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Dies irae dies illa

Iron Wraith Iron Wraiths Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Members Posts: 818 Joined: Feb 2, 2009 “I feel responsible.” Aubrey Zamora looked across to Mary Barret, the most experienced gunner in the Wraiths. The fact she was also the newest spoke volumes for the attrition rate. The glare told him that if he was looking for sympathy or absolution he was to be disappointed. “He shouldn’t have gone out so soon. If he’d been with us against that lone Chaser at the end he might have done us all some good. Instead he ended up as a frikkin’ football being bounced between the sonic and that pickup. Instead I end up playing gunfight at the OK coral against a Chaser until you finally work out that a pistol vs a muscle car isn't going to cut it.” She looked fiercely at Aubrey, her sunburned face still a little red after her walk back home. Aubrey desperately tried to explain. “We let him out the wrong side, otherwise he’d have finished the two in the car and we could have picked him up. Instead he wasted time shooting at undamaged armour and by the time he had crossed over to the breached side that blasted sonic had him in his sights. I tried, but I couldn’t get onto it quickly enough. As to the other matter, you had cover and I led him away once it was clear it wasn't going to pan out. I was hoping we might get something for our trouble…” Mary shrugged softening again. “If we'd got to Russ, we probably couldn't have helped him, the gun was almost dry by then anyway. We’d have been better carrying a few spare mags instead of a pedestrian. It would have saved me a walk home as well as we could easily have smoked that chaser, and probably doubled back for the other two as well if necessary”. Aubrey looked darkly across the room at the Somerset Milita members drinking and bragging about mythical victories. “If those sons of bitches had pulled their weight we wouldn’t even be talking about this. I can’t believe how poor their performance was. They weren’t even outnumbered for crying out loud. One minute we are team against team, the next minute it’s us versus the world. I'm pretty sure the all the bandits that got stopped were the ones we personally killed.” Aubrey banged his empty glass down angrily. He was about to rise and tear into the braggarts when a look from Mary froze him in place. The thump of a metal leg told him the reason. He felt "Long John" Fraziers hand on his shoulder. “Ease down a gear son. They’re militia, just farmers and family men who do their best. Ain’t no use nor call to be whaling on them for our mistakes.” He had he said "our", but that was for the crowd, Aubrey knew he had meant "your" and he sat back down deflated. “Long John” sat heavily in the chair that had been left vacant in memory of Russ. In a blatent breach of ettiquette he turned the unused glass over and filled it from the bottle on the table. Ignoring the raised eyebrow from Mary he held up his glass in a toast. “To absent friends… seems like that’s a toast we been drinking over-often of late.” He downed the drink and gently put the glass on the table next to the bloodied and torn cloth badge marked “Dragon”. He spun the badge round with one finger contemplating. “Seems a shame, that Russ fella looked like he had promise. Then not a day after he got this badge, he’s soaking into the sand outside the gates and feeding the wildlife.” Mary looked about to speak but he stilled her with a look. “I guess we have to ask whether the idea itself is flawed or whether the implementation went wrong. What say?” He looked at Aubrey. “Well, we were driven by necessity not having any reloads. Now there is some spare ammo in the store, maybe we don’t need to do it that way anymore.” Mary chipped in. “When we went out with others even the one mag was enough to end the fight. We didn’t need a spare driver either, what with the loot being shot to hell and back!” John looked at her keenly. “Exceptin’ that without your passenger you wouldn’t have got that HMG back.” Mary shugged unfazed. “If we got the cars intact we wouldn’t need a mech.” Aubrey countered. “And if we got driveable cars we'd need the additional driver…” John nodded considering. “So on small scouts we carry extra ammo, on large scouts we take a mechanic/spare driver.” Aubrey ventured a suggestion. “And no inf… no Dragoons?” John shook his head. “On the contrary, everyone in the car has to be a Dragoon and equipped accordingly.” He scooped up the badge and with surprising agility swung himself upright. In the shocked silence he took a few steps before pivoting on his stump and winking at Mary. “After all, didn’t do you no harm…” ......................... vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1 Posted Sep 24, 2012, 12:08 am

