Mad Max: Road to Salvation
Episode 10: Raven's folly
A/N: I would like to thank all the fans who have faith in this story. Your support is what helps this along, as long as one person follows or favs this I will do my best not to give up.
[SilentType1997: Thank you for standing by the story, and yeah I noticed that little detail and it's been changed.]
[Guest 1: the rematch has come, but Max has more help this time.]
[Awesomerebel55: thanks and yeah.]
[Mad Max Fan: It is.]
[The wanderer: Yeah and she in fact did not. But we are so far from that so who knows.]
[Batmd: you'll see.]
[Review dude: thank you, and yes well I did my best on the fight, but recent events on my end have made it difficult, so I'm sorry if it falls short.]
[buzzsaw935: Thank you for sticking around, I will do my best.]
[Charles: Nice to know, and I am doing my best.]
Raven had summoned a portal and warped herself to the top of the ship. Qrow saw that and just flipped her the bird from the camp on the ridge. Raven peeked in through one of the open ports in the roof, she saw that apparently everyone had gone to sleep. She found this to be a golden opportunity to retrieve her weapon from Max without him or his companions being able to stop her. She silently made her way below deck into the hold that had been rebuilt into a garage. No one was in sight and raven could her the sounds of snoring coming from down a dimly lit hallway. She proceeded to make her trough the ship to the crew quarters where Max and the children were resting. The snoring appeared to be coming from Bruz's room where he, Anya and even Dinki-di were all resting peacefully.
Seeing that struck something within Raven, a reminder of the life she'd left behind. She shook her head and continued down the corridor, treading carefully as if each step could be her last. She saw a door that had an active light above it not far from the room where the children were sleeping. She figured that was where her rival and her weapon were resting. She slowly turned the hatch, opening the door to reveal Max's acquired weapons laying on the floor next to the bed. The road warrior himself was resting on the bed in a deep yet troubled sleep. Raven snuck over to the weapons stash and found her sword among them. She then had a thought come to her mind, the road warrior was unconscious, and therefore defenseless.
She held her blade in her hands contemplating whether or not to take this chance and eliminate him. She leaned in close, her blade was a mere inch from his throat. She was poised like a hungry black widow ready to consume its prey, yet she could not bring herself to make the slice. She asked herself why within her mind but no answer came. She pulled her sword back and her eyes wandered down Max's well-toned yet heavily scarred torso. Her eyes did not lie, he'd suffered greatly and all of that left him with rippling muscle most men would envy. Raven shook her head and considered the fact that she would only ever have one chance at what she was about to attempt, if what that stranger said was true. She walked over to the steel door, and slowly shut it without making a sound. The view then goes to the outside of the door as thirty minutes pass and muffled female moans can be heard from the other side. When the moaning finally ends its replaced by shallow panting and grunts of pleasure. One last almost loud moan is heard as Raven finishes her business with Max. The scene returns to the inside of the room with raven putting her clothes back on as well as grabbing her sword again. She opened the door and stepped out with an unusual blush and smile on her normally serious face.
She then made her way down the hall back to the exit and just as she came upon the children's room a certain overly protective pooch happened to sniff the air. Dink-di sprang to his canine feet and howled an alarm loud enough to wake the dead. Raven ran for the ship's main door and spotted the door's activation switch over next to the door. Dink-di ran at her with fangs bared, a fully dressed Max and Bruz were right behind him. The three wasteland warriors came at Raven in a three-pronged attack as Dinki-di avoided raven's blade and chomped down hard on her leg. Raven grunted in pain and tried to stab down as the dog jumped back.
Max came at her from the left, with both his guns drawn, firing them at Raven sending her flying into a bulkhead. Bruz discharged his own gun-bow carbine at her using fire dust bolts. The explosion knocked her through the battered steel wall and into a bunch of crates. Raven stumbled to her feet and began to trying to mount a defense. She swung her sword barely missing Bruz's neck in slow motion. The manic mechanic rolled to the side and threw a wing-stick at Raven that she just cut in half effortlessly. Bruz fired his gunbow's fire dust bolts again causing damage to both himself and raven. Bruz just grinned at the pain, he'd suffered far worse during his childhood. Max charged in fired his shotgun knocking raven into the air before slamming his arm down hard on her face sending her back to the floor. Bruz picked her up and threw her into another bulkhead. Dinki-di snapped at her arm and her aura began to crack under the pressure.
