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Just Another Day at the Office

JS Hitmen Trucking Inc -CI- Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 3,238 Joined: Jan 9, 2010 The small block V-8 engine hummed contentedly, a deep growl of power emanating from under the hood of the Phoenix. The sound was free to the open air through short side pipes just under the driver and passengers doors, a small trace of smoke trailing out from the well used engine. Every once in a while the vehicle gave off a more throaty roar as the four barrel carburetor opened up as the driver increased the throttle. Through turns and approaching hills, the powerful engine kept the car clipping along at a brisk pace, never at a loss for power. Road came and went, turns and twists navigated with ease, the oversized tires and well tuned suspension handling the rough road with aplomb. Teh blasted landscape slipped by in mind numbing sameness. Those same roads were getting worse year by year. Some of the more travelled paths near the small pockets of civilization were kept in minimal states of repair, but far into the wastes the old highways were often dirt tracks, or just simply barren sand dunes. Roads often disappeared, so did vehicles and people, those who were not wary, or lucky, or some of both. The wastes seemed to go on forever, hazy heat waves rising from the sands and dust to play tricks on the minds eye. There were more dangerous things in the wastes than heat and getting lost. Creatures for one. Large mutated insects and animals prowled, more every year, and bigger. Ominously, even they were not the most dangerous predators out here. Men prowled the waste land too, reavers, scavengers, murderers, slavers, and all other manner of humanities worst could be found in the dead lands. Or more correctly, they could find you, if you are not careful, not wary... Not alert. Ivory was very careful, always wary, and hyper alert, it was his job. He was named Ivory Sword by his foster parents for reasons only they knew, for he certainly did not. He was a scout in the employ of Hitmen Trucking Inc, an altogether acceptable outfit as far as Ivory was concerned. In fact, it was the only outfit he had stayed with for more than a month. It had been a little over three since he had been hired, perhaps the best months of his life. He was an introverted sort, and not given to making friends, but he had made several in the Hitmen, or "The Family" as they called themselves. Ivory scanned the road ahead, and to either side, taking note of a small track that meandered from the hills to the left toward the main road. This stretch was still in decent shape, no major washouts or damage other than the wear of the wind. They were making good time. He reached up and pulled down the periscope, swung it backwards and scanned behind them. Satisfied he pushed it back up so it was stowed and turned in his seat, looking backwards as best he could through the slats in the armor and then sticking his head out of the side window, the armor plate being slid open so he could do his job. The periscope was clever, and excellent when under fire, but it was always best to put your own eyes on the matter. Periscopes were like looking through a straw sometimes, you might miss something on the periphery. Having the side window armor down was a small risk, but that was made up for by visibility. If there was a sniper good enough to hit him through the window moving at fifty miles per hour, then it was just his time to go. His scan had taken all of about ten seconds. As soon as he was done, his driver, and constant source of chattering inanity started up once again. "So, Is, we all good dude? You need me to do that thang I do, you know, drive the #### out of this tired old Phoenix"? To add emphasis, Ivory's driver pushed the pedal to the floor, still looking at Ivory, and not the road, he turned the wheel and started a power slide into a long sweeping right turn. Opening the secondary's the little V-8 poured power into the drive train, converting the torque to power the wheels, Ivory could feel the acceleration. Knox Thurston, the mechanic back in Somerset, certainly knew his engines, this one was tuned perfectly. Ivory could hear the sucking sound as more air was gobbled by the big four barrel. As impressive as all that was, he would rather that his driver look at the road. The fool was still looking at him and grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He cursed yet again for his bad luck in being paired with Joe Fuentes. Nicknamed "Grinnin" by the gang, the annoying fool never shut up, and he never stopped grinning about gods knew what. Ivory was beginning to hate the sound of the man's voice, and they had only been travelling together for a week. His old driver had quit a week ago today, she had just up and walked into Zito's office and told him she could not do it any more. Nerves he supposed, it eventually got to you out here on the road, running unarmed couriers back and forth. Ivory had been shot up a few times, never anything too serious, but that was no consolation when you were in the thick of it. The next time he might not be so lucky. In any event, his old driver had walked, and in the shuffle, he had the misfortune of drawing Grinnin as his new driver. It was going to be a long, long trip. Ivory ignored the young man as best as possible, although the ridiculous tie-dye t-shirt and giant white sun glasses made it hard. Not to mention the leather pants, purple of all things, and the piace de resistance, a scraggly little goatee. Still looking at Grinnin, Ivory pointed forward to the road. "How bout you just drive and shut up, and watch where you are going, there's a rather large pot hole coming up". Grinnin just grinned, even more if that were possible and made a dismissive sound. As he looked forward he gasped, and cranked hard over on the wheel. Ivory was already braced against the roll cage as the Phoenix immediately responded to the not too subtle control input. Wheels screeched on the old black top, squealing, and being damaged no doubt, as the Phoenix cut hard left, and then back to the right missing a huge pot hole, maybe a crater actually, and beginning to fishtail on the edge