"Ta-daa!" Johan, Lavs, and Mint were standing inside a dimly lit garage as Johan pulled the tarp off of a car-shaped lump, "So what do you think?" She looked oddly smug about this vehicle.
"You got an Atlas MX-5?" Lavs sighed as Mint raised his voice, Johan just smiled, "This- this is an economy car!" he motioned towards the shitbox, "It couldn't have cost more than… three hundred thousand Lien at most! I thought we pooled together at least six hundred?" Mint rubbed the bridge of his nose, "What happened to all the money that we pooled together?"
"Hey! Be grateful that we even have this thing in the first place!" Johan crouched down and caressed the hood of the vehicle, Lavs refused to comment on the situation, while Mint fumed, "The MX-5 is a marvel of engineering! Atlas really outdid themselves with this thing…" Johan chuckled, "Much better than those Mistralian Supras… or Valean Sportback…"
"Why didn't you buy something better like a Mistralian 180SX or a, oh I don't fucking know, an RX-8?!" Mint slapped his forehead, pacing around the garage as he groaned, "Oh my gods… even a Mantlean Focus RS would've been better than this…"
"Fuck Mantle! All they make are hatchbacks and dogshit muscle cars anyways!" Johan cooed as she continued to caress the shitbox, "Not like Atlas… with their wondrous engine designs built to last… suspensions so powerful you can clear Vacuan dunes in a snap… and so much Dustpower that would even make a Mistralian MDM car blush…"
"That might be true for all of Atlas' other cars but not this fucking thing! The MX-5 can barely go uphill for gods' sake!" Mint sat down on the ground next to Lavs, feeling a headache crawling through his brain as he sighed heavily, "So where did all the money go? Or did you really spend all six hundred thousand on a fucking MX-5?"
"Oh no, no, the MX-5 cost me about two hundred eighty thousand," Mint raised an eyebrow, "I spent the rest of the money on upgrades for the MX-5," nevermind, "Gave it a Turbo, a suspension kit, some new tires, a brand new drivetrain too!" so much money… down the drain… "Swapped the engine out for a Mantlean Mustang V8! Listen to this baby purr!" Johan entered the car and began revving the engine, the sound was grating, harsh, with way too much backfire for the MX-5's base exhaust, "Hear that you asshole?! That's the sound of you being wrong about my baby!"
"Why can't you buy like a Mistralian GT-R or a Supra or something?" Mint sighed, nudging Lavs and motioning for her to enter the car; he walked over to the garage door controls and opened the sliding door, "I know the MX-5's lighter but the GT-R has significantly more base Dustpower! And don't even get me started on the Supra!"
"Bah, quit whining you car elitist," Mint winced at the title as he opened the car door and sat down on the passenger seat, Johan got the wheel, and Lavs got the backseat, "Courrier told us we needed a good car for the job so I got it! And if I hear you talk shit about this miracle of technology again I will personally kick you out, am I understood?"
"Fine, whatever."
"Tch, I didn't win six Sunday Cups with this thing only for someone like you to insult it," Mint leaned back on his seat, sighing again as Johan devolved into a car rant about how Mint was 'too focused on supercars and sports cars' and that he 'needed to learn to enjoy the economy cars with high "tuner" potential' or whatever the fuck that means.
This is the problem with Atlas fanboys like Johan! Always so in love with the dogshit family wagons that ferry around children instead of the Mistralian MDM classics made to race in the dark nights of Anima and around high up mountains! They have no love for the thrill! Mint used to participate in these street races with his own MDM car but he lost the vehicle during a race in Vale where a big-ass Atlas Mech fell on it, totalling the thing… and he didn't have any insurance.
He knew Johan before he joined the White Fang; the two hit it off for a while before her true colours came to light… she wasn't a fan of Mistralian cars! What sick fuck didn't like Supras and 350Zs?! They are classics! CLASSICS! Mint challenged her to some races here and there but she always declined, heh, probably because her dogshit Atlas S2000 got spike stripped and impounded after being taken down by the Mantle cops for illegal street racing. Dumbass.
