but you know it is the truth. So why bother to deny what is in fact the reality of the situation? As I said before, your personal mission to assume the role as heir to the SDC is doomed to fail, and so is your denial of factual evidence. So I say move on and try another approach to the problem."
"Evidence of a single loose connection, that is it! There may as well be no evidence at all on that flimsy link!" Weiss hissed at Titus. "Besides, who are you to say I am doomed to fail?! If anything I have all the more reason to succeed!"
"If that is what you wish to believe, then it is pointless to argue with you." Titus shook his head.
"Then you admit I am right!" Weiss said smugly.
A snort left the Rorschach boy's mouth as he gave his retort. "I never said that, I simply realized it was pointless to try having you see reason." He crossed his arms and leaned against a lamp post.
"Not to break up your little tea party but, why are we freaking here again brother? I'm so bored!" Sally rudely interrupted the conversation.
"I was promised there would be lunch." Blake said calmly without looking up from the book she was reading.
"We came here to practice a few things, and there will be food when we finish." Titus replied.
Blake briefly looked up from her tome as she stoically turned to the book's next page. "We have been waiting for over 45 minutes while you two were talking, and Sally looks like she's about to go insane from boredom."
"We were supposed to be waiting for Bruz, but that he must still be asleep. I do believe it is appropriate we start must simply without him." Titus nodded in agreement.
Blake closed her book with an audible thump. "Alright then, Sally and I will go first." The cat faunus drew her sword and took up a combat stance. "Loser buys lunch?" She said to her fellow faunus teen.
"Oh, you're on!" Sally replied enthusiastically, pointing Raid Buster directly at Blake. THe bat girl then turned her attention to Krell and whistled loudly. "*FWEEET* Hey mister bear, get over her you lazy bum!"
"Wha, huh? *YAWN* Whatchu kids want?" The large man said groggily as sat upright.
"You offered to referee for us mister Bastion." Blake said calmly.
"Oh right, I did. I'll do it from right here. Got my scroll ready." Krell said lazily as he showed the both of them his handheld.
"This will be fun to watch." Weiss said coolly.
"Perhaps." Titus nodded.
"BEGIN!" Krell shouted from his comfy spot.
Sally was the first to attack, performing a head on charge at her opponent. Blake dodged the surprisingly quick slashes of the huge weapon, throwing out a flurry of counter strikes in response to Sally's heavy swings. "There's a nice shop that has Tuna ramen that I want to try out, and you're going to fund it." Blake smirked as she lassoed Sally's weapon with Gambol Shroud's cable, and the two of became entangled in a tug of war.
"I don't think so! "Sally flexed her toned muscles began pulling harder on the blade. Blake began to get dragged by her heels towards the physically stronger girl that opposed her. The batty girl grinned as she heaved her opponent across the battlefield, feeling cocky at her chances of winning the struggle. As Blake got closer she took on a more focused look and charged towards Sally. Using her momentum as an advantage, the cat faunus leapt skyward and kicked her opponent square in the face.
"Gaaagk!" Sally stumbled backwards in pain, rubbing her face where she'd been struck. "Why you little..!"
"Says the short girl with the big sword." Blake jabbed at the batty brat.
"I am not short! I'm just as tall as your leader!" Sally snapped and stomped her foot in anger.
"Comparing your height to Ruby's is not helping your case!" Weiss chimed in from where she stood.
"Shut it snowflake!" Sally hissed at the ice queen, leaving her annoyed and vulnerable to attacks from Blake, who gladly seized the opportunity. The cat faunus then whipped her with gambol shroud's high tensile cable. "That lunch is mine." She said confidently to her opponent, who seemed as if steam as puffing from her ears.
Sally took the slaps from the sword's cable and was flung into the air by a follow up kick from Blake. Luckily, she managed to make a swift mid-air recovery and landed on her feet with a heavy thud. Her red eyes began to glow a bit as she bared her bat fangs at her fellow faunus. A loud hiss escaped from her lips as Sally grew angrier from Blakes continued campaign of strikes and irritation. She then converted her weapon's handle to trigger mode and quickly loaded the box magazine onto her weapon's machine gun receiver. "Have some lead!" Sally cackled as a barrage of gunfire erupted from Raid Buster's barrel.
