Mad Max: Road to Salvation
Episode 8: Moonshine run
A/N: so far only 6 people have voted in the polls and its a three way split. Or it would be if there weren't 4 extra votes for Raven in the reviews. Sorry to anyone who may have voted for the option I had to remove. The polls have officially closed and its Glynda who takes the win at 8 votes thanks to several fans who PM'd me! Oh and sorry about the whole time thing, that was a mistake on my part.
[Billytheoldman: I'm considering it.]
[Guest 1: That's a possibility it'd be a bit of a culture shock for sure.]
[SilentType 1997: Well that's certainly one way of looking at it, it all boils down to who rocks the vote though. So far Raven's far ahead in the lead.]
[SilentXD7: Maybe he could take cinder since he is a one man army.]
[Guest 2: That's cool, besides it seems like Raven's going to win anyway.]
[Cin: Thank you, and yeah I didn't think about that at first but now its taken care of.]
[Guest 3: well thank you, I wanted be creative.]
[One eye: Well she's in the lead ahead of both Glynda and Winter.]
[Guest 4: Yeah he was, he even said that in the beginning of fury road.]
[Sam Hill: Well now she's in the lead.]
[6 finger: Hmm, I'll think about it.]
[Slim A Lou prime: Thank you very much.]
[Guest 5: got it, that's 6 for Raven.]
[Bill Phil: Right you are.]
Max continued his walk to the bar seeing the things all around him his world once had and more. People not trying to kill each other in the open, businesses selling their wares, restaurants selling food that wasn't made from questionable meat, and new technology being put to good use. He just shook his head, as a former man of the badge he knew it could all disappear without someone to keep it safe. These huntsman and huntresses were supposed to be the ones to keep the order, but here it was clear they didn't. This place was made for the strong, the weak needed a force like himself to stand for them. The guardians this world had picked weren't doing their job well enough. They were only distracting the masses from what couldn't be allowed to be seen. He had once been the MFP's top pursuit man, their best driver and enforcer of the crumbling symbols of law and order.
As a cop, the part of him that had laid dormant since the fall, he felt his sense of duty returning slowly. The law was his purpose until it became replaced by the need to survive. Now he was in a world that had yet to fall, he had friends again, he had a child to protect once more. Max shook those thoughts away, that wasn't him anymore. True he had those things, but that was his past, not the future. He just had to keep moving, he had only one goal, to survive. Max reached the bar and walked inside, what he saw was an even bigger reminder of the past he'd left behind.
Ruffians, drifters, drunks, and simple individuals just trying to survive by finding the answer at the bottom of the bottle. He walked over to the counter and looked the bartender in the eyes. The man behind the counter looked at the SDC bounty poster next to the TV on the wall. He turned his gaze back to Max and went wide eyed. Max lowered his hands to his guns, just in case. The bartender just acknowledged the road warrior's desire for privacy. Max took his hands away from the shotguns and the bartender filled a stein of beer for him. Max licked his chops and grabbed the glass handle. He chugged down that brew like he was saying hello to an old friend. Several other bargoers saw the poster on the wall and recognized who he was. The smaller scrappers knew enough to stay back out of respect and fear. The larger and dumber ones decided to pick the wrong fight with the wrong man.
"Hey! You're the road warrior, why don't you come with us? A lot of lien on your head." The thug leader said as he stood behind Max.
"I just came to drink, step off or get crushed." Max growled.
"Oh, he's got a backbone!" Another thug mocked him.
"I think he needs to be taught a lesson! What do you think boys?!" The thug leader spoke to his fellow dumb thugs.
"Let's get him!" One thug shouted.
"We'll be famous if we catch the man who beat Raven Branwen!" Another one shouted gleefully.
"I want that sweet bounty!" Another thug bellowed.
Max just got up from the bar and slammed his fist into face of the first man, swiftly turning back and smashing in the knee of a man who tried to get behind him. The man screamed in agony, as max lifted him over his head and broke the thug's shoulder by slamming him on the ground. He then kept the streak going by twisting another man's arm and dislocating it in brutal fashion. Two men charged him and he stepped back, using both of his hands he smacked their heads together. The blood was flying everywhere from mouths and noses of the thugs who kept coming at max, all in the hopes of getting that bounty. Max found a broken chair and began using a leg he snapped off as a baton. He showed his skills as a former law enforcer through his use of the baton. He was knocking the wind out of each of his next foolish victims. They still weren't taking the message though as they keep going down one by one and even two by two sometimes.
