The prodigal vehicle brought them through empty roads with blind turns, and as Aimee had requested, Mia had driven clear through three dead-ends. Yuruko & Jeanne had spent the night prior creating a set of off-road tires, and they were back to civilization now, the interstate sparse ahead.
"Can -we- get fast food?" said Yuruko, sat mid-left and trying her luck with the new driver.
"No." said Mia.
Last time they had tried to order fast-food on this trip, Aimee had pulled in to a McDonalds, up to the drive-thru, and said: "One coffee, black, please." It had been an eighth wonder of the world no one tried to drag her out of the van.
"She won't even get our hopes up." murmured Samuel, back-left.
"Check out that billboard, there." said Serena, back-right, and the six checked out that billboard there.
"Now leaving? What's up?" said Aimee.
"No, not that one, the one behind -"
" - oh man, the religious ones?" said Yuruko, and Aimee winced, knowing that tithe well.
"Yeah." said Serena. "Isn't it pretty bad when the first thing you see driving in to somewhere is someone telling you to pray?"
[I don't usually do OOC comments, so you know this is important - if you can, look up "Yakuza Ultimate Road Rage Extended" and play it while reading this, it makes it 100x better. Road-fights are easier to constant-action with music.]
The six laughed. The van peeled up a hill in the road, and as they crested over the peak -
- there, twenty seconds ahead, a hundred cars stopped in place; instantly the six's Revenants formed, and as they pulled closer in, Mia slowed the van down -
- and a shriek from Serena filled the van; followed by Samuel's, Jeanne's and Yuruko's -
" - faster!" shouted Aimee, ripping her vision back -
- and saw the four's heads starting to disintegrate, skin and blood turning to dust; with a pant of fear, Mia sped up -
- and the dust reformed to their flesh and blood, leaving them unharmed. The traffic jam was fast approaching ahead, only five seconds now -
" - don't - don't slow down, okay?" said Aimee.
The six peeled down their windows. From the jam ahead erupted a sports car, shooting sixty miles an hour towards them and making for a head-on collision -
" - Worldwide!"
- but with the speed of Swarm, a cloud of ice scarabs formed a ramp of ice for the van, narrowly avoiding the collision, driving on a bridge of ice now and over the jam.
"Fuck - how many fucking?!" shouted Aimee, hundreds of cars clogging the road below, hundreds of occupants dead.
"I - can't keep this ice going for long!" shouted Mia, the bridge of ice growing thinner by the second.
"Aimee - enhance me!" shouted Samuel, his voice whipping like Matoi's. "Mia - go down the far left lane! Least amount of cars!"
With the speed of time, Aimee swept her hand back to Samuel's, blue tendrils for the blue gauntlet. The last of Mia's ice scarabs peeled a ramp down to the far left lane, their path soon to be blocked by cars ahead -
- and blue ghastly hands ripped the automobiles from their path, tearing and throwing them all around, Mia's eyes on the road as she kept a steady 60 down the far left lane.
"Will say - when exhausted." grunted Samuel, Matoi's conditioning serving him well.
"He's coming back!" shouted Serena, and as the ones not busy turned their eyes back -
- they saw the familiar sports car crashing through the jam behind, smashing and tearing through vans and trucks at a constant 60.
"Gotta be his Revenant. That car keeps constant speed." said Jeanne.
"Just like that movie." chimed Yuruko, relevantly.
"Then if I can go past sixty - FUCK!" shouted Mia, and Aimee groaned as she saw the gas meter.
"Low on gas - city up ahead, too - we can't let this fucking thing reach a city full of people." said Aimee, and in the next instant -
- a murder of dead crows landed on their windshield; Mia shrieked surprised, the sudden corpses blocking their vision -
"- Dream - non-stick!"
- but a spray of Dream ahead, and the corpses slid off the windshield and off the hood.
"He's - got some control over it, right?" said Yuruko, undoing her seatbelt to lean over to Jeanne, catching the cars right, no drivers or passengers to be seen. "To - not disintegrate those, right?"
"But he still might - wait, I've got something." said Jeanne, poking her head out the window, their foe three seconds behind. "Dream - water!"
A spray of Dream behind, and the road ahead of their foe turned to water-road; the unexpected counter was too swift for it, and as it landed head-first in the sudden pool -
- Jeanne sighed as she saw the car erupt out the pool and land behind, dripping water-road, still three seconds away. "Never gonna slow."
"City limits in fucking - ugh - 5 miles ahead, there's gotta be - exit up right? Do we risk it?" panted Aimee, utterly aghast.
