Road Gangs: Ray Part II

Ray pressed on in his Scrambler, as did the two other vehicles in his shadow. He was still frustrated with everyone's attitudes towards him, even after everything he had done for them. If it was not Shining Armor and his insecurities forcing his relentless and misdirected sarcasm, it was innocent wasteland scavengers simply trying to survive.

Shining broke the uncomfortable silence. "We should stop for food."

"Why?" Ray asked with an irritated tone.

"We should build up our energy before we reach the Zone."

Ray smirked at how the sector's name stuck with him, but retained his irritable disposition. "I'm not wasting any more time today. Before dawn we're going to break Faust out of there, and that's that. Nothing is getting in my way."

"That's all well and good, but you're not thinking about your team and their needs."

Ray gritted his teeth. "Needs?"

Junkers aligned the turret and shifted in his seat. "He's right, man, I'm starving. Let's break for five."

"You want to stop now when we're this close?"

Shining kicked the back of his seat. "Stop the vehicle, Ray. We need to talk anyway."

"Okay!" Ray shouted, obviously letting go of his sanity, "Alright! Fine!" He mashed the break pedal to the floor, causing everyone to rock from the inertia, then engaged the parking break as he slid his door open, proceeding to exit with the engine still on.

The Sprut and Model 4 stopped in a similar fashion due to the unexpected action, nearly resulting in a fender bender.

Shining Armor climbed out after him. "Stop right there!"

Ray spun around. "What?!"

"You seriously need to calm down! You're starting to become worrisome!"

"Oh, fuck off!" He growled and began walking off into the dunes again.

"See, right there! Total lack of professional conduct to a superior!"

He returned from his journey of only a few footsteps. "You know what? Maybe I was never cut out for your high up advanced military social organization! But guess what? Here I am under orders from Celestia herself, because of my expertise in this situation! So deal with it and get off my back!" He practically yelled for the whole desert to hear with that last part, much to the worry of the team.

"Calm down, scav, or I'll-..."

Ray edged closer with fire in his eyes. "What did I say about calling me that?"

"It's what you are and always have been since you came to Equestria! Just another lonely scavenger running from your problems!"

That was it. That was the straw that broke his back. Ray threw a punch so hard that it sent Shining into a collision with the Scrambler.

Shining regained his balance and glared at him, wiping away a trickle of blood from his nose. "Why, you little..." He suddenly bolted and tackled Ray to the ground, causing them to roll down a depression in the dirt.

"Stop it!" Chrysalis shouted, joining the crowd that quickly formed from the crews of the nearby vehicles, "Knock it off, I'm ordering you!"

The two eventually fell into a hotspring, still fighting despite the water hampering their movements and weighing them down as it soaked into their clothes.

Junkers pulled out a notepad and pen from his jacket and raised them in the air. "Alright, taking all bets! Taking all bets! Let's see those numbers!"

Everyone pulled out their native forms of currency, shouting their wagers for either Ray or Shining.

Chrysalis grew furious at the madness unfolding before her, but gave up attempting control over them and stepped away from the group to gather her thoughts. As she made her way towards the vehicles, something caught her eyes.

A light from behind formations of rocks slowly washed over the road, presumably from another vehicle. The headlights finally emerged as it approached at a rather sluggish pace.

Chrysalis quickly rejoined to group and attempted to catch their attention. "Contact!"

No response as the group still watched the two fighters in the water.

"We've got company!"

Still ignored.

She unslung her EMG-6 and fired a shot into the air, silencing everyone and drawing all eyes on her. "Vehicle! Over there!" She pointed.

The group descended into the depression as the vehicle passed by their own, with Ray and Shining crawling out of the water to join them.

It appeared to be a ramrod built from some kind of heavy industrial vehicle with all kinds of desert modifications done to it - a partially concealed cab protected by wire fencing, large tractor tires in the rear, a big spherical tank behind the cab presumably carrying fuel, and a giant V-blade plow in the front, so large that it gave the impression that it was attempting to eat the vehicle whole.

It sounded like a train as smoke stacks and pistons along the hull pumped clouds of byproduct. It even had a special piston that drove the rear wheels, a likely crude solution for boosting its ability for climbing steep terrain.

The ramrod suddenly halted in front of the Scrambler, but the driver's intentions remained obscured as no activity could be seen inside the darkened cab area.

"Is that one of Overdog's machines?" Junkers asked.

"Damned if I know." Ray answered, rubbing the bruises on his face.

The ramrod still remained idle in front of the Scrambler, bellowing clouds of black and white smoke from its various orifices.

"What do you think it wants?" Shining asked, searching for his weapon. He facehoofed when he realized that he left it in the Scrambler.

"I dunno. Looks unarmed... I'm gonna find out." He broke from cover and stood in plain sight, illuminated by every headlight in the area.

"Ray!" Chrysalis called in a quite tone.

He simply waved his hand at her, waiting for a reaction from the ramrod. It still remained in the same spot, occasionally letting out pressure from its airbrakes with a loud hiss.

