Pepper opened the door for Amprage who jumped up into the small cab of the truck. The metal golem clambered his way into the back seat area, while Pepper entered and began to get situated. He clicked his seat belt on and then noticed a small cooler at his feet.
“I see you are already stocked up for the road trip.” Pepper said. He dashed a quick glance over at his dad and couldn’t help but notice the large smile on his face.
"You have no idea. Those are the re-supplies.” Trent shifted his hand down to the cup holders and guided Pepper’s gaze. There in the center console were two metal cans that appeared to be chilled to the perfect temperature. A slightly frosted coating on the exterior as if his dad had placed them in the freezer for a short period of time before pulling them out.
His dad plucked one out of its holder and looked at the can. “This one is… Mango Madness.”
Pepper knew instantly that mango madness was the new flavor of Big D Energy that his neighbor Ryan had been ranting and raving about. He then recalled seeing his dad load up two distinct boxes in the back of the truck bed the day before and that’s when it clicked.
“You haven’t tried one of those yet, have you?” He asked.
His dad grinned. “Nope.” A slight shake of his head, but without delay he popped the top open and took a swig. He swallowed it down and let out a loud sigh, but… he didn’t say anything either.
Pepper grinned. “It tastes terrible doesn’t it.”
His dad twisted his head and grimaced for a quick second before chuckling. “That tastes like straight bat urine right there.”
Pepper began to chuckle, and he shook his head. No point in suffering alone. He thought. His hand reached over and grabbed hold of his can, cracked it open and took a big swig. His tongue was instantly assaulted with a sharp, sour, bitter taste of something he didn’t know how to describe. He commanded his mouth to swallow and force the cold liquid down and then looked at his dad. “Ryan really needs to have some type of quality control process before he puts some of these flavors into production.”
His dad nodded in agreement. “It’s more like pure lemon juice with a splash of mango but then your sipping it through a dirty, sweaty, gym sock. If this energy drink company doesn’t take off he could probably shift his skills over to the military.” His dad twisted the can around and glanced down at it still in his hand. “I’m pretty sure we could use this concoction as a chemical warfare agent against the demons. This drink seems more diabolical than them even.”
The two laughed and then Trent shifted the truck into gear, and they slowly rolled down the street. They slowly navigated through town until they eventually got onto Highway 131 and drove south. Pepper couldn’t help but look at the old stereo system display in the truck, the time read 03:42 in the morning.
His dad reached his hand out and started to punch away at the old stereo system. A few seconds later the distinct sound of his dad’s classical music began to play over the speaker system. Pepper couldn’t help but notice his dad’s hands tap away to the beat on the steering wheel.
What did surprise him was hearing what sounded like a racoon in a trash compactor as his dad screamed along to the music. “Crawling in my skin! These wounds, they will, not heal!”
Pepper felt like his eyes were about to pop right out of his sockets. The entire experience was one he was not prepared for, regardless of what time of day it was. He watched as his dad quickly glanced over at him and returned a confused expression.
“Oh, come on, don’t give me that look.” His father protested. “Do you realize how long I have waited for a guy’s road trip like this?”
The question caught Pepper off guard, for he couldn’t recall ever hearing his dad talk about such a topic before. But, now he was curious to know more and prompted him further. “Oh?”
Trent grinned and lifted his hand up as if the answer was obvious. “Well yeah, what dad doesn’t want to do an epic road trip with his sons…” As soon as the word left his father’s lips, he heard the hesitation come over him. It took him a second and then he corrected it. “Well… son.”
Trent reached down and took another sip of the bitter energy drink, but then continued. “I always wanted to do something like this with you guys. You, me, Trevor. A vast open road with nothing but adventure awaiting us. No plans, no destination. Just us guys being guys, talking about guy stuff and... you know… being men.” His dad finished with a few grunts to emphasize his point.
The entire moment was nothing but cringe for Pepper and he felt it was almost a CIA torture technique to get him to confess or share whatever information they were after. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but relate to his dad. He now realized how something as simple as a road trip could have such a deeper sentiment to a father. And the more he thought about it, the more he wished Trevor was still alive to be with them in this moment.
“But… that’s life. We can’t fight it. Hell, God knows I sure have tried. Many, many, many times. The more you try to control something, the more you see it slip away from you. So, you just have to make the best out of what you’ve got. There’s you, me, and Amp. So, we’ll just make the best of this road trip and take it one mile at a time.”
Pepper watched his dad take a quick look at him and they each smiled at one another. “Sounds good dad.”
Trent turned back to the music and started to sing along to the new song that had begun to play. Pepper chuckled and realized it was one of the songs he recalled listening to as a kid growing up. He threw caution to the wind and joined his dad. They both butchered the song with a rendition the world would be grateful for never hearing. “I tear my heart open; I sew myself shut! And my weakness is, that I care too much.”
