General Lee's Revenge--A Dark and Stormy Night

Chapter Two: I'm Tired

The inside of the garage was dark, the doors closed. Thunder gazed up at the yellow machinery that now hung on the far wall, a depressive feeling washing over him. The arm had places, of course, where paint was missing. He knew which ones were old and which were new. It'd been a part of him for so long, after all. There were scrapes from fights, community service, and from tormenting Grant. He still had marks from when Grant had tried to kill them, and he returned the favor at Hollow Hill. But here the arm sat, hanging on the wall, lonely and discarded like Friday's trash.

It was then that Diablo revved his engine, pushing another fan towards Thunder. "Alright, now you're gonna have to stay still for a while to let the paint dry, muchacho. Anything I can get you while you wait?"

Thunder moved to shake himself but quickly decided against it per Diablo's instruction. "No, thank you."

"Alright, I'm heading out to help with the clean-up, be on channel three if you need me."

Thunder nodded and listened as Diablo left, pushing the doors shut behind him, and leaving him in darkness.

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General had been quick to organize the Defects into a clean-up crew, it'd been easy too. Grant was out with Caleb, patrolling the roads for blockages. Tank was helping in town, nothing that he and a winch cable couldn't accomplish. Rig was also in town, collecting debris on a trailer to be taken to the dump. The Black Maiden, however, had decided to sit this one out.

General was content with this team, however, knew everything would be going a lot smoother with Thunder, and was about to call Diablo as there was extra work to pick up since the Maiden had refused to do anything. Thankfully, he heard Diablo's horn soon enough and turned to meet him.

"Buenos dias, senor, how can I help?" Diablo asked, rolling up beside him.

"Diablo, there you are. Have you seen Thunder?" General asked.

Diablo shifted on his suspension. "I ain't the one he lives with, you tell me, fool."

"He ain't been through town?"

Diablo shook himself. "No."

General sighed. "Alright, just... let me know if you see him. I'm gonna have you on brush pile duty, all the junk from branches and fallen trees need to be taken away and burned, can you handle that?"

Diablo nodded. "I'm on it."

With that, the Ranchero was gone and speeding out of town.

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Later that day, Boss Hogg was doing his usual, storming through the law office with a stack of papers in his hands, Rosco running after him with a phone. He was already grumbling, working to set down his stack of papers on Enos's desk before grabbing the receiver out of Rosco's hand.

"What?" he exclaimed.

There was a pause as he listened to the person on the other end talk.

"Yes, yes, I know...." Pause. "Look, I already told you, your coverage--"

The little man blew a fuse as he was interrupted again and promptly slammed the receiver down, catching Rosco's thumb in the phone to which the sheriff jumped and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

Boss Hogg threw his hands up, walking back to his stack of papers and picking them up to reveal a daydreaming Enos wearing a lazy grin. Thankfully, neither he nor the sheriff paid him any mind. Boss Hogg was still grumbling as he walked to his office to put the papers down in their permanent home, allowing Rosco to return the phone to his desk.