He turned to Junkers and Shining. "Gather your stuff and get in the Scrambler." He proceeded to walk closer to the behemoth.

Junkers and Shining stayed low while heading towards the Scrambler, eventually reaching the vehicle but stopped to watch Ray and the ramrod instead of getting inside.

The ramrod suddenly jolted, making his heart do the same and stopping him cold with apprehension. He let a few seconds go by and made agesture with his hand concealed behind his back.

The rest of the group understood the signal and emerged from the depression, following Junkers' and Shining's covertness towards their vehicles.

Ray pressed on until he was directly in front of the ramrod's massive V-blade. "Uhm... Hi! H-how can I help you?"

Suddenly the ramrod was in full motion, heading straight for him.

He reacted quickly, running to the side of its path and allowed it to pass by, then followed it from behind one of its blind spots.

The ramrod stopped, then slowly reversed back to its original spot, obviously searching for its victim.

Ray climbed onto a protrusion in the rear, grabbing a smoke stack for stability as he traveled over the spherical tank and onto the engine cylindars. He finally located the cab and reached through the wire fencing, finding a human face in the darkness and attempted to grab its head.

The driver's vision became obscured and his panic forced him to mash the accelerator, sending the ramrod into a collision course with a boulder.

The inertia forced Ray flying off the vehicle and into the dirt below, where he decided to remain to appear out of commission.

The driver punched a hinged door on the roof open, sending it crashing loudly into the metal that held it in place. He emerged from the cab and looked around. "Son of a bitch!" He found Ray laying on the ground past the V-blade. "Well I'll be goddamned... Skyray!"

Ray was surprised to find that this person knew who he was but remained on the ground as not to blow his game of possum.

The driver grabbed an AK-47 from inside the cab and leaped onto the ground, approaching the seemingly knocked-out man at gunpoint. "Get up."

His command was without compliance.

"Come on, Ray, that's got to be the oldest trick in the book! Get up!" He kicked him in the back.

Still yet no sign of response.

The driver's concern grew, lowering his weapon and turning Ray over. "Ray? Are you o-..."

Ray sprung to life and punched the driver in the face, knocking him onto the ground. He put his boot on the man's armed hand and pried the assault rifle away, this time holding him at gunpoint.

"Well, well, well," the driver started, "Still got some of that old energy left in ya."

"Do I know you?"

The man climbed to his feet, wiping away the dirt from his scavenged uniform. "You should, after what we went through at Fort Rockatansky."

Ray was still not convinced, but struggled to find familiarity in his face. He was black with a shaved head, bearing a build similar to his own.

"We met at a market colony near the Oil Seas. We were just teenagers back then."

He finally recognized him after playing through the history in his mind. "Washington!"

The man shrugged. "What's left of him."

"What happened to you? I haven't seen you since that attack on Bearclaw Canyon." He began lowering the weapon, then picked it back up as he remembered something else. "You took my car and left me in the dust!"

"Come on, Ray, I thought you were dead."

"Well, evidently not."

He shrugged. "Sorry. What did you end up with?"

"That battered old El Camino that was stuck in a ditch a few miles away."

Washington stifled the laughter until it was unbearable and let loose.

"It's not funny! I really liked that car. What happened to it?"

His laughter subsided. "I got ran off the road by a gang called the Toecutters. Totaled it."

Ray shut his eyes for a moment, lamenting the loss of his favorite vehicle, then turned to inspect Washinton's. "And where'd you get this... overgrown snowplow?"

"Borrowed it from a couple of scavs down the road yesterday. Bunch of trigger-happy maniacs with bazookas and shit. Got 'em back for blowing up my red convertible I saved from a camp that got slaughtered... after I lost your ride. Man, that thing was cherry."

"I know the feeling."

Washington glanced at the damage done to his ramrod from the force of its impact on the boulder. "Just look at it... look what you did!" He kicked a piston connecting the large rear wheel to the engine, causing it to rumble back to life and then die back down.

"Nothing a little bit of welds wont mend."

Washington crouched down to inspect the machinery underneath, then paused for a moment to assess his situation. "Yeah, okay..." He roze back up to face Ray. "Well, I guess if you get me towed outta here, between you and me, we got ourselves two machines and, well... we got it made again. Leave that old trash that I drove by behind."

Ray grinned. "They're not derelict, Washington. I'm not alone this time."

"Huh?"

He backed away to allow Washington to get a look at the three vehicles near the hotsprings.

He could see at least one human man behind the lead vehicle, but the rest he struggled to process as he observed them. The quadrupedal beings with big, glowing eyes must have looked like unworldly demons to him.

"And we were just about to eat, so if you don't mind..." Ray trailed off and headed towards his Scrambler.

Washington snapped back to him and followed. "W-wait a minute, now. I'll let you have some of my rations... probably not enough for your, eh, friends here, but I'm sure we could work something out. We'll make it a banquet, eh?"

"We got food. Real food."

"Well, excuse me. I'm only being generous because of our former friendship."

"What former friendship?"