***
Pepper felt his body shift forward. A loud screeching sound of tires was mixed with bellowing screams of alarm. His eyes burst open and his hands immediately reached to brace himself.
“AHHHH!” His dad stilled screamed but it quickly turned into a rolling laughter.
To Peppers amazement even Amprage got in on the cruel prank and was also laughing uncontrollably. He reached up and grabbed hold of his chest, his heart pounding within it. He started to take long breaths to try and calm himself as he realized there was no danger.
His dad finally composed himself. “Man, I’ve been wanting to do that for so long now. A good old break check never gets old.”
Pepper slowly turned his head and glared back at him. It took a few minutes for the resentment to start to fade and he decided to distract himself with looking out the window. “Where are we?” He finally asked.
“Just south of Indianapolis. A small town called Columbus. I figured we’d make a stop in Seymour. Stretch our legs a little bit, grab a bite to eat even.”
“Sounds good.” Pepper replied. He twisted around as best as he could to stretch out in his seat.
Before long they pulled into a restaurant and grabbed a table in the far corner. Amprage was the center of attention and people swarmed to see him. Many asked to take photos and his familiar enjoyed being the main attraction.
It wasn’t until they went to leave that Pepper and his dad had a moment truly to themselves. Trent offered him a turn behind the wheel and Pepper accepted. The drive south was a smooth one and Pepper was able to get his dad to start sharing more stories from his time in the military during the rift war.
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All the stories his dad mentioned though, were all focused on his daily life during that time. The men and women he served alongside, and of course the one or two pranks they used to pull on one another. It was an odd thing for Pepper, for he just didn’t understand how one could be at war to save humanity, but still turned towards humor by teasing and pranking one another.
The thing that Pepper did delight in was seeing how much his dad enjoyed the time spent with him. He was even surprised to discover that his dad was previously engaged to another woman. How his father used to sneak out at night and meet up with her at a mutual friend’s house. The two-spending time together out back around a firepit.
Pepper couldn’t help but wonder if there may be a deeper meaning behind the fire pit they now had in their backyard. It was rare to ever see his mom sit outside at it, but his dad was perfectly happy to sit there by himself. There was a slight twinkle in his father’s eye, but he didn’t pry any further.
They final arrived in the North Druid Hills community and Trent made the slow turn down Berkeley Ln NE. The pine trees scattered throughout the area helped give Pepper a connection to home. His eyes then caught the soft yellow coloration of the house he had rented and he pointed to inform his dad.
“When is Mala supposed to arrive again?” His dad asked while pulling into the driveway and putting their truck in park.
“The guy said it could be another two days. I guess it is all dependent on the other pickups and deliveries they have along the route.” He replied.
They each took a second to stretch once they got out of the truck. Pepper then loaded up the rental instructions he had received from a few days back and quickly followed the process to unlock the house. The home was clean and smelled of lemon, lavender and clean sheets.
Pepper couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched Amprage trot over to the couch. The golem jumped up and curled into a spot he now claimed to be his own. He curiously opened the fridge and was happy to see that it was freshly stocked with groceries. A quick shift over to the freezer to find a few frozen take home pizzas and ice cream.
“Dang, I lucked out with renting this place.” He exclaimed. His hand grabbed hold of the first pizza, and he quickly turned the oven on to prep dinner.
His dad then walked in and discovered what he was doing. “Well, that’s nice to see they hooked us up with a pie.”
“They loaded us up with like, four or so in there.” Pepper replied and motioned his head towards the freezer.
“Well shoot, cook up two of them things. That second leg of the trip sure brought on an appetite.” His dad started to walk towards the second half of the house. “And now on to test out the plumbing in this place.”
“Gross dad.” Pepper muttered as he ripped the wrapping off the pizzas and shoved them in. He threw the boxes away and was about to walk off and inspect the rest of the home when he realized he didn’t read over the cooking instructions. A slight shake of his head and he returned to the garbage can and retrieved the discarded box. His eyes navigated the instructions and then corrected the oven settings. “Well, we were on the verge of eating two bricks.”
He let out a short sigh of relief and then made his way into the backyard. It was the workshop that had been built onto the property over the past three years that attracted him to this location. The advertisement specifically worded to entice Golem League renters.
The large workshop was practically three times the size of his at home. A large roll up garage door was on the front of the structure with a small access door on either side. The workshop was a candy red color that was a major contrast in comparison to the house. Pepper hated it, but that was a small detail compared to what greater matter at hand.
He glanced back over the rental instructions and found the access code for the workshop. It was different from the house and that was a detail Pepper liked. He thought about the fact that he could give instructions to delivery drivers to leave parts for Mala in the workshop and not run the risk of giving away the home access. But that also caused him to chuckled. Mala was more valuable than anything else he owned.