Mint held onto the handlebar of the MX-5 as it speeds down the Vacuan desert, somehow, the upgrades turned this economy shitbox into a functioning rally car, imagine Mint's surprise when it glided across the sand like it was asphalt. Acting Commander Courrier told the three to 'smuggle' some Dust crates back into the city, and by 'smuggle' he meant steal from some unfortunate bandits still camped out in Vacuo. Guess they didn't get the memo about the tribes moving into the main city and was still waiting for an opportunity to strike. The crates were stolen from a previous Atlas convoy that got totalled a while back, the bandits were reportedly using high-performance cars to stop the truck and steal some crates.
"Get ready Greenhorn, this part's important," Johan said to Lavs, she still wouldn't call her by her first name, as she readjusted her rear-view mirror and shifted down a gear, allowing for the car to coast down a hill as they approach the shoddy encampment. Some bandits were loading the crates onto the back of their small trucks as Johan's MX-5 sped towards them at top gear, "Brace!" Johan yelled out before ramming the short truck, t-boning the thing and flipping it over as the Dust crates flew out of its flatbed.
"Now Greenhorn!" Lavs punched through the roof of the MX-5, much to Mint's surprise, "Shocked?" Johan laughed, "I swapped out the hard roof for a convertible," the roof retracted as Lavs poked her head out with a harpoon gun, she aimed at the crate and fired, the harpoon hooking onto the wood as she nodded to Johan, "Now hold on!" the car kept moving forward until the rope tensioned, straightening out as the crate began to be pulled behind them.
The MX-5 then quickly turned around and drove the way, dragging the Dust crate behind them while Lavs hooked the harpoon rope around a hardened steel handlebar, must be another 'upgrade' that Johan bought, Mint peered around the seat, "They're hot on our tail!" he yelled out, unbuckling his seatbelt and crawling to the backseat as Lavs handed him a pistol, Mint inspected the gun, standard-issue Atlas firearm made for soldiers, good enough, "I spot… several SUVs and a couple of small pickup trucks! Probably Valean!" Johan smirked at this.
"That means they're front wheel drive! Aim for the front tires!" Mint nodded and aimed down the sights of the pistol, firing a few pot-shots at the vehicle while they swerved around wildly, some of the bandits poking out the top of the small trucks as they fire back with their rifles.
"Holy shit! I thought Valean cars are supposed to be road-based!"
"Rally tires and suspensions! Those things are notoriously cheap now seeing how Vale blew up!" Johan yelled back, "Just keep shooting! These trucks aren't built for jumps so we'll lose them in the sand dunes!"
Lavs fired another harpoon, this one without the attached rope, at one of the small trucks. Mint watched as the harpoon lodged itself into the tires, causing the rims to spark horrifically before flipping the truck over entirely, crashing down on the roofs of some of the cars behind it as the sand kicked up, "One down! How far away are we from the dunes?!"
"A couple of minutes! Just keep them off our tails!"
Easier said than done as one of the bandits' small trucks pulled up close to the MX-5, "They're gonna try to spin us out!" Mint yelled to Johan as he shot one of the bandits attempting to jump over to their vehicle, causing the unfortunate sap to drop onto the sand below while the cars speed away from him, "Brake! Brake now!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Johan slowed the car down so that it's parallel with the small truck, Mint turned to the truck as a few bandits jumped off the flatbed and into the MX-5's trunk, Lavs pulled a harpoon out of her gun and stabbed one of the bandits with it, they didn't have Aura so they were met with a pretty gruesome death while they plummeted to the sand below. Mint shot one of the bandits a few times, the bandits' Aura flickered as they pulled out a dagger, crawling into the backseat and trying to stab Johan.
Hooking an arm around the bandits' neck, Mint twisted his body and hung the bandit off the side of the MX-5, the bandits' leg bounced off the sand a few times for Mint dropped the poor bastard, causing him to roll all the way back. Johan slammed down on the gas abruptly, Mint turned around to see that another car, an open top SUV, had overtaken Johan's MX-5 and was now gearing up for a brake check.
Johan sped up the car, causing it to bump the SUVs rear bumper, knocking one of the bandits off the vehicle as they bounced off the front of the MX-5 before rolling through the hood and crashing into the windshield, cracking it. The bandit flew by overhead as a couple more tried to jump onto the MX-5, but thanks to the vehicle's slim frame, they didn't have many places to hang onto.
