Exodus/Part 2

~ Part 1 ~ Exodus ~ Part 2 ~

Myra stares ahead through her binoculars at the bandit shanty town that lay in middle of nowhere. There were a few vehicles scattered around, with bandits unloading their stolen goods out of them. Most of their loot was just essentials like food, water, and maybe even weaponry, but there were also a bunch of miscellaneous junk that they'd find some use for. A big and burly boar wearing biker get-up, rags and metal armor comes out of the shanty town and starts barking orders to the other bandits.

"There's our guy." Myra said. "The fat bloke's got a bounty on him for everything in the book and then some."

"Yeah. Manslaughter, theft, kidnapping, foul odor, littering and even cannibalism."  A robotic voice said. It's voice sounded far less like a robot and more like a bad comedian trying to talk through a cheap microphone. "Are we sure trying to take him on is such a good idea?"

"Since when is anything we do a 'good idea', Beatbox?" Myra asked. "At least the sun's starting to set. Should make it harder for them to see us coming until we're right on top of them."

She revs the engine of her hoverbike before proceeding on, making her way towards the bandit settlement.

"The plan's simple." she called over to her robotic companion, who was currently resting on her back like a backpack. "We swoop in, tether him, and ride like a bat outta hell before the others can bat an eye."

"Sounds good, but aren't we supposed to bring him in alive?" B34T-B0X asked. "Alive, but nobody said he had to be in one piece." Myra responded. "Besides, all that leather he's wearing will probably protect him well enough."

Meanwhile, at the camp, one of the bandits, a ragged canine of some sort called out to his fellow ne'er-do-wells. "'Ey! We got ourselves a coupla stowaways 'ere!" he said as he threw two young cats out of one of the trucks.

"Is that right?" The boar asked, approaching to see for himself. The two boys were tossed unceremoniously onto the ground, and the red-clad one immediately moved to shield his brother from the bandits, shaking fearfully yet doing his best to look tough. This foolishness had been all the older brother's idea; these same bandits had raided the small town they were staying at, and he decided that he needed to do something about it... while also dragging his brother along for the ride. To be fair, the younger cat hadn't been completely against the idea, but now he was sincerely regretting this decision. The both of them were, in fact.

"Dat liddle blue one in da back looks like 'e might make a good meal," one of the bandits, a scrawny weasel, leered at the younger cat, causing him to whimper in fright and cower behind his brother, shivering.

"Y-You leave my brother alone, ya b-big bully...!" the older one hissed, still remaining close to his sibling.

The boar laughed menacingly, and the other bandits joined in with their own laughs and snickering. "You got guts kid. I'll give ya that." he said to the older cat. The older brother, Calvin, huffed a bit, before smirking.

"I could say th'same thing about you," he said, pointing a finger at the boar's gut. His brother, Micah, couldn't help but giggle at that.

Some of the other bandits stopped laughing, glancing somewhat nervously at their leader. He did not take kindly to people making fun of his belly. The boar leans closer menacingly. "Got guts, and a big mouth too, but lackin' in the brains department." he retorts loudly. "What was the big idea with you hitchin' a ride here, anyway?"

Calvin leaned back nervously as the boar got closer, swallowing thickly.

"Y-You guys are thieves! So we were gonna t-take back what ya stole!" he declared, trying to sound brave. Micah just nodded meekly in he background, shivering in fear.

The boar laughed heartily at this, picking up Calvin by the back of his collar, raising him to eye level. "Thieves? We're just trying to survive out here. If you can't protect what's yours, then you don't deserve to keep it!" The other bandits laughed along with him.

Calvin let out a squeak as he was hoisted up into the air, his legs kicking a bit in a panic.

"W-Why not work together to survive, then, instead'a stealin' from others who also just wanna survive?" Micah piped up meekly, fidgeting a bit. "Fighting over resources doesn't seem as good as helping each other..."

"It's called 'survival of the fittest', kid." the boar answered callously. "If you can't stay at the top, you ain't fit to survive." he dropped Calvin to the ground next to his brother.

"I don't know what made you think you had any chance of stealin' back what we rightfully stole, but I can tell ya it was a big mistake."

"Does dis mean we can've sum fun now?" the bandit that previously leered at Micah asked. Micah ended up scooting towards his brother and away from the bandit, whimpering in fright.

"Yeah, I reckon we- wait. . . " he stopped to listen. "Ya'll hear that?" he asked. As he turned towards the sound, his eyes grew wide at the sight of Myra speeding towards him at high speed. She leapt off the bike, and let physics do the rest of the work. The bike sped on, hitting the boar head-on and taking him with it as it barreled through the doors the thug had walked out of earlier, soon followed by a loud crash.

Myra landed next to the two cats, and immediately threw a gadget about the size of a baseball at two other bandits. The gadget immediately released a tether that attached to the bandits and slammed them together, tying them up in the process.

The brothers watched in awe at the events currently transpiring, staying close together just in case; neither of them had any reason to believe that this mysterious newcomer would be a danger to them... right?