The vicious assault from her three opponents was relentless as they kept beating her like there was no tomorrow. Raven dove out of he crowded room and back into the more open garage. She raised her sword as Max slammed his machete against her own blade. Max backed off and slammed her head against his right knee. He then picked her up and continuously rammed her head against the fender of the interceptor. Raven's forehead began to bleed a she tried to elbow max in the gut, only to end up missing and having Max pin her arm behind her back. He flipped her around and started to choke her, he then began punching her in the chest, avoiding her abdominal area. Raven felt her ribs crack like glass under the constant punching, if they were not breaking. Max then tossed her to the ground, and stomped his boot on her spine. He flipped her over and stomped on her chest, cracking her bones and aura even further. Max brought out his shotgun again and Bruz pointed his gunbow at her while Dink-di looked her in the eyes and snarled.
"I warned you, didn't I? I told you what would happen if you followed me. For all the killing you've done, wasting your life trying to justify living by being tougher than everyone else. I never enjoy killing, but you seem to just like all the others I've faced who do. You're just another pathetic nuisance in my way." Max said angrily as he pushed the gun closer to Raven's head with his eyes looking more furious than ever.
"Get your shotgun out of my face." Raven growled face down on steel floor.
"I think we should finish the job boss. Otherwise, this slaghead's gonna keep nipping at our heels." Bruz said zealously.
"Daddy! Don't kill her! She can't hurt us!" Anya defended the downed Raven and hugged Max's leg. Max was stunned by this for a moment, he then refocused on Raven and gritted his teeth. Against his better judgment he was about to do something he had rarely ever done before.
"GRRRRAAAGH!" Max shouted as he pointed both barrels his of classic sawed off in the air and fired. "She just saved your life, I will warn you only once more. That's twice I've held your life in my hands, and twice I've given it back. If I see you again, no one will save you, and I will show no further mercy." Max said in quiet fury as he leaned down to Raven. The bloodbird just kept on struggling to try and free herself from Max's grip. Then A certain dusty old crow made his presence known to Max and his crew. He jumped down from the top deck of the ship and raised his hands.
"Wait I come in peace!" Qrow with his hands up.
"What are you doing here Qrow?" Max turned his attention to Qrow but kept his gun trained on the subdued, yet increasingly hostile Raven.
"I came to talk, just like last time." Qrow said as he slowly walked forward.
"That's close enough, I told you no." Max grunted.
"Just hear me out, my friend wants to make a deal." Qrow offered to Max.
"You have nothing to offer me." Max said as he began to disregard Qrow's presence.
"Yes, I do. You want people to leave you alone, or even better you want a better place to stay? Because you have stepped into one big mess buddy and this will benefit everybody interested including those two kids of yours. Just come with me and we can-" Qrow started to say as Max cut him off.
"How do I even know I can trust you?" Max said with suspicion.
"You just have to have faith." Qrow's demeanor didn't change.
"…I'll consider it. That's the best you'll get, now take your damned sister and leave, before I change my mind." Max growled to him and booted Raven over to her brother. He picked up the sword again and holstered it on his back. This Caused Raven to scowl at Max in anger for once again depriving her of her prized weapon.
"Alright, I see you're a bit sore about her breaking in to your place. I had nothing to do with that just so you know. I guess we'll talk about this in more detail later." Qrow relaxed and scratched the back of his head.
"Leave!" Max shouted as he turned to walk away.
"I'm going, I'm going. If you want to talk more you can find me at Ashford." Qrow said blowing off max's warning and informing him of where they'd meet up later for their discussion.
"I'm not leaving without my weapon, that's twice now!" Raven snarled to her brother.
"Yeah twice he kicked your ass and this time he did it even faster than before! If it wasn't for that little kid over there you wouldn't still be breathing!" Qrow did not want to put up with her shit.
"I had it under control!" Raven kept on pressing the issue.
"I call complete and total bullshit on that, you really are blind sis! The guy had a gun to your head for the second time in a row and you're still alive!" Qrow berated his ignorant/psychotic sister.
"He just proved he's weak by letting me go for the second time!" She shouted at Qrow who was carrying her out of the garage.