Iron Wraith Iron Wraiths Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Members Posts: 818 Joined: Feb 2, 2009 Lisa Moreno settled into the worn leather chair in the back office of Wraiths. Today had been interesting, Josh had met her at Dexters for their traditional post-noon snifter and had quietly slipped an envelope across the table. Intrigued she had opened it to find a key, and Josh had explained that he had received confirmation from the Deathrace Mafia that Mike Michaelis had definitely been captured by slavers and was being held in the Pit at Firelight. He had raised his eyebrows and asked what she wanted to do about it. A few weeks ago this conversation wouldn't have happened. Mike had been firmly in charge and while Lisa was acknowledged as a gusty fighter, she had no authority in the gang. Less than a year ago Lisa had assumed that Wraiths were a busted flush and the oldsters who wore the faded gang patches were just occupying the old lockup as they had nowhere else to go. No-one seemed to even know if they were has-beens or never-weres. Then, having done nothing of any note for years, one day a notice appeared in Dexters stating that Wraiths were back. Most people had said "Who?" When they had made some fuss about restarting a Somerset to Gateway delivery service, Lisa had been one of the ones who turned out to see the dusty old fools rolling outdated vehicles out of their lockup. Everyone knew you used Phos or Voyagers for courier jobs, but these duffers were planning to use unarmed Spirits with exposed engines for Evans sake. She had to admit that they were well maintained old vehicles, which at least explained what the old giffers had been doing all these years. Like many she expected them to be buzzard fodder before they got 50 miles out. She assumed it was some death-and-glory thing, plenty of old-timers had chosen to die quickly out there at the hands of raiders rather than rot away in town. She had however also noticed hundreds of tarps that were obviously covering vehicles and long storage racks loaded down with parts. Even if the cars were near wrecks, they still represented thousands of dollars of hardware, and if they were in the same condition as the ones they were driving out... And so, before they rolled out of Somerset, Lisa took a gamble and asked one of them if they were recruiting. They had grinned toothlessly and sent her back to the office where one of them was sorting through a huge pile of mouldering papers. Lisa wasn't looking to join a band of crusties permanently, but it was a way to gain experience, standing and, when they got themselves killed, she might be able to score some loot in the aftermath. Before long she was signed on and was wearing her own set of overalls with that stupid robot ghost thing on it. Of course they hadn't died and before long the gang was running regularly around the Northern triangle running a reliable mail service and gaining the approval of the town elders. They had recruited more young blood and became a regular at the tracks and a favourite of the Deathrace Mafia. Investing heavily in training they had also established regular runs of goods between a couple of camps and town to expose the new gangers to low level risk from bandits before they took on the mail runs. They took missions from the various factions to enhance their standing and to gain valuable resources. Once they started scouting to reduce the bandit population they gained the respect of the civilians and traders and the enmity of the slavers and pirates, a sure sign that you had arrived (or maybe returned in this case). With money streaming in they had been uplifting the inventory with more modern and exotic equipment like the V8's and rotaries and the Heavy Gatlings and Mini-Rocket Pods. One day Josh, the gang leader at the time, had taken Lisa into the lockup to choose her own ride for her first scouting mission as squad leader. She'd have Alice Reilly, one of the less smelly elders, as scout and wingman. Alice was no leader but she knew the Northern Triangle like the back of her liver spotted hands. It was at that point that Lisa acknowledged her true respect for the gang for the first time. There was tens of millions of dollars worth of vehicles and equipment at her disposal, and not all of it old school, though there was still a significant "Museum" of cars to commit suicide in if you felt so inclined. This was no gang of has beens and at almost 50 strong was one of the more credible gangs and Lisa was now one of its leaders. Soon after Lisa had stated running increasingly successful scouts. they had started to attract some veterans from other gangs. Which is where Mike literally came in. He had turned up one day and with barely a nod to Josh had just moved into the back office. Apparently he had some reputation as an escort driver and after the Wraiths ran a special job where he'd been a contractor, it had been agreed that he was best suited to run the operations side. He'd been efficient if rather callous, feeding people into events as soon as they could make a profit and after confiscating any weaponry "for safety", ruthlessly sacking people who didn't measure up to his standards. Wraiths were paying recruitment consultants hefty sums to deliver sub-par gangers so maybe it was only fair to offset the loss somehow. To be fair to Mike, it was doubtful those he tossed back would have survived a week and at least his way they still had all their limbs and he scouted very successfully himself so he was no armchair dictator What had grated with Lisa was when a near friend had been captured by slavers and carried off to Firelight. Mike had established communications with the Deathrace Mafia there. Things in town had to happen face-to-face and they had used the imprisoned ganger as the proxy for Wraiths in Firelight. With