Johan grinned as she swerved the MX-5 to the left, veering the vehicle off to an uphill section as Mint grabbed onto the handlebar and Lavs bracing herself using the backseat, Johan was fine of course, since she had seatbelts on. The MX-5 sped uphill faster than the pickup trucks following it, Johan gritted her teeth as the car jumped over the peak and began to plummet downwards, the tires eventually grabbing onto the sand and speeding downhill instead of free falling. Much to Mint's relief. Mission successful, the crate was secured, and they got out without much damage… except for Mint's ego because Johan just proved that this MX-5 was the right car for the job.
Mint peered behind him while Johan rolled up the convertible roof, the bandit trucks weren't following them anymore so they're home free now. Only problem is finding a route back to Vacuo city without the same bandits noticing them and giving chase again… wait…
"Stop the car! Hold on!" Johan pulled the handbrake at this, turning around to see Mint stepping out of the vehicle. He ran towards the Dust crate and took a good look over it.
"Well? Any damages?" Johan poked her head out of the driver-side window, squinting as the harsh Vacuan sun beat down on them.
"Nope! We're cool! Let's head home and hand this over to Courrier," Mint ran back to the MX-5 and sat down on the passenger seat, sighing as he felt the car's AC blasting on his face.
"Well? How'd you think about the car now?" Johan asked smugly, a smirk on her face as she leaned back on her seat, "Not bad right?"
Mint scoffed, "Sure, whatever." She's right, Atlas cars weren't bad…
…He still hated them though; fuck those things, Mistralian MDMs forever.
Still, that entire chase felt like one of those Valean Action movies! With all the fluff and none of the nuance, Mint liked those movies; they're dumb fun and are a good laugh with friends. Yeah, it was like an action movie… or a shitty chapter in a story made completely for self-indulgence...
The Courier yanked the harpoon out of the Dust crate, "Great job!" he patted the three on their backs, "This'll work well as fuel for the Vertibirds, in the meantime, Johan and Mint, you two go supervise the farms," the two nodded before walking off with each other, the Courier then turned to Lavs, "Lavs, you go help the technicians with the tower."
Lavs gave him a thumbs up before walking off too; the Courier grabbed the crate and carried it to the Vertibird hangar, where a small group of mechanics were fretting over the construction of another one, he dropped the crate down as a mechanic walked over to him, "Hello Courrier, thanks for the Dust," the mechanic smiled before her face twisted into a scowl, she leaned towards the Courier and whispered, "We've got reports of a few bullheads flying into Shade Academy, all of them have Vale markings," the Courier furrowed his brows at this, "What are we gonna do about it? We can't just let them into Vacuo city!"
"Nothing right now," the Courier sighed, "Shade Academy is outside of the Republic's jurisdiction, now, unless one of the students step into the city then there's nothing we can do," the mechanic nodded, "Oh, and if there's any more info about The Crown, contact me ASAP, got it?"
"Sure, good day Courrier," the mechanic waved at him as he left, the Courier mulled over the situation… a few Vale bullheads flying into Shade huh? Must be students from Beacon then, displaced due to the disaster…
The Courier smirked, Eryth and Pyrrha's trying their best to deal with each other again, maybe telling Pyrrha that some possible Beacon students are arriving in Shade Academy would cheer her up a bit… and separate her from Eryth since the amount of aggression rolling off of her is enough to glass sand.
He thought about The Crown on his walk through the busy Vacuan street, with people running around doing farm work and rebuilding destroyed Vacuan homes, he had The Mirage place shut down after he escaped from there after a kidnapping attempt from the Crown… but seeing as how those two escaped, that means that they have another hideout somewhere… and the Courier have suspicions that it's near one of those abandoned CCT relay towers out in the desert. After all, most of the hideouts in the Mojave were hidden in basically the same place. So he has the home field advantage here…
Or whatever strange ball analogy Yes Man was trying to teach him back on the Lucky 38…
I'm a car nerd.
In this story, Atlas is Mazda and Honda. Mistralian is Nissan, Toyota, so basically the average JDM car company that most people think about when you say 'JDM'. Mantlean is Ford. And Valean is Audi and BMW (yes BMW makes pickup trucks, it's the X7).
I consider this to be one of my shittier chapters, this might as well be filler!
I like cars though, really like 'em. They're cool and awesome and I like them.
Anyways, the Republic's basically stealing Dust from Atlas to get fuel for their Vertibirds because having an aircraft be powered by solar power is pretty stupid. So unless the Courier makes a fusion core, they're gonna have to use Dust.
Thanks for reading!