"Focus on - us, right?" said Serena, and the six nodded.
"There's - god, fuck these fucking Revenants - I'll look up if there's an airport, yeah? Long area? Any other ideas?" said Aimee, taking her phone from her pocket with her free hand, tendrils still on Samuel -
" - can't - keep much more -" panted Samuel; with no time to waste, another ramp&bridge of ice formed. The van took it direct up, and as their foe took the same path -
- a swarm of fire scarabs melted the ice to liquid, dunking him to the lane below.
But the city was fast approaching ahead, a left curve ahead, cars suddenly stopping below. A second ramp of ice brought them below again, at the front of the pack now. Ahead was the left curve they were helpless to take, and as they turned at ludicrous speed -
"UNDER CONSTRUCTION?!" shouted Mia, the closing-to-one-lane road like a concrete nightmare. They passed the construction crew to their right, and didn't bother to see the assured disintegration as their foe's car came up behind.
And to their horror, the lane curved again in to the city streets, cars parked next to sidewalks, skyscrapers flanking them as they revved down the street, intersections at regular intervals.
"G-God - fuck." panted Mia, seeing the hundreds of civilians on the sidewalks around disintegrated, blown to dust in an instant.
"Bad - bad." winced Yuruko, and Aimee shot up.
"Schultzy - take the - third turn, keep going straight until I tell you to, yeah? Focus. You've got this."
"Alright."
"Airport. Better clearing than -" - Aimee winced as Mia avoided narrowly a fender bender with a slowing car - " - this."
"And our gas." said Jeanne. "Looks pretty low…"
"Hey, what side's the gas tank on?" said Serena.
"Right!" said Aimee, and Serena nodded as Mia turned right -
" - left!" said Mia.
Serena blinked. "Uh. Is it right or left?"
"Uh - left." said Jeanne, peeking at the gas meter ahead. "Arrow points to it."
Serena nodded. "Uh - please don't take any turns while I'm out there."
She undid her seatbelt, and crawled over to Samuel; catching the trend quick, he grabbed her by her ankles, starting to dip her out of the window. A peel of the gas tank open, and as her black fog swept down her hand -
- it was dispersed behind as if by the wind. Samuel pulled her back in -
" - it - it fucking - disperses?!" shouted Serena. "I - I can do the fucking gas - but -"
" - left!" shouted Aimee, and Mia peeled past the corner and on to the curb, sidewalk below bumping them now. The skyscrapers grew sparse around, and the housing poorer, last screams filling the air, civilians disintegrating before their eyes.
"Samuel, put me back there!" shouted Yuruko, and Serena felt a tinge of envy for the boar as she crawled up, and he dipped her out the window. A swift sweep of her gloved hands -
" - right!" shouted Aimee, and as the van curved -
- Yuruko was thrown on Serena's lap, suddenly holding a hose - her eyes widened as Serena gasped in pain -
" - are you okay - "
" - this - really the time?!" panted Serena, cheeks red as she filled the hose with gas.
Aimee laughed with relief as the gas meter filled, and Yuruko laughed as she slumped beside Serena.
Their foe followed behind as they peeled out the street, and another turn brought them on to another highway, three seconds separating them and he. The airport was ahead on the distance, a raised monorail on the right.
And another groan escaped Mia as she saw every lane packed with cars, suddenly stopping and sliding mid-drive -
" - hold on!" she shouted, and another ramp of ice formed, tires skidding as she sought a path to the monorail, driving up -
- and the six screamed as they heard their back-right tire pop, a panicked set of icicles having pierced it, sashaying wildly out of control -
" - Aimee - enhance!" shouted Yuruko, and as Aimee's tendrils entered her palm -
- for Yuruko, the world slowed as if a reflection in a disturbed pond.
'Oh man, that's fucking neat.'
With a shake of her head, she dipped her legs out the window, wincing in preparation as her boots tapped the hole in the tire -
- and to her relief, For-Medicinal-Use-Only repaired the hole with new rubber. She yanked her legs back in, and time resumed.
"Got it?" said Aimee, as the van slid down on to a path of ice above the monorail, the airport still ahead, their foe below on the highway beside.
"That - should give some time. Less to worry about - I'll - drive off if needed." said Mia, sweeping eyes back to search for a train. "Only one obstacle to deal with, I can - can one of you cover his car in gasoline?"
"Gonna enhance?" said Aimee, Yuruko forming another hose in hand, readying to drip gas on to the speedster below.
"Of course."
Serena filled the hose with gas, and Yuruko dipped it out the window -
- and laughed together as the gas blew far behind their intended foe, the wind dispersing it like the fog.
