Mad Max: Road to Salvation
Episode 28: Signs of a storm
A/N: can anyone guess which movie I got the idea for the arm break from? Also this chapter is going to be some necessary filler.
[Gamerman22: well good to know.]
[Ronmr: Thanks.]
[Charles: Thank you very much, and I was actually considering Owyn since it will be a boy.]
[Dungeon wyrm: Thank you my friend and your welcome.]
[Clearwingyuta: Almost there, just a little longer.]
[Review dude: Hopefully this fits the bill. It was difficult to gauge the reaction of some the other soon to be beacon students, so I did what little I could which wasn't much. As for an invite to menagerie, maybe in the future.]
[Firem78910: just lucky this time. Next time though...]
[SilentType1997: That's a really good question man. I know for sure I'm planning to do the spin off in volumes, but this one well, if it gets too long then I'll split it of into volumes.]
-The Xiao-long residence-
"He really did a good job there!" Yang said as she playfully elbowed her sister.
"It's just so funny!" Ruby said with a smile. "But hey Yang."
"What is it Rubes?" Yang asked her cape wearing little sister.
"Uh take a look at his eyes." The second oldest of the Xiao-long siblings pointed at the road warrior's blue eyes as his picture became more defined next to the video playback.
"What about them?" Yang had a puzzled look on her face.
"They looked kind of familiar, don't they? That color, it's a really familiar kind of blue, like really, really familiar." Ruby hammered down the on the blue of the man's eyes.
"Actually, they do, but what's the point here? C'mon sis, tell me what you're getting at for real." Yang replied as she looked at her sincere younger sister.
"Well… it's just that they look just like…" Ruby trailed off as she turned to look at the triplets sitting in their highchairs playing with their food.
"No way, just, just no. Th-that's…" Yang said as she looked back towards the triplets.
"Goo goo gah gah" The triplets babbled playfully with their cute little faces smiling happily.
"But what if he is?" Ruby tilted her curiously at the idea of the very big possibility.
"Then we ask him, and if we don't like the answer, we kick his ass. Besides, that would mean he saw my mom…" Yang said with a slight growl as her eyes started to glow red.
"Yang, what if he doesn't know where she is?" Ruby immediately tried to placate the blonde brawler.
"If he does?" Yang snapped at her sister.
"Then you're right we should at least ask, nicely." Ruby said a brave tone, emphasizing on nicely.
"But what about them huh? He doesn't sound like dad of the year material to me!" Yang retorted with a frown on her face.
"Maybe he doesn't know about them? We have to at least give him the benefit of the doubt on this, right? It doesn't seem like he knows to me." Ruby put her hands up defensively as she tried to calm down her angry older sister. It seemed to work slightly as Yang appeared to calm down for the most part.
"I guess we'll find out then won't we, or at least I will when I go to beacon. I swear if he knew the whole time…" Yang said as her eyes still burned with anger at the thought of what Max may know that she wants to know for herself and may not know one bit at all.
-With Jaune Arc-
The youngest member of the Arc family had jaw dropped at the sight of how hilarious the beatdown of Jacque Schnee seemed to be. He knew the rich jerk deserved that, after all what goes around comes around. He couldn't stop laughing at the girly scream of the rich guy who couldn't take it like a man. But then who was he to laugh? He admitted to himself on more than one occasion that he wasn't exactly a badass, but maybe, just maybe, if his family could get him into beacon, he could learn to be a badass. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard a rough voice agreeing with him on that front.
For whatever reason, the road warrior seemed to inspire a confidence in Jaune that he didn't know he had. Of course, he didn't really know why, but he understood that he just knew. Plus, it was very funny to him seeing the humiliating beatdown for some reason. He had a feeling that he probably wasn't the only one out there laughing. Because somewhere out in the vast world of remnant, a hyper active pancake loving hammer wielder, was loving the funny-bone crunching hilarity while her best friend sighed and shook his head. The young man twitched slightly as his thoughts focused once more on the TV and the message that had been sent by the road warrior. 'Don't mess with Max.'