reputation being all ten points of the law with the Mafia, it had been revealed that when the last member of Wraiths in Firelight had died the Mafia had "secured" all their property. Doubtless it had been used as collateral in a dozen deals since, but as there was now a Wraith in Firelight again, albeit an imprisoned one, all goods were available for immediate return. The first thing Mike had the prisoner do was recruit someone who could represent the gang from outside the Pit. However the first duty on that recruit was to sack the imprisoned ganger, thus neatly avoiding the need to put a Wraith into the Pit. "So what are you going to do", Josh had repeated. Lisa had nodded to herself and then stood. "Show me to the office, I'll think on it and let you know before nightfall, in the mean time round up the gang and tell them about the transition of power." Josh had smiled. She'd guessed he'd liked her from the first moment they'd met. He seemed to respect Mike, but didn't seem to really like him. Lisa felt the same, but to be fair he had gone up in her estimation once she had discovered that though he had lost all three vehicles and the whole seven strong squad, all of them had nevertheless made it to Firelight alive. Of course it would be up to her whether they stayed in Wraiths and lived or if she would toss them under the bus like Mike would have done. She had wondered what Josh thought about it. She hoped she knew the answer to that one, but he had kept his own council as he led the way to the lockup. Coming out of her reverie Lisa stretched. Now it was decision time. She picked up the crayon drawing that had oddly been addressed to "The leeder of the Iron Wraiths". It was interesting that the author couldn't spell a relatively simple word like leader but had the rather more unusual and complex word wraith spelt correctly. The author, apparently a small child, was a Firelight based fan of the Wraiths. According to their letter and the accompanying drawing, which showed various lurid and "heroick" exploits of the gang in the Pit, they liked it best when the Wraiths killed the monsters and "didnt get ther faces et off by giant grass hoppers". Lisa nodded, "I second that". She leafed through the various stats and reports that Josh diligently produced every week, she looked in vain for the report on herself. Obviously Josh would have removed it once he had realised she would be the one reading them. She noted with wry amusement that Josh had got his own report countersigned by Alice. Good old Josh, honest as always. What would you do... Josh was on the point of knocking when the door opened. "Ok Josh, send to Firelight as soon as you can. I want our representative there to recruit some local gunfighters to help extract our guys from the Pit." Josh grinned and turned to go. "Oh, one more thing..." Lisa shrugged apologetically. "Best try to break it gently to them that once Mike is out, it will mean a demotion, he'll be taking charge there." ......................... vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1 Posted Nov 13, 2020, 3:23 pm Last edited Nov 13, 2020, 4:41 pm by Iron Wraith

Iron Wraith Iron Wraiths Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Members Posts: 818 Joined: Feb 2, 2009 It had been the day after Mike had arrived that Josh was formally relegated to the position of Adjutant. Of course that hadn't relieved him of the need to conduct scouting missions. He'd been generally successful but the last scout had gone less well and he had been badly injured. For weeks he had been forced to actually do all the admin that previously he'd shirked in favour of keeping the wolves from the door. It was the only way to retain his position in the gang as only squad leaders could aspire to higher command. As adjutant it was Josh's job to filter the information that the boss had to see personally. With a full roster on the gang Josh had pressed everyone who was not eventing or actively running mail to help inventory the almost two hundred vehicles, and countless weapons and other parts stored in Somerset and other towns as far away as Firelight. This was partly to re-establish the authority he had lost when Mike unceremoniously took over. While he gave orders that Mike supported he reinforced the idea that his own orders were still to be followed. Josh considered it his personal responsibility to manage the communications between the gangs outposts. He had spent days sorting mail packets and reports that arrived daily. Tod Potts, the longest serving member of the gang had explained how some guy called Aubrey had set this all up years ago and despite the gang going dormant for years the mail had continued to flow in. He had a pile of the more interesting historical documents to one side for later perusal to provide clues as to what the gang had controlled in the past. He'd discovered from invoices from the Mafia that they were currently paying storage for a 4L engine in Sarsfield and apparently there were even vehicles in Morgan. The Mafia had a pragmatic approach to ownership, as long as you paid the protection fees, thay would safeguard your property even if you had no boots on the ground, much good a 4L engine would do you hundreds of miles away. After a month of this he'd got a pretty good handle on things and was beginning to realise he