Mad Max: Road to Salvation
Episode 29: Into the warzone
A/N: sorry that this was so rushed, I've been having some difficulties and this kind got knocked back abit. I tried to do my best but time pressure and writers block a real pain.
[EnriksD8: Yeah that's a bunch of kids, it's going to be strange alright, and I'm actually thinking bout changing the girls names.]
[Charles: Thanks for the idea dude, I'm really considering it.]
[Ronmr: Yep he's just your average ordinary everyday superhero, and you are correct. Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Max.]
[Dungeon Wyrm: Yes it did and this is where you see it.]
[Review Dude: Truer words were never said man.]
[Clearwingyuta: He will but not without a trail of misery.]
[Gamerman22: Well...]
[awsomrebel55: There will be hell for her to pay, for she will anger a man who stop at nothing to take vengeance.]
[Guest1: I'll keep that in mind.]
[Guest2: Damn straight!]
-Vale unsettled territory-
The dusty old Qrow had been having a rough time so far searching for Amber Autumn, the latest fall maiden. She'd been very elusive, which the veteran huntsman just had to give her credit for, despite the fact that it ticked him off. he was at least lucky enough to be in the general area of her last reported sighting. This little search of his was about to finally pay off when he discovered her hiding in a cave and using her powers to make a small fire. The girl had been simply sitting there looking as if she were in deep thought about something. That was a look Qrow had seen before on a certain leather clad combat driver. So, after observing her for a little longer, the veteran huntsman decided to cautiously approach the girl so as to avoid giving off the wrong first impression. But as fate would have it, his semblance kicked in and he stepped on a very brittle twig. He froze at the sound and Amber snapped her head to his direction.
"Hey." Qrow said as he stepped into view, that was sadly the best thing he could come up with. Amber narrowed her eyes and dashed out of the cave. Qrow sighed and shook his head as he began the chase through the forest. The two of them were unknowingly being observed by a Grimm that hid in the shadows. One long and convoluted chase later, Qrow had finally managed to corner the fall maiden and he decided to stick with the diplomatic approach. "Okay so I know we got off on the wrong foot but before you try to give me slip again, my name's Qrow. I know you're probably wondering why I just went through all that trouble to chase you down." Qrow said as he put away his weapon and stood a reasonable distance in front of the girl while looking her straight in the eye. The girl nodded but did not lower her flaming fists. "Look, I know this'll be one hell of a stretch but, I'm here to be your guardian angel." Qrow said as he put a hand to the side of his head. Amber gave him a sarcastic look that practically screamed 'seriously?'. The veteran huntsman nodded and crossed his arms, patiently standing and waiting for her to finally realize he was on her side. The Grimm that was watching quickly disappeared into the darkness of the woods to report what it saw.
Amber was not one to be tied down, and neither did she like the idea of being tailed be a man who reeked of whiskey. Other people only slowed her down in her opinion, and she was determined to be left alone. Qrow could see that look in her eyes that she was going to do exactly what he predicted she would. But then he decided to just take a break and sit down on a nearby log, taking a swig from his favorite flask. "I get it you're the loner type, heh I know a guy who used to have that same mindset. Of course, his are probably for entirely different reasons from whatever's going in that head of yours. I don't think he'd mind if I shared a little story with ya. At least give me that much, one measly minute to talk like two normal people, and it'd be nice if you could toss up another little fire. Can you do that?"
Despite his attitude, Amber decided to answer his question since he'd gone to this much trouble. "Can I, yes. Will I…"
"She finally speaks, praise oum almighty!" Qrow cut her off rudely with an outburst of surprise while he was slightly buzzed.
"Don't push your luck or I'm gone. You get that?" Amber said with anger in her voice.
