They said goodbye to the capital and headed back home. After they got a ways from the city, the traffic disappeared and Chuck was able to speed up. Raz seemed to be used to the speed now and was enjoying himself. Tess was back to her diminutive form and listening to music with Maz. Everything was going fine until he saw something in the distance.
As they got closer, he could tell it was two wagons parked across the road with several people standing around. Clearly it was a road block and Chuck had a pretty good idea what they wanted. He stopped well away from the bandits and weighed his options. He could probably go right through them but he didn’t want to risk damaging the pickup, plus Raz was in the back. He could also just go around them fairly easily. There was just a small ditch on either side of the road and tall grass. The wagons had thin wooden wheels so they probably had to be careful going off road but he didn’t have that problem.
One of them was yelling something so he turned the stereo off to hear. It was too feint to trigger his translator so he asked Tess what they were saying. “He is telling us to throw down our weapons and give them the golem if we want to live.” She translated. The one speaking was a well dressed lizard kin but he couldn’t tell if it was the same one that accosted them at the auction. Not that it really mattered since they obviously worked for the same person. The rest were orcs and wolves. “Chuck, be careful. That one looks like a mage.” Tess said, pointing to a hooded figure that was carrying a staff.
To prove her right, the leader said something to the mage and pointed in our direction. The mage raised the staff and a basketball sized fireball shot out and hit the ground, exploding 10 feet in front of the pickup. Chuck winced as gravel and dirt pelted the truck. “Looks like we have our first target. Don’t worry, they won’t risk damaging the golem.” Chuck said, turning to Tess. He grabbed his rifle from behind the seat and opened his door.
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The leader yelled something else but Chuck ignored him, taking careful aim at the mage. He calmed his breathing and pulled the trigger. The mage’s head whipped backward in a spray of blood. The bandits looked shocked as the mage was shot and fell over. Chuck switched targets to the leader who was also staring open mouthed at the dead mage. He pulled the trigger again and the leader dropped to the ground, joining the mage in the afterlife.
The rest of the bandits took cover behind the wagons. Chuck put the rifle down and drew his laser pistol. He switched it to continuous beam mode and walked forward, aiming at the wagon wheels. He moved the beam across each wagon, destroying two wheels on each one. He wasn’t sure if he hit anyone behind the wagons or not but didn’t care. After he was done he got back in the truck and drove around the roadblock. It looked like there were still a few bandits still alive but they just cowered in fear and Chuck ignored them. He hoped this would send a message to their boss not to mess with him.
Tess called him a hero again and promised to give him a special reward once they got home which he was looking forward to. The rest of the journey home was uneventful and during rest stops, Chuck inspected the robot. He had noticed before but it was more beat up than he originally thought. There were numerous dents and scratches. It almost looked like it had been in a battle. Maybe with Bright’s help he could get it working again. In any case, Bright was sure to be excited by his purchases.