"Okay, well... can I at least have my gun back?"

Ray raised the weapon back up. "Oh, right, I totally forgot." He swiftly spun around and threw it into the hotspring nearby.

Washington threw his arms up in surprise, then let it go.

"I'll tell you what. If you agree to help us out with our mission, we'll give you a tow and maybe I'll just... forget about that last time we parted ways."

"Fine. Deal."

His answer seemed rather desperate. "What's keeping you so on your toes?"

He sighed before answering. "The Zone Ravagers have been on my ass since I found that ramrod."

"Zone Ravagers?"

"Overdog's gang. I just want a safe passage afterwards."

Ray sniggered. "Well, you won't much like our mission very much then."

"Why's that?"

Before he could answer they caught the sound of approaching engines from behind them. They looked to find two motorcycles with rollcages heading towards them, undoubtedly the same motorcycles that were used as turrets on the sail-train.

Washington pulled out a knife from his uniform.

"It's okay," said Ray, "They're friendly."

The two cycles parked near the ramrod and the familiar drivers disembarked. They were the two brothers, Jarrett and Duster.

"What do you guys want?"

Duster answered. "We're tracking you to Overdog."

Washington turned to Ray. "Are you shitting me? You're going after the big dog himself? Are you crazy?"

Ray waved a hand to silence him. "Of course not, I'm on a stealth mission to his compound to rescue my friend. I could give a rat's ass about Overdog."

"That's got to be the most suicidal thing I've ever heard! Count me out."

"Okay. Forget the tow and safe passage then."

"For Christ's sake, Ray..."

Ray stepped closer to the brothers. "You're welcome to stay here while we recharge."

"We don't need your permission, outlander!" Jarrett barked, "We do as we want."

He stepped back to the Srambler and turned to Washington. "Do you find them as charming as I do?"

Washington shrugged. "I say grease 'em before they spoil your plans."

"Come on, don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

"It's what I'd do."

Ray walked over to his Scrambler and pulled out a container of rations from the back. "Well, that's why you'll never make military leader. Like me."

"Man, the Skyray I knew would've done it without blinking. You're losing your edge."

Ray slammed the container on the ground. "I'm not losing my edge! I'm just trying to do things a little smarter these days." He turned to Shining Armor. "Not that anyone seems to give a damn besides myself."

Washington shook his head and walked towards the hotspring.

"Where you going?"

"Fishing!"

Lieutenant Nord took the pleasure of throwing the last Changeling terrorist into the cold, dark holding cell with the rest of his comrades, slamming the door shut while other Changeling guards protected him with borrowed 9mm firing devices.

The Changeling scurried back to the door to face the Equestrian soldier. "You can't stop all of us! The revolution is inevitable!"

Nord retained an authoritative demeanor in the face of his intimidation. "I've got news for you, pal. Your little two-hour revolution's over. How in the hell did you expect this to actually work?"

"This was just the beginning. Come a few years, perhaps a decade, we'll be back."

Nord stepped closer. "Where is Tempest? What do you know about his plans?"

"I'll never talk. Equestrian scum..."

"I'm going to ask one more time. Where is Tempest and what do you know about his plans?"

The Changeling spat on his face.

Nord wiped it from his face and stepped back. "You might want to think about where you are. We're not in Canterlot anymore."

He pondered the relevance of that statement, until a Guardling pulled out a nightstick and bashed him on the head through the bars, forcing him to the floor in pain.

"Tell me what I want to know!"

"Shove it up your donut!" He covered his head and face.

The Guardling kicked him in the ribs, forcing him to remain curled to the floor.

"I don't know!" He screamed.

The Guardling was about to hit him with the nightstick again, but was stopped by Nord.

"This was the first time anyling stood up for what we believed in! For years we've been putting up with these new ways..." He coughed. "That go against our own nature. None of us know how Tempest managed to escape, nor do we know the details of his plans, but we do know one thing..."

"What's that?"

"Going up against him is going to be one helluva dogfight."

Nord took a deep breath and lowered himself to his level. "Have you ever just... took a moment to think about why your Queen decided to advance your social and political organization to begin with?"

"Propaganda brainwashing from the humans and you!"

"It's called change. Things change, evolve, become better. Some worse, that's true. Chrysalis changed your ways because she saw it as beneficial to you and everypony else. Dictating and enslaving potential victims diminishes that which you've sought to survive... love. Love can only come from the elements of friendship and trust. Give that to them, you'll find that you'll receive it, much more than if you were to use your old approach. Why do you think your empire has thrived so much after all these years since the invasion?"

The Changeling turned away, struggling to formulate a logical response.

"That is why your revolution was doomed to fail. And any splinters of your movement still hiding in the shadows will soon realize that themselves, just as you have."

He turned back to Nord, surrendering his resistance to him.

"You're following an insane leader. Tempest will never realize this with his arrogance, ever since he learned from Ray's teachings during the invasion. All he knows is power and control, combined with his knowledge of explosive ordnance. Trust me, he is doomed to fail as much as the rest of you."