He didn't stop until he'd knocked down all the so called tough guys in the bar. The other patrons just whooped in praise for the man, as he'd just been crowned king of the ring. He then started tying up the knocked-out men who he'd beaten like drums. The bartender was more than happy to supply the rope for him to restrain the unruly patrons. He then poured another glass for Max, a double this time. Max nodded to him and continued his work tying up the thugs. Some of them came to and tried breaking the rope but it only got tighter as they struggled. Max sat down at the bar and drank his liquor in silence.
He then noticed there was another patron at the counter further down who hadn't moved an inch since the fight started. If he had, it was only to watch the whole thing go down, like a patron at a theater. The man stood up and moved seats, over next to Max. The road warrior just slammed the stein back down, and the bartender just poured him another drink. Max began trying to give all the signals that he wanted to be left alone, as if the fight hadn't been a big enough sign. The drunken patron just turned his head and stared at Max with a drunken smirk on his face.
"Nice to see the guy who beat my sister in action, you really kicked their asses." The unnamed patron said coolly.
"Your sister?" Max raised an eyebrow.
"She had that coming alright I won't deny that." The patron replied.
"Raven." Max said as he turned his head back to his mug of beer.
"That's her name." The talkative patron answered.
"I want to be left alone." Max grumbled.
"What a man can't talk at a bar?" The man kept on talking.
"If you want someone to jaw at, do it to someone else. I'm not in the mood." Max snarled.
"Sheesh pal I'm just trying to make conversation here." The man tried to get Max to chill out.
"I don't want to talk, just drink. Get the message or get lost." Max kept his eyes on his beer stein and drank it down.
"Hey bartender, give us your strongest stuff. Maybe this'll change your tune." The man just kept trying to get through to Max. The bartender reached for the top shelf and the unnamed patron handed him a lien card. He started pouring the drinks but then the patron sitting next to Max signaled for him to leave the whole bottle. The bartender just shrugged, and left it on the counter going back to cleaning the other mugs and dishes. Max saw that his stein had been filled with the tops shelf booze and swiftly downed the rough drink. His fortitude was being tested this hardcore liquor, the man next to him drank straight from the bottle.
"A friend of mine has been wanting to meet you." Qrow said putting his hands behind his head.
"No." Max grunted.
"Not going to take that for an answer pal." The patron stood up from the bar stool.
"I said no, now I'm leaving don't get in my way." Max said as he got up from his bar stool.
"I was hoping we wouldn't have to duke it out but…" The man pulled out his sword.
"This is your one warning, don't push me." Max said as he started to walk away.
"The name 's Qrow by the way." Qrow said with a smirk.
"I don't care." Max said as he got stepping, only to be cut off by the scythe that sprung up from Qrow's sword. The road warrior rolled to the side under the scythe and made a dash for the door. He made it to the street and ran for the alley where Bruz's stash was hidden. Qrow wasn't far behind Max and the two of them were now in a game of cat and mouse as Max dropped trash cans and whatnot to slow down the nimble huntsman who was chasing him. Max saw a ladder to the rooftops and climbed up as fast as his legs would allow. Qrow ran up the wall, grabbed ledge, and somersaulted landing on his feet. Max dashed across the rooftops and jumped over a railing in his way. He then spotted another ladder and slid down to the street again.
-With Bruz-
The young mechanic had woken up and noticed that Max had left. He figured the road warrior would be back pretty soon so he didn't think much of it. That was until he heard a loud bang that could only be associated with one of Max's shotguns. Bruz then started the interceptor, and checked that all the gear and crew wear aboard. Anya and Dinki-di were aboard and fast asleep. Bruz stepped out of the car and opened the doors, he saw Max running for the car and hopped into the passenger seat. Max wasted no time and jumped into the driver's seat with Qrow not far behind. He stomped on the gas pedal and the interceptor roared as they blasted off to the street. Qrow saw the black vehicle starting its escape and ran to try and catch it before it hit the highway. Max drifted around a tight corner and used the nitrous to pass right under Qrow as he tried to land on the car's roof. Qrow instead fell flat on his face as the car took off into the distance. The dusty old Qrow just cursed at the fact that the road warrior was proving to be very elusive for just some guy. He even thought about how he'd tied up the guys in the bar like an experienced cop. Qrow would have to tell Oz what he knew at least since his target had slipped through his fingers.
