"Hey, took your sweet time eh'?" A man half the size of Maria but nearly equally as muscular greeted them as they arrived at the western dock.
"Princess here needed a ride, he's a lot heavier than he looks." Maria laughed as she let down Free from her shoulder.
"Well, Dominick and Sophia have already deployed. Lucy's taking a piss so I'm stuck here; which means I'll give you the debrief you missed while you were gone." Gideon began to explain.
"It's a simple route, the way to the Tombstone has nothing out of the ordinary; thanks to our scout's intel." He paused, looking up at his Dunewalker.
The Dunewalker is a Bi-Pedular Multi-Purpose Desert Vehicular Unit, or DW's for short. Pilots were those trained to use the DWs to act as escorts and the muscle needed to begin operations within Tombstones. Each DW is a two-man job, with one Pilot and an Engineer on Deck, as Dunewalkers need active support to perform properly.
"One thing however was brought up from the report that we have to keep an eye out for." Gideon cleared his throat.
"The surrounding dunes are rapidly eroding, meaning there's something out here that's staked its claim."
"It better not be a Wyrm, bastards are tough as nails." Maria groaned.
"As far as the report's claimed, it likely isn't a Wyrm. But, keep your eyes peeled. Especially you greenhorn, I don't care that you were Vic's kid, you have to pull your weight out there." Gideon glared at Free.
"I passed the tests, and I've ridden with Maria before- I know what I'm doing." Free defended himself.
"Passing tests and a joyride with miss meathead over there isn't real experience."
"Hey, hey take it easy Gid, has the sun cooked your head already?" Maria tried to intervene.
"My, I leave for one minute and you're already giving someone a hard time now, Giddy?" A young girl's voice spoke from behind the group.
She was pale for a desert child, and her long flowing hair was golden like the sands. It was Lucy, Gideon's EOD.
Gideon let out a heavy sigh as he saw her come.
"More like ten minutes, and no— I'm being straight with the rookie."
"It's his first proper operation, Giddy, you're doing more harm than good." She chided.
"Fine, whatever. Anyways, we gotta go-" Gideon began to climb his DW, extending an arm down to Lucy once he had reached the cockpit.
She took his hand gracefully and he hoisted her up, sitting her in the auxiliary seat behind him.
With them both now in the machine, he turned its ignition. The DW roared to life with the clanging of cogs and the sputtering of its engine.
"All systems go, we're ready to fly, Giddy." Lucy said, she put on her goggles; they were the same color as Free's.
"Copy." Gideon noted as he pushed the joystick forward.
"Break a leg asshole!" Maria shouted over the DW's loud engine and heavy footsteps.
With a leap from the deck, Gideon and Lucy dropped down to the desert floor; the DW began to pick up speed as it ran over the sands.
"And there they go." Free said listlessly as he watched them disappear over a dune.
Maria without warning, slapped Free hard on his upper back.
"OW! What's the big idea!?" Free nearly lost his balance from the impact.
"Don't let him get to you, Gid's always been a grumpy turd." Maria said as she scratched her chin.
"Yeah, I know." Free sighed.
"Alright, less sulking, more doing; we've got to saddle up." Maria walked over to a large object that was draped over by a canvas tarp.
She pulled the tarp off, revealing her Dunewalker beneath it.
At its front was decorated the maw of a Basilisk, its sharp teeth painted over the grill of the machine.
"The others are so boring, they never want to make their DW their own— know what I mean?" Maria smiled as she looked at her painted handiwork.
"I don't think it'll fool anybody out there, but yeah— I know what you mean." Free gave a slight smile.
Maria clambered up the DW with her one arm, hopping into the cockpit with ease. She then leaned over, and like Gideon, stretched out her arm below.
"You EOD's are always so lanky. If it weren't for us Pilots, how the hell would you get in?" She jokingly mocked.
"I don't know, ask Dominick and his EOD." Free rebutted.
"Yeah, you make a good point; I don't know how the hell they do it." Maria chuckled.
Free was hoisted up easily by Maria, and scrambled into his auxiliary seat.
The auxiliary cockpit unlike the Pilots, had no controls that maneuvered the DW. But it did have a quick-release chassis that lowered the EOD below the cockpit to access the lower joints and internals of the DW.
Free noticed a glimmer in the corner of his eye in the cockpit's open glovebox.
He reached his hand into it, and from it, he pulled out a strange-looking hunk of iron.
"Ah, you found it. Yeah, that was your old man's." Maria softly spoke.
"What is it? I've never seen anything like it before." Free asked.
"It's a gun, pre-Big Flash tech; old as dirt, but built to last like a DW." Maria explained as she flipped switches and readied the DW for the leap-off.
Free held it up in the air, it shone under the sunlight; he could see his reflection in its metal. Unlike the current guns that were handmade by engineers called Rigs due to their jury-rigged design, this one had a solid and artful design to it; an inherit beauty in its concept. In the pre-Big Flash world, it was called a Colt 45.
Free looked at its hilt and saw a single initial carved into its wood; V.
"Thanks, you didn't have to." Free sheepishly told Maria.
"Vic would kick my ass if I didn't give his fancy gun to his only kid, just make sure to make every bullet count though; there's only five left in the chamber."
"Five? What happened to the sixth bullet?" Free undid the gun's mechanism, showing her the cylinder's sixth empty cell.
"Only fair that I got to test it out first, Vic would've insisted. And it's got a good kick, just letting you know!" Maria cackled.
"Yeah, it's only fair. Well, I hope I'll never need to use the rest." Free smiled as he closed the cylinder and stuck the revolver down his tool belt; it fit perfectly.
"Ready?" Maria put on her Pilot's helmet, it had the words "Desert Bitch" written crudely on the side; the helmet wrapped around her face like a welding mask.
"Punch it." Free put on his goggles and held onto the safety bars in his side of the cockpit.
Maria pushed her joystick forward, and with it, the DW began to walk. It had the cadence of a long-extinct reptile from the ancient past, what the DWs were designed after from its original creators.
"Leaping! Don't bite your tongue, this ain't your regular kiddy ride GAHAHA!" Maria maniacally howled as the DW ran into a sprint, leaping high into the air and off the Crawler's dock.
"Gramps was right, this is already really FAAAST!!!" Free screamed as they both reached the apex of the leap, experiencing the terrifying speed firsthand that the DW was capable of with the free fall.