-Undisclosed Location-
At a secret white fang base, Adam Taurus was seething with rage behind closed doors as he witnessed the road warrior's ascension to the fame of a saint in the eyes of his fellow faunus. He was now off limits to any attack from the white fang, as an act of aggression against the people's champion would cause their followers to turn against the cause. This made the brutal bull faunus want to kill the first person he saw that wasn't Blake or his lieutenant. Most of his current underlings took care to avoid his lethal temper tantrum since they would be chopped to bits on sight. "Grr I want him dead, but now he's untouchable!" Adam ranted as he threw a table at a nearby wall, smashing it into splinters.
"Adam!" One of the grunts shouted at the leader of the white fang cell.
"What?!" Adam roared with blood lust in his eyes.
"It's Khan, she wants to speak with you." The simple faunus said meekly.
"That weakling, another one I can't kill… yet. She doesn't have the stomach to follow through with the true destiny of our kind. That will be over soon enough." Adam then swallowed his pride and buried his rage for now, so that he could play the part of Sienna's reluctant lapdog. The angry bull made his way to the communication's room so he could talk with his leader. He hated the leash she'd placed on him recently, and with his most hated embarrassment now out of his reach, killing khan eventually would have to fill that void.
-meanwhile on menagerie-
Blake Belladonna was torn at the display on her TV, one the one hand the man had threatened to kill her in cold blood if he ever laid eyes on her again, he had just stood up for faunus all over the globe. This one brutal wanderer was now a hero, plain and simple. It just didn't make sense to her how he could be so violent, yet actually achieve a peaceful goal with better results than the white fang could ever hope for. He had done the seemingly impossible, punishing the wealthiest man on remnant in his own home. That was something her brothers and sisters in arms had known would be next to impossible, but now it had been proven, this man could in fact do the near impossible. It just didn't make sense to her, not one bit. She had more than an idea of Adam's 'thoughts' on the matter though. Needless to say, she just couldn't get a solid opinion for herself on the road warrior, other than outright fear for her own life of course. He had made himself very clear when they last met, but perhaps he had changed in that time. She would just have to find out for herself, if he really was a man of his word or not.
-Salem's domain-
"Oh, that is just fucking great! Now this prick is a global hero?!" Felix snapped as he took in the new information.
"All because of your failure Felix, but it was to be expected of you. I had my suspicions on if you would succeed or not." Salem said stoically.
"You set me up to fail?" Felix said in disbelief that only seemed to spawn even more hatred for his employer. This seemed to fill the entirety of his body with a massive amount of rage.
"I sent you to test him, and he met the requirements. If you had actually managed to defeat and capture him, then it would be another obstacle removed the path as well as another useful pawn. But as it stands, he cannot be eliminated for now, as I'm sure you remember the concept of a martyr, and what happens if said martyr/martyrs are still alive, all too well from your last major contract if memory serves." Salem tried to silence to loud mouthed merc.
"Hmph, so what? Him being dead, would mean a much easier time for this little plan of yours. I really want to pay him back for that knife he jabbed into my forearm. I mean, do you know how hard it is to pull that kind of thing out of you? It sure isn't pretty, in fact it's actually extremely fucking painful." Felix said with no amount of his usual sarcasm and malice lost.
"That was before your failure, not now." Salem said calmly before turning to face Felix with a glare that would freeze over hell itself. "Remember your place in this endeavor mercenary, I gave you a new life, and I can take it away just as easily." At that moment, Felix was stuck between rude rebuttal or utter silence, he obviously chose the latter but not without wanting to growl in anger.
"Our employer is correct Felix, you would do well to learn that. Or are you too busy bragging and complaining to do so?" Watts said in a condescending manner the fast-talking mercenary.
"Go eat a dick Watts, I could barely be forced to give half a shit what you think." Felix replied while brandishing one of his favorite throwing knives.
"What did you say to me?!" Watts snapped at his associate's words.
"Eat. A. Dick, ya snobby ass cocksucker." Felix counted the first three words in the sentence on his hand as he spoke. He really hated the man with the mustache, his voice was a bit too much of a reminder of his former partner for whom Felix would enact his revenge when he got the chance, providing Salem held up her end of the bargain.