"Whoa...!" Calvin squeaked as he watched the bandits be tied up by the tethering gadget.

The canine bandit tried to charge Myra, swinging his bat. Myra ducked under the swing, kicked him in the stomach before turning her back to him, leaving Beatbox facing him.

"Say 'cheese'!" the small robot said as he released a flash and wave of kinetic energy, knocking the bandit off his feet and flying back into another bandit, who's attire made it difficult to discern what species he was.

Of the six bandits that had originally surrounded the cats (including their leader), only the one commenting on Micah's chubbiness remained. "Well, don' you look tasty." he remarked, licking his lips and pulling out a chain whip.

"I'm not on the menu tonight." Myra retorted, getting into a fighting stance.

"I wasn' talkin' bout dinner." he leered. At that moment, another bandit joined him, also brandishing an improvised melee weapon. Calvin frowned, watching the ensuing conflict between Myra and the bandits.

"Stay here," he whispered to Micah, before quickly and silently making his way towards the two bandits, heading for the chain-wielding weasel. Once he was close enough... he lunged and sank his teeth right into the weasel's tail as hard as he could!

The weasel howled in pain and turned to see what was biting him. "Why ya liddle- I oudda- " he was cut off as Myra took the opportunity to deliver a low blow and kick him in the groin. The weasel drops to his knees, unable to do anything other than groan in agonizing pain. Myra then quickly takes out a stun gun and shoots the other bandit, incapacitating him with an electric shock.

"Thanks for the assist, lad."  Myra said to Calvin as she takes a quick look around and spots another hoverbike. It was much larger than the other bikes, and appeared to be decked out with a side car, and even a holster for some kind of large melee weapon. Given the flame paint job on the side and some other customization, it was safe to assume it belonged to the bandit leader.

"I think that'll be our ticket outta here." she said.

Calvin had backed away as soon as the weasel turned around on him, grinning cheekily as he watched Myra kick him directly in the crotch. He laughed.

"No problem!"

Micah had run over to Myra and Calvin, now, looking around nervously. But before the three could do anything else, some banging caught their attention. The boar made his way back out, brushing off dust and debris from his leather vest. He was also now brandishing a large makeshift battle hammer. The hammer was almost as intimidating as the expression on his face, which was a mix of rage and annoyance.

"Ya'll ain't goin' nowhere." he growled. "When I'm through with you, I'll make your head into a hood ornament!" he slammed the hammer down menacingly, as though to emphasize the point. Micah yelped in fright and hid behind Myra, shivering, while Calvin nervously tried to stand his ground.

"Beatbox, get that bike workin'." she said.

"You got it!" Beatbox responded, he hopped off Myra's back and quickly hovered towards the bike to hotwire it and get it started. Myra then motioned for the two cats to follow him. "Get in the side car." she told the two kids. "I'll handle this walking tub o' lard."

"The name's "Roadhog"! And it's gonna be the last name you hear!" he roared as he charged at Myra. Myra dashed forward, acting like she was going in for a slide, but stops short as Roadhog slams his hammer down. As soon as the hammer is about to hit, she jumps and uses the hammer as a footstool to jump over Roadhog's head while also dropping a grenade of some kind.

The grenade released a blinding flash and Roadhog staggered. "Gah! Can't see!!" He bellowed angrily. Meanwhile Myra quickly pulled out a cable and tied it around one of the boar's boots before running back to the motorcycle. As she did, some more bandit reinforcements started to arrive.

Beatbox continued fiddling with the wiring to get the bike started. "Hmm. . . should I connect the red wire to the blue wire, or the blue wire to the red wire?" he thought out loud. He decided to go with the latter, and was rewarded with an electric shock that made him jitter before the bike roared to life. Calvin and Micah had already climbed into the side car, waiting nervously for Beatbox to get the motorcycle going.

"Th-There's more of 'em!" Micah squeaked, pointing at the group of bandits that were headed towards Myra and Roadhog.

Myra hopped on and quickly tied the other end of the cable firmly to the back of the bike. "Alright, let's go!" she said as she took the steering handle. The her legs could barely reach the foot rests, as the bike was meant for someone much, much larger. However, she could still rev the bike to get it going and took off full throttle. Beatbox almost fell off, but managed to grab the bike's saddle in time. Calvin couldn't help but let out a whoop as the bike roared off ahead, seeming to be exhilarated by the speed. Micah just cowered down and covered his eyes, ears pinned back.

Roadhog stomped furiously, still trying to recover his vision. "Well don't just stand there!" he bellowed at his followers, "Get af-" it was at that moment he was yanked off his feet and pulled behind the hover-bike, kicking up dust and sand as he was dragged along the ground at high speed. He let out a string of curses and death threats that were drowned out by the hover-bike's obnoxiously loud motor.

The bandits looked at each other for a moment before scrambling to get in vehicles and give chase. The first one to race off after their leader was a buggy that fit three people. Four if you count one of the bandits that was crazy enough to ride on the hood of the buggy.