of the road. Grinnin had indeed shut up, and was intent on the road. Ivory felt the power as the young man applied the throttle to pull, or more correctly push, out of the slide, gravel and rocks flying off the side of the road, spit out from under the large tires. A huge dust could kicked up as they got off the main road and bounced a bit through the shoulder. Ivory hoped there was not too much debris, something that could flatten a tire would be most unwelcome. As the Phoenix got the rear tires on the black top, they suddenly gripped and the vehicle straightened, almost violently. Grinnin gave off a loud whoop, and after a few minor adjustments he let off the gas and resumed driving in the middle of the road, vice off the edge. There was a moment of tense silence. Ivory wondered how many pirates could see the dust cloud they had just created. "That was totally uncool Is" the young man said, concentrating on the road studiously now. "But damn it was sure fun as hell. Whoo Whee, man alive, you see that damn pot hole? Say, how did you know that was there"? It was his job to know, he was a scout in the employ of a gang that plied the dangerous trade routes between the nascent centers of civilization. He knew as much about this road as he could, he remembered, he watched, and he catalogued. It was how to stay alive out here. Well, that and either be very fast, or carry a lot of fire power. Actually, it was best to have as much of all of that as possible. He glanced at the annoying youngster. "Because it is my job master Grinnin, if I do not know these things, then people like you end up hanging from a tree with your skin peeled off for a mutant hat". He made a motion as if to put on a hat for emphasis. The foolish driver just grinned larger. "Damn dude, you're a sicko ya know that? That's a doggone nasty visual, ya know"? Ivory did know. That was how he last saw his natural parents before the neighbors found him. Four years old, they found him sitting underneath a tree somewhere in the Northern Farmlands. A tree with his murdered parents hanging in it. They had raised him as their own, and were loving parents, he had brothers and sisters amongst their real children. But he was always the outsider. They thought he did not remember. But he did, he told no one, but he remembered. And so he wandered as soon as he was fifteen, walked off the farm. Started to learn the area, the roads, the peoples, the reavers, the water sources, everything. He walked to Somerset, and started his career on the road between there and Elmsfield. He searched and looked for everything and anything that would help him find those responsible. And one day he would, provided idiots like Grinnin didn't get him dead first. On that day, revenge would be exacted for two parents who died trying to protect a young boy. Ivory noticed he had a death grip still on one of the various handles attached to the roll cage and had retreated into one of his dark reveries. He physically shook it off, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "You alright there man? Geez dude, you were staring at the dash with the thousand yard stare ya know? Thought laser beams were going to come out yer eyeballs man". Grinnin was still smiling... The fool. "Yes, I'm fine, just thinking about something I have to take care of". Grinnin shugged, "Ok dude, no prob man. Say, you wanna get loaded out of our skulls when we get to Badlands? I hear the Grainne has some great stuff under the counter if ya know what I mean, Thebian #### dude. Boo-ya! You look like you could use it dude". Ivory knew being called dude for the next 4 hours was going to get real old. But he had a job to do, and he realized he had not in fact been doing that job for the last few minutes. He mentally cursed himself for letting the annoying young driver throw him off his game, and got back to his job..... looking, and watching. Unfortunately for both of them, the damage was already done. Starting his scan forward he noticed a glint from up ahead on the road, and then the small dust cloud. there was a vehicle on the road ahead. Not unusual, and it was good to see him first, but training and instinct took over as Ivory scanned a full circle around the car. As soon as he looked left, he saw a second plume coming their way from a small dirt track. It was a side road he usually watched very carefully but the distraction of Grinnin's inane blathering had broken his concentration. His heart raced, this was not good and the not goodness was only heightened when he looked behind. Four cars were not more than 120 meters directly to the rear. How they had got that close he had no idea, there must have been a new hide spot he had missed or not heard about. There they were, along with several slavers hanging out the window hooting and hollering and brandishing rifles, and at least one machete. Grinnin was still carrying on with his, 'dude this,' and 'dude that' when he pointed ahead and said, "Is that a car coming our way"? Ivory did not immediately answer, he was finishing the survey, and had realized early on it was not good to give panicked reports to young drivers before he had formulated a plan. This stretch of road was problematic for escape. It was wide open currently but there were hills to the left and a ninety degree turn coming up soon, which would put a sheer drop off on their right and those same hills to their left, having gone around the end of them. The vehicle on the left stopped them from going that way. To the right he knew there were some ruins, but that was always a last ditch effort. It was best to out accelerate them and stay on the roads. Going off road was like a box of chocolates, ya never knew what you were going to get. Problem was, the vehicle ahead was in the way. Ivory knew there was nothing for it but to punch it and try to get by the car ahead of them. Not exactly his preferred method, he'd rather avoid them entirely, obviously he had already blown that, in a big way. Fortunately, he had a trump card. He quickly reached down and unlatched his seat, spinning it 180 while lifting his feet over the center console he was now looking and facing backward. Knox Thurston had built the ingenious device and it allowed a rear firing weapon