"Oi boss that was Qrow Branwen!" Bruz shouted to his employer.
"Yeah he told me that himself." Max stoically responded.
"Why the bloody hell was he after your arse? You tick him off or something?" Bruz asked curiously.
"He said someone was looking for me, a friend of his. Any idea who that might be?" Max replied.
"Sorry boss, but I haven't the foggiest idea." Bruz shrugged.
"These attacks are just getting worse, we have to find out who's after me and why. Do you at least know a good place to start looking?" Max asked the hyena faunas.
"I would say I knew a bloke back at Ashford but …" Bruz trailed off.
"Any alternatives?" Max inquired.
"The town of Opal might be a good spot, but its crawling with killers, liars, cheats and thieves a lot worse than Ashford. There's also the damn huntsman academy, shade. I think that's what it's called anyway, never really cared or had a reason to go anywhere near it. I guess the short answer would be that I have a deep distaste for those self-righteous slag heads." Bruz suggested before grumbling about his extreme dislike for huntsman and huntresses.
"Then that's where we're going after we stop at your ship." Max said calmly.
"Not the academy boss!" Bruz gasped in confusion
"No, we'd be walking right into the belly of the beast." Max stated his tactical opinion.
"Oh, thank the sacred crankshaft and Oum almighty, Opal it is." Bruz grinned in relief.
"We'll hit the academy after that if we can't find answers in Opal." Max explained their plan B.
"Have you truly gone mad boss?!" Bruz looked at his boss with confusion.
"We'll only go there if we don't have a choice, you said Qrow is a huntsman so that's where we'll go." Max said stoically once more.
"He works at signal or so I've heard. That's in the next continent over in the kingdom of Vale, that's a long way from here in Vacuo boss." Bruz explained to Max.
"Like it or not, that's what we're going to do, if shade doesn't provide answers either." Max stated flatly.
"We'd stick out like burning roadkill on the asphalt!" Bruz shot back.
"That's our plan, deal with it." Max put his foot down on the matter.
"Yes boss, I get ya." Bruz reluctantly agreed.
"It'll be a few days before we do this though since it's a last resort. So, we'll have time to be ready for the trip in case we have to go." Max told Bruz.
"Right'o then boss, who wants to live forever anyway?" Bruz said with his mood doing a total 180. They drove to Bruz's cargo ship and the desert mechanic activated the gate lift. A massive steel gate lifted up and revealed a large garage area, stocked with all kinds of parts and crates of ammunition. Max turned the car around and parked on the vehicle lift. The crew of the interceptor hopped out and they started exploring the ship, except for Bruz who happened to live there. Anya saw all the assorted boxes and began opening them up with Dinki-di staying close to her.
Max saw a chair overlooking the entire maintenance area and sat down. He then tried to clear his mind to think of how he would go about his newest objective. As max planned Bruz kept an eye on Anya with Dinki-di's help. Max felt a smile coming on when he saw those three. It was almost as if they were his own children taking care of each other, with him keeping an eye on them. The road warrior knew this was more than he could have ever hoped for back in his own world. As he sat there watching the kids just being kids, Raven observed the fortress from a distance. She contemplated what she would do when she confronted him. Deep down she felt something she had only felt once before with Taiyang. But with this man who traveled the road it was far stronger. Was her cold and solitary heart actually warming and perhaps even yearning for this man? She couldn't describe the feeling that she held for him exactly. She had barely any attachment to her own daughter and the girl's father, so why was it different with him? Raven just sat there confused and distraught over it, this bred weakness. She reason that strength was why she abandoned Taiyang and her own daughter. But yet the man she yearned for was far stronger than her even though he had his own child. Then another possibility entered her mind, perhaps attachment does not breed weakness, but is in fact a strength. It seemed ridiculous at first, but the proof just sat there in the fortress before her.
-END CHAPTER-