Micah, having cautiously peeked out of the sidecar, yelped in fright.

"Th-They're after us!" he squeaked, eyes wide. Calvin turned around and noticed the buggy... before noticing Roadhog being dragged after them, and he laughed.

"Look Micah, he's sand-sleddin'! Ha!"

Two more vehicles appeared behind the buggy, both hover-bikes. Each hover-bike had two people on it, one of them being the driver. The first hover-bike had a person waving a bat menacingly as they raced towards the bird and two cats. The second had a crossbow, trying to take aim.

The first hover-bike was starting to close in on Myra's side, with the person in the back winding up for a swing with his bat. "Hang on!" Myra called to the twins as she slammed into the aggressor, knocking them away a bit. The sudden impact caused the bandit in the back to drop his bat. He reaches over behind the bike and pulls out a crowbar instead.

Both Micah and Calvin yelped and ducked down into the side car of the motorbike as the bandit with the bat came closer to them, hugging onto each other as Myra slammed the bike into the bandit.

Roadhog about lost it when he saw Myra slam into the other hover-bike. "IF YOU IDIOTS SCRATCH THAT PAINT JOB, I SWEAR I'LL -" the boar was cut off as he got a face full of sand and dust, causing him to hack repeatedly. It wasn't entirely clear if he was yelling at Myra, his lackeys, or both.

Ignoring the boar's threats, the first hover-bike tried to slam back into Myra, but Myra quickly slowed down, causing the first hover-bike to instead move past her, and slam into the second hover-bike instead, which caused the two hover-bikes to wreck. Myra then sped back up to try to gain some distance in the confusion.

Meanwhile, the buggy was gaining on them. The little bandit on the front of the buggy  banged on the hood furiously as they approached. It was a small monkey of some sort wearing a mask. The bandit riding shotgun, tried to pull out a makeshift javelin of some sort, with some explosives tied to the tip.

Roadhog shouted furiously at his lackeys. "DON'T YOU DARE BLOW UP MY BIKE!!" he roared. The bandits couldn't hear him over the loud engine of both the bike and the buggy. Chances are if they didn't kill themselves with their reckless use of explosives, then Roadhog would.

Myra turned to look at the buggy. "Beatbox, take the wheel." She ordered. "Technically, that's not a wheel, it's a ha-" "You know what I mean!"

The little robot grabbed the handlebars and tried to keep the bike steady as Myra shifted to the back of the bike and pulled out another gadget. She threw it at the buggy.

The monkey riding on the hood caught it though, and looked at it puzzlingly. After a few moments of nothing happening, he threw it over his shoulder, causing it to land at the feet of the bandit riding in the back of the buggy, who was busy trying to mount a machine gun turret. The device detonated, releasing a cloud of ice cold energy that froze the turret and the bandit from the waist down.

The bandit holding the javelin lost his grip when the device froze part of the buggy, causing it to simply get stuck in the ground as they zoomed on. The javelin exploded a few seconds later, after everyone was well out of range.

Up ahead, the sound of a train whistle could be heard. Myra turned sharply as they approached a shallow ravine, with a hovertrain riding in it. The buggy skidded as it tried to change direction, causing it to almost veer off the ledge before resuming it's pursuit.

"Right on bloody schedule." Myra said as she took the handlebars back from Beatbox. She accelerated forward towards the train. "You two hold on tight." she ordered the twins. "We're gonna try to land on the train."

Despite his initial fear, Calvin couldn't help but peek his head up after a while, watching all the action going on around him. He was pretty excited, to be fair.

"Whoa...! This is so cool!" he cried, a big grin starting to grow on his face. Micah had resorted himself to curling up on the floor of the sidecar and whimpering, covering his face with his arms.

"Micah, check this out! It's so cool! Look at that explosion!"

He pointed at the explosion that the javelin had made; Micah just ignored him, however, too scared to even lift his head.

Myra looked ahead and realized that the train was heading towards a mountain tunnel. There would only be about a few inches of clearance between the roof of the train and the roof of the tunnel. And there was only one car on the train that had an open roof that would allow them to safely pass through. And it was the second to last car. If they missed, it'd be all over.

"Here we go! Hang on!" Myra shouted. She reved the bike to get it going as fast as possible. The buggy behind her also started increasing it's speed to give chase, until both of them shot up a dirt incline and into the air.

(Ryu, put some tension building description here plz)

The bike landed in the train car just a second before it entered the tunnel. It was not a soft landing, for anyone, and Myra had to tighten her grip to avoid being thrown off the bike. Beat-Box was less lucky, and thrown off the bike into some crates. Roadhog landed in the back of the car, crashing uncerimoniously into a bunch of cargo. He let out a muffled groan as he slid into unconsciousness.

The buggy was not so lucky. It landed on roof of the car behind, and was slammed into the mountain face at high speed, causing a deafening crash and boom as the vehicle exploded. There was a good chance that the coach car would be badly damaged, but Myra did not plan to stick around long enough for anyone to take credit for the damage.