who controlled the communications really controlled the gang. The boss wa a figurehead who needed to constantly keep ahead of the squad leaders, the adjutant didn't need to to any of that and could remain in post across regime changes. He'd learned that from Aubrey's extended tenure, hell they'd even had a boss exiled in Firelight, but it hadn't stopped the machine. After Mike hadn't returned from his excursion against the pirates Josh had maintained the status quo in case Mike walked back a day or so later with tales of monsters vanquished in single combat. After a few days the gang had voted Lisa in as the most experienced warrior in the month Josh had been out of the loop, she'd worked hard and impressed everyone. He could have challenged, but he'd decided to support her. She was gutsy and truth be told he'd taken a shine to her and not just as a colleague. And so it had continued. Word had come from Firelight that against the odds Mike was still alive along with his squad. That didn't change anything here, in loosing a fight so comprehensively he lost enough of his authority to ensure Lisa retained control. In arranging his release she had also ensured his loyalty. Today was going to be an interesting day. In the past Wraiths had held a monthly meeting of all gangers to reward progress and evaluate promising gangers. Lisa at Josh's suggestion had agreed to reinstate them. This would be the first. Typically Lisa had left on a scout leaving barely enough time to get back in time for the meeting. Josh had waved her off and as usual he felt a little more worried that she wouldn't come back. It was getting to the stage when he might have to tell her how he felt, even if it messed things up. Time was never on your side in Evan. ......................... vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1 Posted Nov 13, 2020, 10:02 pm

Iron Wraith Iron Wraiths Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Members Posts: 818 Joined: Feb 2, 2009 Josh Elridge paced anxiously back and forth outside the lockup. The sounds of celebration within was slowly abrading what little good humour he had remaining after a number of irresponsible actions by the gang. He wasn't looking forward to the monthly debrief. In times past Wraiths had met once a month when the training centre released its statistics, for some reason this was 4am in the morning. Those who had shown significant skill improvement could expect pay rises, something eagerly anticipated to the point that the whole Somerset contingent would stay up until the small hours to celebrate the moment the figures were released. Anyone who had performed well in town events or against the bandits could expect to be feted and receive a more tangible bonus. Regardless of performance no-one would be capable of work the next day. Lisa had headed out on a scout several hours earlier and while she wasn't necessarily overdue, she should have been back earlier than this as the meeting couldn't officially start until she got here. Josh hoped she hadn't pushed her luck too far. He needed her to have been successful and in a good mood as things were already shaping up to be more tense than usual. For a start there was traditionally no alcohol until the meeting started, but it was clear that this was being honoured in the breach tonight as people had got bored waiting. This was a minor lapse of discipline that Josh was prepared to tolerate given the meeting should have started hours ago, and there was the equally valid tradition of the wake for a fallen comrade, but he was unsure how Lisa would react and if people got too drunk too early they might start muttering and plotting. Already the drunken exhortations to the bravery and honour of Ailene and Daisy was beyond reasonable. Josh had found out that, having seen their leader hare off on a last minute scout, two junior gangers had "borrowed" a car out of the garage without checking and joined a group that was just leaving to blood a new gang. Trained for one of Wraiths light fighters the two novices had taken a heavy fighter instead apparently on the basis that it was "prettier". By all accounts the group had nevertheless been relatively successful as they had come back with some looted vehicles having bounced a Nine Lunatics patrol. Unfortunately they were jumped outside the gates by Ultraviolence. Daisy was in a looted Crescendo and by the smoke pouring out of it the engine must have been shot. Aliene had hung around at the back of the group, probably knowing the Pho could pull away quickly, and had successfully decoyed off part of the pursuit. The majority of the group made it to the gates without trouble but Daisy, with gaping holes in her right side and poorly positioned, couldn't afford to turn in and was clearly hoping the pursuit would turn for the gates as well. Perhaps angered by her ineffectual micro missile fire one of the bandits had chased her down relentlessly. Unwilling to abandon her crew mate Ailene chose to try to engage rather than break off and escape. By the time she started hitting the car on Daisy's tail, it was already too late. Had she been operating a weapon she was qualified for it might have made some difference. Once it was clear Daisy's ride, and probably Daisy, was dead, again, she might have made it away. Apparently revenge clouded her