Mona’s purple 240Z weaved through the busy nighttime traffic with expert maneuverability; the inline-6 singing a symphony as it ploughed through the sea of vehicles – most of them just ordinary people returning home after a busy day of work.
“Man, I wish I had a cool car like that…” 105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdrWcfEW76
An exhausted man sitting behind the wheel of his beater Cavalier, parked at a stoplight sighed as the purple sportster overtook him on a corner; tires screeching momentarily, before it straightened back out and disappeared from view.
The driver of said purple car, however, was too busy vibing to her favorite Britney Spears’ song blasting through the speakers, as her blank-faced passenger simply stared out the window like this was a simple drive to the supermarket and not two hooligans breaking God knows how many infractions to their name.
“And then we kiiiiissss! Your love comes alive on my lips, I feel the ruuuush! Comin’ over me, over me!”
Mona sang in tune with the song, casually downshifting as they neared the exit of Beacon Hill, and entering the twisting mountain roads of Jackson Heights; Bayview’s own little mountain region, which doubles as both the suburbs of the rich and wealthy and their mansions, as well as a playground for drift racers who wish to challenge their mettle at downhill drifting.
“You know, you should probably focus more on the road in front of us instead of singing this god-awful excuse of a song,” Simon stated matter-of-factly, “One slip-up, and you and I will both go sailing off the edge and into the ocean.”
“Hey! The disrespect for the Queen of Pop will not be tolerated in my car, just so you know,” Mona reiterated, threateningly. Shooting him a glare as the said youth simply smirked and rolled his eyes, “Just sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride!”
She giggled, throwing the car in an inertia drift as they neared a sharp u-shaped turn.
Okay, no matter how stoic our hero might be, THAT one actually impressed him,
“You know, you’re not half bad at handling this thing,” Simon complimented his friend as she simply beamed back in response, “I still say you ought to use your skills in actual racing from time to time. Especially against that loudmouth Andrew who can’t seem to get enough of you,”
Mona fake-gagged at the mention of that name, making a disgusted face.
Simon laughed at her response. This was so typical of her whenever their blond friend was mentioned.
“Come on, you and I both know your 240Z would obliterate his SRT-4 any day, and besides he needs the humbling. What do you have to lose?”
“It’s not that! It’s just…” she paused, trying to find the right words before she just sighed and shook her head, “Nevermind,”
Simon’s smile dropped as he read her expression. It was clear the wound was still fresh, and he wasn’t going to pry.
Andrew’s a notable street racer too, just like Simon. Only difference being, he’s a loudmouth who also leads his own crew; the Flaming Skulls. A crew consisting of tattooed gangsters with a goth punk vibe to themselves, dark makeup to match, and an obsession with tuners, heavy metal and hard rock music.
Unlike most of the salty street racers they’ve encountered, however, Andrew still respects the art of street racing above all else, and values the love of cars as much as Simon and Mona, befriending them over friendly and not-so-friendly street races.
Andrew had since, developed a crush towards Mona, and the feelings seem to be mutual on her end too, at first. Or so Simon thinks until she point-blank rejected him the one time he asked her out, making things awkward between them from thereon out.
And despite being beaten by Simon a couple times too many, Andrew refuses to back down and still actively finds ways to give himself an edge over him, and challenge the youth for a race any time he possibly can.
“We’re here.”
Mona’s voice interrupt Simon’s thoughts as she parks up next to the railing, overlooking a lockup a couple meters below them. The two get out of the car, walking over to the edge, looking down;
It was a standard five-by-five miniature lockup big enough to hold one car, made up of thick reinforced forged steel. Two large flood lights stood tall on either ends of the metal cage, casting a blinding white light on a very iconic metallic green 350Z parked in the middle.
Jackpot.
“There it is! I see it,” Mona began, her face breaking into a wide smile, “It’s so, so beautiful! Keeping a beast like that caged is so inhumane. Almost make me want to bust it out myself,”
“No way! We stick to the plan,” Simon snapped, handing her the remote for the EMP device as her expression dropped, “You had your fun driving here. Now it’s my turn to have mine,”
“Ugh, fiiine!” Mona begrudgingly took the remote, rolling her eyes, “Just don’t wreck the baby while getting it out, okay? That widebody kit is one of a kind and the only thing your broke ass can afford right now is takeout chowmein,”
Simon simply flipped her off, pulling on a black balaclava ski mask and climbing over the guardrail as he readied himself to leap forward. The drop below wasn’t too steep and he could easily slide down from where they were, using the bushes and shrubbery as cover in the dark.