"Thank god I've got experience guiding liquids." murmured Samuel, and ghastly hands guided the gas down, dousing their foe's car in the foul liquid. "You wanna know how Matoi trained me for that?"
"Not really!" said Mia, and as a swarm of fire scarabs blew down below, Aimee's tendrils in her hand -
- a pillar of blue flame erupted below, setting the entire car alight, and as the sports car burnt to ash -
" - are you fucking kidding me?!" shouted Yuruko, leaning over to see the spectacle below -
- and there, the man himself still ran at 60mph, the flames doused as he rushed along the road.
"That's some dedication." murmured Jeanne, the van still riding the rail, reaching near the monorail's station now, the airport's main building titanic and wide right, the runway ahead.
"We'll take the runway." winced Mia, five seconds separating them and the dead-end now. "Don't - hold on!"
"Uh, do you mean hold -"
- another ramp of ice launched them up over the station; a second slope of ice formed mid-air, and they started sliding down at ludicrous speed, approaching the end of the runway horizontal below, five seconds ahead.
"We'll have to - I'll turn right once we enter, and if we can cut him off -"
- and a groan of exhaustion passed her as she saw a 747 readying for launch, making for a collision down where they would land, two seconds away -
" - just keep going! Got it!" shouted Jeanne.
The van hit the ground fast, and as the plane's wheels threatened to tap their side -
- a blue spray turned the wheels to water-wheels, and out from underneath the white beast burst the van, peeling sharp right as the plane collapsed behind.
And from the airport behind burst out the blond man, peeling sharp right, pursuing and gaining speed by the second.
"No cutting him off." groaned Mia. "We can't keep this up forever."
Only twenty seconds separated them and the end of the runway now, water up ahead.
"Any - any ideas?" panted Aimee, seeing their foe still running like the wind behind.
"Worldwide - Samuel, throw this." said Mia, handing an icicle back. He took it, threw it out the window and back, and as ghastly hands guided the projectile through the air -
- the keen end pierced through their foe's brain and eyes; but he was fired to unholy durability, only ten seconds separating the six from death ahead -
" - Aimee - enhance!" shouted Samuel; Aimee swept her hands back, her tendrils on Samuel's left gauntlet. His hands shot out the window and to the door's handle, grunting and tearing ferociously at it -
- and as a man might snap a wishbone, tore it clear off. He threw it behind, and as the bizarre projectile skidded on the road behind -
" - Outcast!"
- ghastly hands guided the projectile through the air, ripping at the metal and forming a solid point -
- that cleaved their foe's torso in half in a geyser of crimson; the halves slid and skidded, became rigid.
"Is - is that it?!" shouted Mia, glancing back for a second -
" - SCHULTZY!" panted Aimee, gripping the steering wheel and veering sharp right away, and as they dipped below 60 -
- six sighs of relief filled the van as no harm came. Mia turned as fast as she could back, readying for a direct burn on the halves ten seconds ahead.
"He - might be luring us in to a false sense of security." chimed Mia, attempting humor to soothe her embarrassment.
"I - enhance." said Aimee, hand on her girlfriend, as it often was.
Five seconds.
"Man - imagine if we died like that." Yuruko laughed.
"Save it." murmured Jeanne. "Just wait for -"
- and as they passed the carcasses, a spray of blue flame burnt them to ash, not even his heart left. Six cheers filled the van as Mia revved slowly down, the six safe. "Oh my fucking -"
" - god -" panted Aimee. "What is with these fucking Revenants?"
"It's a lot." winced Jeanne. "I've never even fought shit like this before."
Aimee shook her head. "…ugh. Just gotta calm down. Schultzy, uh… let's stop at the airport."
"Don't crash." murmured Jeanne, relevantly.
The six sat there for a while as Mia drove to the front of the airport. They didn't speak until their breath was back.
"…Aimee, do you think it's the group we -- in January?" said Mia.
"There's no way, right? The shit they sent at us - why wouldn't they just send it then?" Aimee sighed. "Ugh. Guys."
"Guy." said Samuel and the five women laughed.
"Can you destroy their Revenants, whenever we run in to them? Just -- from now on. Something like that, uh... shouldn't exist. Something with that effect."
Mia sighed as they started driving again.
"Staying at the airport tonight?" said Jeanne.
"Yeah." Aimee sighed. "Ugh. Gonna ask Renault about these Revenants. Maybe just, names or something."
"I think we have to let other airports, uh, know not to land." said Yuruko.
"Yeah, but we can steal all their $5 bottles of water." said Jeanne.