judgement and she focussed on finishing off the bandit responsible for killing her crewmate instead. Too focussed on the bandit to the front, she failed to notice a pickup approaching fast from the rear, who started to chew up her rear and side armour. Vengeance was also evidently clouding his judgement as he overshot and ran into a fence giving Ailene enough time to start for the gate, albeit taking more hits to the side in the process. Her situational awareness was clearly poor as by now all but one of her group had escaped into town and she was the focus of the majority of the remaining bandits. With a muscle car approaching from the front and the pickup pounding on her rear quarter again, she surrendered, possibly expecting a short walk home and a long drink at Daisy's wake. As she was bundled into the boot of the muscle car, under the guns of Somerset, right against the perimeter fence, she may have realised that she was destined for Firelight instead. Josh hadn't see this first hand, he had got the report from a slovenly militia corporal who had overseen the recovery of Daisy's corpse hours after the bandits had hared off. Josh was later approached by the crews from the other vehicles in the scout group who filled in the details. Effy's Girls had led the scout and they'd been apologetic, there had been a mix up by the dispatcher and the experienced scout who was supposed to be with them had been diverted at the last minute. Tuskan Raiders were a new team and were there to learn, not teach. It wasn't fair to blame either of them though, it had been a catalogue of poor decision making by Daisy and Ailene and possibly a dose of overconfidence that had got them slotted. Effy's Girls had generously left a Windsor by way of compensation for the lost Pho, but Josh was in two minds whether to accept it. It was maybe the Ghost of Aubrey that decided him as at least the accountant in him would be happier. Now he had to explain to Lisa why there were two less at the social than there should have been and why a Pho had turned into a Windy... if she ever got here. For the fifth time in as many minutes Josh checked up the road to Elmsfield for the tell tale glare of approaching headlights. ......................... vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1 Posted Nov 19, 2020, 3:28 pm

Iron Wraith Iron Wraiths Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Members Posts: 818 Joined: Feb 2, 2009 It had been weeks since Daisy Gunn had been lost in combat. Lisa had taken the news calmly, when she finally got back from her long patrol. Occasional loss was regretful, but to be expected in the dangerous business of hunting down Evans lowest forms of life. She was more perturbed by the Slavers having taken Ailene alive. God only knew what horrors awaited her in Firelight. The news that three slavers had perished in the combat was small comfort. The pall cast over the gang had lasted a week, until news came back from the Firelight contingent that not only had Ailene arrived in reasonably good shape but that she had already been sprung from the pit and was almost ready for active duty, whatever that meant in exile. Once the news got back scouting had resumed with greater zeal and even increased in frequency now Josh was fully recovered and taking an active role. Recently a third hunting pack had been added to the roster and even the inexperienced crew was proving somewhat successful. In Josh's book successful meant you at least came back in the car you went out in. Usually there were three or four new vehicles in the lockup each night, being systematically stripped for spares by the mechanics. The novice crew often came back with parts only as they were still learning the ropes of making field repairs, but they were showing willing even sending some of the crew back on foot so they fit more salvage into the vehicles. On occasion the hunters found slavers. Then generally only salvage came back. Slavers were perhaps bright enough to realise that Wraiths weren't particularly keen on letting them go, so it was generally a fight to the death and the reward was a token bounty, lots of scrap metal and the cold comfort of revenge for Daisy. Of course it had not always gone swimmingly, sometimes the hunt came back with more than just damaged armour, recently a spate of ram pick-ups had taken a toll of heavy weapons as even when mostly dead they kept on coming, and Wraiths "grab them by the belt" approach meant that close range avoidance was chancy at best. Lisa had gone out one night in her trademark trademark Phoenix blazoned with the heraldry of the Somerset Civilian faction. As usual her scout Alice had driven one of the heavy Voyagers. Two hours later Josh was being debriefed about his own scout when only the Voyager and a badly shot up, ram equipped, Pick-Up had returned. The Phoenix would have to been a total loss for it to be left behind, and that usually meant total loss of crew as well. His heart lurched at the thought of her broken body doubtless lying in the pick-up bed awaiting her burial, assuming there was enough to bury. He was starting to blanche and gag when Lisa had poked her head out of the pickup and he had barely been able to hide his relief. It was getting more difficult lately, he had noticed people eyeing him funnily and, though Lisa seemed