"No, he proved he can take you on no matter how many times you keep coming back! so just let it go!" Qrow ordered to Raven.
"I want my sword back, that's it." Raven growled.
"Obviously you won't get it." Qrow stated the seemingly obvious.
"Oi you two slagheads over there!" Bruz shouted to the quarreling siblings.
"What do you want kid?!" Qrow shouted back.
"The boss says for you to take this back! If it were up to me I'd keep it, but then again, it's just a magnet for trouble. Now get off my property slagheads!" Bruz said to the Branwen siblings as he threw the sword at their feet.
"Why didn't your boss want to do this himself, too busy?" Qrow asked sarcastically.
"More like tired of dealing with nosy types, like yourselves." Bruz narrowed his eyes.
"I'm sure my sister appreciates it." Qrow said avoiding his sister's spiteful gaze.
"Whatever, now get lost. Nosy huntsman pukes such as yourself make me want to cough my dinner up. Plus, you're the sister of someone who snuffs out people for no damn reason other than because she can. Count yourselves lucky the boss let you go." Bruz rudely spat at Qrow as the garage door slid shut and the Branwens went their separate ways.
"Oi boss, why you smell like disappointment and anger?" Bruz noted something slightly different about Max. They both had no idea what Raven had done before their battle with her.
"Doesn't matter, make sure the car's ready." Max ignored Bruz's observation and kept on walking back to his room to take inventory of his current weapon's stock to make sure the only thing Raven had taken was her sword.
"Got it boss!" Bruz replied as he got his tools and started hammering out the dents. Anya walked with Dinki-di back to the room. The dog licked her hand affectionately and she smiled. They went back to sleep, with the dog laying on Anya's bed to keep her company. Max had a scowl on his face that Raven had come into the ship and tried to steal from him. He had no idea just how close he'd been to death by her blade a short time ago. The road warrior reached his room and inspected his shotguns for any damage or need of repairs. The guns were fine and so he sharpened his Machete with a whetstone to take his mind off of what was going on. He pondered why Qrow had intervened when he did, they were family from what he said, but obviously not very close. He decided to hear Qrow out once more tomorrow and finish setting the terms for the agreement if there was going to be one at all. But that would be after some other leads had been followed.
-With Qrow-
After Raven had left in a huff with her sword, Qrow flew back to Ashford to sleep at the local inn, get another drink, and make another call, not in that order. The veteran huntsman sat down on at the bar after setting up his sleeping arrangements. He had a stiff drink and went over to the phone, he made sure he was still able to talk without slurring of course.
"Hey Oz, it's Qrow." The drunkard said over the secure line.
"I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon. I suppose there's good news?" Ozpin hazarded a guess.
"I think he might be on board, we just need to work out the rest of the details first. It was nice to see my sister get her ass kicked again." Qrow gave Ozpin the good news.
"Good, at least we're making some headway on this matter. SO where has our new friend been staying?" Ozpin was happy to hear that and asked Qrow about Max's living arrangements.
"Yeah, the guy's hanging around an old beached SDC freighter. He has a nice setup there, the older kid seemed to be the one who got there first from how he said it was his property. So, I'm guessing they met on the road somewhere." Qrow told Ozpin.
"I believe that young man may have a bright future ahead of him here at beacon." Ozpin stated his opinion.
"I wouldn't count on it Oz. Kid seemed to have a real grudge against people in our line of work." Qrow told the wise headmaster of the boy's opinion on huntsman.
"I will be the judge of that Qrow, I believe his view can change if he studies here. In your last report you mentioned a young girl, correct?" Ozpin said calmly and asked Qrow about Max's other child.
"I did Oz, but I don't think she's one, and if she is she probably has yet to find out." Qrow deadpanned.
"Never the less, we must continue as we have." Ozpin continued.
"Yeah Oz, by the way, does the name Griffa mean anything to you?" Qrow asked curiously.
"Perhaps, why?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow.
"He met Raven, and I think he might've known I was watching too." Qrow informed his associate.
"I see…" Ozpin trailed off.
"Who is he?" Qrow asked.
"That can wait for later Qrow." Ozpin said coolly.
"Understood Oz, Qrow out." Qrow said as he ended the call and went to the inn to sleep.
-END CHAPTER-