The workshop floor was a smooth concrete poured floor. In the center there was a floor lift and also an overhead hoist system. That was the main draw that brought Pepper here. The Langdon 100 MGR was one of the highest rated at home service riggs a competitor could own.
Pepper had spent practically two days scouring the Golem Chat message boards, specifically targeting people who claimed to be Regional League gladiators. His search isolated the few chat logs which talked about at home service centers. The members boasted about how they felt more efficient in getting repair work done once the Langdon 100 MGR was installed.
There were some photos that were posted. An attempt to prove that what the person was saying was true and factual. But, Pepper also knew that even that could have been a part of a ruse. He did as much investigation on the system as he could, but finally reminded himself that he would just have to make a decision and then move on from there.
Along the sides of the workshop were high polished, all metal work benches. There were rubber mats placed at different portions of the work bench and more power outlets than Pepper could count. Additionally, there was a mobile maintenance platform located at the far end of the shop. The metal structure was originally designed to be used by mechanics working on aircraft. They were soon adopted for service working on the militaries mech walkers and the Golem League followed soon after.
Pepper walked over to the three large tool chests on the left side of the room. He grabbed hold of the black service drawer and pulled it open. He was surprised by his discovery when the high gloss of brand-new Watkins Toolsets greeted him. The American built tools were well known to be reliable. He curiously opened every single one and found that each was filled with the high-end line of tools. All except a middle section of two drawers. Those remained emptied and Pepper just assumed those were deliberately left that way so that he could place his own personal ones within them.
He closed the drawers and then turned towards the back of the structure. A set of metal stairs on the left gave access to a small metal platform. Pepper walked up and saw that there wasn’t anything special about this second tier. Its purpose was to serve more as open storage than anything else.
He couldn’t help but notice there were a few cardboard boxes placed in the far corner. As he approached his eyes saw what looked to be a few personal items the homeowners had tucked away. There were a few trinkets such as scholarly trophies and awards. An old leather baseball glove, which caused Pepper to huff since he couldn’t remember the last time, he had even seen one in person. But the one thing he took notice of was the family portrait.
His hands brough the framed photo closer into view. A family of eight stood together, their arms all intermixed with being wrapped around shoulders, a few of the girls giving side hugs to the guys who stood there. One of the younger men in the photo even ensured they had picked up the German shepherd to make sure they were in the photo as well.
There was no way for Pepper to tell when exactly the photo was taken. But for some reason he felt like it was a photo taken long before the rift war. He grinned and then gently placed the photo back inside the opened box. He stood back up just in time to be startled, nearly out of his skin.
His dad’s voice called out to him from the access door. “Wow, look at this thing. You could practically park a helicopter in here.”
Pepper made his way down the set of metal stairs while his dad approached. They both met at the final area Pepper had not made it to yet, which also happened to be just below where he had been a few seconds prior. A small seating area with a coffee table at the center. A holoscreen, microwave, sink, and small fridge all set in the back right corner of the structure.
“Shoot, only thing you need in here is a toilet.” Trent said while his head swiveled around and took it all in. “Heck, you could just pee around the back corner of the workshop, and nobody would know the difference.”
“Uh, I dunno about that happening. But… yeah, this place is pretty great, right? Like… It seems to have everything that I really need?” He asked.
His dad nodded, “I’d say so. They got a washer and dryer in there. The master bedroom and bathroom are really nice, and you still have the other two bedrooms and bathrooms. Heck, you could probably rent those out to two others and save a few Flex here and there.”
The light bulb came on as soon as his dad made the suggestion. He hadn’t really thought about that idea until just now. It was tempting, especially because he didn’t know for sure how much he would be able to make in the Regional League, or how many matches he would be able to compete in while making repairs to Mala.
The few gladiators who were open and honest in the Golem Chat forums did mention part time jobs. They suggested a few weekend shifts bartending, or even doing Rover Rides to earn a few extra Flex. But none of those options appealed to Pepper. He figured he could always try to get himself re-established locally with repairing rune cards as he had been doing for Rhino.
He smiled and returned from his wondering thoughts. “Guess I’ll just have to wait and see.”
“That’s true. No need to rush into things. That small advance Ryan gave you should cover you for at least two to three months.”
“That gift you also gave me…” Pepper emphasized, and his dad waved him off with his hand. “Well, you certainly didn’t have to do that either, and that helps just as much also.”
"Don’t even mention it Pep. That’s just an extra weekend shift at Nordon’s.”
“A few extra weekend shifts you mean.”
His dad lifted his hands up dismissively, “Who’s counting.” Trent then rotated his wrist down and noticed the time on his small holodex. “Alright, those pies should be done and it’s perfect because my stomach is grumbling. Let’s go.”
The two got up and left the workshop behind them. A few moments later and they found themselves devouring the classic Italian dish while watching the classic guy movie, Black Hawk Down. It was a perfect way to wind down from the long journey to a new and exciting opportunity.