blissfully ignorant, he was sure there were those who suspected something. He'd tried to cover by shouting angrily about the poor trade-off between a Phoenix and Pick-Up and storming off the toilet block, but once in the stall his hands started shaking and he broke down. Fortunately Lisa and her crew had regaled the gang with the details of the gritty fight for the best part of an hour and Josh had managed to pull himself together in time to take part in the post scout celebration, gruffly apologising for his outburst, bluffing that it was the loss of one of only two renowned vehicles that had caused such an extreme reaction. Lisa had waved her glass at him and blown him an ostentatious kiss in forgiveness and he had been able to ham up an equally ostentatious response and the danger passed. It hindsight the fight had all been far too close for comfort, Lisa's car had been rammed and had caught fire and Lisa and Fred had bailed out and engaged the loot pickup with hand guns. By some miracle they were completely unharmed though the vehicle was a write-off and Fred had lost some hair. As the party wound up and people drunkenly drifted back to their bunks he'd remembered that in his fluster he'd forgotten to finish clearing his vehicle. Reluctantly he headed over to ensure the magazines were clear and that all the damage was detailed for the mechanics to sort out in the morning. He was closing up the armoury when he noticed Lisa leaning against his car holding a glass and waving another at him. "Night Cap?" It would be another 18 hours before they would be out again and so he had ruefully joined her. Something was different and he wasn't sure what it was. She still smelled a little scorched. As he reached for the glass, she playfully pulled it back. "Tell me that you want this?" Confused he'd stepped closer and reached out again. She'd put the glass on the bonnet of the car, making him wince a little. "Not that, this." Still confused he'd muttered something unintelligent and she'd looked at him sideways, maybe a little angrily, before closing on him. "Alice said you'd be a dumbass about this..." ......................... vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1 Posted Dec 4, 2020, 9:37 pm Last edited Dec 30, 2020, 9:00 am by Iron Wraith

Iron Wraith Iron Wraiths Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Members Posts: 818 Joined: Feb 2, 2009 The windmill mound was crowded. Every member in the Somerset contingent stood in silence as Woody delivered a eulogy to Todd Potts who had been killed during a mail run when ambushed by Butane. As the eldest member of Wraiths, Todd had been instrumental in reforming the gang after many years retirement. He'd restarted the mail runs with the elders, while the new gangers had built their experience in the runs to camp and eventually bandit hunts around Somerset. Lisa, as gang leader, had opened the memorial service but had handed over to Woody soon after. Todd had confined himself to solo mail runs ever since Lisa had taken over the gang and, other than an exemplary record of mission success, there was nothing that made him stand out over the other elders who ran the same milk run every day. Of course there was some risk in running to Gateway and back, but it wasn't in the same league as bandit hunting or even town eventing for that matter. Alice and Woody provided local area knowledge of Northern Farmlands in the two main hunting packs. To Lisa's mind, a run to Gateway in a single low value car might not even attract a cursory chase from a pair of bandits, and weighed down with weaponry they were easily out distanced over the dunes. Of course some of the more crafty interceptors chose their ground better and an ambush in Chaos Canyon could be dicey, especially as the enemy usually turned up mob handed. Even the town ruins could catch you out on a bad day, but at worst you might need to surrender to save your skin. Wraith's were encouraged to avoid it until armour was breached and some managed to complete missions with badly dinged cars, but if you nerve broke, no-one would blame you unless you made a habit of it. Lisa had anticipated a fairly dull recounting of diligent, but largely unspectacular service. Normally there wouldn't be this much ceremony, all Wraith's got a decent send off, but as the oldest serving member Lisa had felt obliged to allow the elders to send off one of their own in whatever style they wanted. As she listened however she began to feel that maybe she had underestimated "old" Potts. When he'd first joined Potts sounded like he had been as unassuming as she had thought him to be, but as Woody described his early exploits, entering the notoriously lethal pedestrian combat league against Longo's gang, a love affair with a firebrand who had died in combat and broken his heart. graduation to regular mail runner, and later during an unarmed taxi mission managing to defeat two bandit vehicles single-handedly armed with only a rifle, she began to realise that in his prime had been a force to be reckoned with. She had only seen him when he was already worn-out, but even then he had still been game to run mail twice daily in order to pay for toys for the combat squads. Word had got back about his last mission as by coincidence Lisa's own patrol had caught one of the Butane gangers