“Lights out, assholes.”
Mona mumbled aloud, pointing the device towards the lockup and twisting the dial on the remote.
Meanwhile down below at the lockup’s entrance, an overweight watchman sat at the booth, reading a magazine.
“Goddamn! This month’s issue sure has a lotta babes in here,” he leered over the glossy pages, licking his lips as he gawked over the many girls posing over cars, “If I had a ride like that, I bet they’d be all over me too, hehe,”
No sooner than he reached over to flip the next page, the lights in his booth went off and the entire area was flooded with darkness.
“The hell?!”
He jumped to his feet, looking around, trying to find his torch in the blinding darkness, to no avail.
“Just what I need. A power outage! I swear, the amount of times I’ve told these guys to get me a backup generator, I- ARGHH..!”
His complaints are cut short as a glass bottle breaks over his head, knocking him out for the count as Simon steps out from behind him, tossing the now broken bottle aside and brushing his hands.
“See man, if you hadn’t left so many empty Pepsi bottles lying around this pigsty, things might've gone down differently,” Simon commented casually, stepping over the downed man and walking out into the lockup area where the ride sat; ready for the taking.
It’s weird. Adrian had warned them the lockup would be flooded with goons guarding the car, yet so far, all Simon had to worry about was some fatso who couldn’t even see his own feet.
Was Adrian’s intel wrong?
The youth walked over to the car, picking the door open and slipping inside as he proceeded to hotwire it with trained expertise, starting the car up and letting the engine idle.
What’s taking Mona so long? He thought to himself, waiting for her to blow the gates open with the EMP device any minute now.
Five minutes passed,
Then ten minutes,
And still nothing.
“What the hell is going on?” Simon muttered, getting back out to look around the lockup now, still flooded in complete darkness, save for the moon burning dimly above.
Just then, a loud bang tore through the air as he looked back; staring over at what looked to be no less than two more shadowed men, armed with shotguns pointed straight at him, prepared to fire again.
“Nice try breakin’ in, dipshit,” a guard in an Italian accent called out, “But this car’s stayin’ here with us,”
Shit.
“Come on, fellas. Let a brother joyride this beauty for a while, will ya?” Simon began coolly, raising his hands, “We can all take turns!”
Just then, the lights turn back on in an instant; the white flood lights blaring brightly and blinding the guards momentarily as they shrink back, wincing.
“Goddammit!” one of them screamed, rubbing his eyes, as the gates behind them hummed loudly, sliding open slowly, “You fools! Don’t let the kid get away with the car!”
Without another moment to lose, Simon hopped back in the driver’s seat, throwing the car into first and mashing the pedal; lurching ahead as the guards dove out of the way to save themselves from turning into roadkill.
The 350Z’s V6 screamed into the night, echoing across the mountain as Simon tore through the dirt path and sped down the mountain, joined shortly by a familiar purple 240Z; the front bumper now busted inwards and the right headlight broken.
“Shit, Mona! Are you okay?!”
Simon exclaimed into his walkie-talkie as her car pulled up next to him, keeping up with ease,
“Yeah… I’m good,” she replied, her voice sounding slightly exasperated and shaken up, “These bastards knew we were coming. As soon as you slipped inside the lockup, two of them snuck up behind me and tried to pull me into their SUV. I managed to break free and return back to my car, smashing through them.”105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6XYBN4Iwy
As if on cue, two black Lincoln Navigators with red headlights appeared in his rearview mirror, ready to smash into the two Zs and send them falling.
Simon gritted his teeth in annoyance,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavgJ9YlxQ7
Gina’s goons, without a doubt. And now, he was pissed!
A part of Simon wanted him to brake-check the two and make them crash into each other, but he couldn’t risk totaling the car, so he picked the next best alternative instead;
Using the traffic to his advantage.
“Mona, up ahead!”
“Right!”
In perfectly practiced synchronization, the two sportsters spread outwards; tailgating behind two delivery trucks. The two Navigators still hot on their tail, closing in.