to be more easily aimed. While doing that he told Grinning to shut up and punch it. "Lets go, we have four behind us 120 meters and closing, there's one left 180 meters, no factor for the moment, and one ahead". He didn't mention the obvious, that the front one was very much a factor. For a wonder, the youngster did what he was told and the trusty Phoenix gave a throaty roar as he pushed the accelerator to the floor. Meanwhile Ivory unlashed the only "weapon" the Phoenix had, an clever device that lobbed sticky "paint". Well, it was not exactly paint, you certainly would not want your walls coated with the stuff, yet it was an effective deterrent to pursuit. It stuck to everything, weapons, windshields, faces, in lungs if you were unlucky, or unwise enough to ingest it, you name it, what it stuck to got messy. Not usually needed, it was nice to have in the vehicle. The stuff was just the thing to deter those who got too close. This time, it appeared they were going to get very much too close. Ivory flipped the armor slat up, just enough to see the four behind them. He knew the one to the front was about 200 meters, and closing fast. The combined speeds ate the 200 meters up at an alarming pace. As he took a bead on the lead pursuer to the rear he gave Grinnin the plan. "Stay on the road, watch the guy to the left, lean away from him as best you can, try to stay outside of 100 meters. And for gods sake, DO NOT let that guy in front ram us". Ramming was not a usual tactic, but it happened often enough by accident, and occasionally you found a suicidal fool who just wanted to end it, and you. Not to mention the head on passes were the worst, just one mistake, in either car, or the afore mentioned suicidal reaver and you had a nice little mess on the road. There were even some cars set up to ram. This one did not seem to be set that way, none of the tell tale spikes or pointed/reinforced front end. In any event, getting slowed or stopped right now was not in the best interests of living to see another sunrise Ivory pulled the lever on the little paint mortar, a loud phoomp advertising that the paint blob was on the way, a small amount of the muck sprayed out of the tube as the round searched out its target. The weapon was messy and some of the paint always got all over the back of the car as a fine mist of the stuff splattered with each shot. He watched the shot, trying to determine if he needed to adjust fire, predicting the ballistics. The shot was dead on, or as dead on as required, it hit the ground right in front of the Sunrise that was in the lead. It looked like one of the rocket cars that the pirates loved so much. Two racks fixed on each fender. The paint blob exploded in a mist of goop, instantly the enemy rocket car was covered in the stuff. Ivory nodded to himself. Grinnin whooped in glee. Ivory knew right away the young fool had taken his eyes off the road to watch the events behind him. He growled at his driver to pay attention to the car in front of them. The immediate adjustment he felt as the moron looked forward told him all he needed to know. The lateral G-force indicated Grinnin had yanked the wheel hard right. Ivory's mental clock figured the enemy in front was about 80 meters now. Confirmation came as the sound of bullets tearing into the front armor hammered through the ####pit. Loud thumps and knocks for all the world sounding like some very insistent, and fast, person with a large hammer was trying to get in the car. The racket was not the quick staccato of a Gatling Gun, nor the heavy thump-thump of a fifty caliber heavy weapon. He guessed it was likely a thirty cal, a serviceable enough weapon and very reliable. One more shot from the paint gun and the rocket car behind him was already slowing, attempting to avoid more of the goop. Ivory stole a glance to the side, the enemies in the rear at least temporarily out of range but still coming hard. He had hoped the car in front had been passed but the continuing shudder from its shots belied that. It was then he noticed the enemy driver was quite good, he was in a power slide, the nose of his car still pointing at Ivory's and the twin machine guns spitting fire and lead right into the side of the Phoenix. He cursed the man for his excellent skills while at the same time trying to will the persistent vehicle to fall off to a lag position and allow them to clear the enemy line of fire. The Phoenix shuddered away from the impact. Rubber squealed as it skidded across the road sideways. After what seemed like an eternity, and must have been 2-3 seconds at most, the enemy car finally fell off as the driver straightened the wheel so he could gather speed for the chase. Grinnin kept the pedal mashed to the floor, the Phoenix accelerating down the road. Both men felt a surge of hope, and shared a silent prayer thanking God that the engine sounded whole and hale. Luckily this portion of the road was in relatively good shape and they could maintain a decent speed. Ivory watched the enemy quickly fading back, the V8s guttural roar a soothing sound helping to calm his racing pulse. None of the pirates seemed to have anything powerful enough under the hood to catch them and they rapidly pulled away to safety. It seemed they would live another day in the wastes. Perhaps he would partake of some of the Thebian treats when he got to Badlands after all. ============ Edited by JD to make it more readable..... Nothing was omitted.. I just added some sentence breaks and some grammar fixes. VERY well written story Bud! ......................... vet wv pvp5 pvp3 pvp4 Posted Aug 5, 2011, 10:10 pm Last edited Aug 6, 2011, 2:18 am by *JD_Basher*

Stingray191 Bladerunners Darkwind Guru Deathrace Mafia Faction Group: Members Posts: 678 Joined: Dec 9, 2008 OOC: tl:dr Kidding - this is absolutely fantastic. ......................... vet wv elmsautumn e2g ww Posted Aug 6, 2011, 7:23 am

JS Hitmen Trucking Inc -CI- Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 3,238 Joined: Jan 9, 2010 Thanks JD, not my strongest area, the grammar and formatting. Thanks Sting, glad you enjoyed it. ......................... vet wv pvp5 pvp3 pvp4 Posted Aug 6, 2011, 10:52 am

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