that had ambushed Potts. A low-life called Dewey had apparently bragged about gunning the old man down himself, but Dewey had been dead by the time Lisa had subdued his mates and she only had their word for it. If they had any hand in Todd's death thay weren't admitting it. Taking it all into account his death might very well have been that of a brave man struggling to overcome his own frailties rather than an old man accepting them. She had recovered a key fob from Dewey's corpse. As well as the keys for the Spirit there had been two other keys on it. It now became clear that these were a souvenir from the episode with the rifle. When the eulogy ended, the Wraith's filed past one by one, throwing a little dirt or, in some cases, flower petals into the grave. Lisa hung back until last, tossing the keys plus the hood ornament from Dewey's car. As she stood in reflective silence for a minute or two, she looked round at the faces of the elders. Would she reach the grand old age of 50 or die in her twenties like so many others. She was running scouts daily, sometimes twice daily, eventually the odds would get you. Potts had lived a long time and was as experienced as any, but his luck had eventually run out. She walked over to Josh as the cars started drifting away on their return to town. Normally she would have driven back with Fred, but he'd made an excuse and hitched a ride with Josh's driver. That allowed her and Josh a few private minutes on the drive back to talk. She wasn't looking forward to it but it needed doing and this would force the issue. If Potts had taught her anything it had been that you needed to commit to the important things. ......................... vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1 Posted Dec 5, 2020, 11:06 pm Last edited Dec 5, 2020, 11:12 pm by Iron Wraith

Iron Wraith Iron Wraiths Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Members Posts: 818 Joined: Feb 2, 2009 As Lisa took another bend at more speed than Josh would have considered safe the back end slewed round lining them up perfectly for the next bend. Josh's teeth rattled as the tires rumbled on the larger rocks thrown outside the ruts worn by generations of drivers. The road was bumpy, but Josh anticipated it was going to become bumpier yet. Lisa had made it clear that they needed to have a serious chat. The fact that she had chosen to do it away from any chance of being overheard made it ominous and unlikely to be work related. After last night, Josh had been expecting the post-coital rejection, she'd left the bed before he'd woken up, slightly hungover. The bed on her side was cold, he'd taken it as a sign that her feelings were equally so. She had clearly been drunk, and obviously regretted it. It had been awkward and rushed and he was out of practice and probably too eager. No-one else knew, so she was probably trying to write it and him off. He knew he should be grateful that he had even had the one night, but he would have preferred the hope of something rather than a guarantee of nothing. Still no point putting it off, it wasn't like it was going to get any less awkward. "So, I guess this is about last night." Lisa never took her eyes from the road. "Yep, I was drunk and shouldn't have made a move on you. I know you like me... Maybe more than like... but the situation is all wrong." It was brutal, but then she always just went out and grabbed the prize, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. The last bit, was maybe trying to soften it. Josh decided to try to be equally casual, maybe they might make another go of it in the future if they seemed to be of the same mind. "Hmm, thought so... I was kind of in the moment myself... and not at my best. The sex was pretty crap huh?" She laughed, not malicious, but still hurtful. "Well, you said it first stud." Josh flushed, she could have at least lied. They sat in silence for a little not least because Lisa had elected to go completely off road for some reason. When she spoke again her voice had softened. "You like me a lot huh?" Josh would have loved to be open, but she was clearly looking for an out and he didn't want to make it harder for her. Who had said "If you love them you let them go", well she probably wasn't coming back, but they still had to work together. "Sure... you know... we work well together..." It was weak even by his own standards of verbal ineptitude. He was fine with numbers, he could even quote others erudition at the right time, he could create a convincing and logical argument that could withstand even belligerent challenge and he was defiant when facts were on his side, you couldn't challenge hard facts. But this... using his own words to talk about feelings? No, this he was crap at. That was another fact that couldn't be challenged. She laughed again, less hurtful this time. Maybe he was getting hardened to it. "Are you being noble, you stupid dick?" What! That was harsher than he would have expected, he'd done the decent thing and she'd basically called him out for it. He would have replied but she suddenly slammed on the anchors and skidded to a halt. Confused he looked around. They had stopped in the yard of one of the fortified farm houses not far from Somerset. Bandits seldom troubled them as they had little worth stealing, but were still a tough nut