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say kid." Qrow brushed her off and returned to his drinking. The two of them sat together one opposite sides of a small campfire. Qrow began to tell Amber the bare minimum of his exciting tale about man named Max. Amber was still enthralled though, despite Qrow's efforts to avoid revealing too much. If he did, he would be betraying Max's trust, and he at least considered the man a friend, if a bit grouchy. Amber hadn't really heard much since she was constantly on the move across the countryside, but this was news to her. It was hard to believe what could to one good yet extremely unfortunate man. The things he could do sounded like the man was a nearly unstoppable killing machine. She wasn't wrong on that account, and Qrow could tell that from her subtle reactions as he spoke.
-2 days later-Vale wilderness-
After finally convincing amber of his true nature Qrow still hard a hard time staying close since she'd constantly try to lose him in the woods. It didn't make sense to him why she was constantly trying to lose him even though he thought he'd made progress these last few days. All that mattered though was that he had found her and it was time to get her to the safety of the nearest settlement so he could report in. He'd be a lot happier if she would just quit being a pain in his ass by constantly trying to run. The old bird knew that was the quickest way for something bad to happen since if he'd found her, it was obvious that Salem's goons were not far behind. That was all the more reason for him to get her in line and out of the woods so that he could go looking for the rest of the maidens. But as luck would have it, high above him on a cliff was a very eager Cinder and her cronies Emerald and Mercury. The three of them had also been sent with a small army of Grimm to accomplish their sinister goal. Cinder smiled one of her most sinister grins yet under her black mask. The three of them had made sure to disguise themselves in black suits and gear so as to avoid being identified later by the more than capable huntsman. Cinder turned to face the Grimm and pointed her finger at the two people below. The small snarling legion of dark beasts sounded their respective calls for blood as they flooded the area, the battle had begun.
Qrow and Amber began using their abilities to combat the horde of Grim that had seemingly come from nowhere. The veteran huntsman knew all too well why they were here as it was only a matter of time. He had hoped there would have been a little more but it was plain to see that time had abandoned him. But there was still one thing he kept in case of emergency, he knew it was a good idea to keep one little thing just for this. Once he'd finally gotten some breathing room, Qrow pulled out a little device that looked a flash bang with a little red button on top. He pressed the red button and hoped for the best as it started blinking rapidly. Qrow shoved it back into his pocket and gritted his teeth as he resumed fighting the beasts. Amber was doing her best to avoid being killed by the seemingly endless horde of Grimm. Cinder and her two goons simply sat back and watched the show as the two fighters tired themselves out, unaware of Qrow's little distress call. The little transponder in Qrow's pocket worked its magic and sent out a powerful SOS signal that reached the nearest CCT link. From there, the signal raced along the lane of digital information, and into the terminal of professor Ozpin. The message had been received and the wise headmaster knew exactly who to send as the tip of the spear for this emergency.
-Beacon-Max's racing garage-
Max had finally granted doctor Gray her chance to examine the vehicle today, after all this time since even though she had been super eager she hadn't gotten around to it until now. She was right in the middle of cataloging the various systems within the magnificent engine that is the heart and soul of the interceptor. Max was keeping a close eye on the doctor, in the event he should need to curb her enthusiasm. The entire science staff of beacon was assisting the doctor with various measurements and other parts of the scientific method. This car's propulsion method of using a clear and very volatile substance for fuel was obvious to the scientists who took a small amount out of the tank. They found trace amounts of fire dust that had been mixed in sometime ago and separated the two substances. In their discoveries they learned the fuel could be far more potent when combined with dust. But before their observations could continue, the alarm sounded and Ozpin sent a message through to Max. The road warrior heard his orders and grabbed a picture of Anya on his way out. He still had yet to present the ring to Glynda but she had made it clear how she felt when he came home. Needless to say, Max was still waiting for the perfect moment to do it. He shooed away the eggheads and fired up the engine. The interceptor roared to life as it's driver put it in gear and stomped down on the gas pedal. He even hit the nitrous for good measure as he blasted out through the open garage door and onto the street, the cavalry was now on its way.
