Easy Rider

<snip>
Franky/Jaxx pondered for a bit as he rubbed his chin in deep thought before he replied, “Oceans to Murgatroyd even, I may have a plan if your two kids are interested. If you have noticed my cute apprentice has a cute girlfriend who loves watching movies and believe it or not some of them have a very similar situation even. All we need to do is sneak over and steal their hover bikes even.” Jay looked at Franky/Jaxx and asked, “But then half of them will chase after us.” Franky/Jaxx smiled as he gave a head jiggle and replied, “That’s right flyboy.” Jay ran a few thoughts in his head has he realized were Franky/Jaxx was going. Then Jay said, “So you want two of us to lure half of them away as bait and then pick them off one at a time while one stays behind to take out the remaining members.” Franky/Jaxx smiled as he replied, “Jaxx was right you are good at this stuff.” Jay then replied, “It’s a risky plan since one of us has to stay behind, not to mention we may run into another Haruk patrol even. Since you sweet kids are both are quite skilled with machines and teamwork it may be best for you both to lead the diversion while I stay behind even. That is unless your girlfriend has a better idea?” Franky/Jaxx gave Cass a feminine smile and a wink.#
<end snip>

“I…” Cass began, but it was too late. Jay had grabbed her wrist and was leading her off into the trees.
“Are we not even going to talk about this?” she asked as Jay led her away.
“What’s to talk about?” Jay said.
“You’re going along with a plan that JAXX came up with. Think about that for a minute. JAXX….The plan is stupid, dangerous and reckless…I...”
“I know right?” Jay said “I love it.”
“..but..”
“SSSH” Jay said “We’re getting close…”
The pair had circled around the scavengers, moving through the trees unseen and were now only a few feet from the grav-bikes. Jay leant around a tree, checking out the crash site from a fresh angle. The bikes sat just beyond the tree line, alongside the divot that had been gorged into the ground when the drive room crash landed.
He glanced back at Cass, a fist raised and raising one finger at a time, silently counted to three.
One…Two….NOW!
The pair moved, and each climbed onto a grav bike.
Jay immediately sped off, the howl of the bikes thrusters filling the air and making the scavengers turn to see what had happened, only to see Cass struggling to get the bike started.
Jay realised she wasn’t with him and circled around through the trees and pulled up back to the left of her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’ve no idea how to fly this thing!” she snapped.
“It’s a grav bike, you ride it, not fly it…”
“NOT HELPING!”
“Hit the starter”
Cass hit what she thought was the starter, and two orbs of blue energy fired from the front of the bike.
“Pulse cannons!” Jay said “Cool! Look” he said, demonstrating on his own bike “Starter, clutch, throttle and…” he pointed at her left foot “Gears and..” he pointed at his right foot “Brake…now GO!”
He sped off again.
Cass managed to start the bike and set off, wobbling in the air. She twisted the throttle and the nose of the bike lurched upwards, and jolted forward, stalling. Managing to keep it upright she started the engine again and this time managed to pull away. As she began to build up speed she found herself bobbing slowly toward the ground until the bikes nose was scraping across the ground. Wobbling from side to side.
Jay pulled up again.
“Now what?” he asked impatiently.
“I CAN’T RIDE THIS THING!”
“Grab that” he said pointing at the rifle that was stowed on the side of Cass’s bike “And jump on..” he nodded toward the pillion seat on his own bike.
She obliged and clambered onto the back seat of Jay’s bike and no sooner had she sat down than Jay pulled away at full speed, whizzing through the trees, missing them by mere inches.
The scavengers were pursuing now, having made it to the remaining bikes and a hover-jeep.
“I could use a gunner…” Jay shouted above the roar of the engines. Cass twisted to try to aim at the pursuers but couldn’t frame them in her sights. Instead she deftly threw both legs up and over the bike and twisted on the spot so that she was facing backward.
She let off a few shots. The two forward most riders dodged to the side evading her first couple of shots, but the third was unlucky and took a blast of plasma to the chest, tumbling off the bike.
Jay glanced around and spotted a grav-bike on each side, just the other side of a row of trees each creeping in front of him. Up ahead the tree lines ended almost simultaneously and he knew that they were going to try to catch him in a scissor motion.
As he got to the end of the tree lines the other two bikes emerged too, and he slammed on the brakes, Cass slipping backward along the seat and bumping into the back of him. The two bikes were now directly in front and Jay let off a few shots from the pulse cannons sending the smoking shells of the blockading bikes spiralling to the ground. He hit the throttle again, Cass struggling to stay on the back of the bike. She got her balance back and threw off a few more shots taking out another couple of riders, but wasn’t able to stop another pair getting closer and trying to get Jay’s bike in their sights.
Jay spotted them in the rear view however, and suddenly, without warning veered left. The pursuing pair couldn’t react in time and collided with a tree as they turned too wide to keep up with Jay.
“Do you mind?” Cass asked as she was nearly thrown off again. The only response she got was Jay suddenly pulling back on the controls and sending the bike into a climb as an oncoming bike slipped underneath, narrowly missing them. Jay twisted the bike in the air before gravity kicked in pulling it back down. The bike now faced back the way it had come, nose down, Jay accelerated, and pulled up again just before hitting the ground, setting off again at full speed, back toward the last two riders and the jeep. He opened up the pulse cannons again, taking out the riders, before banking to the side and letting the jeep speed past. Cass took aim, and let loose a burst of fire. Several shots ploughed through the jeeps weak armour and plunged into the fuel tank. The fuel ignited, and exploded, sending the jeep rolling tail-over-bonnet off into the trees.
Jay eased off the throttle and came to a halt looking back over his shoulder.
“See.” He said to Cass “What was so hard about that?”
<tag!>