to crack. Buildings linked by walls all surrounding a small courtyard where the half dozen chickens roamed. Crops were dispersed far and wide and were gathered at the last minutes when the transport to town arrived. You couldn't gather crops from inside a vehicle and bandits didn't farm. You could buy food in Somerset cheaper than the ammunition you would expend stealing it. Farmers were also dirt poor who would fight to the death to defend what little they had and had nothing left to lose. More trouble than they were worth, at least in this part of the world. Lisa was already out of the car and so, bemused, Josh climbed out as well. Lisa was greeting another woman about her age and by the look of it someone she already knew. This was weird, normally petrol heads didn't have much to do with the wurzels as they had totally different mind sets, indeed the only time they tended to come into contact was at the market when it was largely transactional and in Dexter's when it was barely cordial and verging on the confrontational. There had been many brawls, usually just ruckus from people who had had a difficult day, and Josh was honest enough to admit that must be true for farmers as well. On occasion some spite-filled arsehole would ratchet it up and things got nastier. Things became clearer when Lisa called him over and introduced him to Anna, who was apparently her sister. Lisa often called in when she was patrolling this way, which would explain why she was always so damn late. Josh returned the greeting politely, feeling a little out of place in what was clearly a family situation. Feeling he should make some effort he tried a joke. "I never considered that Lisa might come from a farming family, I guess I figured she had sprung fully armed from the trunk of a Chaser or something." The two women looked at him blankly for a few seconds and then both collapsed into fits of giggles. Seeing his deflated look Anna was first to speak. "Oh, I can see why you like him, he's cute in a geeky sort of way." Before he could process the meaning, Lisa had grabbed him by the hand and towed him towards the farmhouse. Turning confusedly to Anna he threw behind a quick "Nice to meet you" before turning back to try to work out where he was being taken. A few minutes later they were in a small but comfortable room on the second floor. Lisa was moving things around in a way that clearly indicated that this was her space. "I stay over here some nights, so I have my own room. My parents owned the farm and used to run it with Anna and her husband, but they died a few years ago and Dad left the farm to Anna. I was never that fussed about dirt and crops, I only liked driving the tractor and shooting. We figured it would make more sense if I tried my luck in town. When Wraiths started back up, it made much more sense for me to move my base into town fully, but it's nice to have somewhere away from the bustle on occasion." All the while she had been shovelling things out of the way and she now sat on the bed and drew Josh down to sit next to her. "Ok, here's how it is. This is MY private space that I have invited you into, I don't do that for everyone... anyone actually. That is because YOU are special. Last night we had sex and it was actually OK despite what I said earlier. But NOW, we are going to make love and you need to be on your "A" game because I don't do this often. If you are as sensitive about this as I think you could be, we may do this again." Lisa paused briefly and a spell bound Josh just waited letting the words roll around in his head. His analytical back brain had noted that her usual confident bluster had been replaced by a barely detectable wobble in her voice. She was nervous too, or excited or hopefully both. Before he could say anything stupid, she started again, the bombast back. "But be clear, this stays here, we don't talk about this in town. I would be surprised if people don't guess, Alice worked it out before I did, but I am not having it said that I got all soft and soppy and we are now leading the gang as a loved up duo. We'll still scout separately as I need to concentrate on the fight, not the fun. I still run the gang and you still handle the logistics. We can come out here every few days if we need the time to play at lovebirds, but when we are in town we are working. Understood?" Josh's mind was reeling. Suddenly the future was looking far brighter than it ever had. He understood how relationships in command positions could screw things up and anyway the extra frisson of a secret relationship wouldn't hurt. Truth be told she had him the moment her voice softened, he'd follow her lead, but then again he always had. "Yes, boss." Lisa smiled. "Ok, then. You can take off your Adjutants hat for now stud. I guess we have maybe two hours before they'll miss us and no-one here will be disturbing us unless the farm gets attacked, so we don't have to rush it or be worrying about interruptions. This bed will be more comfortable than that skanky bunk of yours." She hooked her arm round his neck and drew him closer. "Now, show me your best so I know I was right to bring you here". ......................... vet wv raceL1 deathrceL1 Posted Dec 6, 2020, 12:45 pm Last edited Dec 30, 2020, 9:08 am by Iron Wraith

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