"You insufferable-!" Watts growled but was cut off by the dark elder goddess.
"Silence." Salem commanded to her feuding subordinates. The two men could only glare at each and think angry thoughts. Tyrian simply stood there with a smug grin on his face at the display of incompetence shown by his associates. Cinder and her cronies were also watching and despite her discomfort at Tyrian's presence she shared the sentiment. "Regardless, it is clear that we must find this road warrior's weakness. We have already established that his death at this point, would only serve to hinder our current efforts, as others would rise up in his name to take vengeance in the pursuit of justice. Since he cannot be removed conventionally, instead he must be broken."
"I remember the prophecy spoken by that mystic from before. I believe when he spoke of a legacy, he was possibly referring to the road warrior's children. It is quite simple, when the children perish, the parent will break. It is human nature; the most obvious weakness is his loved ones. Even the mightiest have fallen into despair when everyone they know and care for the most is dead." Cinder explained her remembrance of the mystic's prophecy, and the opportunities it would present.
"Well then Cinder, do you have any knowledge as to their whereabouts? I am already well aware of his son, the new mistral champion." Salem replied to her fiery and seductive subordinate.
"He also has a daughter, a precious little girl and perhaps several others." Cinder responded curtly.
"Then the answer is obvious. But before you undertake this endeavor, what is the progress on your current search for the fall maiden?" Salem said as she sat down and crossed her legs.
"Unfortunately, Ozpin's pet bird has been successful in finding the girl first. But this is also a boon, knowing Qrow, he'll most likely be on foot to avoid being discovered. If we find him, we find her, and I can take the power for myself." Cinder responded with a sadistic grin of pure malicious intent on her pretty face.
"Excellent, then you know what you must do next." Salem said expectantly.
"Yes, Salem. I will hunt them down with assistance from my associates." Cinder replied calmly as she stood before the dark elder goddess who could erase her very easily should she ever disappoint her.
"Good, do not fail me Cinder, I rarely have use for failures." The dark queen briefly glanced at Felix before turning her gaze back to Cinder. "Am I understood on the matter?" the dark queen said as she stood up and looked cinder in the eyes.
"I understand, failure is not an option." Cinder didn't waiver under the gaze of her dark mistress and turned to walk away into the shadows.
-Back with Max and Winter-
The two of them had spent the night together and it was eventful to say the least. Winter enjoyed Max's company as well as his lesser known gift which happened to be of decent size. As steamy as it was Max knew that despite griffa's prophecy it was for the better that he wore protection. That was something he hadn't done in quite some time, it was very refreshing to actually know the pleasurable company of a female who didn't hide the fact of it being a brief fling. For now, he was still none the wiser about his other three children except for one he would soon share with Glynda.
After their night together, Winter couldn't help but offer Max one last bit of compensation in the form of a ring for him to propose with. Max was grateful for the favor and winter agreed that he owed her one. When it came time to leave atlas Max was more satisfied to be returning to Vale. Despite their obvious distaste for each other, Max and General agreed to a standard of professionalism whenever in each other's presence if it can be helped. Once Max hopped aboard a transit ship from atlas it was a long but welcomed ride back.
He spent that time in silence and contemplated what would happen now. He was not one to enjoy fame, or crave it, but now he was in the spotlight. It was a position that left him feeling vulnerable, now that everyone knew who he was. At least now the white fang couldn't touch him, otherwise they'd create irreparable damage to their cause. He had no doubt he'd receive a hero's welcome home from the population of beacon. But what really mattered to him was that Anya and Bruz safe. A part of him couldn't wait to present the ring to Glynda. It was weighing on his mind though how he'd do it. He'd done so many things, but now he couldn't remember how he'd even proposed to his first wife. The attempt at digging up that memory stung, but thanks to his daughter Anya, he understood it was time to move on. He decided to settle in and sleep as it was going to be a long flight home. He couldn't shake a bad feeling that settled in the back of his mind though, something bad was coming and it wasn't far away.
-END CHAPTER-