“Now!”
The two immediately swerved their cars, throwing them into ninety-degree turns as the tailing SUVs behind them – with no time to react, crash headfirst into the vans; totaling instantly, with one of them breaking past the guardrails and flying down into the ravine below.
“See ya!” Mona exclaimed laughing, joining Simon back onto the road as they now headed down the mountain together, leaving the mountain behind.
“I’ll take it from here, Mona. You go on and get your car fixed up at the nearest Body Shop,” Simon began,
“And I just had the paint redone too! How annoying,” she sighed sadly, breaking off from Simon as she took a left turn at the next exit, “Stay outta trouble! I’ll see you back at Coal Harbor with Adrian!”
The car roared beneath Simon’s feet; the powerful V6 like a trumpet, blaring as he shifted into fifth and pushed down on the gas once he entered onto the freeway, heading down to the harbor.
“Now, let’s see what this baby can really do!”
Although he loved his Eight-Six more than anything, he couldn’t deny that Rachel’s 350Z wasn’t anything short of amazing. One of the most iconic poster cars between the year 2003 and 2004 when the underground culture in Bayview was still very fresh, and flashy neon-lit cars were the epitome of style.
The car easily made more than eight hundred horsepower as it was right now, and yet, it still lost to Gina in a straight up race. Her Viper was just THAT menacing and unbeatable.
As Simon kept driving, the car’s messaging panel began beeping; catching the youth’s attention.
A street race invite..?
Wait a sec, that can’t be right. Everyone knew Rachel retired, and barely anyone knew how to contact her since she was very particular about who she interacted with.
Unless..?
Simon reached over to the console and pressed the accept as the panel lit up; showcasing indeed a new call.
“So, you’re the one who was dumb enough to jack Rachel’s ride, huh? Heh. Well, you wouldn’t be the first one to do so and get away with it,”
The voice on the other end was female, but not Rachel’s.
“Who is this?”
“Who am I, you ask?” the voice continued, “You’ve got some nerve asking me that, boy. When I should be the one asking you that instead.”
The voice continued; calm and direct, with an air of annoyance,
“Name’s Nikki. You don’t know me, I suppose. But I’m a good friend of Rachel’s, and I’ve been tracking her car’s whereabouts for over a year since it got stolen. So, before things get messy, why don’t you haul your ass over and maybe we won’t have to get our hands dirty.”
Nikki.
Simon repeated the name in his head. Of course.
She was a former member of the Wraiths crew back in 2004, who shortly after getting beaten by Rachel’s Ryders, joined their crew instead and helped them take down her former crew boss, Caleb and his hold over the city.
“Yeah well, seems to me you’re a bit misinformed here, Nikki,” Simon replied, “This car no longer belongs to your ‘friend’ and is now the rightful property of the Arellis, and they wanted it back. I’m just the delivery boy, so if you wanna get your hands dirty, I suggest you start with them first.”
Nikki laughed on the other end,
“You’re quite some delivery boy, eh?” she continued flirtatiously, “Breaking into a Bloodfangs’ lockup and singlehandedly stealing the car out from under their noses. That couldn’t have been easy,”
Simon simply rolled his eyes, unimpressed.
“Listen, I’d love to sit here and chat, but I have a hot ride that needs delivering, and a time limit to get to wherever I need to be. So if you have nothing else important to say, this is me logging off-”
“Aww, maybe I figured you wrong,”
“There’s nothing to figure. This is just business, pure and simple.”
“But who says you can’t have fun while you’re out on… business, huh?”
Simon paused, pondering her words for a few seconds before he continued,
“Fun?”
Nikki chuckled on the other end, amused.
“Come now, don’t tell me you’re just plan on handing this sweet machine over to your client without stretching its wings first and seeing what it can really do. I know you want to. Even the last guy who drove this car couldn’t resist himself,”
Simon stayed silent once again, contemplating.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6buDfCPtTe
Thinking.
Even if he might not admit it to Adrian, but he sure as hell was dying to race this car properly, even if it was risky and could draw undue attention to himself, and the car.
What street racer wouldn’t?
A beat.
“When and where?”
ns216.73.217.39da2
and then Add to home screen.