Blake gracefully avoided the gunfire with a series of flips and jumps, firing her weapon's pistol attachment while on the move. The cat ran up the side of a tree and flung her sword directly at Sally who barely sidestepped the blade as it whizzed passed her head, causing her to take her eyes off of Blake. Gambol Shroud's blade jabbed into the ground and the cat faunus used it to fling herself down at Sally for a powerful kick. Sally spun round and hit the floor while Blake landed gracefully on her feet.
That move was the last straw for Sally and she stood back up with huff, her eyes were now a somewhat unnerving shade of fiery crimson red. "If you're soooo hungry Blakey, I'll give you taste of my semblance instead." The bat faunus said in a sly tone. She wiped her mouth and sucked in a big breath of air, before giving off an ear-piercing sonic screech. Everyone, including Weiss, Titus, Krel, and other people hanging out in the park covered their ears at the horrible sound.
"GRRRRAAAAGH WHAT the hell is that noise?!" Krel writhed on the ground in agony.
"Aaaaaaaaaaah! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Weiss screeched in horrible pain from the sound that pierced her ears.
Despite the heiress's demands, Sally's loud screech kept on going, shattering glass on the lamp posts and windows on nearby shops. Her powerful wail continued to blast away the grass and rocks directly in front of her until she finally ran out of aura stamina to fuel the destructive wave of sound. With Blake down for the count, Sally wearily panted as she dropped to one knee. "Heh...how's that for your... appetite..." The bat faunus taunted her beaten opponent.
Blake took no notice of the verbal jab since she laid on the ground with swirls in her eyes, along with Weiss, Krel, and Titus.
Titus was the first to come out of his horrible headache from the attack and slowly stood back up. "Perhaps... performing this exercise in the park was not the best idea..." He admitted with a grimace on his face.
"Of course, you twit!" Weiss screeched at her fellow Atlassian.
"What?!" Titus shouted back cluelessly, wiggling one finger in his ear.
"Oi both of ya slagheads knock off the shouting, I'm half deaf now as it is!" Bruz roared at the two of them as he arrived on scene.
Everyone but Blake turned to face him. "WHAT?!" They shouted collectively in reply.
"FOR THE LOVE OF OUM, ALL OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" Bruz roared furiously.
Krel having recovered from his pain induced stupor, swiftly chopped Bruz on the head.
*CHOP*
"We can barely hear you, dumbass." The bear faunus said angrily.
"WHAT THE F-?!" Bruz was about to curse but Krel was quick to chop him again.
*CHOP*
"It was either that or a kick in the ass. Now, we need to focus on what's important." Krel growled at the dingo teen.
"OI UP YOURS!" Bruz seethed with anger for a brief moment but put it aside at the recollection of his objective. He'd curse more at the stupid bear man later.
"What took you so long?" Titus rubbed his head as he approached Bruz.
"I-!" Bruz started to reply but he was suddenly interrupted.
Just at that moment Krell heard a loud bang and rushed towards the boys. "INCOMING!" Krel shouted as he knocked both boys out of the way of an explosion.
*BOOM*
"Oh no, no, no." Bruz said in a horrified mantra as he looked the group of well-armed thugs that surrounded the section of the park.
The craziest looking out of all of them stomped forward, a menacing chuckle echoing from beneath his mask. He was covered from his masked head to his leather boots in a wild mix of blue and pink paint blotches The biggest of all the thugs gripped the shaft of his bladed hammer and pointed it at Bruz. "Well, it's been quite a while…." The bulky teenager said darkly to Bruz.
"Stumpy… is that you? What has Vulk done to ya?" Bruz said in horror.
"Ah so ya do remember me… WELL IT'S STUMP GRINDA NOW!" He shouted menacingly at the group of huntsmen trainees.
"You know him?" Titus asked Bruz as he tried to stand up.
"Oh he knows me, ya little Atlas pissant. Bruz and I used to be friends way back… and now I'm going to finally be the new top dog." Stump Grinda huffed.
"Ya always did have something to prove." Bruz gritted his teeth. "What's Vulk up to?! Why are you here?!" The dingo faunus barked, demanding to get an answer.
