Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3
Episode 63: Black Water
A/N: I am so sorry! I can't apologize enough for how long I've taken to put this chapter out. I definitely know it might not be satisfying but I've done my best. Holding onto inspiration for this story is like trying to grab wisps of smoke with my bare hands.
[Guest 1: Yes.]
[Lordofuselessness: He didn't know where vulk was, Oz just lo-jacked Max's wheels because he could use Max as a bloodhound. Enjoy your vacation on Pandora, my friend!]
[Wombag1786: No worries my friend, thank you! Vengeance shall come, but all good things come in time.]
[Guest 2: Here you go, sorry for the wait.]
-ARENA-
Max looked at his hands, more blood on them again. He shook his hands and stood over the corpses of the deceased top dogs, he sighed in recollection of the two minions of Scrotus which they resembled. Even in a new world he could not escape his past, at this rate the memories would never fade. Nevertheless, the road warrior knew he had business with the warlord that had kidnapped his step daughter. He whistled to Mari and the fox faunus hauled herself to her feet, grunting as she did so. She held her left arm tenderly so as not cause herself pain, the bone had been broken by a hit from one of the top dogs during the fighting. A brief search of the bodies of the deceased killers by Max revealed two pieces of broken pipe that dead men had been carrying. Upon closer inspection, the markings and scratches suggested that the pipes had probably been brought along for close quarters bludgeoning but at this point that fact was irrelevant. Max tore off a few pieces of cloth and leather from their clothes and brought the junk to his companion. Bracing herself for the pain, Mari shut her eyes and winced while Max put the rods in place and tied the wrapping around her broken forearm to secure the bone. When that was done, he watched her test out the makeshift splint for a moment and then gestured to the door that had opened on the far side of the arena.
The duo silently proceeded to the rear area of the arena and steeled himself for what was about to come next. A dimly lit corridor stretched on in front of the two heroes, at the far end of it was a set of double doors that was covered with graffiti and dried bloodstains. With a deep breath to steady himself, Max took a step back and kicked the doors in with his good leg. A loud bang came the from the doors when they collided with the concrete walls. The room just so happened to be a garage filled to the brim with cars, parts, weapons and tools, and residing at the furthest end of it was none other than the menace Max had been chasing for the past few days, Morta Vulk. In the office beside the beside the hulking killer was the two children crying out for help.
"SO ya finally made it past my crew…." Vulk said coolly as he watched the two of them approach his makeshift throne.
"I told you I would find you." Max snarled to the beastly warmonger, his fist clenched in restrained rage.
"Aye, that ya did. But now that you're here I suspect you want the two rascals back, well fat chance of that happening. See I was going to give these nippers back to ya, but with how you've been mucking about my business, well I started paying attention to them and oh the secrets these two ankle biters have got… hehehehe." Vulk chuckled at the furious duo that stood before his gaze.
"Release my boy now or-!" Mari tried to talk tough to the brute but she shrugged off as if she was only a simple nuisance to him.
"Or what, ya flea bitten beastie? You're going to hurt me? Am I supposed to be scared because you defeated my boys? HA! All you did was piss me off, and now to pay back the investments you've wasted I'll just have to take these two and put them to use. The little Schnee will fetch a handsome price, for the right buyer and I know someone who's already looking for this little beauty. Of course, I could always keep her for myself…. teach her about that little power she's got." Vulk mused aloud, angering the parents beyond belief, especially Max.
"You're DEAD, D E A D, DEAAAAAD!" Mari cried out in anger at the monstrous wretch.
Vulk couldn't help laughing at her, he'd seen her behavior in others who'd chased him so many time before. "Hehehehehhehe HHAHAHAHAHHA! Spoken like the last pretty little thing that challenged me…. LISTEN UP YOU TWO WRETCHES! ALL THE RICHES OF THESE LANDS ARE MINE! EVERYTHING HERE IS MINE!" Vulk roared at the both of them. He stood up from his throne with a bloodthirsty grin on his face, prepared to slaughter the weaklings in front of him.