Max made good time on his trip into the forest as he made every effort possible to rescue Qrow and the package. He knew all too well what he was going to be facing, impossible odds, very high chance of death (for someone other than himself), just another day in the life of Max. The road warrior raced down a dirt trail into the deeper parts of Grimm infested territory with a look of determination on his face. He needed some revenge against whoever had sent the assassin after him, and this was a good start. Max's vehicle seemed to agree as it roared with pride while the pedal was pressed to the floor. In his haste though, he had forgotten to bring more reinforcements. But he supposed that Ozpin was going send someone after him since he was probably going to be the first of many.
-Back with Qrow-
The veteran huntsman was starting to finally get tired out from the fighting since the Grimm just kept coming one beast after another. It was like for every one he killed two more would take their place. It made him annoyed to say the least as he grunted in determination to hold out until reinforcements arrived. Meanwhile, Cinder was sitting high above taking her focus off of the bird and putting it on her true target, the fall maiden. She watched with interest as the girl she was going to kill continued to hold back the tide of bloodthirsty monsters. She supposed it was time to get on with it since she only needed to kill the fall maiden and be the last person she saw before dying. That was all it would take, an arrow through the heart and that would be it, the Grimm were playing their part just fine by separating the fighters. So, without further delay, she and her companions descended quietly into the battlefield.
The chaos of combat provided the perfect cover for them to sneak up behind the girl and close in for the kill. Once they were out of sight of Qrow, the Grimm started getting more ferocious in their attacks and knocked down Amber. Two beowolves bit down on her arms, she screamed in agony and pain. Cinder walked over to the girl with a confident sway in her step as she approached. The fiery temptress smiled deviously as she kneeled down to gloat. She could see the anger in Amber's eyes as tears of pain rolled down her cheeks. Cinder briefly thought about how she should finish this and a sadistic thought came to mind that she found to be delicious. In a flash, Cinder's had turned jet black and she stabbed it into Amber's chest with the girl screaming in agony as her very soul was being drained out of her body and into her attacker. Cinder could feel the power, every single once of it was intoxicating beyond her wildest ideas forged within the black pit of her demented imagination. As she did so, Amber's world grew darker, little by little she felt a growing sense of cold as her soul was sucked away. As Cinder continued her work, a loud droning sound began to echo in the distance.
The loud sound made her feel uneasy, but that was strange to her. Nothing had ever made her feel fear except for Salem. If anything, she was the one to be feared in her mind. The sound grew louder almost as if it were getting closer with each passing moment. Mercury and Emerald took up defensive stances as the approaching cause of sound revealed itself by charging at them at highway speed. The two minions of Cinder dodged to the side as a large black blur swerved and left a cloud dust in its wake to reveal the shape of a car. This wasn't just any old car though; this car was the symbol of the one man whom they had not expected to see for quite some time to come. The driver side door opened and what came out was the road warrior himself. He ran at the trio at top speed, drew his shotguns firing both guns at them. This extreme concussive force of the blasts knocked Cinder away from her demented joy and onto the ground in a daze. She then recovered and snapped her to max, burning with anger at the interruption. "Mercury, Emerald, kill him." Cinder ordered to her subordinates and the two briefly hesitated before running at head on at Max.
The road warrior read their telegraphed movements as he dodged their strikes one after the other. Mercury attacked with a barrage of kicks only for max to grab one and counter. He slammed the kickboxer onto the ground and was about to beat the living tar out of the agile kicker. But at that moment, Emerald recovered thinking quickly she fired her pistols at Max. The road warrior leapt away and retaliated with a barrage form his assault rifle. The man emptied the magazine as Emerald barely dodged his rapid automatic fire. She was trying to cast her illusions, but for some reason Max's aim continued to stay true. She was lucky when Mercury came to her rescue and ran at Max again trying to catch him off guard. The veteran cop dodged Mercury's kick and kneed him square in the nuts. The kickboxing evildoer froze in pain as he fell to the floor cradling his two best friends. Max had made it quite clear that he meant business and for the first time Cinder felt an unexplained twinge of fear as she looked at Max's eyes.
-END CHAPTER-