"Heh, if you win I'll tell ya. But for old time's sake, here's one thing that's free… we heard ya had a little sister, so the boys decided to pay her a little visit. The boss really wanted to meet her the most." Stump Grinda began to laugh as he responded to Bruz's demand.
-WITH MAX AND GLYNDA-
Max and Glynda rushed back to Glynda's home, finding the house in shambles upon their arrival. The door had apparently been violently busted open by the intruders. Dread slowly crept over them as they cautiously moved about the ruined home, various items and furniture thrown about the rooms or utterly destroyed. Crude graffiti had been scrawled all over the living room walls in a disturbing manner as if it was a sick joke. They could hear a pained groan coming from a nearby room, a familiar voice belonging to it. "Max, Glynda? Help!" Amy weakly called out to the two of them from Anya's new bedroom.
"Amy we got your call! Are you ok?! What happened here?! Where the hell is my little girl?!" Glynda said frantically as she dug Amy out of the twisted scrap and broken wood, seemingly forgetting about her semblance.
"Someone broke in and did things to me... I told Anya and Daniel to hide... I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop them." Amy choked out feebly as Glynda and Max pulled her to her feet. The nurse's body was battered, severely bruised, and she was bleeding from a gash on her forehead.
"You'll be okay, I'll call for an ambulance and-!" Glynda pulled out her scroll but just as she did so, a loud buzzing sound like that of another scroll echoed from an undamaged nightstand where a torn picture of Anya laid flat.
*BUZZ BUZZ*
Max approached the sound of the scroll ringing and picked up the device. He looked at the screen to see the caller marked as unknown. Without any hesitation he answered the call. "Well did I get the right number? This is "Max" right? Or did my boys go through all that effort and pick up some random kids?"
Max's hands visibly trembled in fury at the revelation, but he managed to keep a cool tone to his voice as he spoke on the scroll. "This is your only warning… I may not know who you are and I don't know what you want. But if you're looking for ransom you can tell I don't have money, but what I do have is a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter and her friend go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, and I will not pursue you. But if you don't…, I will look for you, I will find you…. and I will kill you."
"Ah, but you see I know that if I do let her go, your little friends will hound me instead. That's not not something I can have, I promise you though if you do leave me alone long enough, you'll get to see the ankle biters alive again, unharmed and safe, at the conclusion of my business in this town. But If you DO come for them and I invite you to try and see what will happen next... They'll be the main event, AND THERE'LL BE NOTHING LEFT FOR YOU TO SAVE!" The horrible man cackled with nightmarish laughter on the other end of the line.
"Then I will kill you." Max stoically replied, almost unfazed by the kidnapper's words.
"Many have tried, some of my would-be killers were more determined than others. What makes you so special, eh? You're just a beat up cop from nowhere who became a huntsman." The psychopath chuckled.
"I will find you, and you will suffer..." Max replied in cold fury and hung up on the psychopath.
-WITH VULK-
The psychotic slave master chuckled as he closed up his scroll. He leaned back in his seat with one of his top dogs at the wheel while some of his other top dogs sat beside him. They were currently driving down the streets of vale in a truck with a covered bed, the children had been tied-up and stowed inside their mouths gagged with thick rags. "Things might actually be interesting once again..." Vulk chuckled.
"Ya sure, it's wise boss? Shouldn't we follow protocol and start move on?" The man at the wheel replied.
The psychotic slave master waved his hand dismissively. "Not at all, the fights will go as planned and the bets will be made. So on, and so forth as per usual."
"This isn't a normal cop or huntsman we're screwing with. This bloke got to Schnee and beat him to a pulp on the air from what I heard." Another top dog added.
"Which is particularly why we have gone on this little outing. More so that you didn't Kill that woman while we grab his daughter. That Would have been too messy for what we're trying to do." Vulk said in a relaxed and confident tone as he adjusted his filter mask. "So long as the girl is alive and unharmed, he won't be able to do MUCH in the way of risking her safety. He is nothing but talk, and all he will cause is minor damage to our operations and temporary safe houses." Vulk said with a sadistic smile tucked away under his mask, having no idea of the furious foe he had just unleashed.
-END CHAPTER-