Max was burning with rage at the brute of a man that sat upon the makeshift throne. Flashbacks to Scrotus raced through Max's head again as he looked the monster dead in the eyes. Deep within his min Max was suffering greatly, using every ounce of restraint not to rush the giant without some kind of strategy. The brute suddenly turned and reached into the office, what he hauled out of it was none other than Anya.
Utter shock and horror overtook Max's angered expression, his own high-octane blood froze at the sight of what Anya had become. She had been beaten severely by the looks of her various new injuries that covered her tiny body. Multitudes of scars, cuts and burns lined her figure and evidence of mental trauma made itself visible from how the poor girl shivered in Vulk's hand. She twitched slightly, as if to acknowledge that she was still breathing. With what little strength she had, Anya turned her head to Max. Once vibrant hopeful eyes were now almost devoid of any evidence of a young happy soul. A small cough escaped her lips, creating a small trickle of blood that ran down her chin from her mouth.
Vulk took notice of the road warrior's pain and decided to press on that weakness. "Does this make you angry driver? The precious little punk you came for is right here in my hand." He shook the nearly lifeless Anya vigorously.
"Put her down." Max hissed, his saintly patience was close to its breaking point.
The brute simply grinned sheer pleasure at the sight, he could see the anger rising on Max's face and in his body language. "Ah, this Ankle biter put up quite the little tussle when I started having my fun with her! A good little spark is what she had! Ah the hours we spent together, then I learned a little something…. There's power in this little one! And now that she's broken, I think I'll have more entertainment training her to use it for me like the good little mutt she is."
The last bit of resistance with Max faded and what came next was an explosive burst of furious feral rage. Vulk hauled out a rife and fired at Max as the road warrior attempted to close the distance. Luckily enough for Max there was plenty of cover leading up to Vulk's perch that overlooked the garage. Fueled with fiery fury, Max hopped over his cover and swapped to a nearby truck for cover.
Nothing would stop him from reaching and throttling Vulk for everything he'd done, especially for the agony he'd caused Anya. A slab of steel laid on the ground next to his feet, and the road warrior did not hesitate to grab it and grabbed the metal sheet for use as a shield. He made his way out from behind the truck and advanced towards Vulk's position. Mari hopped behind Max for moving cover as the rain of ammunition peppered the piece of metal.
Vulk snorted at their ingenuity and tossed an explosive at them. Max saw the opportunity and slammed the metal slab on top of the bomb. Mari jumped clear but Max simply held on, allowing the explosive force to propel him straight at Vulk. The hulking brute saw the attack coming and delivered a powerful back hand to Max's torso. The road warrior tumbled painfully onto the catwalk and held his chest, the hit probably cracked several of his ribs.
With a feral cry of pain, Max rose to his feet and charged at Vulk, a plan being the last thing on his mind. The road warrior began an onslaught of heavy attacks that smacked Vulk with the impact strength pretty close in power to shotgun blasts. Retribution was the only thing resembling a coherent thought on Max's hatred fueled mind as he pounded away at the psychotic kingpin. But strangely enough Vulk had a twisted smile hidden under his mask, almost as if he enjoying the savage beating of an enraged father.
Panting from the angered father signaled Vulk's moment to attack and he did not waste a second to do so, and smacked Max upside the head with the butt of the rifle in his other hand. Max stumbled backwards from the hit, snorting from heavy fatigue due to his berserker strike combo. Vulk moved in to hit the disoriented warrior and delivered a brutal Kick to Max's torso. Vulk gestured for Max to come at him again, appearing to welcome the attacks from the raging feral man. Max held up his shotgun, the barrels pointed straight at Vulk' head and torso.
In response to Max's threat, the monster of a man held the beaten child out in front of him with an outstretched arm. He dangled the barely alive little girl in front of the road warrior like a gnarled-up toy to be won. Suddenly he tossed the girl directly at Max and stomped towards the brawling lawman in a retaliatory charge. Max chose to save the girl and reached out for rather than defend himself from the incoming hit. He caught Anya in his arms almost at exactly the same time that Vulk rammed head on into him. A loud snap followed the hit, which signaled the destruction of a bone in Max's arm. For Max the pain was nothing when compared to protect the child he held onto for dear life with his good arm.
Max laid flat upon the ground with the child clinging to his torso for safety. Vulk Marched over to them and began to pry the girl from Max's arm with pure enjoyment in his voice as he prodded the road warrior with his maddened howls of laughter. Anya's little fingers clutched her father with every ounce of strength she could muster in her broken little body, but she had no chance against the overwhelming force of the giant. Vulk tore her from her father with little effort after Max's own strength ran out, and kicked the down wanderer a foot or two away.
Max refused to give up after coming this far and hauled himself to his feet with a great amount of effort. He was still fighting at this point through willpower alone and one good arm left to fight back with. Injured or not, Max was determined to rescue the child and then rip the head off of the psychopath that had tortured her. Adrenaline forced Max's heart to pound against his chest in order to fuel Max's next barrage of attacks. Vulk fired a hail of bullets at Max to finally put the old man out of his misery, but two rounds through the shoulder seemed to barely slow Max down. Pain was an afterthought for Max at this point with his will to live and desire to kill completely overriding it for the time being. He launched himself at Vulk and levied a mighty hit to the giant man's head. The strike managed to dislocate Vulk's jaw and forced him to backpedal away from Max.
Vulk growled in rising anger as the relentless warrior continued to hammer away at his body. He tried to strike down the stubborn fighter but was met with even more furious hits as a result. Max slammed a kick into Vulk's side and followed with a left hook to Vulk's face, then he threw an uppercut at Vulk's lower jaw. Several teeth may have been knocked out from the man's mouth if the blood that trickled down Vulk's mask was anything to go by.
Mari wanted to jump in and help Max but for this was his fight alone and he had no aura to speak of if she distracted him. She had been listening to Vulk the whole time though and knew that she could at least save Daniel and get him out harm's way. She began to nimbly ascend to the catwalk, making sure to stay far away from the dueling forces of destruction. Once she reached the upper floor he eyes lit up with relief when she spotted the young boy writhing around on the floor. She scooped up the child began fiddling with the rope that held down his arms. A minute or two passed and more gunfire could be heard a short distance way, most likely from the guns of the two hardened killers.
Mari sweated as she continued working at the knot with her fingers, but it was clear that Vulk had made sure to tie the child very well so as to avoid allowing the boy to escape on his own. The faunus cursed at herself and searched frantically for a tool to cut Daniel free of his binds. Fortune smiled upon Mari when she spotted a jagged piece of steel on a nearby workbench. She picked up the piece of metal and began to hastily cut way the rope that held the boy. Soon enough she'd cut the boy's arms free and then tore through the rope around his legs. A moment later the kid was free from his binds and hugged the foxy faunus tightly. Tears ran down his face as he bawled into her busty bosom and clung to her like his life depended on it.
Just as she was about to speak to him, Max flew through the window of the office and slammed against the wall. Blood dripped down the warrior's face and he appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness from the agony. Labored breaths left the man's mouth as he struggled to stand up and dive back into the fight.
"Max! What the-?!" Mari gasped, startled by the road warrior's horrible wounds and unexpected landing.
"Take the boy and leave, now." Max rasped out as he stood back up to face Vulk again.
"And leave you here to die?!" Mari shouted at her fellow fighter.
Max was not in the mood for sentimentality. "That wasn't a question! GO NOW! IF you want to help, then come back-!" Their argument was interrupted by the sound of an engine cranking to life. Max hobbled over to the window and spotted a garage door opening to the street. Ignoring his injuries for the briefest of moments, Max sprinted out of the office and down the metal staircase to shop floor. An armored assault vehicle in the form of a heavily modified racing truck sped out of the garage just Max closed in to try and grab on. The truck drove out the door just as Max desperately reached for the rear bumper, and the road warrior collapsed on the ground.
-END CHAPTER-